Do I need an air pump?

[pennylane]

I was at the pet store last night with some friends, and ended up walking out with a minibow 5 gallon aquarium and three fish. One's a little orange shark of some type, the second's a little albino catfish, and the third's a teeny tiny striped blue fish. I had a sales associate help me in getting started and selecting my fish, and she said they all should be compatible together. Anyway, my question is, do I need an air pump of some sort? I have an economy whisper filter that came with the tank. Does that circulate the air enough, or do I need something more? If I do need one, how soon do I need it?

Also, I'm wanting to add one more fish to the tank: a jellybean parrotfish. I didn't have enough money to get one when I bought the tank. Would it be okay to add one more fish in there? The lady at the store said that a general rule of one fish per gallon is a good one to follow, so I figure four in a 5 gallon tank isn't that bad. But then again, what do salespeople know? Thanks a bunch!

 

[Guest]

If I'm understanding correctly, what species of fish you might have, I definatly would not get the fourth fish, because already you might end up with about 20 inches of fish once these fish grow. If this catfish is an actual albino, I think they top out at about 10 inches, or I might be wrong. Unless this is a cory. I'm thinking the teeny stripped blue fish is an african cichlid, which will get to be around 4-6 inches. The shark prolly around 6 inches. You would do well to have at least a 30 gal for these fishes if not bigger. If you wanted to keep a tank this small with minimal filtration, I would go with an african dwarf and maybe a betta and clean it weekly. All imo.

 

[pennylane]

They're gonna get bigger huh? Yay! An excuse to buy another tank. I'll just stick with these three for now and see what happens.

My initial question still stands, however: do I need an air pump?

 

[Keeper]

as long as you have a filter running, you should be fine without an air pump. Is the filter a HOB type or under gravel?

 

[pennylane]

It's a HOB.

And cage, you were right! My little fish is an african cichlid. I Googled up a picture, and that's exactly what it looks like. Good guessing!

 

[Keeper]

you'll be fine without the air pump. The flow from the filter creates enough surface agitation to get new O2 into the tank.

 

[Guest]

The HOB should provide the aeration you need for the tank if that's what you're concerned about.

 

[Guest]

The shark I think is an albino rainbow shark.

 

[pennylane]

The shark I think is an albino rainbow shark.

Once again, you're correct!

 

[oscarbreeder]

These fish will all get to large for a 5 gal.
Danr sales people..

 

[pennylane]

These fish will all get to large for a 5 gal.
Danr sales people..

Yeah I know... How long is it going to take for them to get big? I need to start thinking about what I'm going to do with them.

 

[flipz]

Ok, not to mention the fact that the tank obviously wasn't cycled. Pennylane, try googling up a little info on tank cycling, or the nitrogen cycle. Or even search here, this is plenty of information.

I am assuming that you went home, filled up the tank, and threw the fish in there. It is going to be a very very critical time. Right now they are ok because it's pretty much just tap water (treated i hope). Once they start eating, and pooping, you are going to have very high levels of ammonia, nitrate, and nitrite. This is deadly to the fish, especially the albino rainbow shark which is scaleless.

You definetly have way too many fish already for that tank, and I'm sorry to say it but don't be surprised if you lose 1, or all, of those fish in the next week or so while the nitrogen cycle completes. I don't blame you, I blame the damn sales people. They don't give a **** if fish die.

Not to mention that the rainbow shark (and some of the others too maybe, but I don't know about them) like to be in about 76-80 degrees of water. Did your tank come with a heater?

-brent

 

[flipz]

Yeah I know... How long is it going to take for them to get big?

It will take a while for them to get bigger, but that size tank will drive them mad, even at their juvenile size. No space for them to swim around. And again don't take that offensivly, I don't blame you. But the sales person obviously doesn't care about your fish, they just wanted a sale.

-brent

 

[pennylane]

Not to mention that the rainbow shark (and some of the others too maybe, but I don't know about them) like to be in about 76-80 degrees of water. Did your tank come with a heater?

No, it didn't. My poor fish! Is there anything I can do?

 

[flipz]

Well, I see that you are most worried about the heater, unless you just quotes the wrong part. The heater is easy to take care of, you can go to the LFS and buy a 25 watt heater and a thermometer and you are set. But the thing you need to be worried about is the nitrogen cycle.

At this point there is nothing you can really do for the fish. There are some products out there (most popular is named cycle) which can be added to the tank that supposedly speed along the cycle, but most people will agree they don't work. There is a product called bio-spira, which most people will say that it does work, however they have temporarily stopped selling it because they couldn't make it fast enough.

Basically at this point there is not much you can do. If you want to save the fish you can try returning them, do something to cycle your tank (for a humane way search fishless cycling on this board. It just involves putting a dead shrimp from your grocery store in the tank) or for an in-humane way you can buy some smaller, cheap fish, and let them suffer through the deadly waters instead of your sharks.

The other option would be if you have a friend with a well established, disease free tank, is getting his filter media and putting it in yours, and transfer all the good bacteria. Basically (a quick version) what the cycle is, is the process of converting ammonia, to nitrite, to nitrate (sorry if that's in the wrong order but you get the idea). Your fish are going to poop, and there will be left over food... this causes build up in ammonia. Ammonia is deadly, and will burn their skin and their gills. The right bacteria need to grow, which will convert ammonia to nitrite, which is less harmful, however still very bad. And then over time the right bacteria will grow to convert the nitrite, to nitrate. Which is the least harmful, however still bad if high. And now, the cycle is complete. It all takes around a week at the least.

I hope that helps, and I'm sorry about your fish. It's not your fault, but it is something that will have to be dealt with. It happens to just about everyone, since these days LFS 's don't care about the fish. I'm sorry. :|

-brent

 

[pennylane]

I guess there's really nothing that I can do. I won't be able to get to a LFS until Tuesday, and by then it may be too late. I can tell that my poor shark is freezing. It spends all its time just hovering at the top of the tank where the heat is.

 

[flipz]

Sorry pennylane. I hope the best for your fish, it's never good to see them suffer.

 

[pennylane]

Should I just try taking them back? I think that's the only way my fish have hope.

 

[Menagerie]

Try taking them back. I have also heard of putting a heating pad under REALLY small tanks, but as we all know water and electricity don't mix :? Do you have any idea of the water temperature?

 

[An t-iasg]

Hi Pennylane,
I would take these fish back. I'm sorry I'm sure you're attached to them already. The cichlid will probably get more aggressive as he gets older. I don't have cichlids, but I'm pretty sure that they do best in a species only tank and not a community tank. These fish don't belong together in a 5 gallon tank. Even if they do manage to do well for a very small amount of time, they will get more aggressive as they get older and compete for territory, which there isn't much room for them to have a territory to begin with.