Help

[qtchick02]

hi every1!!! im so clueless bout everything .... i've read up on wat to do and everything but still feel like im not doing this right? just so confused ... please help me!!

well lemmie fill u guys in how i've started ....
me and my boyfriend went shopping 4 a aquarium for me and i decided i wanted to have tropical fish! bought a AR-380 TANK which came has a filter and light already and took the tank home also bought the heater and stess zyme and stress coat and gravel. got it set up cleaned the gravel set the heater to 26 degrees and let it all run until i got the fish. the next day we went looking around the stores at fish to decide which ones i wanted. i think on thursday we went into another store and they told us to get this bottle of Cycle which is bacteria or sumthing? and put that in ... but i want to know if this Cycle liquid is the same as the stress zyme. i have all these bottles of stuff and i don'y even know if i got ripped off and if i need it all ... i am so confused with these chemicals and stuff ...anyways ... i put the stress zyme (API brand) in on tuesday, stress coat (API brand) on tuesday, cycle (nutrafin brand) on thursday and some Tap Water Conditoner (API brand) on thursday in according to the directions on the bottle .... did i do this right or wrong?

but wait theres more .... we bought new fish on the sunday (therefore the tank has been running for practically 5 days) ... we got 4 male gupy's ... and bought JBL Novo Bel staple food for all tropical fish. brought it home and i added some cycle and some stress coat because i was putting fish in .... do i do this everytime i add new fish? coz i have been ...

coz the next day i bought 2 more male guppy's a fighting fish and 2 of these little one's which eat any food lying on the gravel and any food floating around. and added cycle again ...

and today which is tuesday i bought a tiny tiny angel fish and a Widow black Longfinned and put them in my tank ...

did i put in too many fish at the one time??
will my fish die?
i'm so scared because my boyfriend got it for our 2 years anniversary and i dun want to disappoint him ...
please help! i am desperate!
am i doing things right or wrong? how can i fix this and improve this ... ?
if this doesnt make sense and i've confused any1 that can potentially help me please dont hesitate to bug me!!
\
thank u so so so so much in adveance!!![/color][/color]

 

[merry78]

Hiya, welcome to the forum!

Ok, bad news i'm afraid......

....your tank (i have the same one, an AR 380) is waaaaayyyyyyy too small for what you have in it. The best thing you can do is just keep your male guppies and nothing else-
DEFINITELY not the fighter (he will flog the guppies, which will lead to stress, leading to diseases like finrot and whitespot) and the filter current in the AR 380 is too strong for him- he wont be happy,
DEFINITELY not the angel- the tank is way too small for an angel, even though the angel seems small now, it just wont fit in your tank.
You can try and keep the corys if you are set on it, but you are better off taking them back too- they are compatible with your guppies, but the tank will be overcrowded!

You don't need any of the products that they sold you except for every fishkeepers best friend, the dechlorinator!

Your tank is not cycled (research cycling on this site, here (click me) and check out this bit for general info:click me
This (the cycling info above) will probably horrify you, but the short answer to all your problems is water changes....2 or 3 times daily, 30% or so at a time. Just treat some tapwater with your dechlor and replace some tankwater with the new water.

so, in short:

1. you need to get the fighter and angel out of your tank, pronto.
2. You need to know about cycling
3. You need to do stacks of water changes for the next few weeks
4. When you've done all that, relax and enjoy your lovely tank and beautiful guppies!!!

don't worry, if you follow the beginner's resource info in the links you will be fine!
Welcome again, and don't forget to post any questions or concerns you may have as you go along, everyone here is really nice and will try to help.

 

[qtchick02]

i can get rid of the fishting fish but i really want to keep the angel and the cory's ... i was thinking that i'll get the angel out wen it starts bothering the others or wen its a bit bigger ... i asked miss wiggle to help me with the cycle but im so scared i wont do it right ... coz i cant get any mature media ... and i don't want to give my fish away ... do u think thats possible to do? because i asked her too ...

thank u so much for replying me!

Hiya, welcome to the forum!

Ok, bad news i'm afraid......

....your tank (i have the same one, an AR 380) is waaaaayyyyyyy too small for what you have in it. The best thing you can do is just keep your male guppies and nothing else-
DEFINITELY not the fighter (he will flog the guppies, which will lead to stress, leading to diseases like finrot and whitespot) and the filter current in the AR 380 is too strong for him- he wont be happy,
DEFINITELY not the angel- the tank is way too small for an angel, even though the angel seems small now, it just wont fit in your tank.
You can try and keep the corys if you are set on it, but you are better off taking them back too- they are compatible with your guppies, but the tank will be overcrowded!

You don't need any of the products that they sold you except for every fishkeepers best friend, the dechlorinator!

Your tank is not cycled (research cycling on this site, here (click me) and check out this bit for general info:click me
This (the cycling info above) will probably horrify you, but the short answer to all your problems is water changes....2 or 3 times daily, 30% or so at a time. Just treat some tapwater with your dechlor and replace some tankwater with the new water.

so, in short:

1. you need to get the fighter and angel out of your tank, pronto.
2. You need to know about cycling
3. You need to do stacks of water changes for the next few weeks
4. When you've done all that, relax and enjoy your lovely tank and beautiful guppies!!!

don't worry, if you follow the beginner's resource info in the links you will be fine!
Welcome again, and don't forget to post any questions or concerns you may have as you go along, everyone here is really nice and will try to help.

 

[charlie4486]

more bad news. angel fish aren't the hardiest fish around and might not make it through the high ammonia and nitrite spikes that your tank is going to go through in the next 4-6 weeks. i would give the angels away. it would be much more sad if they died. and like merry said, all you really need is dechlorinator. Hope this helps.

p.s.
Don't try and keep the angel till it gets bigger. if you keep it in an undersized/overcrowded tank, the damage will have already been done by the time it starts to get too big. a tank that small keeps a lot of the hormones in it that stunt a fish's growth. it happens a lot and can make a fish very unhealthy and unhappy.

 

[charlie4486]

I just read some of your other post. Please stop adding fish. the tetra is a great starter fish(keep 4 and lose everything else). they are hardy enough to survive through the cycling period with no problem. just keep doing your regular water changes and stop adding the cycling treatment. the tank will cycle on its own with the fish you have in it. just know that it might take up to 8 weeks for it to completely cycle, and it is very important that you be patient and wait the eight weeks. buy a test kit that at leat tests the nitrites ammonia and nitrates. Keep an eye on them, and if they get too hight just do more frequent water changes.

 

[rocknurworld2006]

I just read some of your other post. Please stop adding fish. the tetra is a great starter fish(keep 4 and lose everything else). they are hardy enough to survive through the cycling period with no problem. just keep doing your regular water changes and stop adding the cycling treatment. the tank will cycle on its own with the fish you have in it. just know that it might take up to 8 weeks for it to completely cycle, and it is very important that you be patient and wait the eight weeks. buy a test kit that at leat tests the nitrites ammonia and nitrates. Keep an eye on them, and if they get too hight just do more frequent water changes.

i wouldn.t add tetra's if your tank is only been going a week as they require 3 months maturation. i made that mastake and added after a week and they all died! i would keep platys and guppies as they are nice fish and are very hardy especially platies as these can be added within the first week
regards chris

 

[Reeses22]

hey welcome to TFF!!!!

I'm pretty new too. And these ppl know what there talkin about so listen to them even if u really want to keep yur fish. You defi. added a lot of fish right away and i keep angels and yurs is not goin to be happy for long in that small of a tank. Your goin to get "gallonitis" meaning yur goin to keep wanting more fish and a bigger tank. I'd take the tank back and get a bigger one or sadly give the others away and just keep the guppies.

P.S. You came to the right place for help I've already learned so much from here.

cArLy