jcarr71
08-08-2009, 04:35 AM
First off, hello. My name is Jordan. I live in Upstate NY and I am a 22 year old male. I apologize for annoying anyone with questions you have answered before, but this is so general that I didn't know how to search for it.
The backstory: A few months ago I started dating the girl I am currently with. She sort of unofficially moved in. She has a room at her mother's but she is never, ever there anymore. One of the last things to show up was her little gallon or so fish tank. She had three little black fish in it that I have come to know as Black Mollys. I have never really had fish, but her mother's house is full of them. Tanks and fish of all sizes are everywhere. She hinted that she wanted to continue the trend here, I consented, and the other day a ten gallon tank showed up that she had purchased at Wal-Mart showed up.
A couple days ago we went to the pet store and bought more. I had minimal input except to say what I liked, insist on a bottom feeder because I was under the apparently false impression that they cleaned the tank, and I also forced her to by pairs of every breed she wanted because I figured they'd want to be together. Otherwise, she chose on my $50 budget.
The tank: Now we have a ten gallon tank with stones on the bottom. There is an artificial plant and an artificial log with two plants sticking off of it. The fish are as follows: the three Black Mollys, two red Glofish, three neon tetras, two Painted Glassfish, and some sort of pleco bottom feeder that I can't pinpoint a species on. The tank has some sort of filter and a light. We run the light at night when we are home and keep it off during the day. She cleans the tank every two weeks.
What I know: I have learned some alarming things about the fish we bought. Neither the Glassfish nor the Glofish naturally have that luminescence, though the neon tetras do. The Glofish I have no issue with. The procedure, from what I have read, does not harm the fish in anyway. It is the result of a gene implanted in the embryonic stage and is purely cosmetic. I do have an issue with a corporation owning a gene, even if they created it, but that is a different story. The Painted Glassfish I do take serious issue with though. Injecting dyes that fade? It is awful to the fish and fraud to the consumer. No one or nothing wins. I will not buy more of them (with perhaps one exception) because I do not want to support this.
I also know that the pleco will outgrow this tank to the point that keeping it in it will eventually be a cruelty. For now though it is small, only a few inches long, and there is nothing I can do with it anyway. We only had 48 hours to return the fish. We'll get a bigger tank and I'll let more aquarium growth into my place when I am comfortable with how this tank is. I'll move it then. It just seems to hide in the log anyway. If we don't get a new tank in the next few months then I will find it a home at her mother's in one of her huge tanks.
Another problem I seem to have underestimated is the number of fish to have for each species. Plecos seems to be solitary, but I seem to need to get more of each breed to keep them in good mental health.
The glassfish are apparently not interested in the flakes she feeds them either. I also worry for the pleco's diet.
I know nothing of filters, lights. I'd like to have live plants in there but I know nothing of these either. I guess I'll just start asking anything I can think of.
Questions, questions, and more questions:
1. How many Black Mollys should I have to make them comfortable? Glofish? Neon Tetras? Glassfish? Plecos? Also, these are small fish, but would accomplishing these numbers overcrowd the tank?
2. If I can't find "unpainted" Glassfish, what should I do? I want the two of them to be comfortable in the tank, but I also don't want to support something that seems so cruel.
3. The Mollys, Neon Tetras, and Glofish seem to enjoy the flakes, but should I feed the Glassfish and Pleco? I would ideally like something for them to eat that would also supplement and provide variety to the diet of the other fish as well. Also, where would I find your suggestions?
4. Is there a difference between flakes labeled for goldfish and tropical fish? She is using goldfish flakes for some reason, but my gut tells me that nutritionally the flakes are probably the same and it is simply a marketing and coloring difference.
5. What filter/lighting set up would you recommend for a ten gallon tank?
6. How often should it be cleaned and if so with what, how? Is dish soap sufficient? What do we do with the fish in the meantime?
7. Live plants. Their water source is obvious, but how would they get the sunlight they need? Would the tank need to be by a window or would there need to be a specific light?
8. What sort of measuring instruments should we have for the water?
9. On the topic of the black mollys, the girlfriend is very attached to them. Do they exist in other colors? I imagine she'd like to be able to differentiate from the original three if we were to get more.
10. I imagine the tank will be overcrowded or at its limit when I am done with all this, but what other species do you feel would compliment this environment if/when we get a bigger tank? Or, on the contrary, do these species clash in any way?
11. What else should I know? I'd appreciate anything.
I take owning pets very seriously. I want to provide a suitable environment for these fish like I do for every other part I have owned past or present. However, these were sort of thrust upon me with the haste of the girlfriend. I've tried to research what mistakes we have made, but it was all so overwhelming. Thanks for your time and any, I mean any, help.
The backstory: A few months ago I started dating the girl I am currently with. She sort of unofficially moved in. She has a room at her mother's but she is never, ever there anymore. One of the last things to show up was her little gallon or so fish tank. She had three little black fish in it that I have come to know as Black Mollys. I have never really had fish, but her mother's house is full of them. Tanks and fish of all sizes are everywhere. She hinted that she wanted to continue the trend here, I consented, and the other day a ten gallon tank showed up that she had purchased at Wal-Mart showed up.
A couple days ago we went to the pet store and bought more. I had minimal input except to say what I liked, insist on a bottom feeder because I was under the apparently false impression that they cleaned the tank, and I also forced her to by pairs of every breed she wanted because I figured they'd want to be together. Otherwise, she chose on my $50 budget.
The tank: Now we have a ten gallon tank with stones on the bottom. There is an artificial plant and an artificial log with two plants sticking off of it. The fish are as follows: the three Black Mollys, two red Glofish, three neon tetras, two Painted Glassfish, and some sort of pleco bottom feeder that I can't pinpoint a species on. The tank has some sort of filter and a light. We run the light at night when we are home and keep it off during the day. She cleans the tank every two weeks.
What I know: I have learned some alarming things about the fish we bought. Neither the Glassfish nor the Glofish naturally have that luminescence, though the neon tetras do. The Glofish I have no issue with. The procedure, from what I have read, does not harm the fish in anyway. It is the result of a gene implanted in the embryonic stage and is purely cosmetic. I do have an issue with a corporation owning a gene, even if they created it, but that is a different story. The Painted Glassfish I do take serious issue with though. Injecting dyes that fade? It is awful to the fish and fraud to the consumer. No one or nothing wins. I will not buy more of them (with perhaps one exception) because I do not want to support this.
I also know that the pleco will outgrow this tank to the point that keeping it in it will eventually be a cruelty. For now though it is small, only a few inches long, and there is nothing I can do with it anyway. We only had 48 hours to return the fish. We'll get a bigger tank and I'll let more aquarium growth into my place when I am comfortable with how this tank is. I'll move it then. It just seems to hide in the log anyway. If we don't get a new tank in the next few months then I will find it a home at her mother's in one of her huge tanks.
Another problem I seem to have underestimated is the number of fish to have for each species. Plecos seems to be solitary, but I seem to need to get more of each breed to keep them in good mental health.
The glassfish are apparently not interested in the flakes she feeds them either. I also worry for the pleco's diet.
I know nothing of filters, lights. I'd like to have live plants in there but I know nothing of these either. I guess I'll just start asking anything I can think of.
Questions, questions, and more questions:
1. How many Black Mollys should I have to make them comfortable? Glofish? Neon Tetras? Glassfish? Plecos? Also, these are small fish, but would accomplishing these numbers overcrowd the tank?
2. If I can't find "unpainted" Glassfish, what should I do? I want the two of them to be comfortable in the tank, but I also don't want to support something that seems so cruel.
3. The Mollys, Neon Tetras, and Glofish seem to enjoy the flakes, but should I feed the Glassfish and Pleco? I would ideally like something for them to eat that would also supplement and provide variety to the diet of the other fish as well. Also, where would I find your suggestions?
4. Is there a difference between flakes labeled for goldfish and tropical fish? She is using goldfish flakes for some reason, but my gut tells me that nutritionally the flakes are probably the same and it is simply a marketing and coloring difference.
5. What filter/lighting set up would you recommend for a ten gallon tank?
6. How often should it be cleaned and if so with what, how? Is dish soap sufficient? What do we do with the fish in the meantime?
7. Live plants. Their water source is obvious, but how would they get the sunlight they need? Would the tank need to be by a window or would there need to be a specific light?
8. What sort of measuring instruments should we have for the water?
9. On the topic of the black mollys, the girlfriend is very attached to them. Do they exist in other colors? I imagine she'd like to be able to differentiate from the original three if we were to get more.
10. I imagine the tank will be overcrowded or at its limit when I am done with all this, but what other species do you feel would compliment this environment if/when we get a bigger tank? Or, on the contrary, do these species clash in any way?
11. What else should I know? I'd appreciate anything.
I take owning pets very seriously. I want to provide a suitable environment for these fish like I do for every other part I have owned past or present. However, these were sort of thrust upon me with the haste of the girlfriend. I've tried to research what mistakes we have made, but it was all so overwhelming. Thanks for your time and any, I mean any, help.