Story of a newbie and extra Molly bits - odd behaviour

HI everyone. I just joined Fish Lore lastnight. I was hoping to find a South African based forum but sadly I couldn't find any and since a lot of the guidance I have got since starting my tanks came from the Fish Lore forum, I decided to join it. So please keep in mind that most, if not ALL of the products some of you may advise me to get in the future, may not be stocked here in South Africa. But I'm sure I'll be able to find a product similar. One last thing: I may refer to my tanks in litres if that is ok with everyone

My Tank(s) Story:
I bought a male Betta middle of January this year and they told me I could keep him in the small 1,5 litre plastic bowl, that they were used to living like that and too much space could stress them out. I did some research and found that most Betta's are actually far happier in a bigger tank with a heater and a filter. So I went out and bought a 20 litre tank and a 100w heater. the tank came with a starter kit, such as a filter (bottom filter with filter floss and carbon), water dechlorinater (tetra safe) some fish flakes, an air pump, a net, air line tubing and clamps and some treatment for Ick.

Now in doing my research for a happier Betta, I did not come across the nitrogen cycle . I set up the tank with some fake plants and dark coloured gravel (which I later found out was painted as its colour began to come off during vacuuming and sediments would drift around the tank). I filled the tank with dechlorinated water and waited for it to heat up to 24 degrees Celsius (75 degrees Fahrenheit). I let it run for about 30 hours (without adding any fish food or any organic matter) and was impatient. So I acclimatised little Betta to the heat and different water for about 30+ minutes then gently tipped him into the new tank. Needless to say, he died within 48 hours. He would stay at the bottom of the tank, not come up to feed and only come up for air for the 2 days he was in there. What I don't understand is that surely there could not have been an ammonia spike after 3 days? I did not have a test kit at this time as they are deathly expensive here.

Anyway, so I mourned my little Betta as I had gotten attached (Had had him for 3 weeks in his little bowl, what a character already!) and in the mean time I left the new tank to run, and because it kept getting cloudy, I did water changes every other day in the hope it would clear it. After about one month I decided I could try getting another Betta. This Betta (Indigo is his name) is still with me and doing very well, yet quite a lot bigger than my first one!

Beginning of March I decided I wanted to try get a bigger tank and some hardy fish. a friend gave me her 'never-been-used' tank of 30litres and so again I bought a heater and filter. Now this time I knew about the nitrogen cycle and was determined to not lose another fish (so far I haven't), and used some water from the betta's tank during a water change and burrowed his filter for a while to speed up the cycle in the 30ltr. I then bought home some swordtails from where I worked (at an oceanarium) to test if the tank was good enough yet for fish. They grew reeaally fast and showed no sign of stress or disease so I gave them back to work and bought a pair of black mollies. Later I read that you need one male to atleast 3 or 4 females due to their nature, so I went out and got 2 more females, a dalmatian and a silver.

They seemed to do just as well as the swordtails had and I then wanted a bottom dweller. so my LFS told me a BN Pleco would be best bet for my size tank. So my tank now consists of 4 mollies and a BN pleco. Note: all 3 of my female mollies are pregnant, the black one is heavy pregnant and due to drop any day. I do have some plastic grass on the bottom of the tank and some floating aswell, but also my ornaments have many hiding places in them as that is why I bought them.

Jumping ahead now though - Yesterday I bought a 60ltr tank since my fish family may grow a little (I don't plan on keeping all the fry as friends and former work colleagues are wanting some, thankgoodness!) and started its cycle by using water from the 30ltr during a water change and taking some of the filter media from the 30ltr filter and put into the 60ltr filter and also some gravel and ornaments from the 30ltr. I also added some fish food today and it obviously has SOME fish feaces as well because of the water from the 30ltr's change. I know this will speed up the cycle but i'm in no hurry this time as my fish are still content in their 30ltr AND I recently bought a test kit.

My fish are fed a very varied diet, from veggies (baby marrow, or boiled peas) to flakes, pellets, live brine shrimp (which I hatch for them and enrich) freeze dried blood worm, and even some algae wafers and/or spirulina algae 'tablets'.

2 weeks ago I noticed my silver female had the shimmies (rocking her body from side to side in place). I looked at her closely and could not see any obvious signs of disease. Then one evening the light caught her just right and I saw an area of an off white colour on her side. I looked at her from the top and new it was a fungus as it looked fluffy and i'd seen this on some of the fish at work. I knew how to treat, so I put her into quarantine with an air stone and have treated for fungus. today it is almost gone but I want it to be totaly clear before I put her back in the tank. Now I don't know if it's possible for female mollies to become great friends with eachother, but since I removed the silver, the dalmatian has been pacing the tank, up and down, from the left side of the tank to the right side VERY fast. She has no fungus on her or anything I can see. So I let the silver float in her treatment 'tank' in the main tank and the dalmatian instantly calmed down. the silver would sit close to the egde of her tank and the dalmatian would sit right next to her, occasionally going off to swim and or eat then go back to the silver. Now I couldn't leave the silver floating in the main tank for long as it took up a lot of the space for the other fish. so after I removed the silver and her quarantine tank, the dalmatian started pacing again. during the day though, she is normal, pecking on all the fake plants and ornaments and gravel in her tank, but when evening strikes, she starts her pacing. if she does it through the night I do not know, as I really don't want to suddenly turn a light or torch on to check as I know that can really stress out fish. So is this behaviour normal? the other fish in the tank go about their every day business.

My water specs:

Ammonia - 0
Nitrites - 0
Nitrates - less than 20 but more than 10
PH - 7.5
Hardness - 16
Chlorine - 0
Temp: 25 C or 77 F
and I think that's it.

If anyone else has had a similar problem, please let me know if you found a solution or a reason.
She does have many places to hide but doesn't, and she isn't gulping at the surface or hanging out at the heater or filter. Nor does she or any of my other fish have clamped fins.

Is she just a crazy fish? Or desperately wanting her buddy?
Thanks in advance guys and SORRY for such a long post. I wanted to share my story first and then get to the main reason I posted this

 

Since you mentioned this is happening at night, my guess is the change in ambient lighting is allowing the fish to see her reflection in the glass and she is probably just looking at herself--possibly thinking its another fish--who knows?? Ive seen fish do this many times over the years and shouldn't be of concern. If she were constantly doing this all day and during the night it might indicate a prob or maybe just lack of stimulation, but it sounds like shes totally normal during the day and also your water parameters seem to be fine. Don't worry so much.

 

Hahaha I didn't think or read of the reflection factor Thankyou very much for your reply. I'm still a fairly new fish owner and get paranoid at the slightest changes. Sometimes that's a good thing, especially when noticing a possible disease, but sometimes a silly thing.
Thankyou again!

 

Welcome to FishLore!

Just for your (and anyone else reading your posts) there are some converters at the very bottom of the page that will convert (both ways) gallons to liters, degrees F to degrees C and also tank volume.

Sadly I think your tank is too small for mollies and a BN pleco. Mollies should have at least 20 gallon (76L) and I believe a BN Pleco should have at least 29 gallon (110L). But both mollies and the pleco are huge waste producers so you might even want a larger tank than that.

As you probably know, when you cycle a tank you are actually cycling the filter media. You do this by developing bacteria that converts ammonia into nitrite and nitrite into nitrate in your filter media. There is really no bacteria that lives in the water itself. So using water from a cycled tank really does nothing to help the cycle along. All it does is add nitrates. But adding seeded filter media does help a lot.

 

Thankyou!

Yes I am aware that the 15.85G (thankyou, I now see the converter )tank they're going to be moving into still isn't big enough for them, but along with their foods and the fact that i'm between jobs at the moment, it was all I could afford right now but I was wanting to give them a bigger home. maybe in a few months once i've saved a bit from my new job, I'll be able to get a bigger tank with a stand and all. I have read the replies on many newbies' posts where they are told their tanks are too small, so I did what I could for my fish for now. I keep up with my water changes and don't get many problems at all. I spoil them with a variety of food so to keep their immune systems in good shape and I keep watch on them (as they're in my room) for any behavioural changes. I try to be a good fish mommy, but for now, i'm doing the best I can. Please do realise that in your country, fishy items are far less expensive than they are for us here in S.A Just saying. So we really do our best. yes there are a few rich people with floor to ceiling tanks, but sadly I am not one of them. just average

with regards to putting already cycled water in the new tank: ok, I thought I was helping it along. atleast I did put some cycled filter media into the new filter though

Thankyou for your input, much appreciated. Any guidance I can get off this forum is always greatly appreciated, especially from long time fish owners.