Am I the worst fish keeper here?

[Tenko]

Go to feed my fish 1/2 hour ago and my female neon blue doesn't appear. I find her dead, tail up amongst the plants. I've checked her over, absolutely no signs of disease or injury, just dead.

My list of deceased fish grows longer, am I the worst fish keeper here? Bear in mind that I've only kept fish for about 6 weeks.

1 guppy (possibly caused by nitrite 0.3, 2 days after buying him)
1 bristlenose catfish (dropsy, day after buying him (got refund))
6 cardinal tetras (murdered by black widow tetras)
1 dwarf neon gourami (suicide? willed herself to death?)

Possibly have to add 2 more guppies who are suffering the effects of a black widow tetra attack, unless the medication sorts them out.

I would give up, but I've already spent about £400 on the set up!

 

[babyfish]

Can you tell us what your tank water parameters are?
Might help to narrow it down a bit

 

[Sanj]

Well it is a learning curve.

Neon rainbows? If thats what you have, they tend to prefer being in shoals with their own kind and other rainbow speacies. I have read about apparently healthy fish dieing off and i have had simialr experiances with my own neon Rainbows when i had them and i dont now.


It is hard to know what you are doing because we dont know everything you do with regards to looking after your fish. However considering you are very new to fishkeeping there is a lot of learning to do. I am 28 started whe nI was 10, lapsed for a few years when at uni and started again.

 

[rsz]

fish dying happens to alot of us - your tank might not be established properly - just stick at it and soon your tank will be ok, I'm sure of it.


Believe me, there are people on this forum who've had much worse experiences and now they have wonderful tanks

 

[Tenko]

I've posted under the gourami section here about the gourami death, thought I'd better mention that to prevent me having duplicate threads.

At the lfs the gouramis were called Dwarf Neon Gouramis and were sold in pairs. Shame she died, they seem very gentle and timid. Lately every time I go to the tank I don't look at it to enjoy the fish, I look at it to see if they're all alive. That's not what keeping fish is supposed to be about.

You're right about learning. I read 3 books before I got the tank but still knew nothing. Thank god for this forum! Nothing can beat experience, but the experience of others comes a close second.

 

[Sanj]

Ah Gouramis, I should have read your signiature.

They can be shy and timid when other more boisterous fish around, however you do not seem to have that situation. I think it is most liley to be related to new tank issues.

Dont give up, these things happen, but you will reap the benefits and provide a good home for several fish.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi Tenko

Please don't feel bad about your lost fish, and DON'T even think about giving up.

Keeping fish is not the easiest thing to do and anyone who is honest will have stories to tell about the problems they ran into when they were starting out. Even experienced fishkeepers are apt to lose fish when a disease that they have not encountered before appears. It happens.

Fortunately, you are among friends who will give you all the help and advice and understanding they can. Just keep asking questions and trying different things and soon you will have an established tank with good, strong, healthy fish.

That's quite an accomplishment, after all!

 

[Tenko]

To be honest I don't think I could give up if I tried, although my cat would like the extra attention! I wouldn't want to write £400 off and I've always been fascinated with fish and aquariums.

I guess I'm just a bit impatient at the moment and I hate having pets die. They may not be furry and can't curl up on your lap but their lives mean just as much as any other pet.

Got a lot on at the moment too, it's a juggling act trying to keep them alive and treat their injuries while doing uni work. Deadline at noon tomorrow, still only 1/4 though the assignment! This forum is a very welcome distraction.

 

[Adrinal]

First and same advice from my little world to yours and all new starters...
Hmm I need to do the link thing too...
I don't even get fish till 6 weeks after a tank is up.

Take it slow.

Only one spiecies at a time!

In between read lots, look lots.. and at first testing is great.


Learn all about your water in your tap (less you are using RO water wich ROCKs).


Have fun..
did I say take it slower?

 

[Eleonora]

Geeze, you must have vicious Black Widow's. I've got Black widows and neon tetra's living in a community tank same size as yours and they're fine. The Black widows don't go near the neons. But then I have lots of caves and tunnel which the neons absolutely love. Maybe you need more hiding places.

 

[Tenko]

did I say take it slower?

Couldn't agree more. I had the tank running for 3 weeks, planted, and adding flake food to start the cycle. Unfortunately it's really difficult to buy ammonia in the UK as we're all potential bath-tub bomb making terrorists, so I had to make do with flakes.

It got the cycle started though, ammonia had spiked at 0.1 and nitrite was spiking at 0.3 (the highest it's been). I've only added a max of 6 fish at a time, and they were small ones. The way I see it, if I had to expose them to ammonia and nitrite, best make it tiny amounts. I've not had any readable amounts of ammonia or nitrite since due to adding small amounts of fish every 10 days or so. I've had no nitrate either come to think of it but the tank is heavily planted.

I was in the lfs and some woman was shouting at the staff because her fish had died, she'd spent about £40 on a tank full. I didn't know who was more at fault, her for fully stocking her tank before it had cycled or the lfs for selling her the fish to start with.

Actually, this was the same lfs I got the last batch from. Perhaps I should have shown a bit more caution and not taken their advice. I thought I was getting too much but was assured it would be fine. I took half of them back a few days later.

Geeze, you must have vicious Black Widow's

They were little b*st*rds. Took over the tank completely, terrorised and killed the cardinals, bit the guppies, but apart from that were nice as pie.

 

[Cheese Specialist]

I have being going through a bad time with my fsh recently, but never give up! Only those who don't want to keep fish should not do so.

When there's a will there's a way and we are all learning...

that's what I tell myself anyway.

 

[my_fallen_angel]

I think we all know that it gets hard sometimes.
but dont give up!!

 

[Shizat]

RSZ and Adrinal are right your tank is probably still going through the cycling process and you are bummed out because your fish are dying and you just started this hobby. I see people like you every day at work, you just need to go out and read a lot about keeping fish and especially water paramaters on what they should be for the type of fish that you want to keep in your aquarium.

 

[Sasha]

I know how you feel Tenko! This month I've lost more than half of my fish due to some unknow cause.

Here's a list of my fish that died after this crisis:
2 guppies
5 black mollies
2 swordtails
1 balloon molly
1 African Frog (he got caught in the filter...sadest thing I ever saw! )

I hope everything turns out fine!