I Need Some Help

jessiej83

jessiej83

Frog on a Hog
May 23, 2006
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Hi, i was wondering what is going on in my tank.
first of all am i ovestocked?
5 gallon tank
4 glo-lite tetras
2 mickey mouse platys
1 yellow molly
i am planning on getting a 10 gallon to put them in ASAP.

anyway, second question
all of my fish are healthy and happy as far as i can tell. i have had them for a little over 4 months and everything is going well.
a little over a month ago i thought my molly might want another of her kind to hang out with so i went to wal-mart (i know, i know) and got a male dalmation molly. he lasted for about 1 week and died. so i thought thats what i get for going to wal-mart but i also got my yellow molly there and she is still just fine. so after a week i thought let's try again. same thing. I have had 4 male dalmation mollies and in about a week all of them have died. but all my other fish in the tank are just as healthy as ever. so i was wondering the two platys i have are also females and one of them would hang out with the male molly and the my yellow molly would chase her and attack her. is there any way that the females have ganged up on my male and killed him? or maybe they were too busy bickering with each other that the male couldn't mate and that killed him? any ideas would be helpful.thanks.
 
You are slightly overstocked. Nothing critically dangerous if your tank is well established, but I wouldn't wait too long on getting that 10 gallon going.

As far as the male molly - well, it's hard to say. Livebearers aren't especially aggressive so I doubt he's being killed or what not. But I will assume that it could be a simple matter of "**** happens" or just poor breeding stock.

Many livebearers (especially at the crap stores) are bred poorly. Being as though they're so prolific almost any wanna-be breeder can succesfully produce mountains of them for sale to scheisty stores like Wal-Mart.

I say wait until you're in a ten gallon tank, and all has gone well as far as the transfer (no mini cycles, etc) and then buy a molly from a more reputable place.
 
yes you are overstocked in the 5 gal. that probably explains the aggression problem, because fish need adequate "personal space" to feel comfortable and behave normally. i think if you transfer all them to a 10 gal, you might be OK. some would probably say its' still overstocked. So keep some small guys in 5 gal, move rest to 10 gal.
 
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Thankyou

Thanks For Your Help. Do You Think I Should Leave The Glo-lites In The 5 Gallon And Just Put The Platys And Molly In The 10 Gallon?
Could I Get A Couple More Platys And Mollies When I Get The 10g Or Would That Make It Overstocked? I Really Want To Keep One Male Molly I Just Don't Understand Why That Is The Only Fish That Has Died Since I Have Had The Tank.thanks Again For All Your Help.
 
ok, i'm going today to get a 10gal. i was wondering, would it be cheaper to buy a kit with filter, hood, etc. or should i just get all seperate? i saw just a 10gal tank for $9.86 and a 10 gal kit for $60. also, once i cycle my tank i am going to leave my glo-lites in the 5gal and put my two platies and one molly in the 10gal. would it be okay for me to get two more platies and three more mollies or would that be overstocked? thanks.
 
Just a quick question about your current tank...You didn't mention water changes or water parameters. Do you test your water and how frequently and what percentage do you change out? I am still pretty new to fish, but it sounds like you may have old tank syndrome in your 5G tank. Your existing fish can adjust to the levels of Dissolved Organic Compounds (DOCs) but new fish can't and die very quickly. If you haven't been doing regular water changes, you need to get the 5G under control before dropping the fish in a new 10G as the cleaner water could actually kill them. Just a thought, I may be way off base, but OTS comes to mind when new fish keep dying in an established tank.
 
Shoudl have mentioned if you haven't been doing regular water changes, start doing them on the 5G to get things under control, but only a small amount of water 1x a day until the water parameters are registering normal (buy a test kit that has Ammonia, NItrite, Nitrate and pH, preferably the liquid tests, not the dip sticks) Test your tap water after dechlorinating and lettign it sit over night to get the standard pH and keep doing the tiny daily water changes until your tank water matches. Then once that tank is stable, you can move fish safely as you have slowly acclimated them back to "good" water.
 
i do 20% water changes once a week. i do not have any water testing kits yet but i took my last deceased fish back to wal-mart with a sample of my tank water and they told me everything was ok with my water. that's why i don't understand why just the male was dying. i keep my tank very clean.
 
jessiej83 said:
ok, i'm going today to get a 10gal. i was wondering, would it be cheaper to buy a kit with filter, hood, etc. or should i just get all seperate? i saw just a 10gal tank for $9.86 and a 10 gal kit for $60. also, once i cycle my tank i am going to leave my glo-lites in the 5gal and put my two platies and one molly in the 10gal. would it be okay for me to get two more platies and three more mollies or would that be overstocked? thanks.
Click to expand...


ANY ADVICE WOULD BE GREAT.
 
I truly would get your own test kit. LArge pet chains and Walmart use dip stick tests usually, and the results from those can be very unreliable. Plus pet stores will tell you that .5 ppm ammonia is "fine" because it is on the very outside of the safe range, when a healthy, cycled tank should have 0ppm Ammonia. Also, since your tank is a little overstocked and is a small tank, the 20% weekly water changes may not have been enough. You could still have OTS IMO. The smaller the tank the faster the water conditions can go south. Liek I said above, I may be way off base, but I personally think anyone with fish should have their own testing kit. The Freshwater Pharmeceuticals kit is recommended by many on this site.
 
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