Not sure what to do

[SunniB]

I am sorry if this is the wrong place to put this, I am new to the board and wasn't sure where to post.

My neighbor recently moved out of the country and left his tank on his porch so someone from Craigslist could pick it up. They did not show up when he said they would and I was afraid the fish would die (it was 103 outside) so I went and got them and set their tank up at my house. I recognized 3 of them as being a bala, a kissing gourami and a gold gourami but did not recognize the third so I sent a picture of him to a local store and was told he is an iridescent shark. He had all four of these in a 10 gallon. Before finding out the 4th was an iridescent I got a 40 gallon set up and started fishless cycling it so they could have more room, I didn't think a 40 was big enough but it's all I could afford and now that there is an iridescent in the mix I know it is way to small. I don't know what to do about the iridescent. I thought about trying Craigslist but I doubt many people have huge aquariums laying around waiting for one of these guys to be posted. He has been in this 10 gallon for 2 to 3 years so I'm sure his growth is stunted, could he be happy in a 40? I can get him something bigger later on but could never get one the size that is recommended for a normal adult iridescent. He is only about 3 inches right now, because of the growth stunt how big should I expect him to get? Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[FishontheRock]

The ID shark is definitely stunted. I had two at one point ant they grew larger than that in two months! Put up a pic here so people can check the fish type just in case. The forty will definitely be to small for an ID shark you should try to re home it and potentially the Bala sharks as well. My ID shark were nightmares but I'd gotten them on the word of a lfs that I never shopped at again. Theywere the last fish I ever naught with out research!

All those fish will be too big for a 10. I personally feel you should consider fish in cycling cause at this stage it maybe less damaging than leaving them in the 10 but I'll let others chime in here as I've never had to cycle a tank with such a large bioload.

Best of luck and Kudos on rescuing the fish!

 

[severum mama]

Welcome to AA!

I have moved your thread to the FW and Brackish Getting Started forum. This should help you to get more responses.

It sounds like you are doing your best to save these fish- kudos to you! Since the ID shark is still only 3 inches, that 40 gallon should be fine for it, at least for now. There is no way that I am aware of to know how large a stunted fish will grow. Certainly, though, the 40 gallon is a huge improvement over the 10 gallon that the fish are in now.

Did you wash the filter and gravel that came in the 10 gallon? If not, I'd probably just move the 10 gallon filter over to the 40 gallon, along with some of the gravel, and go ahead and move the fish over as well.

You should find plenty of useful information in our Articles section. Here is a link:
Freshwater - Aquarium Advice

 

[SunniB]

Thank you for the quick replies. I will try to post a pic of him here and the new thread, (thank you for moving it to the post correct place).

 

[FishontheRock]

That looks like an ID shark to me too. Be warned they scare easy. Mine would dart into the tank walls sometimes merely cause the light turned on.

 

[SunniB]

I didn't wash anything since it looked really clean and tested well, when I first set up the 40 I did squeeze the 10 gallon filter into the treated 40 (something I saw on YouTube) to help things move along and also put about a cup of the gravel and one of the plants into it. Since reading more posts on here I want to replace my test strips with a liquid kit, I will do that tonight and move the fish over.

 

[RussellC]

I just wanted to say welcome, and good luck!

I also wanted to say that while 40 may not ultimately be ideal for all of those fish, it is a substantial improvement from the 10, hands down!

I also applaud you for stepping in, taking action, learning, and doing what you can.

When you replace those test strips with the kit (a great move, in my view, espeically since you'll be cycling fish-in), if the set-up didn't come with one, pick up a gravel vacuum while you're out. The kit and the gravel vac are the two most important tools any fishkeeper has, in my opinion.

Again, welcome!

 

[severum mama]

Since it hasn't been mentioned yet, I just wanted to make sure that you knew about the importance of dechlorinator. You'll need to use dechlorinator for your tap water when you do your water changes. I use Seachem's Prime.

 

[SunniB]

Thank you everyone! I have been looking up all the info I can find on fish in cycling and decided to wait until tomorrow morning to move them, I'm scared something will go wrong if I'm not awake to monitor it all.
There was a gravel vac with it and 2 bottles of water treatment, one is Prime and the other is Jungle, Safe Start. I have been using the Prime since it had directions per gallon and the Jungle's directions where per 10 gallons. I add water a gallon at a time, if I used the Jungle later on would I treat the remaining water in the tank and then add in the 10 gallons?

 

[librarygirl]

The safe start is a bacteria additive to help tanks cycle; it works for some, but not for others (it's difficult to keep bacteria viable in a bottle). You don't really need it, so I wouldn't use it. The Prime is what you want to use.

During water changes you can do it one of two ways:

1) Drain as much water as you want and then if you're using buckets, treat each bucket with Prime. I think 2 drops per gallon is the dose for Prime. So if it's a 5 gal bucket, add 10 drops of Prime to each bucket (it's ok if you add a little extra) or

2) Drain as much water as you want and then add Prime directly to the tank but add enough for the whole volume of the tank, not just the water you're replacing (so for a 40 gal you want to add about a capful), then refill.

For a tank of that size you might want to invest in an Aqueon water changer. You hook it up to your faucet and can drain and refill without having to use buckets. I have one and it saves a lot of time and makes water changes a lot easier (you'd use method 2 above if you use one of these).

 

[SunniB]

Thanks I'll look into a Aqueon! That sounds a lot easier then carting buckets over the baby gates and trying to keep my toddler out of them lol