New 5 galon tank

[Hekkdizzle]

My girlfriend and my self just got into fish. this place is a newbies dream come true. Ok here is what i know. I have a 5 galon tank. I have one molly, one sunset fish. one guppy(red), 2 neon tetras, and 1 frog. So far we have made the classic rookie mistakes, too many fish. 2 have died one guppy and one tetra. Also I never heard about Cycling my tank till now. I have begun and I am just begining my 2nd week. I think the fish are doing well. but I dont want to lose any more. I figure we can start off with a small tank to figure our stuff out. then move up as we move on. Please reply if you have any pointers. I really dont know too much about fish.

the molly i beleive is a female
2 male tetras
male? guppy
male? sunset fish
frog

[fishfreaks]

First welcome to fish forums, hope you stick around! Well you can search the site for "cycling" and im sure you will come up with many many posts. do you know about testing your water? you can take a water sample to your lfs (local fish store) and they should test it for you. But, your probably better off buying your own, i reccomend Aquarium pharmacuticals freshwater master test kit. So you have a heater, thermometer, and filter correct? if you do not have any of these you will need one. your fishies most likely died from ammonia poisoning. oh and one more thing. you learn by making mistakes!!

again, welcome!

[fishboy]

To tell if guppies or mollies are male and female is easy. Look at the anal fin (the fin on the bottem before the tail) if it looks like a stick it's a male but if it looks like a triangle is a female.
Also is your frog green or white? If it's white get rid of it but even if its green make sure it's a african dwarf frog and not a african clawed frog which sometimes comes in white and will eat your fish.
Your sunset fish sounds like a sunset platy. Here's a picture http://www.elacuarista.com/arcoiris/...ty_sunset2.jpg
If this is your fish then you can tell its sex the same ways as mollies and guppies
Also as you may know tetras are schooling fish. They would do much better in a school of 6 or more. Even though they may not hang with each other or even if they downright hate each other trust me them just feel more secure with others of there kind. Sadly your tank already has two may fish in it so they will just have to get along or you can return them. In my opion the only tetra that doesn't need a proper school is the black neon tetra not matter what store owners say

[SnickerDoodle]

Hello. This is the girlfriend. The guppy is a male, FYI. We had 3 tetras, that the minimum Petco told us to get, but one died. I hope we dont loose him or any other of our cute lil' fishies. I feel horrible hurting all these innocent fish.

Do we need to buy some stuff to de-chlorinate the water?

The sunset fish is a sunset platty. Also the frog isnt white. Its green. We have special food for him. The Petco lady said that he is especially vulnerable in a new tank because of the ammonia and nitrates.

My brother has a 60 gallon tank and he does just fine, but i guess starting a brand new tank is hard.I guess it's not as easy as it looks.

[Ownager2004]

Yeah you should get something to dechlorinate the water. The chlorine will kill the your helpful bacteria colonies, and also harm your fish's gills i believe.

Also, you should probably do frequent partial water changes until your tank is cycled...

[fishfreaks]

yes you do need dechlorinator. if you have patience and time to spend with regular water changes, then its not that hard!

[euRasian32]

welcome too. overall, this is a great forum.

I just got the above mentioned Aquarium Pharmaceuticals test kit for 12.99 excluding s&h (6.95 s&h ground, and UPS so at least 5 days) from bigalsonline, a newfound site with some great prices. I also shop/visit thatfishplace in PA. both are competive and offer to beat each others prices.
The test kit doesn't include water hardness tests, but you can call your city/county for that info. correct me if I'm wrong anyone, i'm not for sure... the water's hardness will determine if the water would sway towards acidic or alkaline in the long run?

Good luck with the tank cycling and happy fish keeping.

[Fishfirst]

Also a larger tank is ALWAYS easier to maintain than a small one. Save your money!!!! upgrading to a larger tank will spare you tons of compatibility headaches, as well as learning about cycling a tank without fish in it! Fishless cycling is the most effective, cheap, and safest way of cycling a tank. Oh and don't always believe what petco or other pet stores tell you... remember, most pet stores are TRYING to sell you something. We are not, we're here to give you the god honest truth

[Lexus]

Welcome to Fish Forums!!!

[fishboy]

I missed one huge detail about the frogs. Do the eyes apear to be on top of the head or more off to the sides. If the eyes are on the top of the head it can mean serious trouble and that frog can wipe out all your fish. If it has eyes on the sides i can put my mind at rest.

[Hekkdizzle]

The eyes are on the side. I am pretty sure that we have the right kind of frog.

[fishboy]

just checking with the frogs, better safe then sry. Also you now that while a five gallon tank costs about $10+ dollars, at PETsMART a ten gallon costs $8. Ten gallons are the basic median of tanks. Below ten a glass tank (not bowl) will cost more and above ten a glass tank will cost more. Once you hit i think 75 or 90 though it cost less to build 1 on your own tank.

[fish_doc]

Welcome to the forum, Please stick around and see how much there is to learn. I continue to learn even after 13 years in the hobby.

[Hekkdizzle]

How would you look into building one of your own?

[Fishfirst]

well there are several websites on it... but unless you get a larger size tank (200 gal) its almost not worth it.

[fishboy]

yes the only reason to build a tank is if it would cost less then buying one or if you want a certian kind of tank. Buy buying from a store you save on glass(or acrylic), silicone, and work