The New Girl

[Justina Spring]

Just joined today. Not only am I new to the forum but I'm new to the entire fish world. We bought our first tank (a fluval edge) about a month ago and not too long after we bought our second teank (a regular 10 gallon). Im enjoying it and we have become "addicted". Please share any thoughts or tips you have with me.

 

[ZackLanduyt]

dont talk to her, she is a bit of a loser haha, this is my girlfriend and she is alright i guess

 

[OrangeCones]

Please share any thoughts or tips you have with me.

Hard to give tips without more information about what you are housing.

Welcome to MFT.

 

[Justina Spring]

I have a chinese algae eater, 6 guppies, 4 black mollies, pleco, and one fish that i dont know what he is called.

 

[lauraf]

Hi Justina, welcome!
Are these all in one tank, or split between the two tank you have?
I can tell you right away from experience you will want to get rid of that CAE - they are nasty and will eventually start to attack your other fish.
It would be great if you determine the proper names of the fish you have - e.g., what kind of pleco? and your 'mystery fish'? - so we can help you with their care and tank compatibility. You can also post pics and we'll try to identify them.
This is a super site with people who just want to help make sure your fish are happy, which makes for happy fishowners!
Cheers,
Laura

 

[anshuman]

Welcome Justina.

Congrats on your getting fishtanks. I recommend you to go through AqAdvisor - Intelligent Freshwater Tropical Fish Aquarium Stocking Calculator and Aquarium Tank/Filter Advisor on stocking fish according to size of tank and filters. also tells you compatibility on tank-mates.


As laura said some fish are not compatible with each other, so better to give it back than loose good fish.

If you have camera or phone-cam , better post a pic or video so we can judge it. Feel free to fire away your questions query as you want. many here are always ready to help.

 

[achase]

Welcome!!
I totally agree with Laura about the CAE....they are cute in the beginning but they can/will be a real pain later. I know this from experience!!

 

[Justina Spring]

This is the unknown fish that i was talking about. And my pleco is a clown pleco.

 

[ryanoh]

If I had to guess, that'd be a platy of some sort, which seems to be a pretty easy going fish that isn't going to cause problems. I didn't read the list of what you have, so some fish may have problems with him, but unless they're aggressive breeds, they should probably be fine.

Welcome by the way. I'm pretty new myself, and everyone here is super helpful.

EDIT:
Oh yeah, guppies and mollies and a pleco should be fine together. I don't know anything about CAE though, except that they get big.
The only advice I have to give is be careful with livebearers (which guppies, mollies, and platies all are), as they breed fast and you could quickly become overstocked.

 

[Justina Spring]

To everyone that said I should get rid of my CAE you were right. I didn't act quick enough and he attacked and killed one of my beautiful sun tequilla guppies And also we found two baby fish in our tank yesterday and removed them and quickly put them in a seperate tank. They are doing good so far. We have been monitoring them carefully. Not sure if they are guppies or black mollies yet.

 

[lauraf]

Sorry to hear about your guppy! I hope you have a way of returning the CAE before there are more problems.
That mystery fish is a female platy, as ryanoh suggested, and you won't have problems with it in terms of compatibility.
Can you tell us what size tank these fish are in? Is it the 10g that I think was referred to in another thread? Most plecos and mollies will grow too big for a 10g eventually, so you'll want to keep that in mind, along with the issue of having an overpopulation issue if your livebearers keep giving you fry.
Cheers,
Laura

 

[Justina Spring]

Yeah its the ten gallon. But we are working on getting a 55 gallon very soon. And thanks for letting me know what my platy was.

 

[lauraf]

It will be super fun for you to get a 55g - it will be like moving from your parents' basement to a mansion! I might have to live vicariously through you two about how you populate your new tank.

 

[ZackLanduyt]

you guys have been nothing but helpful i just want to thank you all on behalf of both of us, we will keep you uptated on our larger tank endevour and of course will be asking questions the whole way!!

 

[riseabovethesun]

To everyone that said I should get rid of my CAE you were right. I didn't act quick enough and he attacked and killed one of my beautiful sun tequilla guppies And also we found two baby fish in our tank yesterday and removed them and quickly put them in a seperate tank. They are doing good so far. We have been monitoring them carefully. Not sure if they are guppies or black mollies yet.

Sorry to hear that CAE are the worst, mine actually jumped out of my "uncooperative fish tank" the other day and died on the carpet. It was sad but he was a real jerk so he had it coming. My brother's CAE actually did that before too..and mine wasn't covered, his was.

Oh, fish.

 

[stoddern]

I had a gourami that liked to jump out every time the lid was up, I don't know why but some fish are just suicidal, also I had two red claw crabs for about a week and I gotta tell you unless you wrap your whole tank in shrink wrap crabs will find a way out, 2 months later I found one dead in my bathroom closet and the other one has yet to turn up, thankfully theres no nasty smell in the house yet I'm hoping one of the cats had a nice midnight snack at some point

 

[xarumitzu]

My roommate has a CAE in a 75G tank at his house. He's had it for about 4 years and he's never really had a problem. In fact, his is a bit of a pansy (for lack of a better word). If anyone walks into the room is swims into a cave and just pokes its head out until everything is clear. Otherwise it keeps to itself and eats food of the floor. I guess it depends on the individual fish.

 

[riseabovethesun]

My roommate has a CAE in a 75G tank at his house. He's had it for about 4 years and he's never really had a problem. In fact, his is a bit of a pansy (for lack of a better word). If anyone walks into the room is swims into a cave and just pokes its head out until everything is clear. Otherwise it keeps to itself and eats food of the floor. I guess it depends on the individual fish.

I definitely agree about it depending on the individual fish. Once mine got bigger it didn't attack the others but it'd chase them and cause them enough stress that they wouldn't look so hot. Nobody died or had torn up fins, but he just was too much for them.

 

[ZackLanduyt]

That would be a sight, a fish jumping out of the tank dead on the carpet! But hey if he was a jerk then I guess he did have it coming lol, he is a neat looking little fish too so it is dissapointing we have to get rid of him, maybe we will get him his own tank who knows.

 

[xarumitzu]

I definitely agree about it depending on the individual fish. Once mine got bigger it didn't attack the others but it'd chase them and cause them enough stress that they wouldn't look so hot. Nobody died or had torn up fins, but he just was too much for them.

I used to have a Gourami that would relentlessly chase a poor Platy all over my tank. It got so bad the Platy got ich and didn't make it past a week after. Needless to say, I got rid of that Gourami.

That would be a sight, a fish jumping out of the tank dead on the carpet! But hey if he was a jerk then I guess he did have it coming lol, he is a neat looking little fish too so it is dissapointing we have to get rid of him, maybe we will get him his own tank who knows.

I've never had experience with them, but I've always read that if they have a big enough tank, and if the tank has enough hiding spots they can be kept with other fish.