I need advicefor a newly set up freshwater tank (New member)

First of all: Hello to everyone! My name is Lena and I'm new to the forum and to the hobby.
I've never owned fish ''formally'', (I only have had a couple of bettas during my childhood which lived 3-4 years each and a rather odd fishbowl with a neon tetra, an unknown yellow fish that looked sort of like this , and a red platy. I was 12 at the time and I basically didn't know ANYTHING about fish care, but oddly those survived for a couple of years until my cousin overfed them and they all died).

Tank story: I decided to set up my current tank when two of my classmates gave me two zebra danios which they used for a high school project and didn't want to keep them after the project was presented. They were in a small container and one of them died that same day due to the other danio repeatedly harassing it, plus that container wasn't the ideal home for the fish, etc. Next day I bought a 10G, and started the cycling process, after which I introduced the first danio. I made some research and found out that zebra danios are schooling fish, so I introduced 3 more of them next week, and 3 more the following week. (I do 15% water changes twice a week). Also introduced two ramshorn pink snails. Everything seemed fine until someone advised me to perform a complete water change. I was concerned about my fish being uncomfortable because the water was a little cloudy, so I followed the piece of advise I was given. I realized I shouldn't have done that when three of my danios died almost instantly after they were transferred to the clean tank (Water temperature and conditions were similar in main tank and spare tank). They possibly died of stress
After the horror story, I was left with 4 danios and the 2 snails. It has been 5 days after the incident and all of the other creatures are fine (eating well, swimming well, getting along well, healthy appearance, normal behavior in general). So today I was given 2 Charales (freshwater fish, which almost only live in Mexican lakes and are usually given as live food for turtles and bigger fish: ), and one female wild silver guppy. They are starting to get along very well with the danios and they even swim together! I would like my fish to have the best quality of life possible, so some advice would be highly appreciated.

Current tank info:

Time the tank has been set up: 1 month after fishless cycle
Size: 10 gallon
Fish: 4 zebra danios (1 female, 3 males) two Charales (male) and a wild guppy (female)
Plants: None (Yet) (Would you advise me to buy natural or artificial?)
Inverts: Adult pink ramshorn snail, juvenile pink ramshorn snail purchased as a baby
Chemicals used: Water conditioner which removes chlorine, chloramine and heavy metals
Maintenance: 15%-20% water changes once a week, gravel vacuuming.
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 6ppm
Heater: None (I'm currently living in Mexico, so water temperature is always in the 18°C (At it's lowest, for example during winter) - 24°C (Summer, Spring) range.

 

HI Lena and welcome to Fishlore!
I'm happy to hear you are trying to give your fish the best quality of life possible. What test kit and what water conditioner are you using? So far, everything sounds good.
The only thing I would advise is that you get a 20 gallon long tank as soon as you can. That way you will have plenty of room for proper size schools for your fish and they will have plenty of room to swim.
Live plants are a good way to go for tropical fish. Live plants help keep your water chemistry balanced and provide plenty of hiding places for your fish. They will feel more comfortable with live plants. If you buy live plants from a chain store or a store that keeps the plants in the same tanks as the fish, don't add them to your tank right away. Leave them in a bucket of water for a week or two to make sure they aren't hiding any parasites that could infect your fish. If the parasites don't have a host to live on for over a week, they will die. It is safer that way.

 

Welcome to fish lore !

Wish I had beekers advice when I first started my tank about the plants. I also go snails from my LFS plants. Not to much nuisance but I remove about 10 each time I do a water change. They reproduce very quickly

 

I ended up buying assassin snails to deal with my snail population. I have a ton of very aggressive ramshorns and a bunch of pond snails. They do a great job of keeping things clean, but overpopulate very quickly. The assassins are finally taking care of it, though. In fact, I found out I have a breeding pair. I have some baby assassins now.

 

I ended up buying assassin snails to deal with my snail population. I have a ton of very aggressive ramshorns and a bunch of pond snails. They do a great job of keeping things clean, but overpopulate very quickly. The assassins are finally taking care of it, though. In fact, I found out I have a breeding pair. I have some baby assassins now.

I heard their reproduction rate is much slower than pond snails and I've noticed my red paradise fish having pestering snails on the glass and keeping them off. Idk if they are killing them but I have noticed snails a lot less lately

 

First of all: Hello to everyone! My name is Lena and I'm new to the forum and to the hobby.
I've never owned fish ''formally'', (I only have had a couple of bettas during my childhood which lived 3-4 years each and a rather odd fishbowl with a neon tetra, an unknown yellow fish that looked sort of like this , and a red platy. I was 12 at the time and I basically didn't know ANYTHING about fish care, but oddly those survived for a couple of years until my cousin overfed them and they all died).

Tank story: I decided to set up my current tank when two of my classmates gave me two zebra danios which they used for a high school project and didn't want to keep them after the project was presented. They were in a small container and one of them died that same day due to the other danio repeatedly harassing it, plus that container wasn't the ideal home for the fish, etc. Next day I bought a 10G, and started the cycling process, after which I introduced the first danio. I made some research and found out that zebra danios are schooling fish, so I introduced 3 more of them next week, and 3 more the following week. (I do 15% water changes twice a week). Also introduced two ramshorn pink snails. Everything seemed fine until someone advised me to perform a complete water change. I was concerned about my fish being uncomfortable because the water was a little cloudy, so I followed the piece of advise I was given. I realized I shouldn't have done that when three of my danios died almost instantly after they were transferred to the clean tank (Water temperature and conditions were similar in main tank and spare tank). They possibly died of stress
After the horror story, I was left with 4 danios and the 2 snails. It has been 5 days after the incident and all of the other creatures are fine (eating well, swimming well, getting along well, healthy appearance, normal behavior in general). So today I was given 2 Charales (freshwater fish, which almost only live in Mexican lakes and are usually given as live food for turtles and bigger fish: ), and one female wild silver guppy. They are starting to get along very well with the danios and they even swim together! I would like my fish to have the best quality of life possible, so some advice would be highly appreciated.

Current tank info:

Time the tank has been set up: 1 month after fishless cycle
Size: 10 gallon
Fish: 4 zebra danios (1 female, 3 males) two Charales (male) and a wild guppy (female)
Plants: None (Yet) (Would you advise me to buy natural or artificial?)
Inverts: Adult pink ramshorn snail, juvenile pink ramshorn snail purchased as a baby
Chemicals used: Water conditioner which removes chlorine, chloramine and heavy metals
Maintenance: 15%-20% water changes once a week, gravel vacuuming.
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 6ppm
Heater: None (I'm currently living in Mexico, so water temperature is always in the 18°C (At it's lowest, for example during winter) - 24°C (Summer, Spring) range.

Welcome !

I'm new as well and I started with fake plants but slowly completely converted to real. Much more balance in the ecosystem you create also I haven't found a fake plant that gives me the joy of watching it grow and live. Just my suggestion. You can try many of the different varieties of anubis they are hardy and grow well even in low light

 

The shock of the different water probably killed the fish. They were moved, and most likely the nitrates and ?maybe? Even pH was a little different. Careful with the amount of fish you out in there, and good luck!

 

The water conditioner I use is called NeutraB which is sold on the main chain pet store in Mexico. It says it eliminates chlorine, chloramine and metals from the water. It also protects the tissue of fish. I'm using liquid test kit as I have read that the stripe test kits are mostly unreliable. And yes, I'm buying a bigger tank ASAP, as well as live plants. I'm very thankful for the recommendation of putting the plants for a week in a bucket full of water, as most LFS neither provide the ideal conditions for the animals and plants they sell, nor they give accurate care tips. Another issue is that the health of fish for sale is not guaranteed in any way, so once you buy the fish and leave the store, all that can be done is hope for the best How can I recognize health issues on fish before taking them home from the store?


Thank you all so much!

 

Theres a lot of common fish diseases easy to spot. Ich consists of small white cysts on the outside of the fish, especially near the gills. If the gills are red and enflamed, they probably have ammonia poisoning or something similar, and won't make it too long. Weird lumps, torn fin and scales, etc. shows they are unhealthy. It depends on the kind of fish. If the fish is swimming sideways or upside down, it hardly has a chance. Not to be negative or anything. Lena, maybe try and find a locally owned fish or pet store that isn't a chain? They tend to take better care of their fish in my experience.

 

welcome

 

Just to add, don't buy fish from a tank with any dead or sickly looking fish. It seems obvious but I just wanted to throw it in there.

 

I'm gonna call out Any chain store and sone lfs-and just warn you- if there is ONE dead fish in any tank, whatever disease it has has probably been exposed to every single fish, since they put multiple tanks on one filtration system