Yay Im re-doing my fish tank!

I bought a whole bunch of cute plants that are pink. It's gonna be all pink!! It's so going to be great!

I actually have a funny story about my fish tank. Please stand with me as my fingers are tired...lol..

This fishtank is only a 5 1/2 gallon, but it has special meaning behind it. To me anyway. So I've had it for a while, and the first time I used it, I got guppies and regular pretty fish. Then one day they all got sick with ick (I belive that's what it's called), and died. (The petstore was called, and come to find out they had a major Ick problem in of the tanks I bought my fish from) So then I cleaned it out, and put it away.

Well about 2 months ago, I brought it back out. I let the water sit like it is supposed to, and couldnt figure out what kind of fish I wanted. Well, our snapping turtle eats feederfish, and one day I was at the store getting them. I brought them home, and fed them to him. And like a week later, I noticed 2 of the fish hiding for thier dear lives in a corner. So i took them out, and put them into my empty new tank. Fed them, and they slowly came back to life, and were the happiest little fella's in fish world. They had some rough times in that snapping turtle tank, and they made it.

So then...another time I bought feederfish for the turtle. And about a week and a couple days later, I decided to clean to the turtle tank out. And I found ONE SAD little fishie hding a under a rock.

This was the fishie that when I brought them all home, looked as if she may be a little pregnant or overfed. She made it through the week with no food, no friends and being pregnant. So I took her out and put her in my tank, and looked for babies in the turtle tank. AND I FOUND TWO! I was sooo happy. I saved them little buggers (so so tiny!), and put them in a baby fish net in my tank. They are doing great! And so is mommy.

So there, that's why this tank means so incredibly much to me. I havent got any names for the babies yet. But mom is "faith".

Isnt it like Finding Nemo? lol...

great story you will have to post pictures when you are done with it please.

Oh I certainly plan on it. For sure, Im so excited. I just really hate taking the fish out and putting them somewhere else while I do all this. They've been through enough. But it's gotta be done.

Originally Posted by lilleah

Oh I certainly plan on it. For sure, Im so excited. I just really hate taking the fish out and putting them somewhere else while I do all this.

They've been through enough. But it's gotta be done.

Click to expand...

Hi!

Good for you for saving the fishies!

What kind of fish are you feeding your turtle? I don't know of any Live-bearing, Feeder fish.

Normaly feeders are minnows and goldies. (they get really big too, they might be very crowded in your little 5.5er.)

Let me know what kind of feeders you bought so I can know for sure how big they are going to get. IF you have little one-incher kind of fish, the amount you have in there now should be _Ok_ but you will want to monitor your water. If these guys get too much bigger than that, you will have to upgrade your tank, or your fish will suffocate, literally, from an overgrowth of amonia.

So watch 'em closley!

What kinds of fishies are they?

I'm not really sure actually...

I think the one is a "rosy red" and the other one just came from a "livebearer/feederfish tank" That I've never seen before, but alot of the fish in that feederfish tank looked pregnant.

So I dont know. I can post some pics if I can get the angle right. I tried with a camera phone, but it reflects off of the tank.

Probably feeder guppies.

That's what I was thinking. But that tank with all the livebearer/feeders was a huge variety. They were much cheaper too.

But the one does look like a guppie. The other one I still dont know.

But the mom (faith) isnt doing so well. And one of the babies died.

aww am so sorry...

Live-bearing, Feeder fish.

Click to expand...

Feeder guppies. They are just the wild variety of fancy guppies. Actually, some of them can be very pretty. I have some breeding in my turtle's tank, and one of the males is a lyretail. One of the other ones has three black vertical stripes on a peacock backgorund.

The big pet stores don't usually carry them. You have to check out the local fish stores to find them. They breed really fast though. When you buy them in the store, they're ususally young and are all grey. Give them a month or two, and the males will come into their color very nicely.

They're also the healthiest for turtles. (BTW, goldfish are too fatty) You could always just buy the fancy guppies, breed those, and feed the babies to the snapper if you want to have the really pretty fish. I kinda like the wild type guppies though. They also (in my experience) are hardier and are better breeders (which is good if you're trying to raise enough to supplement a turtle's diet).

Originally Posted by bab-ush-niik

Feeder guppies. They are just the wild variety of fancy guppies. Actually, some of them can be very pretty. I have some breeding in my turtle's tank, and one of the males is a lyretail. One of the other ones has three black vertical stripes on a peacock backgorund.

The big pet stores don't usually carry them. You have to check out the local fish stores to find them. They breed really fast though. When you buy them in the store, they're ususally young and are all grey. Give them a month or two, and the males will come into their color very nicely.

They're also the healthiest for turtles. (BTW, goldfish are too fatty) You could always just buy the fancy guppies, breed those, and feed the babies to the snapper if you want to have the really pretty fish. I kinda like the wild type guppies though. They also (in my experience) are hardier and are better breeders (which is good if you're trying to raise enough to supplement a turtle's diet).

Click to expand...

Yeah I dont feed him the goldfish anymore, because I just cant handle the carcasses. He only eats part of it, and leaves the rest. It's really gross. But he really liked the rosies, and he LOVES the livebearers.

Anyhow, I just would have a problem with breeding cute little babies, and then feeding them to him. That might be sad for me. I guess it would be ok if they were the rosies, or minnow type things. But guppies...hmmm...yeah, that would be sad.

Faith (the mom) Is doing better today. I think she was just stressed out from the new tank, and moving and all that. Poor little thing. The other baby isnt eating at all either. And he's not getting any bigger. I dont know if he'll make it. But at least the mom is better. She's a toughie.

Alright. All fish are dead. They have all gone to "fishie heaven" Due to a small child. A very naughty small child.

I laid my daughter down for a nap, and she came out about a half hour later. Which was an ok nap. Or so I thought. I went in the room about an hour later. And stood in complete shock because of what I saw. She had piled up toys in order to reach the fishtank on top of the dresser.

The fish tank was stuffed full of :
Underware
Bras
Socks
Bracelets
A stick of deodorent
Earrings
Bobby Pins
2 diapers (unused of course)
3 hairstylest #'s
Can of hairspray
And last but not least...the entire fishfood container opened.

And the heat was turned onto the highest level it could go. And the water was very hot. The only thing I could think about was.."PLEASE OH PLEASE let my fish be alive" But of course, in all this mess, they were not.
It was just horrible. My daughter came running in after I yelled "WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED IN HERE!!" and she said "oh look...I did that!" Like she was proud of it.

The only reason I think she did this was because when I was making the new fish tank, I was putting things in there, and was telling her how pretty it looked. And so she must have thought, "well if mom can put things in there, wait till she sees what I can put in there...She'll LOVE IT! "

So, yes. My fish are now all dead. And I have to re-start the tank all over again.

OMG poor things. Does your daughter understand what happened..

Oh my, your poor little fishies...I'm so sorry you have to rebuild your fish family all over again. That is too bad.

Originally Posted by momof3rugratz

OMG poor things. Does your daughter understand what happened..

Click to expand...

Yes. She does now. It took a few times for me tell her, Plus Dad came in and told her about how wrong it was too, and what the "good" things to do are.

Poor wittle fishies.

HI!!,
I am also a fish lover too!!,
I just put up a 75 gallon tank a few months ago, I had not had fish tanks up for about 15 years!!!, My last three tanks were up before I went away to college and I had to take them all down and sell them.

I will have to post some pics, I have pics of Smokey trying to paw at the fish in the tank..

I have about 25 fish in there right now
a mix of platys, swordtails, tetras, gouramis, catfish

Michelle