Adding Aquarium Fish

I currently have an up and cycled 15gal tall aquarium (20×10x20 I believe). The floor of the covered with a mixture of river stones, natural-colored sand, and black aquarium rocks (all pet-smart bought). There are also tons of fake plants lining the back of the aquarium (no real plants at this time). My biggest concern is that the tank must be transported to and from my college dorm every year. I have posted a few pictures of the tank here: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v51/elves117711/Fishy/100_3986.jpg (there are a few pictures, and the filter isnt dirty -that is loose carbon on the top from the bottom of the package). Housing: 7 zebra danios (2 male 5 female I believe) ; 1 male betta (veil tail, very very passive) ; 2 mystery snails (1 gold and 1 blue) all of the creatures in the tank for the most part ignore each other. I could not be happier with the set up! Heater: Constantly on; used to keep the tank at about 80*F (it turns itself on and off) Air Stone: There is a 12in (??) air stone along the very back of the tank. It helps to move air into the water but is blocked by lots of large plants. The betta does fine in the ?current? bc there is literally no current moving through the whole tank bc of all the plants breaking it up. Filter: A combo lid/light/carbon-biowheel filter. The monster is an Eclipse 1 system by Marineland running 150gal/hr (so, 10x my tank size). You can read up on it here: http://marineland.com/sites/Marineland/products/productdetail.aspx?id=2054&cid=3243&mid=3227 Maintenance: I change the carbon filter about every 2-4 weeks (i.e. whenever it turns black) and perform about 30% water changes every week to every 2 weeks with a gravel vacuum. The replacement water sits overnight and is conditioned before use. Feeding: The little fellas are fed a combination of Topfin color enhancing pellets and Topfin freeze dried medly and/or Tetra Tropical Crisps? and there is usually one little algae wafer in there for the snails. The ?Rule?: Sure, there is the whole rule about 1in of adult fish per gallon or 3in of adult goldfish per gallon (I have 1.5 in of fish left over by this rule), or some say to use this rule based on the standard size of the aquarium (so mine would be a 10gal for stocking reasons because you would ignore that it is a tall). ?but then, if you do regular water changes and have a super filter (like my 10x my tank size one) you have much more room for bioload reasons (I not discussion swimming space in this thread). ?but then other people say that the more stuff you have, the less bioload you have (makes some sense bc there would be less water). Does anyone have experience on this? I have quite a bit of middle swimming room going unused, my fish are content in each other?s company, I do regular water changes biweekly at a minimum (although could probably do it once a month)? do I really only have room for one little 1.5in max fish? As a science major, MY bioload story does not add up. The tank is fully cycled and the filter works wonders on it. I really think I could add more creatures. Thank you for any comments, Sarahbeth

So I have had this tank for about 3 months now, not counting the 3 weeks that I used to cycle it. Out of my first group of fish I have 2 that survived….which I found out was my fault for adding too many fish at once. The original 2 that survived were 1 glofish and 1 platy. So, I did water changes and waited 2 weeks before adding anymore fish. In the second group of fish I bought 2 glofish, 1 mickey, 1 pleco, and 1 platy. Well, the mickey died 2 days later, which he was acting funny from the time he was put in the bag to go home, the pleco is just fine as of now, and one of the glofish lasted until I put the next group of fish in the tank a couple weeks later. In the 3rd group of fish I added, which was last Saturday, 4 neon tetras, 1 platy and 1 swordtail platy. I lost one neon the very next morning, which they are very small ones, so I figured I would loose at least one of them. Well the platy from the 2nd group was a the smallest female, she died on Monday and the Swordtail Platy, which was the only male platy I had, I found him at the bottom of the tank this morning. I did a water change Sunday after I added the new fish…should I have not done that? I would also maybe like to find a buddy that wouldn’t mind emailing or chatting on messenger to help me with my aquarium questions. I am fairly new to this, and I am starting to get very discouraged. I love the tropical fish but are they harty enough for a beginner? Thanks for any answers! Oh and I have left 2 platys both females 2 glofish 1 pleco 3 neon tetras

I have a 5.5 gallon aquarium with 1 male betta and 3 platy fish. The tank is filtered and heated to about 78F. I was looking to add either a snail, catfish or a shrimp to help clean then algae and left over food thank sinks to the bottom of the tank. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I’m a little bit more than novice at this, but not much experience with fish that can clean. Thanks in advance

I’ve recently purchased a wall mounted aquarium and realising this is way to small also bought a 59 gallon tank. I realise it’s not just a case of adding water then fish, so how do i go about setting up a healthy tank.What do i need to add to the water ( chemicals etc ) and what is the cycle of a new tank from scratch before adding fish . I don’t want to rush things and end up killing any stock i will purchase. I’d rather leave it running comfortably without stock for a few weeks just to get the conditions of the tank right first. Thanks

Ive had my brand new 90G freshwater aquarium running with no fish for the past week.. and these past 3 days my water has been getting cloudy. it is not excessive, but you could sure tell that its not crystal clear. i was told this is normal and it is a bacteria bloom which makes sense since i added some “bacteria in a bottle” and have biological media in my 2 cansiter filters. will this cloudyness clear up any time soon.. should i perform a water change?, i have not performed a single water this week. or should i leave it and wait it out?. thanks can i add some fish while the water is cloudy?

I am planning on buying a 2.5 gallon aquarium, with a light, a filter, gravel and a live plant. Would this be good to put a male betta fish in? Also, could i add a gold mystery snail? thanks

how much salt do i add to my betta fish’s 10g aquarium?

Hi, my parents are finally letting me get Gerbils. We had an old fish tank which measured roughly 51cm x 25cm x 28cm (19.5 inch x 10 inch x 11 inch), which is an unusual size, they are normally not those dimensions. I am going to use this for the gerbils, but I’d also like to add a cage on top for extra room and easier hanging of the water bottle, exercise wheel ect. However, because of the unusual length and width of the tank, there are no cages that fit nicely on top of the aquarium. There will always be some of the cage sticking out or if it is smaller then there will be a gap which would need covering. What should I do? And, where I live they do not sell cages made especially to top a tank, they only make normal cages, so how do I link it to the tank? Do I need to make a circle hole in it and connect them with a tube, or is there another way? I want the result to look like these: http://www.equinecaninefeline.com/catalog/product_thumb.php?img=images/ferplast_topy_cage.jpg&w=290&h=300 Thanks, any advice would be great!

Hi there. I just purchased a 30 Gallon aquarium..it has a filter good for a 60 gallon tank (Marineland Penguin 200)..a great heater, and all that stuff..so I do have everything..and the tank has been running perfectly for a week straight before adding fish..so now is the time for the fun part. I just want to know anyones ideas on what fish I should put into this to make it colorful and for them to get along? I kow it is a common rule for 1 inch fish per gallon of water so I have lots of room. I currently purchased 2 Zebra Danios..and so far thats all that is in there..and they are extremely happy. But I currently got an amazing deal off a friend for the following; 1 Large fancy Goldfish/or Black Moore 2 Pleco bottom feeders and about 5 Tetras. Ive done some research and am weary about goldfish as I now they are not compatible with the tetras and they might eat them?..is this true? Please help?..this is set up for my 4 year old son..and he checks on them every morning..last thing I need is some fish to be eaten by other fish. What would be YOUR ideal setup for a 60 gallon freshwater fish that would be eyecatching and compatible? Thank you for your time. Hi yes I agree with the entire goldfish thing that they are coldwater and blah blah blah…but the guy who currewntly has them all together has had them for 5 years and they are doing fine?..is that just a fluke?

I have a anubias nana tied to my driftwood. It is in a fishless cycle right now and will be for about a month since I just started. It gets plenty of light but I’m just wondering if I’ll need to add any fertilizer since there is no fish producing waste or fertilizer for my plant. Also I have bright light in my tank does this mean I’ll need co2 injections? If it helps the anubias nana is the only plant in the tank right now and it is in a 10 gallon. Thanks!

Okay I’ve come to the end of my rope. I have been up all night trying to save my aquarium and I am now reaching the limits of what I can do with my current knowledge. Here is the problem I began my tank maintenance two days ago (I spread the work out to avoid over stressing the fish). I started by cleaning the algea from the front of my tank glass and then last night I rinsed out the filter before I headed out for the evening. I got home and the water had turned yellow and two of my fish were gulping air at the surface of the water. I was concearned to say the least so I immediately vacummed the bottom of the tank and treated the water for amonia. Once that was done I also skimmed the surface of the water for slime. This seemed only to agrivate the situation as the water became cloudy and the remaining fish began to gulp air as well. To make matters worse my Flying Fox died and the clown loach was showing signs of passing on as well. I did an immediate 10% water change (bringing the total up to 20% for the night). For a short time this seemed to work and the fish began to recover, but the tank continued to cloud over. Things began to deteriorate again and I was forced to do another 10% water change and then skim the water further for slim which had began to build up rapidly. I was forced to remove the Loach and put it into a quaranteen tank (water was 50% new treated water and 50% old water). The loach not only recovered but showed unpresidented signs of life. I then removed all items from the tank and cleaned them thoroughly (they have not been added to the tank yet) and I vacummed the tank once more, did another 10% water change on top of that and skimmed for Slim as well as a second treatment for slime. If I do any more water changes I am going to risk Ph shock. The tank has been running for at least 3 years and I have had many fish in my past and I am completely comfounded by what is happening. I have read that this may be a bacterial infection but I am loath to us anti-biotics at this point. This is beyond my knowledge. Tank size: 20 gallons Fish: 3 Bala sharks (about 3-4 inches long, I know that I am going to have to move these to a larger tank, I just don’t have one yet) and one small clown loach. Plant life: Was obliterated by Flying Fox… seems odd but I watched him eat the leaves on several occasions. Water filter is on Fish are begining to try to jump out of the tank… I am executing a complete water change. Removing fish to fresh water has rejuvinated them. I will replace water and then hopefully they will be okay. Well when I finished responding to the first answer I turned around and in the few moments it took me to type my note my fish looked like they were all about to die. I decided that drastic action was needed. At the time I only had the first answer and a complete water change seemed like the most likely way of saving my fish. Indeed getting them into an old (and very much clean) Ice cream bucket they began to recover within moments. Three of the four remaining fish survive now in a Ten gallon tank I am using as an ad-hoc enviroment (there is nothing else in it) after getting the water out of the 20 gallon I observed that the algea seemed to be secreeting the slime. Its black with a slight green tint. I have never come across this stuff and I am able to confirm that the algea is the culprit because when I scalded the drift wood slime seeped off it in rivulets. I am contemplating the future of the drift wook. Unfortunately in my haste I have failed to save a water sample for testing

I have a 15 Gallon tank. There are 2 (2inch) fantail goldfish, along with 6 guppies (beautiful fish i might add) and a plant. I have a power filter that goes through 600L/H and also a shower. For the past few days one of my fantails has been sitting on the bottom a lot. When i got her (im assuming its a her) she had a bit of her top fin missing (just a wee bit). Recently on the advice of my LocalFishStore i introduced 6 tiger barbs into the tank and they damaged her rear fin too - (i removed the tiger barbs and put in 6 guppies). The fish is eating fine. i feed em pellets and bloodworms alternately. I asked me pet store guy and he said to put some noniodiesed salt in the tank just to be safe. I have a thermometre in the tank and the temperature stays in the ‘green zone (acceptable)’ the whole time so its not that. I turn the light off at night. im getting a bigger tank in a years time, but i want to see them make it to that. Q1 - what i would like to know is whether the fish is ill or just resting? Q2 - How much aquarium salt should i be putting in if any? (just to be safe) Q3 - Also should i leave my filter on the whole time or cant i turn it off at night?

I’m thinking on giving away one of the goldfish and putting others, which one will be friendly with the 2 goldfish i have.

My betta fish just died. Where I live, I had to buy my fish and my plants from Petco (Petsmart?), so it’s anybody’s guess what killed the fish. The filter (whisper 1.5 gallon) hasn’t been pushing water through the filter, although it is still generating air in the tank. I haven’t had the time to fix it. The fish was almost a year old, but the plants were only about a month or two old. 2 gallon tank. Since I bought the plants, I have been having problems with protein film forming on the surface of the aquarium. Now, my fish, who was perfectly active and (seemingly) healthy yesterday at feeding time, is dead on the bottom of the tank. After I scooped her up, I looked in the tank to see if I could see anything out of the ordinary. There are lots of little tiny white round things scattered on the bottom. I would estimate that there are any where from 20-50, possibly more. They look like large grains of sand, but white. I have kept various aquariums over the past 12 years, and I have never seen these things. I WOULD guess that they are tiny tiny fish eggs, but I cannot imagine they are, because there are no other bettas around to put her in heat. Also, don’t bettas only lay eggs if there is a bubble nest available? There certainly wasn’t one in her tank. There are seemingly no other animals in the aquarium (and certainly none that I added). 1. Do you know what these are or how they got there? 2. Is it safe to reuse this tank after a water change, or do I need to scrap everything and start over? THANKS!!!

I have a 5 gallon tank, with a whisper filter and light. I do have a Java fern, and thats all. Might add more decoration in the future. I just want to know, if the water in the Aquarium is a little warm, will it kill my Betta? I dont have a heater, because I think its pretty useless here where I live, It gets to Warm, the water is already warm without one. I would only get one during winter, when the water gets cooler. So Im just wondering, or any tips on keeping the water less warm? Thanx!!

I bought a used 10 gallon aquarium off of Kijiji it came with a light, heater, and filter… Today I just plugged in the filter to see how it worked and it didn’t work at first, but then with the help of some people on here I got it up and running properly… So now it’s been working for about half an hour… I put some tropical fish food flakes in it just to see how it would clean it up, and already most of them are cleaned up, except for a few which got caught in the leaves of plastic plants… Right now in my tank there’s a plastic treasure chest and a plastic ship, but I’m going to take them out because I see spots where a betta can get stuck… There’s also four plastic plants but I’m not keeping them. I plan on using live plants, see, and so right now I’m just keeping those decorations in that came with the tank because I have no other spot for them. And I only have water in there because I was going to test the filter… So anyways, what I’m wondering, now that I already have water in there, and it would just be such a shame to dump it out, can I cycle it now, then dump it out later down the road once I’ve bought all my decorations? And also, do I need to put in water conditioner? If the tank has already been cycling with a little bit of fish food for the past half hour, is it too late to add the aquarium conditioner? Thanks Hopefully you check this back… Should I turn off the filter once I put some food in, give the food the chance to rot away, then turn the aquarium back on? I’m putting in live plants & I would dump it cause I would still need to decorate it after I cycle it, or else should I decorate it with live plants, driftwood, and gravel first, and then cycle it???

ok so i was in my room reading and i decided to put the book down and look at my fish tank. the day before when i got my silver mollys i had noticed that one silver molly was particularly swollen and the other silver molly was constantly around it they were never too far apart and the other silver molly was always swimming under the other one and looking at its stomach. so i went to check the aquarium and i noticed a little tiny silver fish swimming around and BOOM it hit me…. i realized that my silver molly was pregnant and had given birth. i decided to watch this fish for a few more minutes and than i saw another one and another one and another one! right now i have counted 5 and before i can get a closer look they swim into my plants or into the gravel. seriously i dont know what to do. im a first time owner of these fish and now its giving birth! what do i do what do i need i dont want them to die! and to add to the drama shes still pregnant! info immediately! should i seperate the pregnant molly and the babies? what food do i give them? help! 10 points to more info and most helpful!

My aquarium apparently wasn’t properly cycled and my fish ended up getting Ick and the ammonia levels went through the roof. After a huge struggle and losing many fish, the Ick was gone and so was the cloudiness in the water. The fish don’t seemed stressed whatsoever and i have been adding stress zyme to the tank, but the ammonia levels haven’t come down. Any tips on how to safely bring it down without stressing the fish. I have a pleco, black molly, and african dwarf frog n a 45 gallon tank. I have tried the ammonia clear tablets, but they were only a temporary fix.

I wanna add more gravel so it slopes from behind.

I have four crayfish, all about 2-3 inches long and would like to add a few fish to my aquarium (20 gallon) and was curious if there are any fish that my crayfish couldnt kill and that wouldnt harm my crayfish, I’ve tried basic gold fish and guppies and what not but they didn’t make it through the night. So if you know any fish that stand a chance of survivning with crayfish please let me know.

It is 25 gallon with one fish left. Last one died from old age. I think I remove 90% of the water and then add treated water to fill it. Next I check chemicals until all of them are correct for at least 3 days. Then add fish. Any other tips?? It is freshwater tank. It has heater in it. I have a ground feeding fish left about 1 inch long My heater is set on 79. Is that okay? I have bottom feeder and will only add two more fish later. What fish would be good? I also want one snail.

He has a small sprinkling of white dots on his tail that looks like salt, which I’m pretty sure means it is ich. I have a 36 gallon tank and right now we just have the panda and a calico ruykin, who seems just fine. I’m wondering if it would be safe to treat for ich even if I’m not 100% sure thats what it is? Are treatments safe for fish who may not have ich? Or should I wait and observe a few days? I’ve read that adding salt to the tank can help remove ich, but my tank already has aquarium salt added. (we add 1/2 teaspoon per gallon during water changes.) I need guidance. Thank you in advance!

okay so i have 3 green cory cats in my 10 gallon so far. i’m a little hesitant about what to add to them. i was thinking either a group of like 6 neon tetras, or a few guppies, or even some zebra danios. i’m also open to more suggestions for different fish to kind of get away from the classic tank, but i still want hardy fish that are easy to care for and have little personalities to them. thanks for the help! oh ya and i want to add some ghost shrimp for sure, but they don’t have a huge bioload so it shouldn’t really affect the answers.

I just bought an aquarium today, conditioned the water, then added the first dose of Seachem. I do not want to put fish in yet, as I believe it would be rather cruel at this early stage. My tank is 10 gallons, so I was wondering how long the cycling will take. I have test strips that identify nitrate and nitrite levels, so I would like to know what will indicate that the aquarium is cycled. Thanks. It is Stability, not Stabilizer.

my new 90g freshwater aquarium seems clear from the front, but it is a bit cloudy when looking from one side to the other. it has been up and running with 2 canister filters running charcoal, sponge, biological, and nitrate media for the past 5 days. i threw a raw shrimp in there for a few hours to get some ammmnia cycling 2 days ago if that has done anything. also it seems to have a very very light greenish tint when looking closely, but maybe this is the background reflecting, because there is no algae on the glass surface. i washed my gravel and rocks thoroughly, and i heve one piece of wood in there. i would like to wait 2 more days before i add my first fish (tiny, juvie, green terror). i wil ad fish slowly at a time so my bacteria colony can develop. any ideas on why my water is cloudy, anything i can do?, should i wait an see if it will clear up on its own?…. also i plan on planting a few plants in my tank. thanks,

I curently own a five gallon aquarium with a gorgeous halfmoon male, three (albino peppered corys), and I will soon be adding some ghost shrimp…Anyway, I wanted to start a larger aquarium that will fit in my room but is noticable…I was thinking a ten gallon with the fish listed below: One crowntail female betta two halfmoon female betta one veil tail female betta one double tail female betta four ghost shrimp (may become a snack, IDK) six neon tetras three bronze peppered cory catfish I really love the idea of keeping a bunch of bettas (I wish males could live together!) but females are the only ones that don’t fight… Would my plan work? I basically want five bettas, a group of schooling fish, a small group of scavengers, and some ghost shrimp just for that fun Sometime in the future, I plan on breeding my male betta (GummyBear) because half of both of his eyes are blue and If I found a pure blue eyed female…I could make a lot of money of the younger bettas. If I do spawn him though, I’ll only do it once and then sell all the bettas but keep the two best females and then one male to keep in a 2.5 gal…I’m not spawning any bettas until the middle of January though so it’s more of an idea… How is my plan?

I have a 165 litre (45 gallon approx) planted aquarium with: 1 angelfish 1 upside down catfish (I was so happy to find this guy in the shop today I have always wanted one) 2 golden bristlenose plecos 1 rafael catfish 3 kuhlis Plus a few small schooless tetras/guppies which I will give away if need be Could I add one or two keyhole cichlids and/or rams and an african butterly? Would the african butterfly be ok with kuhlis? What about a festivum? small to medium sized cichlids are not really my specialty but I would like to get a few and learn about them a bit more. I’m just really getting ideas.

im getting my first tropical fish tank for christmas, and i have researched what fish i would like and what to do etc. now its time for the decoration planning, im going to go for a world monument theme, like im going to have the eiffel tower and statue of liberty, stuff like that. anyway, since i was little i have collected precious stones things like jasper, rose quartz, jade and amethyst, they are smooth small rocks and i doubt they are real as i buy them for like £2.50 each from tourist shops but they are really pretty and i think they would add a nice personal touch to my aquarium, is it ok to use them along with gravel of course, like have the randomly placed on the floor of the tank, and should i just wash them like gravel? thanks

Hey all, I’ve had a stable fish tank for a couple of years now. Consistantly, the water has been hard, and has been very alkaline (7.4 range). However, recently, I noted that my fishes fins were looking a bit ragged and bloodshot. I ran the pH recently, it’s it’s gone totally acidic on me (6.0). So far, I’ve added some buffer, and did a 30% water change, hoping that the hardness of my tap water would help to balance it out, but so far it hasn’t moved much more than to the 6.4 range (this is the third or fourth day of trying to fix it). As for the tank, it’s 30gal, and contains goldfish and some guppies- which I’ve had about 3 years now. There is a large hood based filter running right now (filter is made for a 40 gal tank), and I don’t typically add a lot of chemicals or anything to the water. Within the past few months, my fish did have a problem with some fungal whatnot, which I cleared up with some tablets. And now, I’m having issues with this. Any ideas?

I have a 5 gallon aquarium with 1 Male Betta, 3 Platies and 1 Cory Catfish. Temperature was about 85-87F. I just set up the aquarium 5 days ago and added the fish. 1 of the Platies which is a Glow-light Platy was stuck to my filter intake today dead when I came home from work. Any idea why the platy would die so soon? All the other fish seem quite happy swimming around. I’ve had the Betta for 1 year with no problems. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

I have got a new aquarium and I am going to cycle it and I eventually want to get: 5 cardinal tetras, 1 dwarf gourami, 1 molly, 2 nerite snails, and 5 sterbai corys. Which fish should i add to cycle it and can i add the snails when it is cycling? It is a 15 gallon tank

Last night i bought some glo fish to add to my fish tank. After getting them home and letting them sit i put them in the aquarium, when they started swimming i saw that one particular glo fish had its mouth open. There are two yellow green ones three pinkish and an orange one. The one pink one is the only one with this problem, ive monitored it throughout the day and it has not closed. What is wrong with it, and will it die? The tank is fine, it has a heater, and a filter and i had the water tested.

Yesterday, I purchased my first aquarium from PetSmart. It is a top fin 20 gallon tank that came in a starter kit with a filter, chemical conditioning, ect. I set the tank up easily, conditioned the water, added the gravel and decorations and put in the thermometer that came with it. I ran the tank through the night with the light off. Now the thermometer which is a thin plastic one that lights up numbers in multiples of 2 depending on the temperature. When I checked it the numbers 80,82,84 where all lit. From what I’ve read, for freshwater tanks it should be anywhere from 72-80F. The tank is near a window, which is always closed a no light gets through, a ceiling fan that runs fairly fast, and an air conditioning vent. I live in Texas where it gets very hot during the summertime like this, but I guess I just need to know how to cool it down and keep it cool. By the way, when I do get fish I plan on getting a rubber lip pleco, a ghost shrimp, a mystery snail and maybe one other fish. Also should I probably go buy a new thermometer because this one is kind of a cheapie. Thanks in advance Oh and I’m not using a heater because I was told not to by the person at PetSmart because of the already high temperature. Okay thanks for all the answers, I got a new thermometer and it turns out the temp is at 79, so the old thermometer must have just been crappy

I have a 10 gallon, filtered tank with a fiddler crab, two glo-fish, two lyretail mollies, and a guppie. I read that the fiddler crab needs salt, but at the store they were living with mollies which are supposedly compatable with glo-fish. Would it be better for me to put a little bit of salt in for the crab, or will he be ok without? Will it hurt the other fish to put just a little bit of salt in the water? Also, I just read that crabs need to be able to get out of the water. Also, does anyone have any ideas on what I could put in the tank so she can get out of the water, but can’t escape? How long will she be ok without being above water?

I have a 20 gallon aquarium, with gravel right now, but i would like to switch to pebbles. As of now, there are also no fish in my aquarium. I have $33 to spend, would that be enough to buy enough pebbles for the 20 gallon aquarium, along with a few ghost shrimp and a fish or two? Also, would it be ok to start off buying 1 female betta, and adding 4 later? if not, would it be ok to buy 3 female bettas, and add two later?

So my tank is fully Cycled and I have 1 Betta (Turbo) - Rescued from Petsmart and almost completely healed from his Fit Rot. Now I want to add some bottom Dwellers to give the tank some more life, not that my Betta’s boring, but I would like one other species in my little aquarium. Now I was thinking either Cory’s or Oto’s now I was leaning towards Cory’s but there are no Dwarf kinds in my area. So would a normal Peppered Cory school be okay in this 10 gallon? Or would they be to much? Oto’s seemed really fun, and I would defiantly be up for getting some of them (maybe 3?) I heard their not schooling fish, but they like to be in a small group? Would the Oto’s be okay in the Tropical Betta environment? Thanks for the advice! Oh also, my tank has Silk plants, Not real. Unfortunately I just havn’t had the time to really take the time to set up a nice planted tank yet. Possibly in the future. But not at this moment, will the upset the Oto’s? - I heard like like planted tanks.

I started a new tank about a month ago. The local aquarium store helped a lot with setting up tank, etc. I decided I wanted it to be more of a brackish water setup, and they suggested fiddler crabs and mollies (no I did not add the fish right away). They said to have a place for the crabs to climb out of the water and to have gravel they could dig through, also suggesting how much aquarium salt to add to the water etc. (I also have a live plant in the aquarium). After two weeks, everything was fine, and two crabs were added. They acted normal, climbed rocks and waved their claws around. Then about a week and a half later I added one male and two female mollies, the store also gave me two fry. Everything again, was fine for about a week. Then one of the females started hanging out around the bottom of the tank. Every so often she would perk up, but mainly stayed around the bottom. The other two adult fish, along with the fry and the crabs were fine. I got up one morning and the sick acting female was dead. Three days later a fiddler crab lost a claw then died, today the second fiddler crab is acting really lethargic. I checked the ammonia levels, which were fine before, and now they are through the roof. I was doing about 10-20% water changes each day, and did about 60% last night while vacuuming the gravel. What I don’t understand is why one of the adults would die, along with the crabs, and not the fry? Also, why is the ammonia happening NOW, four weeks after I started the tank?

I have a fully cycled 30 gallon aquarium with live rock only. I originally started by adding two damsels once the aquarium was cycled and they are still doing great. About 4 days ago I purchased a false perc clown which is a bit smaller than both of the damsels - probably a mistake. Both of the damsels have been somewhat aggressive towards the clown, but one has been especially bad. Within a few hours the clown’s fins had begun to become frayed from being nipped at. Currently, the clown is separated within the tank in a small net-like enclosure that you would normally place small offspring in. He is doing fine and eating normally. I tried removing him from the net and placing him back in the tank today but the damsel was still aggressive - so I’m at a loss of ideas. Should I purchase a larger fish that would possibly scare the damsels? Purchase an anemone for the clown? - if an anemone is your suggestion please outline one that is easier to keep as the tank has only matured for a month or two. Any ideas? And yes, I tried to catch the damsel but found it near impossible after lengthy time periods. Ideas on how to catch it might be helpful as well! Thanks

I added today a marble corycat to my aquarium. It seemed fine for the first half hour, but when i went to check on it its tail was half-eaten already, its missing an eye and is swimming on its side. Its still breathing but how i can i treat its injuries. i dont think its going to make it i have archer fish, finger fish, a rainbow bosemani, a few plecos, and a pink tailed chaleus. whats weird is that there is a bronze corycat in there too but they are not bothering it. its a 80 gallon tank

I have a five gallon aquarium and I have owned it for about four or five days now. I have one betta and three baby bronze peppered corys in there…I want black gravel instead of the stupid rainbow gravel but how do I replace the regular gravel??? This is the only aquarium in the house but I do have the container that my betta came in still…So do I just get a large glass bowl, fill it with aquarium water some of the old gravel one of the plastic plants and then empty the aquarium and redo everything and then add my fish the next day or what??? Any sujestions? Wow! Thanks X Casual X and A. Those were both great answers but I don’t really know wich one to choose so yea I think I’m going with X Casual X’s plan because it just seems more simple to me. Thanks!

I bought an aquarium, let it run for 2 days before adding fish. I added 2 female guppies and 1 male. The tank is a little cloudy, but not too bad. All of the fish seemed great today, playful and nothing seemed unusual. WHen I got home, my male was dead. Maybe my water? Wouldn’t it affect my 2 females though too? I should have waited longer to add fish?

Well, I was going to cycle my tank with some feeder fish then return them or something but i figured that no fish deserves that and the would probably bring parasites into my new aquarium. I’m planning to keep a betta in my tank and everyone is telling me they are hardy and to just use the betta for cycling the tank….Not doin that! Why would I let my first fish get ammonia burns and shorten it’s life? Anyway, so i’m adding pure ammonia, keeping the temp at 85 (speeds up cycling) and then I think I’ll have an aerator or two. Once the ammonia spike has gone down, could I add the betta or would I wait till later in the cycling prosses or when the cycling has finished completly? By adding the betta, would it restart the cycling prosses? Would I do any water changes before or after adding the betta? Can I treat this like a regular aqauarium and just do weekly water changes? Thanks! P.S. Once I add the betta, the temp will be lowered to around 77-79 degrees. Once the whole cycling prosses is finished, I think I’ll add some things like ghost shrimp and 3 ottos or something else that is super small in size…

Okay I’m not new to fish care in fact I’m really good at it! However, I have a small problem. I ordered fish from San Diego (Cichlids). All of them where healthy except for the Convict who’s gills where a little red. At first I thought he was stressed or too much ammonia built up in the bag. (It took 24 hours to arrive) I put him in the tank thinking it would go away when he adapts to the environment. Now three days later I noticed one of my other fish (buttikofori) I ordered was flicking on my decorations. I examined him for Ick and saw no sign of the disease. I added a small amount of aquarium salt as a precaution. Now I’m noticing this weird twitching behavior. The Convict is not flicking or shaking just the Buttikifori. The Buttikifori doesn’t have red gills. In addition I would like to add neither fish have a loss of appetite, coloration, spots or basic stress! the water quality is perfect (I just tested it) Could this be gill flukes? Any thoughts please thanks

I am going from a 10 gallon to 29 and I don’t know how to transfer the fish without killing them. I bought some new substrate and gravel. The substrate came with a biological additive and how exactly do I add it. How do I transfer the gravel in my ten to my 29? WHAT DO I DO!?

I heard adding aquarium gravel, but the only gravel i can find is in my goldfish tank and the water is extremely dirty. Is that safe to put into the cycling process to speed it up? I plan to do a water change once I find out the answer. Cause I’m going to raise tropical fish Or can I just pour a few cups of water from the tank

I get foam in my aquarium with my 3 fire belly frogs, I was wondering if there was a natural way to minimize or neutralize the toxins that they excrete, as this is causing my water to get foggy and foamy. Any thing I can add to the water or a fish or something? Any advice would be great. Also, can their toxins hurt my aquatic plants?

i have a 55 gallon aquarium and but i also have a 10 gallon tank with a few gold fish and a betta the fish are around 3 or 4 years old, but i am now looking into other fish species to put in my 55gal tank.. i want a fish that i can base the aquarium on, i will be adding other species that get along with the “main” species in my tank..

i want to add tap water to my fish aquarium

I have 12 African Cichlids and 1 pleco in my 55gal aquarium i have 1 cichlid that is very territorial it eats every fish i put in there and it just developed red color around the eyes and front part of the body and i want to add a couple more but dont know what to do about this can anybody help me ?