New Hobby

[becky0323]

We started a 20 gallon tropical tank for our 4 year old daughter. We have bought 7 neon tetras, 3 mickey mouse platys, an albino cory cat and have snails from live plants. I thought all was going as planned, until I saw a baby fish hiding in a plant. I honestly thought we had all male fish. How do we tell what sex of fish we do have and what needs to be done differently if there are babies? Honestly, I don't really think we wanted to have fish that were going to have babies. I guess I don't understand how things change now since we only have a 20 gallon tank. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[ALEXF]

first you might want to identify what kind of fish the baby is. because determining sex differs from fish to fish slighty (or so im lead to believe) if you can see it looks nothing like any of your other fish then it is possible that it was hiding in those plants with the snails. try to let us know what kind of fish that it is. but if i had to guess i would assume it is probably one of the mickey mouse platys.... unfortunately i dont know more but im sure someone will be able to help.

 

[waterdrop]

agreed, very probably the platys, although it is indeed possible it came in in a fish store bag unnoticed..

Great that you are the rare beginner family who chooses a 20G instead of a 10G (sorry if assumptions wrong here!) as you have plenty of volume for your situation. Personally, I refuse to have livebearers for exactly this reason - you quickly have all sorts of problems on your hands. One option is to let nature take its course by just leaving the baby in the tank (although with a 4-year old their could be some rough explaining to do!) Hopefully some members who like dealing with livebearers will come along with suggestions. The obvious thing you get into is having the livebearers fill your original tank capacity and you often also find people having to get extra tank setups for raising the young at the smaller stages.

By the way, welcome to TFF and hopefully you'll let us know if you are a newcomer to the hobby. One of the best things this forum has to offer newcomers is the knowledge of how to learn about and view water chemistry. Often when you are new to the hobby you haven't been exposed to the nitrogen cycle or how to properly prepare a biofilter and so are just in the short stage of new fish in a new tank that may be in danger of dying soon - sounds grim and is not always the case but its good for us to check!

Do you have a liquid-reagent based test kit? Were you able to fishless cycle the filter prior to introducing fish? These are the kinds of things you can learn about in the pinned articles and from the many fun members here.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[becky0323]

Thanks for the information. Yes, this is our first fish tank and we almost started with a 10 gallon and changed to the 20. I don't mind a few baby fish, but I am afraid as you said that they will fill the tank to capacity. I hope that our fish won't be dying soon, so any help would be greatly appreciated. I know we ran the tank for a week and then had the water checked at the pet store before we bought the first fish. We do not have a test kit, I asked at the store and he told us a test kit really wasn't necessary. And being beginners we took his advice. As I am sure the people in a chain store might not be the best of help.
So, again and help or advice would be appreciated.

agreed, very probably the platys, although it is indeed possible it came in in a fish store bag unnoticed..

Great that you are the rare beginner family who chooses a 20G instead of a 10G (sorry if assumptions wrong here!) as you have plenty of volume for your situation. Personally, I refuse to have livebearers for exactly this reason - you quickly have all sorts of problems on your hands. One option is to let nature take its course by just leaving the baby in the tank (although with a 4-year old their could be some rough explaining to do!) Hopefully some members who like dealing with livebearers will come along with suggestions. The obvious thing you get into is having the livebearers fill your original tank capacity and you often also find people having to get extra tank setups for raising the young at the smaller stages.

By the way, welcome to TFF and hopefully you'll let us know if you are a newcomer to the hobby. One of the best things this forum has to offer newcomers is the knowledge of how to learn about and view water chemistry. Often when you are new to the hobby you haven't been exposed to the nitrogen cycle or how to properly prepare a biofilter and so are just in the short stage of new fish in a new tank that may be in danger of dying soon - sounds grim and is not always the case but its good for us to check!

Do you have a liquid-reagent based test kit? Were you able to fishless cycle the filter prior to introducing fish? These are the kinds of things you can learn about in the pinned articles and from the many fun members here.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Miss Wiggle]

hi there and welcome to TFF

first port of call as waterdrp said is to learn some basics of water chemistry, it'll help you understand your fish's needs a bit better. a wise man once said 'we are not fish keepers, we are water keepers, keep your water happy and the fish will look after themselves' it's near enough true

this link goes through the basics of water chemistry and should help you get your head around the main levels and why we say you should test for them

http/www.fishforums.net/content/New-to-t...eady-have-fish/

how long has the tank been running?

i would say it's about 99% sure that the baby is a platy, it's fairly easy to sex platy's, what you look for is a gonipdium (sp) which basically looks like a little willy hanging down under the fish, here's a picture to explain. if it has one it's male, if it doesn't it's female. if you have females there's a fair chance that they were pregnant in the fish shop and then had the baby in your tank

 

[becky0323]

Thanks for the information, we will be sure to read about taking better care of the water. I didn't look at the link yet, but is there a certain test kit we should get? Also, thanks for the info showing how to tell are the males and females. So far the baby is still hiding in the plant and peeking out every so often. Will it come out to eat , or stay hidden in fear of the other fish?

hi there and welcome to TFF

first port of call as waterdrp said is to learn some basics of water chemistry, it'll help you understand your fish's needs a bit better. a wise man once said 'we are not fish keepers, we are water keepers, keep your water happy and the fish will look after themselves' it's near enough true

this link goes through the basics of water chemistry and should help you get your head around the main levels and why we say you should test for them

[URL="http/www.fishforums.net/content/New-to-t...eady-have-fish/"]http/www.fishforums.net/content/New-to-t...eady-have-fish/[/URL]

how long has the tank been running?

i would say it's about 99% sure that the baby is a platy, it's fairly easy to sex platy's, what you look for is a gonipdium (sp) which basically looks like a little willy hanging down under the fish, here's a picture to explain. if it has one it's male, if it doesn't it's female. if you have females there's a fair chance that they were pregnant in the fish shop and then had the baby in your tank

 

[waterdrop]

The most important thing about the test kit is that it be liquid-reagent based. The strips are not worth the paper they are printed on. There are about 11 companies making test kits but many of those specialize in salt water or other specialized things. The one I use and the most popular one here I think is the API Freshwater Master Test Kit. Hagen Nutrafin (mini-master kit) and RedSea make similar freshwater kits but neither of those has a Nitrate test, so you might have to get that separately later if you got one of those.

Once you find the kit, bring it home and learn how to use it by testing your tap water a couple of times. Establish a notebook for keeping logs and go ahead and record your tap measurements there.

For you, since you will have to do a fish-in cycle, it will be important to review good water change techniques. First, know your tap test measurements and know your tank measurements. Gravel cleaning should be done when you siphon water out in a water change. When you return water, it needs to be treated with the correct amount of dechlorination/dechloramination product and roughly temperature matched by testing with your hand. You'll need to make water changes whenever your tests detect ammonia or nitrite and until you trust that your filter is cycled you'll want to test morning and evening. If either of those levels is very high, you can make another water change as soon as an hour.

You can read about these water things not only in Miss Wiggles excellent article but also one by AlienAnna and some others in the Beginners Resource Center link. The more you start to learn about the nitrogen cycle, the better. Do searches and read lots of threads on TFF. Its fun and there's lots to learn. You'll find the platys somewhere in the species forums and folks there will probably know the best things about fry feeding stages.

Good Luck! ~~waterdrop~~
ps. by the way if you don't get any better answers, probably the baby platy will be large enough to take a little flake food crushed between your fingers - it would only need a minute amount.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Thanks for the information, we will be sure to read about taking better care of the water. I didn't look at the link yet, but is there a certain test kit we should get? Also, thanks for the info showing how to tell are the males and females. So far the baby is still hiding in the plant and peeking out every so often. Will it come out to eat , or stay hidden in fear of the other fish?

yeah i recommend the API fresh water master test kit, but as waterdrop said there are alternatives. what you need is a liquid based test kit for pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate.

how big is the baby at the moment?

 

[becky0323]

I am not sure of the baby fish is eating the food, but I do see it nibbling on the plants. It seems to be venturing out a little further away from the plant too. I am bad at making estimations, but the baby fish is about a 1/4 inch long.

We are going to get the API test kit tomorrow. Thanks again for all your help and suggestions.

Thanks for the information, we will be sure to read about taking better care of the water. I didn't look at the link yet, but is there a certain test kit we should get? Also, thanks for the info showing how to tell are the males and females. So far the baby is still hiding in the plant and peeking out every so often. Will it come out to eat , or stay hidden in fear of the other fish?

yeah i recommend the API fresh water master test kit, but as waterdrop said there are alternatives. what you need is a liquid based test kit for pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate.

how big is the baby at the moment?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

let us know what your test results are when you've got the kit

 

[becky0323]

Well, the baby fish is out and about swimming the tank, so it seems to be doing well.

We tested the water last night and everything is good except for the PH. It is the highest color on the card that came with the test kit (API). My husband did it, so I can't recall the number. What are we doing wrong if the PH is high? It also says that we need to go get PH down.

quote name='Miss Wiggle' date='May 12 2008, 03:51 AM' post='2004150']
let us know what your test results are when you've got the kit
[/quote]

 

[Miss Wiggle]

can you find out the exact readings for pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate please? also test your tap water for the same things and let us know what those readings are.

adjusting pH is very tricky and should only be done if absolutley necessary, most tropical fish are quite adaptable and will be happier with a stable pH that's a bit high rather than an unstable fluctating pH which is what you'll likley get from trying to adjust it.

 

[becky0323]

The results are:

Tap Water
Amonia 0
PH between7.2-7.6
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0

Fish Tank
Amonia 0
PH 7.6
Nitrite 0
Nitrate between 0-5

can you find out the exact readings for pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate please? also test your tap water for the same things and let us know what those readings are.

adjusting pH is very tricky and should only be done if absolutley necessary, most tropical fish are quite adaptable and will be happier with a stable pH that's a bit high rather than an unstable fluctating pH which is what you'll likley get from trying to adjust it.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

nothing to worry about at all there, pH is absolutley fine and other levels are good

 

[becky0323]

Glad I asked you, thanks. We thought we were going to have to get something to bring it down? Will checking the levels next week be what we should do, or do they need checked sooner since the PH is high? Also, if it were to go past 7.6 for PH, is that bad?

nothing to worry about at all there, pH is absolutley fine and other levels are good