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Need more fishy advice please
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Hi everyone :)
To cut a long story short..i got into fish a some months ago now..
Sorry if i'm repeating myself to people on here who know this story already :(
Anyway what was meant to be a fresh water set up, turned into a tropical one instead cause the fish place sold me the wrong fish!! grrr
Anyway, for many unknown reasons, every fish died except one...:((
Ive been given some advice since and also have joined forums but haven't had time to explore them in depth yet...
I've also been strongly put off now to get any more:(((
All these fish were bought at different times and different places as to exclude that it wasn't where i was getting t hem from.
So yesterday i had to get some rabbit pellets and went somewhere different and asked the owner for some more advice.
He suggested since the only one fish that lived through all this bad luck was a 'plaite' and to maybe get another one or a guppy..
so i found a strong looking active guppy and brought him home.
Good news so far, he actually is happier , friendlier and more active than all the past fish and appears to be getting along with the plaite.
Its only early days atm..
I also have a black spotty loach bottom feeder as well, th ats been also hardy:))
So can anyone tell me more bout guppys in general.?????.
he/she is a orange tailed one, altho i saw a yellow tailed one as well, and if this one lives , ill get one of that colour too.
Its not very exciting and colourful looking..but if they are hardy then ill just stick to the them or plaites perhaps
thanks for any past advice and for any new advice :)
ps....one more thing..In your opinions, whats the hardiest and most compatable tropical fish that you have ever owned?
I'm from Australia, so not sure if all our fish have the same names?
Originally posted at 6:05PM, 9 June 2006 PDT
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♥Jules♥ . edited this topic 38 months ago.
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heres the pics of my faithful loach and plaite and my new guppy
Posted 38 months ago.
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SuperMarina [deleted] says:
I think guppies are among the hardiest tropical fish, though they do not live very long. They just have a naturally short life span, maybe a year at the most. They are easy to breed though, so if you get a male and a female (the one you have appear to be a female; males have longer and brigter coloured tails) you may have more guppies than you care to think about for a long time. My experience is that guppies born in my tank live much longer than guppies from the fish store, and after a few months of having guppies in my tank I give up because I get so many.
Right now I have one male, the last of about 200 I had last summer. I gave them all away, but some days later I noticed some very young ones hiding in the back. The rams and angelfishes I got later ate most of them, but this one survived. I have a crayfish that has taken his tail off at least twice, but it has grown out again and he seems to be no worse off than before. As I said, guppies are hardy! I'm considering getting a female to keep him company. I think my angelfishes will probably eat most of the young, so the risk of overpopulation should be low.
Anyway, good luck with your fish!
Posted 38 months ago.
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Whenever we got female guppies from the store, invariably they kept males and females together, so the females usually gave birth a few weeks later, even if we kept the males separate. Also, female guppies will have live babies (incredibly tiny) and can have several batches of babies from a single insemination.
If you want many of the babies to survive, you can get a special little container for the mother that will keep the babies safe from the hungry mouths of their mama and your platy, or you can buy live plants to make sure they have a lot of cover (they are very quick and have good survival instincts). They usually have a *lot* of babies at once, so you'll probably want a few of them to be take out by natural selection.
Your platy is also a livebearer and if you get a female (it looks like it might be male, but I'm not sure), then you can have lots of platy babies as well. For some reason, our platy babies always were much hardier than the guppy babies.
If you look those species up, you can find a lot of information about breeding and how to tell the sexes apart because its usually much easier for livebearers than for other kinds of fish to tell. They both come in many different beautiful colors, so you can have a beautiful tank with guppies and platys. Good luck and have fun!
Posted 38 months ago.
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yea, my advice is, they are live bearers- you have to get a container for the mom and babies or else they will get eaten. they are very hardy- I had some for ~6 years. Tetras are also good hardy fish.
Posted 38 months ago.
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Hi Supermariner and Shanbrite :)
Thanks for all your kind and w ise advice:)
Unfortunatly once again. i've had bad luck again, and now this guppy has died this morning.
I also got a molly and another plaite yesterday, t hinking maybe i had ironed out all my past problems and it was time to get m y confidence back.
the new plaite died also...:((
my ph is right, my pumps are working, my temp is ideal, im not overfeeding them, to what i understand and been told.
I'm giving up now...not going to try anymore, its too cruel and too sad to see my fish die all the time..
so now i just got my original plaite, my loachy thing and the new molly.
I wasn't interested in the breeding side of things, just keeping them alive was all i've wanted and for t hem to be happy and loved.
Thanks xxx
Originally posted 38 months ago.
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♥Jules♥ . edited this topic 38 months ago.
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hi getthebubbles..
i had no luck with my tetras in the past also:(((
Posted 38 months ago.
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Don't give up! I know it is hard to deal with your fish dying but it might be that the fish were in bad health when you got them. You might want to read up on some fish sites on the internet to find out what kind of fish are hardy and have a long life span, and also check your water.
I have some kissy fish that I have had for a year now and some Angels that have gotten huge, they are about a year old also. Out of the blue 2 of my Angels died and I have 2 left. It was very sad and I know what you mean about giving up. But don't give up!
Also your tank needs to age and get some good bacteria going on.
Good Luck!!
Originally posted 38 months ago.
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princessangel edited this topic 38 months ago.
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Hi Julesangel,
Did you get a declorinator? If you put fish in water that hasn't had time to age (at least 24 hours), the fish will die from shock. If this is your first tank you should let the water sit without any fish for 4-7 days. Guppies and Platys are among the hardiest fish around so if they are dying almost immediately there is a good chance that the water is not aged enough for them to adapt to it. Also, if you add any rocks or driftwood that hasn't been sterilized in hot water you can kill the fish from the contamination and bacteria that natural items can carry. If you have just livebearing fish like Mollies, Guppies and Platys its a good idea to add a couple of tablespoons of salt to the water also. Don't overdo it though, and don't add salt water with tetras or angels if you get them. Tropical fish can be a joy once you get the hang of it. I have had neon tetras and guppies that lived 5 times as long as they are supposed to, but you have to learn what your fish like and don't like. Most pet stores sell decent aquarium books for starters that are not too expensive.
Originally posted 38 months ago.
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Dean_S edited this topic 38 months ago.
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~MrBones~ [deleted] says:
Hi julesangel
sorry to hear about your fish :(
I have found the hardiest tropical fish are platies and peppered corys ( catfish). Iv'e had platies come back from the brink of doom, and the peppered corys bred about 18 months ago, I have 3 babies from them that were reared in a seperate tank, they seem to breed easily and are very friendly fish. It's always best to quarantine fish when you first get them. Hope all goes well with any future additions to your tank.
Posted 38 months ago.
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Fish dying so quickly is usually because of already bad health of the brought fish, or bad water. Do you have a filter set up? A filter will allow a good place for bacteria to grow which neutralize harmful ammonia and nitrates created from left over food and fish waste. It usually takes a few weeks for a new filter set up to hold enough bacteria for a healthy tank environment.
Always add fish a few at a time. Too many fish at once will create too much waste which will over load a filter. Give the bacteria in the filter time to 'get used to' what fish you have, then add more.
"Anyway what was meant to be a fresh water set up, turned into a tropical one instead cause the fish place sold me the wrong fish!! grr"
Tropical fish are freshwater, they just need a heater to keep them warm. Different tropical fish need different temperatures, usually somewhere between 23C and 28C.
Always do your research before buying -any- fish. Some pet / Fish stores will tell you anything to get you to buy their products and animals. They will make money from your mistakes :(
Posted 38 months ago.
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Hi there, just been reading your not so good fishkeeping experience and wondered if you know about the Nitrogen cycle and cycling your tank at all as this maybe the reason you fish died, you mentioned ph but do you test for Ammonia, NitrIte and Nitrate too. if you wish to get more information then please log on to www.fishkeeping.co.uk/ and we will hopefully help you get over your bad experience and hen you can finally enjoy the fish hobby.
Originally posted 37 months ago.
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Goldy fk edited this topic 37 months ago.
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Ok well i would agree with everyone here about the guppy being the hardiest fish you can buy, not much else will survive where these happy critters cant.
I think as you are a newby to aquariums the whole buying kits to test for every pollutant under the sun may be over kill.
Nobody has mentioned yet about water changes, you should aim to do a minimum 20% water change every week, if you use tap water then you should leave it to stand for atleast 24 hours in an open top container to sweat off any chlorine, if you have an extra heater to place in the container during this process, all the better.
How are you putting the fish in the tank? are you just pouring them in or are you acclimatising them gradually, ie pouring in 500ml of aquairum water in to the bag until the bag is full and then releasing the fish.
You might also want to realease the fish without the aquarium lights on, and then keeping them off for a period of 24 hours after the fish has been released.
If you are already doing the above you might want to consider buying a fish mineral water treatment, this doses the fish with all the minerals it will need, and will stop the fish from becoming stressed.
It may be that this is not your fault but the dealers, it could be that the stock is diseased. You should never by a fish, if you see a dead fish in the same tank, or in the same bank of tanks(if they are all on the same filter unit).
There may be a problem with the food that you are using?
I would also agree with the breeding of the guppies, lets just say that rabbits have nothing on these little creatures, lol.
My experience with Guppies is that they are a hardy fish, your other fish which appears to be abristlenose plec is hardier, they are like roaches they just will not die. Guppy males tend to last a year, less if you buy them at store as they are already at full maturity, females last much longer.
I think insteadof trapping your parents you should just buy some plants for your fry to take refuge in, a floating plant such as riccia fluitins is ideal, or you can try something with plenty of foliage such as java fern. If you feed the parents well then there is no reason why they will go for their young.
also did you know some shrinks in the US recommend patients suffering from depression keep a tank of guppies to cheer them up!! They are such a happy fish.
Well i hope you get to the bottom of this mystery, hope i havent preached too much, but i am trying to cover all the basics, hate to see someone leave the hobby due to such an early setback.
If you are continuing to have problems provide more details such as tank size, filter material, lighting, frequency of water changes etc.
Good luck!
Regards, A.
Posted 36 months ago.
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I am starting a new tank now. www.funfishtank.com
I'll be starting my tank by "fishless cycling". You simulate fish waste and can add as many fish as you want once the fish tank is cycled.
It sounds like your water parameters were possibly bad. What were ammonia levels at?
Posted 36 months ago.
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hi guys...
since you all wrote that....
ive cycled water, tested ph again ..tried nearly everthing you al suggested(thanks by the way)
Ive been still to scared...to get more fish...
I've still got that original plaite!!!! can u believe!!
ive lost my loachy thing recently :(
thanks for all the trouble you guys went to write up so much info/advice for me and to you also funfishtank(i'll look at that link after :)
heres a pic of that original fish and the molly, who has been very tuff as well and has lasted ages!!(altho the molly was very weird when i got it and was over hypo in the beginning and was freaking me out! LOL
Posted 36 months ago.
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In regards to what "Funfishtank" has to say, I disagree. Whether you cycle fishy or fishless does not affect how many fish you can add at once after they cycling process is complete.
If you add a fish, the wastes produced are converted into ammonia, then nitrite, then nitrates. Adding x fish to the tank increases the amount of wastes by x almost instantly, whereas the bacteria that break down the wastes from toxic ammonia to tolerable nitrates take longer - a few days.
This is why you can only add a few fish at a time. If you add 10 fish at once, they will die from ammonia poisoning. You must give the nitrifying bacteria colonies time to catch up with the bioload of the new fish.
Jules, could you provide some more information about your setup? # of gallons, filter used, etc.?
Originally posted 36 months ago.
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luke_rossknecht edited this topic 36 months ago.
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Right mrbigmuscles. You can either add fish slowly to the tank to cycle it, or use ammonia to cycle the tank, and add as many fish as you want at once after it has cycled.
I prefer the latter method.
Posted 34 months ago.
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Sorry to jump on this so late, but I'm surprised nobody has mentioned danios as a tough fish... my first tank had a bunch of zebra danios (the short fin kind), and a couple guppies, I swear I made every mistake in the book and managed to kill the guppies pretty quickly, but the danios WOULD NOT DIE. They're not particularly colorful or anything, but they school prettily and are a good fish to practice on as they're so hard to kill.
Posted 34 months ago.
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unkld [deleted] says:
I agree with Driggs Family about Dainos Guppys are Not that hardy my Zebra Danios went thru some bad times with me and lived thru them not so with tetra's Cardinals are almost like Neons but brighter in color Angels will eat most anything smaller than them Enjoy your tank
Originally posted 33 months ago.
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unkld edited this topic 33 months ago.
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As an interesting bit of trivia, they recently discovered that zebra danios can regenerate heart muscle. Now that is a tough little fish. And you're right, tetras are kind of sensitive, although undemanding once your tank is well established. Just can't put them in until your water parameters are pretty much ideal.
Posted 33 months ago.
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Here's a freshwater fish compatibility chart that may be handy in helping you decide suitable tank mates.
Cheers!
Posted 32 months ago.
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And I thought I was the only one having this problem. I have a 59 gallon aquarium tank and also noticed that everytime I added any new fish, they would end up dieng within a few weeks. The fish that were already in the aquarium(giant Danio, Chinese Algae Eater, zebra danio, yo-yo loach, glass catfish seemed to do fine.
Water tests indicated no problems with the water, my two filters are working fine and at peak efficiency, and the temperature is fine. Here are some of the things, some pet stores told me.
(1) Place a little bit of salt everytime I add new fish. That did not work.
(2) Change the water every week 25-50%. That did not work.
(3) Addtional oxygentation of the tank through the use of airstones/special tubing. I have set up a curtain of bubbles using an airpump and special tubing. It is too early to tell.
(4) Placing additional cover for the new purchased fish by putting in additional plants when the fish are placed in the aquarium. The idea is that old fish being highly territorial may be chasing around and stressing out the new fish. Giving the new fish additional hidinging places may prevent them from becoming over stressed and dieing.
I have just purchased a school of 3 BlackSkirt Tetras which have a reputation for being superhardy and the most compatible with other tropical fish. I believe that solutions 3 and 4 may hold the key to this mystery but it is too early to tell. I am just in the process of purchasing the additional plastic plants. It seems the giant Danio has already begun chasing the Black Skirts around and they are definitely going to need additional hiding places. I will repost after a few months and let everyone know what happened.
Posted 30 months ago.
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how do you acclimatize the fish? do you give them an hour with a little tank water every 20mins?
i'd assume all deaths in this thread are from shock or toxic levels of nitrates; but no water info.
Posted 30 months ago.
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attack11. I acclimatize the fish by floating the bag they came with in my aquarium water for about 30 minutes, with a little tank water every 10 minutes. Another pet store suggested that the fish deaths may be due to the higher than ideal PH level of my aquarium water, and they suggested acclimatizing the fish with the bag and little tank water every 10 minutes over a period of several hours. The 3 Black Skirt Tetras that I purchased that I only acclimitized for 30 minutes are still alive and kicking and appear to be thriving.
I have tested the water before and after the fish deaths and have been told by the petstores that the water is perfectly fine, with the exception of one pet store that told me that the PH level of 7.8-7.9 was much higher than ideal.
Originally posted 30 months ago.
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aquairst edited this topic 30 months ago.
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that's ideal for cichlids and getting close to the ideal saltwater range :)
you should try to get it down to around 7.0 naturally, do you know the kh and gh?
Posted 30 months ago.
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julesangel,
I know it can be very frustrating at time! Hang in there. I have some questions:
1. How big is your aquarium?
2. Do you have a heater?
3. What kind of filter do you have?
4. What temperature are you keeping your tank? For these fish, try to keep the temp at about 77-78 degrees F.
Platies can be great fish-if you get healthy ones. A lot of them come from the store sick.( a lot of fish do in general) Once you get some healthy males and females, you will never have a shortage, as they have babies frequently.
Platy info: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_platyfish
The same goes for guppies. Do not buy more male guppies than female ones, becuase the males will harass the females to death if they outnumber them. Once you get the Guppy population going, they can make for a lively tank. I have found that if you try to keep guppies and platies together, not only will you be overwhelmed with babies, the guppies may harass the more calm platies.
Guppy info: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guppy
Your "Loach-thing" was not a loach at all, but a Pleco. Plecos are great peaceful algae eaters. After you get things sorted out, you may want to try antoher Pleco. They are vegetarians, and you must give them their own food in case they aren't getting enough nutrition form the amount of algae in the tank. A good way to do this is to put in a few leaf of lettuce or a very thin slice or apple or mango once or twice a week. You can get a "veggie-clip" that attaches to the inside tank glass with a suction cup for this.
It is a good idea to have a separate small tank for the purpose of quarrantining new fish you get before you put them into your main tank. Buy just a couple at a time, and keep them separate from your "main" tank for a week or two before adding them to the big tank. This helps weed out the many fish that are sick when you bring them home.
What is the Ph of your tank? You said that you tested it, but not what it was. Try to keep it around 7-7.5 if possible. If your Ph comes from the faucet at some strange number, then you should try to pick fish that are suited to whatever that is. The platies and guppies like the Ph to be a bit above 7, and the Pleco likes the Ph to be a bit below 7, so if your Ph goes too far in either direction, it could cause a problem with one type of fish or another.
It may be a good idea to pick one type of fish to keep a tank of for now. Platies would be a good peaceful option, but as I said earlier, it may take some false starts to get a good healthy group going.
Posted 30 months ago.
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I also wanted to add:
You mentioned that you had a molly in this tank too. Did you add any salt to the water? If you did, the Platie might be able to handle it, but the Pleco would not have tolerated the salt so well. Also, if you did add salt for the Molly, was it regular table salt? It is a bad idea to add regular iodized salt or salt with anit-clumping agents in it to an aquarium. Only pure salt. Read labels.
That being said, since you do not have mollies right now, _if_ you had added salt, do a 50% water change before you add any more fish.
On the topic of water changes... Do you do them? how much/often? If you live in a city with treated water, be sure you are using a de-chlorinator on your water that removes both chlorine and chloramine.
Posted 30 months ago.
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I wanted to say that, once you get a tank stable, with a few fish, and add a few more, all will probably be ok. You still need the weekly routine of replacing 20% or 25% of the tank water with new water that has been treated for chlorine + chloramine (cities in the US add the second chem - and it doesn't age out like chlorine does in 24 hrs.) I have used Prime, made by Seachem for a few years for treatment.
I also use warm, not cold replacement water to match aquarium temp. I sometimes even check temps with a thermometer to make sure I am not adding much colder or warmer water. Rapid changes (I think 2 hours of slow change has been ok -any comments out there?) of anything in the water (temp, pH, softness/hardness) can kill your fish.
Finally, guppys, platys, molies like slightly salty, slightly alkaline water. They can live in brackish water drainage ditches in far S. Florida. Molies were around in ditches when I was a kid in 1950 in Ft. Lauderdale - probably still are.
Posted 29 months ago.
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DEAD FISH NO MORE.
I think that I had parasites in my water. After carefully watching the fish that died, I noticed that some that a few hours to a day before passing away, they would occasionally scratch against plant decorations or gravel. Adding salt did not solve the problem. I had thought about setting up quarantine tank for newly purchased fish and to quarantine them for up to 3 weeks before introducing them into my main tank in order to prevent the spread of parasites and endanger my other fish. Of course the other problem was that by now I suspected that the parasite contamination of my tank had already occured given the introduction of diseased fish. To be sure, I would have had to take my tank apart, disinfect with a mild bleach solution and start all over again, with the nitrogen cycle taking anywhere from 3-9 weeks to complete. Given that this was far more time than what I was prepared to invest in this, I finally opted to purchase a UV sterilizer. So far no deaths and the sterilizer has been on 24/7 for a few weeks. This may not prevent the death of newly purchased diseased fish but at least I can rest easy knowing that I there will be minimal if any risk of parasites from diseased fish becoming water borne and contaminating my tank.
For anyone else who has unexplained fish deaths, you should note that if the deaths are due to diseased fish with a parasite infecton, a normal water test that tests for PH ammonia, hardness, nitrites, nitrates, etc., will not detect microscopic(deadly) parasites that may become water borne and gain a foothold in your aquarium thereby endangering all your fish. Just something to consider.
I am in no way suggesting that the addition of a ultraviolet sterilizer is a substitute for small weekly water changes, adequate stocking, avoidance of overfeeding and water tests from time to time to ensure normal chemical parameters. I was only suggesting this as and additional measure and something to look at if you are doing all the things that make for healthy aquarium keeping and your water "chemistry" checks out fine, but you seem to suffer mysterious fish deaths.
Originally posted 29 months ago.
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aquairst edited this topic 29 months ago.
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Hi. Sorry you have been having a run of bad luck. Qaurenteen is a good idea, generaly a common problem with new fish is Flukes and that shows signs of scratching and flicking aswell.
Also when you tests your water you need to test your Amonia, Nitrite and nitrates, these are very important, esp when just starting out. My friend has just took a load of Molly fry off me and they died with in 6 hours!! Everything was bang on right and we couldnt figure out whay so she took some more and they died! She then tried zebra danios and they died. It turned out her brand new heater was faulty and thermostat broke which caused rapid drop in temp then a sudden boost in temp to real hot!
I always had problme keeping coldwater fish alive but since going onto tropical fish ive had huge success, I lost 1 neon tetra today ewhich was sudden death and unexplained, maybe just old.
I started my tank with 2 mollies, then added more slowly over time. I have mollies, blue ram, penguin tetras, cory pandas and clown loaches aswell as my neon tetras.
Can i add, that picture of your loach thingy doesnt look like a loach to me, it looked more like a plec and with the colours you decribed a Gibby plec maybe.
I hope you get more luck. By the way, I still have those 2 original mollies I started with lol.
Posted 27 months ago.
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