Fish suggestions

[Kwenbee]

Well, now I have more questions....you all are going to be so sick of me and my questions...

We now have the up and running 10 gallon with healthy, happy fish. One new guppy seems to be surface hovering, but so did his recently deceased predecessor, so I figure it's a guppy thing, I just don't understand. We are planning to add some otto's this weekend (thanks Alli) to keep the bottom clean.

We have the newly installed 5 gallon that right now only houses Bill the Betta. He will be getting a few friends this weekend as well because I don't think the tank will cycle well with just him in it. Since I am now an expert (ha ha) at cycling tanks, I realize water changes are in my future with this tank, and I know not to add too many fish. I kind of am leaning toward glowlights and corys because I know they are small.

Now, and please don't tell me nothing because I hate seeing it sit empty, the 1 gallon that used to house Bill the Betta needs some tenants. Any suggestions on small guys who would be okay with no heater and no filter. I plan to bring it to my office, which is a bit chilly, so I need some guys who can deal with colder temps. If none exist, I'll leave the tank setup in my kitchen at home.

[Fruitbat]

Kwenbee....

Hmmmm....a tiny tank with no filtration and no heater in a chilly office. Try as I might I can't think of a single type of tropical fish that would do well under those conditions. In fact...I can't think of any non-tropical fish that would do well under those conditions either. You might consider putting a plant or two in it (I'm assuming you will have some sort of light on it) and housing a couple of small shrimp like ghost shrimp. Could be an interesting tank!

[tkos]

Yeah, that 1 gallon really is too small for anything. Perhaps you could tuck it away and save it as a quarentine tank in case one of your fish gets sick.

Otherwise I would add a big apple snail to it and watch him. A betta is the only fish that sort of hovers around a tank and can get away with smaller surrounding, but it still needs some heat.

[grimlock3000]

"We now have the up and running 10 gallon with healthy, happy fish. One new guppy seems to be surface hovering, but so did his recently deceased predecessor, so I figure it's a guppy thing, I just don't understand. We are planning to add some otto's this weekend (thanks Alli) to keep the bottom clean."

Everytime I have seen a Guppy float and then die it was the result of bad water conditions. It is not "a Guppy thing" when they die a few days after you get them usually. Since you just lost a bunch of fish and bought a bunch more, and are now losing those, I suspect the water quality is bad. What type of fish and how many of each are in that 10g currently? Also, what are the ammonia and nitrite readings. I would say do not purchase additional fish until the 10g stabilizes. Otos are not exactly good bottom cleaners a lot of the time either. Most I have seen always stick on the glass and plants. They are very sensitive and well.

"We have the newly installed 5 gallon that right now only houses Bill the Betta. He will be getting a few friends this weekend as well because I don't think the tank will cycle well with just him in it. Since I am now an expert (ha ha) at cycling tanks, I realize water changes are in my future with this tank, and I know not to add too many fish. I kind of am leaning toward glowlights and corys because I know they are small."

I would not put Cories in a tank that small, they like to move around a lot. Just my opinion. Maye a few White Cloud Minnows would be fun.

"Now, and please don't tell me nothing because I hate seeing it sit empty, the 1 gallon that used to house Bill the Betta needs some tenants. Any suggestions on small guys who would be okay with no heater and no filter. I plan to bring it to my office, which is a bit chilly, so I need some guys who can deal with colder temps. If none exist, I'll leave the tank setup in my kitchen at home."

As stated above, that is really not suitable for much. Read up on Apple Snails here:

http://www.applesnail.net/

I do not think one would have a good life living in a tank that small.

[ferret]

I believe she meant that the guppies stay in the upper range of the tank. Mine always have, and I've got a tank full of them.. :P

The 1 gallon would be suitable for a dwarf african frog. Do some research though, I can't remember their temperature range. I know I've read they can be unheated, but I can't remember the low temperature cut off point. You could get 2 or 3 in a tank that size. Daily water change required.

[grimlock3000]

When I think of hovering I think of the fish just sitting at the surface of the water like it is floating without any effort

[Kwenbee]

Sorry...guess I wasn't clear about Swimmy the Guppy. The first guppy, of course, was a casualty of the new Ice Age coming to our tank. He was very happy and healthy and his tailfin had just started to get big and fluffy. He liked to hover around the top of the tank, usually near the filter. He swam to the bottom as well, and other places around the tank, but his location of choice was near the surface. He ate fine as does the new guppy.

For the record, we did not "lose a bunch of fish, buy a bunch more and are now losing those". We lost an algae eater last night, but he was one of the poor frigid fish from the heat incident on Sunday. He wasn't new. The only fish we lost that was new was a guppy we bought at Walmart who was dead the next day. Since my water levels are fine, I am sure this fish wasn't healthy when we got him. We put him in the tank at around 4 PM on Monday and he was dead at 5:30 AM on Tuesday. I returned him to Walmart and got my money back.

I truly realize that the tanks we have are small. But it seems to me a 5 gallon tank should be big enough for more than one fish! As I stated, what I put in the 1 gallon I know can't stay there long and it will mean lots of water changes, which I'm prepared to do.

After posting about putting the tank in my office, I decided against that. My office is like a meat locker right now (only 15 degrees outside with a wind chill of -10) so there is no way I'll be able to keep up with a fish tank. So it will remain in my kitchen.

I'm headed to the fish store this weekend to see what sort of filtration device I can find for the 1 gallon and if there is any type of fish that can use it.

I did think about putting it aside for a quarantine tank, but how would I keep the water cycled without fish? The plants and ghost shrimp idea is kind of a neat one. I am absolutely NOT interested in frogs, but thanks for the thought.

Right now, we have one guppy, three zebra danios, five neon tetras, three black finned tetras in the 10 gallon. All the fish are VERY small, so small I'm afraid I'll suck one of the tetras or danios up in the gravel vacuum.

I am extremely diligent about water testing...to the point of being obsessive and am alos diligent about water changes and gravel vacuums. My nitrites and ammonia are at 0 right now (even though the water is STILL cloudy for some reason). The nitrites and ammonia in the 5 gallon, of course, read 0 today, but I know it hasn't cycled yet. That's my concern...with just one little fish in a 5 gallon tank, isn't it going to take awhile to cycle?

So, now I'm being told that ottos aren't bottom feeders? Jeez Louise, this hobby is confusing. I need to add some bottom feeders because the pig blackfins spit lots of shredded food out while they are eating and the neons just can't keep up with them. What suggestions? We had albino corydoras catfish -- one was a casualty of the antarctic water temperatures, the other died several weeks ago of unknown causes. They didn't do such a hot job of cleaning up the bottom of the tank, but they were very small. Ghost shrimp? Snails? The snails may be a hard sell...my daughter doesn't care for them much in the stores.

If I overload the smaller tanks, that just means my 55 gallon arrives sooner! Just kidding...just kidding!

[Kwenbee]

Oh my God! I swear...I will never buy another fish at Walmart! I went home at lunch and one of the new danios was dead...it looked like his head was all chewed up...would one of my other fish have done that? My daughter noticed this morning that his mouth looked "big", but it looked like the other three to me. He was swimming normally and eating normally.

All my levels are FINE. What in the world is going on with this tank???? We went for two months with ammonia levels in the 2.0 range, then nitrites in the 2.0 levels without losing a fish. Since the levels have gotten normal, we've lost a catfish, a brand new guppy and now a danio (not counting the frozen ones).

I am definitely heading to the fish store this weekend to ask some questions. I still have a cloudiness issue...could it be related the the two recent deaths? The guppy was only in the tank 12 hours. The danio four days. We have three blackfinned tetras, five neon tetras, two more zebra danios and a guppy in this tank.

You know...it just struck me...I bought the first set of guppies from Walmart and all but one died of fin rot. I did the antibiotic treatment for that and it cleared up the last one fine. Could this be some sort of bacterial infection that Walmart's fish have inflicted on my tank? If so, should I dig out the neons and the remaining guppy and quarantine them or is it too late?

The tank temp is still at 86.

[ferret]

Walmart baaaad

[grimlock3000]

I was not trying to bash on your earlier, I was just trying to encourage you to not get any more fish until the situation stablizes with the tank you have currently. Sorry if it came out wrong.

Ok, you have a bunch of stuff going on...

"We have three blackfinned tetras, five neon tetras, two more zebra danios and a guppy in this tank."

That is a full fish load for a 10g, if not overstocked. Getting more fish is not a good idea when you have had some trouble and have that many fish in a 10g. Even with good maintenence, having too many fish in a tank can cause them to stress out and get sick even if the water is OK. If you do want more fish, please get a cheap sponge filter to help with your bio filtering and make sure you have a lot of plants for fish to hide.

You can get bad fish from anywhere. Some Wal Mart have well maintained fish departments that make many LFSs look bad. Others (like the ones around me) are where fish go to die. Wherever you go, the most important thing to do it look at all of the tanks and see how well maintained they are. QTing new fish is a good idea too, if possible. I have been in Wal Marts I would never buy a fish from, and been in "good" LFSs that I would never buy a fish from either

It is possible that the Wal Mart fish infected your fish. I would not bother QTing the fish now, it would likely just stress them even more getting moved around. If they start to show signs of any sickness, [acronym:067387983b="quarantine or quart depending on context"]QT[/acronym:067387983b] them as needed.

Cloudiness is caused by one of two things. Bacteria or algae. What can happen is that you end up with extra nutrients in the water, and then the bacteria or algae grows right in the water stream. The bacteria that processes the ammonia and nitrites can live in the water stream if there is enough food to support it. It is possible to have a cycled tank with cloudy water. If it is greenish at all, it is an algae bloom. White cloudiness is bacterial. To clear it up, reduce feedings, do water changes. reduce fish load. With algae blooms, you can leaves the lights off for a while as well.

Next, why is your tank at 86F? That is very warm unless you are clearing up Ich.