No that was great help thank you. And the fish store I go to tested my parameters and they said they were good. It could be that I did not quarantine. I acclimated them for 2 hours but I guess I'll have to start doing that next. I have to imagine they're not dying because my tank isn't suitable for their needs because I got all relatively easy fish to care for and did my research. I really appreciate your time.
You may have misunderstood, I didn;t say that your tank was not good at the time you put the fish in but 4 fish in a fairly new tank in a 7 day period is kind of quick and the parameters would have changed AFTER you added the fish. The only way to know for sure if this was the situation was to test the water at the time of death.
Unfortunately, in today's market, the fish have been exposed to new diseases that may or may not effect them so you really need to quarantine everything before putting it in your display tanks. And considering that some parasites have a 6-8 week lifespan, the QT time period needs to be for almost 3-4 weeks before even considering putting the fish in the display tank. In that time however, you should have seen the fish acting "normal", eating a variety of foods and getting used to your schedule for feeding, lights on and off, water changes, etc. If they don't adjust in the QT tank, there is a good chance they won't in the display tank either .
Lastly, without knowing the fish we are talking about, I can only say that #1- just doing a 2 hour acclimation is not a reason for the fish to be healthy. In an improper acclimation for that timeframe, more damage can be done than good so we may need to address your acclimation style.
#2- The needs of the fish are not determined by the ease of their care. For example, a fish that needs a lot of swimming room, if put into, say, a 100 gal tank that is filled with decor that leaves no open swimming room, is not in a tank that meets it's needs no matter how easy the fish is. Conversly, if a fish that needs to hide is put in a tank that is all open with limited decor, again, the tank does not meet the fish's needs. Since I haven't seen your setup or know what fish we are talking about, I can't say for sure that any of this is the cause in your case.
#3- I applaud you for doing research on the fish you want to keep before hand.
There is a lot of information out there on fish and unfortunately, there is a lot of misinformation on fish out there as well. Depending on which fish you are talking about, you may have been following some misinformation regarding the ease of care for the fish in question. Again, without knowing what fish and where you got your info, I am only guessing. Most of my knowledge has come from hands on experience as I have imported marine fish from around the globe. The information I always got from my suppliers was in regards to the fish's needs as in what types of areas they were collected in, food supply, habits, etc. I had to do this as there was no internet or groups such as this one to rely on. The information available in books was limited in some cases. So I may be able to assist you better with the selection of fish you want in the future.
