Jumping in at the "deep end" of the pool

[satelliteoflove]

OK, please be gentle; I'm totally new to this.

So Saturday I was given a stocked 45 gallon freshwater aquarium. We're talking plants (neigh jungle that needs to be thinned just a bit), angel fish, two other kinds of fish I have yet to identify, lil snails, the whole shebang. The entire setup was donated because the previous owner could no longer care for the fish and nobody else would take on the responsibility.

I was able to transport the tank and fish without incident. I left about 2" of water in the bottom of the tank, and the plants kept the sediment from sloshing about much. I treated (Prime) tepid/warmish tap water in a 5g bucket, adding it slowly, and mixing in Stability to (hopefully) prevent the dreaded "new tank" syndrome.

I noticed right away that the aquarium heater was dysfunctional. It wanted to heat the water to 86.5F, no matter what setting I dialed it to. I knew this wasn't good for the fish, but it was by this point after six pm on a holiday weekend so my options were nil. The fish were ok as far as I could tell. All fish appear to be generally "happy" and responsive, and are eating well 2-3 times a day.

I have added two more capfuls (as per directions) of Stability yesterday and today. Not sure yet if this product will prevent catastrophe but we shall see.

Unfortunately, the old filters were thrown out during the move and so I've had to put fresh ones in. I'm hoping the sediment and plants will have kept enough of the pre-existing biofilter.

I went to the pet store today and bought a new aquarium heater. My idea was to drop the temp down to 84F today, then 82 tomorrow, and so on down to about 79F which I figure is about ideal for the angel fish. However, this heater apparently does not work correctly. I have it set to maximum (89F), sitting by the filter/pump, and so far it's weakly holding the tank at 79.5F. I will keep monitoring for the next hour or two before I go to bed and see how it goes. I was really hoping to avoid a drastic temperature drop, but what's a guy to do?

Anyway, with all that out of the way, is there anything else I should be doing? Tests I should be running or behavior to watch out for? These lil guys are my charge now, and I'm going to do everything I can to keep them alive and healthy.

I look forward to many years here as a current and future fish owner. The adventure has just begun!

 

[homedog98]

congrats on the pickup and welcome to AC! now, don't mess with the temp. constant temp is better then ideal temp and 79 is perfect. here are a few little house cleaning things that will help us get a hold on your situation, and keep your fish happy and healthy.
1. post pictures of the unidentifiable fish (and you know... a full tank shot would be nice too )
2. go get a test kit (preferably the API master kit) and give us some readings
3. read up on the nitrogen cycle
your cycle pretty much started over with the filters... so you will probably get new tank syndrom anyway.
4. only feed once a day
keep us updated!

 

[satelliteoflove]

Oh, and if anyone can tell me of a single good book to pick up about the care of warm freshwater fish, it would be appreciated. Something that will work well as a reference (as opposed to a cover-to-cover read) is best.

 

[satelliteoflove]

Here are pictures, both of the whole tank and then a shot of the unidentified orange fish. There's another similar (but striped orange/brown) fish that hides most of the time. I'll try to pick up a test kit tomorrow. Yeah I know the filters bummed me but there's nothing to do about it now. I think the bio wheel in the filter pump stayed moist, so perhaps that will help in addition to all of the two-year-old sediment and plants. I'll remember not to over-feed them now. How much should they eat? Should I just add in as much as they'll eat in 3-5 minutes? Oh, and now that I see it please ignore the mag-float; I'm fairly sure it's perfectly healthy

 

[jpappy789]

Looks like a female swordtail? Or a large platy, I can't tell the difference all that well.

With most of the filtration having to be replaced there is a good possibility of going through a mini cycle, hopefully not a full cycle again. Here's a great article to read if you need to brush up on cycling:

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?84598-Freshwater-cycling

You essentially could be in a "fish cycle" although without knowing ammonia/nitrite/nitrate it's impossible to know. Luckily the plants look well established so they should keep levels lower than without plants. I highly suggest getting a liquid test kit like API's master kit. If ammonia or nitrite are present then you would need to be doing water changes to keep those as low as possible until things stabilize again. The additive may or may not help but water changes are always a good idea.

 

[satelliteoflove]

As stated, I'll pick up that test kit tomorrow. I'll probably be looking at a good 20% water change as well, just to be safe. Looks like it might be touch-n-go for a week or two. Time will tell. I don't think it's a swordtail. Someone else just mentioned it might be a platy. I'll have to ask the previous owner when I see him tomorrow.

 

[jpappy789]

Platys tend to be shorter and a bit more stout while swords are longer and relatively thinner, I would say...I can't tell well from the pic myself. If you see a gonopodium then it would most definitely be a male platy and not a swordtail.

It's a very nice tank btw!

 

[satelliteoflove]

It's a very nice tank btw!

Thanks! It'll be a much nicer tank when I can quit agonizing over all the stuff I don't know yet

 

[StarStruck8]

Is the heater the right watts for the tank size? Aside from having bad luck with 2 defective heaters, that's all I could think of right away. I would imagine that the bacteria residing on the substrate/plants would be enough to handle 4 fish in a 45 gallon tank, despite throwing out the filter media...that is a well planted tank! As for books, I learned everything I know about fish tanks from either the internet or (mainly) from this discussion board, so I don't have any suggestions aside from hanging out here. The picture of the orange fish is too blurry for me to say what it is...does it look like a platy as seen here? Even 3-5 minutes would be a lot of food...for that many fish I would put a pinch in and make sure everyone gets a few flakes. Not very scientific I know.

 

[satelliteoflove]

Sounds like they don't need to eat as much as I thought. Fair enough.

The first heater (200w/55ga) was an older one I got with the tank, and heated the water to 86.5F no matter what setting I had it dialed to. My brand new heater is 300w (rated to 75 gallons), and should be easily able to handle the size of my aquarium. I placed it by the filter intake, and the tank temp is now up to 79.5F (from 78.9F about two hours ago). As long as it can maintain that temp I'm happy but we shall see. I started looking for reviews on this brand (Penn-plax Cascade HEAT), and there were quite a few people who were disappointed with the unit.

Edit: no, they must not be platys because they don't look like your picture; they are longer and thinner. No clue what the striped one is.

Oh, and there aren't five fish...there are quite a few. I'd guess around 6-7 angel fish, 2-3 of the small orange fish, three bottom feeders, one long slim silver algae-eating fish...it's a menagerie.