overcrowded tank? advice please.

[ourFISHtank]

i have a few questions i would like some advice on. here goes:

we have 5 blood parrots, 3 oscars, and 1 goldfish in a 55 gallon tank.
we feed them shrimp [the dried kind], live tetras, and guppies, and pellets.

1. what fish do we have too many of? what should we get rid of/transfer to a different tank?
2. how often should we feed them shrimp? and live feed? and is it okay to feed them live fish?
3. how often should we vac the gravel/change the water/filters?
4. is it okay to add the chlorine out stuff to the new water we add to tank while fish are still in the tank?
5. what the the deal with the nitrate/nitrite i keep seeing on this site? [ive never heard of that before.]
6. and.. are our fish considered compatatible? [we know the goldfish isnt, but, they've been in the tank together for the past 2 weeks and the goldfish is really the same size as the rest, if not a tid bit bigger.
7. also, what is the "cycle" process thing i keep seeing too?

thank you so much if anyone would be kind enough to leave some feedback.

 

[Kuroshio]

a few more ?? to answer please...

Is this a new tank?
Are they juvenile fish still? (adult fish are more hostile then juveniles, oscars are aggressive and parrots honestly have no way of defending themselves)
Did you just buy these fish? (maybe return until you gather appropriate knowledge)

the cycle is quite important in establishing a new tank, if you inherited yours and the bacteria are intact then your fine, if not, go out and buy a master testing kit, one with ammonia, nitrite, nitrate atleast. It is also nice to know pH, chlorine and chloramine as well. There are a lot of cycle threads here, just do a general search and read as many as you have to to understand it. nitrite and ammonia will kill your fish, nitrate is the product of the first two after it is processed by your filtration system, by the way what is that??

You should do water changes according to your bioload (fish poop), usually 10-20% each week and 20-30% each month. You can add your dechlorinator to the tap water by the directions for that amount, or add after it goes into the tank for the total amount of water that is in the tank, by the directions. The water is changed to add nutrients and minerals, and remove the nitrates.

In all, you have a lot of research to do. A 55 G can be a great addition to a household, but have to be willing to put a bit into it. Good luck....

 

[ourFISHtank]

no, its a new tank and theyre all juvenile fish except the goldfish. hes huge.
so, no.. we cant take them back.. i think the warranties were only 7days.

also, we have the pH test kit, we checked it and it was at 7.0. is that okay?

so you suggest getting a mater testing kit? how does ammonia and nitrate get into the tank? lol maybe ill do a search and read up on it so you dont have to explain it all to me.

the filtration system is an aquatech 30-60 came with the tank?


thanks again for ur advice

 

[Kuroshio]

cycle: your fish poop, making ammonia (deadly) which is converted to nitrite by filtration means, and finally converted to nitrate and removed manaully. These elements must be removed, not just ignored. The cycle process is different than the established tank.

Yes you need to get a master test kit. Get the bottles of liquid not the strips, bottles are more accurate. Don't waste your money on the ammonia lock, water clearing solutions, or pH Up or pH Down. They are unnecessary regardless of what the sales assoc. tells you. Your aggressive fish mates are uncompatable. I don't have any of those so I will let someone else chime in there. (I personally am not a hybrid fan and your parrots are quite defenseless) They are small and nice or now, but that will change. Maybe exchanging them for other fish? most lfs (local fish stores) are willing to deal as many new fish keepers buy first and gain knowledge later.

oh yeah, if the gold fish doesn't go into coronary arrest soon, then he will become an oscar snack. If you like your parrots, get rid of the rest. I believe that they get pretty big (5inches)but they aren't as aggressive and you can keep more numbers together. An oscar needs a large tank to be happy(min75g?). Personally I would return them all and get credit for other fish?? You have research to do......

 

[fishbrain]

i have a few questions i would like some advice on. here goes:

we have 5 blood parrots, 3 oscars, and 1 goldfish in a 55 gallon tank.
we feed them shrimp [the dried kind], live tetras, and guppies, and pellets.

I'm sorry to say I don't keep any of the fish you do. Hopefully someone will correct me when I'm wrong.

1. what fish do we have too many of? what should we get rid of/transfer to a different tank?

I don't keep any of these fish but I'll give this try anyway.... Hmmm, I think you could keep some of the blood parrots (not sure about all tho). The oscars are going to get too big & aggressive.

2. how often should we feed them shrimp? and live feed? and is it okay to feed them live fish?

I feed once a day...... this varies a lot from person to person but I'd say twice would be good.

3. how often should we vac the gravel/change the water/filters?

You should vac the gravel/change water weekly (20-30%) to bi-weekly once the tank is established/cycled (this really depends on the bioload; which will be Very high with BIG like yours). The filter should be changed when water will not flow through it BUT thet can be rinsed in Tank water when changing water to extend it's life.

4. is it okay to add the chlorine out stuff to the new water we add to tank while fish are still in the tank?

yes...... covered well by another poster

5. what the the deal with the nitrate/nitrite i keep seeing on this site? [ive never heard of that before.]

also covered by another poster & much here explaining cycling..... a very important think to understand.

6. and.. are our fish considered compatatible? [we know the goldfish isnt, but, they've been in the tank together for the past 2 weeks and the goldfish is really the same size as the rest, if not a tid bit bigger.

sorry to say, no they aren't compatatible & in the long run won't work together... eaten &/or terrorized.

7. also, what is the "cycle" process thing i keep seeing too?

covered well by another poster........ if it still doesn't make a lot of sense to you please search or ask it separately (another post)

thank you so much if anyone would be kind enough to leave some feedback.

I hope I helped....... anyone that has better answers please correct me.