nikkiforever

Hi!
I recently moved to Singapore post marriage and we decided to keep fishes as pets.

I had kept a goldfish years ago(in India),who stayed healthy & was a good company.

We read, bought books and followed the instructions.The pet shop we went to here advised us that we need not test the water for nitrogen because the tank is very small and is being fitted with an aeration pump,a mechanical filter.

The tank is 30 cm x 19 cm.its has artificial gravel, a decorative piece of rock,two artificial plants-all store bought.The water here is very good and the pH level is between 7-8.We use a de-cholorinator.We ran the whole thing for 3-4 days before introducing the Guppies-2 female&2 males.

They looked happy.We have a lamp fitted too but use it rarely.The aquarium is on a stable stool in our living room, not close to any window/door.It receives natural light.The guppies swam about and as we all know had 2 babies.On the 4th day i found one female Guppy dead.After a while I noticed a fry.I went back to the pet shop and the lady said that sometimes after birth due to stress the female dies.I asked her for Stability or Biospira as mentioned in the articles,in case it was due to ammonia poisoning!she said it was not necessary.

I changed the water that night and left the 3 adult Guppies together.Frankly,I can't take the responsibility of breeding young Guppies separately,neither do we have any friends to give them to,Pet shops are not allowed to take them.So, we decided that we would let the fries remain in the same tank.

Now after one day i.e. day 6th another female Guppy is dead.The males are doing fine.I don't see any fries.

This is so upsetting.We are trying everything to keep them well and happy.We feed them store bought pellets twice a day.I do not overfeed.

Now, call it my paranoia or whatever, the male Guppies are swimming about but keep coming towards the glass surface of the tank...as if they want to get out.They are not gasping, no external signs of injury.They are taking food normally.

What should I do?Are the 2 males okay by themselves?

I was told fishes are real stress-busters but it is creating more stress in our lives.

Thank you
Nandita

capekate

hello and welcome to fishlore
Sorry to hear about your troubles. With a new tank that is a week old, it needs to go through the nitrogen cycle. IF you have bio-spira available I would buy some and use it. Do you have a heater included in your list of items for your tank? Didnt see it mentioned. You may need to do water changes at least every day til the tank cycles if your not using the bio spira. You also should be testing your water as well. The API master test for freshwater is ideal. If you are able to test it, you will be able to tell where you are in the cycle. Guppies are pretty sensitive and my guess is you probably had high ammonia in the water before doing a water change.

~ kate

sirdarksol

Welcome to Fishlore.
Kate's got some great advice here.

Tavel

my advice is to stop listening to the people at that pet store. They don't know what they're talking about.

What volume is the tank? (liters or gallons is fine)

Guppies can tolerate temperatures down to about 64F...but you should probably keep them between 70-80F. In that case, you may need to get a heater depending on your ambient temperature.

COBettaCouple

Welcome to Fishlore.

I think you have 2 issues with this tank.

The first is that the tank hasn't cycled yet. Can you get Prime there for water conditioner? It will at least help the fish while the tank cycles normally. Water changes of 25-50% every day or 2 will help as well.

The second issue is that male guppies are terribly persistent in romancing the females and can stress them severely. It's best to have 3 females for each male. Your tank would probably be best with 1 male and 3 females in it, at the most. I'm not sure what the volume is though.

nikkiforever

Hi,everyone!

Since I am new to this forum,so give me some time before I can get a hang of this.

Thank you for the warm welcome and I am really glad I joined 'cause it helps to know people sharing similar interests.

After reading Kate's advice I promptly went to the pet shop and explained.He gave me this "Triple A Block" which prevents ammonia accumulation.Half a block of this for my 10 litres tank would be suffice,it says.

I came back to find one of the males dead.I have put the tablet in the water and it has dissolved.The last one seems okay.Had his breakfast.Lets see!

I asked for the aquarium test kit but he did not have one so will get one today.And this is one of the best and reputed pet stores here!!

I have enquired elsewhere-bio spira,stability are unavailable.I will try getting Prime.


Pray for my Guppy!!

Thanks
Nandita

susitna-flower

The problem with using ammonia blockers is that they will not let the natural cycle progress the way it needs to.

Using Prime has been shown to break the cycle when using bio-spira.

My suggestion is to just follow the natural cycling method of 25% water changes every day, OR if all your fish die, you can do a fishless cycle then...which is much better and faster...

If you haven't read it, go up to "ARTICLES" at the top of this page, and open up the link to the nitrogen cycle. It gives specific directions of how to safely cycle your tank.

nikkiforever

Hi!

The last one died too.

I had read about the nitrogen cycle etc,but I had little help from the pet shop.They kept insisting that it was not required for a tank this small in size.

I will re-read and go thoroughly through the process of setting up the tank.Will keep you posted and keep bothering with queries when in doubt.

Thanks!!
Nandita

sirdarksol

Sorry to hear that.

Sounds good about starting over with a proper cycle..
Unfortunately, the consensus around here is that pet shop employees are, often as not, unhelpful.

COBettaCouple

We're sorry that you lost him. We didn't find any good advice at the pet store when we started either.