I need HELP

[shyivy]

I have an important question about my tank, but I just joined today and I am not sure if I am posting my question in the right place.

Please help - I need a response ASAP


Here is my question:
My name is Christen and I have a 30 gallon tank. I have had my tank for 3 years and I have had small fish - mollies, platies, small tiger barbs and ghost shrimp. I have the same fish I had when I got the tank, but the numbers have dwindled from about 15 to 4! My sister has a tank of Jack Dempseys which just had over 200 (yikes) babies. She is trying to get rid of them and wants to give me some. How can I handle this? Do I just take the babies and then as they grow older move them or my other fish into another tank? Any advice?

 

[roka64]

I'll move this to FW/Brackish - Getting Started section for you.

 

[shyivy]

Thanks!!!

 

[jsoong]

Jack Dempseys - that is a tank buster! Your tank is waaay too small for even one, let alone 200!

Best thing to do is to see if you can sell the babies to a lfs. Most chains will not take trade in's but some mom-&-pop stores will let you trade the babies for something else. Phone around & see if you can trade the fish for something more suited to your tank size.

You can also put up an ad in the barter & trade forum & see if someone might take a few off your hands.

 

[shyivy]

I am sad to hear that my tank is too small. My sister is the one who has 200 and was only going to pass off a few to me. How long could I keep a few fry until I would have to get a larger tank? What is the smallest size tank I could get away with?

 

[fijiwigi]

well the LFS tanks are small and they keep quite a bit of fry in there. but they also Maintain there tanks Daily. You could probably keep some for a short period if you do water changes 3-5 times per week But if you don't get rid of them soon you might as well flush them down the toilet because they will die from unstable water conditions.To keep them healthy they would need to eat and that many fish pooping in a small space will kill them. Imagine If you were locked in A Jail cell with 40 people with no toilet and the only food was 1 piece of bbq spare ribs that 40 people were fighting over. I could get pretty messy. The bigger the tank the better.