hi, i am new to the whole thing about tropical fish tanks and i dont know why my fish are dying like hell. the temperature is constantly in the mid-seventies and the fish are getting fed every other day, like i was told and there is tons of room for the fish to swin around, becasue its a pretty big tank (almost 36 gallons). so hopefully if i tell u the entire story maybe u could help me coz i really, really dont want my fish to die coz i spent tons of money on them.
really, i never had a fish tank before, but i had purchased my fish from Big Al's, which is a speaclist aquariam shop, for a science project. the entire point of the project was to create a closed ecosystem, which would work, for ten days.i purchased some epodilla plants (something like that) and 3 great white clould mountian minnows, and the guy said that they would be adaptable and woul survive up to a couple of weeks. the minnows, of course, survived, and so i had the idea to buy a fish tank and keep them and the plants. i decided to start a tropical tank, and i did do some resreach on the fish to see if the would survive and things.
soon, i bought a used tank, which had been used by an experienced fish owner and he gave me some tips about the tank. i cleaned everythign up, with biodigradable soap and made sure it was spik and span and than set it up and added the water into it. i didn't imdeitamately put the fish into the tank because the guy had told me that i had to let the tank set for a few days.
after the minnows had been put into the tank, a coupls days later, i purchased some more fish, so the minnows would have friends. the bid al's staff directed me towards swordfish, platys and mollies, claimin they were hardy fish and good for new set ups. i bought 2 assorted srowfish, 2 red wag platys and 2 dalmation mollies, just so they could start up the tank. soon,about a month later i got the nitrogen checked.the guy said it was fine and i should just keep maintinging the tank and cleaning it, which i did.
my brother was looking at the tank and he had noticed that there was soething floating on the top of the tank- which ended up to be a babby fish. so wat it meant was that either, my mollies, or the swordfish are going to have babies or have already had some. soon, we noticed, a couple more baby fish, so we didn't buy any fish, cause we wanted to give them a chance to live. when we went to the fish shop and asked about the baby fish, the guy said that it should be okay to add more fish as long as there is tons of hiding places- which there was. we than bought some more fish, not to many, 2 angel medium fish, 2 male guppies and 3 assorted small tropical fish.
soon, a couple of days later, after the new fish arrived in the tank, my black swordfish died. we're not sure, but i think that it possibly could be preganat and wasn't able to deliver becasue it kept going in and out of the shell. we also found it on the bottom of the tank, which perhaps also suggest that. so i cleaned the tank and than, agian, got the nitrogen checked. the guy said it was fine and to remeber cleaning it every so often.
soon, i had left for florida, for a week. bit before i left i made sure and cleadned the tank and rearranged the settings, to keep the fish interested. i also spotted a couple of baby fish. the respoinsiblity of feeding the fish i gave to my grandma, as she stayed home.
when i came back, i found two dead fish on the bottom, and my mom, who didn't come, said perivously a couple of days ago, one of the mollies had been removed coz it had died. the fish that had died, was a guppie and a red wag platy, which is believed to be preganat. we removed the fish and cleaned up the tank. the thing though, that is really irrating is that none of the minnows have died, which is really making me believe that the fish aren't able to deliver.
but i really need to know why the fish are constantly dying, becasue the tank is getting cleaned often, the fish are being fed, the filratering system is really good, the temparture is staying constant and the water is being irrated.i am not putting any chemicals in the water, currently, as i have well water and i am also checking the pH level every cleaning period. i realy would liek some some help and information about this situation. i would realld appreicatie and thanx for the help.
really, i never had a fish tank before, but i had purchased my fish from Big Al's, which is a speaclist aquariam shop, for a science project. the entire point of the project was to create a closed ecosystem, which would work, for ten days.i purchased some epodilla plants (something like that) and 3 great white clould mountian minnows, and the guy said that they would be adaptable and woul survive up to a couple of weeks. the minnows, of course, survived, and so i had the idea to buy a fish tank and keep them and the plants. i decided to start a tropical tank, and i did do some resreach on the fish to see if the would survive and things.
soon, i bought a used tank, which had been used by an experienced fish owner and he gave me some tips about the tank. i cleaned everythign up, with biodigradable soap and made sure it was spik and span and than set it up and added the water into it. i didn't imdeitamately put the fish into the tank because the guy had told me that i had to let the tank set for a few days.
after the minnows had been put into the tank, a coupls days later, i purchased some more fish, so the minnows would have friends. the bid al's staff directed me towards swordfish, platys and mollies, claimin they were hardy fish and good for new set ups. i bought 2 assorted srowfish, 2 red wag platys and 2 dalmation mollies, just so they could start up the tank. soon,about a month later i got the nitrogen checked.the guy said it was fine and i should just keep maintinging the tank and cleaning it, which i did.
my brother was looking at the tank and he had noticed that there was soething floating on the top of the tank- which ended up to be a babby fish. so wat it meant was that either, my mollies, or the swordfish are going to have babies or have already had some. soon, we noticed, a couple more baby fish, so we didn't buy any fish, cause we wanted to give them a chance to live. when we went to the fish shop and asked about the baby fish, the guy said that it should be okay to add more fish as long as there is tons of hiding places- which there was. we than bought some more fish, not to many, 2 angel medium fish, 2 male guppies and 3 assorted small tropical fish.
soon, a couple of days later, after the new fish arrived in the tank, my black swordfish died. we're not sure, but i think that it possibly could be preganat and wasn't able to deliver becasue it kept going in and out of the shell. we also found it on the bottom of the tank, which perhaps also suggest that. so i cleaned the tank and than, agian, got the nitrogen checked. the guy said it was fine and to remeber cleaning it every so often.
soon, i had left for florida, for a week. bit before i left i made sure and cleadned the tank and rearranged the settings, to keep the fish interested. i also spotted a couple of baby fish. the respoinsiblity of feeding the fish i gave to my grandma, as she stayed home.
when i came back, i found two dead fish on the bottom, and my mom, who didn't come, said perivously a couple of days ago, one of the mollies had been removed coz it had died. the fish that had died, was a guppie and a red wag platy, which is believed to be preganat. we removed the fish and cleaned up the tank. the thing though, that is really irrating is that none of the minnows have died, which is really making me believe that the fish aren't able to deliver.
but i really need to know why the fish are constantly dying, becasue the tank is getting cleaned often, the fish are being fed, the filratering system is really good, the temparture is staying constant and the water is being irrated.i am not putting any chemicals in the water, currently, as i have well water and i am also checking the pH level every cleaning period. i realy would liek some some help and information about this situation. i would realld appreicatie and thanx for the help.