amb44

thanks, i didn't realise it would take that long to confirm the sex. i've had to postpone anyway which may end up being a good thing.

hi, i will be looking to get two female leopard geckos over the summer and want to make sure that they will be available - i'm assuming they're coming out of brumation and breeding now? i only ask as a few months ago there were babies regularly available on trademe and now there are only 5 listings and i think only 3 are actual geckos... thanks, amy

no, the remaining fish doesn't look skinny and i can't remember the other two looking that way either. i don't know if this means anything, but killer had an abrasion on his tail fin after the fight with the other fish. now it is a hole right through the tail! i will be picking up some clove oil shortly as i don't want to prolong his suffering.

Well, ignore what i just said. i just found the red one dead, and Killer isn't looking too hot either. Ammonia 0, nitrites 0. any idea what may have happened? the red one looked fine - not like he had been in fight. killer looks beat up but that makes sense.

hmmm...don't want to overload my tank so may just stick to the dwarves! they seemed to have settled down now, so I think I will stick with getting more plants and hopefully things work out between them. those pearls are stunning though!

They seem quite a bit bigger than the dwarves, so it would probably look good with just the one too.

Thanks everyone, I caught Killer chasing around the remaining gourami so I will likely take either Killer or them both back to the shop. I heard that Pearl Gourami are a lot more social - is that correct? Maybe I will exchange them for Pearl Gourami instead. It's such a shame; Killer is a pretty fish, but apparently leans towards the territorial side! I seem to attract the killer fish, my betta slaughtered half my neons when they were together too :-?

Hi Sheepsnana, Unfortunately my camera broke last week so can't get any photos. I will be going to the shop this weekend to get more plants, as I think my version of heavily planted is not actually heavily planted.

The poor little guy died overnight so at least I don't have to choose who to return. I guess I am just not used to this, and since there is so much conflicting information I got a bit overwhelmed. I wonder if my version of 'heavily planted' is not actually heavily planted so will get some more plants and at least one surface covering one this weekend. Thanks for your help and reality check!

Hello everyone, I think I have fallen victim to dodgy fish shop advice again and now I'm not sure what to believe/do. I have a 54l tank which I was searching for a feature fish for. Fi5shguy mentioned dwarf gourami, so I did a bit of research (apparently not enough!) and went down to my local fish shop. This fish shop has a good reputation, and I ask a lot of questions to make sure I will be doing right by my fish, especially as I am a beginner. I mentioned several times that I have a 54l tank and mentioned the other fish. I said that I wanted a male and a female dwarf gourami as I had read that this was the best combination. The person serving me said that they don't have any females, so I asked whether two males would be alright. This person said they might be alright but may fight, so an option would be to get three males and hope that the disputes were divided out between the three rather than one being picked on. I asked whether they were sure this would be alright in a 54l tank and they seemed confident enough. I've had them nearly two weeks and have seen one tiny squabble which resolved within seconds. Tonight I came home and did a water change and find one breathing heavily at the top of the tank and not eating, even when I put food right above him. His mouth is torn up a bit and he has a small hole in his tail fin. I thought he was on death's door as he then just lay in the corner on the bottom of the tank on his side, but in the past 5 minutes he has seemed to perk up again and is swimming around. I am doing a water change every 2 days at present to help deal with the added fish so I am hoping that water quality issues do not lead to any kind of infection. I am just not sure what to do - return them all? Return two? Ideally I would like at least two, just because they are so small for a feature fish. In my mind they have areas that they could all claim as I have driftwood and plants breaking up the tank, but like I said I am a beginner so I could easily be deluding myself. I am getting very frustrated with this hobby - there is a lot of conflicting information so I am not sure who to believe. It is horrible to go to a fish shop that is highly spoken of, ask A LOT of questions, and get crappy advice. If this fish dies I have paid nearly $20 for the privilege of watching an animal suffer and die slowly. Sorry for the rant, but advice appreciated. Thanks very much. You are all very helpful, I should probably just ask here! Amy

That's so cool, thanks Sophia! I didn't even click that I wasn't doing a water change as such, duh! Hopefully the finer bits will get taken up with regular water changes, if not I have some thick tights that are falling apart so might use those.

That is such a great idea Sophia. I either need to upgrade my filter or do a major clean which I don't want to do for obvious reasons, like dead fish! If I used a stocking, how big of a water change could I safely do? Would 50% every couple of days be ok until the majority of the gunk is gone from the bottom? It seems like a lot I know but everytime I do a water change there is so much poop floating around afterwards that I just want to empty everything and start again as it looks so gross. Oh I should add that I am talking about a 38l tank, so I think it falls under nano too? Thanks very much, Amy

Ah...I think I have found the problem...I have for whatever reason started shaking the tubes vigorously when testing for ammonia and nitrites. I went and retested and turned the tubes up and down a few times; lo and behold I have an ammonia reading of 0.25ppm...guess I have seriously kickstarted the cycle again *sigh* Thanks again everyone. Amy

Thanks everybody, you've all reassured me! Now to add more fish (slowly of course!). I will keep an eye out but stop testing/changing water every couple of days. When I do test, I will make sure I shake the bottles a lot as currently I only give a quick shake before doing the long shake of the test tube. Amy

No, neither of the tanks are planted.

Tank 1 is a 38l, with one male betta and one 5cm bristlenose. Tank 2 is 54l and has 10 neon tetras and 4 apple snails. (I only found out that tetras aren't that hardy after I had already bought them). Tank one originally had 4 apple snails, 5 tetras and the betta in it, and had finished cycling (0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, around 40ppm nitrates). Then I bought tank 2 and added the snails for about a week, then the tetras, and after 10 - 14 days I bought 5 more tetras. The plan is to move the catfish and maybe the betta into tank 2, and have the snails back in tank one. Amy

Hello, I have been having a few issues with my new tanks recently, with ammonia and nitrites appearing. I know the reasons why I think (1 tank I have been accidently changing too much water so restarted the cycle; the second tank is in the midst of cycling). I have upped my water changes to about 10% every two days and now the ammonia and nitrites in both tanks are zero. The thing is that nitrates are not showing up. All my readings are zero. I would have thought that with the nitrites being at zero that must mean that nitrates are present? Is this wrong? I'm not really sure what is happening here, so if somebody could explain that would be great! I should add that the problems were discovered last week so not long. Also in the second tank I did have a nitrite reading (5.0ppm) a couple of weeks ago so did a 20% mid-week water change which seems to have stopped everything in its tracks. Thanks very much, Amy

Hello, My 54l tank (60 x 30 x0 30) has started cycling so I am having to think seriously about what I want to stock it with. It will definitely be having 10 neon tetras in it (currently 5 in there, plus 4 apple snails), and one bristlenose. I was planning to move my betta into the tank as my feature fish but my tetras are horrible tail nippers - I've even seen one nip at the bristlenose. The snails will be removed once the tank has finished cycling, I just figured since they produce so much waste it would give the tank a nice kickstart, and I want to plant the tank eventually too. Ideally I would love to get some khuli loaches (not as the feature of course!) but I understand that they are happier in groups of 5 or 6 and I don't think my tank is big enough for this? As far as feature fish go I am stuck - I quite like pearl and kissing gouramis but these too will grow too big for my tank. Any advice appreciated, Amy

He's doing much better I think. I had a good look at him yesterday before I put the Wunder tonic in, and I'm pretty sure that there is new fin growing back in some places!

Thank you!

Hello, After having success with salt treatment for my betta's fin rot for the past two weeks, I have recently noticed a few new tears so have bought Wunder Tonic today. I'm not 100% sure of the doses though - today has been easy as it says 1 drop/litre and he is in a 1 litre container at present. Do I do a 100% water change tomorrow and then do the same dose rate? Day 3 is where I'm most confused - it says 1ml per 30 litres. What do other people do for day 3 if their fish is in isolation in a small container? I also don't have activated carbon which it says to add in day 7. Can I just do 25% water changes every day until the blue colour goes completely? Thanks again for your help, Amy

Hi again everyone, Things were improving a lot - his fins are all unclamped, the black edges that appeared have all gone but I have just noticed a new hole and one new tear. I guess I will be buying Wunder Tonic after all! I am still changing the water each day and don't have any ammonia/nitrites so I'm not sure why it has become worse. I've been looking at the photos I posted and he looks really ratty compared to them. The fins look about the same length but seem thinned out for lack of a better description. I tried to get photos but none turned out well at all. There is only colour at the end of the fins as well, they seem to be mostly transparent, but it is very dependent on the lighting. I don't know if this is just his colour or not but I thought it worth mentioning. Still no major red lines but the bottom fin still has a pinkish tinge mixed in with the transparent parts. Overall he seems much happier, I guess the rot had become too entrenched for salt to be able to fully take care of it (correct me if I'm wrong here). Amy

wow really? i have to admit i haven't been back since i figured it would get me nowhere, but the baby is still in my freezer and i still have some tank water in the fridge. i will have to make time to go back this weekend. god poor little thing didn't stand a chance.

Thanks F15hguy; I wasn't sure what was the best level, just that it was ok if it was under 40ppm. Now I know what to aim for

Oh that's great! Thanks Hamstarr! I think my nitrates are slightly higher than ideal and I will keep checking ammonia/nitrate for a week or so and make sure the nitrates are getting reduced through water changes, but otherwise fingers crossed this tank is sorted Amy