Fishies!!!!

emily445455

Yay!!! Hubby and I are getting fishies tomorrow!!! We bought the tank, water cleaner, gravel, and decorations today...and we are going to fill it up tonight so the water has time to become room temp. before we get the fish. Then tomorrow we're going to go get some!!! yay!!!

I got a free goldfish when I was a freshman in college and he died a year or so ago (at the age of 3!!!). His name was Pablo (don't ask...it just popped into my head), so we're sticking with the Spanish-named theme for our new fishies.

I'll post pics of them tomorrow!!!! I am so excited!!

Willowy

Congrats! I love fishies. I have a 55g goldfish tank and a 10g with a male Betta and 4 cory cats.

Be sure to read up on cycling a tank. There are several different methods to try, but you can't just put fish in an uncycled tank and expect good results. That's the #1 reason new fishkeepers don't succeed. Have fun and happy reading!

emily445455

Cycled? Is that the same thing as like, the tank being filtered?

Pablo was never filtered...he lived in a vase with rocks at the bottom...lol. He was a good little fish.

Kuma'sMom

No cycling isn't the same as being filtered, I'd really suggest reading up on the cycling process before bringing any fish in. Here's a site with some information to get you started. http://www.bluecrayfish.com/cycle.htm

I'd also strongly waiting to get the fish and going with a fishless cycle. Cycling with fish can badly damage their gills and shorten their lifespan signifigantly. By the way, what size tank do you have, and what are you planning to put in it? I'd be carefull trusting what the people in the fish store tell you to be honest, they tend to be only interested in selling you fish, and very few places will be completely honest with you in my experience. There are some great forums out there on fish, just like this one, and I reccomend tracking some down, they're great resources for information. I can also do my best to help you out if you'd like. I have 4 tanks right now, ranging from 10 gallons to 75 gallons, and I'm a member of my local fish club.

Willowy

Like Kuma'sMom said, cycling is different from filtering. Cycling means to populate the tank with beneficial bacteria, which are necessary to keep your fish healthy. Yes, your goldie lived for 3 years without any filtering or cycling....but that's not a very long life. Goldfish CAN live 30 years, so his life was really cut short from living in a small vase. What size tank do you have? What kind of filter? Don't listen to ANYTHING the fish store employees tell you; they're just out to sell you some fish, and they kind of hope the fish will die, because then you'll be back to buy more fish ($$$ for them!). If you want to keep the fish alive, join an online fish forum, you'll learn all kinds of stuff . Here's some basic info on cycling: http://www.fishforums.com/forum/gene...le-basics.html

HuskyLuv

^ What they said!

PLEASE do not get fish tomorrow and please cycle your tank properly. I know it's hard to wait a few weeks but it is the responsible thing to do and your fish will greatly appreciate it...with their lives!

emily445455

How long will we have to wait to get fish...?

Hubby is not very happy that I'm suggesting this.....sigh....

What about Eclipse tanks? Hubby said they have biowheels...whatever those are.

HuskyLuv

How long it takes a tank to cycle will vary from tank to tank. On average I would say 2-3 weeks. In your research on cycling you should run across information on the testing you will need to do which will tell you exactly where you are in the cycle as it progresses.

Did you buy a test kit with all the supplies you bought today? At the very least you should have a test for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate...OR you could take your water to your local fish store and have them test it for you.

The bio-wheel will actually end up being a nitrate factory and is something most dedicated hobbyists would recommend removing immediately. I have long since removed all the bio-wheels from all my tanks upon learning of how much more harmful they are than helpful.

I have a 3 gallon Eclipse tank on my kitchen counter (had it for over 8 years now) and love it! All the parts in it are from the original set except the pump which finally died on us last summer. They're definitely good tanks!

What size tank did you guys get?

emily445455

We got a 3 gallon tank.

What's in a test kit? Are they expensive... We bought a pH reader thingy.

bluedawg

A 3 gallon tank is only big enough for a few small fish at best.

drfong

HI, I'll add my 2cents. I have several tanks, a 90 gal, a 29 gal, a 20 gal a 10 gal and a 2.5 gal. Also 3 betta vases. Bluedawg is correct that 3 gals will only alow you to keep a few fish. If you are doing small community fish lick guppies or plats you could maybe do as many as 4, but that would be pushing it. Also the high the fish load, the more important that you have a well cycled tank with a thriving bacteria colony to process all the waste. If you just put 3 fish in a 3 gal tank you will have dangerously high amonnia in no time. The fish will stress and probably die and you won't be happy. If you choose to cycle with a fish rather than wait and go fishless (the way it has been done since the begining of time) just go with on fish. Small tanks are actually harder to keep because they water conditions change rapidly and often. Larger tanks are more stable. It is the fish waste that cause the cycle to occur, but think about it, if you have many fish going to the bathroom in a small amount of water without anyway for the tank to process the urine and solid waste, it will get bad fast. you need to have a ph tester an amonnia tester at a minimum. A nitite and nitrate test would be great also because thats how you know for sure the tank is cycled. You can get a ph and ammonia tester that you leave in the tank so you don't have to mess with test tubes. They are made by seachem. Others might make them also. I just started using them and find them pretty good. When the amonnia starts to climb, you need to do a partial water change. You need some amonnia to get the cycle going, but amonnia is deadly to fish. That's the problem. When going fishless, you add pure amonnia to the water to get the level up to around 6ppm and keep it there by adding some amonnia everyday. this makes the cycle go much faster. But if you have fish in the tank you can not let it get above .5 or 1/2 ppm. If you do your fish will not be ok. This slows down the process and limits the amount of bacteria that is produced in the tank. The whole process takes a month or so with fish, but can be done in as little as 2 weeks fishless. Also when done fishless, by keeping the amonnia levels higher you are developing much more bacteria which then allows for more fish when you stock it. If you cycle with fish, the bacteria level will be able to handle the output of that fish. When you add more you have to be carefull because it may set off a mini cycle because the bacteria can't keep up with the higher fish load. Just remember if you use fish, you must make frequent water changes to keep the amonnia, nitrite and nitrate levels from stressing them.

What type of fish were you interested in getting?

emily445455

I don't know what they're called. But a few little ones, since it's a little tank

I'm not particularly interested in getting a lot of fish, or big fish...big fish creep me out...and big tanks are soooo expensive. This tank was expensive itself!!!

I will start cycleing today. I'm doing the take out half the water and doing the waterfall thing with the filter, cause it sounds easy and I don't have to buy anything (yay!). I still don't understand it really...but whatever.


Ok I'm confused...I started to take out water, and only got to 75% full and the filter stopped...I thought that was the whole point...I'm really confused...and late for church, sigh

Criosphynx

quoting you, but i saw others had mentioned this too....


I sold fish for four years, i can tell you that that is NOT the case.

Myself and everyone i knew in the industry spend 8 hours a day talking people OUT of fish they couldnt care for correctly.

Virtually every convo for four years went like this....

I want four of these oscars....
How big is your tank?
Ten gallons, you know what i want five, and some of these neons too....
You know your tank is far to small for oscars and the neons ar not compatable...
I'll just buy a bigger tank later(heard this one ALOT) I want five of these and ten of these
Are you sure? they are going to die.
Im sure (while you get the fish they put the tank on the counter to buy that day.)

Just think about it, why do we want you to kill fish?? We love fish too. Most stores replace them for free the first time, AND it pisses the customer, off when they die, why would any bussiness intentionally do that, in fact i've never heard of this feeling until now. Also i can tell you, if you buy fish from a place and they all kick, chances are, your not coming back again. I've had adults scream in my face and go completely off after they killed fish and it was completely their fault. Trust me, we want your fish to live!
People tend to be "superstitious" for lack of a better word, about where they get their fish, I've seen people totally write off places after one dead fish out fo a dozen. Perhaps you guys got som'one less thatn helpful before and your fish died from bad advice. New employees are HARD to train, these alot to learn so mistakes happen, but they are not intentional.


So i must disagree, if only from experience, i think finding a nice, clean mom and pop type fish store, or a diamond in the rough employee at petco/petsmart (they exist) is a very valueable resourse that shouldn't be writen off.

HuskyLuv

Be care you don't break the filters motor. The water level does have to be a certain height for the filter to work, it won't work if it can't take in water! Why do you want the water level to be so low? Doing that will further limit the amount of fish you can keep in the tank.

I hope you have done a little research on the fish you want to get BEFORE you buy them. Most fish start out very small and quite a few can grow to be quite large...and that'll be extremely easy to outgrow a 3 gallon tank. We only have a male betta in ours. In the past I've kept some zebra danios in there and I've also kept a single dwarf gourami in the 3 gallon as well.

I also have to agree with Criosphynx in that NOT all fish store employees are only in it for the money. In my experience big chains tend to be more willing to sell for the money, but a good store/employee will not. It will be up to you to get yourself informed and not rely entirely on the LFS employees. If you know ahead of time what you're getting into you can tell if the employees are in it for the advancement of the hobby or for money. I only patronize LFS's that are in it for the advancement of the hobby.

You and your hubby should definitely spend more time researching your new venture. If you want, go to your LFS and talk to the employees, and make sure it is clear to the employee that you are not buying today (so they're not giving you the hard sell) and have them tell you about the species you're interested in. Write down the names of the fish you're interested in (definitely pick several in case one or the other won't work in your tank) and do a little more research online before you make any final decisions.

You wouldn't get a dog if you knew absolutely nothing about their care would you? Fish are the same way, different species = different care and requirements.

Criosphynx

oh and in case no one mentioned it.... sorry to many long posts to read

Take whatever amount of food you think the fish should eat and cut it in half or more. The first mistake people make once they have the fish is they feed feed feed. Look at the eye of the fish.
One eye is similar in size to its stomach, pretty small right?

Katzyn

I'm glad there are people on here to help you out...Just one question; when you said your goldfish lived for 3 years, were you surprised? They can actually live a long time, I think the max is 15-20 years? Maybe 10-15, I can't remember, but I know AT LEAST 10 years is a good lifespan for a goldfish. =)

Roscosmom

You've been given a lot of wonderful advice here in this thread. May I suggest this site as well http://www.fishforums.net/ ,(I'm rather partial to it as I've moderated over there for years) it's a goldmine of information.

Fishkeeping is a wonderful hobby but it can (and will!) get pricey if you don't do it right. Personally, for a 3 gallon tank, I would recommend nothing more than a betta. If you get in to guppies, keep in mind that they are livebearers and breed like rabbits. One small tank will quickly multiply in to grow out tanks etc. You may not want to get in to all that.

drfong

Still great advice going on here. As far as the livebearer fish are concerned, it is easy to sex the fish and only get a few males which are usually more attractive anyway. I should have mentioned that when I sugested a guppy. A male betta would be a good choice, african dwarf frogs are really cool. A frog and a betta can go together in a 3 gal tank. I have 2 frogs and t tequilla sunrise guppies in my small tank. This time they are doing great. I screwed up before and killed everything. Like i said in my last post, small tanks can really be hard to keep stable. For some reason the pH kept droping and I let it drop so far it killed everything. I have now added some crushed coral and the ph is stable. Everyone seems to be doing fine. But I'm getting of track.

Emilly, I'm not sure what your are trying to do to cycle, yes lowering the water a little bit to add more air and circulation will help speed up the process, also raising the temp to over 80 degrees, but you have to have some amonnia in the water to kick off the cycle and to keep the bacteria feed. If you are using bottled amonnia, make sure it is pure amonnia without soap, perfumes and dyes. It should be clear and when you shake it in the bottle it should not foam up. Also add only a few drops at a time in a 3 gal tank and wait a few min before testing. If the level is low add a few more drops. If you add too much the test will read 0 even though it has way too much amonnia. Test everyday and keep the level up. Google fishless cycling and there are some really good articles on it. I really like a fishless cycle, but for such a small tank with only 1 or 2 small fish, you can do it the old fashion way and just be diligent with the water changes. keep the ammonia level low and the fish will do ok. once the amonnia quits going up, you need to start testing for nitrites, as that will replace the ammonia in the tank. Keep the level low by doing water changes and the fish will be fine. Once the ammonia goes up and then down, and the nitrites go up and down, your tank will be cycled. Then nitrates will be climbing and doing a water change will bring them back down. The ammonia and nitrites should not be an issue after that but the nitates will always continue to build after each water change. It is the final byproduct of the waste from the fish. Remember that small tanks need more frequent water changes than large tanks because there is not much water. Remember to not overfeed the fish, especially durring the cycle, more food means more waste.
Good luck

Criosphynx

do you really? I'll have to check it out!

emily445455

From http://www.bluecrayfish.com/cycle.htm Maybe I'll do #3...that one looks easier...

There are many methods of cycling a new aquarium. Fishless cycling, Traditional cycling with “starter fish,” and Accelerated cycling with commercial products are the three methods I will discuss. Whatever method you choose, there are things you can do to speed up the process.

1. Run the aquarium at a high temperature, up in the low to mid eighties, Fahrenheit. Only do this if you have no pets in the aquarium which need lower temperatures. The higher temperature leads to faster cycling.

2. Keep the tank only about 50-65% full. This creates a waterfall effect as the water leaves the filter, and when the water from the filter hits the surface of the aquarium water, there is a great deal of water turbulence, exposing more water to more air more quickly, and leading to increased oxygenation, and thus, faster cycling.

3. Keep the aquarium light on 24 hours per day during cycling. Only do this if you have no pets in the aquarium which need less light, or which need darkness. The increased light leads to faster cycling.

4. Use as many air stones and air pumps as you have access to, which will fit in the aquarium. Keep them all running all the time. This leads to increased oxygenation, which leads to faster cycling. Only do this if you have no pets in the aquarium which need calm, or still water.

5. Keep the filter running the entire time the aquarium is undergoing the cycling process. This increases water flow, and insures that good bacteria build up in the filter material, both of which lead to faster cycling.

I did


Yes, I was...all the goldfish I've known live for a year, tops, most times less.