I've never had anything more then a fish bowl so this whole world of aquariums is new to me. With the help of everyone here, I'm sure we'll get it started swimmingly :P
Current Aquarium Build Cost: $183.74

Here's the story.
Day 1:
My friends and I were at a local beach and found what looked like millions of little fish, we scooped some up in a McDonalds cup along with two snails and brought them home.


Day 2 - 4:
After about two days of them living in the cup and two days of them living in a bowl, I decided to go out and actually buy a tank. Not knowing what kind of fish these are I decided to just get the best deal they had at the store. I came home with this 10 U.S. Gallon Aquarium Kit for $75.00.


Day 4:
After washing everything up, assembling the filter and water pump, letting it run for an hour and letting the water settle to room temperature as directed in the manual for the tank I had put the fish in.


Day 4:
At first they appeared to love the new tank, they swam around for hours before they would even acknowledge that I had put food in.


Day 5:
About 4 hours later, I got back home and all 15 of the fish were dead.. SO! I went did some more research on things to buy and out I went to buy some more. Another $45.00 later and I had picked up four more fish, some gravel, a rock thing, and a fake plant.


Day 6:
I had now added to the tank some TeraAqua EasyBalance and AquaSafe. I tested the water and the NO3/NO4 was at 0.25 before the TeraAqua and it's at 0.00 now that it was added. The Ph is at 8.00 before and after the additives. I also gave everything a good wash in hot water before adding anything to the tank.


Day 7:
Last night I found one of the Bloodfin Tetra's a little "Inactive" so earlier today I brought it back and they gave me a new one. While I was out, I purchased a backdrop for the tank, more gravel, more testing supply's, color enhancing food, and a new Thermometer for the tank, the one in the kit was extremely inaccurate and ended up falling off the side of the tank. Picked all that stuff up for another $50.00.


Here are my fish.
Day 6:Golden Molly.


Day 6:Two Bloodfin Tetras and one of the two Snails.


Day 6:Plecostomus.

Day 7:
Snail laid eggs.

Well if you got those fish from a beach,and put em in a freshwater tank,i could see where that went wrong.

Could you give me some more information on where I went wrong? Despite is already being done with I'd still like to know why they died.

The parameters were probably off. Plus they would be salt water fish, and you put them into fresh water which was bound to kill them off quickly :(

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"Just Keep Swimming Just Keep Swimming Swimming Swimming"

I'd get rid of goldfish flake. Concur with sw fish not doing well in a fw tank.

Nice graffitti on your desk, lol.

How did i miss that, darn you, made me actually laugh when i scrolled back up, it shows such sentiment

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"Just Keep Swimming Just Keep Swimming Swimming Swimming"

I'm gonna say me too on the saltwater/freshwater thing; unless you caught these guys on a freshwater lake beach.

Also, one other detail you should know is the the pleco will grow far too big for your tank eventually. I would suggest either planning on upgrading your tank much larger eventually, or otherwise plan another home for it in the future.

Congrats on your new aquarium. Looks like you are off to a good start. If you haven't already, I highly recommend reading up on the nitrogen cycle:
The Aquarium Nitrogen Cycle
Understanding it will help you avoid some of the most common problems in new tanks.

-Tim

My first thinking on what killed the fis is the water was not conditioned.Or at least by the first setup it sounded like it was not.Also the fish look like fry,not more than a few days to a week old.and fry are very hard to acclimate to a new setup.But yeah if they came from a beach with saltwater,then they never had a chance.

I also like the graffitti on the dresser.Sounds like someone was mad huh!

The pleco needs to be taken back,he will get too big.Also think of live plants for the fish,they will be happier.And I think the tetras need to have more of their kind ot they will be flighty.

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http://bountifulbettas.blogspot.com/

"Come to the dark side....we have cookies...and filters/heaters/and water changes!"

Very Nice set up , It really is a shame that those fish died but seeing as they were from the beach there really was no chance, I only have one question were did you get them I mean I know they were from a beach but were Tidal pool, Ocean, were were they from ?

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Lake Superior is the largest fresh water lake in the world.
Fresh water fish, Fresh water tank.. That's why I don't know why they died.

Alot of fry are very sensitive to parameters in tanks. As it was a brand new tank your water parameters would be unsuited for pretty much any adult fish let alone fry. This would be my most logical thought on it anyway

__________________
"Just Keep Swimming Just Keep Swimming Swimming Swimming"

That was my drunk friends, you should see the rest of my room.. :|
Wallpaper hides all lol

I have a 30 Gallon tank arranged for me already when the time comes later down the road.

I bought another Blood Fin Tetra and two Neon Tetras yesterday. The Blood Fin died on arrival, and the Neons infected my tank..

Everything else died after those Neons went in, INCLUDING the Neons..
Only survivor is my Golden Molly but now he has Ick starting, when I cleaned out all the dead fish and noticed there are a few white dots forming. A quick google and figured it out, since there is only one left there was no need to go out and buy a hospital tank for him.

Pet Smart gave me a credit on the fish so when the Ick is gone and the tank is back to normal I can get my new fish for free to replace the dead ones.

Poor little guy.

Sorry to hear that.How are you treating?

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http://bountifulbettas.blogspot.com/

"Come to the dark side....we have cookies...and filters/heaters/and water changes!"

I bought Ick Guard by Tetra Aqua and put the one tablet per 10 gallons (so one tablet) it started doing is fizzy thing, the water turned blue, now today the water is all foggy but i already noticed the fish is more active, while the tank was blue he wouldn't come out from behind the rock and now all day he's been swimming around.

Ok, sounds good.Good luck with the treatment.Ick is pretty easy to get rid of.I would be cautious of any fish you bring in.

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http://bountifulbettas.blogspot.com/

"Come to the dark side....we have cookies...and filters/heaters/and water changes!"

This is day 4 of the Ick treatment and it appears to be all gone from what I can see. I'm going to wait the rest of the week before I go out and buy new fish.

New piece of drift wood gathered from the shore of Lake Superior. I washed it off quickly with the hose and I've started cleaning it now by soaking in water and rinsing before I put it in the aquarium.