I have 3 guppies, 1 Cory catfish, 1 pleco, & 1 red claw crab in a 5 gal tank....?

Question

I use Start Right Conditioner, Prime, Ammo Lock, & Bullseye 7.0 . Are these good combinations?? How often should I change my water?? I changed it yesterday 2 gal of it cause the nitrite kept going up really high and now today the alkalinity shot up!! What is wrong here?? How can I keep my water stable...

Answer 1

The tank is WAY to crowded. A five gallon tank should only have the guppies and the Cory cat.
The crab will start eating the fish. That's just what they like and you can't train them out of it. Get another 5 gallon just for him and his feeder fish The pleco will get too big in a matter of months. They get to be over a foot long! That's bigger than your whole tank. Take him back to the store now, and try to get your money back.
Remember one inch of fish for 1 gallon of water. So you should only have 5 inches of fish in the tank.

Answer 2

You are not overcrowded! The guppies put almost no load on the bio-filtration. The cory will be fine, also. Everyone is right about the pleco, the standard plecos can grow to a length of 2 feet, yes, 24". Also, when they get larger, they get really lazy. I suggest bushynosed plecos, they stay small (5-6") and are good workers.

When the standard pleco gets to be about 5", you can usually trade him back to the fish store for a small one, they love to get big plecos back (the sell them for more).

The red claw is not really a crab, but a shrimp. I have four of them in a tank with albino plecos (10) and some small African cichlids (5) called kribs (pelvicachromis pulcher, if you are interested in the Latin name). The red claws are not bothersome when it comes to live fish. They are not strong enough to hold and kill a healthy fish. Mine only bother the fish when the fish try to take over the shrimps hiding place.

Now for water changes. I suggest doing a 25% water change every other day for 8 days. That will keep your toxic levels at a manageable amount and still give the beneficial bacteria a chance to grow and multiply to where they can help with the ammonia, nitrites and nitrates.

As far as chemical additives, I do not believe in them. Once your tank is cycled, phase out the chemistry and your fish will do just fine in your tap water (do use DeChlor, though). Don't forget to do regular (weekly) partial (25-30%) water changes. That will keep your tank clear and your fish healthy and happy.

Keep your filter running and put fresh carbon in it if the water starts smelling bad. The smell and the cloudiness are normal parts of the nitrogen cycle and will clear up on their own as the bacteria reach the proper levels.

Feel free to email me if you have more questions. Make sure you enter you address twice in this site so it will be accepted.

Good luck.

Answer 3

Nitrites are very poisonous to your fish. So you need to do a couple things really quickly to save them. 1. Do a 25% water change using declorinated tap water (don't put the pH stuff and other additives you listed in it, just declorinator). 2. Put 2 teaspoons of freshwater aquarium salt in your water. This will prevent your fish from absorbing as much of the nitrite and will reduce stress. 3. Take your pleco, your crab, and your cory back to the store or give them to a friend. You accidentally overstocked your tank, and these three fish won't be able to live in your aquarium. Later you can add another guppy, but not until the nitrites are at zero. This should help you save your fish. Continue to do a 20% water change daily using dechlorinated tap water until your nitrites are down to zero. Also, feed your fish a lot less, they will be okay with it, and it will help get the nitrites down quicker. Hope this helps.

Answer 4

You are way overstocked with inappropriate fish...cories need to be in groups of 4 or more to be happy and your pleco will grow to 18"+. I'd take both of those fish back to the store and get two more guppies. I don't know much about the crab, but I'd assume he'd eat your fish if he can (my brother had a crayfish in his tank that ate his $80 fish).

Your tank is going through it's cycle to establish nitrifying bacetria, you should get BioSpira or Stability asap to help quicken the cycle. Expect some fish death and do a 50% water change daily or every other day. It's a big change, but in such a small tank you need to do it. I wouldn't do more than a 50% change though. I also would not use chemical pH regulators, fish do better with a consistent pH, even if it is outside of their ideal range. PH regulators can lead to large pH swings (what you're experiencing) and are deadly. Good luck.

Answer 5

Yes, you are overcrowded. Also, it sounds like you threw them in before the tank had a chance to stabilize. New tanks take about 2 weeks to age properly. Chemicals can help, but they are not a cure-all. What kind of filter setup do you have? You need a good bacterial colony going before pushing the population as high as you have it. I'd keep the cory cat OR the guppies for now. Return the rest or get a bigger tank.

Answer 6

Get a bigger tank. You know that you will need one someday anyway. (fish are addicting) I always recommend people to at least start with a 29 gallon tank.
Also... maybe you are changing the water too much. Or too much water at a time.
Go to the aquarium store and ask if they will give you a bag of syphoned dirty water out of one of their good established fishtanks. That has the good bacterias in it that you need. Take it home and dump it in. That will get your biological filter going and established in no time.
The water may get cloudy for about a week or so, but will clear up and do great.

Answer 7

I had tons of problems also. Fill the tank with store bought spring water. SPRING water is chemical and chlorine free.i never had to go crazy with chemicals when i used it. Be careful not to overcrowd the tank, I always changed one half of the water every 1-2 weeks. room temperature water.