Jess1ca
Aquarium Advice Addict
Hello all, my name is Jessica and I need some serious help! Ok, Im not so sure where to begin.... I will start at the beginning and try to include everything, bear with me!
So, my birthday is here in a week or so and for a very, very long time I have been wanting a fish tank. My husband, bless his heart, knew this since I have been nonstop talking about it for about a year now. My friends and I had gone out last week and upon my return my husband and kids surprised me with a 20 gallon tank kit complete with fish. I was ecstatic! They had it all set up and it was a really neat surprise! Well later that night when the kiddos went to bed I started to research the fish in the tank. I have one small Tiger Oscar, one small Firemouth Cichlid, one very small Yellow Lab, one small Kenyi, 2 small Peacocks, 1 small Pleco, and one Blue Lobster. To my horror my research has revealed that the tank my husband so lovingly surprised me with was much, much too small for these little guys. 6 days went by and I saved every dime I could and purchased a 55 gallon set up. I set up the tank, carefully rinsed the rocks, filled it with water, used dechlorinator, working on getting the right temp in the tank as we speak. I decided then that I wanted to do this the right way so I sit down at my computer and type into the Google search bar "How to properly set up my 55 gallon fish tank" I was then again struck with horror at the fact that neither of my tanks have been cycled, a very important rule of fish keeping. I am so sad that my husband and I have so innocently started to kill these fish Totally incidental and not purposely. I knew nothing of a cycle and my husband swears the pet store he purchased everything from did not inform him. I am sad. I tried to see if I can take the fish back to prevent further damage or pain to them. They only had a 5 day warrantee, they will not accept them back. I live in a small town in Northern Michigan and have a 45 min drive to any pet stores. I dont know what my next step is from here. The fish are probably suffering and being the animal lover that I am my heart is breaking for them. I did read some things on something calld Bio Spira, I ordered it today with expedited shipping, also a master test kit. Does anyone have any advice for me? Can I cycle my 55 gallon with these fish without killing them? Should I leave them in the 20 gallon that I have them in until the Bio Spira arrives? Is the ammonia probably really high in there so would moving them to the larger tank be better and then just add the bacteria when it arrives? Im so sorry this is a long post but I am really clueless and have no idea what to do?! Also have a question about driftwood but that is another topic and will touch on that later! Thank you immensely for your time!
So, my birthday is here in a week or so and for a very, very long time I have been wanting a fish tank. My husband, bless his heart, knew this since I have been nonstop talking about it for about a year now. My friends and I had gone out last week and upon my return my husband and kids surprised me with a 20 gallon tank kit complete with fish. I was ecstatic! They had it all set up and it was a really neat surprise! Well later that night when the kiddos went to bed I started to research the fish in the tank. I have one small Tiger Oscar, one small Firemouth Cichlid, one very small Yellow Lab, one small Kenyi, 2 small Peacocks, 1 small Pleco, and one Blue Lobster. To my horror my research has revealed that the tank my husband so lovingly surprised me with was much, much too small for these little guys. 6 days went by and I saved every dime I could and purchased a 55 gallon set up. I set up the tank, carefully rinsed the rocks, filled it with water, used dechlorinator, working on getting the right temp in the tank as we speak. I decided then that I wanted to do this the right way so I sit down at my computer and type into the Google search bar "How to properly set up my 55 gallon fish tank" I was then again struck with horror at the fact that neither of my tanks have been cycled, a very important rule of fish keeping. I am so sad that my husband and I have so innocently started to kill these fish Totally incidental and not purposely. I knew nothing of a cycle and my husband swears the pet store he purchased everything from did not inform him. I am sad. I tried to see if I can take the fish back to prevent further damage or pain to them. They only had a 5 day warrantee, they will not accept them back. I live in a small town in Northern Michigan and have a 45 min drive to any pet stores. I dont know what my next step is from here. The fish are probably suffering and being the animal lover that I am my heart is breaking for them. I did read some things on something calld Bio Spira, I ordered it today with expedited shipping, also a master test kit. Does anyone have any advice for me? Can I cycle my 55 gallon with these fish without killing them? Should I leave them in the 20 gallon that I have them in until the Bio Spira arrives? Is the ammonia probably really high in there so would moving them to the larger tank be better and then just add the bacteria when it arrives? Im so sorry this is a long post but I am really clueless and have no idea what to do?! Also have a question about driftwood but that is another topic and will touch on that later! Thank you immensely for your time!