Buying more fish

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Chaddlee1978

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Jan 27, 2023
Messages
19
Hello. I am new to having fish. Before I knew anything we bought a 5 gallon aquarium and got 2 male guppies and 2(male we believe) black skirt tetras. Well, we updated to a 28 gallon tank. In the 28 gallon tank and the 5 gallon tank we got a cycled filter from a store and put it in the tanks, but it has only been 2 days since those filters were introduced. Now, the 5 gallon tank we only had the fish in it for 2 weeks and going through the cycle phase, which only got to 1 ppm in ammonia and no nitrites or nitrates. So, we just took the 4 fish from 5 gallon and put them in the 28 gallon tank. My question is this, can I get 3 more black tetras and quarantine them in the 5 gallon tank and after quarantine move them to big tank? I read where I need at least 6 black skirt tetras because they are a schooling fish. Or, should we get 2 black skirt tetras and 2 guppies and quarantine them and then add them to the big tank? Not sure what to do because I saw on aquadvisor where I need 5 to 6 guppies in a tank with 6 black skirt tetras and if I quarantine 4 black skirt tetras and then add them to the big tank there will be much more of them compared to guppies.
2. When I do quarantine in the 5 gallon, I will clean it out first but wondering do I still need to keep an eye on the ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels daily since my last reading after putting the cycled filter in showed 1 ppm for ammonia but no nitrites nor nitrates?

Thank for any help. This gets so confusing. Takes patience too.
 
Personally, move the fish you have to start with, and dont add anymore unless you are consistently seeing zero ammonia and nitrite over a week or so. This will mean you are cycled enough for the fish you have before you add some more.

Your small tank still isnt cycled. If you wanted to use this as a quarantine, i would only use this to quarantine 1 or 2 fish at a time. Once its cycled (again consistently seeing zero ammonia and nitrite over a week or so) you can up that to quarantining 3 or 4 small fish at a time.

I wouldnt worry too much about not having good sized schools too much at this early stage. Yes, living in too small a group can be stressful, but so is toxic water. Heavily stocking an uncycled tank, and the toxic water this will produce is going to be more stressful than not having loads of mates. Build up your fish numbers gradually so the cycle doesn't have to too much to catch up each time you add new fish. Add them into your new tank no more than 2 or 3 at a time, a week or 2 between each new batch.
 
I forgot to mention that I have been using seachem prime and seachem stability for the 5 gallon tank while the fish were in there and only used the stability in the big tank trying to get the good bacteria at same playing field as ammonia when it starts. Thank you for your help. So, would it be best to stock the guppies first, then the neon tetra and then black fin tetras?
 
Stabilty is probably doing nothing useful. These products are very hit and miss, mostly miss. Stability especially so.

Also dont rely on prime to detoxify ammonia, nitrite or nitrate. There is a lot of debate about whether prime really does these things. Use it as a back up, but the only surefire way to remove ammonia in an uncycled tank is a water change. 1ppm ammonia is too high. If it goes above 0.5ppm then bring it down with a water change.

Id probably up tetras first when you are sure its safe to add more fish.
 
I would not worry about the ratio of guppies to tetras. I am not certain what ratio I have of either species in a 55 g. I keep them with other groups: angel fish, platys and pearl gouramies. I bought all male guppies, but it appears females would have not overpopulated the tank because the fry would have been eaten. I keep male and female endlers (small guppy-like fish) in a 44 g that has black skirt tetras and GloFish tetras. Never saw a single baby.
 
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Okay. I trying not to over populate because I want my centerpiece fish be the German blue ram. I was looking and if I put 5 or 6 tetras in there I won’t be able to put a German blue ram in it. I will be too high on fish stock for the tank. My wife wants cardinal tetras too. Would 3 black fin tetras and 2 guppies and 10 cardinal tetras and 1 german blue ram be good? When I add all of these fish lengths up it comes to 28 inches total for all the fish and my tank is a little over 28 gallons. Lol. I trying to make it work.
 
Truth be told, I’ve never owned a blue ram. I can certainly see why you’d want one; they are beautiful. I am not sure how this little cichlid would fit into your planned group. Probably Colin T would know. He’s an expert on numerous species. I’ve also heard this one inch fish to 1 gallon of water is not always to be taken literally, but it’s commonly used. The owners at my local fish store who are excellent applied the 1” per gallon when we discussed the appropriate number of GloFish tetras for my corner 44 gallon tank. She said 22. I went a little overboard and added a few black skirt tetras. They are all very pretty together. These are the guys that I’m certain are eating the baby endlers.
 
German blue rams (and their colour varients) prefer their water hot. I wouldnt put them in water cooler than 28c and 30c would be better. Thats too high a temperature for your other fish. If you want a blue ram then look to keep them with other fish that like really warm water.

Bolivian rams are an alternative to blue rams that can go in water temperatures that community tanks are more commonly kept at.
 
I was actually looking at the Bolivian ram first and kept researching and saw the German ram, which looks prettier to me, but if need be I would go with Bolivian ram. Would apistgamma work good too or Bolivian ram be better? I know it will b a good good while before getting one. Looks like it going to take some time gradually increasing my fish. One day I wouldn’t mind having a bigger fish, such as an Oscar, but know I probably need at least a 100 gallon tank for him and maybe 2 other fish. I see why people have a lot of aquariums. You get fish in one and start noticing other beautiful fish but can’t put it in because it doesn’t go with the other fish or don’t have room, which means you got to get another aquarium. Lol. Goodness. But to me, I enjoy watching the black skirts a lot more than the guppies we have. The black skirts aren’t as colorful but I like the way they are shape, move, and how they eat. Like seeing them swim fast and hit the food on top of the water. More aggressive.
 
1 inch per gallon is a flawed metric, but it will ensure you dont overstock when you are looking at small narrow bodied fish.

For example. You couldn't put a 10" fish in a 10 gallon tank. But 10 x 1" fish would probably work.

You also need to consider that active fish need swimming space. So 5 x 2" active fish might not work in a 10 gallon tank because the 10 gallon doesnt give enough space for them to stretch their legs. But 10 x 2" active fish might be OK in 20 gallons because of the additional swimming space.

Aqadvisor is a pretty good tool to get some guidance on what works together, how big a tank individual fish needs etc. Its not perfect but better than 1" per gallon.

https://aqadvisor.com/
 
Black skirt/ widow tetras are renown fin nippers and should not be kept with slow moving fish or fish with long fins (male guppies, angelfish, Bettas or gouramis).

Most tetras, rams, gouramis and angelfish come from soft water with a GH below 100ppm and a pH below 7.0.
Guppies do best in water with a GH around 200ppm and a pH above 7.0

What is the GH (general hardness), KH (carbonate hardness) and pH of your water supply?
This information can usually be obtained from your water supply company's website or by telephoning them. If they can't help you, take a glass full of tap water to the local pet shop and get them to test it for you. Write the results down (in numbers) when they do the tests. And ask them what the results are in (eg: ppm, dGH, or something else).

Depending on what the GH of your water is, will determine what fish you should keep.
 
All I can say is my black skirt tetras have never nipped my other tetras (white skirt & GloFish) and have never bothered the Endlers. These guys are in a tank right in front of my stationary bike & I watch them lots.

I keep GloFish tetra in a peaceful community tank & they leave everyone alone as well, including the angelfish of varying sizes. I am very quick to move troublesome fish to their own tanks & could easily set up a tetra only tank, but for a good year or so, I’ve witnessed no aggressive behavior
 
All I can say is my black skirt tetras have never nipped my other tetras (white skirt & GloFish) and have never bothered the Endlers. These guys are in a tank right in front of my stationary bike & I watch them lots.

I keep GloFish tetra in a peaceful community tank & they leave everyone alone as well, including the angelfish of varying sizes. I am very quick to move troublesome fish to their own tanks & could easily set up a tetra only tank, but for a good year or so, I’ve witnessed no aggressive behavior

Black skirt and white skirt tetras are the same fish just different colours.
GloFish come in a range of species but one of them is the black skirt tetra.

If you have a decent sized group (more than 10) of tetras, they are less inclined to nipping but no guarantees.
 
i do indeed have 10+ tetras in each tank that has endlers in one & guppies & others species in the 55. I have been hoping to observe a pair of courting GloFish, but have not as of yet. Understand the fry will look like either mom or dad, no hybridization. I would love to isolate a pair and have some new GloFish.



Here's my favorite seat where they are closely monitored.
 

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So far my black skirt tetras haven’t messed with the 2 guppies. Only bad ones I have seen are the guppies. Lol. When they were in the 5 gallon tank one of them would chase the other around but since they been moved to the 28 gallon tank they haven’t done this.

I 2 black skirt tetras are males(what girl at store told me) but one of them is about half the times bigger than the other one. Wonder if one is a female or the smaller one is younger. The bigger one shows more black on its skirt but the smaller one a light black.
 
I’ve seen my all male guppy group occasionally chase one another. They seem to go after their own type. No big deal. It’s not an everyday thing.

I have no idea how how to determine gender in tetras. They all look the same to me. I ordered some long skirted or long finned ones (forgot what they’re called, but you can see them at the GloFish site). These are difficult to find locally and are quite spectacular. I love the hot pink and neon green ones. GloFish charges reasonable prices and shipping is low.
 
I just had a guppy die. Now I have only 1. The thing is that they just stay at top of water the whole time. I have the filter going on low to try not to make movement of water flow too much and I have an air pump in there hooked up to a seashell that opens up; but the bubbles that come up aren’t small but medium size. Well, thought maybe not getting enough oxygen so I bought a bigger air pump rated for my size aquarium since the other one is rated for up to 10 gallon aquarium. And I bought an air stone with the new air pump and when I got home that 1 was already dead. I got it hooked up and it blowing a lot of fine bubbles but the other guppie is still staying at top of tank. I wonder if current too strong and that killed the other one or what. The black skirt textras are just fine and acting normal. Ammonia, nitrite, and nitrates are 0 water temp is 78. Ph is 8.0. Y’all know what it could be? I also turned the air stone down to see if it will still the waters down and still won’t swim down.
 
All of my guppies are top dwellers.
How long have you had these guppies?
If not long, I suspect yours may be from a bad lot. Once I went to buy more guppies & there were numerous dead ones in the tank. The pet store employee said this happens often. They arrive packed in & sedated & may initially be active enough, then go out like lights.

That zero nitrate is unusual, I never ever once got zero. I use foam filters to oxygenate my smaller tanks. I doubt your problem is a lack of oxygen. I’d buy another group of 3-5 guppies. Do you know of a good pet shop in town? I have found the smaller ones often have better fish than the big box stores. Additionally, people in local Facebook groups sometimes give them away. These groups are also an excellent source of used tanks etc at great discounts over new.
 
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