Some Newbie no-nos

[Jpmc™]

If you get cubed Tubifex Worms, shred them up, they make a horrible mess of your aquarium.

 

[OHHxbby]

okay,
so I'm am a complete newbie.
I admit it.
I think I've broken all the rules possible except for the rules that refer to mixing different fish and medication stuff...

My biggest offense(s)?
I have:

• I bought the fish on impulse
• I bought them from Petsmart
• I put them in a bowl
• I have been doing 100% water changes every other day or so because the water got cloudy
• I didn't do enough research until one of my fish got irritated from (now I know) ammonia poisoning
• I put 3 male gupppies in a 1 US gal. fish bowl

Things I may have done right?:

• I bought decholrinating (sp?) and "start right" water treatment pills
• I got worried enough to go back to the pet store to ask what was wrong
• I now have put an air pump in to make it a little better for the guppies

I got 2 of the guppies 2 1/2 weeks ago and I just recently added another guppy (on Nov. 13th)...
they seem to be thriving... swimming over when i come to feed them, having a voracious appetite, no serious problems so far (with any fatal ammonia poisoning, ick, or any parasites), swimming around the bowl, chasing each other around the bowl, making it extremely hard to net them when i change the water...
I've become quite attached to them
especially my gold guppy...
i've had a little trouble identifying what kind of hybrid he is (i'm assuming he's hybrid because he's from petsmart)


is there anything I could possibly do for them now so they can live a long life? or is it too late?

 

[kiriyama]

4 and 14 are still ringing in my ears , , ,

 

[thefubar]

Yep when i first started I:

trusted the LFS
They sold me Angels with Neons (Neons started swimming around without heads

)
They sold me PH Down

They sold me 2 Clown Loach for a 2' tank

They sell non-aquatic plants (without telling you they're non-aquatic)

Now I go to a local MA,

Try and avoid Saturdays, ask to talk to experienced staff (and be happy to wait for them) and they have great knowledge/advice which is often mirrored by the Experienced keepers on here and other quality forums.

 

[PokerDanger]

I have a tank which is running for a week and a half. I dont think I have enough gravel in it, very thin layer. Can I add more now?

Thanks

 

[blurbrownie]

i am going to ask a question now. it might sounds stupid here, but i seriously want no idea bout it.

can i rear a fish in just a bowl? without air pump and filter?

thanks

 

[bricko]

i am going to ask a question now. it might sounds stupid here, but i seriously want no idea bout it.

can i rear a fish in just a bowl? without air pump and filter?

thanks

You can rear a fish in a puddle but ask yourself. "Is this right? Am i giving this fish the environment it needs to thrive? Keeping fish as a hobby is more about getting the fish to grow / mature to its full potential in an aquarium that is as closely suited to its natural; requerements as possible. I beleive some people STILL keep goldfish in bowls without filters etc and some LFS still sell these produce to the uneducated public without batting an eyelid. Personally I think these items should be banned and the law on selling fish should be changed so that the LFS have to have qualified staff, not dimwitted fools who couldn't care less............Rant over...I feel better now

 

[blurbrownie]

i am going to ask a question now. it might sounds stupid here, but i seriously want no idea bout it.

can i rear a fish in just a bowl? without air pump and filter?

thanks

You can rear a fish in a puddle but ask yourself. "Is this right? Am i giving this fish the environment it needs to thrive? Keeping fish as a hobby is more about getting the fish to grow / mature to its full potential in an aquarium that is as closely suited to its natural; requerements as possible. I beleive some people STILL keep goldfish in bowls without filters etc and some LFS still sell these produce to the uneducated public without batting an eyelid. Personally I think these items should be banned and the law on selling fish should be changed so that the LFS have to have qualified staff, not dimwitted fools who couldn't care less............Rant over...I feel better now

okay thanks for ur comment

i got guppies and neon today with a small fish tank and a filter

i think i need to get a air pump tml!

 

[blurbrownie]

a fish tank at 17 cm (lenght), 15 cm height and 14 cm width.

how many gallon will they be??

 

[bricko]

a fish tank at 17 cm (lenght), 15 cm height and 14 cm width.

how many gallon will they be??

4 litres, less than 1 gallon

Use this link on this site for an aquarium calculator

http/www.fishforums.net/aquarium-calculator.htm

 

[blurbrownie]

a fish tank at 17 cm (lenght), 15 cm height and 14 cm width.

how many gallon will they be??

4 litres, less than 1 gallon

Use this link on this site for an aquarium calculator

http/www.fishforums.net/aquarium-calculator.htm

hey really appreciate ur help

i think i replied in the other fish forum too

now i am left with only 3 infected tetra and 1 guppy. they look sick and i have drop 4 drops of white spot medication solution

is 4 drops sufficient for a gallon of tank water?? it says 15cc to 100L water. so i put 4 drops only

and i felt regret for buying fishes on impulse. so i bought a heater and set it as 28 degree and air pump. trying all sorta ways to revive the remaining fishes though the fishes cost less than 2 buck each

shld i get a thermometer or something to measure ph level too??

after 2 days if they recover from the white spot, i will take out half of the fish tank water.

then add in tapwater. then put 1 drop of dechlorine solution.

is this correct?

 

[miss.Original]

Wow, this is a lot of great information, i'm really glad this topic was started, it's very helpful. I'd have to say that my biggest offense, since I am just starting, would have to be, buying too many fish at one time. I put in four goldfish at first, then put in two guppies, the next day I took out the four goldfish, and the waited a week and bought two sterbai cories. But the problem now is that, I need more guppies because my two are getting aggressive with each other, and it's really annoying for me lol Sorry I ramble, but that's probably the worst i've done, too much stress for my fish right now.

 

[Fantail_John]

Always make sure you have a one way valve in the airline on your air pump or the water might back up in to your pump and then you might have a big bag and loose everything?

If you place a plate at the bottom of your tank when doing water changes it will help to keep the gravel and other mess from being disturbed.


P.S
Good reading

 

[Sesshis_grl]

Yo

I'm a beginner. I have an angel, severum, betta(opps 1 rule broken), dojo, and 2 kuhli loaches. I started feeding them twice a day thinking the angel and severum needed it(read it in a multiple articles)..then was afraid I was overfeeding. LFS have told me that this is ok..but decided to try and cut it down but the fish will not have it. They are constantly searching for food if I don't feed them and sometimes do this even when I do feed twice

so the question is: is it ok to feed them twice a day? and if not how do you ween them off 2 feedings?

I'm afraid of agression problems due to hunger but not sure if thats a stupid fear or not

 

[Crazycat lady]

Hi Everyone,
just thought I'd put all my thoughts into one post so at least I've got it off my chest. From my own experiences and those of my friends, here's some things you don't want to do when you start out:

1. Don't clean out your filters in tap water (it'll kill the beneficial bacteria).

2. Don't buy a Chinese Algae Eater aka "sucking loach", "golden loach", "Chinese sucking loach", "Golden Algae Eater" etc. as it'll grow big, aggressive and will soon give up algae for a diet of other fish's slime coat and eye-balls.

3. Don't forget to check out your fish's adult size before you buy - you don't want a 20" common pleco in an 18" tank!

4. Don't trust anyone who works in a fish shop until they've proven themselves expert (that should be "Don't" No.1 ). Our experience is that they will lie, blag, exaggerate, mislead and mask complete and total ignorance with unwaranted self-confidence.

5. Don't buy a Common Pleco unless you can accommodate a 20" monster who requires heavy-duty filtration.

6. Don't over-clean your gravel - that's where all your beneficial bacteria hang out.

7. Don't touch your pH. You don't know what you're doing and it's a very hairy process in the hands of an expert, let alone a beginner. The chemistry is extremly complex and pH modifying products usually fill your tank full of algae-enhancing phosphates. Fish rarely die from an inappropriate pH - that's usually an excuse because LFS employees don't understand about cycling (check out my sig if you haven't done so already).

8. Don't mis-spell "Nitrite". It's nitrite - the poisonous stuff in a cycling tank, not "Nitrate", the stuff plants use as fertiliser. One vowel could mean life or death for your fish!

9. Don't put an angelfish in a 10 gallon tank or any tank less than 18" deep unless you want it to impersonate "Jaws" with one fin out of the water! And don't ever keep angelfish with neon tetras - neons are their natural diet in the wild and will get eaten (it's not if, it's when). If you can train angelfish not to eat neons, for your next trick you could train tigers to eat salad.

10. Don't buy a silver shark unless you have an enormous tank and can keep a group of 13" fish that need a lot of swimming room.

11. Don't keep a male betta with guppies, or angelfish, or tiger barbs, or particularly another betta. In fact, be very careful indeed about what you put with a betta.

12. Don't put salt with corys, plecos or loaches as it'll burn their skin.

That's a dozen for now but if you want to argue with me or make further suggestions, please feel free.

I love the "don't trust anyone in a pet shop" bit. Learnt that when i guy sold me a catfish telling me its type was a syodontis (little did i know that syodontis is just the fancy word for catfish). And that they are nice and peaceful and get on with all community fish. Also that he wouldn't get any bigger than he is (aprox 5cm)So now I don't know what he is (called mr whiskersons) there is an extreemly high chance that he's gonna get really big and outgrow my tank and scoff all my pretty fish. I'm gonna have to put him up for addoption

Also have another couple for the list

• Don't come home with 3 male siamese fighters for one tank ( heaven knows why the pet shop sold them and put them al together in one bag to take home)
• Don't come home with a shoal of 8 angel fish when your tank is full of neons, glowlights and guppies!

My dad did both!!!