[fishcrazy1824]

Hi! My name is Tress :) I have had fish all my life. My dad was an enthusiast and as a child I watched carefully as he managed his tank over the years. I learned a few things from him and when I had my own kids I decided to purchase a starter kit for them for easter 3 years ago next month! I had that 10g tank for 2 years overstocked with whatever fish my kids liked-- 13 fish(gasp). But with much love and caring I kept them all alive and kicking for 2 1/2 years :) For a while I have been thinking I would like a bigger tank to better accomidate my 13 fish. So in January I bought a 20g tank. (Yeay) Ive been googling a lot and trying to learn more and lately google hasnt been cutting it...so here I am, to learn!

[Termato]

Originally Posted by fishcrazy1824

Hi! My name is Tress :) I have had fish all my life. My dad was an enthusiast and as a child I watched carefully as he managed his tank over the years. I learned a few things from him and when I had my own kids I decided to purchase a starter kit for them for easter 3 years ago next month! I had that 10g tank for 2 years overstocked with whatever fish my kids liked-- 13 fish(gasp). But with much love and caring I kept them all alive and kicking for 2 1/2 years :) For a while I have been thinking I would like a bigger tank to better accomidate my 13 fish. So in January I bought a 20g tank. (Yeay) Ive been googling a lot and trying to learn more and lately google hasnt been cutting it...so here I am, to learn!

Hi fishcrazy and welcome to TFK!

What kind of fish do you currently have in your 10 gallon? (the 13 fish)

We look forward to helping you! Feel free to ask any questions!

[fishcrazy1824]

Originally Posted by Termato

Hi fishcrazy and welcome to TFK!

What kind of fish do you currently have in your 10 gallon? (the 13 fish)

We look forward to helping you! Feel free to ask any questions!

Hi thank you for your warm welcome! It is really nice to be around people who are interested in the same things that I am interested in

Sadly...I don't have 13 anymore...Ive had problems since I started the new tank but it said not to post about problems in that post so i didnt...i am now down to 9.

I have lost 4 to Ich in the last 3 mos and 2 different bouts of it And I lost one today to what I think is whirling disease...I Euthanized her(my first time ever) because she could barely swim and looked to be so miserable for 2 days i just couldn't stand to watch her like that any more....

In my 20g freshwater tank I have-
1 male dalmatian molly
2 female mollys
1 orange
1 dalmatian
1 Neon Tetra
2 tetras (no knowledge what they are they look like silver dollars but dont grow as big)
2 catfish
1 fiddler crab

[Termato]

Originally Posted by fishcrazy1824

Hi thank you for your warm welcome! It is really nice to be around people who are interested in the same things that I am interested in

Sadly...I don't have 13 anymore...Ive had problems since I started the new tank but it said not to post about problems in that post so i didnt...i am now down to 9.

I have lost 4 to Ich in the last 3 mos and 2 different bouts of it And I lost one today to what I think is whirling disease...I Euthanized her(my first time ever) because she could barely swim and looked to be so miserable for 2 days i just couldn't stand to watch her like that any more....

In my 20g freshwater tank I have-
1 male dalmatian molly
2 female mollys
1 orange
1 dalmatian
1 Neon Tetra
2 tetras (no knowledge what they are they look like silver dollars but dont grow as big)
2 catfish
1 fiddler crab

If is always sad to loose fish. I personally have never had to euthanize a fish...thankfully. Although I wish I had done it to one of my fish...he died after a long 3 day battle.

Hopefully an admin can move your post, it would fit better under this thread: Freshwater Aquarium

Do you have any live plants in your tank? What kind of lighting? What kind of filter system do you have?

Your Neon Tetra must be lonely, along with the other two tetras. Those are schooling fish that like to be in groups of at least 5-6.

What kind of catfish do you have?

With two female mollies... and one male...you should be having an over population of fry in no time.

From the picture this looks like a 20 gallon long tank right?

[fishcrazy1824]

Originally Posted by Termato

If is always sad to loose fish. I personally have never had to euthanize a fish...thankfully. Although I wish I had done it to one of my fish...he died after a long 3 day battle.

Hopefully an admin can move your post, it would fit better under this thread: Freshwater Aquarium

Do you have any live plants in your tank? What kind of lighting? What kind of filter system do you have?

Your Neon Tetra must be lonely, along with the other two tetras. Those are schooling fish that like to be in groups of at least 5-6.

What kind of catfish do you have?

With two female mollies... and one male...you should be having an over population of fry in no time.

From the picture this looks like a 20 gallon long tank right?

Thank you for making me feel better about the loss of my fish...it has been a sad day.

the only live plant i have in my tank are a couple of bamboo shoots that i bought at petco. i have a fluorescent lighting in the hood. And my filter is an Aqua-Tech 20-40gal its an active charcoal one i think...

I'm not exactly sure what kind of catfish i have...they are little only about a half inch, have dark spots on them and are scaled. I bought them from walmart 3 years ago but they still sell them there. although i dont buy any of my supplies or fish from walmart anymore...

yes i would have thought i would have had lots of little fry everywhere...but as far as i have seen (i am a stay at home mom) ive had this little group for quite a while and have only seen about 5 small batches of fry and non of them have survived to adulthood :-/ I must be doing something wrong.

and yes it is a 20 gal long tank

[Termato]

Originally Posted by fishcrazy1824

Thank you for making me feel better about the loss of my fish...it has been a sad day.

the only live plant i have in my tank are a couple of bamboo shoots that i bought at petco. i have a fluorescent lighting in the hood. And my filter is an Aqua-Tech 20-40gal its an active charcoal one i think...

I'm not exactly sure what kind of catfish i have...they are little only about a half inch, have dark spots on them and are scaled. I bought them from walmart 3 years ago but they still sell them there. although i dont buy any of my supplies or fish from walmart anymore...

yes i would have thought i would have had lots of little fry everywhere...but as far as i have seen (i am a stay at home mom) ive had this little group for quite a while and have only seen about 5 small batches of fry and non of them have survived to adulthood :-/ I must be doing something wrong.

and yes it is a 20 gal long tank

The fact that they were from walmart could have something to do with their health...poor animals.

It is never fun to loose fish. I have learned a lot every time I have lost one though.

Have you checked you water parameters?

Water Hardness
PH
Ammonia
Nitrite
Nitrate

If you don't have a test kit I recommend API Master Test Kit. If you do, is it a water based test kit or strips?
If you have strips, once they run out I would recommend switching to a water based kit like API Master Test Kit. If you have the water based kit awesome! lol

You should consider getting some low light plants such as these: Java Ferns, Java Moss or Hornwort.

Those three do great in low light and your fish will love it. My fish eat algae off the leaves. Helps keep them full and healthy. There are many more benefits from plants too.

How is the bamboo doing? is it completely submerged? I know the petco I went to keeps them all under water. The PetSmart on the other hand keeps the upper leaves out of water. I have never had bamboo though.

[fishcrazy1824]

Originally Posted by Termato

The fact that they were from walmart could have something to do with their health...poor animals.

It is never fun to loose fish. I have learned a lot every time I have lost one though.

Have you checked you water parameters?

Water Hardness
PH
Ammonia
Nitrite
Nitrate

If you don't have a test kit I recommend API Master Test Kit. If you do, is it a water based test kit or strips?
If you have strips, once they run out I would recommend switching to a water based kit like API Master Test Kit. If you have the water based kit awesome! lol

You should consider getting some low light plants such as these: Java Ferns, Java Moss or Hornwort.

Those three do great in low light and your fish will love it. My fish eat algae off the leaves. Helps keep them full and healthy. There are many more benefits from plants too.

How is the bamboo doing? is it completely submerged? I know the petco I went to keeps them all under water. The PetSmart on the other hand keeps the upper leaves out of water. I have never had bamboo though.

Yea it took me about 5 minutes to realize Walmart is a bad bad place in which to be a fish...:/

I do have a test kit but it is strips. I will def. take you up on your recommendation to switch to a waterbase...I have been reading a lot of posts and quite a few ppl seem to like them.

I just did a test when you asked and today...

my ph is at 7.7
ammonia is at 0
nitrites are at 0
nitrates are at 30

not perfect but not terrible...lol

I am glad you are directing me towards some plants...I would love to get some but from what i've read they seem complicated. Do I have to feed and fertilize them?

I love the bamboo I've had it for 6 mos and it seems to be doing well. There are fresh growing leaves which must be a good sign... I would recommend keeping the leaves out of the water....they are too fragile to be completely submerged in my opinion. I started out with the leaves submerged but I had to do a lot more trimming because they didn't hold up as well as I would have liked...some of the littler leaves are submerged because of their position on the shoot, which can't be helped. (It grows algae and my mollys dine on it quite often) I got it mainly because of my Fiddler...it provides one of 3 options for her to get out of the water. Sidebar-- I loveeee my Fiddler...

[Termato]

Originally Posted by fishcrazy1824

Yea it took me about 5 minutes to realize Walmart is a bad bad place in which to be a fish...:/

I do have a test kit but it is strips. I will def. take you up on your recommendation to switch to a waterbase...I have been reading a lot of posts and quite a few ppl seem to like them.

I just did a test when you asked and today...

my ph is at 7.7
ammonia is at 0
nitrites are at 0
nitrates are at 30

not perfect but not terrible...lol

I am glad you are directing me towards some plants...I would love to get some but from what i've read they seem complicated. Do I have to feed and fertilize them?

I love the bamboo I've had it for 6 mos and it seems to be doing well. There are fresh growing leaves which must be a good sign... I would recommend keeping the leaves out of the water....they are too fragile to be completely submerged in my opinion. I started out with the leaves submerged but I had to do a lot more trimming because they didn't hold up as well as I would have liked...some of the littler leaves are submerged because of their position on the shoot, which can't be helped. (It grows algae and my mollys dine on it quite often) I got it mainly because of my Fiddler...it provides one of 3 options for her to get out of the water. Sidebar-- I loveeee my Fiddler...

Honestly everyone is going to suggest some high tech solution to plants but I have been getting away with good lighting and weekly dose of Flourish Comprehensive by Seachem ($15.99 at PetSmart for a 500ml bottle and you use 1ml per 10 gallon as if I remember correctly once a week). You don't need it but I am using it because I got some more plants and it has been taxing on the minerals. When I had fewer plants I didn't need it.

Some good low light plants that require little work are Java Fern and Java Moss. Hornwort can get messy.

I personally like Cabomba but it is considered high light (I just keep it closer to the light).

Make sure their good plants, sometimes petsmart has such bad looking plants. sometimes their amazing.

Your pH is a little high but nothing to worry about (7.5 is better but not necessary). Is the pH on your tap water the same? Also check the Nitrate in your tap water.

If your nitrate is lower in your tap water and your pH, doing a water change will lower those numbers. Otherwise you are fine. Nitrate you want under 20ppm but 30ppm is no danger. My tap water has 60ppm....dont ask me why...and why the city hasnt done anything about it. I called the water company. I guess I have to go do more about this now. Crazy.

Yea plants are def the way to go. They look amazing and they just make your tank super balanced :) my fish like them! :) especially my ottos.

How do you have your bamboo? can you take a picture? I am really curious because I like the look but dont know how to keep it out of the water... hahaa

[fishcrazy1824]

Originally Posted by Termato

Honestly everyone is going to suggest some high tech solution to plants but I have been getting away with good lighting and weekly dose of Flourish Comprehensive by Seachem ($15.99 at PetSmart for a 500ml bottle and you use 1ml per 10 gallon as if I remember correctly once a week). You don't need it but I am using it because I got some more plants and it has been taxing on the minerals. When I had fewer plants I didn't need it.

Some good low light plants that require little work are Java Fern and Java Moss. Hornwort can get messy.

I personally like Cabomba but it is considered high light (I just keep it closer to the light).

Make sure their good plants, sometimes petsmart has such bad looking plants. sometimes their amazing.

Your pH is a little high but nothing to worry about (7.5 is better but not necessary). Is the pH on your tap water the same? Also check the Nitrate in your tap water.

If your nitrate is lower in your tap water and your pH, doing a water change will lower those numbers. Otherwise you are fine. Nitrate you want under 20ppm but 30ppm is no danger. My tap water has 60ppm....dont ask me why...and why the city hasnt done anything about it. I called the water company. I guess I have to go do more about this now. Crazy.

Yea plants are def the way to go. They look amazing and they just make your tank super balanced :) my fish like them! :) especially my ottos.

How do you have your bamboo? can you take a picture? I am really curious because I like the look but dont know how to keep it out of the water... hahaa

I took pics but i don't have any idea how to post them here...let me tinker around and hopefully i will be able to figure it out

I love the idea of checking my levels in my tap water...I never thought of that. I have well water as I live in the middle of no where!! lol and you are right the nitrates in my tap water are not below where they should be...lovely. They are right around 20. Your nitrate levels are kindof high!! you should contact the health department...they will have to do something I would think.

Now youve got me all excited about live plants...I actually live 45 minutes away from the petco I go to so I always have to plan trips. We have a nice little shop in town here but I'm not sure what plants they have...its where I go to buy my crickets :) But I'm gonna check!

[fishcrazy1824]

Originally Posted by fishcrazy1824

I took pics but i don't have any idea how to post them here...let me tinker around and hopefully i will be able to figure it out

I love the idea of checking my levels in my tap water...I never thought of that. I have well water as I live in the middle of no where!! lol and you are right the nitrates in my tap water are not below where they should be...lovely. They are right around 20. Your nitrate levels are kindof high!! you should contact the health department...they will have to do something I would think.

Now youve got me all excited about live plants...I actually live 45 minutes away from the petco I go to so I always have to plan trips. We have a nice little shop in town here but I'm not sure what plants they have...its where I go to buy my crickets :) But I'm gonna check!

I'm so silly...I figured it out...lol