Brand new to the wonderful world of water life

[KJ]

Welcome to R2R!!!

 

[Dadude80]

You will need live rock for beneficial bacteria to grow. What was your salinity and temp when you put the fish in? What kind of fish was it ?

It's a fresh water tank I'm not sure on the salinity but the temp was right around 78 degrees and it was a striped catfish

 

[motortrendz]

It's a fresh water tank I'm not sure on the salinity but the temp was right around 78 degrees and it was a striped catfish

Oh well you totally threw us all off.... were all saltwater geeks lol

 

[Auquanut]

Welcome to R2R. I keep fresh water fish too. So disregard everything about live rock and salinity. Did you have the pet store test you water, or did you do it yourself? If you don't already have one, I would suggest getting the API freshwater test kit. You want your ammonia and nitrite at near zero, and your nitrate to register before adding any more fish. There are many members here that keep fresh water fish, so we can probably answer any questions you have.

 

[Dadude80]

Oh well you totally threw us all off.... were all saltwater geeks lol

My apologies I'm seeking advice everywhere I can find it I do appreciate all the info

 

[motortrendz]

My apologies I'm seeking advice everywhere I can find it I do appreciate all the info

No worries. Just disregard everything I said bc I thought you had saltwater. Your biggest thing with fresh water is your amonia levels, and I believe you also need some nitrate levels to show the tank has cycled and is safe to add fish. I used to have a big south american cichlid tank before I went salt junky. But that was about 15 years ago so I'm a bit rusty.

 

[Dadude80]

Welcome to R2R. I keep fresh water fish too. So disregard everything about live rock and salinity. Did you have the pet store test you water, or did you do it yourself? If you don't already have one, I would suggest getting the API freshwater test kit. You want your ammonia and nitrite at near zero, and your nitrate to register before adding any more fish. There are many members here that keep fresh water fish, so we can probably answer any questions you have.

I tested it 3 times myself with the test strips

 

[Dadude80]

No worries. Just disregard everything I said bc I thought you had saltwater. Your biggest thing with fresh water is your amonia levels, and I believe you also need some nitrate levels to show the tank has cycled and is safe to add fish. I used to have a big south american cichlid tank before I went salt junky. But that was about 15 years ago so I'm a bit rusty.

I understand but anything you can share would be most helpful

 

[DaveWasabi]

Welcome to the forum! Cheers!

 

[Auquanut]

I found the test strips to be pretty unreliable years ago. Don't know if they've gotten any better since then. Also, is that one of those LED bubble volcanoes? I used to have one in my African cichlid tank. If so, the bubbler in there will be really good for providing oxygen to the tank. (and it looks cool too)

 

[rodney]

Welcome to R2R!

 

[WMR]

Welcome to R2R!!! You’ll get all your questions answered here because some of us keep fresh water tanks as well, the basic principles of freshwater are the same as saltwater, take your time & research as much as possible, good luck

 

[Dadude80]

I found the test strips to be pretty unreliable years ago. Don't know if they've gotten any better since then. Also, is that one of those LED bubble volcanoes? I used to have one in my African cichlid tank. If so, the bubbler in there will be really good for providing oxygen to the tank. (and it looks cool too)

Thanks and Yes it's one of those led volcanoes and I think it looks cool also I'm thinking of doing african cichlids also or maybe oscars I have sand and live plants in it

 

[Auquanut]

A word of caution! Africans will devour your plants. I tried twice. I never kept oscars, but from what I've heard, they'll do the same thing. Also, Your tank looks like a 55? Oscars will quickly outgrow it. They get huge! With Africans, I used a lot of rocks and some fake plants to give them some hiding places. They can get pretty aggressive.

 

[Peace River]

It's a fresh water tank I'm not sure on the salinity but the temp was right around 78 degrees and it was a striped catfish

@Dadude80 - having gone back and read through this thread and realizing that this is a freshwater tank, I am curious of a few things. If the fish was sick or not eating normally the fish wouldn't die that quickly, so that implies it was a water issue - either something different between the water at the fish store and the water in your tank or something in the water in your tank (such as chemical). Is the tap water in your area treated with chlorine or chloramines and did you add any additives to treat the water for those chemicals?

Additionally, if the store where you bought the fish was a chain store like Petco or Petsmart. Many times this type of store (and occasionally some locally-owned local fish stores) add salt blocks to the sump that is connected to all of the freshwater tanks in order to suppress diseases. When this happens and they don't keep up with their water changes, are overly aggressive about adding salt blocks, they haven't been topping off the system to counteract evaporation, etc., then the salt can become almost brackish. If a fish is brought from that system and placed into your system that has been correctly set up with good water parameters then the fish could not make it do to osmoregulatory shock. Instead of using a hydrometer or refractometer to check for salt like we would in saltwater, for freshwater you would use a conductivity meter. You can pick one up on Amazon for about $25 and IMO it is very helpful for any freshwater hobbyist. The unit of measure on the conductivity meter is microsiemens (uS) and if the water that the new fish is in is more than 100-200 uS different from your then you need to think about doing a very slow acclimation. In the chain store I have seen the conductivity reading reach over 3,000 uS more than my treated tap water (which is normally around 300 uS).

I realize how frustration it is to lose a fish and to have your daughter go through that experience. While this is primarily a saltwater and reefing forum, hopefully you will find this helpful.

P.S. I agree with @Auquanut 's comments that plants and African cichlids don't mix (they prefer rock work and will tear up the plants) and a 55g is too small to keep a full grown Oscar (possible, but not recommended).

 

[Dadude80]

@Dadude80 - having gone back and read through this thread and realizing that this is a freshwater tank, I am curious of a few things. If the fish was sick or not eating normally the fish wouldn't die that quickly, so that implies it was a water issue - either something different between the water at the fish store and the water in your tank or something in the water in your tank (such as chemical). Is the tap water in your area treated with chlorine or chloramines and did you add any additives to treat the water for those chemicals?

Additionally, if the store where you bought the fish was a chain store like Petco or Petsmart. Many times this type of store (and occasionally some locally-owned local fish stores) add salt blocks to the sump that is connected to all of the freshwater tanks in order to suppress diseases. When this happens and they don't keep up with their water changes, are overly aggressive about adding salt blocks, they haven't been topping off the system to counteract evaporation, etc., then the salt can become almost brackish. If a fish is brought from that system and placed into your system that has been correctly set up with good water parameters then the fish could not make it do to osmoregulatory shock. Instead of using a hydrometer or refractometer to check for salt like we would in saltwater, for freshwater you would use a conductivity meter. You can pick one up on Amazon for about $25 and IMO it is very helpful for any freshwater hobbyist. The unit of measure on the conductivity meter is microsiemens (uS) and if the water that the new fish is in is more than 100-200 uS different from your then you need to think about doing a very slow acclimation. In the chain store I have seen the conductivity reading reach over 3,000 uS more than my treated tap water (which is normally around 300 uS).

I realize how frustration it is to lose a fish and to have your daughter go through that experience. While this is primarily a saltwater and reefing forum, hopefully you will find this helpful.

P.S. I agree with @Auquanut 's comments that plants and African cichlids don't mix (they prefer rock work and will tear up the plants) and a 55g is too small to keep a full grown Oscar (possible, but not recommended).

Ok thanks alot for that I do appreciate it

 

[Hitman]

Welcome to R2R!!!

 

[vetteguy53081]

After floating, you will want to allow some tank water (about 1/2 cup into bag every 15 min over the course of an hour, discard as much water from bag as you can (do this over a bucket in case fish slips through) and enter fish into tank+

 

[Mastiffsrule]

 

[LilElroyJetson]

Welcome to R2R!! ;Bookworm