NEWBIE WITH AN EMERGANCY!!

[Tropicalsplash59]

Today is my 16 birthday and I had a birthday party on Friday--WAIT!! Don't loose me yet! I'm getting there! My best friend gave me FISH for my birthday. I really like fish, but I don't have the best of luck with them... I know why now... no filters or any of this other VERY important stuff I never knew about (ok, so the fair game people don't tell you how to care about your goldfish, but still) I've had other GOOD gold fish, and guppies, and then a beta, and they all died. Anyway, so I have three new tropical fish The problem is, I'm worried about them! I don't know how to care for them! What's more is, I don't have the money to buy all of this stuff!! And I wasn't being evil and irresponsible, cuz I wouldn't buy them if I knew I couldn't care for them properly And I can't let them die! This is HORRIBLE!! All they have is rocks (I don't know if they were even washed--knowing my best bud, probably not ) and food (tropical fish flakes) and plants (actually bulbs that you supposedly just drop in, wait 8 days, and they sprout) and apparently this is very very bad... What am I gonna do! Their water is getting dirty and I'm afraid to give them our water and they can't die or I'm seriously gonna have fish dying issues. sheesh.

 

[BettaBoyz]

alright, first calm down! are the fish living in a bowl, a desktop tank or a bigger one? if the water's getting bad and you're afraid of changing all the water do a 25% change with new water every three days so the fish adjust. i'll take it you're still with your parents, so ask them if they can lend you the money for a tank. you can get a The Regent ten gallon for 60 bucks Canadian. then it's just a matter of getting a filter, the cheapest (i think) are the Aquaclear 10-20. after all this is set up splurge for your fishies and get live or silk plants, caves or driftwood, better food, a heater, more gravel and perhaps more fishie-friends. also, what kinds of fishies are they?

(don't bite me if i said something wrong xX)

 

[Ron]

First, I hate to say this, but you have to take them back to the pet store where your friend bought them from. Ask the guy there if he'll save your fish for you and not sell them.
Ok, now How many fish do you have and what size are they? Count them off in inches. So you have all the inches of all your fish put together, right? Okay, now you need a tank, if you don't already have one. Get 1 gallon per inch of fish that you have. So if you have 10 inches of fish, get a 10 gallon. Get it?
Now you need a filter, get a Wisper, or a Pingiun Bio-Wheel filter. Ask the pet store guy what size would be appropriate for your new tank. The get a submersible heater. Again, ask the guy what kind and size you need for your tank. Get a few plastic plants, and some gravle. Go out to a hardware store and buy PURE AMONIA, make sure its pure...you'll understand shortly. You'll also need water tests. Get at least Amonia, Nitrite and Nitrate tests. if you don't know what these are, ask your dude at the lfs, he'll know. Again, this may take awhile for you to get so thats why your fish are being held at the pet store.
Now, set up you tank, fill it up with declorinated water. After you have it set up and all add a very little amount of PURE amonia to the tank.
Everyday after that add a very little bit of the amonia to the tank. Test the water with the water tests that you bought every week or so. After a couple of weeks or ntill your amonia test reads 0 and your nitrite test reads 0 and your nitrate are under control. (Not too high, but they'll never be low...someone else will have to tell you what these need to be at.)
Ok, so after your tests are reading correctly, (Amonia and nitrite at 0, and nitrates under control) get your fish back from the pet store and put them in your tank and PRESTO...You've just completed THE FISHLESS CYCLE!!!!
Again, make sure you ask quetions here if you don't understand!!! HTH!!!
Ron

 

[Tropicalsplash59]

They are living in a seven inch round bowl. I have three. One is supposedly a pink pucker fish. It's about 2 1/4 in. One is silver and it has two long whisker things and a big black dot at the end of it's tail right before the fin-ish part and a smaller black dot in the middle. It's about 1 3/4 in. The other one is a clear-ish fish with black splotches and the bottom part of the fin-ish part of it's tail is longer than the rest. It's about 1 1/4 in. I have exactly $60 to spend and my mom WILL NOT loan me a dime. I have a cat and she was like, if they die they can be Annie's dinner.

 

[Ron]

Okay, get a 10 gallon tank, that way you can get maybe another fish also. Thats going to be around $30. Next get a filter. Like a Wisper mini, or something like that. Get a filter thats good, and around $20. Now get the amonia and the gravle, thats should take up the rest of your money. And yes, take the fish to teh pet store for a few weeks. Just have the guy put them on hold and not sell them. Now put a little bit of the PURE amonia in teh tank every day. After you've gotten about $20 dollars more go out and buy the cheepest tests availible to man kind. Test the water to make sure that there isn't any amonia or nitrites in the water. If its not, keep adding teh amonia. After the tests are good, get the fish back from the pet store. And there you go! You can get fake plants and other decorations with money you get as you get it. Good luck!
Ron

 

[Tropicalsplash59]

Ok, thanks... Oh, should I go ahead and do the 25% water change now? Because I have city water, and I have no idea what's in it.

 

[Ron]

Did you declorinte it? Yeah, do teh water change, and tomorrow go out take the fish to teh lfs and buy the things and set it up and add the amonia. In 3 weeks it should be ready. Also buy declorinater. There's not a lot you can do now if you don't have the fish in declorinated water......i guess just wait and take them to teh lfs. Good luck!
Ron

 

[Liz05]

If your water is really bad, you can get distilled water and use it instead. Today I bought a ten gallon tank at wal mart for $29, which came with a Hang-on-Back (HOB) filter, some food, dechlorinator, hood, and light. If youre in the US, you might want to look into this as fish stores tend to be more expensive than Wal Mart (but whatever you do, DONT ask anyone at wal mart for advice!) And yes don't worry much about plants or decorations until your tank is stable. They can survive without them. Most newbies end up in this situation, and many don't even know about it until later when mysteriously everything has survived or everything dies and they come looking for help.
One last thing - If you live in a warmer area, and the temperature in your house is fairly warm, don't be too worried about a heater just yet - you may not need it. Just be sure to get a thermometer and make sure the temperature stays in the normal range (70's).

 

[KimmyFishy89]

If you have petland discounts, they sell 10 gallon tanks alone for 7.99. Gravel is 2.99 a bag and the aquaclear mini is about ten or fifteen dollars. Plastic plants can be more expensive than live ones, so get live plants and a couple of little castle things. Than TADA! Your tank for under 60 dollars

 

[Jo]

Definately don't panic...follow the advice above, get as large a tank as you can afford, not knowing where you are in the world I can't suggest anywhere, but 10gal seems about fair....

Secondly, if your lfs won't accept the fish to be looked after by them, (and you can't find anywhere/anyone that will, because that is the best option) then do'nt worry overly, you will just have to be careful about watching you r water peramiters and make sure that it doesn't all go wrong, do a small water change often and add some stress zyme/stress coat, which dechlorinate the water and add some beneficial bacteria into the tank, add as per what it says on the bottle. a friend of mine was unfortunate enough not to have cycled a tank properly (which is what Ron is talking about) and with careful monitoring of the water and small (no more than 25% at the most) water changes along with adding the bacteria to the water he was able to pull all the fish through it.

It is good that you have found this forum because everyone is very helpful and will try to help you through this little problem, so you can prove to your mum that you can look after the fish without making them into cat food...!

Good luck and keep on posting any questions that you have...

 

[BettaBoyz]

They are living in a seven inch round bowl. I have three. One is supposedly a pink pucker fish. It's about 2 1/4 in. One is silver and it has two long whisker things and a big black dot at the end of it's tail right before the fin-ish part and a smaller black dot in the middle. It's about 1 3/4 in. The other one is a clear-ish fish with black splotches and the bottom part of the fin-ish part of it's tail is longer than the rest. It's about 1 1/4 in. I have exactly $60 to spend and my mom WILL NOT loan me a dime. I have a cat and she was like, if they die they can be Annie's dinner.

by pink pucker, do you mean it has very large 'lips' and tries to kiss at it's reflection? if so it might be a Kissing Gourami, that's the only one i can think of. the second sounds like a three-spot Gourami, and the last one might be a Swordtail. try and get pics up if you can, because i might be wrong but i don't think the two types of Gourami are compatible, and the Swordtail needs a few buddies. follow the advice given, but i've found you could probably introduce the three fish without having them die on you and perform a cycle with the fish, though it may be dangerous for them. also, don't feed them to your cat if they die! it could be VERY DANGEROUS for her!

 

[leah9798]

I was just in Walmart the other day, they have a 10 gallon with filter food plants dechlorinator, everything you need except the ammonia and test kits for $30.00.
I'm sure you'll have a Walmart near you if you live in the US that has close to the same thing, They also sell test strips by JUngle Lab for $10 that test everything. Good Luck!! Leah

 

[Inchworm]

Hi Tropicalsplash59

Does the friend who gave you the fish keep fish him/herself? Or do you know anyone who does? If you do, they can help you greatly by giving you some bacteria to start your tank up with.

As you probably know by now, what you need to do is get colonies of beneficial bacteria growing in your new tank (once you get one). These live in abundance in the filter of any established tank.

Think about who you know that you can ask for this material. They would probably be glad to help you out and it would be an enormous help.