I'm seeing spots!

That's not an angel, it's a tetra. Looks like a Phantom or Black Skirt Tetra to me.

It would be a good idea to get rid of some fish, have you thought about trading some in for store credit?
 
LuvBrit4ever said:
*Edit* P.S. I know my tank is crowded. Please tell me what I can do to ease the overcrowding issue. I'll listen to any suggestions as long as it doesn't involved getting rid of most/all of my fish (mayreee), or buying another aquarium.
How the hell would you expect to solve an overcrowding issue without getting rid of some of your fish or getting another aquarium?!!?

Regular Pleco gets about 18" and needs a 45 gallon.
Convicts get 5" and needs a 30 gallon.
Angels get 6" and needs a 30 gallon.
Dojo gets 9" and needs a 30 gallon.
Algae Eater gets 12" and needs a 40 gallon.

Besides picking out the wrong size fish, there are some aggression issues there. Stop abusing the fish and go find them a better home or give them back to the store and pick out a bunch of other fish that actually would fit in a 10 gallon.
 
I think I have a great solution here. Why don't you buy a basic aquarium book with some good pictures of fish so you can properly identify them and know ahead of time how big, how to feed, etc. Sometimes the internet isn't the best way since you can't easily carry it around with you, and sometimes the information is "too much". I have a guide called "You & Your Aquarium" by **** Mills. It was copyrighted in 1989, but I still find it extremely useful. You could pick up a fish book at a used book store or a garage sale, or the library. This hobby can be a bit confusing when starting out, just keep doing the best you can and you'll do fine.
 
hey guys, lets take it easy on the kid! we all made mistakes when we were new to the hobby! sure sounds to me like the kids heart is in the right place and he's trying. I did the same dumb stuff when i was a kid and didnt know any better. ive seen these "spots" and a bio teacher in HS looked at them under a micro for me and told me that they were Defintaly algae. He had no idea i was trying to mess with fish, and he diagnosed me as being chronically overstocked, leading to my algae "spots". I learned a lot since i asked for help, and somebody was nice enough to help me. he told me to bleach ant ornaments, and get rid of some fish. the 19:1 bleach trick works, just make **** sure you rinse the ornament well before replacing. a soak in clean water overnight works best.

that being said-

Dude, you really ought to take some of those guys back to your LFS, even if they won't give you a credit. you'll be doing the right thing.
if that wont work, i have a couple of extra tanks laying around, as im sure some of these guys do, that you could have for free if you want 'em. where are you? your folks wont likely be pissed if you get an extra tank for free. just a thought.

but you definatly need to "thin the herd" so to speak.
 
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It's been awhile since I've gotten on. Thanks for the advice. I tried the 19:1 bleach solution. It worked wonders! Thanks Bigcheze! I also cleaned the tank walls because while I was worried about the spots on the ornaments, the spots of algae started growing on the sides of the tank. Unfortunately, I didn't see the signs in my convicts and then ended up coming home to 3 dead convicts :sad On close inspection, I saw white spots on ALL of the convicts. I unpluged the filter and added the "Ick Away". That was 3 days ago. No one else has died but at the same time the spots of ick aren't going away. Should I move the fish to a smaller tank useing 80% of old water to keep from water temp changing too much? Or should I leave them alone and hope that it goes away. I went from algae spots to ick spots! I'm seeing too many spots!!!!! ;)

Bryanfykes, I like the idea and would appreciate the extra tank. Though I'm not sure if I have any road trips planned that are headed up your way. I asked the LFS if I could bring them back in for a credit. They said something to the effect of they weren't going to take ick infected fish back, nor would they take fish that weren't sold by them.... Personally I feel that the fish had the ick from the LFS and it just took a long time to kill the fish and make me notice. I'm seeing my numbers going down all around. My tanks look like deserted wastelands. If I'm still over-crowded I'm going to scream. I guess I need tons of fake plants and more ornaments. The tanks are empty. They have water, gravel, one and two ornaments. That's it! I want to see action and a few fish at a glance at my tank. I'm doing good to walk up to my tank and search for my fish.

The dojos are very active and friendly, and a blast to watch. The Black Skirt tetra doesn't intrigue me but just got stuck with him. Then the lil white clouds huddle in their foursome group at the top of the water. In my other tank, my 4 remaining convicts spend most of the day at the bottom of the tank and have gone "wild". I used to be able to feed them by hand while they were babies, but got away from it for a while and now they flee in terror at seeing someone walk up to the tank. The pleco that resides in there hangs upside down from the inside of the cave ornament in the tank. I want more fish to watch but hate to hear people yelling at me for keeping my tanks overcrowded. Soon enough I will be putting the white clouds in a empty pond after spring rolls around. They'll be my koi's for my outdoor garden! :laugh: 50G pond so I guess if you figure WC's get up to 2" roughly, that means I could get 25 in there without overstocking it. But I suppose I'll put about 6 more in with the 4 in the pond and then let nature take over and see how many babies I get.

Anyway I'm gone hope to hear from y'all soon! (good or bad)
 
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