New fish person.

[Tommyh]

Hi all.
I have wanted fish for many years and finally Father Christmas gave me a fish tank.
It’s 62lts so not big but not small either.
I would love a bit of advice on what to do. I live with my mother in law who’s had fish for decades so we’re not completely novice.
At the moment I’ve got 6 neons and a pleco. Neons seem happy but the pleco has been hiding (not surprising) until today when I found him upside down at the bottom of the tank. Dave (that’s his name) looked dead. I managed to flip him the right way up by moving a plant that was next to him. Is this a normal thing? He’s only been with us since Saturday, so I wasted expecting to see him just yet.

Is there anything else I should know that I may not have been told?

TIA

Tom

 

[dudley]

How did you cycle the tank to make it safe for the fish? Have you tested for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate?

 

[Tommyh]

How did you cycle the tank to make it safe for the fish? Have you tested for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate?

Hi. Thanks for replying.
The water was empty for a couple out weeks and went through the cycle after I’d added a couple of bacterial stuff. Tank went cloudy for a couple of days, and then cleared up. I then left it a couple of days. I took a sample of water down to the shop for them to test it. Ammonia was a little high so I changed 25% of the water and then added fish.

 

[dougall]

It sounds to me like you aren't cycled fully , I would really recommend getting some way for you to test your water yourself to make it easier to test more frequently and see actual numbers to see how you are doing.

Liquid test kits are good (API is big in the US, there are others available too) but really I find test strips fine (and much faster) to see if I have ammonia or nitrites or not.

While cycling, I would really try for bigger water changes just to limit how many toxins are still in the water. I normally do 50% or more for normal maintenance and maybe 80%+ if cycling or if there are problems.

Maybe limit feeding, or at least make sure you aren't feeding too much, while you are detecting ammonia/nitrite, and having live plants in the aquarium will help consume some of the ammonia to keep levels down.

Maybe try to find a correct ID for the pleco, depending on type it could grow up to between 6 and 24+ inches long (15 - 60+ cm)

Otherwise be patient, dont forget water conditioner and maybe spend time researching good food options to see if there are different foods you could try in the future . A single food isn't likely to be ideal for both tetras and a pleco.