I'm new and need help plz

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Socialrainxl39

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
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Hello all, I'm new to this forum and also setup my new tank with fishes, (feeder gold fish). I was told by Petco employee to start with 10 gallon tank and added 1 fish per gallon, so I have 10 small fishes.

Now I'm wondering what do I need to do to maintain it clean and healthy. Please tell me what I need to buy or setup. I'm new and never had fishes before but I'm willing to learn. Thank you and to all for this great forum.
 
Hi welcome!


Someone will be along to post some links but start researching into cycling a fish tank. Fish produce ammonia (harmful) which cycles through use by bacteria to produce nitrites (less harmful) to nitrates (less harmful again) which is removed by water changes and/or plants. Building the bacteria population to match the fish load can take a month or so.


Unfortunately you have way too many fish (eg a male betta per 5 gallons is more common) and would struggle even if experienced (I'd just about say impossible once those fish grow more). Would return and get say 5 to 8 guppies or swap to a fishless cycle. Would also swap to a better store.
 
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Hi, I'd take the goldfish back asap. Goldfish get way to big, too fast, and they are the worse for waste build up. You do know they can get 12 inches and bigger, right? They will give you a headache trying to keep that little tank clean. They might be small now. But, they won't be. Then you'll have to get an even bigger tank cause your stuck with them. I'd look into smaller fish for a 10g. But, research types of fish, and cycling tank. You could cycle the tank with the goldfish wouldn't take long. But, you got have a API master test kit. First thing! Test the water, and go from there. There's lots of help here if you have questions. Welcome to A.A.
 
Hello all, I'm new to this forum and also setup my new tank with fishes, (feeder gold fish). I was told by Petco employee to start with 10 gallon tank and added 1 fish per gallon, so I have 10 small fishes.

Now I'm wondering what do I need to do to maintain it clean and healthy. Please tell me what I need to buy or setup. I'm new and never had fishes before but I'm willing to learn. Thank you and to all for this great forum.
At this point, I agree that you should take the feeder goldies back. I also suggest that you leave the same water in the tank and let your filter run. Knowing goldfish the way I do, there should be plenty of ammonia in you tank for cycling. Do get a test kit to check for ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, and ph. If the kit also has tests for other things such as gH or kH makes no difference at this stage. You can go ahead and test for ammonia right away. Don't worry about testing for other things until the tank has been cycling for 2 weeks. Then test to see if there are any NitrAtes...not nitrItes. Then if you find nitrates, come back to the forum and reveal the reading. If they're high, you may need to do a partial water change and test it again. Do a ph test too and report it's level as well. If nitrates are good and ph isn't too low, you can start adding fish slowly. When you take the goldies back, look at other small fish that you may like such as fancy guppies. They have very colorful tails and stay pretty active. There are also mollies, swordtails, striped danios, and others that stay very active. As long as you tank is nicely decorated with plastic plants, rocks, ornaments, or whatever items you like, keeping only 5 fish that stay active will give you a nice setup with plenty of pretty movement of fish. There is no need to overcrowd an aquarium to have a nice beautiful aquarium. And do get rid of the goldies before they start dying from ammonia poisoning.
 
At this point, I agree that you should take the feeder goldies back. I also suggest that you leave the same water in the tank and let your filter run. Knowing goldfish the way I do, there should be plenty of ammonia in you tank for cycling. Do get a test kit to check for ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, and ph. If the kit also has tests for other things such as gH or kH makes no difference at this stage. You can go ahead and test for ammonia right away. Don't worry about testing for other things until the tank has been cycling for 2 weeks. Then test to see if there are any NitrAtes...not nitrItes. Then if you find nitrates, come back to the forum and reveal the reading. If they're high, you may need to do a partial water change and test it again. Do a ph test too and report it's level as well. If nitrates are good and ph isn't too low, you can start adding fish slowly. When you take the goldies back, look at other small fish that you may like such as fancy guppies. They have very colorful tails and stay pretty active. There are also mollies, swordtails, striped danios, and others that stay very active. As long as you tank is nicely decorated with plastic plants, rocks, ornaments, or whatever items you like, keeping only 5 fish that stay active will give you a nice setup with plenty of pretty movement of fish. There is no need to overcrowd an aquarium to have a nice beautiful aquarium. And do get rid of the goldies before they start dying from ammonia poisoning.
Well Petco won't accept them back and now I'm stuck with them , what option do I have. That sucks, Petco employee didn't tell me that they grow so fast, and they recommended me to take 1 per gallon. Well that sucks but my daughter already got attached with them.

I'm looking forward to having glow fishes, are they hard to keep and I would like to have plants as well , should I get a 20,30,or 40 gallon tank. I'm confused and stuck with them gold fishes lol. Sorry but I'm inexperience that is starting in this new journey.

Thank you all for the nice advices.
 
Well Petco won't accept them back and now I'm stuck with them , what option do I have. That sucks, Petco employee didn't tell me that they grow so fast, and they recommended me to take 1 per gallon. Well that sucks but my daughter already got attached with them.

I'm looking forward to having glow fishes, are they hard to keep and I would like to have plants as well , should I get a 20,30,or 40 gallon tank. I'm confused and stuck with them gold fishes lol. Sorry but I'm inexperience that is starting in this new journey.

Thank you all for the nice advices.
I'm sorry about you being stuck with the goldies. You can put them on Letgo or Craig's list for free and someone with a fish pond may take them off your hands. I have a friend that was hired and worked in an aquarium store bagging fish. He still knows nothing about cycling a tank, ammonia, nor anything else except how to bag fish. That is the case with a lot of employees that work in aquarium and pet shops. Maybe he thought that since they were cheap feeder fish that you would just be heartless and flush them when you were done with them. Who knows? Try some websites that someone may take them off your hands.
 
Some of these pet shops really make me angry. Maybe you could ask for the manager of the store? One other problem with feeder gold fish is they can carry disease. If it were me I would start over if/when you can re home the goldies. Rinse the tank with hot water, rinse everything and use fresh dechlorinated water. If you want to do a fish-in cycle try 4 zebra danios, you will need to do a lot of testing and water changes. Here are great articles to read. Fish-in Cycling: Step over into the dark side - Aquarium Advice
and The (almost) Complete Guide and FAQ to Fishless Cycling - Aquarium Advice
Very sorry the pet store gave horrid advice, it's all too common.
 
I forgot to add what you are looking for is the API Freshwater Master Test kit, it's a LOT cheaper on Amazon but Petco should have it. Test STRIPS are usually not accurate best not to use those.
 
Some of these pet shops really make me angry. Maybe you could ask for the manager of the store? One other problem with feeder gold fish is they can carry disease. If it were me I would start over if/when you can re home the goldies. Rinse the tank with hot water, rinse everything and use fresh dechlorinated water. If you want to do a fish-in cycle try 4 zebra danios, you will need to do a lot of testing and water changes. Here are great articles to read. Fish-in Cycling: Step over into the dark side - Aquarium Advice
and The (almost) Complete Guide and FAQ to Fishless Cycling - Aquarium Advice
Very sorry the pet store gave horrid advice, it's all too common.
If you want to completely start over that's not really a bad idea. But most fish hatcheries that grow feeder fish do use disease control because they know their fish are going to be put in other tanks to feed to other fish. It how they are treated as feeders at the pet shop that's a problem. Some of the feeders in tanks at shops are droopy because they're starving to death
I wouldn't be afraid of using the water you have now once you get rid of the goldies. But you could certainly start completely over, either way, I recommend a fishless cycle. That way you don't wind up with more "cycling fish" that you also may not want in your finished aquarium.
 
welcome to the forum I look forward to see you on the forums .

the pet store employee started you in the wrong direction , first thing he never mentioned cycling your tank . he also sold you 10 gold fish that alone overstocked your tank . the next thing is gold fish are one of the biggest ammonia factory's in the fish keeping hobby . now another big NO NO adding feeder fish to your tank , they can bring in disease to your new tank along with other types of parasites . I posted a link for the most common mistakes starting a new tank.

New Tank Mistakes - Aquarium Advice

the very first thing is to cycle your tank correctly ,
here are 2 different methods on how to cycle your tank

the first method is fish in cycle.

Fish-in Cycling: Step over into the dark side - Aquarium Advice

the second method is a fish less cycle.

The (almost) Complete Guide and FAQ to Fishless Cycling - Aquarium Advice

these 3 links should help get you pointed in the right direction if you need further help please post on the forum in the freshwater section .

again welcome to the AA family hope you find all the answers your looking for

seaweed
 
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welcome to the forum I look forward to see you on the forums .

the pet store employee started you in the wrong direction , first thing he never mentioned cycling your tank . he also sold you 10 gold fish that alone overstocked your tank . the next thing is gold fish are one of the biggest ammonia factory's in the fish keeping hobby . now another big NO NO adding feeder fish to your tank , they can bring in disease to your new tank along with other types of parasites . I posted a link for the most common mistakes starting a new tank.

New Tank Mistakes - Aquarium Advice

the very first thing is to cycle your tank correctly ,
here are 2 different methods on how to cycle your tank

the first method is fish in cycle.

Fish-in Cycling: Step over into the dark side - Aquarium Advice

the second method is a fish less cycle.

The (almost) Complete Guide and FAQ to Fishless Cycling - Aquarium Advice

these 3 links should help get you pointed in the right direction if you need further help please post on the forum in the freshwater section .

again welcome to the AA family hope you find all the answers your looking for

seaweed
Good advice. I explained earlier on about a friend who was hired to bag fis in an aquarium shop that to this day knows nothing about ammonia, cycling, or one fish from another...yet was hired. Do all the research you can on your own including forums like this. Don't depend on fish baggers.
 
I already gave the gold fishes to some one and I only kept 2 pleco plecostomus fishes in the 10 gallon tank with 50 clean water and 50 old water, from this point I don't know if I should do a complete new cycle or keep the old water. I need help because I'm trying to establish a tank for glofishes and i need tutorial on how to set it up. Please thank you.
 
Personally, I like doing a fishless cycle (see link in previous posts).
The plecos (based on where you got them) are more than likely common plecos and will grow too large and produce too much waste for that tank. Suggest rehoming them as well.
 
You need to do some research on every fish you think you want before you buy. Pleco fish get as big and bigger than goldfish. They get Huge!!!! And when you feed them the "pleco tabs" they get big fast! One can not live in a 10g for long. Research and look at the max size of fish.
 
I already gave the gold fishes to some one and I only kept 2 pleco plecostomus fishes in the 10 gallon tank with 50 clean water and 50 old water, from this point I don't know if I should do a complete new cycle or keep the old water. I need help because I'm trying to establish a tank for glofishes and i need tutorial on how to set it up. Please thank you.
This is the 1st I've heard about the Plecos. I thought it was bad enough with the 10 feeder goldies...at least you got rid of them. Get a new home for the Plecos too. There's probably enough ammonia in the tank still, even with you water to cycle the tank...at least for awhile. Learn from this. Like most hobbyist, you may eventually get a bigger tank. Cycle it without fish and get rid of the Plecos to comlete the cycling of your 10 g without fish.
 
I already gave my pleco to my friend who has a 55g tank, and I went to buy a 20g long tank, I started with new water and added bacterial that I purchase from Petco. In sorry for looking like an amateur in this kind of forum but I'm learning, I never knew I was making a lot mistake but i want to start fresh and in the right direction. So I appreciate everyone's opinions, I would like to know how many glofish tetra I could have and how to add them in the tank.

Thank you for making this forum very welcoming.
God bless .
 
Oh we’re all amateurs at something here for sure - saltwater looks a black box to me. Busy killing off plants again in my tank.

This is for a 20 gallon? Haven’t kept those so can’t really comment.
 
1" fish, per gallon. Glofish can get 2" so you can get 8-10g . But, if you want other fish go less, depending on the other kinda fish you want. Make sure tank is cycled before adding fish. When adding fish, low light or no lights... Float the bag of fish, let the temperature of the tank match the bag water(fish). About 15 mins.Then add a little tank water to the bag for them. Wait 5-10mins. Take some water out of the bag. Do not add bag water to tank water!!! Then add a little more tank water. 5-10 mins net a few fish out of the bag and add to the tank. When you get all your fish out of the bag into tank, dump the water from the bag down the drain(sink) watch your fish a lot the first few days. Try to keep lights off or low for a day. Don't over feed them. When you start to feed them turn your lights on low if you can, just so they get use to feeding time with lights on. Test water everyday or everyother day for a wk or two so you know when to do a water change. You'll get to know water changing time when you see ammonia levels. What ever your ammonia level is double that %level on your water changes. But, no huge water changes at once. 50-60% at a time if you gotta change a lot to lower the ammonia levels. Watch your nitrate too. Sometimes that gets high too. If you have other ? Fish store employees are not recommended. Imo! Hope all goes Well! Most of all be patience with this hobbie. Enjoy! ?
 
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