CompleteNovice

Hi everybody,

I bought myself a medium sized freshwater tropical tank last week, and today bought my first fish for it. The shop staff werent the most helpful nor informative, but I know one of the fish is a barb, but the one in question is not! My trouble is my number two fish has suddenly became, well, inactive, hiding underneath my filter, just staying still. The other is hyper in comparison! So basically im wondering, could this just be stress related, and will improve,or does it mean my fish is ill and it needs treated. I know its impossible for anyone to give an absolutely corret answer based on the little information I have given you, but you could maybe offer me some tips as to what I should possibly do next??

Thanks for ur help

CN

Janmitch22

Shorty

Could you post pics of the two fish? That way we may be able to help a little more Keep an eye on him and I have my fingers crossed for you.

Welcome to the most helpful and nicest forum in the world too

vin

Hi and welcome to Fishlore!

Unfortunately, it sounds as though you've made the same mistake that many of us have when first starting out. We get our tank ready, put the water in and head to the fish store to buy our first fish......All the while having no idea we may be doing something wrong.....The problem is that the local fish stores and pet stores do not know how to ask the proper questions, whether it be to a novice or to an experienced hobbyist. And those questions are "Has your tank cycled completely?" and "How much experience do you have?" and "What type of aquarium are you looking to establish?" And the fact that we've made this mistake is greatly through no fault of our own. We give the fish store people our information and they assume we are ready to go.....

Since you are new to the hobby, I strongly recommend that you read this section: http://www.fishlore.com/Beginners.htm . It contains all of the information a beginner needs to know about starting the fish hobby. I wish I had found this site before I jumped in with both feet.

I made the same mistake you did because I quite honestly didn't know better and the people at the fish store didn't ask me the right questions or guide me properly. What happened was that it took a lot of work to get the water and tank conditioned to safely keep fish.

To answer your question based on the information you've given, is that your fish are most likely stressed as your tank probably has not cycled. You will read more about this in the link I have provided for you. It may be possible to nurse your fish through this process, but as mentioned earlier it can take a lot of work and there is a chance that the fish may not make it.

But we will try and help you through it as best we can.......

We're all beginners at one time!!!

0morrokh

How big is the tank? And, please find out exactly what the two fish are. Is the tank cycled?

chickadee

You need to get a Master test kit to test the water for ammonia, Nitrites, and Nitrates. It sounds like your tank is NOT cycled and you are asking your fish to do the cycling for you and that is a tremendous stress on them. This is why we recommend a fishless cycle process before you actually start to add fish. It is hard to have a tank and run it for 4-6 weeks without the fish in it I know but the other way you take a great chance of losing a lot of very expensive fine fish during the process and it is a lot harder to watch your fish die that to wait.

There is an article on the Home Page of this site http://www.Fishlore.com that includes the information about the nitrogen cycle.Under the Freshwater Beginners it is listed as the Aquarium Nitrogen Cycle. It is too late since you already have added fish to do a fishless cycle, but it will explain the rest of the process and water testing to you.

Be sure to buy the testing kit that involves the putting water in test tubes and adding reagents from the test kit and waiting for them to change color. (not the test strips) Most of us here use the Aquarium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. kit.

Rose

Skadunkadunk

The fish is probably either stressed out or does not have anywhere to hide. If you do not have any plants or rocks, I suggest you add about 3-6 plants and 1 or 2 rocks.