[RangemasterD]

Greetings from Texas.

Recently my wife bought a five gallon aquarium kit for my two daughters and she didn't do much research. Now in the interest of domestic tranquility I am attempting to learn how to keep fish alive. :dont_tap_the_glass:

My wife set up the aquarium with some colored gravel filled it with filtered tap water and put in declorinator acording to the instructions that came with the kit. We waited two days then added six little fish(way to many we know now) the fish starded dieing off that night and now I have six dead fish and water so cloudy I can barely see the plastic plants.

Should I dump it all and start over or should I try to salvage it somehow by "cycling" the tank before we try some new fish?

So far with the little bit of reading I have done seems to tell me that a smaller tank like this is actually much harder to keep than a larger one. I really don't want to have to tell my wife that she bit off more than we can chew. But I don't want to let her and the kids down and think they can't keep "a few cute fishies" Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Derick H.
Hurst TX

 

[phil_pl]

Although it wont be the prettiest thing I would just let the tank run for a few days and then see how things are looking. How long has the tank been running so far?

 

[RangemasterD]

Tanks been running for six days and I just found that one of the fish is still alive. The little black suck on the side guy is still in there and moving around. although it beats me how.

 

[phil_pl]

just sounds like your have "new tank syndrome" (water really cloudy on a new tank for no apparent reason) just give it a few days you could try using "cycle" it comes in a small white box. it will help introduce the bacteria that the filter needs. just dont clean your filter or else you'll have to start over again

 

[RangemasterD]

Thanks.

We'll try that and see what hapens.

 

[phil_pl]

no problem let me know how it turns out

 

[petlover516]

Welcome to the site! BTW, the black suck on the side guy? what do u mean by that?

 

[MediaHound]

I think he means a pleco Tyler.

Welcome aboard Rangemaster! Let the tank run for as long as you can, let that ugly water build up some biological fauna. Seeding it with some filter material from an established tank or some over the counter bacteria additives wouldn't be a bad idea.
Dont scrub the filter either (not for a long time) as thats where the bacteria will live... the more you clean it now the longer your cycle will take.
Best of luck and hope to hear how things turn out.

 

[Chickadee]

You are so right that 5 gallons is much harder to deal with than 25 or even 125 gallons, usually the bigger the easier they are to maintain, but for a child or children the great big tanks are not practical either.

You have done the right thing by coming here where you can ask questions and get answers and you are doing the right thing by just allowing it to do its thing but you will need to do frequent partial water changes to keep the one fish alive. Try to change out about half of the water daily to keep the ammonia level down enough to keep the fish alive but not enough to completely stop the cycle. I know that it is a lot of work but it is all you can really do since the fish is there and alive.

Welcome to you and I will say that this is a very friendly and helpful forum. Please do feel free to ask questions and browse the different forums as you desire to do to get the information you need. There is always someone who will be interested in what you are needing. Or there may have been others who have already gone through this very same problem and have just the answer you need there already.

It is nice to have you here and we look forward to getting to know you better.

Rose

 

[petlover516]

lets hope it isn't a pleco! the pleco will get huge!

 

[Chickadee]

It could even be an Oto with a tank that size. What size is the fish?

Rose