tropical fish novices requiring some advice

[lynne duncan]

have just recently bought a tropical fish tank from pets at home a 60L rectangular tank, we are total novices but have read all the literature.
on monday bought 3 neons and 3 tetras, lost 1 neon on tuesday, which pets at home kindly replaced however we lost another last night. Have checked water temp and water quality everything seems to be fine.
anyone have any advice please. the neons which died seemed to stop eating and the last one the colour faded from his tail. there were no marks on the fish and the chart which describes the various problems did not seem to cover this.
anyone with tropical tanks in wick who could give us some pointers, we would be delighted to hear from

[stewart4364]

Did you fill your tank with ordinary tapwater? There has been chemicals added to the water which can be fatal to fish -- use a special additive to counteract this problem. Fish should also be quarantined as it is possible to pass on infections if they had come from 2 separate tanks. The temperature for tropical fish is approx. 78 degrees Farenhite. I have kept freshwater tropical and marine tropical fish for over 20 years. Unfortunately no matter how experienced you are it is inevitable to have some deaths. Don't let the occasional death put you off -- keep at it -- wishing you all the best with your new adventure but reading it in books is not the same as actually keeping fish -- hope this helps you.

[brandy]

also, it is very common to loose several fish after first setting up a tank.. as its not established.
always add tap safe to your water before the fish.
when you set your tank up you need to let it be set up and everything running for a week before adding your fish.
we lost several before our tank was established properly.
the fish create bacteria that is needed for a healthy tank.. so until thier enviroment is settled its always dicey.
also, remember to float your fish for 20 min before putting them in the tank as the change in waters and temp can put them into shock.
temp. is very important as if it gets to cold they die and to hot they die.. but they can def. handle warmer easier than colder!
you can get a boost for your fish. its like vitamins that you add to the water.
def. stick to the hardy fish until your tank is established. i started out with mollies. just remember to have 2 females per male.. and they have live birth and boy do they like to have babies. and gestation is only like 14 days i think. but most babies will get eaten if not seperated *laughs* and they are so tiny you most often dont even notice them!

[lynne duncan]

thank you for advice
we had done all you said brandy, pets at home checked the water before we bought the first fish, hopefully we won't lose anymore.
don't think we are overfeeding but some of the fish food which was landing on the bottom wasn't being eaten, so we bought 2 panda catfish today, thought they might clean up the bottom of the tank.
how often do you clean the bottom of the tank and what with?

[brandy]

a really good thing to use is a tube thingy.. cant remember what its called but you can get it at pets at home..
its just a tube with a suction bit at the bottom.. and you start it with a siphon and it just hoovers from the bottom fo the tank into the bucket.. just remember not to suck to hard or you will get a mouth full of really yucky water!
just remember you dont need to do complete changes!
just about 1/3 once a week. and always add the tap safe to the water going into the tank before you put it in. if you have food sitting on the bottom then they are getting more than they need.. so just reduce what you are feeding them. that will also help keep the tank clean.
and when you clean your filter just rinse it out in the water from the tank that you have taken out.. never rinse it with tap water as this kills all the bacteria and you are back to square one..
hope you have no more fatalitlies.. but with a new tank is quite common.. so prob. not anything your doing wrong!

[steveler]

I used a couple of plecs to get the tank started, as i recently had to start from scratch. They are very hardy fish and will live in room temperature pea soup and anything better! They have got to be without doubt the hardiest freshwater fish and the most useful as once the tank is established with all your other fish they keep it clean too, thus minimising the work for you

MINIMUM EFFORT - MAXIMUM ENJOYMENT!!

The way it should be

[changilass]

I got an RO unit from ebay so I dont need to add anything to the water when I change it as it takes all the bad stuff out.

[lynne duncan]

what's a ro unit
we bought 2 panda catfish earlier this week and they have cleaned up the bottom of the tank, and have had no more fatalities, so we'll cross our fingers.
next question there appears to be green specs appearing on the inside of the tank which I assume is algae, is there an easy way to wipe this off before it builds up too much

[young]

for the algae on your tank you can buy an algae eater fish from pets at home?

[brandy]

just remember that with a plec they will grow and grow and grow!!! and can easily out grow your tank.. our plec is now about 10inches or so at the moment and was only about inch when we got him.. and he is only about 10 mnths old.. and we have a 4 ft tank.

[young]

also remember when buying fish for your tank the size the fish will grow to. As each 1cm the fish is this will need 1litre of water i.e we have a 60L tank and we bought a silver shark which will grow to 35cm this means he needs 35litres of water to grow. We wanted 2 silver sharks but as we only had a 60L tank we couldnt get 2 as they would need a 70L tank (35cm=35Litres of the tank each)

[Doolally]

thank you for advice
we had done all you said brandy, pets at home checked the water before we bought the first fish, hopefully we won't lose anymore.
don't think we are overfeeding but some of the fish food which was landing on the bottom wasn't being eaten, so we bought 2 panda catfish today, thought they might clean up the bottom of the tank.
how often do you clean the bottom of the tank and what with?

An easy guide for how much to feed is only to put in the tank what will be devoured in 2 minutes. If after 2 minutes is up there is still food floating around, cut back tomorrow when you feed them.

Using this you can quickly work out how much you should be giving them.

[Doolally]

also remember when buying fish for your tank the size the fish will grow to. As each 1cm the fish is this will need 1litre of water i.e we have a 60L tank and we bought a silver shark which will grow to 35cm this means he needs 35litres of water to grow. We wanted 2 silver sharks but as we only had a 60L tank we couldnt get 2 as they would need a 70L tank (35cm=35Litres of the tank each)

You are right but take the size they can grow to with a pinch of salt. They very rarely reach the sizes quoted and it will take years for a Silver Shark to ever reach anything like that size so you can have more fish now until this fish grows.