tekmanx

I have spent the last two months researching the nitrogen cycle, basics of tank maintenance and pretty much everything that you need to know as a new aquarium hobbyist. Today I saw something that really blew me away; it was a fish tank that basically broke every rule.

This tank had:
- five gold fish (at least two different sub species)
- two angelfish
- one pleco
- five tiger barbs
- two cat fish
- one female guppy

Here are the rules that I thought were broken:

1. You should not mix goldfish with any other specie of fish
2. You should not feed your fish more than two times a day and definitely not more than it takes for them to eat in two minutes.
3. There is a one inch of fish per gallon rule right? The majority of the fish were more than an inch long and the pleco was six inches!
4. Tiger barbs with angelfish and guppies? :| I thought the tiger barbs were far to aggressive to coexist with these fish...

The owner of the tank apparently has no knowledge of the nitrogen cycle. The tank has two water filters; a 10 gallon filter that hangs over the back of the tank and the other is submerged filter. I was about to "educate" the owner when I found out that most of the tank inhabitants were in the tank for almost two years with the most recent addition being some variant of goldfish. She cleans the tank every once in a while by changing more than half of the water and using rain water as apposed to tap water (no treatment). She feeds the fish "every time she visits the tank" which turns out to be three.. sometimes four times a day. How could she have gotten so far? I feel like I know so much but so little...

Tony G.

Some people are just lucky. IMO the fish arent and wont be thriving. Theres a difference in living and being Ok and the other one is thriving, which the fish shows healthy signs, etc. She needs a good talking to! what size is her auarium do you know?

tekmanx

It's a 40 gallon tank.

I'm no fish doctor... her fish looks pretty healthy. She fed them and they just gobbled all the flakes. No ICH, no off-balance swimming.. the tank was pretty clean too. I asked about ammonia/nitrite/nitrate levels and she looked at me like "What are you talking about?".

sirdarksol

As Tony said, some people get lucky. I'd be willing to guess that she follows the old rules of aquarium setup, which, once the nitrogen cycle is completed, will allow fish to live for awhile, maybe even a few years (compared to the 10+ years that many of those fish can live, a few years isn't long). It's based on maintaining a very stable (though poor) water quality.

jdhef

You are now forcing me to admit to something embarrassing. I followed the advice of PetSmart when I set up my tank. I put 4 Zebra Danio's in and didn't do any water changes until it finished cycling. (I then discover FishLore and learned the err of my ways).

Anyhow two of the Danio's lived thru the cycle and two died. Why did two survive even though they were exposed to high levels of ammonia and nitries? I guess they were just pretty hardy. They two surviours have died just recently after about a year. So I think their lives were drastically shortened from the toxins.

Diggly

Goldfish usually dont mix with other fish because 1. they grow huge and 2. they are coldwater fish.

The other fish you have listed are warmwater so I am surprised but also sad that they are being kept in that tank.

The other main problems are 5 tiger barbs and 1 guppy? firstly the tiger barbs will probably fin nip the little dude if they arent already (I know you already mentioned this and the angel). Secondly guppys like to be kept in groups, did she start off with more than 1?

I guess its like a person living in a cold room with some friends, you wont ever be happy because its cold (well I wouldnt be anyway I hate the cold and the snow!!) but you have company and food which makes it a little better.