Genuine fish lover needs advice!

[Fishface01]

Hey guys!!!

Good to see so many enthusiasts on here.

I recently brought a small tanks after going snorkelling on holiday, I thought it be cool to have some of my own fish just like the ones we saw.

It Is a 25 litre tank with light and filter, there is also a heater but I haven't tried it out yet as there isn't enough plugs near to run it all.

I left it running for a few days like everyone says, and I put in 2 star fish, a few black mollies and a Siamese fighter fish! (their tails are so pretty)

Ever since I put them in they don't seem happy, one of the star fish is floating around and the black molly is sitting in the corner at the bottom. I know they are salt water so I put a few table spoons in to keep them happy but it hasn't seemed to have worked?

What am i doing wrong?? I just want it to be like when i was snorkelling!!

 

[Deep Seven]

Quick answer, sounds like you didn't cycle the tank and they're suffering from ammonia poisoning.

Do you know what the ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels are?

 

[Fishface01]

Quick answer, sounds like you didn't cycle the tank and they're suffering from ammonia poisoning.

Do you know what the ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels are?

Well I left the filter running for a couple of days and added the salt yesterday. Do I have to add nitrate?

 

[iDream]

uhm, starfish are pure salt, mollies are brackish, and bettas are purely freshwater!

there are all sorts of things wrong here..

 

[Deep Seven]

Fish produce ammonia, ammonia is toxic. ( high enough levels will kill fish )

You need to build up bacteria that convert ammonia to nitrites, and then the bacteria that converts nitrites into nitrates.

When you have too much nitrates, you do a partial water change to reduce them.

Star fish are usually saltwater, but bettas are usually fresh. You might want to research each species you buy to make sure you have the right water conditions.

 

[tyspot1000]

Welcome to AA,

I guessing the tank is not cycled, which is resulting in behavior like that.

The starfish on the other hand are saltwater while the mollies (Can be acclimated to brackish or saltwater) and the bettas are fresh water, The 2 should never be kept together.

I would recommend getting the Fish/ inverts out until the tank cycles. (You could kept the betta in as they are generally hardy, But If you do, I reccomend doing 25-50% water changes until The cycle is complete) I also recommend getting a test kit, such as the API master test kit

Starfish are delicate and need a 30-50 gallon fish tank with included protein skimmer for optimum health. The molly should have a 20 gallon (75 liters) tank or more (Get 4-6 inches big), The only thing you could keep in a 25 liter tank would be the betta.

Tyler

 

[jsoong]

Welcome to AA.

Starfish?! You mean the ones in the ocean?? They are salt water fish, needs full marine conditions (3% or so salt) and you need a marine salt mix at the correct concentration. Throwing in a few tablespoons of salt won't cut it. Your best bet is to rehouse the starfish in a reef tank and keep the Betta (aka Siamese fighting fish.) A 25l is simply too small to run a reef with starfish .... <OK, a real experts can run a nanoreef ... but that is waay too advance for me.>

2nd problem - your tank is not cycled. Running the tank for a few days is not cycling. Cycling is a process that establishes your bio-filter so you can house fish safely:
The Aquarium Nitrogen Cycle

The Betta is a Fresh water fish, and the mollies are brackish (needs a bit of salt but most are domesticated enough to do fine in fresh water.) Unfortunately, the Betta is likely to attack any fish with long tails. <They are not call fighting fish for no reason.> Your mollies are probably hiding from the betta. Because of the ferocious nature of the betta, it is best to have just a single betta in a small tank like yours. <If you want more than 1 male betta in a larger tank, you would need a divider, or they will fight to the death!> So the next thing I am going to suggest is to remove the mollies & return them to the fish store.

When you are down to a single betta, you will need to cycle the tank with the fish in it. Essentially that means checking the water for ammonia & nitrites everyday, and doing water changes daily to keep the levels low until the biofilter is established. This will take a few weeks, but the betta is pretty tough & should survive the cycling process.

Finally, you need to plug in that heater! Betta should be kept in water temp of 80F. Plug in the heater & skip the lights if you have to. Then get a power stripe so you can properly connect all your equipments.

In future, please do research (ask here if you like) before getting any fish. Impulsive fish buying usually results in deaths & much discouragement....

 

[jsoong]

Note that this thread is duplicated in the Fresh water forum as well. Normally, I will combine threads, but since the OP has both SW & FW in the same tank, I will let both threads be for the moment.

 

[cmor1701d]

Just saw your last message after I merged the two.

 

[classklown90]

becaus this guy just joined, has not answered back and said he saw a betta fish while snorkeling... i would assume hes just being a jerk.. maybe im wrong but his post sounds really really made-up

 

[tyspot1000]

becaus this guy just joined, has not answered back and said he saw a betta fish while snorkeling... i would assume hes just being a jerk.. maybe im wrong but his post sounds really really made-up

I dont think he is being a jerk. More of making a beginner mistake at fish keeping. He was trying to make his tank simulate what he seen out in the ocean

Tyler

 

[jenatron]

becaus this guy just joined, has not answered back and said he saw a betta fish while snorkeling... i would assume hes just being a jerk.. maybe im wrong but his post sounds really really made-up

Maybe we're both wrong because that was my first thought as I read it too.

 

[classklown90]

yea because whens the last time you saw a betta fish or even a molly snorkeling? If he was trying to mimic what he saw he would probably go with the tang/clownfish combo. maybe im wrong though

 

[Mr Pril]

Oh dear this sounds quite wrong. Maybe he just walked into the fish shop and just picked what he liked. Some shops are bad and don't even ask any questions/intentions before they sell fish.

Is there anyway you could take the star fish back and get the heater and stuff plugged in? Have you not got any extension leads spare?

 

[Fishface01]

yea because whens the last time you saw a betta fish or even a molly snorkeling? If he was trying to mimic what he saw he would probably go with the tang/clownfish combo. maybe im wrong though

I'm sorry if I didn't reply straight away I am from the u.k so was asleep at 4am, not sure why that makes me a jerk?

I didn't say that I saw those fish specifically when snorkelling, I just fell in love with fish when on holiday!

Thanks for all the HELPFUL advice given in the first few posts. I will look into your comments, in the mean time I have taken all the fishbout apart from the 'more hardy' betts fish as per your advice, I may just get 3 or 4 of those as they are very pretty and quite small.

Thanks

C

 

[classklown90]

I'm sorry if I didn't reply straight away I am from the u.k so was asleep at 4am, not sure why that makes me a jerk?

I didn't say that I saw those fish specifically when snorkelling, I just fell in love with fish when on holiday!

Thanks for all the HELPFUL advice given in the first few posts. I will look into your comments, in the mean time I have taken all the fishbout apart from the 'more hardy' betts fish as per your advice, I may just get 3 or 4 of those as they are very pretty and quite small.

Thanks

C

i apologize then, sorry your post just sounded fishy but if your looking to replicate what u saw snorkeling(i assume it was in the ocean) then you would have to get rid of the betta and most likely the mollies. also a few tablespoons is not enough salt, your going to need to mix it until it reaches a certian ratio of salt to water. Are you trying to make a reef tank or just fish and live rock?

 

[jenatron]

@Fishface01:

Make sure you don't get more male bettas (the ones with the long, pretty tails).
You CAN get female bettas (There needs to be a certain ratio of females to males) but before you go out and get more fish, PLEASE research. Search these forums for fish you're looking to get, find out all you can. While you're doing that, please learn about fish-keeping in general. Then when you get an idea of what you want, ask around here and make sure all your fish are compatible with each other and with the environment you're able to provide them with.

Not trying to be offensive, just trying to gauge what you need to learn:
what do you know about fish-keeping? I know that's vague, but there's a lot to consider when putting a tank together.

 

[severum mama]

Female bettas should never be housed with male bettas. The only time they are kept together is for spawning, then they are quickly separated.

Female betta sorority tanks rarely work out in the long term. No way a sorority is suitable for a 23L tank.

My advice here is to return everything but the betta and do plenty of reading in the articles section here. You'll need to do daily water changes from here on out until your tank cycles to keep the betta alive.

 

[jenatron]

Edit: My post essentially said Never say never, but that's not really a good philosophy in fish keeping sooo.. Nevermind.

 

[Fishface01]

Right guys, I took your advice. I started again but kept the betta fish and took everything back. So I now have a betta, 12 neon tetras and 10 platys which are all different colours and look so cool!

They seem really happy all chasing each other round and playing tag! I really want more now! It's so colourful!