New at this and need some help.

[Chrisfafa]

Hello Everyone,

My name is Chris and I have always loved going to the aquarium. So now that I am in my own house I wanted to get a fish tank. That way I could look at and enjoy the fish like I used to at the aquarium but in my own home. I want to learn to make my fish happy and healthy.

So no that the short intro is out of the way here is my story I will try to keep it as short as possible while still giving as much detail as possible. A few weeks ago I bought a male dragon scale betta from Petco. I got the betta food and a betta tank (.7 gallon) and a plastic plant for him as well.

After a few days went by, I am not sure if it was just me, but he didn't seem happy. He just sat there in his tank, he didn't really swim around just stayed around the plastic plant near the surface. So I got to thinking and came to the conclusion that it was because his tank was to small seeing as it was not even a gallon of water. I ended up buying him a 10 gallon tank from Petco.

Please remember that I have had little to no experience with fish tanks. I bought everything I needed for the ten gallon tank 10 lbs of gravel, more plastic plants, a floating log for him to swim in (he really seemed to like that) a small version of the alligator skull, a barrel for the center for him to hide in and a heater to keep it at perfect temp for him. (all was rinsed and dryed before putting in the tank)

I filled the tank and added the water drops that the Petco people said were for the water the betta would be in. After got him into the tank trying to let him get used to the slight temp change as slowly as possible, he seemed to love it again he would swim from one side to the other and was exploring all of his new tank and décor. He seemed happy again.

Now this is the part that I think I messed up on. After a while he seemed to just start floating there again. So I thought to myself "Well that is a big tank maybe he wants some friends" So I went back to Petco and asked what would be good tank mates for a male betta. I was told multiple fish but settled on 3 orange and black mollies and a clown loach.

Going through the process again I allowed the new fish to get used to the water difference and added them in. All was great! The betta and the mollies got along great! They would eat and swim together and the loach just minded his own business at the bottom of the tank.

Then the loach started acting strange he would lay on his side at the bottom of the tank and even swim on his side. The next day my wife texted me at work and told me that the loach was dead on the bottom of the tank. We were devastated that one of our fish had passed away and we couldn't figure out why. To make matters worse the next day we lost two mollies. And two days later the last molly and the betta both passed.

So to sum up I don't know what I did wrong. I want to get more fish but I don't want to be some kind of slaughter house for fish. Can someone please point me in the right direction on what I need to do to prevent this from happening again. And could someone recommend fish(and amount of fish) for a ten gallon tank. I wanted to get some tiger barbs or maybe some red tail sharks.

Sorry the post is so long any help would be very much appreciated.

Thanks again,
Chris

 

[ImACoolguy]

Hello Chris! Welcome to AA!

What we have here is a common case no "new to aquariums, listened to fish store, and didn't cycle the tank"

I see this more often than I'd like to but it's okay because you are here to learn!

Undoubtedly I would contribute the death of your clown loach to an "uncycled tank"

What does that mean? The Nitrogen Cycle takes place in your tank. It's a run down that I use for social media what should clear up what the nitrogen cycle is:

What is cycling? Cycling is short the Nitrogen Cycle. Basically, bacteria live in your tank, they are what consumes waste so it doesn't become toxic and harm your fish. But your filter does not just "come with bacteria" right out of the box! This is where cycling comes in.

Why is cycling important? Many people have said "well I didn't cycle and my fish are just fine!" Well that's because most of those people have very hardy fish like bettas, guppies, etc, they can rough it through a cycle without issue.

Where does bacteria live? Let's make this really simple: 97%=filter 2%=substrate 1% water, decor, and plants. Basically, your filter is the home of all the bacteria you care about.

Where does bacteria come from and how do I grow it? This is the miracle of nature and science. I can't tell you specifically "where" bacteria comes from, only because I don't know. What I do now is how to grow bacteria, otherwise known is cycling a tank.

What you need to cycle a tank:
1. LIQUID test kit- I will stress this till the day I die. Test strips are junk. Liquid looks expensive but in reality you save a bunch of money because it can do 200+ tests for $10 more than a 25 pack of strips. I mean who wouldn't snag that deal?? You MUST have a test kit that you can get actual numbers from or else cycling will be near impossible without trips to the store for them to do it.

2. An ammonia source. This can be produced in a variety of ways. Fish obviously is the first method, this is the path of FISH-IN cycling. Simple right? Other sources include 10% grade ammonia from the hardware store, this is only a couple bucks. You can use uncooked shrimp from the grocery store and put it in a pantyhose so it doesn't make a mess. Or plain fish food is fine too but not as effective sometimes. These sources are used for a FISHLESS cycle.

Why do we need an ammonia source? This is what begins cycling. Ammonia is what feeds your bacteria to where they can reproduce and allows you to continue through the nitrogen cycle.

Enough questions let's get on with it:

Fishless cycling: this is really easy method, but you have an empty tank. On the flip side, you can do whatever adjustments you want to it so when you get fish it's perfect. If you are dosing ammonia by the bottle: shoot for 3ppm-4ppm. Google can provide a dosing calculator so you can know just how much to dose for your tank size. If you are using a table shrimp, just throw it in, it will naturally boost the ammonia and you just add a new shrimp when the other has decomposed. Now you want to use your test kit to measure how much ammonia you need to dose, it's simple math once you know how much makes 3ppm.

Fish-in cycling: This is where it can get tricky. Because you have fish you need to keep them safe. During a cycle, this will require daily testing and quite possibly daily water changes. You want to keep ammonia under 1ppm and nitrite under 0.50ppm if possible as both are highly toxic to fish.

Both cycles: in the beginning you will see ammonia start to rise, over time, the bacteria will overcome this and in a fishless you will need to start dosing daily(bottled ammonia) as time goes on. From there you will move to nitrites. Once you hit nitrites this is the longest phase. One day you will wake up and nitrites will be gone and you will be left with nitrAtes. Nitrates is the final product of the nitrogen cycle and is non toxic in lower levels. This is then removed through your weekly water changes.

Once the cycle is completed you should not see any signs on ammonia and nitrites, because now your tank is cycled.

Bacterial supplements: please understand these are a game of chance. They don't always work, sometimes they do nothing. Just know, I have NEVER seen one of these fully complete a cycle, only give a jump start. Please keep that in mind that just because you dump a bottle in doesn't mean your tank cycled..



Caleb

 

[Chrisfafa]

Thank you very much for the explanation I did read something about cycling the tank after it all happened. But it seemed way more complicated, but you cleared it up thank you.

One more question though, after my fish passed away I left the water in the tank running like normal. To cycle the tank do I need to start all the way over with fresh tap water or can I test and start cycling with the water the fish passed away in?

Thanks again,
Chris

 

[ImACoolguy]

Here's like a step by step you can do:

1. I'm sure you removed the dead fish but if not that's step 1.

2. 50% water change to remove traces ammonia from your dead fish.

3. Get a liquid test kit. This will become your best friend through the cycle. And afterwards if you see any problems.

4. Test your water.

5. Post results here and we can help you more


Caleb

 

[Chrisfafa]

Okay I will be sure to post updates. I have to wait till payday sadly to get the test kit. Bills, etc.

on a side note does anyone have any recommendations for the amount and type of fish for a 10 gallon aquarium.

I was thinking either tiger barbs or red tailed sharks

 

[brennae]

Okay I will be sure to post updates. I have to wait till payday sadly to get the test kit. Bills, etc.

on a side note does anyone have any recommendations for the amount and type of fish for a 10 gallon aquarium.

I was thinking either tiger barbs or red tailed sharks

In all honestly I don't think either of those fish are appropriate for a 10g. Tetras, guppies, platys, killifish and most of the "nano" fish would be a better option. Also rasboras and pygmy corys or corysdoras habrosus would work.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[ScotJudd]

With a 10 gallon, well any tank really, think proportions. How will a fully grown X fish look in this tank, and you can stock many more much smaller fish rather than a couple of bigger fish, which have I found more interesting. Single species school of fish and some dwarf species Corydoras would be my choice. I would avoid any type of Pleco in a 10 gallon.
Hope that's of some help.


Sent from my iPad using Aquarium Advice

 

[sinibotia]

Definitely don't get any more mollies or clown loaches for a 10 gallon! Clown loaches will get bigger than your tank is wide, and need to be kept in groups. A healthy group of adults might take up half the volume of the aquarium! And mollies can get several inches long.

Fish I recommend:

Kuhli loaches! Unlike clown loaches, kuhli loaches only get a few inches long. They look kinda like eels, which is cool. And they have colorful stripes! (well, most species do) They're hardy and easy to take care of- not picky about food or water. They're good bottom dwellers for a tank that size.

Cherry barbs: These stay small, are peaceful, and are very fun to watch! As long as you keep the water quality good they will very often spawn. Just keep one male with 3 or 4 females. Males are bright red, while females are a lighter orange.

Bettas: No intro necessary! One of the best fish for a 10 gallon.

Platys: They look like mollies but stay smaller. You could get one male and two females, or three females. If you get a male, they'll spawn, which is fun. But they can overrun your tank with fry.

Guppies: These are very hardy and if you get a male and two females they will also spawn. The ratio of these, as well as platys, is important because if you have too many males they will harass the females, potentially leading to stress-related illness. You can get 3 males, as the males are very colorful while females look plain.

Those are my recommendations for beginner fish for a 10 gallon. I would mix 5 kuhli loaches with any single group or individual I listed- so, one betta and 5 kuhli loaches, or 5 cherry barbs and 5 kuhli loaches. I wouldn't mix the midwater fish as it would get crowded. You could get pygmy corydoras instead of kuhli loaches, but they are less hardy and harder to find.

 

[tntfishy]

Don't know what kind of filter you have but don't sterilize your sponge media when you clean it. Squeeze out into a container of tank water to preserve beneficial bacteria. Have fun! Putting too much fish or large fish will force you to feed and muddy the tank too.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk