Guppies & Neons

brettmirl

If you mean the sponge in the filter, yes I did.

astec123

Put simply, I have kept fish for about 10 years now, and the biggest problem is that people take for granted simple things like guppies and Barbs will live fine together, Barbs will live happily with other fish so long as the tank is large and not overcrowded. I have a 36x12x18 inch tank, and it has a small number of fish, and is being let run dry as Im moving away and will sell the tank and the remaining fish.

-Put simply if barbs are kept with other fish they need an understocked larger tank, its like putting 10 people in a small room it wont last long before fights errupt, barbs like space to swim as they are active. They also will not prey on neons unless provoked or the neons are dead already.
-Neons are shoaling fish and not that hard to keep, if the conditions are set up correctly, usually if the fish are bought in town the water they are in is different to the home water and as such you need to slowly fill the bag they arrive with tank water over a long period to get them used to it. Neons will live happily with any fish so long as it wont eat them or be agressive to their gentle nature.
-Guppies, the difinitive simple to keep fish, I have seen first timers keep them, and activly advise them as the starter fish, they are colourful and easy to keep happy. They are easy to breed too, but like barbs will be agressive in over crowding.

In general its advised to intoduce the least agressive fish first ie neons and guppies, adding say 3 or 4 neons in week one, then add 2 more fish per week/2week time scale slowly building up to the tanks max capacity.

Another problem that people overlook is filtration, while the side mounted pump is good, an undergravel filter is a must, if pumping isnt good enough then the fish will suffer and end up dead or fighting.

Feeding may be another problematic cause, ideally you should feed them as much as they will manage in 2-3minutes, dont add more just see how they do with 3 feeds a day like that.

Gravel may be contaminated in the take so it may be that caused the deaths. Did you wash it properly.

Cleaning fish, the best in my opinion are the ever useful catfish, Cory cats, cheap and cheerful, with a variety of colours, I have 4 for my tank 2 albino and 2 brown, they shoal together and are highly active, and also getting quite fat these days. Dont take a pet stores advice on fish like clown loaches in the tanks early days, they will not last.

Other than that there isnt much more to it but I hope that helps get you the answer you want, if not feel free to PM me or post more questions.

P.S.
Also remember that some fish will last for many years longer than you will expect, I bought an algae eater which is most of the way to 7inches long, not sure off the top of my head the species but it after some careful research will live for upwards of 15years and could grow to a foot long! Be sure to consider each fish before you buy! Neons live for about 2/3 years in general, I have had 5year old ones in the past, guppies are usually around for 2 years, and barbs about 5 in general. This is from my own experiences and by no means the normal life span some will last a lot longer others less than the above.

boroughmal

I say "any advice is better than no advice".
Some fishkeepers are victims of circumstance(ie buying deseased fish)
Some just dont ask for advice & try to figure it out the hard way.
Some take advice too seriously(there is allways two sides to a coin)

I say " if at first you dont succeed then try again"
The guppies enjoyed their feast. Feed them steak next time not neons

brettmirl

Astec, boroughmal and fightin_irish - thanks for the advice.

Think i am gonna try just guppies for now. It's a small tank (13 litres). Will introduce about 4 to start with and build up slowly.