Just gettin' started

FishRCool

I have some Q's. I just started a 30 gallon tank and added some reddevils. I think I may have screwed up by buying them at night time and for having the tank in the living room. We stay up late alot. The fish all act freaked out. ha ha. Do you think the fish will adjust to our sleep schedule? It's kinda all over the place. This is the only place we had room for a tank. gulp. ha ha. They've been in the tank for an hour and none of them are alseep. Some of them are still and then they start moving again. Another thing is I think my sister really made a bad decision in going to the garden center and buying a little (plastic i guess) hollow log with fish and mushrooms for the fish to swim through. Yes, it was way more attrative than anything they had in the fish department but doesn't it have to be made for a tank to be safe? or what? She was rinsing it off and getting the sticker off the bottom and couldn't get some of the sticky stuff off so she used a green kitchen scratchy pad and when she rubbed it the paint faded a little kinda like she was scratching it off. It wasn't very hard to do. She says if you say its not safe we will take it out. How can you tell if the fish are sick from cycling? It eats food and spits it back out. I dont know if this means it sick or not.
Ivey

FishRCool

Some of the fish have settled down on one end of the tank and one of them is resting up against an airstone. Do you think he's alseep or sick? I can't believe that is where he would choose to sleep. weird. i don't think he would be sick and the others not. weird weird weird. I hope someone's up late to talk to us. lol.

crazy4fish

ok well if you just put the fish in the tank this is very normal behavior. they wont "sleep" right away until they feel safe in their surrondings. they arent sick just a little scared of being moved to a new home. my fish do the same thing. if it continues for more than a few days then somehting might be wrong but it sounds ok. and that log should be fne as long as you wash it in hot water very thoroghly with NO soap before you add it to the fish tank. the fish should adjust to your sleeping time as long as you turn the light out at about the same time every night. you should try to feed them at the same time each day too.

thespiff

If someone picked you up out of your house and plopped you down in another one 15 miles away, you'd be a little bit unsettled yourself. The fish will most likely get comfortable in a few days.

If you just put water in and added fish, they will need to endure through the cycle. Hopefully they will all survive it. Get test kits for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate and test a few times per week. Do some reading about how to interpret the results of your tests. If any of the parameters get too high you should do a partial water change. (Don't fall into the trap of buying products to put in your tank that fix your water quality, even if your test kits recommend it. Most aquarium problems can be solved with regular water changes.)

The aquarium decoration will probably be OK if you cleaned it.

I also keep my tank in the living room, but it's across the room from the lamp I use in the evening. I run my tank light during normal daytime hours (9AM - 7PM). My tank has a day shift(swordtails and gouramis) and a night shift(catfish and a snail). When I turn off the tank lights at 7PM, the day shift settles down and the night shift comes out almost immediately to scavenge for food, even though there's still a reasonable amount of light coming from the living room lamp about 10 feet away. My tank doesn't get total darkness until 11PM on weekdays and much later on weekends, but my fish don't seem to mind, as the tank lights give them a stable enough night/day pattern to operate on.

As for the sleeping thing...it's often hard to tell when fish are asleep. Especially since they tend to wake up and react to you when you come near the tank. Don't worry about the nighttime behavior of daytime fish too much. Start worrying when they look lethargic during the day, don't move much, and don't try to eat when you feed them.

Relax guys :) . Keeping fish isn't going to be fun if you let it stress you out.

FishRCool

Thanks for the great advice. Guess what! All the fish are running around and playing and they act like they're so happy. That one fish stayed by that air stone all night and today is playing in the air bubbles and having the time of it's life. We were joking that the fish got a massage all night while it rested. It likes to "take a whirl". LOL. ha ha. Thanks for answering about the log. I was real concerned about it. I'm glad it can stay because it's so pretty and we don't really like the stuff they have for fishtanks especially the ones with the fake plants on them. They don't have much of a selection.

Hey, can we put a couple yellow and black cichlids in with these reddevils? My neighbor has one red devil and he is wanting me to ask if a reddevil could pick a tankmate would it be another reddevil or a yellow and black cichlid. ha ha. or would it be happier with another red devil AND a cichlid. lol. shut up Brian. He's laughing. lol. The cichlid he wants is smaller than his reddevil and his reddevil acts a little on the aggressive side. It picks at it's reflection all day. ha ha.
Thanks dudes.

FishRCool

Ok, now that I'm sitting beside them they all are still and hiding. sucky. :(

crazy4fish

when you say black and white do you mean convicts? and glad to hear that your fish are happy. :D dont worry they will eventually get used to you and stay out and play when you walk over. they will probably even get excited once they figure out that you are the ones that give them food lol!

jeaninel

Hi FishRCool,
I hate to tell you this but Red Devils are very aggressive Central American cichlids and are notorious for their meaness. They grow to about 12" and will outgrow your 30 gallon tank pretty fast. A 55 gallon tank is recommended just to keep one by himself. They may all get along now while they're little but eventually you will have problems with fighting. So, in answer to your friends question, no, I would not recommend a tankmate for his.

One of the LFS in my area has a full grown Red Devil named Sherbert. He is in a very large tank all by himself. If you put your face up to the glass he tries to ram into you. lol

How many do you have in your 30 gallon?

FishRCool

You really think they will eventually quit hiding when I move or come by the tank? The tank is beside the couch and when they come out to play I'm tippy toe-ing around and trying not to move or make noise. LOL. It's funny but ridiculous ! lol

I found out today Electric Yellow African Cichlid (yellow and top fin is white stripe, black stripe, and another white stripe) very pretty.

One reddevil and not other fish? oh sheesh.

Oh Jeez, jeaninel, I went out and bought 3 more fish besides the reddevil. sigh. I love them all so much. Should I get rid of any of them? I hope not and if I do they might die from being moved so much. Man, stupid pet storeS telling me it would be fine. UGH! These are the fish that are in there and was/is supposed to ever be:
2 African Cichlids: Electric Yellow Cichlid & an orange Cichlid (not sure exactly the name)
2 South American Cichlids: Reddevil & Blood parrot
Have we mest up or what?

Ok, here is a question for everybody: WHY do they put these little cute fish in the stores and say you can put this many and this many in the tank and the fish are destined to be HUGE. Aren't there any fish that are medium size that stay that size? Oh, I'm so upset. I'm already so attached to them all. They're all so funny and 2 of them are CRAZY! lol ha ha. They make these weird faces and shake at the same time at their reflection. They're content arguing with themselves. LOL. CRACKS ME UP !
Well, any advice would be way cool.
Sincerely
Dude, Spike, Zebro, and Nemo :D

FishRCool

Hey I have a 40 gallon tank too that's not in use. That tank wouldn't be big enough for them either, would it? Oh! stomps foot on ground. Is it possible?

Oh, forgot to ask you something I turned the lights out and these fish have been playing for hours. Is this weird that their not resting/sleeping? I'm being real quiet. weird.