anxiety about my fish

[briann]

okay so i have a ten gallon tank i bought and i bought a white double tail male betta to put in it, used dechlorinator and stresszyme and all that stuff. i also put in two 1.5inch common pleco, at first i was nervous about the betta not playing nice with the plecos but he got used to him and seemed not to be botherd by them. anyway i have another betta in a seperate tank and he is doing great, eating aggressively swimming around etc. my new white betta doesnt seem to go for his food like the other does. he used to just grab it in his mouth then spit it out but now he eats a little bit of what i put in there. anyway since the blue betta that ive had, the one i mentioned earlier, was big and healthy i put him in the ten gallon and i put the new white one by himself in the little 2 gallon tank, the 2 gallon has two little filters that don't really produce a current but keep the water clean. anyway i get real bad anxiety when it comes to this and im scared that the white betta isnt gonna eat or he's sick or something and im also nervous about my plecos not eating. i put in some algae rounds at night time and put a towl over the front of the tank so its dark even if i have the tv on so they know its night to look for food i guess. but yea here's some pictures if it helps, i basically just wanna know if i'm doing something wrong or if the fish look bad. its hard to get the plecos in the shot but i did my best.

 

[briann]

why did the links to the pictures get removed? moderators?

 

[briann]

here are the pictures mentioned in the first post

 

[bruinsbro1997]

to AA!

okay so i have a ten gallon tank i bought and i bought a white double tail male betta to put in it, used dechlorinator and stresszyme and all that stuff. i also put in two 1.5inch common pleco, at first i was nervous about the betta not playing nice with the plecos but he got used to him and seemed not to be botherd by them. anyway i have another betta in a seperate tank and he is doing great, eating aggressively swimming around etc. my new white betta doesnt seem to go for his food like the other does. he used to just grab it in his mouth then spit it out but now he eats a little bit of what i put in there. anyway since the blue betta that ive had, the one i mentioned earlier, was big and healthy i put him in the ten gallon and i put the new white one by himself in the little 2 gallon tank, the 2 gallon has two little filters that don't really produce a current but keep the water clean. anyway i get real bad anxiety when it comes to this and im scared that the white betta isnt gonna eat or he's sick or something and im also nervous about my plecos not eating. i put in some algae rounds at night time and put a towl over the front of the tank so its dark even if i have the tv on so they know its night to look for food i guess. but yea here's some pictures if it helps, i basically just wanna know if i'm doing something wrong or if the fish look bad. its hard to get the plecos in the shot but i did my best.

Did you cycle the tank? What are the readings of ammonia, nitrites and nitrates?

If you didn't:
1.The (almost) Complete Guide and FAQ to Fishless Cycling
2.I just learned about cycling but I already have fish. What now?!

Also, that common pleco will get WAY too big for that tank, maximum size two feet long and if you keep him in there he will be stunted, a painful process which can hurt your fish badly. I highly suggest returning him.

 

[briann]

thanks for replying, i'll take a look at those guides as i didnt cycle it and i kinda dont understand it from what ive read about it. and at the moment i dont have a test kit to see the amounts of nitrites and nitrates and amonnia and iron and ph and all that stuff, i put some sea shells from the beach after rinsing them, fish guy at petco said they naturally increase the ph. yea i know the plecos get big, theyre my favorite fish i wanna keep them until they start to grow and then i'll transfer them to my way bigger 40 gallon tank which contains a 2.25 inch red oscar and about a 2 inch tiger oscar.

 

[bruinsbro1997]

thanks for replying, i'll take a look at those guides as i didnt cycle it and i kinda dont understand it from what ive read about it. and at the moment i dont have a test kit to see the amounts of nitrites and nitrates and amonnia and iron and ph and all that stuff, i put some sea shells from the beach after rinsing them, fish guy at petco said they naturally increase the ph. yea i know the plecos get big, theyre my favorite fish i wanna keep them until they start to grow and then i'll transfer them to my way bigger 40 gallon tank which contains a 2.25 inch red oscar and about a 2 inch tiger oscar.

If possible, please tell us your levels soon! I, and many other members, recommend the API Freshwater Master Test Kit, super accurate and worth the price!

Petco is not the best, and this is an example. You don't really want to put anything from the beach of lake or rivers in the tank without baking them or boiling them to get rid of any bacteria or chemicals that can possibly be on them.

Even the forty gallon tank is overstocked! Those oscars will get like a foot long and can easily kill each other in that small of a tank!

 

[Oscarr19]

Those oscars will need a bigger tank. 75G minimum for one alone is what most people recommend. Due to aggression once they grow it wouldn't be a good idea to keep more than one in anything smaller than 120G.

As for the pleco a 40 gallon isn't enough for a common pleco either. Please consider returning or rehoming those fish if you don't plan on getting a bigger tank.

 

[ARon9501]

If you do plan on getting a bigger tank go search some up on craigslist. Goodluck with ur bettas btw

 

[briann]

thanks guys, yea eventually after i save enough money, im a 17 year old living with my folks with a part time job stocking milk and eggs and other dairy products at kroger (grocery store) so yea id love to save and buy a big long tank and i plan on it, thanks for all the advice and i plan on deffinitly getting a bigger tank soon for the fish. by the way, would the two plecos be okay being with the oscars? as theyre relatively young plecos, and the oscars are eating a lot and getting big, like the oscars stomachs start to push outward a tiny bit so im cutting back on feeding them like once every other day

 

[briann]

i love fish and i want to take care of them properly and not half assed, i'd feel bad if one died because of my error. so i am deffinitly going to look at bigger tanks, i want the oscars and plecos to live long and happy and get big and the bettas to live a good happy life

 

[bruinsbro1997]

thanks guys, yea eventually after i save enough money, im a 17 year old living with my folks with a part time job stocking milk and eggs and other dairy products at kroger (grocery store) so yea id love to save and buy a big long tank and i plan on it, thanks for all the advice and i plan on deffinitly getting a bigger tank soon for the fish. by the way, would the two plecos be okay being with the oscars? as theyre relatively young plecos, and the oscars are eating a lot and getting big, like the oscars stomachs start to push outward a tiny bit so im cutting back on feeding them like once every other day

I understand that situation. I'm not allowed to have anything bigger than a ten gallon tank in my house, so that puts a constraint on things. My mom also won't let me keep more than three or four tanks in a house, and they must all be in my room. So that's another big constraint too.

If you mean by common plecos, NO. Two oscars+Two common plecos=disaster waiting to go loose! That's a HUGE bioload and I'd say like a 250 gallon tank just to fit them all in together! If you can, return the oscars and plecos before it's too late for them! Oscars and plecos grow real fast!

 

[briann]

hey guys, one of the pleco is looking kind of pale should i leave the light off longer or does this mean something really bad? :/

 

[Oscarr19]

Pale fish usually mean its stressed. Considering you didn't cycle you should do a water change.

I'm glad to hear you care about your fish but if your going to get a bigger tank its best to do it now. Common plecos get really big and getting a 250G won't be easy let alone cheap. There are many smaller species of plecos you can go with. For your oscar tank(remember multiple oscars should be in nothing smaller than 125G) you can get bristle nosed plecos and for your betta tank a pitbull pleco will be suitable.

 

[GoldenPlecTony]

How often are you feeding the bettas? They might be over fed thats all. Try mixing the food up a little bit