Hi everyone,
New to the forums and to fish-keeping. Have received loads of conflicting advice from local shops, friends, etc. and have not had good results in 3 weeks of our new 20 gallon tank. I've been reading through the newbie links and threads for most of the evening and have learned a ton of information that will hopefully help us finally get our tank going. There seems to be a lot of good resources here and experienced fish-keepers that I'm hoping can provide me with advice and the right direction. Please be kind as my partner and I are reaching out here because we feel terrible about what's happened to the fish that we've introduced to this tank so far. I'm also hoping that posting some of the details of our mistakes and what we've learned will help other people who are new to the world of fish-keeping.
Here's the situation:
Around 3 weeks ago, we set up a 20 gallon, freshwater tank. We put water conditioner in there that came with the starter kit and added fish after letting the tank run for 3 days. We added 4 neon tetras there, which died almost immediately. Since the water had gotten cloudy and cleared up, we thought that the tank was ready for fish, but this turned out not to be the case. In the meantime, we were tested the ph levels and have to confess that we used solutions recommended to us by the shop to try to adjust it for the tetras.
After the tetras passed away, we went to our local fish shop which advised us to wait longer before putting more fish in there. They advised us to wait a week. We waited a week, brought our water to be tested by the shop, and purchased 4 more neon tetras after we were told that the water appeared to be fine, that the temperature we had in there was fine for the fish that we wanted. The same thing happened. The fish shop then asked us about our decorations in the tank and that was when we figured out that the lava rock we had bought from another shop might have caused the ph level to go up and that it would keep going up no matter how much we treated it. I then realized that we were probably better off leaving the water's ph alone and then trying to select fish to live in the water's ph levels without treating it (without treatments and the removal of the lava rock, the water stayed at 7)
So we removed the lava rock and the shop provided us with 5 goldfish for free to "get our tank going" and sold us some bacterial solution to use in the tank. We put the solution in there and then added the fish. The fish were fine for a few days and then developed a bacterial infection. The shop then advised us to remove 50% of the water and to replace it. At the time, we didn't know about de-cholorinating the water. The infection cleared up. 2 of the fish died. 3 appeared to be fine but I couldn't help but wonder about them as they behaved oddly - staying at the bottom of the tank, not even coming up for food. They would eat food that floated to the bottom. My partner thought this meant they were bottom feeders. I thought otherwise, did some research, and discovered that it was not a good idea to keep goldfish in there as we were hoping to have a tropical tank. The fish probably hated the temperatures we were keeping in there and by this time, we hadn't done a water change in a week. I also read about how goldfish can be big waste producers and that the type we had needed at least 10 gallons per fish to properly accommodate them. At this point, we had 3 goldfish left in the tank and were thinking of giving them back. I felt bad giving them back to the pet shop and thought of keeping them for at least a little while longer.
We went back to the shop to report our progress and asked them if we could add more fish. They said we could. I asked them about adding tetras or mollies as these were fish recommended by friends for beginner aquarists. They advised against this and recommended heartier fish - no more than 2. They suggested tiger barbs. So we bought 2 small tiger barbs and fell in love with them - until they started at the goldfish that were in there. We immediately removed the goldfish and brought them back to the shop. My partner and I, in our eagerness to be fishkeepers and encouraged by our "success" with the goldfish and the tiger barbs, decided to get 2 more tiger barbs after 1 day with the 2 other tiger barbs in there. The fish shop had also confirmed that this would be okay after a day if the original barbs lived.
That was 2 days ago. Currently, the barbs are all dead and the fish shop's current advice is to "start over" and not get any more fish until the timing is right. We're not sure what starting over really means but we really don't want to subject more fish to living in our tank unless we correct the issues that we've been having.
I learned about the "fishless cycle" tonight and am wondering if this is a good option for us without having to drain the tank, put new gravel, and start from scratch. Which is what "Starting over" seems to imply from the fish shop that we were going to for fish advice/purchases. Can anyone confirm if this is a good idea?
Here's our current status:
20 gallon freshwater tank
Temperature: 78 degrees
Decorations: Set up for tiger barbs - which we're hoping to keep again as we enjoyed having them in our tank and watching them play with each other. We did some research to figure out the type of environment that they might like. Plants are off to the side and back. We also have a big coral, another cave-like thing, and one of those tall "bonsai" looking trees that we bought to give them places to check out and hide in. Everything is plastic/silk/meant for aquariums. We have blue and black gravel on the bottom.
My partner did a 50% water change tonight and put de-clorinated water into the tank.
Tests (done after the water change):
GH:30
KH: 40
pH: 6.0 - 6.5
NO2: 0
NO3: 0
Ammonia: .5
My partner and I have learned a lot through our current experience. We know we didn't wait long enough before getting fish, we fed the fish too much, didn't know to do frequent water changes, added too many fish too quickly, the list goes on. I spent an evening with my partner reviewing various links and info posted in these forums in order for us to better educate ourselves about fish-keeping and to see what other resources were out there besides the two fish shops that we have in our area.
Do you think going through the fishless cycle is a good option for us? We really don't want to subject any more fish to our tank until we know that it's right, and didn't even know that there was a "fishless" way to do this till today. Does anyone have any recommendations?
Thanks for reading!
New to the forums and to fish-keeping. Have received loads of conflicting advice from local shops, friends, etc. and have not had good results in 3 weeks of our new 20 gallon tank. I've been reading through the newbie links and threads for most of the evening and have learned a ton of information that will hopefully help us finally get our tank going. There seems to be a lot of good resources here and experienced fish-keepers that I'm hoping can provide me with advice and the right direction. Please be kind as my partner and I are reaching out here because we feel terrible about what's happened to the fish that we've introduced to this tank so far. I'm also hoping that posting some of the details of our mistakes and what we've learned will help other people who are new to the world of fish-keeping.
Here's the situation:
Around 3 weeks ago, we set up a 20 gallon, freshwater tank. We put water conditioner in there that came with the starter kit and added fish after letting the tank run for 3 days. We added 4 neon tetras there, which died almost immediately. Since the water had gotten cloudy and cleared up, we thought that the tank was ready for fish, but this turned out not to be the case. In the meantime, we were tested the ph levels and have to confess that we used solutions recommended to us by the shop to try to adjust it for the tetras.
After the tetras passed away, we went to our local fish shop which advised us to wait longer before putting more fish in there. They advised us to wait a week. We waited a week, brought our water to be tested by the shop, and purchased 4 more neon tetras after we were told that the water appeared to be fine, that the temperature we had in there was fine for the fish that we wanted. The same thing happened. The fish shop then asked us about our decorations in the tank and that was when we figured out that the lava rock we had bought from another shop might have caused the ph level to go up and that it would keep going up no matter how much we treated it. I then realized that we were probably better off leaving the water's ph alone and then trying to select fish to live in the water's ph levels without treating it (without treatments and the removal of the lava rock, the water stayed at 7)
So we removed the lava rock and the shop provided us with 5 goldfish for free to "get our tank going" and sold us some bacterial solution to use in the tank. We put the solution in there and then added the fish. The fish were fine for a few days and then developed a bacterial infection. The shop then advised us to remove 50% of the water and to replace it. At the time, we didn't know about de-cholorinating the water. The infection cleared up. 2 of the fish died. 3 appeared to be fine but I couldn't help but wonder about them as they behaved oddly - staying at the bottom of the tank, not even coming up for food. They would eat food that floated to the bottom. My partner thought this meant they were bottom feeders. I thought otherwise, did some research, and discovered that it was not a good idea to keep goldfish in there as we were hoping to have a tropical tank. The fish probably hated the temperatures we were keeping in there and by this time, we hadn't done a water change in a week. I also read about how goldfish can be big waste producers and that the type we had needed at least 10 gallons per fish to properly accommodate them. At this point, we had 3 goldfish left in the tank and were thinking of giving them back. I felt bad giving them back to the pet shop and thought of keeping them for at least a little while longer.
We went back to the shop to report our progress and asked them if we could add more fish. They said we could. I asked them about adding tetras or mollies as these were fish recommended by friends for beginner aquarists. They advised against this and recommended heartier fish - no more than 2. They suggested tiger barbs. So we bought 2 small tiger barbs and fell in love with them - until they started at the goldfish that were in there. We immediately removed the goldfish and brought them back to the shop. My partner and I, in our eagerness to be fishkeepers and encouraged by our "success" with the goldfish and the tiger barbs, decided to get 2 more tiger barbs after 1 day with the 2 other tiger barbs in there. The fish shop had also confirmed that this would be okay after a day if the original barbs lived.
That was 2 days ago. Currently, the barbs are all dead and the fish shop's current advice is to "start over" and not get any more fish until the timing is right. We're not sure what starting over really means but we really don't want to subject more fish to living in our tank unless we correct the issues that we've been having.
I learned about the "fishless cycle" tonight and am wondering if this is a good option for us without having to drain the tank, put new gravel, and start from scratch. Which is what "Starting over" seems to imply from the fish shop that we were going to for fish advice/purchases. Can anyone confirm if this is a good idea?
Here's our current status:
20 gallon freshwater tank
Temperature: 78 degrees
Decorations: Set up for tiger barbs - which we're hoping to keep again as we enjoyed having them in our tank and watching them play with each other. We did some research to figure out the type of environment that they might like. Plants are off to the side and back. We also have a big coral, another cave-like thing, and one of those tall "bonsai" looking trees that we bought to give them places to check out and hide in. Everything is plastic/silk/meant for aquariums. We have blue and black gravel on the bottom.
My partner did a 50% water change tonight and put de-clorinated water into the tank.
Tests (done after the water change):
GH:30
KH: 40
pH: 6.0 - 6.5
NO2: 0
NO3: 0
Ammonia: .5
My partner and I have learned a lot through our current experience. We know we didn't wait long enough before getting fish, we fed the fish too much, didn't know to do frequent water changes, added too many fish too quickly, the list goes on. I spent an evening with my partner reviewing various links and info posted in these forums in order for us to better educate ourselves about fish-keeping and to see what other resources were out there besides the two fish shops that we have in our area.
Do you think going through the fishless cycle is a good option for us? We really don't want to subject any more fish to our tank until we know that it's right, and didn't even know that there was a "fishless" way to do this till today. Does anyone have any recommendations?
Thanks for reading!
