Awkward Situation

My friend recently thought it would be funny to give me a common goldfish maybe 2" to 2.5" just out of the blue for my birthday. It was in a bowl that couldn't have been more than a half-gallon plastic bowl. Rather than just letting it die, I decided to get a small, 10 gallon tank. I didn't have the option of fishless cycling because it would have died within the week if I had left it in the bowl. I let the tank run for two days then I put the fish in. I fed it once daily and it did great for about a week with no unusual behavior, then it started to get black spots on the body and became inactive for one day then it was dead the next morning. I came to the conclusion that it had died from an ammonia spike (please correct me if I'm wrong) and I removed it within 6 hours of the time it died. My question now is, where should I go from here? Will the tank cycle without a fish in it if there was one it it before? I've done research on the cycles but this is a pretty unusual situation. What do I need to do to begin keeping fish again?

Next, what are your opinions on what to stock the tank with?

Thanks in advance for any help!

-Erik

 

The tank will not cycle unless there is a constant source of ammonia to feed it. Without a fish, you can accomplish that by "feeding" the tank with a few flakes twice per day. That can get messy though. You can also put a small piece of shrimp in the tank. Or you can get pure bottled ammonia and add a few drops per day.

 

Ok, thanks so would you reccomend letting it cycle in one of the ways you described or simply do it with the fish?

 

Best to do it with no fish. Putting them through a cycle is stressful to them even if they survive it, which some do not.

 

Of course, fishless cycle is best as no fish is being hurt (or dies) as a result of the cycle. Just keep adding fish food to your tank until it cycles, or you can bury some shrimp or fish fillet in the gravel where it will feed the tank by decomposing. Just monitor your Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate all the time. When Ammonia and Nitrate both = 0, and Nitrate is showing some number, then your tank is cycled. Also, remember not to start adding many fish at once to your tank, after it's cycled. If you do that, you can still get an Ammonia and/or Nitrite spike!

 

Ok, thanks a lot guys, you've been really helpful. Now I'm considering a small school of fish like zebra danios or something along those lines and one other fish (not sure what type yet, nothing huge though). What do you think if this as a strategy or should I think about stocking the tank in a different way?

 

If your tank is 10 gallons in size, I think Zebra Danios would be too fast for it. I mean, they're OK size-wise, but they're so fast that they need a lot of room to swim. I have Zebra Danios in a 75 gallon tank, and even that seems too small for their speed! Of course, it's up to you if you get them. But I'd personally recommend fish as small as Zebra Danios but much slower and less active than Zebra Danios for a 10 gallon tank. There are many beautiful Tetras that are small and not as fast as Zebra Danios; ex. Neon tetras, Black Neon tetras, Glowlight Tetras, etc ... There are also many small and beautiful Barbs and Cyprinids (especially Rasboras) to choose from. Cherry Barbs are most peaceful of all Barbs and I think they're the smallest too. Plus, they're really beautiful.

 

And do you think that neon tetras would be ok in an unheated tank? I would prefer not to have to worry about a heater for this tank. It seems like their temperature range is right on the borderline so I'm not sure I need the opinion of someone more experienced than myself.

 

No freshwater tropical fish should be kept in an unheated tank, unless you live in a hot climate where your tank temperature will maintain itself around 75-80F. Otherwise, you should have a heater!

You can buy a really good submersible heater very cheap online. The same 150W heater that I bought online for $15-20, costs around $35-40 at my LFS! Can you believe that!? That's why I buy online. And you need a much less powerful heater for a 10 gallon tank than a 150W one. So it will be even cheaper than $15-20 online.

Besides, you have no fish in your tank currently, right? If so, make sure it's cycled before adding any fish

 

Heaters

has the VisiTherm Stealth heaters for a very good price - all of our tanks have the VisiTherms.