I have a new tank and I have 2 angel fish 2 silver sharks 2 plecs and 1 cat fish i have had my water checked today and have been told it's ok but I have 2 12 "air stones at the back of the tank and my silver sharks wer bassicly resting on anything they could and seemed very stressed out and shot round the tank I have turned the filter off now and they seem less stressed out but they wer lying on there backs when it was on is it a possibility that the air filter could be stressing them out and causing them to do this all my other fish seem fine with it any help would be greatly appreciated thanks in advance
In a 125 litre tank not surprised the Balas are stressed you cant keep them in that size tank should be in groups of 6 and 200 gallons plus
my advice is to return them and then you can have the air pump on my angel fish love theres and what kind of PLecs have you got not common i hope
its becuase their new
Was the water checked before you put the fish it? Naturally it would be without ammonia until then. Creating a nitrogen cycle without fish (but using measured doses of pure ammonia) or with a couple of fish (for starters) will take a couple weeks to a month.
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com
I applaud your amended post. But you can edit and add to a question. You don't have to post a second time.
I've got some questions to ask of your fish vendor.
Your air-stone (s) are an elegant way to create surface turbulence, a necessary thing if oxygen is going to be absorbed, carbon dioxide is going to be shed.
Did the shop tell you how to establish a nitrogen cycle where cultures of beneficial bacteria would develop and break down the very poisonous ammonia into the toxic nitrites? Did they then point out that there was a second group of beneficial bacteria that would have to gradually develop and get the ability to break down the nitrites into the eventually nitrates?
Did they explain that there are many kinds of filters, all of which help the development of the nitrogen cycle by providing some habitat for those beneficial bacteria and that you need a filter?
Did they explain that some chemical filtration could be accomplished by placing a bag of rinsed activated carbon in a filter? It can "adsorb" (as opposed to absorb) some ammonia. It is used up within 2-7 days.
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com Did they offer you a chance to get a test kit that would measure for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates?
Or did they offer you the opportunity to drop by with a water sample and get a reading on how much of those substances are in your water?
Did they explain how you should never dump the shop water in the tank with the fish?
Did they suggest how you could pour your new fish (ok, two of them anyway) into a covered gallon jar or owl with the shop water that contains urine, feces and stress hormones shed by the fish and possibly a package of disease organisms from the shop? Did they suggest pouring off some of that water into a bucket and gently doubling what remained in the jar with tank water? Did they suggest pouring some more water off in 20-30 minutes and adding some more tank water? Did they suggest after an additional 20-30 minutes gently pouring the fish and all of their water into a net over the bucket and then carefully dropping them into their new home?
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com Did they explain that in time your whole tank would become the "bio-filter"? That is why unless things are absolutely dire, we never want to subject an aquarium to a total tear-down because there are more beneficial bacteria in the tank than in the filter (s) by a month or so.
Did they explain that you only want to add maybe two or three small, new fish to a tank, in order to get the nitrogen cycle without hurting the fish?
Eventually those fish will require at least 180-gallon tank. While you could start two or three babies in a 20-gallon aquarium, you know that pretty soon you would need a larger aquarium. Did they start you out with a 20? Did they tell you that you might soon need a 40-long or a 55-gallon tank?
Did they tell you of the importance of weekly partial water changes? Did they recommend using a gravel vacuum to clean the gravel and get that water out?
Have they explained that you must treat your water supply? Did they explain what your water conditioner does?
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com
Did they explain treating & storing water in open (food quality) containers so that you could (in an ideal world) do a 40% or 50% water change each week.
Did they tell you not to buy the plecos since you ought the had just bought the bala sharks?
Did they tell you you could get your two bonus fish later?
If you can, call them. See if they will take four of those fish back for now. Also buy at least a box filter and fill half of it with rinsed activated carbon. If you can afford a power filter, that will also offer a good current.
All of us could learn more, shop employees or aquarists. Consider the following tidbits. Please consider borrowing one of the below from the library or reading it in a bookstore.
