Playful Guppy and a few other questions...

1

12Voltking

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Dec 21, 2005
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Ok, so I'm not a complete n00b but pretty close to it...my wife has a little more experience but is still pretty much an00b.

The first odd question I have is about one of our guppies. He is a Male Fancy Guppy. Now, we only got him with four others tonight.

What he is doing is letting himself get sucked in close to the filter, then going underneath swimming to the top of the filter and then letting the wave throw him into towards the front of the tank and the get pushed down. He will do this a dozen times float to the bottom and play dead for five minutes. Then swims back and does it all over again.

He is in a 10 Gallon tank with 4 other guppies, 3 tetras and 2 gouramis.

We have a few other questions but will get to them later.

Any help will be appreciated, is this safe for him to continue this?
 
well, I guess it really doesn't matter now. It's dead :( anyone know what might have been happening? Too much oxygen? Although none of the other fish have ever behaved in this manner.
 
Too much? You kinda don't kill fish with too much oxygen. Did you acclimate the fish when you put them in the tank? Tank cycled? Water parameters? Guppies play in current a lot, at least mine do. That he died shortly thereafter says there was either something wrong with the guppy, or something wrong with your water. Give us a read on your tank for nitrates, ammonia, kh (water hardness) temp... You treated the water? What with? We need more info
 
Ok, lemme see what I can find for you....

I'm not sure as to the current condition of the water, my wife is picking up a decent test kit tonight.

We used a starter kit to get it all going. produced by Jungle The only readout I can give now is temp and that is 72 degrees. I know it needs to be higher but we are having an issue with the heater and it needs to be replaced and it's a matter of finding the time. I told my wife to pick up a new one tonight and we can take the old one back anytime after that.

The kits claims to completly condition the water
Remove Ammonia
and adjust the ph level to neutral.

The kit can be found here... http://www.junglelabs.com/pages/details.asp?item=TB900

When we first set the tank up a few days ago we used the only ph strip we got and it claimed the water ph was fine.

We have actually lost several fish in the past few days but we have been told that it is through no fault of our own. Although I'm starting to wonder.

One young bumblebee goby got sucked in through the filter. Another goby just never seemed to get over the shock of being moved. We were told that they are not a very hardy fish and it's even more apparent as they were so young.

One of the Gouramis decided to chew on the tail of one of the new guppies, making a complete mess and it died as well.

I'm starting to feel that we really shouldn't have a fish tank. But, I know we can make it work. My wife really enjoys them and our daughter just can't stop looking at the tank.

Any advice on if we should be using different products?

Thank you for your help.
 
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That kit won't cycle the tank instantly it usualy takes a few weeks to cycle a tank properly. Thats probably why they are dying, you have to establish bacteria colonies. It might have conditioned the water but that is only temporary and if the tank is not cycled then you will soon have problems.

Read the Stickie about Cycling the tank before use.

Soudns like the Guppy went into shock.
 
We learn from our mistakes .. and it sounds like you're getting a learning experience. I'm finding a endless supply of research material here among threads and on the net, and there is nothing better then to read up and go into the petshop informed on what you are buying and how you will do it before hand.

Perhaps it's something you can get the rest of the family into as well as i'm finding the more I learn the more hooked i'm getting :) .. I think Aquariua is one of the more interesting self taught subjects.

Best of luck.
 
Hey guys! Well, a lot has changed....most of the fish seemed to mysteriously die overnight(over the past week) It has only been the guppies and the two bumblebee gobies....the problem? the Gouramis! I went for a drink in the middle of the night and found one of the gouramis chasing the remaining guppy around and around nipping at it's tail! We were told at the pet store that these guys are pure community fish and wouldn't have a problem with them eating the smaller fish.

Justintoxic....thank you for that info. We certainly didn't let it cyle for a week. We were told that overnight with it would be fine....Thanks Petco.

We will be buying a second tank soon to go into my office. But, I think I might go get it tomorrow and start the process now and get the fish in a few weeks.

I've been doing some reading on here and just want to clarify something... I set the tank up with gravel, plants, filter water conditioner kit...set it up just how I want it so all I need to do is add fish? Then wait a few weeks before adding the finishing touches of the fish right?
 
I suggest you read the sticky at the top of the Forum here:

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26051

Your tank needs to be cycled or you will just lose fish. The Jungle "kit" is not something you need nor want to cycle the tank with.

Also, bumble bee gobies are brackish water fish and do not belong in a FW aquarium. Before you buy or plan on buying any fish, research them or you may end up with dead fish down the road.

Roan
 
we were infact told that the gobies were well suited to freshwater. If we had've known we would not've purchased them.

As for being told to read the sticky thread...well, why didn't you send me an email when I first mentioned to my wife that I will get the family the fishtank that they have wanted? Geez. slow on the uptake eh?
 
Unfortunately..fish store employees aren't always the most knowledgable about fish. Where are you now with what you have left as far as fish? Maybe we can help you restock and get things going again.
Probably the first thing to understand is that when you first start out...your water parameters are ok...they deteriorate if you add fish to an uncycled tank. Another thing fish store employees don't go over..
So check things out, post what your water tests now and we can help you out.
Just checked out your kit..there was only one strip in the kit?? You will need something to test all water parameters...nitrate, nitrite, ammonia, for sure...to tell when your tank is cycled. Also checking pH and KH too...
 
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