Petsmart's Advice

[Dragon cqzzzzz<]

I was at Petsmart today to get my guppies and I went home with 1 guppy and an algae eater. While the lady who worked there was getting my fish she stopped and said you should only get up to 4 or 5 fish at a time. I'd heard to get your fish all at once because if you don't you could bring home a sick one and kill the ones that you already have. My tank has sat for a week with everything in it. She said you should wait about 4 weeks until you get fish. She also said they could test the water the next time I came. So I just bought two fish. Now I have to go all the way back to Fairview Heights Il from Nashville Il to get the water tested. Then maybe I can get my fish, but I may have to go back yet again to get all the fish I was originally going to get today. Do you think it was bad advice, or is she right?

 

[FroggyFox]

I think you should do some research on what it means to 'cycle' a tank. They are SORT of right. Why dont you check out the stickies at the top of the beginner forum? There are some great articles about setting up your first tank.

Your thought about getting all the fish at once is a valid one...although most people who are worried about that have another tank set up as a quarentine tank where they keep all new fish for a few weeks before adding them to the main tank. Buying them all at the same time doesn't keep you from having a sick one in the bunch that could kill all the rest.

You could buy your own test kits instead of driving a long way to have it done, they're not that expensive. You'll want to buy a nitrate, a nitrite and an ammonia test kit. The best kind are the ones that have test tubes and droppers of chemicals to test the water, not the type that have strips.

 

[Dragon cqzzzzz<]

There is one problem with buying test kits instead of going to Petsmart... They're the only store I can think of that would actually have them. There are very very few pet stores where I live. The locally owned ones are going out of business and the retail giants are too far away. Also, I don't have enough room for a quarantine tank. At least if I buy them at the same time and they die I can get a refund. If I ad them gradually 16 days is going to pass very fast. What should I do?

 

[FroggyFox]

www.bigalsonline.com or www.drsfostersmith.com check them out...they have great prices and you can usually get equipment there cheaper (even including shipping) than buying it at the store anyway.

I dont personally run a quarentine tank...but I just know that I run that risk every time I get a new fish. You have to pick your new fish VERY carefully...never buying them from a store or a tank that has sick fish and always keeping your tanks healthy by keeping up with maintenance, not overstocking and monitoring the water conditions.

I'd say right now, you should do some research on cycling. You're going to need to be doing some water changes when your ammonia starts going up...and you might need some more fish to help that get started, depending on the size of tank you have. Either that, or finding some ammonia to use and taking your existing fish back to a store and doing what we call a fishless cycle.

 

[Dragon cqzzzzz<]

Don't you have to remove the fish to cycle? I have nowwhere else to put them and I'm not taking them back. Besides, I have neither the time nor the money needed to cycle a tank. Also, it's difficult to be careful there because there are always dead or sick fish in the tanks. The same goes for Wal Mart and Petco. The only time I have to work with my fish is after school and on weekends.

 

[FroggyFox]

Bottom line is that your tank will cycle whether you want it to or not You can do a fish-in cycle. Its just that your fish have a better chance of living if you dont put them through a cycle...which is what fishless cycling would do for you.

 

[Dragon cqzzzzz<]

Did you say that the tank will cycle by itself? Also, this morning I noticed that my guppy started to stay in one place and let its tail down, putting the fish in a verticle position facing upward. It seems like his tail is really heavy. He was the biggest and most colorful fancy guppy that Petsmart had. Is it normal for an algae eater to dart around. It just goes all over the place, almost literally bouncing off the walls.

 

[YahooFishKeeper]

what would you do if you were sitting in a pool of ammonia? might be stress... might be new surroundings... it might be ADHD, but whatever it is, i would het it checked out.

 

[homebunnyj]

The questions you're asking in your posts above are answered in the stickies on cycling. I'm sure you don't mean to, but you are coming across as someone who doesn't want to do his/her research, yet wants to be mildly argumentative with those to whom he/she is turning for advice. Everyone is telling you to go read for very good reasons, one of which is that none of us wants to retype all the info that has been laid out for beginners to educate themselves with. We're here to help, but you gotta work with us.

 

[FroggyFox]

and no..its not normal for a pleco to dart around the tank (unless its not a pleco). There are a lot of things that could cause that...not enough oxygen in the tank (what do you have filtering it) not enough space (what size tank is it?) high levels of ammonia/nitrites or nitrates in the tank (test kits would be able to tell you this) or even as simple as he was startled.

 

[Izz]

I wouldn't worry too much right now. You have two fish - this is not enough to create an ammonia outbreak within only a few days. As long as you change your water weekly, these guys will be fine. If you know anyone who runs a tank, you should try to borrow their filter sponge or even some gravel as these things will help bring (hopefully) good bacteria into your tank.

I'd suggest you buy maybe two fish every two weeks or so until you are stocked full. However, since you are using guppies, be aware that if you add a female the tank could easily have 20+ babies coming within a few weeks. That occasion could cause an outbreak.

I suggest easing yourself and your fish into the aquarium world. You may want search for some alternative pet stores as well, but you can order online if it is really too far. Be very careful not to overfeed.

 

[rohnds]

First you never add all the fish you intend to keep in your tank all at once. Even if a tank is fully cycled, the nitrifying algae isn’t capable of handling such large ammonia spike suddenly. During the cycling period, nitrifying algae adjust and grow such that is capable of handling the ammonia introduced/present in the tank. To increase the nitrifying capacity, you must increase the ammonia slowly such that the hitrying algae can grow proportionally to handle the increase in ammonia. This take a little time and doesn’t happen instantly. This is why many suggest adding 3 or 4 fishes at time and slowly increase the capacity each time giving the algae time to grow and adjust to increase in ammonia (bio load).

You guppy and pleco acting this way due to spike in ammonia. The guppy is grapping for oxygen due to ammonia poisoning. But they are both hardy fish capable of tolerating the cycle period of your tank. Make sure you do frequent water change. This will help in their survival.

Test kit is vital.

Rohn

PS: homebunnyj, there is no need for that kind of attitude towards someone just starting in aquarium hobby. The whole purpose of an forum in to get quick information from other to one question without doing a lot of research. This was the reason the forum such as this has flourished on the internet in the last couple of years. If everyone did their research, forums such as this would be shut down due to economic reason in less than a year.

 

[Pure]

rohnds I can certainly see where homebunny is coming from. And yes one of the purposes of a forum is for getting answers, but on this one subject when someone who has been here a wile directs a newb to go read summin they should. Then come back with questions after you read the FAQs on setting up new tanks and getting started. Most of us will be glad to further explain something someone doesn't understand.

http://www.myfishtank.net/forum/showthread.php?t=31669
There research done for you.

 

[rohnds]

rohnds I can certainly see where homebunny is coming from.

No, I don't know where is coming from !!!!

We all need to read the forum rule on how to conduct ourselves.

Hi everyone -

Thank you for being a part of our community. It has been brought to my attention that there are some members who are acting in a disrepectful or threatening manner.

MFT does not condone such behavior on this board. I personally do not condone such behavior on this board or in person.

Those who cross these boundaries will have their account IMMEDIATELY SUSPENDED.

Any situation or information that is passed onto me that i feel is a threat to anyone on this board will be passed on immediately to the proper authorities.

Please remember this is a fish community site. This was created for us to share our common hobby. Not to attack or belittle each other.

Thank you for your attention and understanding of this matter.

Johnny

Rohn

 

[homebunnyj]

How about a nice warm cup of cocoa? Methinks we need to calm down.
Like many people here, I have better ways to spend my time than to talk >at< someone who is not very likely to listen. So, moving on now.........*PEACE!* Have a lovely evening.

 

[FroggyFox]

Rohn, even though homebunny may have sounded a tad bit harsh...she definitely wasn't out of line. I had already suggested that Dragon go read the threads we have stickied at the top of the forum before she mentioned it. Directing folks to information that we as a group have already posted in a central location is much easier for someone to read than a bunch of disjointed posts of us all trying to answer the same questions over and over again.

Johnny's announcement that you posted was directed at actual physical threats that were being made and really out of line behavior, it was not directed at cases like this where someone is frustrated with someone not following our suggestions and answers to questions that they pose to us.

I also have to disagree with your statement that "If everyone did their research, forums such as this would be shut down due to economic reason in less than a year." First of all there is no 'economic reasons' that this board stays open...its open because of people who enjoy the hobby and enjoy learning about the hobby. I do a TON of research and have ever since I started coming to MFT, but I by NO means know everything there is to know...heck I have a lot of learning to do still. If a new person isn't willing to put a little leg work into starting up this hobby then I dont think they will make it very far.

 

[rohnds]

The problem with forum such as this is that some think they are expert and doesn't have the patience to explain to new comer the basic. We all started from square one at one point in time. Some of us have more experience and knowledge than others. But this doesn’t give anyone the right to adopt the kind of attitude some have in this post. How many of you have small children? I have a 3 year old son. I have to tell him couple of hundreds of times not to do something before he finally realize that what he is doing is wrong. Someone starting in any hobby or anything for that matter is like a little kid.

Sorry, forum like this or any forum for that matter exist because of their participants. If you adopt this kind of attitude towards new comer, you will end up driving them to other forum (there are number of popular forums besides this one). I have seeing forum shutdown due to inactivity and lack of members. Forums like this isn’t based on profits and losses but by activity. This indirectly mean attraction towards manufactures to advertise on forums such directing their promo towards a larger audience. If this isn’t true all you have to do is scroll down to the bottom of the index page of this forum and see the ads. Do you honestly believe that they will advertise on this forum like the audience is only handful of members.

Second you talked about leg work (research). Coming to this forum and asking an intelligent question is the first step to research.

I hope this matter is closed. This has nothing to do with me. I was defending someone else treated like a idiot for asking a question.

Rohn

 

[mechagrover]

Coming to this forum and asking an intelligent question is the first step to research.

Actually the first step would be to read all of the stickies labeled "READ ME FIRST"

 

[homebunnyj]

How many of you have small children? I have a 3 year old son. I have to tell him couple of hundreds of times not to do something before he finally realize that what he is doing is wrong. Someone starting in any hobby or anything for that matter is like a little kid.

I was defending someone else treated like a idiot for asking a question.

Rohn

I'm sure the mods are very happy to know now that they can safely remove the stickies that take up so much room in our forum.

I would hope that we here have more capacity to understand what we read than a three-year-old. I am a mother of four. When my children were three I certainly didn't have to tell them 'a couple of hundred times'. Give your child some credit for his intelligence. It is self-control that three-year-olds are lacking. We as adults should certainly have mastered that.

If, when someone is --possibly unbeknownst to him/herself-- coming across as argumentative or in an otherwise unflattering way, we must not respectfully point it out, but must simply smile and ignore the behavior, then please consider yourself smiled at and ignored.

 

[Orion]

And bickering among ourselves helps the original poster how?

There is a time and place to discuss things like this. In the Freshwater section in another members post about something else isn't one of them.