laur.laur.234

Hi! My mom told me that She is not spending anymore money on the fish. We have two tanks, one 20 gal and one 10 gal.We have spent more than 200 buck on treating them. I understand why she says that. We both (me and my brother) are thinking of paying for the tank ourselves. Our parents would help us if their was anything wrong with the fish or the tank and they clean our quiet often. MY mom loves fish just IDK. I need to know a good size tank for us to pay for. We also love having fry. any suggestions? When I say we love fry we will get a pregnant fish and the fry will breed. Also aunt has seven tanks and she loves baby fish.

Shawnie

why would you want another tank when the two you have had been so sick & overstocked? I think a 10 gal and a 20 gal is plenty for two kids to have

Shawnie

please dont post on other threads for this one...I gave my suggestion and im sure others will be along when they have time or if they have a suggestion

Barbrella

That's fine, but what will you do with them all? One tank is already overcrowded and you want more fry? You have to think ahead about this, what you'll do when THESE fry start breeding too.

Petstores are not eager to take in the fry of livebearers.

laur.laur.234

I am just mentioning that I like fry

ShaynaB

Liking fry is fine, but they will grow up to be the size of your adult fish now.

Live bearers are notorious for having lots and lots (and LOTS) of fry. When my Mollies had babies I had to get a whole new fry set up just to manage them.

You have to take that into account before you go stocking a new aquarium with other types of fish.

My suggestion: if you're going to get a new aquarium, prepare it for fry if you really like them. Your fry will quickly mature and create fry of their own.

You also need to figure out what to do with the fry once they've grown. Some fish stores will take fry, but I've only had luck at one store in my area.

Also, your bio load is something to consider. Overstocking your tank by one or two fish is something that's manageable, but I was even having problems with the amount of waste my fry tank was producing. It got to be such a pain because even with a cycled tank and water changes, it was giving me problems.

Please think about your fry before you buy any new fish!

MinxMermaid

This fish hobby can be expensive. if you don't have your parents support or a constant source of your own income, its not really fair to the fish if you can't properly care for them due to lack of funds.

honestly i dont think "what tank should i get?" is an urgent question that needs immediate attention as you're asking for in your other post. its a judgement call, and you probably won't like our advice on this.

now if you had an urgently ill fish and needed advice to help save it, then your "emergency" would be valid.

laur.laur.234

thank you for your reply! If I could sell my fish at LFS would that be ok.I have hurd that they do not have as many fry make it. I usually get the same sex live burriers. If I want fry i either a pregnant fish or a male and female. I don't continuoesly breed. Where do you get your good quality fish from.

ShaynaB

I had almost 100% fry make it into adulthood when I gave them to my fish store. I had over 100 fry at one point, starting with 2 females. (I stopped counting after 100) The only ones I had that didn't make it had genetic defects, like a bent tail or one of my fry was born with a swim bladder issue.

My fish store wouldn't buy the fish from me. I gave them to the store. It was more of a "I HAVE TOO MANY FISH AND YOU NEED TO TAKE SOME" thing I had going on with the owner of the store. (The owner is a pretty awesome guy and understands my crazy obsession with fish.)

I've driven many many miles to find good quality fish. Unfortunately, there aren't any really good fish stores by my house, so I go to one about 20-30 minutes away by car.

I look to see if they have any dyed fish, if their store looks like it's set up properly, and if they have any knowledgeable sales associates. (Granted, the knowledge thing doesn't usually factor into my searching anymore.)

I've seen some really gross and sad looking stores.

Again, as a teenager who's trying to show her parents that she's being responsible, don't go buy a ton of new fish! Take care of the babies that you have now! I'm sure mom and dad will appreciate that.

Shawnie

great advice everyone!!

laur.laur.234

thank you, you guys! I didn't mean to be so judgemental! especially Shawnie you gave me a lot of good advise. I just get affended easily. Sorry about everything

laur.laur.234

Ummm, we put the fry in my tank and they are doing good. I have a question though, my guppy has a chunk of his tail missing, if it is ick can I put medz with the babyz. My ballon Molly is becoming a bully, like a guard to the front of the tank. Could he have bit her tale, ifso what should I do?

Fishies-for-me

A chunk missing from the tail is not ick...ick looks like the fish has been sprinkled with salt. I have heard mollies can be bullies and yes he/she could of bit the guppy....guppies are notorious for being picked on cuz of their long tails. I think I would concentrate on fixing the problems ( and learning as much as you can in the process) with the tanks you have right now...then in the future when you have a little more experience under your belt and a job and more money, you can add another tank and try your hand at breeding fish. Some pet stores will buy fry but that depends on what kind of fry you have even a store that will buy all the fry from one kind of fish that they can find will not take fry of another species at all...see where I am going?? I comend you on your efforts to find out more here before just running out and buying things ...but I can't recommend any new tanks right now....good luck.

laur.laur.234

thank you a lot, I am so happy that it does not have ick, should I have a QT tank w/ him in there