is my kids new tank stocked badly

Oh boy. Well, um, firstly, bag those fish right back up. Then, drive down to the store you got them and get your money back. Then find the person that sold your son those fish and bonk him on the head. Seriously. (No, dont do that last part)

No, those fish arent good together, a couple will WAY outgrow that tank, and the frog is likely not a purely aquatic frog, and even if it is, you must feed those live black worms for them to survive long term. I really recommend that you do this. Write down the name, common or otherwise, of the fishes you and your son are interested in getting. Then hop on the internet and do a google search (www.google.com) on the fish you are interested in. Learn all you can about them, then go back to the store and make an educated purchase. And, whatever you do, do NOT listen to the guy that sold your son those fish. He's clueless. Make sure and read up on "The Nitrogen Cycle" and "Cycling a New Aquarium". Please, im serious, take those fish back and do some research! Take care and welcome to fishkeeping. Watch out for MTS. (inside joke) =P

your tank is 20 gallons (75 litres) and as such, is much too small for an "elephant nose" - Gnathonemus peteresi which grows to 9-10 inches or a "knife fish" - Apteronotus albifrons which grows to about 20 inches. moreover, the latter as you've already found out, is a predator and will eat every fish in the tank which can fit in its mouth.

additionally, you've added far too many fish too soon and your fish will have problems with toxic levels of ammonia and nitrite. read these links:

http://faq.thekrib.com/begin-cycling.html

http://badmanstropicalfish.com/start_up/start_up4.html

http://www.pubnix.net/~spond/filter/nitrogen.html

http://fish.orbust.net/cycling.html

my suggestion is to return ALL but the few remaining guppies and after the tank has cycled, purchase a few more fish that do not exceed 2-3 inches at matuirity.

lainey3107 said:

thanks will take all your advise (except the bopping on the head part). I knew this would happen, I would end up being the one responsible for this tank!! oh well I suppose I'll end up getting really into it and loving it.Thanks again for quick response.

Click to expand...

You WILL love it

My son is 4 -- MUCH younger than yours -- and he begged forever for a fish tank. We finally caved in for his birthday in August last year.

We have a lot of animals, so this isn't unusual for us, and I knew I would be the one looking after the tank. I mean, how hard could it be? HAH!!!

We came home with a 20g tank, 2 silver dollar fish, and two tiger barbs. We were lucky we didn't lose any of them in the cycling process, but of course I didn't know what a cycle was!

Any how, a few months later we noticed the silver dollars were getting very big and smashing into the sides of the tank. The tiger barbs were harassing everything that moved and biting fins.

Then I found this place and started reading. OMG! The silver dollars needed a MINIMUM of 65g! They can grow 6+ inches. The tiger barbs are nasty brutes and need to be in large schools and larger tanks.

To make a long story short, I've gotten SO into this hobby that I, myself, now have 3x75g tanks and several smaller ones. The silver dollars are in their own 65g in my son's bedroom. The tiger barbs were returned to the store and he has red cap oranda's in a 20g (temporary home) in his bedroom as well.

My husband has a 92gallon reef tank he is setting up in his office and my 9 year old daughter wants to adopt my green spotted pufferfish, Peabody.

It's a great hobby. It can be expensive but it's also something the entire family can get into. It's also a great way to help teach kids about responsibility and animal husbandry. IMO a very important thing to learn.

Sorry for being long winded and I hope you stick around here. It's a great place!

Roan