I Plan On Re-Doing My Tank.

[FWFishLover]

For Christmas I Was Blessed With An Aquarium (20g) It Came With A Filter And Heater. I Had Gotten Fish The Next Day And Setup Too. Since Then Two Of My Fish Have Died.
I HAD
1 Swordtail
2 Yellow Lab Cichlids
1 Jewel
1 Featherfin Catfish
1 Angelfish
1 Black Lyretail Molly

Since Then The Molly And One Lab Have Died. I Put Up A Post Asking Why ("My Fish Are Killing Fish When Im Not Watching" In Tropical Discussions)
I Was Told Many Things Like My Ammonia Was Sky High And Poisoning Fish. And That The Jewel Was A Murder.
I Plan On Taking Back All My Fish (Except The Swordtail) And Starting A Livebearers/Poecilidae Tank.
Any Suggestions On Preparations And/Or Just Plain Why To Do This Or Why Not To. If You Think I Should Do Something Differently Tell Me Please.
Also How Can I SAFELY Take My Fish Back To The Store.

 

[waterdrop]

Hi there FWFishLover and welcome to TFF,

Sounds like you've got a full set of beginner learning needs there! Have a start reading some of the other beginner theads here in this subforum. Keep and eye out for links in the signature areas of some of our experienced users and you can click on them to read about the nitrogen cycle, the fishless cycle, the fish-in cycling situation and other tank setup articles in our Beginners Resource Center (the main link to our Beginners Resource Center that used to be at the top of the forum has mysteriously disappeared but if you find a link in someone's signature the articles are still there somewhere!)

Its nice that you received a 20g with filter and heater! Now you've been lucky again and stumbled upon one of the best learning places for new hobbyists you could find. The members here are great and will help you recover from all the mistakes you've described.

~~waterdrop~~
edit: the link to Beginners Resource Center has returned - thanks OM47!

 

[erk628]

I'm glad to see you have made the right decision. To take the fish back I would use the same bags they came in. If you don't have those you could ask your LFS for some. Once you have done this you will want to properly cycle you tank. While waiting for it to cycle it will give you time to do some research and make a list of the fish you want.

 

[OldMan47]

You can go to the Beginner's Resource Center, pinned at the top of this section to start reading up on cycling, especially fish-in cycling a filter. I have a link to it in my signature area, along with a link to the fish-in cycling thread. These are subjects that you really need to understand. I would suggest that you take back all of your fish if you can. That would allow you to do a fishless cycle on the tank which is much less work than doing a fish-in cycle. A large number of your fish are not compatible with each other and also require larger tanks than you have as they grow to maturity. People should not be bad mouthing you but giving constructive advice to help you gain an understanding of the hobby. Some of our best educated members knew very little when they were starting out and have grown to be quite accomplished in some area of the hobby. In the end, with only one or a small number of tanks, we all end up specializing in some area. My own love is wild type livebearers, but that means a separate tank for each species that you decide to keep. It is a way to get a lot of tanks in a hurry because who wants only a small number of species?