Another Tank!

My daughter-in-law has had guppies for quite a while. She got frustrated because they kept dying and decided to give the tank and its 2 remaining male guppies to me. I told her I could help her keep them alive, but she isn't interested in continuing to keep fish. It is a 5 gallon, so won't hold any more fish, but I am looking forward to taking care of the 2 little ones and hopefully keeping them alive. I may even add an african dwarf frog later when I am sure all is well.

CherryRose

 

Lucky, sure are lucky. Congratualtions. HOpe all goes well

 

Congratulations on the windfall. I will be interested to hear how they do for you.

Rose

 

Congratulastions Cherryrose! Natalie

 

;D Thanks. My husband says that fish will soon be spilling out of my office and taking over the house. Hmmm, not a bad idea. I would love to have a 55 gallon out in the living room. hehe

CherryRose

 

congrats! That's pretty sweet, free tank and fish! Hope the Guppies do well for you.

 

Congrats!!! Tell your guppies that Dubh, Rhiannon, Caoimhe, Liam, Aidan, Fionn, and Strahan all say an enthusiastic hello!

For myself, I'm hoping that I might inherit my friends' 10 gallon when I give them a bigger tank for their goldfish. I plan to put a divider in and do a half male-half female guppy tank.

 

8) That will be cool. I love my 2 divided tanks with my 4 bettas. They are all so different and so much fun to watch.

I don't know if my D-in-L has given names to her 2 male guppies, but I don't think so. I will ask her when I get them. All my fish say hello to you and your fishy friends.

CherryRose

 

Very nice! I love male guppies. I have a pic of one on my desktop, a blue cobra guppy. It was one of the photos entered in the contest here.

Betta
Blood parrots
Male guppies
Dwarf gouramis

...just making my list Those are my favorites so far..and lil african frogs too

 

Well, I went to by son and D-in-Law's house and got the tank and fish yesterday. I could not believe how dirty the tank was. It took me forever to get it cleaned. And boy did it smell! I rinsed the bio wheel and filter out in some of my used tank water. I also rinsed the gravel out in the same water. It was absolutely gross. I made sure everything was clean before I set up the tank.

I put the two guppies in the Q tank after I moved Polly and Pepper into the 10 gal with my cories and otos. They (the guppies) are not looking very good, but hopefully will feel better soon. They do look a little better today than they did last night. Last night they planted themselves on the bottom of the tank and barely moved. I did add 2 ml Melafix to the Q Tank with the guppies as I figure there is about 4 gallons of water in it. (Don't worry, I won't use it on my bettas)

I scrubbed the tank really well, but the filter was clogged, so I couldn’t get it to work at first. I used a turkey baster to flush out the tube and now it works fine. Thank you whoever mentioned using a turkey baster in their tank. It flushed out a lot of really yucky stuff. The heater is working somewhat. My D-in-L said that it is preset to 78-80, but so far it only heats the tank up to 74 so I will probably need to get a new heater. There appears to be no way to turn the heater up. The hood and light also work well. When I leave the light on it heats the tank up to 80. It looks really nice now as it is clean, set-up and waiting for the guppies. I am not going to try to put them back into it until they are well as I think they have already had enough stress from the transfer to my house.

They are really pretty as they have orange wavy tails. They are also very fat and I don’t know if they are supposed to be or if it may be a sign of illness. I guess I will have to do some research on guppies. I guess this time I am the one that wrote a book! ;DCherryRose

 

Peas work on guppies too when they are hungry so you may want to do the peas on them after fasting them for a day or so just to make sure that they are not constipated since you do not know how much they have been being fed. Sounds like they could have been being overfed from the sounds of things.

Rose

 

I'm sure they were being overfed. I remember watching her feed them one day and thought then they were being fed too much. That was even before I came to fishlore. They have been eating Nutrafin Max flakes and Top Fin shrimp pellets.

Thanks, for the advice. I will try the pea treatment on them. I fed them a little this am but they weren't interested. I will fast them tomorrow and will give the pea treatment the next day. My bettas are due for the pea treatment too, so I will just put them on the same schedule.

CherryRose

 

Ya guppies eat like pigs, and produce a lot of waste. Sounds like you had a busy day

 

Yes, I had a very busy day, ATM.

The guppies are still looking like they aren't feeling well, and pretty much hanging out under the horizontal heater at the bottom of the tank. They didn't already have names and I wasn't going to name them yet, as I wasn't sure they would make it, but then changed my mind. I am hoping that if I name them it will give them more of an incentive to live, so their names are Gadget and Gizmo.

I looked at the guppy photos in the guppy gallery and mine look a lot like your blue comet guppy, Aesedai. Their bodies are a little pale right now but look as if they could be blue.

CherryRose ;D

 

I would definitely get a new heater if I were you. The pre-set ones aren't any good from what I've heard. Just wondering, why do you want the temp up to 80? Guppies prefer a bit cooler than Bettas. 77 or so would be good. 74 won't hurt them but is a wee bit low.

Well, I hope they start feeling better. They're probably just feeling yucky from dirty water and overfeeding...hopefully they aren't sick though. Let us know how Gizmo and Gadget are doing.

 

They are going to need to have it warmer than 74 to prevent constipation. Fish metabolism gets too sluggish when the water is not warm enough. Right now they need to be warmer than they would ordinarily as they need to get their bodies moving and metabolism back up and as long as they are cold they will not get up and move.

Rose

 

Yes, I definitely need to get a new heater. I figure the little guys should be in at least 78 degree water. I do want them to be warm while they are recovering though.

Yea, that's what I figured, Rose. The Q tank that they are in is right at 80 degrees and is very stable. One of them, Gadget? is actually swimming around the tank right now! Woohoo !!! ;D I will have to decide who is who when I have a chance to watch them more and can tell them apart.

CherryRose

 

I could not face getting another tank divided again so I am going to start another tank. I ordered another almost 10 gallon tank today and then promptly found the Bookcase 6.6 gallon tanks for sale online that I wanted to start with. Oh well. This is going to be my first ALL BETTA tank. I am going to have just a couple plants and glass marbles and chips and a multI colored clay jar with multiple openings. It is going to have a Black background and a sponge filter and a Stealth heater and Penguin Bio-wheel Powerwheel filter for backup. (the smallest one I can get) It is technically a Jumbo Reptile Habitat but it is 17"x11"x11 5/8" so 9.41 gallons US. That is enough room for Diablo to have to play and have a fine time in and I will still have the smaller one about half that size to use for a hospital tank. Since he is going to be the only one in there, he will not have to go through quarantine and can get settled right in. I have cycled sponge filters that will handle that new tank already in the other tanks. They can seed the Penguin filter while they filter the tank. For lighting I will be using natural sunlight and the light made for the Reptile Habitat. It is not a big light but it will be okay as he will be in the lightest room in the house and it is almost overlight in there. I have had Io in there in the segregated tank for quite a while during the last few months and he has been fine and he was with a planted tank and they are healthy so they must be getting enough light. MartyIII is going into the 25 gallon one in the bedroom when he gets out of quarantine. I really should give it to Ariel as he is used to it and can handle the current very well but he is so happy with the Yo-Yos. He really seems to like them.

Rose

 

cant wait to see pics!! its like a visual I can see but the real thing I bet is going to be amazing ....all your kids are lucky!!

ps..whats a bookcase tank?? sounds very interesting

 

Dave has all his bettas in them I believe. They are made for like a shelving unit or bookcase. They are as long and the size of a 10 gallon but not as deep. They hold 6.6 gallons and yet give the fish the swimming room of a 10 gallon. They are like 24" x 11" x 7" or there abouts. The fish would be getting all the side to side swimming but not so much up and down swimming ... perfect for bettas.

I found pictures of one here:



You always needed to go to a Petco location before to get one or so I thought as they did not have them in their online site, but now I find them here. AFTER I bought this other tank. Well maybe I can get ANOTHER fish so I can justify another tank, hm???

Rose

 

Well maybe I can get ANOTHER fish so I can justify another tank, hm???
Rose

Is there a 12 step program for that?

Seriously tho, it sounds great, can't wait to see pics.

 

Congrats on the new setup Rose! I can't wait to see pictures. I definetly think that buying another betta to go in the bookshelf case definetly justifies the purchase I can't wait to see pics!

 

Is there a 12 step program for that?

This widespread fishie addiction has inspired me to create a poll.

 

LOL.. I think that makes perfect sense.. you need to try the tank and to try it, you need another Betta.

Well maybe I can get ANOTHER fish so I can justify another tank, hm???

Rose

 

Pics needed. Love to see user tanks.

 

I'm excited to see pics. If I remember correctly, penguin sells the palm filters. I always though they would be perfect for betta's because they sit so low in the tank, I'm not sure how much of a current they would create.

 

Rose, I was wondering if a tank is for a reptile....will it be the same construction that would allow being filled with water? Would it be possible they use thinner glass or the seams/joints are not as strong?

 

I can't wait to see your pics Rose. It's going to look so nice with everything you're putting into it.Natalie

 

It is also listed as an aquarium and says it holds water so I think that it is safe to use for one. It is what I used (in a different size) for the hospital tank that I have now to save money on meds when I am medicating one fish. If the whole tank does not need to be medicated I just use the tank closest to the 5 gallon size and keep one fish in it.

It uses a 5 watt light which is the only bad thing about it but I will have it in a very bright room and so the fish will get a lot of daylight and I do not like them getting much more light than that anyway. That room has one whole wall of windows. I may even have an algae problem if I do not protect the tank from some of the light.

I know that they are cheap but they really do make nice tanks for when you just cannot afford a bigger set up and right now I am afraid that is where I am. The fish themselves were an expense that was not small.

Rose