Newbie Needs help please.

dodgefate

Hi everybody, let me start off by saying thanks for taking the time to read through this. let me start off by listing what my current set up is.

10 gallon tank
20 gallon air pump with an air wand
15-30 gallon filter
gravel base
fake plants
Fish:
1 spotted puffer fish
1 black and yellow cat fish
1 fire eel
2 Dalmatian mollies
6 assorted guppies
2 flounder
2 sucker fish
2 kissing fish
2 fiddler crabs
handful of shrimp and feeder snails

I am new to the whole fish tank thing and am having a problem with grayish water. I recently found out that one of the sucker fish died and was hidden in the decor. I guess the other fish decided to eat him and there was not much left of em. I am assuming that I am having a bacteria bloom and was looking for ways to fix it. I have vacuumed the gravel, done 20% water changes for a week and its still cloudy. I have two extra filters laying around (one for a five gallon tank and one for a 10 gallon tank). I was wondering if adding these extra filters to the tank would help clear it up? any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Nilet699

Ok. There's a whole host of problems here.

1/ you say your newbie so I'll ask if your tank is cycled? Do you understand the cycling process etc? There is a nice sticky post in the freshwater section if you don't etc that explains it all.
2/ kissing fish.....presuming kissing gouramis which are NOT suitable for your tank at all. Way too big. Need at least a 55 and I think possibly bigger. Housing in a tank too small leads to a multitude of problems, including skeletal deformities and internal problems and increased sickness.
3/ you have a puffer fish. Do you know its scientific name? Or correct species? I don't think any puffers are suitable community fish. They need a species only tank.
Also it's likely there are brackish and therefore by keeping it in freshwater you are killing it. Speaking of which....they are aggressive....likely this killed your sucker fish....by which you mean a plec? Species name??? This puffer needs returning immediately!
4/ there are also other compatibility issues here...... but all in all......your tank is waaaaaaaay overstocked. This is literally killing your fish.

Want my honest opinion? Return all the fish, except the mollies and guppies and start to read up on fish etc you want, though it won't be much you can have in a 10G. Fish need room. Right now it's like me putting you in a 4x2x2 cell with another 34guys.....just imagine...
You are going to kill them all if you carry on as you are. Sorry, not the best welcome or what you wanted to hear Im sure, but it's th hard truth. If you want to be a good fishkeeper it's up to you to make the right choices NOW. You've done the right thing by coming here and asking questions etc..... just hope you can take it on the chin and it continues.

squishylittlefishies

Yes.You are wayyy overstocked. The fire eel needs at lest 60 gallons. Mollies get 5 inches long- too big. I'm not sure what kind of catfish yours is but I think your species is also too big. Your fishes have different needs and simply won't work out together. What kind of fish is your suckerfish? there are hundreds of suckerfishes...
The mistake you made is a common newbie issue. All the fish are so small when you get them... it seems perfect! but it's not. It's disasterous. I would suggest younreturn all the fishexcept for the gupies and crabs. That is a good place to start. For future rferance, look up AQ stocking calculator. This is a great site to help stock a tank succesfully!
good luck!

dodgefate

The tank was cycled prior to placing fish in it. The kissing gouramis are verry small 1" or so. THe puffer fish is a green spotted puffer I have had him for about 2 months now and he is quit helathy and does not attack the other fish. The plec I dont know how it died but it hid alot and I barley ever saw it. I do know that it is alil crowded but I plan on upgrading tanks soon

Nilet699

You might not see him attack... but at night.....or whenever..... he will kill them eventually.
Greens also need brackish water and then full marine water. You CAN NOT keep him in a freshwater tank. It will kill him.

Nilet699

Upgrading tanks soon is the wrong thing here. You buy fish WHEN you have the tank. Not before. Housing them in a tank too small for ANY amount of time can cause irreparable long term damage to your fish.

dodgefate

when I purchased the fish the store people told me that you are ok as long as you dont go ver 2 fish per gallon of water. I assumed that I was ok. The also told me that the puffer was ok in frsh water but when he got to about 3/4 to 1 inch I would need to start changing him over to brackish water... I guess this is not true then? I had also bought the shrimp and snails for him to eat and assumed that the reason that he does not eat the other fish is due to him eating the shrimp and snails.

marshallsea

The store peoples job is to sell as many fish as they can.

Nilet699

Yes that's not far off right. But how will you have him brackish and the others fresh? .....
He should also be in a species tank preferably or not with what he's in with atm.

Keeping him well fed will help..... but it also won't change his aggressive side. I would bet money on him being the plec killer.

You also have the whole host of other issues to deal with though. Eel...plecs etc that are not suitable. Overstocked.

2 fish per gallon? Ignore that. And ignore anything that shop ever tells you again if that's what they say. Idiots.

Do you know your water parameters? Kh and gh and ph? Specifc fish require specific levels of these or once again...shortened lives and long term problems.

I need to sleep now(UK). I want to stay as it seems you might actually listen which is refreshing.... so hopefully others will chime in

squishylittlefishies

Allrighty. I just plugged your fish into AQadvisor stocking calc( NOT INCLUDING the catfish, suckers, or crabs). Your tank is 764% stocked. That's 664% TOO MANY fish. It also spat out an entire page of warnings. Your fish are not compatible in terms of water parameters or feeding. The eel, gourami, and puffer are all extremely agressive.
We all understand that you were misinformed, and I promise no one is judging you for that. I truly hope you will learn from this experience and do what is best for your fishies. I wish you good luck in your fishkeeping hobby- do VERY THOROUGH research on the fish you are interested in- good luck: the future is bright for you and fish if you do this.
Welcome aboard.
(: