ilovefish

Sadly even after all my efforts my goldfish died . I still want to keep fish but not goldfish. I liked the mollies which I saw at the store. What should I do to get my tank ready for them and how long before I can out new fish in the tank. My goldfish died of Ammonia poisoning.

Tom

What size is the tank?
Tom

Beeboy

What size tank do you have? What is your: pH, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate? If you don't know get test strips for these things. Once you know how big your tank is you can figure out how many fish you can have. The general rule is 1 inch per gallon so since mollies are the maximum molly size is four inches per fish. That mean for each molly you need four gallons of water in your tank. If you have a ten gallon then you could keep 2 mollies with 2 inches extra space. Fill in the extra space with shrimp and you would have a complete tank. You will also need a heater since mollies are tropical fish. Good luck!!!

Beeboy

sirdarksol

Beeboy's got good ideas, but I'm going to have to disagree on two points. First, don't get strips. They end up being more expensive than the master test kits, and they aren't as accurate. I was getting false negative readings on stuff that was killing my fish.
Second, you really shouldn't keep mollies in a 10g tank. They are movers, and prefer a lot of space, both vertically and horizontally, to move around. They should have at least 20g.
But yes, you should have a heater and some sort of testing kit if you don't already have them.

Chief_waterchanger

Sailfin mollies should not be kept in anything less than a 29g, but regular plain jane mollies... you could keep 2-4 in a 10g with proper filtration without a hassle.

ilovefish

I have a 20g tank. I have the test strips for now and they still show Ammonia to be between .5- 1 ppm, high nitrite and nitrate readings. If the mollies are too much which other fish can I get? Also do all tropical fish need warm water?

ilovefish

What kind of shrimp can I keep in the tank...i dont know much about shrimp. Also how long should my tank run before I can get new fish??

lilsoccakid

until you have 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite and nitrates below 20

Wolfgang8810

the best way to lower ammonia nitrIte and nitrAte are water changes but your tank is still in its first cycle please lok at the nitrogen cycle under freshwater beginners but untill those numbers go down anything you put in there !WILL! become unhealthy or die

COBettaCouple

I'd cycle the tank fishless, then add the fish slowly until you reach your full population.

sirdarksol

Agreed with everything said above. Here's a link to the cycle guide http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm

Going fishless to cycle your tank is good, but it's absolutely necessary that you don't put shrimp in until the ammonia and nitrites are gone. They are very sensitive to toxins.
A couple of good shrimp are amano shrimp (there are dozens of variations, the two most common being "regular" and "cherry red"), ghost shrimp, which are really cool, bamboo shrimp, and there's some kind of filter feeding shrimp that gets really big whose name escapes me right now. There are more, but these are some of the most common.

Neville

u can keep 2 ghost shrimps in your 20g, they r small and peaceful but sometimes fight each other. generally all freshwater fish require a temperature of 23-28 degrees C. but goldfish r cold water fish.

ilovefish

Thanks to all of u for ur advice. I am monitoring the tank and will get new fish only after it has cycled. Cant bear any more fish dying.

Wolfgang8810

it happens to the best of us dont get discouraged