The newest newbie

[moniquebarclay]

Hi everyone- I have recently taken over a fish tank from my father. I have no clue about anything. The tank came with a rainbow shark and two neons. I got very excited and went out and bought two new fish... A molly and a Siamese fighter. Now I know you must be thinking what a silly mistake that was but again- I'm clueless. I very quickly learnt that my shark is not open to making new friends and my poor Molly got a bit battered and bruised. So back off to the pet shop I went. I bought another smaller tank to keep Molly in. I bought her two friends like her so they quite happy. Although the filter that came with that tank seems quite strong?
Back to my old tank....
Sharky seems some what calmer- still chases the neons but never really gets them and they've been together for about two years now. The Siamese gets a knock every now and then but I can't tell if he is getting his fins nipped because they naturally looked shredded anyway. Oh! Did I mention I have a butterfly algae eater in my shark tank as well? Yes, also a no no as I've read because they are both bottom feeders. I've had the Siamese and algae eater in the tank for about two days now and I've just noticed a slight foamyness around the edges of the surface of the water. It looks like it's from the filter but when my parents had the tank there was never this foam?
All and any advice is welcome, feel free to brutal

 

[smitty]

Here we are about helping. So welcome to AC and glad you are here. Well at least you went out a bought another tank instead of just casting the Molly aside. You never said what size tank you have .

 

[irishspy]

Welcome! You'll find this a friendly, helpful community. One suggestion (yeah, we all need more expenses): you might want to look into a home for the betta where he can live alone. Having them with most other fishes can be stressful (or fatal ) to the betta (that rainbow shark, for example) Fluval makes some nice aquarium kits in the 5G range that are ideal for bettas.

 

[FreshyFresh]

Monique, welcome! When you took over the main tank, did you keep the original filtration, and keep it intact? (didn't let it dry out, etc..) Just asking to verify you preserved the beneficial bacteria you need to maintain the nitrogen cycle in the tank.

Do you have a water parameter test kit and do you do weekly water changes?

 

[Aquariua]

The foam could possibly be the Siamese fighting fish making a bubble nest .They look like this:

Also, the neon tetras should be in a group of six or more.

 

[moniquebarclay]

Here we are about helping. So welcome to AC and glad you are here. Well at least you went out a bought another tank instead of just casting the Molly aside. You never said what size tank you have .

I have a 15L tank with the shark, neons and Siamese in.

 

[moniquebarclay]

Monique, welcome! When you took over the main tank, did you keep the original filtration, and keep it intact? (didn't let it dry out, etc..) Just asking to verify you preserved the beneficial bacteria you need to maintain the nitrogen cycle in the tank.

Do you have a water parameter test kit and do you do weekly water changes?

I did keep everything in tact yes. Although I don't do weekly changes? I think I need to go get a few water test kits to make sure I'm on the right track.

 

[moniquebarclay]

The foam could possibly be the Siamese fighting fish making a bubble nest .They look like this:

Also, the neon tetras should be in a group of six or more.

My parents had about 4 but two died so it's just the two left now. In the first picture the bubbles look very neatly placed, mine is more like a foam.

 

[moniquebarclay]

My parents had about 4 but two died so it's just the two left now. In the first picture the bubbles look very neatly placed, mine is more like a foam.

View attachment 216976

 

[NeverFadeAway86]

when you say 15 L is that 15 Liters or 15 Gallon long style ? either way is very small for a shark