new fishkeeper help

[loumm79]

hi, im a new fishkeeper and ive had the tank 8 weeks now, i have a 54 litre tank,it has a 150w heater and 360 litres per hour filter, the tank has 1 small angel fish, 1 cory, 2 male sunset plattys, 2 female micky mouse plattys, 2 female orange plattys, 3 black phantom tetras, 4 male guppies, 4 female guppies and 1 paradise fish.
I have taken most my advice from the local shop where i have been getting the fish gradually from, i did lose some swordtails, i got these from pets at home in 24 hrs they had all died, i tok my water in and it was tested and it was fine, so ive decided to stick to the local shop near my house as im hopeing water would be same quality etc. im a total beginner getting info from forums etc
i came home from work the other day to find my male platty has competely lost a eye! the rest of the fish looks fine, ive since read that paradise fish can be agressive, im anoyed because i asked the shop if it would be ok in mytank he asured me it would, also one of my male guppies has lost its tail.
ive watched the tank for hours but ive not seen the paradise fish show any agression, and the guppies all seem to play around together. the oter male platty however has been nipping at the injurred one. another strange thing is the female platty has lost colour in a band around her middle. And i lost a pregnant platty 2 days ago.
does anyone have any tips for me?? ive also read taht the fish i am keeping need salt added to there water is this true? thank you for any helpfull info you guys can give me. the tank belongs to my 3 year old who adores these fish, he has learnt the correct names and watches them for hours, so i dont want to keep a unhealthy tank. i also change the water about evrey 5 days, 20 litres water change.

 

[mfdrookie516]

Welcome to AA

None of your fish need salt. Your biggest problem right now is that your tank is entirely overstocked. IMHO, you would be fully stocked with the platies alone. the angel needs a tank at least twice as big as the one you have. What's happening is you have way too many fish in way too small of a tank, they're getting aggressive towards each other, your water parameters are bound to be out of whack.

Cories need to be in groups, and your tank is just too small to have a group of them. What you need to do is return all of your fish except the platies.

Are you testing your water? I'll bet your ammonia is through the roof.

My biggest tip is to not take advice from a pet store. The majority are in the business to make money, and will tell you whatever they need to to get you to buy stuff.

 

[loumm79]

thanks for the info, i have taken samples to the store each week when i have purchassed new fish, they were fine each time,although i havent had one done with the adition of the last few fish, i shall get one done tomorow. its a shame that the so called professionals mislead you, as i have been relieing solely on there advice. the good news is that the angle is a baby and very small so i hope it hasnt been stressed with not enough space etc, maybe i shall get a bigger tank as my son loves them.

 

[mfdrookie516]

A bigger tank would be great. If you got a 55g (sorry, don't know liters), you'd have room to even add some more fish. The angel would be quite happy as well.

Every hobbyist should have their own test kit. You cant rely on the store to give you accurate results. Many use test strips, which are very unreliable, and then you have some that tell you everything is fine to sell you more fish. A good test kit like the API Freshwater master test kit is only about $30 here, and allows you to test all the important stuff (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH).

If you're not going to get a new tank asap, I would definitely advise taking the angel, cory, and some of the tetras back to the store until you do so. Often, people get in this same situation, all the fish end up dying, and they lose interest in the hobby. It is a very rewarding hobby if you do things right, it just takes some time to get there sometimes.

 

[loumm79]

i did a quick calculation and my tank is 14gal :-( puffy the angel is by far my sons favorite so a new tank is going to be the only option, and i will definatly get a test kit tomorow. thanks again for the info. and i agree with what you said after i started loseing a few fish i kinda got downhearted with it, im trying to learn as quickly as i can as i dont want to stress the fish, i didnt think there would be so much involved with fishkeeping but i definatly want to give it a go. ive also since learned about the cycle, i actually wasnt aware of this and introduced fish after 1 week and added to it every week on the shops advice, about 3 weeks in i found out about it and i added a filter from my goldfishs tank to help.