New To Fish. Need Help Keeping Fish Alive And Healthy

So I'm new to taking care of fish. I'm looking for setup a beautiful aquarium. I bought a 5 gallon tank and some fish. 2 mollies, 1 red dwarf gourami, a baby pleclostomus, and a baby blushing longfin tetra. Bare in mind that I got all my recommendations from they guy at pet smart. Unfortunately my black mollie just 12 hours after I got him. He seemed to have white peeling on the top of his head and cloudy eyes. The mollie came with a white spot when I got him. As of now the remaining fish seem fine. All I want is a beautiful healthy tank that I can grow with time. Totally open to start over if someone could assist me proper instructions. Hope you guys can help!!

 

Sorry to say but none of those fish are appropriate for a five gallon tank.

 

**** pet smart guy lol. Do you have some recommendations?

 

in the beginning of the stocking section there is a long list.

 

pet smart guy lol. Do you have some recommendations?

betta, shrimp, snails or a dwarf puffer are some that do well in a 5gal but like David said there is a pretty good list in the stocking section

 

You may want to get a bigger tank right away. Most of those fish need at least 10-15 gallons, but 20 gallons is suggested if you want them to live comfortably. If you don't want to get a bigger tank, return all of your fish and just get something like a betta fish or shrimp and snails. Before adding fish to the tank, let it run through the nitrogen cycle. There are plenty of websites that explain how to do this. Whenever you do a water change, which should be done once a week, you need to test the water parameters with either a test strip or liquid test kits. The most important parameters are nitrates, nitrites, ammonia, hardness, and pH. If you get a bigger tank with gravel, you'll need to buy a gravel vacuum and learn how to use it. You'll also want to add live plants to help remove nitrates and prevent injuries caused by plastic plants.
Do you mind telling me what type of plecostomus you have? If you don't know, just take a picture or describe it.
Your black molly has a fungal disease, so you need to treat the entire tank with something like Furan-2 or Fungus Cure.
Here's some stuff you need to read:
Cleaning Your Aquarium Performing Your Weekly 10-15% Water Change
Aquarium Nitrogen Cycle
Stocking 5, 10 and 20 Gallon Freshwater Aquariums

 

You could get yourself a 40 breeder.

Tetras and other schooling/shoaling fish need to be kept in numbers of 10 or more of the same species, so if you ever plan on getting any one kind of them you'll need at least a 20 gallon tank.

Common pleco will need like, 30 gallons by themselves, right? Or is it 55.

Return all the fish, get a few hardy minnows, then cycle the tank first.

 

I bought this tank Monday but from the sounds it seems like I need a bigger one?

You may want to get a bigger tank right away. Most of those fish need at least 10-15 gallons, but 20 gallons is suggested if you want them to live comfortably. If you don't want to get a bigger tank, return all of your fish and just get something like a betta fish or shrimp and snails. Before adding fish to the tank, let it run through the nitrogen cycle. There are plenty of websites that explain how to do this. You'll also want to add live plants to help remove nitrates and prevent injuries caused by plastic plants.
Do you mind telling me what type of plecostomus you have? If you don't know, just take a picture or describe it.
Your black molly has a fungal disease, so you need to treat the entire tank with something like Furan-2 or Fungus Cure.

Thanks for the helpful reply! Looks like I'll upgrade tanks. These are beautiful fish and I'd hate to get rid of them. So I'm looking to have an assortment of fish. Would that be possible with a 20 gallon? What are we looking at fish count wise? My plecostomus is a dark spotted one. Almost like a chettah print

 

I bought this tank Monday but from the sounds it seems like I need a bigger one?

Thanks for the helpful reply! Looks like I'll upgrade tanks. These are beautiful fish and I'd hate to get rid of them. So I'm looking to have an assortment of fish. Would that be possible with a 20 gallon? What are we looking at fish count wise? My plecostomus is a dark spotted one. Almost like a chettah print

it may be possible depending on the type of pleco since some of them get too big for a 20gal

 

I bought this tank Monday but from the sounds it seems like I need a bigger one?

Thanks for the helpful reply! Looks like I'll upgrade tanks. These are beautiful fish and I'd hate to get rid of them. So I'm looking to have an assortment of fish. Would that be possible with a 20 gallon? What are we looking at fish count wise? My plecostomus is a dark spotted one. Almost like a chettah print

Sounds like a common pleco, which can get up to eighteen inches. Return it.

I would get a twenty gallon or more if you want to keep the fish you already have, but you may want to buy it quickly. Your five gallon is completely overstocked and the fish will likely die of stress and bad water quality very soon. I added some information to my previous comment to get you started on this new tank.

The amount of fish you get for a ten gallon depends on the type of fish, so I would just read up on some of the websites I provided. They give great information on stocking your tanks.

I would definitely keep the five gallon for a quarantine tank, by the way.

 

Sounds like a common pleco, which can get up to eighteen inches. Return it.

I would get a twenty gallon or more if you want to keep the fish you already have, but you may want to buy it quickly. Your five gallon is completely overstocked and the fish will likely die of stress and bad water quality very soon. I added some information to my previous comment to get you started on this new tank.

The amount of fish you get for a ten gallon depends on the type of fish, so I would just read up on some of the websites I provided. They give great information on stocking your tanks.

I would definitely keep the five gallon for a quarantine tank, by the way.

Gonna pick up a 20 gallon tank up tonight. Now once I get that tank and put decor and setup etc what do I do with the remaining fish? All of them of pretty active but I'm worried about them contracting what that black mollie had.

 

When you get the 20 gallon tonight, make sure to return your pleco and buy Fungus Cure or Furan-2.

Once it's set up, it will take over a month to cycle, but since you already have fish and refuse to return them, you may put them in there with caution.

When putting them in the bigger tank, make sure they float on the surface of the water (inside a container) until the temperatures are the same. Then you can put each fish in the tank one by one without putting the water from the five gallon inside.

Do not put the black molly inside the 20 gallon just yet. You'll want to leave her in the 5 gallon with medication and daily water changes (45% water removal every day) until she gets better.

Chemicals n' stuff I like to use: Tetra pH balancer, Aqueon plant food, API aquarium salt, Prime ammonia detoxifier, and AmQuel ammonia remover

 

I bought this tank Monday but from the sounds it seems like I need a bigger one?

Thanks for the helpful reply! Looks like I'll upgrade tanks. These are beautiful fish and I'd hate to get rid of them. So I'm looking to have an assortment of fish. Would that be possible with a 20 gallon? What are we looking at fish count wise? My plecostomus is a dark spotted one. Almost like a chettah print

what kind of pleco?

 

When you get the 20 gallon tonight, make sure to return your pleco and buy Fungus Cure or Furan-2.

Once it's set up, it will take over a month to cycle, but since you already have fish and refuse to return them, you may put them in there with caution.

When putting them in the bigger tank, make sure they float on the surface of the water (inside a container) until the temperatures are the same. Then you can put each fish in the tank one by one without putting the water from the five gallon inside.

Do not put the black molly inside the 20 gallon just yet. You'll want to leave her in the 5 gallon with medication and daily water changes (45% water removal every day) until she gets better.

Chemicals n' stuff I like to use: Tetra pH balancer, Aqueon plant food, API aquarium salt, Prime ammonia detoxifier, and AmQuel ammonia remover

If the remaining fish don't make it, what's a good stock for a 20 gallon in your opinion? Amount of each species?

 

Please don't buy any chemicals that messes with ph. It will just lead to swings in ph that can kill your fish. I also don't recommend ammonia removers - if you need that then you're not doing enough water changes. Prime water conditioner is all you should need.

 

If the remaining fish don't make it, what's a good stock for a 20 gallon in your opinion? Amount of each species?

What do you have available to you? What kinds of fish do you like? Active or peaceful, colorful or personality... What sort of decor do you have? Sand or gravel?