Hi

[OwlnTigger]

Hello everyone,

I just found this forum and got the app for my iPhone. I suddenly became the mother of a rather large Jack Dempsey and a very cute Convict. They belonged to my sister. When she had to move, we took the fish to keep. They were on a 45? Gallon tank made of glass and ugly silicone in the corners, but hey, it's old school. It has been a month now, I have spent at least $300 on the whole adventure, and lost one fish. RIP, Owl. Yes, you heard right, I killed one of my sisters fish. If you want to find out what happened, reply and let me know

Cheers,
OwlnTigger

 

[creic38]

Hello there and welcome! I am pretty new to the site as well. Been keeping an aquarium for about 8 months and I too have had my ups and downs. Lost a few fish during the learning process. We all make mistakes in the beginning, so don't feel bad.

So what exactly happened? Was it stress from the move, or did you lose control of the water quality? Either way, don't give up! This hobby is very addictive, and as you do your research, you will become more and more engulfed in aquarium keeping.

Good luck.....and keep up the good fight! You will learn a TON from this site. And everyone on here is super helpful!

 

[shellieca]

Welcome to AA, which should stand for Aquarium Addicts, LOL. 6 months ago I had NO aquariums now I have 4 (one being a QT tank)!

 

[OwlnTigger]

Well, she has had these fish for about 8 years. We moved them, keeping all the gravel etc., and it was extremely stressful to them. I managed to get them through the worst of it, but when I went to my local aquarium store, they didn't warn against the dangers of using live feeders.

The 12 in Dempsey, Owl, the one in my profile pic, got sick. I had been to the shop the day before and they sold me fish that were not well, and many were dead or in the process. He told me it would be fine, and picked out as many lives ones as possible.

I had no idea, and I happily bought and fed them to Owl. He got sick within two days and sat on the bottom unresponsive, barely breathing.

I started more research, but the illnesses too over pretty quickly. Antibiotics and then losing the nitrogen cycle messed up the tank. He couldn't fight the illness and the higher toxicity did it.

Had I come here first, I probably could have saved him. Now I'm fighting to keep Tigger alive, and I'm not faring well there either:-(

I'm so glad I found this group! I just hope I can keep Tigger from dying today!

 

[OwlnTigger]

Welcome to AA, which should stand for Aquarium Addicts, LOL. 6 months ago I had NO aquariums now I have 4 (one being a QT tank)!

Thank you! I hope I can learn quickly enough to prevent killing the fish!

 

[Number1cookie]

Welcome to the group

 

[OwlnTigger]

Welcome to the group

Thank you!

 

[creic38]

Wow....anything to make a buck, dang fish stores! I'm sorry things went down that way. Again, you will get all the accurate info you need on this site in the future. It is very hard to find a good LFS that you can trust. You are much better off going into those places already knowing what you need, and stick to that no matter how convincing they are.

 

[OwlnTigger]

Wow....anything to make a buck, dang fish stores! I'm sorry things went down that way. Again, you will get all the accurate info you need on this site in the future. It is very hard to find a good LFS that you can trust. You are much better off going into those places already knowing what you need, and stick to that no matter how convincing they are.

I know. They are apparently the best aquarium store in my city, but didn't hesitate to Ross the dead ones back as he got feeders for me. I asked him if that was a good idea, and he said they die in transit and as long as I feed live ones, it would be fine.

Now I have you guys, and that is the only place I am going to get my advice from. Here is a picture of Tigger's tank before, when it was full of milky scum. And a link to a video I just took a few minutes ago. I don't think I would be filming him if it weren't for this forum! Thank all of you. He's such a sweet fish. He eats the brine right from my hand and plays chase along the glass. He is seven years old, and my sister raised him from a little fry.