To do list -

[Nepen]

I got 3 ghost shrimp on Sunday and now one is dead... one is not so active and one is still fine.. dont know what's going on. May be my molly was trying to eat the shrimp? The tank where I got them from had no dead fish/shrimp and they looked fine before.

I did some reading and they said copper might be what cause this but I have snails, which would die if there was any copper in the water....

may be the water is too salty for them? since I put some salt for the molly...

I might have to go get some more shrimp and try again, may be I didnt introduce them to the tank right.

 

[JohnHuff]

The shrimp are not the hardiest creatures in the world. I think some just have a weak constitution. By the way, do you have enough decor inside the tank? Shrimp like to hide.

Also, I just went back and re-read your earlier post. I strongly recommend more than 1 molly. They get lonely if they are by themselves.

 

[Nepen]

Thanks John, I'll try the shrimp again

About the molly, the babies are getting big fast, so hopefully they can be friends with him soon. I wasnt planning on keeping him and the baby but my friend just got a baby so he's not having thought about fish right now I cant afford the space in my tank to add a new molly, I thought they do ok by themself if with other community fish?

The guppy babies are getting big too and now swimming everywhere... I really interested in how they will look like, most of them have black/dark body (half the body) and some have black spot on the tail.

 

[JohnHuff]

In my experience, mollies are happier when there is more than one. They don't school like other fish, but they like to hang around others. What kind of filtration and set up do you have in your 12g? With enough filtration and some plants I think you'd be ok with 2.

 

[Nepen]

I forgot to answer you if I have enough place for shrimp to hide, I believe so, I have large rocks at the bottom (brought in from the pond) and there are large space between the rocks for anything to hide (especially the muck and un eaten food!!)

I think my filter is ok, I never thought to look what brand or anything about it, it came with the tank (2nd hand) may be I probably should... It's been good and I brought the bioballs and media from the big pond. The pump seems sufficient to circulate the whole tank and it gave a nice current in the tank. I also have 5-6 medium size water lettuces in there and a small bunch of hornworth and anacharis and 3 other type of water plant (tropical)

The thing is, the babies are growing so fast (15+) and eventhough I planned on giving most of them away it'll probably be a few months from now. I'm quite curious to see how they tunred out to be so that will be a heavy hit for my filter, I'll have to stay on top of the water quality and also the space they are taking up ... the female guppie is going to have another set of babies in 2 weeks!!!

The molly babies are getting to be half an inch now, I know it's not fast enough but I have 3 of them and I do not want to add one more especially when i plan to give away all mollies - I love them in my pond but they really deserve a larger tank for winter that's my own fault and will have to make change next year but this year this is how it is). If I dont give away the molly I'll end up having 4 total - the lone guy will have to wait for his friend to grow up...

Remeber when all of my adult mollies hide? The thing is now that I have only one molly he is everywhere and never hides anymore. I dont know if that indicate that he's more happy or he's out looking for his friends...

 

[JohnHuff]

You filtration looks good, but I agree with you that that's a lot of fish in a small tank. Have you thought about a larger tank? When I first started keeping indoor fish we went whole hog and got the biggest tank we thought we could keep in the house which was the 55g. We waited until Petco had their $1 per gallon sale and got it at $55. We figured that doing maintenance for a 55g would be the same as doing maintenance for 30g and that's turned out to be true except that it's easier for 55g because there's more room.

 

[Nepen]

Hi John,
My plan is to have all the fish move back to the pond in summer, that's why I bought the smallish tank, so I can store it during summer and use it during winter....didnt expect all the babies to survive too!!

When is the $1 per gallon sale!!!!!! wow, that would be the best time! I wont be buying too big (dont have much room in the house) but a 20-30 gallon is a must for next year - probably depend on the shape... also I'm worried that my 'stand' will not take too much weight and if I dont want to have to buy a new stand.... oh well I might just make my own stand! But still have to think about the space.. dont have much space..ahhh headache.....

 

[capewind]

It is too bad you are not closer. I have a bunch of spare tanks, 10, 20, 40 and 55 gallons. We seem to aquire them LOL.

 

[JohnHuff]

Hi John,
My plan is to have all the fish move back to the pond in summer, that's why I bought the smallish tank, so I can store it during summer and use it during winter....didnt expect all the babies to survive too!!

When is the $1 per gallon sale!!!!!! wow, that would be the best time! I wont be buying too big (dont have much room in the house) but a 20-30 gallon is a must for next year - probably depend on the shape... also I'm worried that my 'stand' will not take too much weight and if I dont want to have to buy a new stand.... oh well I might just make my own stand! But still have to think about the space.. dont have much space..ahhh headache.....

Petco has them all the time, once every few months. You just gotta check them out once a week or so.

 

[Nepen]

Thanks capewind and John. I'm doing some research and looking to see if building my own acrylic tank will be cheaper or not, right now it is 'not' cheaper especially I cant find anywhere that will cut for me.

 

[JohnHuff]

Also, I've seen some great deals on Craig's List and garage sales.