5 Gallon Tank With Too Many Fish!

[spilla]

Thanks for the tips. I've just remembered that I have a 20+ gallon plastic tub lying around somewhere. I'm thinking I'll use that while I get things sorted. Some more questions:

1. Should I be using rainwater, or mains water (which has flouride and lots of other crap in it)? I've got some water conditioner and biological cleaner stuff.

2. I've only got 1 Guppy left now, so should I put that in the 3g tank by itself?

3. Do I need to put any substrate (gravel/sand) in the 3g and the big tub? Or will they live fine without?

4. Do the fish I have remaining all need to be heated, or will they live for a while in a tank that's a bit cooler? (It has been pretty warm here lately, so they won't get too cold)

Once again, thanks for the help.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

ok a 20g tub is a great start, much better than the little tank!

1 - it depends a little bit on where in the world you are, but most places tapwater is perfectly safe to use providing you use dechlorinator.

2 - can you list for us now what fish you have left, it's a little hard to follow, then we can advise you who should go where

3 - fine without, it'll probably be better without as you can then see when there's waste that needs cleaning up and get rid of it, bare bottom tanks are easier to keep clean, people often do it for hospital/quarantine/fry tanks

4 - all the tropicals need to be heated, the comet's it depends on how warm your house is, i believe they should be kept around 21oC (although i may be wrong, i don't keep coldwater fish myself)

 

[spilla]

Ok, I've got:

2 x Comet
2 x Zebra Danio
2 x Black Widow Tetra
1 x Guppy

 

[Amunet]

They'll be fine without any gravel.
Also if you have any clean buckets.. thoroughly rinsed if you've used them before... you could also stick some fish in that as well.

Really hope some of your fish will pull through!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

put the comets in the 20g and leave the trops in the 5g, then you've got coldwater and tropical seperate at least

read through this post about cycling with fish as this is almost certainly what you are doing now.

you'll still need to re-think what fish you keep and what you re-home and how you go about it, but taking the advice from that link should keep things clean and safe for your fish until you make your descisions.

let us know if there's anything you don't understand

 

[Rhiannon]

Omg I cant believe all of these poor innocent fish have died..

I made the mistake of putting a couple of fish in while cycling, because the LFS told me it was ok, and those fish died, but it was only 2 fish, not a whole heap. And I felt bad with 2 fish, you must feel shocking with that amount of fish dying.

My advice to you is take the members on this forums advice.

 

[miltiadis_s]

hey rhiannon i live in aus too and i cant find pure ammonia.. how did u cycle ur tank?

 

[Dutchie]

From one Ozzie to another, Miss Wiggle is spot on.

Miss Wiggle, and other members on this forum have saved my soul from damnation on put me on the right path to Fishy Redemption.........

Dont worry mate, I've made the same mistake few months back and now the proud owner of 2 tanks (larger one is being delivered in a couple of days).....

Cycle the tanks as per Miss Wiggles hyperlink and you'll be well on your way.....

 

[miltiadis_s]

yehh well my prob is no pure ammonia ... flakes wont work how else can i cycle it

 

[sarena_rye]

If you do a cycle WITH fish included you won't need the pure ammonia Danios are a hardier species and usually do well in a tank cycling. Since you can't get ahold of pure ammonia a fish included cycle is the way you'll likely have to go as I don't know of any other way to get the ammonia you'd need otherwise.

 

[Amunet]

From wht I understand.. you can place a chunk of raw shrimp or a piece of raw fish (the kind we eat) into your tank and let it decay. I've read that this is a way to cycle a tank so *shrugs* Might be worth checking out and reading up on if you can't find any ammonia.

 

[Rhiannon]

hey rhiannon i live in aus too and i cant find pure ammonia.. how did u cycle ur tank?

Well I had no clue about cycling so I had a couple of fish in it that kept dying until I came on here and found out what cycling was.

But I didnt know to use pure amonia, I would just let my next tank cycle for a month before I put fish in and I would also use the decaying shrimp/prawn method. But if you do that, it stinks when you take it out (I feed it to my bristlenose and its so yuk), so be prepared for a nasty smell.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

if you've no ammonia you can fishless cycle with prawns or fish food. however as i'm sure you can understand it's nigh on impossible to measure exactly how much fish food will take you up to 5ppm ammonia so it's really a case of trial and error, it's likely to take a good while longer but it should still work.

 

[spilla]

Ok, I've filled up the 30g tub about 3/4 full, put some water conditioner and bio-helper, and transferred the Comets over. They look fine, and I put a fake plant and an ornament for the to hide in. I set the air pump up with an air stone to create some movement in the water.

Should I put the Black Widow Tetras in with the Comets? The lady at the LFS told me that these were cold water fish, but I wasn't sure, so I kept them in the 5g.

Is there anything I should be doing right now? I'm still trying to figure out what I'm going to be doing with them all, but hopefully I'll figure something out soon.

Edit: I forgot to mention, in the 5g, one of the Tiger Barbs seems to be very aggressive with the other one. One is more orange, and this is the one that is being aggressive. The other one appears to have little bits taken out of it's tail and fins, so I'm getting worried that it's going to be killed. Should I be doing something about this?

 

[mark.w.jones]

You have got to get those tiger barbs re homed asap or living in isolation. They are a nightmare if you don't have at least 8 and a really big tank to house them in. Not at all suitable for your current situation. If you try doing anything else with them they will probably attack whatever you house them with. Sorry