Hi Everyone! I am new to having fish as a hobby, but am really excited to start this project.

I have a 12 gallon fluval edge that I recently setup. I conditioned it for 2 days prior to adding in fish/plants. Last night, I added in some plants, and 4 fish (small angelfish, glass catfish, berry tetra and a flame gourami). The local fish store advised there wouldn't be any issue with this combination of fish.

When I woke up this morning, the fish seemed lethargic, and it hasn't gotten better since the day has progressed. Here is what I am seeing: they aren't swimming around too much, the glass catfish continues to hover at the top of the tank, and the other 3 have been hiding in the corners, but not moving around too much.

I just did a 25% water change and added in Nutrafin Cycle Biological Supplement as well as Nutrifin Aqua plus (this recommendation was in the aquarium troubleshooting guide).

Aside from the change that I just made, does anyone have recommendations on what may be occurring, or something else that I can do to fix it? I don't want to wake up tomorrow morning with dead fish. :(

Thank you for your help in advance!

My "gut feel" is that you put the plants and fish in all at once. What I do is first add the plants then let it set for a week so the plants are established and in control. then add 1 fish and not add food for a week.

for instance when I fed that first fish I always lost it on the 5th day.

So I feel your fish have overwhelmed the plants so the tank has ammoina, low oxygen, and high carbon dioxide.

Other then removing the fish to another established tank there is not much you can do. I would add anacharis, not add food and hope the fish recover. Water changes are an option but you must make sure the water is treated and they would have to be rather large.


my .02

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fw leiden since 1979, fo salt since 1979, mixed reef 55g 2002-2009. Strong emphasis on the tank taking care of itself. Balanced with plant life, no water changes, tap water, no filters in FW. Only dosing calcium, alk, mag in marine reef tanks. http://www.aquariumforum.com/f15/my-...ods-26410.html
recent tanks (till 2009) 7 years- 10g FW leiden 7 yrs, 55g mixed reef 7, 2 yrs, 20g FW leiden, 10 g fw leiden , 29g mixed reef, current tank 55g leiden

Hi! Have you read up on the nitrogen cycle? That's what your tank is going through right now. The ammonia levels will rise and can harm the fish, and the nitrite levels do the same. That size tank is not appropriate for the angel fish. The tetra will prefer to be in a larger group, as will the glass cat fish. The gouramis may fight over territory if they are both male. I reccomend looking up the fish you want to see their adult sizes before you buy them so that you know if you can provide them with an appropriate home. Do you have an API test kit yet? if not, get one. You will need to test the levels and do appropriate water changes until the cycle ends if you want to keep your fish alive.

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"Being ignorant is not so much a Shame, as being unwilling to learn".-- Benjamin Franklin

Thanks to both of you - I really appreciate the quick responses and the information.

I am going to run out to the store today and try to find some anacharis. Do you recommend that I take my other plants out for now?

Regarding the test kit, are there different kinds, or do I just need to say that I need the "API test kit"? I am going to get one of those today as well.

Thank you again!

I would get the api master Freshwater test kit (ammonia, nitrIte, nitrate, plus pH). and the GH and KH kits as well. (edit general hardness (gh) and carbonate hardness (kh)).

I would leave the existing plants in there as they are helping.

my .02

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fw leiden since 1979, fo salt since 1979, mixed reef 55g 2002-2009. Strong emphasis on the tank taking care of itself. Balanced with plant life, no water changes, tap water, no filters in FW. Only dosing calcium, alk, mag in marine reef tanks. http://www.aquariumforum.com/f15/my-...ods-26410.html
recent tanks (till 2009) 7 years- 10g FW leiden 7 yrs, 55g mixed reef 7, 2 yrs, 20g FW leiden, 10 g fw leiden , 29g mixed reef, current tank 55g leiden

The problem has nothing to do with plants, only that you added way too many fish for that size tank. Even if fully planted and established you would still need water changes to keep ahead of the ammonia. I would see if you can return some of them and just keep maybe 2, with returning the Angel for sure. Tank is way too small for an Angel, regardless of their current size. They grow pretty fast. Also too small for a Gourami.

Incomplete cycling to support the fish? I am a believer in large water changes, and routinely change 50% plus weekly, performed as 7 gal+ daily (on an auto system).

For the immediate problem I would probably try dosing with SeaChem "Stability" for up to a week to assure a quick cycling correction. May not be the best advice - just what I would do. But removing/moving/handling the fish right now might just be enough more stress to do them in.

I "quick loaded" my 75 gallon with about 20 fish, followed the Stability dosing routine at the same time as adding them, and all was fine. A week later when I added a tankfull of new plants the fish were ecstatic!

But I am a biginner, so take my suggestions with a grain of salt!

This is a must to understand whats going on in your tank. The general freshwater forum has a sticky that should explain it to you.

Was the fish store you went to a big chain type store? petsmart, petco... Or was it a store that specializes in aquarium and reptiles? I have been noticing that the larger stores tend to give bad advice to make a sale. Try and find a good fish only store. they seem to be more helpful. Odds are there is one near you.

I would return the angelfish and the gourami (unless it is a dwarf gourami). The angelfish will get to large for your tank very quickly. I don't know much about that catfish or that type of tetra, but every tetra I can think of is a schooling/shoaling fish. So with that knowledge I am gonna take a leap of faith and say that berry tetras are a schooling/shoaling fish. This means you should minimally have 5+ together in the same tank.

My recommendation is to return the angelfish and gourami and get more of the tetras. And I wish I could help with the catfish, but I don't know enough about them.

EDIT: After a quick google search I learned that berry tetras are actually a tetra that is dyed or tattooed. It is probably a type of tetra that was dyed to "make it look pretty". I can't say for sure what type of tetra it is without a picture. Anyway, the practice of dying or tattooing a fish weakens its immune system and is overall just a cruel thing to do to the fish. I do not support and no one on this forum (that I know of) supports this. I would return the "berry" tetra to the store and inform them of the cruelty that that fish has been through and to ask to not support the practice of dying or tattooing fish.

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I think the store has let you down - as newcomers to the hobby, we assume they know what they are doing. It could well be the clerk is a kid on minimum wage told to act like an expert - that's something we've all seen, and sometimes been. Still, it takes a lot of the fun out of a new hobby when you get into a situation like this from the get-go. You've been set up for failure, and that's thoughtless of the store.
Don't let it get you down!

I think we all should avoid dyed, tattooed and balloon mutation fish, as in every case, the fish is harmed by the decisions of the marketer. Balloon mutations suffer from a rerouted digestive system as the spinal deformity we think is cute (and that breeders intentionally produce) really handicaps the poor things. If we stop buying them, they'll stop cultivating the deformity.
Dyes kill the fish eventually, and tattoos or laser writing on fish are actually unhealed wounds in cute and appealing shapes. We usually find out about these things when as newcomers, we try to care for the fish we've bought and struggle with why they are ill.

I have faced this problem, aeration(will improve dissolved oxygen) +water change should make things better. Anyways, there are other valid comments on number of fishes etc.