Petfish.Net - FAQ

If you can't find what you need here please try the Message Board
 
This is intended to answer your questions immediately. Please take a few minutes to look through this for anything that seems even related to what you're after. You'll get your answer instantly, and spare this board, which has passed 1500 members already, a lot of traffic.

First, I advise you do a quick search on Google . Just about everything there is to know is right there. For example, if you have a constipated betta, search for "constipated betta." Causes, cures, pictures, everything comes up. Instant solution, and you'll usually get more complete and informative answers. Searching for a fish by species name will yield vast amounts of info on it. (to get the species name, search for the common name. Many sites have both listed)

For other opinions, specific problem solution, fish issue discussion, or anything I didn't cover here, put it up!

Google
  Web Petfish.net

 
Basic Aquariums: Basic aquarium setup, stocking, maintenance, water management.

HELP!!: Urgent problems, fish acting or looking strange.

Common Aquarium Problems: Algae, cycling, other typical non emergency problems.

Breeding fish: Breeding all types of fish, Is your fish pregnant?

Diseases: Disease identification, treatment.

Plants: Plants in the aquarium


A note on the differing opinions of various sources
A note to all owners or perspective owners of any type of tetra, danios, barbs, or Bala sharks.

Not found what you need?

I. Basic Aquariums.
  1. Why are my fish dying?
  2. I need to know all about my fish.
  3. I'm looking into setting up a new tank. What kind of things to i need?
  4. What should be my first fish?
  5. What kind of fish can I add to this tank? (also: Will these fish work together?)
  6. Do I have too many fish, or not enough?
  7. Can anyone give me product recommendations for my aquarium setup?
  8. Should I use salt in my particular situation?
  9. My salt is not pure salt, it has some other ingredient in it. Should I use it?
  10. How do I breed my fish?
II. HELP!!
  1. HELP! My fish has something visibly wrong with it!
  2. HELP! My fish is acting strange!
  3. HELP! My fish are dying and i don't know why!
  4. HELP! My fish is changing colours!
III. Common Aquarium Problems.
  1. ALGAE!!! Help!
  2. Help me get through the nitrogen cycle
  3. How can I best maintain my tank?
  4. My fish are jumping out!
  5. My fish are harassing or attacking one another!
  6. I'm moving! How can i relocate my fish?
  7. I'm going on vacation. What can I do to keep my fish healthy?
  8. My fish get stuck on/ sucked into the filter!
  9. My fish won't eat!
  10. I have snails! How can I get rid of them?
  11. My filter is too bloody loud!
IV. Fish Breeding
  1. Is my fish pregnant?
  2. How do I breed my Livebearer? (Mollies, guppies, platies)
  3. How do I breed my Cyprinid? (danios, barbs, goldfish, sharks)
  4. How do I breed my Characin? (tetra, hatchet, pencil fish)
  5. How do I breed my Catfish? (bottom feeder)
  6. How do I breed my Labyrinth fish? (bettas, gouramis, paradise fish)
  7. How do I breed my Cichlid? (angelfish, firemouths, convicts)
V. Diseases.
  1. Help me identify this disease.
  2. My fish has a disease, how can I treat it best?
  3. How can I treat this disease on sensitive fish, like catfish?
  4. Should I quarantine? Even if my sick fish is a schooler?
VI. Plants
  1. I'm just starting out. Can anyone guide me through planting my tank?
  2. What is CO2 injection? How can I do it? What effects will it have?
  3. Why isn't my plant doing well?


Why are my fish dying?
Aquarium keeping is not as simple as it looks. A fish in a bowl is not going to have a good time. If you are suffering from mysterious deaths, and you're just getting started, check out the following links.
First, a concise, bare-bones guide to keeping you fish healthy:
Basic Fish keeping
Second, EVERYTHING you need to know to get your fish going:
Beginner's FAQ
I recommend that everyone, beginner to expert, problems or not, read through this.
If you know that none of the basic problems outlined here are afflicting you fish, look closely for any signs of parasitism. Lethargy and quickly beating gills are common. Check to make sure no artificial chemicals, like Windex or perfume, could have entered the tank.

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I need to know all about my fish
Here, a google search will tell you everything there is to know about a species. Searching by species name will yield the most hits. To find the species name you want, search for it's common name. Most pages about the fish will have the species name listed. Just copy it, go back, and paste it into the google search box.
There are also several sites that list profiles of many common hobby fish. Probably the most complete is FishProfiles. Petfish.net itself has quite a few. For any more information you need, Google will tell you everything you need to know.

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I'm looking into setting up a new tank. What kind of things to i need?
I can give you a quick, general list: Tank, filter, some sort of cover, (cardboard will do for us poor folks) and gravel. That's really it, I run a goldfish tank with less than that. Heaters are a good idea if your tank is in an area where the temperature changes a lot, or it stays too cold for your fish. Fish like goldfish and Zebra Danios, being coldwater, don't need one.
It is a good idea to give your fish some places to hide. Avoid any hole that they may try to get through and get stuck in, and beware of shells that spiral down smaller and smaller. A fish can get stuck inside and die. Generally, plants are the best, fake or live. The fish don't necessarily have to be have to hide under them: behind or between will do just as well. Caves are always nice.
I'd like to say at this point that buying gravel at an aquarium store is generally not smart. Pea gravel is available at Home Depot and other stores of that sort for about 1/5 the cost of aquarium gravel, and it's perfectly safe if you rinse it well.
For much more information on getting started, please read through this: Beginner's FAQ

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What should be my first fish?
While opinions vary, there are two fish that are generally considered the best fish to start out on. While you're learning, you'll make mistakes. It's inevitable. You need a fish that will be forgiving enough to survive these. The two best fish are probably the Zebra Danio and the Betta. (aka Siamese fighter) These are both extremely forgiving for the initial tank set up. Once you get a tank with these going, you'll know much better what to do to keep the less hardy types of fish. Remember that zebra danios do best in schools of 6 or more fish, but bettas must not be in contact with their own species.

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What kind of fish can I add to this tank?
We get this question a lot here at petfish.net. While a very valid question, it's hard to answer. There are at least several hundred possible combinations of fish and plants for any given tank. I strongly advise that you browse some pictures online, (Fish profiles is a good place) or, better yet, look around your local fish store for things that appeal to you. Then, you can go to Fish profiles or do a Google search on the common and species name. Look at the general requirements, mainly tank size. Note that almost all tetras and most danios are schoolers, and should really be kept in groups of 6 or more. Just about any fish listed as "peaceful" or "community" will get along with others in the tank. Wardley fish has built a good little program to help you find which fish will get along with which. This site has a very good collection of fish descriptions as well.
To find out what kinds of fish are suited to your tank size, I highly recommend Boeing Dude's Minimum Tank Size List.
Betta compatibility is the most common question. This CANNOT be answered. Each and every betta is different. You just have to try. Of course, you should avoid any kind of fin nipper, but otherwise, it's just chance.
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Do I have too many fish, or not enough?
For most people, especially beginners, one inch of fish per gallon of tank space is a quite good rule. This means that the total of all the fish in the tank's full grown length equals the number of gallons. This isn't by any means a "rule" though. Read my theory on stocking levels.
Note- some fish should never be kept in a tank equal to their length in inches. An Angelfish only gets to be 5 inches long, but should never be in a 5 gallon tank. Make sure you fulfill each fish's minimum requirements.

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Can anyone give me product recommendations for my aquarium setup?
Probably the most important and most variable product is the filter. The general consensus on this board is that AquaClear filters are by far the best filters on the market. Whisper filters come highly rated as well. The Penguin Bio-wheels, while they look good, have given members of this board a lot of trouble. We do not recommend them.

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Should I use salt in my situation?
Adding salt really depends on the fish. Catfish, for example, do not like salt at all. Livebearers love it. Bettas and most cyprinids, like goldfish and danios, like a moderate amount, maybe one tablespoon per 5 gallons. Tetras and most other Amazon fish don't like much, maybe 1 tablespoon per 10 gallons.
Generally, you should go with the middle ground. For an all-livebearer tank, 1 teaspoon per gallon is appropriate. For goldfish, danios, and bettas, 1 tablespoon for every 5 gallons will work well. For catfish, I'd still add a little, maybe a pinch or two, so that the cats can keep thier electrolyte balance up. If you mix salt lovers with salt haters, go with the middle ground, depending on how much of each you have.

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My salt is not pure salt, it has some other ingredient in it. Should I use it?
It is generally best to use pure salt, which is availible at any fish and most pet stores. Prussic Acid is ABSOLUTELY POISONOUS! Do not use any salt containing prussic acid. Yellow Prussiate of Soda contains Prussic Acid, and the prussic acid dissolves out of the YPS in solution. Yellow Prussiate of Soda is therefore toxic as well. Some say iodine is bad for the fish, some say it's actually necessary. I'd stay away if possible, so as to not take the risk. Calcium silicate is relatively harmless, but it causes a LOT of brown algae.

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How do i breed my fish?
In this case, a google search is always best. Even if you have some very specific problem, odds are good that someone has had it and written on it.
I can suggest some good sites for commonly bred fish, like Bettas, Livebearers, and Cyprinids. (danios, barbs, goldfish)

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HELP! My fish has something visibly wrong with it!!
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HELP! My fish is acting strange!!
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HELP! My fish are dying and i don't know why!
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HELP! My fish is changing colour!
In goldfish, this is quite common. Goldfish have a genetically predetermined colour, but they also have genetically predetermined colour changes throughout life. Don't be concerned if it changes between natural colours. (orange, white, red, gold, black)
In bettas, AKA Siamese fighting fish , colour changes can happen periodically. Do not be concerned unless it gets very dull and grey, a sign of stress that may be caused by disease, but usually occurs right after a water change, being moved, or another sudden change. If it seems to get a bit of short, rust-coloured fuzz on it, as this is a disease called
Angelfish will often intensify or completely eliminate thier stripes or markings. Strong markings mean they're excited, stressed or afraid. Dull markings usually mean they're relatively calm, from my observation.
In all other fish, change of colour is usually not good, especially if it gets dull. Look into you water quality and check for Signs of disease.

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ALGAE!! Help!
Algae is a very common problem. It's caused by two things: light and excessive waste. If you run lights over an unplanted tank, or you tank gets sunlight, keep them off, cut down on the length of time they're on, or add plants. If you haven't changed water in a while, do so. High levels of nitrate or phosphorus can cause large amounts of algae. Adding plants will soak these up, and water changes will dilute them. As a last resort, add an algae eater. Probably the best is the Siamese Algae Eater. Mollies are good for eating fuzz, hair, and beard algae, but they require a lot of space, at least 20 gallons, as well as a fair amount of salt. An ottoclinus will eat almost all kinds of algae, but needs to be kept in groups of three or more. A plecostomous will eat a lot, but lives for a very long time, gets VERY big, and actually loses its appetite for algae after a few years.

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Help me get through the cycle
Cycling is a very important part of setting up any aquarium. It is essential to keeping fish happy and healthy. If you have a filter and fish, your tank will cycle. The most important part is speeding the cycle up so that you minimize stress on your fish. The only way to do this is to add more bacteria from somewhere. Commercial bacterial supplements are availible, but it is unclear as to how well they work. The best way by far is to add some bacteria to the filter chamber or tank. A bit of filter floss is great, as well as old carbon. Moving a plant, fake or real, that was in an established tank will help as well.

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How can I best maintain my tank?
If you don't know the very basics of maintaining your tank, or if you take everything out and wash it about once a month, please read Basic Fishkeeping.
Generally, the more water you change per month, the better. I generally do 10% twice a week, which is really quite a bit. There are 4 things to consider in water changes: NitrAtes, pheromones, acid (All natural fish wastes) and fish stress.
NitrAtes and Pheromones both cause stress, and can be removed from water though water changes. The changes themselves, however, also cause stress. Generally, small water changes are less stressful. Ideally, you'd do about 1% a day, although this is usually not practical. (it's also less efficient than larger changes) Try to do them frequently, and try to change about 40% over the course of a month. It's not usually a good idea to change over 30% of the water at a time, except in special circumstances like bettas in a bowl. Try also to make the changes gently: Don't let the tanks run while low on water for too long, and pour the new water in slowly. Make sure it's roughly the same temperature as the tank water. Remember to unplug any heaters you have, and immediately unplug any filter that begins sucking air.
Acid will slowly build up in a fish tank until it overcomes the kH buffer. Water changes replenish the kH buffer. This is not usually a consideration unless you have very soft water.
Also remember to rinse your filter media about twice a month in removed tank water (not tap water) and to clean your impeller and intake assembly about once a month. (if the impeller gets loud, it's gotten dirty)

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My fish are jumping out!
Many fish jump naturally, such as bettas, endlers and hatchetfish. Generally, all fish should have a cover, because various things like a pH swing will make any fish jump. Make sure that the cover has NO holes in it, especially with a known jumper. Fish have an uncanny ability to jump through any hole in the cover. (except ventilation holes)

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My fish are harassing or attacking one another!
You've probably picked the wrong fish. Some fish are very territorial, like the betta and most cichlids. Male livebearers, especially platies, will sometimes hate each other, and one will dominate all the rest and eventually kill them. If any two fish you have are fighting, take one back to the fish store unless you can move them to a new tank. (ideally, take the aggressor back) Sometimes, even supposedly peaceful fish don't get along. Adding a school of Zebra Danios (keep in groups of 6 or more) will often calm aggressive fish. Sometimes, you'll get a particularly nasty livebearer, usually a male. Really the only way to solve the problem is to Euthanize them. Also make sure you have at least two female livebearers for every male, or your one male will severely over sex your female. (male livebearers have a thin pointed anal fin while females have a larger frilly anal fin)

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I'm moving! How can i relocate my fish!
Everything you need to know is Here.

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I'm going on vacation. What can I do to keep my fish healthy?
If you're going away for up to a week, they'll be fine. Do a water change about 24 hours before you leave and clean things up a bit, feed them a little extra, (not any more than twice the normal) and they'll do fine. For up to two weeks, you'll want someone to come in and feed them, maybe one feeding halfway into your vacation. For longer than that, you really need someone to come in and look after you fish. If you have any friends that are willing, have or hire them to come in and feed the fish, turn on and off the lights if you have plants, and maybe do a water change. Make sure they know EXACTLY how much to feed, and won't overfeed because they "look hungry." Someone who already knows what they're doing is always best.

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My fish get stuck on/sucked into the filter!
Most filters should have a sort of cage over the intake that will prevent fish from being sucked in. If it's missing, cover the intake with a bit if old pant hose rubber-banded to the intake tube and order a replacement from the filter's manufacturer. If your fish are too small to be screened out by this cover, you can add panty hose over the cover itself until they're grown or even permanently if you rinse it sometimes.
Fish being stuck to the intake cage is usually a sign that it's about to die, in which case you have bigger problems than it being stuck. See the Help Section.
I have seen some cases where seemingly perfectly healthy fish are mysteriously sucked to the filter and killed. The best course of action in this case is to buy a new filter, most of the large name-brands like aqua clear, marineland, and whisper are reputable and reliable.
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My fish won't eat!
A fish that won't eat is a sick fish. If it's new, it might not eat for days, or even weeks. Sometimes bettas get fussy and wont eat certain foods, or won't eat at all until thier environment changes. Otherwise, see the Help Section and the Disease section.

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I have snails! How can I get rid of them?
A complete snail-ridding guide can be found at Aqua-center.com

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My filter is too bloody loud!
If you've just set up your aquarium, you're going to have to get used to the sound. You should only really be able to hear it when it's totally quiet, like when you're going to sleep. If it splashes excessively, raise the water line until it's silenced. If it makes a loud rattling, groaning, or any other noise, unplug it immediately and recheck the assembly. The impeller is usually not shoved into place quite right.
If the aquarium has been up and running for quite a while and gets louder, odds are the impeller is dirty. Take it out and rinse it well. Sometimes, hair will get in between the impeller and its axle. Pop off one of the axle caps and wipe off the axle and run a lot of water through the hole in the impeller. The cap can be shoved back on. This can make an enormous difference in the noise level.

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Is my fish pregnant?
All fish can get "pregnant" in at least the sense that they're carrying eggs. No matter the type of fish, they all show essentially the same attributes when pregnant: thier bellies swell. Usually from gill plates to anal fins, the swelling usually makes the belly lighter in colour. In many fish you can see lumps from eggs or clusters of eggs.
Click Here for a picture of a typical pregnant livebearer.
Click hereFor a picture of a gravid guppy. Notice the enlarged black dot around her anal fin.

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How do I breed my Livebearer? (mollies, guppies, platies)
With livebearers, there is really very little to breeding. Most of them just need some gadget to ensure they won't eat their fry. Just keep males and females together, at a ratio of at least 2 females for every male, (having too many males can oversex the female) and let them go at it. Soon, some or all of the females will swell up real big. These are pregnant. Now comes the tricky part: you must give the fry (babies) a place to escape to, lest they be eaten by their parents. Breeding traps are commonly used, but the female must be housed in there when you think she might give birth, which is essentially guesswork, and you don't want the females to be in there too long. You also don't want to wait to long or she will drop outside of the trap. A better (in my opinion) alternative is to provide places inside the tank for fry to hide. Java moss, while hard to find, is best. It proves a large network for fry to hide in. (provided you can grow it large enough) Probably the simplest method is using marbles as a substrate. Since livebearer babies are full of yolk at birth, they sink. If they sink down into the gaps in the marbles, they will be safe from thier parents. Try to use round marbles to prevent small crevices from forming where fry can get stuck. You can then feed the fry with baby brine shrimp, daphnia, microworms, or fry powder. Many of these foods can be purchased at your average fish stores.

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How do I breed my Cyprinid? (danios, barbs, goldfish)
About breeding danios
About breeding barbs
All about breeding goldfish.

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How do I breed my Characin? (tetra, hatchetfish)
All about breeding tetras
About breeding Hatchetfish (see middle of page)

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How do I breed my Catfish? (Corydoras, bottom feeders)
Breeding Corydoras
Breeding all sorts of catfish

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How do I breed my Labyrinth fish? (bettas, gouramis, paradise fish)
Breeding bettas
Breeding Gouramis
Breeding paradise fish. (see bottom of page)

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How do I breed my Cichlid? (angelfish, firemouths, convicts)
About breeding various cichlids

Breeding techniques for ALL fish can be found with a little digging at Google.
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Help me identify this disease.
Pictures of the most common diseases can be found at Fishkeeping UK and Bettastarz. If you find what you have there, you may find the treatment here. If it's not on that site, try The "HELP!" Section, fish-disease.com and FINS.

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My fish has a disease, how can I treat it best?
For most parasites, Had-a-snail has served both me and the owner of Petfish.net VERY well in parasite suppression. It has NO effect on fish when properly dosed, but kills all parasites. I often just drop it into a tank to keep latent gill fuke populations and things of the like down. It takes effect vary quickly. Generally, adding 1 drop per gallon for two days will kill everyting. (halve this dosage if you have soft water) For long term treatments of things like ich, adding about 1 drop every 4 gallons every day supressess further parasitic development. I've actually found that had-a-snail can wipe out ich in 2 days or less.
For fungus, I have had very good luck with salt. What I do is remove the afflicted fish to a quarantine tank and just throw in a teaspoon or two every few hours or so, whenever I remember to do so. After only about 2 days, the fungus is usually gone. This works exquisitely on salt-loving fish like livebearers, but for the more sensitive fish like catfish, it may not be the best course of action. For these situations I reccomend Jungle Fungus Clear For other diseases, it depends on the disease. The best medications usually come from Mardel and Jungle. While pricey, a combo of Maracyn and Maracyn-2 will kill just about anything bacterial. For internal diseases like septicemia, popeye, or intestinal worms, internal medications like pepso food (for intestinal worms) and antibacterial food work best. Maracyn-2 and Kanacyn are absorbed through the gills, and can therefor attack internal bacterial infections like septicemia.
  • Lots of general disease information

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    How can I treat this disease on sensitive fish, like catfish? Certain fish, like     catfish and tetras, are extremely sensitive to anti-parasitic medicines and some anti-fungals. For these circumstances, I recommend copper, in the form of had-a-snail or coppersafe. Properly dosed, this has little to no effect on catfish or other sensitive fish. I often just add it to a tank to keep latent gill fluke populations and things down, even one heavily populated with cories.
    Fungus, however, is much harder. Isolate the fish, even if it is a schooler. You don't want to treat the whole school of sensitive fish. Usually, fixing whatever stress factor is causing the fungal outbreak will save the rest of the group. Try to get some of the more advanced anti-fungals, like Phenoxyethanol, if you can. Otherwise, MarOxy is probably best.

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    Should i quarantine? Even if my sick fish is a schooler?
    Yes. Most schooling fish are quite sensitive to medication, like tetras and cories. You don't really want to have to treat an entire school of fish, lest you risk allowing disease to set in on the whole school. Generally, it's best to eliminate whatever     stress factor caused the disease. This will save the rest of the school. If you try to treat the whole school, you might as well put that stress factor back.

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    I'm just starting out. Can anyone guide me through planting my tank?
    Sure. See Clint's Easy planted tank, AJB's Plant Requirements and The Planted tank

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    What is CO2 injection? How can I do it? What effects will it have?
    I think     John LeVasseur's page wants to explain it to you.
    Or see AJB's excellent DIY-CO2 article
     

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    Why isn't my plant doing well?
    Make sure you are meeting all of the     requirements for keeping plants. Basically, if a plant has good fertilizer (fish waste and a fertilizer additive) and adequate light, it should do well. You must have florescent lights for aquatic plants to live inside. Most plants need at least 2 watts per gallon. Some need much more. Look up your specific type of plant to find out how much light it needs.

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    Not found what you need?
    Please try Google first. It'll give you an instant answer, and most everything there is to know is there.
    If you do decide to post, please give us ALL the relevant information:
    • Tank size
    • Water Parameters (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH swing?)
    • EXACT description of what's wrong (give us all the details here)
    • Length of time the tank has been up
    • Type and number of fish in tank in question
    • What EXACTLY you wish to know
    Back story is usually not relevant, but if it may go toward what's wrong, put it in.

    A note to all owners or perspective owners of any type of tetra, danios, or Bala sharks.
    Tetras and danios and barbs (cyprinids) are schooling fish. They should NEVER be kept in anything less than a group of 6. Schooling is a defense mechanism for them, and it gives them a strong sense of security. Danios, normally the Gandhi of the aquarium, get VERY aggressive toward each other when kept out of a school. Tiger barbs are notorious fin nippers, but they are relatively peaceful in schools.
    Bala sharks are not for everyone. They're actually for very few. They look great, but they just can't be kept humanely in your average aquarium. They're schoolers, and they get HUGE, up to 12", so that's already 72 inches of fish. Add to that the fact that balas need about 3 feet to swim, plus lots of room to turn around. That's a big tank. So please, no matter how much you want them, if you can't house them properly don't get them.

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    A note on the differing opinions of various sources
    As you'll inevitably encounter in any research, online on in books, there are many differing opinions of the keeping of fish. This is normal and expected. Generally, they're all right: all of the suggested ideas will work. To find the "best" is usually a simple matter of finding the average opinion. For example, if one source advises 80 degrees, one advises 77, and one advises 74, go with 77.

    Yay.

    Suggestions? Comments? Additions? Got some'in to say?    shtinkypuppie@hotmail.com

    If you have any links that you feel are better than mine, or you feel would improve this FAQ if added, PLEASE send them to shtinkypuppie@hotmail.com

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    Written and compiled by shtinkypuppie@hotmail.com - Eric Smith