i grew up in florida, My parents always had like 3 aquariums and i love them also. Im now married and wanted to pass it on to my child but its alot harder than it looks...lol...i started with some bubble eye fish and had them for a while and they died. then i fell in love with my Leopard freshwater puffers but they died too (this is all freshwater) I heard the puffers have to be moved from fresh to salt but the petstore didnt tell me that...so for a while i gave up and saturday i cleaned it and bought 1 rope fish, 2 african neon frogs, a freshwater shark and an algae eater. I dont have algae really yet so i think thats why he died. My shark is crazy as hell. He will be swimming around like crazy then hes upside down or on the bottom or laying flat and we think hes dead but the next day hes full alive and swimming around. I call him DQ lol (drama queen) haha and i heard some of the rope fish eat freeze dried blood worms but i didnt see him eating anything and hes my fav so i got worried and bought some little shrimp. I havent seen him really eat them either but he might eat it at night when we are sleeping. I need help all around basically lol. I want to be able to have a nice tan kand keep them alive and all..i think my tank is like 10 or 20 gallons..I want to get some plants if it helps their environment and maybe that creates algae for my algae eater lol. My parents keep their fis halive for year and mine die within months lol. I need help..I also got some big rocks and put them in the tank but now the frogs and rope fish stay under them and i dont ever get to see them :( Everyonce in a while they'll come out but i know they like it so i havent moved them. =) Any help/suggestions?

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http://pics.livejournal.com/thugdanzer/ ... g/s320x240

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You should test the water for 3 main things: ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates.

Fish poop and uneaten food first turns to ammonia, and then what's supposed to happen is the ammonia is converted to nitrites by benneficial bacteria, and then in turn the nitrites should get converted to nitrates by another kind of benneficial bacteria.

You should have zero ppm(parts per million) ammonia, zero ppm nitrites, and some, but not too much nitrates (approx 5-40ppm).

If you don't have a test kit the auarium store will probably test your aquarium water for free. having the right bacteria and "cycling" of waste into relatively non-toxic nitrates is very important.

Please get these 3 things tested, and also pH if you can, and we'll go from there.

Peter

I had it running and i didnt wash them off, only the new rocks. Do you think i should buy a live plant for it? ill take a full picture of the aquarium tonight

if you want live plants, you will need a new light with I would say, if its 20 gallons, 40 watts. And as for the fish, do you do water changes? The tank looks really blury...

Caylyn,

First thing I would do if that were my tank is add some kind of substrate. Rock or sand. It will give it more of a finished look and give a place for your beneficial bacteria to grow too. I think the fish would like more plants than rocks. The plants do not have to be real. The setup looks to me more like what the African Cichlid prefers (lots of rock piles instead of plants).

Also, those big stones can be very dangerous for the frogs because they can get trapped between or under them and suffocate. I have frogs and they hang out in the driftwood and love to root around in the sand I have. What are you feeding the frogs? I hand feed mine frozen blood worms every other day. They really don't like flake or pellet foods and I have to hand feed them because the other fish in my tank will eat it all before the poor frogs can find it! I use an eye dropper and will dangle a worm in front of their face, and they gobble them up.

Pleco's can get HUGE so make sure you know the final adult size before you get one. Also, those sharks can get nasty aggressive too, so watch that.

So, if that were my tank I would add the rock substrate or sand, remove over half the rocks you have and make a couple small piles with the ones you keep and add more plants, real or fake.

Here's some links to pictures of my tank if it will help with ideas :-)
I have changed the tank around a bit in the past 2 years.
In my tank I use a mixture of live and fake plants.

This is my first setup: I had the medium sized rock substrate and lava rocks.
http://i530.photobucket.com/albums/dd35 ... anks/1.jpg

Second setup: I changed to a tiny rock substrate, added driftwood and more lava rock.
http://i530.photobucket.com/albums/dd35 ... anks/2.jpg

3rd setup I changed over to playground sand because I love the clean look of it. Still with the driftwood and lava rock
http://i530.photobucket.com/albums/dd35 ... anks/4.jpg

Added river stones:
http://i530.photobucket.com/albums/dd35 ... anks/3.jpg

Final (for now LOL) I had to sprinkle the tiny stones back on the surface of the sand because my male Bolivian Ram was going nuts digging and getting way to aggressive! I guess he liked it way too much.
http://i530.photobucket.com/albums/dd35 ... anks/5.jpg

Here is what I mean about the African Cichlid tank with rocks. This is my Mbuna African Cichlid tank (Mbuna mean "Rock Fish") Most community fish prefer plants to rock.
http://i530.photobucket.com/albums/dd35 ... CT0045.jpg