A few questions . . .

[haleyj_the_bat]

Hello, I'm new here. I've had my tank for about a month and a half now, and everything is smooth sailing. Except for one frog that inexplicably died, but I wasn't too disappointed. He was boring. Anyway, I had a few questions. (Obviously)

1. The woman at wal-mart who sold me my goldfish and neon tetras told me I couldn't mix goldfish with regular freshwater. Because I'd already read on the internet that I could, I ignored her and went ahead and did it. My goldfish is thriving more than any other fish, as a matter of fact! I just wanted to know if what she said was true or if she was just acting pompous.

2. Is it true that you MUST buy fish in pairs? The people at Uncle Bills would only sell me fish if I bought a male and a female. (The fish in question were guppies and mollies.)

3. I have two catfish and a goldfish who is constantly muching at the bottom of the tank. Should I get one of the various fish they have specifically to clean the tanks, or am I fine where I'm at? (I have a filter, too, btw.)

4. How does one tell if a neon tetra is filled with eggs? I bought a new one today, and its belly is slanted and much more rounded than my other tetra. Is it pregnant or just misshapen?

Thanks ahead of time for any questions! I love the forum here. It's where I've gotten all my other questions answered.[/b]

 

[Allivymar]

Hiya haleyj and welcome to Aquariumadvice

Lets see; where to begin...

The Wallymart woman IS correct; you do not want to mix tropicals and cool water fish like goldies for a number of reasons. Goldfish need cooler temps then tropicals, they diet is usually different and they are DIRTY. Goldfish need about 10g each, while you could put a school of 6-10 neons in a 10g.

No one does not need to buy fish in pairs; in fact, some fish are better as singletons, some need schools larger then 2. Guppies and mollies are live bearers; unless you want a zillion babies its best to get either one, or all males.

There isn't actually any fish that "clean" tanks. There are bottom feeders which will eat extra food that winds up at the bottom, but they need to be fed as well. There are fish which eat algae, but they also need to have their diets supplemented.

Chances are the fish you bought today is either malformed or diseased. Unfortunately neons are difficult to breed and need very exacting water parameters.

 

[millipede]

Wow, people sure like to mislead don't they... as far as guppies and mollies go, you can have as many as you want of either sex, but if you want to keep both sexes it's best to have at least two females to every male... I'm sure everyone will agree on that one... Goldfish, walmart... don't get me started... A lot of people either love goldfish or hate them... you really can't mix them with other fish because goldfish foul up the water real quick.... I couldn't answer the catfish or neon questions, but it will help if we knew what size tank, and even the type of filter you are using... You came to the right place for answers though...

 

[astroguy]

hello and welcome to AA.

1. She was right. Goldfishes are coldwater fishes, while neon tetras are tropical freshwater fishes. The latter therefore need 75-80 deg F, while goldfishes need, e.g., 70 deg F.

2. no. But neon tetras need to be 4+. In the case of guppies and mollies, no need. I actually suggest only males, as you would get too many babies in a short time. Mollies are brackish water fishes, and should not be mixed with guppies or tetras.

3. two catfishes: probably one too much, if not two too much. How big is your tank?

4. breeding neon tetras is very difficult and you will probably never have a tetra "pregnant".

I suggest you give us more details on size of tank, fish population, and we can recommend changes for healthy fishes. At least now you know that goldfishes do not mix with the tropical fishes, and should thus be returned.

 

[Devilishturtles]

Welcome to AA haley!

To add a little to what everybody else has already said:

1. Yeah!!! Somebody who bought their fish from Wal-Mart!!! Lol, just kidding. I'm a little partial.... The lady there was right however... goldfish CAN physically live with the tropicals, but they really shouldn't for reasons mentioned above...

2. You do not need to buy fish in pairs, the place you were getting them from likely was just trying to get you to buy more fish! And FYI, if you did actually buy them in pairs, they are going to breed like WOAH! So be ready to be a parent of little fry!

3. My goldfish munch at the bottom of the tank too, but it is because they EAT SO DARN MUCH!!!!! You can get something like a corydora catfish or something, but it is not needed!

4. And as allivymar said, your tetra is probably malformed. My dad's dad tried to get neons to breed for ages and he finally gave up!

Ok, have fun with everything!

 

[haleyj_the_bat]

Thanks for everyone's help, and I'll explain more about my tank in case you have more advice to offer:

I have a ten gallon tank with a side filter. (Not sure what model, but I'm too lazy to go check. Sorry.) I have only small decorations except for one medium sized rock. As for plants, I have two small ones and one medium sized one. (All plastic.) I am good about rinsing the filter once a week and changing it every four weeks, so my tank is pretty clean.

I have a few questions resulting from your answers.

1. I'm actually rather partial to my goldfish, and so far the fish have gotten on fine. I try and keep the temp between 70-75 degrees because I wanted a compromise of the temps my fish need. Am I going to kill any of them because of this? Would it be absolutely necessary to move my goldfish, or can they all live happily together if I take the right precautionary steps?

2. So Mollies shouldn't be mixed with the rest of my fish? What makes this so? Should I try and return the two because of this - I only bought them today, so I think I should be able to return them all right.

Thanks again. And I'm actually kind of glad to know that my tetra is just deformed. At least I can tell them apart. Can tetras live in just a pair, or do I need to go get two more to make four, which is what someone recommended I keep?

I'm sorry. It's probably painfully obvious that I'm a newbie to aquariums. I love learning about creating the ecosystems and what works with what. Someday when I'm rich I'm going to spend weeks planning wonderful aquariums.

 

[astroguy]

1. It would be better to separate them. You need to keep the temp fixed within 1-2 degrees, not within 5 degrees. The tank is already crowded with neons, mollies, platies, and goldfish. Which catfish is this? This is also a *major* problem if this is a pleco. The only ones good for a 10g are otocinclus fishes.

2. Mollies are brackish water fishes as I said. They require a small amount of marine salt, while the other do not or even do not tolerate it (e.g., neon tetras). I strongly suggest that you return them.

 

[haleyj_the_bat]

They are albino catfish about half an inch each, I think. (Though I'm not sure if size matters.)

Most of the advice I've gotten was at Uncle Bills. Before anyone ever gets me a fish, they always ask what I have in my tank then tell me if the new fish is compatable. Which is why I'm a little pissed no one mentioned Mollies require some marine salt.

And I think I'll just get a small glass bowl for my goldfish. Cheap, and I still get to enjoy Renton. And he'll stop trying to eat the other fish.

 

[crazie.eddie]

Regarding your tetra...I'm not sure what you mean by slanted stomach. But the female is usually more rounded than the male. It's also hard to tell, but the blue line on the neon has a slight bend on a female. Neon tetras are hard to breed becuase they require acidic waters. The eggs are also very sensitive to light.

The store probably sold you the guppies in pairs just to get rid of them. I used to work at an LFS and we often do this. The guppies are very prolific, so you will usually always more guppies. Just selling them in pairs makes it sound like a good deal.

A 10 gallon tank is too small for a goldfish. According to PetEducation's "A Guide for Goldfish Care"...

A 20-gallon tank is about right for one fish, but if you want more than one, you are going to need at least 10 additional gallons per adult fish.

 

[Menagerie]

[center:12da01edf1] Welcome to AA, haleyj_the_bat!! [/center:12da01edf1]

Mollies require some marine salt

Before I got Mollies, I did a lot of research on the little buggers. They do not NEED salt; they would LIKE salt. Mollies have been kept in this hobby for years as FW and do fine. However, having said that, I bought mine specifically to keep in a BW tank.

And I think I'll just get a small glass bowl for my goldfish. Cheap, and I still get to enjoy Renton. And he'll stop trying to eat the other fish.

That will not work. Goldfish are messy and need filtration--lots of filtration. I don't keep goldies, but if you read this site for long enough, you will get the general idea that goldies need at least 10 gals per fish due to their messy nature and oxygen needs.

 

[Devilishturtles]

I would definitley get the goldfish out of the 10 gal with your other, but DONT put it in a bowl!!! You would be changing your water daily, and...lots of other things, you don't want to do it!

Also, as menagerie said, Mollies PREFER brackishwater conditions, but it is not required for them to live. I kept mollies a couple of years ago and they lasted a good while with me and never had any salt added to the tanks.....

IMO, if you want to keep the mollies and guppies, go for it, but your just going to have ALOT of babies.... If you want to keep them , take back the males and get all females, or get all male guppies since they are the more beautiful of the species.... HTH

 

[Christmasfish]

Goldfish, fancies, commons, carp and koi..will eat anything that fits. This includes small gravel that will destroy their already delicate digestive system.
They are fish that are derived from a lake dwelling carp and they like it cold, hard with lots of available oxygen.
Your temps are too low for happy tetra. When you see a low and high range of temps..the average of the two is where you keep them. There are few places where it is summer ALL YEAR Long or WINTER All Year LONG! And the fish from those regions are rarely suitable for the commercial aquarium trade.
you can't "split the difference" in temps for two totally different regional/water type animals.

A fancy goldfish needs a highly filtered tank of no less than 10 gallons. !5 is recommended by gold keepers.It is better to keep bare or with large rounded stone to big for its mouth. Common shaped fish can top out at 16 inches in an aquarium. They need 20 gallons minimum. For a single fish.
You know why every sitcom has a dead goldfish or platy in a bowl? Because bowls will eventually kill off the fish. There is always that one time in the DAILY change schedule that you were not home or forgot.

They seem easy and common for the fact they are used for feeder fish. But feeder fish are bred in PONDS.

If you really want them all; you better be prepared to shell out the clams.
A 15 for your gold, with the needed filtration and right substrate. Goldies will consume and tear up most live plants, so untasty java fern and grass are your only options unless you have a good co2 system so the plants recover.

Cheap and the word fishkeeping are no where near related. It is the most expensive animal related hobby. Think of the expense of an underwater city and you'll know a hint why.. We set up housekeeping in space first! :? And the seas are right here!

You should take them back if you cannot keep separate quarters for them. The deformed tetra may be a prob if you did no QT. It may have neon tetra disease or TB making it deformed. Or The new yuk I saw the other day..fish warts (contagious and deforming)

 

[haleyj_the_bat]

Okay, I . . . painfully flushed the goldfish down the toilet because it's a better death than taking him back to a store.

Now I have: two female neon tetras, male/female pair of Mollies, and male/female pair of guppies. Are than any other kinks to be worked out in my fish population?

 

[haleyj_the_bat]

Okay, I . . . painfully flushed the goldfish down the toilet because it's a better death than taking him back to a store.

Now I have: two female neon tetras, two female albino catfish, male/female pair of Mollies, and male/female pair of guppies. Are than any other kinks to be worked out in my fish population?

 

[ScottS]

You didn't!

There's nothing painless about the flush. The fish will not die painlessly in the sewer system. Frankly, I'm a bit taken aback that you did this to a fish you liked.

Anyhow, I highly doubt you can confirm the sexes of either your albino cats or your tetras. But as said earlier, Neon tetras (and most all tetras) should be in a decent sized school. They are more content and feel more secure this way. Also, the more you have, the more impressive they look. I think 4 is still too few. I'd say at least 6.

6 neons plus 2 what I assume are albino corydoras and you're getting close to the limit of the tank.

Guppies as noted earlier, should really be kept in at least a 2f/1m ratio. They are small enough to keep in that tank, but as noted, you're going to have a lot of little ones and probably not enough predators to keep it balanced.

I hesitate to say this, but I'd add more neons and subtract the mollies since they are going to get a little bigger and leave push you over the top for what your tank should have in it. Just please don't flush the mollies.

 

[Menagerie]

There are better and less painful ways of eliminating fish. Well, what's done is done.

Since the guppies and mollies are fry factories, I would also suggest giving away the mollies--ask around, they are decent community fish. Add in a few more neons and you have yourself a great community tank!

 

[LAGlocker]

Ouch. I fear for the poor goldie. Euthanize is better, but I still would have found something else to do, a bigger tank for the goldie, a friend who wants it, something. But oh well, cant change it now.