"Adam Lion" adamatadrockdotathdotcx wrote in message
...
Okay, well ebfore i came to uni i had goldfish in the pond in our back
garden. Both of them lived fine and never had a problem and i used to go
and watch them while studying for my exams.

Well I have final exams coming up, and i live in a flat, so no pond, so i
thought id get a tnak and some goldfish. So off i go to the store. I
quizzed the guy on what to do, my mum had issues keeping ehr fish alive in
another pond so i figured they could be pretty fragile. So i came away
with a smallish tank, gravel for the bottom, a water pump thing and 2
small goldfish (about an inch and a half to 2 inches long each). The guy
told me to wash the gravel, so i did that. I put it in the bottom of the
tank and spread it out pretty evenly. He told me to half fill the tank or
so, add the pump, then to rest the bag with the fish in the water (we did
this back home with pondfish to let the temperature adjust). Coming home
we noticed the bag had a small leak, but the fish seemed completely
undisturbed by this. I elft the back there for alkmost an hour, then, as
the guy in the store had told me, i took the corner off the bag and left
it. After about half an hour both fish had swum out and were happily
swimming around.

Now the guy told me that theyd probably settle near the bottom of the tank
at first, and that i should top it up slowly then leave it (wtihout
feeding the fish) until they were swimming aroudn happily.

Well they swam around msot of the afternoon in the lwoer half of the tank.
The smaller fish settled in one corner, pretty much resting on the gravel,
but staying upright. The other seemed to playa roudn in the bubble stream
form the filter a bit then did the same. I figured this was what the guy
had said, so i didnt worry and when it got dark outside i turned the
lights off and went to bed.

When i woke up this morning the bigger of the fish is dead and the smaller
one is still sat in the same corner at the bottom. he doesnt appear to be
distresse,d gasping for air or anything. he's swum out into the middle a
little then backed away into the corner again a few times, but doesant
seem too happy.

Im wondering what killed the bigger fish, and if it's related to the
reason the smaller one is just sitting in the corner. my girlfriend picked
out the fish that died, so it'd be really useful if i could work out what
went wrong, i dont want to just egt mroe fish if they're going to die. Our
water isnt the greatest, but the shop is in the same area, the guy said it
would be okay, and it seems really clear.

anyone have any suggestions. When the store opens im gonna call them and
ask them about it, and i can go through this afternoon if needs be. I want
to get a couple of nice happy healthy fish, but obviously im not gonna get
mroe fish if they're going to die straight away.

hope soemone can help

Adam

Well, first off, sounds like the guy at the store is just trying to get rid
of fish. I'm not sure what kind of pet store would tell you to set up a new
tank and add fish at the same time. This, I've noticed, seems to leave more
fish dead than alive, or in your case, half your fish dead.
Set up a tank first. Let it cycle. There's many water conditioners that
can be used to get all your levels up to par and allow for a happy home for
any type of fish - be it freshwater, sal****er, whatever. Here we have all
kinds of treatments for a variety of water types and fish types... I haven't
set up a new tank in ages, but I do add a variety of fish to all my tanks
every now and then. I have 2 tanks of tropicals, one sal****er and 1
goldfish tank here at home. I also have 2 goldfish tanks set up at my dad's
work for extra goldfish storage when they get too big/too many in my tank at
home.

One thing I NEVER do is add the water from the bag that the fish came in
from the store. This can lead to problems if the water is not free of
everything, as your tank should be a healthy tank. I do, however, float my
fish in the tank for a little while (usually at least 10 mins, sometimes
longer if I find other things to do around the house) then I remove the fish
from the bag and put them in a fish dip antiseptic (I find at fish pet
stores that specialize in fish only, rather than just your average fish
store that supplies for all types of pets) and the water for the antiseptic
is the same temp as my tank, to allow less of a shock from being transported
and moved so much with different temps. Fish stays in the dip for about
10-15 seconds, then it goes into his new tank.

It just gives the fish an extra cleaning in case there was any illness in
the tank at the pet store. I've also seen that most pet stores here have
one filtration system for a whole bunch of their display tanks and fish...
All the fish share the same recycled water, and that means if one fish gets
sick, then all the fish have the potential to get what the one has or had.

If I were you, I'd be a bit upset at the pet store, and I'd go back there,
but not for fish. Maybe pick up a book or two on goldfish (or fish of your
choice) and read it over. Or try the library or see if you can locate
someone with some informative books that you could borrow, and over the next
couple days, read through them and while you do that, allow your current
tank to properly cycle and become stable enough to add some fish.

Another good thing about reading up, even online, about fish is that when
you go into a store, you will get less runaround, and you'll have a better
idea on what to ask, as well as what kind of answers you should get!

That's just my 2¢... Maybe wait for a few more responses to see what others
have to say as well! You can never have too much information, experiences
or suggestions of what works for others and what doesn't work for others.

Best of luck with your fish, and if you loved the fish at your mum's home,
don't let this one experience turn you away from fish. They're great, and
goldfish, I think, are great starters since they are hardly and fairly low
maintenance (when compared with a lot of other fish)