FishRBeautiful

I don’t know those types of cory’s great but my first thought was a 3 striped. From the big box stores, I think they just get fish from vendors and sell them as they’re told they are, even if they’re not pure fish breeds. Sometimes if you get them from the same location, you’ll get the same vendors with same species.

I’m planning to do a single tank with guppies only. You probably have to add new ones from time to time though I imagine. 4 tanks sounds sufficient to me. I wish I had the means to do that

That’s what i think more and more every time I watch them so thank you!!

Good to know. Thanks! I wonder why the pet store workers think they’re aggressive and say platys are peaceful. Who knows…

Thanks! I’ve been told by all the lfs workers to get platys because Mollys are mean. But I’ve had lots of aggressive platys and these “Mollys” are completely peaceful so far. I even have tetras and Cory’s and so far, no interference

That’s what I thought too. I thought Mollys were supposed to be aggressive. Is it normal for them to be peaceful?

Bought these from a tank of Mollys, Platys, and Guppies sold as platys but I have my doubts. Google has ways to tell Mollys and Platys apart but I get more from just having a “feel” after watching a lot. These are so much more peaceful than the crazy Platys I’ve had in the past so what are your thoughts? Excuse the dirty tank. You may have to scroll in if you can to see the fish (black).

Yep, always perfect. Nitrates are always low, like 10-15.

Ok, I’m using test strips, includes pH, hardness, ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, chlorine, maybe something else. I think it’s Tetra. My tests always show same results as when I take water to the lfs.

So you’re talking about the stuff you buy to create a nitrogen cycle? I always just put one hardy fish in and create a nitrogen cycle that way. I watched lots of videos on it before starting up. I was thinking that the leftover food and waste from a previous fish would keep the cycle going with no fish in it. I assumed that’s why my tests still show it cycled when there’s no fish in it. What I’m still wondering though is like someone said, did it get stagnant from not being cleaned during that time and does it just needs lots of water changes and fresh water. And maybe fish food to keep the cycle going? Or is it better to break it down and clean it out like someone said? I’m terrified of the bleach method. Can you use hydrogen peroxide as an alternative?

I use a gravel vacuum to change out the water. Because there’s no algae, I never scrub anything or take out plants and wash them. Should I? That makes sense. So could bad bacteria live on those surfaces also? You can add bacteria to a tank? Why would you do that? I’ve never done that in my 20g.

The floating thing is a carbon filter (the kind I use in my 20 gallon) that someone advised I add a few days ago. I probably should have mentioned I have two sponge filters in there (1 I got a few days ago and haven’t had time to hook up yet). The one that’s been running a few months has an air stone inside (like Girl Talks Fish explained to do). Your comment makes a lot of sense to me. Here’s what I’m thinking based on what you said. I’ve had the tank running in between fish, sometimes days, a couple times, probably a whole month or two. I don’t always clean it after a fish dies before adding new ones. I also don’t clean the tank as often as my 20 gallon since I keep it low stocked and nitrates are low. I thought I was keeping the cycle alive but maybe I’m just creating stagnant water. Could there be build up bacteria in the surfaces of the tank, rocks, decor etc or even in the water? Would an antibiotic kill it or would I need to take the tank down and bleach that? I’ve never used bleach in a tank so it totally scares me. And the minnows that survived were in this tank, not my 20 gallon. Or could I just do a series of water changes for a while?

Here’s a picture. The thing at the top is a carbon filter, same one I use in my 20 gallon that has 13 fish. Nitrites and Ammonia are 0. Nitrates up to 15 now. 0 chlorine I don’t know what tap dechlorinator or chloramine are. Hardness is 300 like always. Ph like 8.0 as always. Kh 180 like always. That’s all well water results. I do keep driftwood in my 20gallon but it doesn’t show soft water on tests. Happens a day or two after I buy the fish. I buy my fish at that lfs for 20 gallon and they rarely die. Small minnows survive the longest, like a few weeks or even months. I put thermometer in there for the bettas so it’s 78. I have no light so never had algae. It’s not musty, more like rotten or dead stuff or stagnant water. It’s a glass lid, so no air getting in the tank. My 20 gallon has a big hole in the lid for the HOB. Lid is pictured. Does it need a bunch of plastic cut off to let air in?

I’ll get pictures and info later when I’m home.

For my 5 year old daughter, I have a 5 gallon tank with a glass lid (the kind that folds in half a little to feed the fish). It was mine and I don’t need it anymore. Now, Every fish we put in there dies. This time it killed a perfectly healthy betta she was excited about that came from a tank, not a cup at the lfs. When I was using it before, I didn’t know much about fish care so I had an air pump only. Then, I found out you need a filter so I got a sponge filter. Then I found out you’re supposed to clean your sponge filter. LOL (I’ve only been fishkeeping for a year so I’m learning a lot.) If I remember correctly, it maybe started smelling stagnant at the end of my using that tank when I opened the lid I stored the tank for maybe a few months. Now, I have a heater and sponge filter in there again. I did like an 80% water change before getting the betta and someone advised I put a carbon filter in to remove toxins, which I did, but it still killed the new fish. It always smells when I open the lid. So do glass lids make water stagnant and kill fish? I have an unused 10 gallon with a glass lid I plan to set up after my surgery also so I want to avoid this situation. Should I cut out the back and put an HOB in it? I have one I’ve done water tests. It’s always like 0 nitrites and ammonia, 10 nitrates. Hard water as always. No chlorine ever. Never used bleach or dish soap. Could it be the pet store rocks? I don’t use those in my tanks. I use stuff from hardware stores for my substrate. I can’t remember where I got her rocks, WalMart, Petco, or PetsMart. If WalMart, can that kill fish? I don’t want to keep buying fish and have them die.

So I measured the Pleco tonight (take a ruler up to it against the outside of the glass) and it’s about 2.25 inches. Not sure what age/size males grow “bristles” on their “noses”. This is my Pleco. Don’t know its sex. From your description, it may be a female based on behavior. No cave claiming. This is also a pic of the loach.

Thanks! I’ll watch the pleco as it gets older. I’ve had it maybe 4 or 6 months so it’s still like 2.5 inches. I’ve found overfeeding sinking food helps with hogging food so the pleco and snail can each have their own not to share. And then cleaning the tank every week which seems crazy.

Thanks for your replies. It’s super helpful. Yesterday I saw the two darting like crazy on the back wall of the tank. I didn’t know if they had uncontrollable spurts of energy (my kitten gets those LOL) or if they were fighting. The Pleco does those darts a lot and scares other fish away but I don’t know if it’s intentional. The Pleco definitely likes to hog sinking food. But the snail got his algae wafer once and the Pleco swam away in defeat. I have seen the Pleco and snail fighting aggressively with each other before. And once a kuhli loach tried to get some sinking food and the Pleco sucked on its head and then it swam away. Pleco also keeps sticking its spines in its cheeks out but I haven’t seen it do that to other fish yet. My fish hide a lot so sometimes I wonder if the loach scares them but it may just be that the loach is the least shy creature in my tank. I plan to get some black neon tetras as dither fish. And most of my fish are nocturnal because they’re my favorite.

There’s like 12 kinds (probably more but that’s what popped up on my Pinterest feed, LOL). I have one banded (but distinct markings so maybe not the banded type everyone knows) and probably the only one I’ll find for a year in my area. I have two blacks. (Had to return a green-maybe called silver- accidentally sold as a black). I noticed the black and green swim together at night like party confetti all over the sides of my tank. The banded just once in a while swims up and then back down to rest. Also, so far, he’s tiny but only had them all a few months. Also, at feeding time, the black ones all eat together and scare the poor banded guy off to hang by himself. Wish I could find him a buddy. And lastly, the black ones hide all day and scare away so easily. Banded one is not too shy. But all that to help you decide behavior based on color. Must be a different species or something so I’d say at least get them a buddy of the same type. And maybe that’s why they recommend 6 to make them feel safe.

I have a BN Pleco and Hilstream Loach (sold as butterfly loach but looks like reticulated hilstream loach to me) in a 20 gallon high. Maybe it’s all in my head but the Pleco seems to be hiding a lot and loach not so much. Can the loach possibly be aggressive when I’m not watching? Are these two fish not compatible? I always research fish before adding but I may have forgotten to research these two together.

Thanks! That looks exactly like mine and sounds like the issues I deal with. Yours looks clean. Mine is filled with algae and gunk. Vinegar soak doesn’t even get it that clean.

That may help in the future. I think my impeller also gets jammed because of all the algae and maybe sand at times. I plan to move my tank to another location out of the sun when I’m recovered from an injury I’ve had for 5 months now. When I scrape algae off the glass, it goes everywhere in the water column

Did that when I cleaned the filter a couple weeks ago. Never done it before that. Can it clog up that quickly when I haven’t disturbed the substrate since then? What would do that? I don’t have any baby fish or live plants at the moment.

It’s a TopFin Silenstream. My first time keeping fish so I got it on Black Friday a year ago without researching anything. I’ve kept tons of fish alive with it though so it works well when it works.

True. It happened again so I’m wondering if the motor can go out after a while. Are other types of filters better that I should get something else, maybe an internal filter or gravel filter? I don’t want a canister. Too complicated!