New To Tropical Fish

Hi, I have recently purchased a Aqua one fish tank pump and heater which i was told to fill up with water leave for a week then put fish in, To which we did, we added 3 glass fish, then a week later 5 fan tailed guppies, and then 2 small angel fish, we have done part water changes but have had 3 guppies die and 1 glass fish, Can anyone help???/ Thanks

Hi there steveandy; welcome to the forum

(gosh, lots of newbies today!)

Your problem is that your tank/filter aren't 'cycled' (that means growing a colony of good bacteria to supportthe fish by eating the ammonia they produce).

You now have a choice; continue doing a fish-in cycle, with the fish you have (hard work and you may lose more fish; some of which will have to be re-homed anyway, as they're just not suitable for the size of tank you have, I'm afraid) or return all the fish and do a fishless cycle,

There are very good articles on both methods in the beginner's resource centre ( the link is in my sig), so have a read and post back with the next thing you need help with :0

How big is the tank, btw? (lenght x width x height, btw, not litres )

fluttermoth said:

Hi there steveandy; welcome to the forum

(gosh, lots of newbies today!)

Your problem is that your tank/filter aren't 'cycled' (that means growing a colony of good bacteria to supportthe fish by eating the ammonia they produce).

You now have a choice; continue doing a fish-in cycle, with the fish you have (hard work and you may lose more fish; some of which will have to be re-homed anyway, as they're just not suitable for the size of tank you have, I'm afraid) or return all the fish and do a fishless cycle,

There are very good articles on both methods in the beginner's resource centre ( the link is in my sig), so have a read and post back with the next thing you need help with :0

How big is the tank, btw? (lenght x width x height, btw, not litres )

Click to expand...

Not sure of exact sizing but have posted picture of it.

That tank is far too small for the angels (which can easily grow to a foot, top to bottom) and probably for the glass fish; are they the glass catfish, Kryptopterus bicirrhis or Indian glass fish, Chanda ranga?

fluttermoth said:

That tank is far too small for the angels (which can easily grow to a foot, top to bottom) and probably for the glass fish; are they the glass catfish, Kryptopterus bicirrhis or Indian glass fish, Chanda ranga?

Click to expand...

not sure of name or type put a picture on as really this new to fish not got a clue really, took advice off the shop who told me that those fish would be fine for the tank,,, what can i do???

in an ideal world, take all the fish back and cycle your tank from scratch. the angels fish certainly need to go back.

rule numero uno - dont trust the fish shop, 95% of them just want a sale out of you.

what can i do, my little girl is getting upset because they are dying!!!!!

Lots of water changes, with warm, dechlorinated water; it's the ammonia in the fish pee that's killing them; you need to get it out.

You can drain as much water out as to leave the fish just enough to swim upright; don't forget to swtich heater and filter off as they musn't be alowed to run dry.

If you can take the glass fish and the angels back to the shop now (tell your little girl they need to live in a bigger house!) it'll make things much easier.

Get a tst kit for ammonia while you're there, and do a big water change any time you see the ammonia go above zero.

how do i dechlorinate the water, what do i need to buy, what you suggest i do with the angel fish???

Step one: do a large water change with a good dechlorinator - step two: buy a water test kit - step three: read the thread on fish in cycling that you can find by clicking the link at the bottom of fluttermoth's posts

good luck!

edit: fluttermoth answered while I was typing Prime is a good dechlorinator

Take them back to the shop (if they don't want them back, make a fuss; they shouldn't have sold them to you for a tank that size)

You should have a bottle of dechlorinator; most of those tanks come with one; it'll be called 'tap safe' or something like that; you just put the right amount of drops in and it forces the chlorine to gas off; if you don't have any, you can use boiled water (let it cool first, obviously!) until you can get some; it's the most important thing in fishkeeping; even more important than food!

Dechlorinating the water:
Buy a bottle of decholriniator (i use Prime as it has a good rep and also locks away heavy metals etc which aren't good)
Remove the water for your water change (see below)
Add the amount of decholrinator for your tank volume (measure the inside dimentions vol = length x width x height)
Refil the tank to the old level with water which is roughly the same temp as the existing tank water

Removing the water:
Set up a syphon - you can buy gravel cleaners which you pump up and down to set it up, you can suck on a tube till you get water out (below the level of the tank, you can get motorised ones or you can just feed a tube all the way into the tank to that it fills with water and put your thumb over the end and withdraw it from the tank till the end is below the height of the tank and then remove your thumb - water will then flow under gravity.
Whilst the water is running out of the tub use the end which is in the tank to poke around in the gravel (if you have sand swirl it around above the sand) to collect all the fish poo (mulmn) which will not be helping your fish.
Don't worry that it stresses the fish - they'll get used to it and it's a darn sight less stressful than living in a sewer.
It's a good idea to clip the bucket end of the tube to the tub else you might end up with a messy floor

Lots of water changes will be needed whilst doing a fish in cycle - you're going to get slick at this Where are you in the country (which country) it might help if someone is local.

Good luck - this place will be with you all the way

Miles
PS +1 for returning the the Angle fish - I was truly shocked when the (extreemly good) local fish shop demonstrated how large they get!!