what should i do??

[Airli]

i recently started a new tank withoiut realising a fraction of what was really involved. please help......

I got the tank for a present and went of the advice from the fish shop guy to let the tank run for a few days and then stock it slowly. which i did and after 2 weeks started slowly loosing all my fish. after getting a couple of books and reading a heap on tnet i know realise why. However my tank has been running know for almost 2 months with some fish in it the whole time. It is 34 litres and currently has an albino and a bronze cat fish and a male betta in it. The betta has been in there since day one and the cat fish seem happy enough. I dont have all the test kits and am saving to get them, however the Ph is neutral. In the last week or two my tank has developed a brown algae. Is it safe for me to put some more fish in??

i was thinking about getting 4 zebra danios because they seem to be tough and what ppl put in a tank at the beginning........

 

[Raechal]

I would suggest to go get your water tested at a local pet store. My LPS does it for free. So just scoop some of your water and put it in a jar or something and have them test it. They may charge you, but it would only be a fairly small amount. I would think your tank has been cycled by now with the current fish you added in there, it should be fine. But just to be safe, I would have it tested. I wouldn't add the danios as they are very active and may nip at your betta's fins. Cories like to be in large groups so maybe add 2 albinos and 2 more bronze cories?

 

[newfishies]

i think the danios would like a bigger tank than that (i'm terrible at conversion) but i've been told that 20 gal is the minimum recommended and that they should be in groups of 5 or more... i'd go for more cories, if that's what you have for catfish...they are sooo cute!

 

[Airli]

im thinking about taking the betta out and giving him his own tank because i wanted to get some small schools of fish, and i dont want them going after his fins.

i had black neons and neons but they died. is there anything that is small that i can keep in schools of about 4 or 5?

will my cory's be ok without being in a group? the two i have are quite active seem healthy and get along well. they even sleep (do fish sleep?), next to each other at night...

 

[Raechal]

im thinking about taking the betta out and giving him his own tank because i wanted to get some small schools of fish, and i dont want them going after his fins.

i had black neons and neons but they died. is there anything that is small that i can keep in schools of about 4 or 5?

will my cory's be ok without being in a group? the two i have are quite active seem healthy and get along well. they even sleep (do fish sleep?), next to each other at night...

If you say they are active now just see how they act when you add a couple more! Yea you could get maybe like a 5 gallon for the betta and put him in there along with some live plants or something like that. I would suggest more cories to add to your group. Each cory would be best in about groups of 5-6 but 3-4 would do okay I suppose. Then you would need something for the mid-top area of your tank. Do you like gouramis? You could get a dwarf gourami...maybe even a pair?

 

[Erised]

Even though corydoras prefer to be in groups, they'll survive fine on their own or in a pair. Try to get more cories when you get a bigger tank though, its just more fun for them A 37L (10G) is quite small, so I wouldnt suggest adding much more. If you're moving the betta, you could add a small shoal of small staying fish. Try white cloud mountain minnows, or neons? I think a shoal of 5 cardinals would do nicely in there as well.