New Tank Help For A Fool (Updated With Pics)

[rbnfrance]

Hello everyone. I have a feeling that I'm going to be on here fairly often I'm afraid. By way of an introduction, I'm a British primary school teacher living in China. My father wanted to buy my children a christmas gift and suggested an aquarium. This is a massively popular hobby over here, but I think that people here do not treat their fish with as much care as in other places. The supermarkets all have very large aquarium sections and we bought a 108 litre (28 gallon) tank to start up with. I ashamed to say we did not do the research first and went with advice from the store. We have a power filter (quite a good one by the look of it and it has a carbon insert on one side and the white plasticy spongey filter on the other side. We were given a big bag of fish to put in it by the store too. I don't know what their names are as we don't speak Chinese and everything was done through sign language! My ill educated research suggests that we have:

8 Platys? (1 inch long, deep orange, black tails)
4 Angel shaped fish? (black and white vertical stripes, 1.5 inch high, 1 inch long)
2 goldfish (i'm petty sure of this, 2.5 inches long, fancy fins)
1 zebra danio? (1 inch long <1cm high, I really like this one)
3 Buenos Aires Tetras? (2 inch long, 1 cm high, dark grey, big orange fan tail)
2 Pleco fish/some kind of catfish? (bottom feeders, suck onto things with mouths, 5 inches long,dark grey with lighter spots)
7 tiger barbs? ( <2inches long, 2cm high, orangey/yellow, black vertical stripes)
4 completely unidentified fish ( 2 inches long, silver, two have blue tops, 1 green top, 1 pink top, sure they are same species just diff colours)
Not sure of any of these identifications, but thats my best idea having looked at pictures and descriptions.

I feel bad for these fish as its not their fault they have been thrust into the tank of an idiot. 4 Platys have died (went onto the bottom of tank for a while and eventually died. 2 B.A. tetras died in same manner, 1 Angel shape fish died) We have had the tank for 3 days at 28 degrees. We can't get testing kits or anything but I have done a P.H. test which showed a ph of 6. I was given some tiny pellet food for Lionheads (not sure why as I don't seem to have any Lionheads. I have since bought some flake food for tropical fish, and some freeze dried bloodworms.

General advice needed... I think the lone danio is lonely. Many fish have died. The most of them seem happy enough and are eating, but the Angel shaped fish seem miserable and I haven't seen them eat. Any way to test the water without being able to get a testing kit.

I am really sorry for my naivety but please help for the sake of the fish!

All the best,

Robin

 

[fluttermoth]

Oh, dear, you are in trouble!

Never mind, we can help you now you're here

Your fish are dying because your tank isn't 'cycled'. In a cycled tank, there is a colony of helpful bacteria that eat the ammonia (produced by the fish in their wastes) and stop it poisoning the fish. You don't have any bacteria yet, as your tank is so new, so the ammonia is building up in the water and making the fish sick.

Right now, you need to do as large a water change as you can. If possible, drain the tank right down, leaving just enoughh water for the fish to swim upright, then refill with warmed, dechlorinated water; I hope you have water conditioner there!

Normally we'd recommend doing a 'fishless cycle' using household, cleaning ammonia, to feed the bacteria instead of fish, but I don't know if you're going to be able to source that in China.

As fishkeeping is so popular over there, maybe you could somehow see if you could get some cycled filter media (that's whatever's in the filter; could be sponge or ceramic rinngs, something like that) from an established tank. If you put that in your filter, it would seed yours with a starter colony of the bacteria.

There are some very useful articles in the beginner's resource centre (the link is in my sig) which you might want to read, but a large water change (or even two) is your best bet right now.

Good luck!

 

[rbnfrance]

Oh, dear, you are in trouble!

Never mind, we can help you now you're here

Your fish are dying because your tank isn't 'cycled'. In a cycled tank, there is a colony of helpful bacteria that eat the ammonia (produced by the fish in their wastes) and stop it poisoning the fish. You don't have any bacteria yet, as your tank is so new, so the ammonia is building up in the water and making the fish sick.

Right now, you need to do as large a water change as you can. If possible, drain the tank right down, leaving just enoughh water for the fish to swim upright, then refill with warmed, dechlorinated water; I hope you have water conditioner there!

Normally we'd recommend doing a 'fishless cycle' using household, cleaning ammonia, to feed the bacteria instead of fish, but I don't know if you're going to be able to source that in China.

As fishkeeping is so popular over there, maybe you could somehow see if you could get some cycled filter media (that's whatever's in the filter; could be sponge or ceramic rinngs, something like that) from an established tank. If you put that in your filter, it would seed yours with a starter colony of the bacteria.

There are some very useful articles in the beginner's resource centre (the link is in my sig) which you might want to read, but a large water change (or even two) is your best bet right now.

Good luck!

Ok, I knew about the whole cycle with bacteria since urgently researching it on the web. I thought it was too early for the ammonia to be killing them, but obviously not. Thanks for your help. We do have some water conditioner, and we are using distilled water to put in the tank. (thats all we can drink over here) Do you think getting some filter media from the shop will help? They have these kind of cascading tanks above other tanks with the water constantly pouring over into the ones below. I know they do have that spongy plastic filter stuff there, but I just need to find a way of communicating that I want some of their dirty sponge filter instead of their new stuff for sale. I guess I should bring it back in a bag with water too. Its such a stress knowing that they are suffering in there! Should I get some extra Danio fish to keep the lone one company or is that just condemning new ones to death?

Thanks again for your help.

 

[fluttermoth]

If you can somehow communicate that you want some of their sponge, that would be the best option in your situation.

You ammonia will be building up very quickly, as you do have such a lot of large, messy fish. If you can possibly take back the plecs, the goldfish, either the angels or the tiger barbs, and the silvery fish that are pink and other colours (those will have been injected with dye, I'm afraid; this makes them very delicate), you'd be a lot better off.

You don't want to add any more fish until you've got some bacteria going; it might be best to take the danio back as well.

 

[pablothebetta]

I wouldn't add any other fish until the tank has settled down, aka the water chemistry is stable. The more worrying issue related to stocking is the fact that you've got coldwater and tropical fish in the same tank, aka goldfish (coldwater) with the rest of the fish (tropical). 28 degrees is pretty high for most tropical fish, let alone the goldies. 25 degrees would probably be better for the tropicals.

Those goldfish are most likely some form of fancy goldfish if they have fancy fins - they need at least 100L for one individual as they grow very large (compared to the current 2.5", anyway) and are very messy fish (needing overfiltered tanks) so they will definitely outgrow the tank anyway. I'd suggest that you try to rehome them.

If you have correctly identified the fish, this would leave you with:

4 platys
3 angels
1 zebra danio
1 Buenos Aires Tetras
2 Pleco
7 tiger barbs
4 unidentified fish

I'd get some pictures of the tank and fish up on here if I were you to identify those 4 other fish and find out the species of the plecos.

I'm not an expert on stocking aquariums, but that does look overstocked to me, especially once the numbers of those two tetras are bumped up, with both species requiring a minimum of 6 individuals.

 

[rbnfrance]

If you can somehow communicate that you want some of their sponge, that would be the best option in your situation.

You ammonia will be building up very quickly, as you do have such a lot of large, messy fish. If you can possibly take back the plecs, the goldfish, either the angels or the tiger barbs, and the silvery fish that are pink and other colours (those will have been injected with dye, I'm afraid; this makes them very delicate), you'd be a lot better off.

You don't want to add any more fish until you've got some bacteria going; it might be best to take the danio back as well.

Ok. Sincere thanks. I'll do that and try to build up slowly this time. If I get the filter media, how long should I wait until trying to put new fish in? I had no idea that you could inject fish with dye, but they do look a bit unnatural.

 

[fluttermoth]

It's going to be very hard to tell how well your tank is cycled in the absence of test kits. I'd leave it at least six weeks between additions, to be on the safe side.

 

[rbnfrance]

I wouldn't add any other fish until the tank has settled down, aka the water chemistry is stable. The more worrying issue related to stocking is the fact that you've got coldwater and tropical fish in the same tank, aka goldfish (coldwater) with the rest of the fish (tropical). 28 degrees is pretty high for most tropical fish, let alone the goldies. 25 degrees would probably be better for the tropicals.

Those goldfish are most likely some form of fancy goldfish if they have fancy fins - they need at least 100L for one individual as they grow very large (compared to the current 2.5", anyway) and are very messy fish (needing overfiltered tanks) so they will definitely outgrow the tank anyway. I'd suggest that you try to rehome them.

If you have correctly identified the fish, this would leave you with:

4 platys
3 angels
1 zebra danio
1 Buenos Aires Tetras
2 Pleco
7 tiger barbs
4 unidentified fish

I'd get some pictures of the tank and fish up on here if I were you to identify those 4 other fish and find out the species of the plecos.

I'm not an expert on stocking aquariums, but that does look overstocked to me, especially once the numbers of those two tetras are bumped up, with both species requiring a minimum of 6 individuals.

Thanks. I do have a heater which is set at 28 degrees. I'll post some pictures tomorrow when I turn the lights on. Don't want to turn the lights on to photograph them now since its the middle of the night now. Be back soon. All the best and thanks again.

(edit) I have changed the temp to 25C too.

 

[rbnfrance]

Can't put all pictures up at once. I'll try putting them on 1 by 1. This is the whole tank.

Is this an angel fish of some kind? about 1 inch long, 1.5 inches high.

Unidentified blues, possibly injected with dye?



Platys and B.A. Tetras?

Tiger Barbs?

Pleco Fish?

 

[Man of fish]

Tank-nice tank
Angel- yes that's an angel
Blues- not sure look like a type of tetra, not the dyed fish fluttermouth was talking about.
Platys and BA tetras- those are platys. Your BA tetras look like guppies to me.
Tiger barbs- yes.
Pleco- this looks like a common plec I suggest you return it as it'll get WAY too big for a tank of that size.

 

[rbnfrance]

I'm going to the store now and taking back all but the Platy, Tetra, Barbs and Danio. Also getting some old filter media if they will allow it, and I have been told by a Chinese friend that you can get the helpful bacteria cultures in a bottle. I'll get some of that if they have it but won't add it until I get further advice from here. Also doing a large water change today to dilute the ammonia. Hope this improves things and thanks in advance for your continuing help.

 

[Man of fish]

I've heard that the bacteria in a bottle does nothing. I suggest also taking back the danio because he'll like a larger tank and school.

 

[rbnfrance]

Tank-nice tank
Angel- yes that's an angel
Blues- not sure look like a type of tetra, not the dyed fish fluttermouth was talking about.
Platys and BA tetras- those are platys. Your BA tetras look like guppies to me.
Tiger barbs- yes.
Pleco- this looks like a common plec I suggest you return it as it'll get WAY too big for a tank of that size.

Thanks for your updates and corrections Do you know if that is a Danio?

 

[Man of fish]

Yes it's a zebra danio and I suggest returning it because on here people are saying minimum for a danio is a 4 ft. Tank and they also like shoals of 6+

 

[thereverendturtle]

It's a zebra danio, schools of 6 +, will do fine in your tank imo. The dyed fish are albino black skirt tetras that are in fact dyed. It eventually fades and the process shortens the life span of the fish. The b.e. tetras are guppies.