# Guppies and Mollies staying at top of tank.



## Jwar090

Hello, I was wondering if anyone could offer any advice. (as i am new to fish keeping)

I have had my tank up and running for just over 3 weeks now. For the 1st week we set the tank up with no fish and then after a week added the following fish: 2 guppies, 2 mollies and 1 catfish. 24 hours after getting the fish one of the guppies gave birth (bit of a shock!) and we now have 10 baby guppies in a 'breeder' unit within the tank (as we currently are unable to set up another new tank.)
Throughout the last couple of weeks we have regularly been testing for ammonia, nitrite/nitrate etc. We have had a couple of spikes but things now seem to have settled down, through doing regular water changes. 
Currently our levels are as follows: 
Ammonia - 0 
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 10 mg/l
PH - 7.2
Chlorine - 0
Temp: 24 degrees

The tank size is: 55 litre (approx 12 gallons) 
We also have 3 small live plants in the tank.

We did a 30% water change yesterday only to find this morning that all the fish (apart from the catfish) are hanging around the top of the tank. So today we did a 50% water change and they are still staying at the top of the tank. 
We have a good filter and bubbler - which we have put on the highest setting we can. 

Does anyone have any advice as to why this may be? as we really dont want to lose our fish! :|
thanks


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## madyotto

Jwar090 said:


> Hello, I was wondering if anyone could offer any advice. (as i am new to fish keeping)
> 
> I have had my tank up and running for just over 3 weeks now. For the 1st week we set the tank up with no fish and then after a week added the following fish: 2 guppies, 2 mollies and 1 catfish. 24 hours after getting the fish one of the guppies gave birth (bit of a shock!) and we now have 10 baby guppies in a 'breeder' unit within the tank (as we currently are unable to set up another new tank.)
> Throughout the last couple of weeks we have regularly been testing for ammonia, nitrite/nitrate etc. We have had a couple of spikes but things now seem to have settled down, through doing regular water changes.
> Currently our levels are as follows:
> Ammonia - 0
> Nitrite - 0
> Nitrate - 10 mg/l
> PH - 7.2
> Chlorine - 0
> Temp: 24 degrees
> 
> The tank size is: 55 litre (approx 12 gallons)
> We also have 3 small live plants in the tank.
> 
> We did a 30% water change yesterday only to find this morning that all the fish (apart from the catfish) are hanging around the top of the tank. So today we did a 50% water change and they are still staying at the top of the tank.
> We have a good filter and bubbler - which we have put on the highest setting we can.
> 
> Does anyone have any advice as to why this may be? as we really dont want to lose our fish! :|
> thanks




that's good then 
and also perfectly normal do the molly rest once the light is out if so all is grand 
this is normal for both fish 

different species of fish inhabit different layers of your tank 

molly's and guppy and few others inhabit the top layer of your tank so when choosing your next fish do some research and find the fish that take up the middle layers of your tank 

when choosing fish for the bottom of the tank bear in mind this layer is normally reserved for your cleaning crew which could consist of combinations of the following 

loach's these come in many different shapes and sizes but mainly do the same job of eating the remaining waste food not eaten by the tanks other inhabitants 

check out the golden weather loach this fish adds the added cleaning to your tank in the way it swims its almost a eel shape and swims with fast motions across the gravel which disturbs all fish waste allowing your filter to pick up the majority of the waste left in its trail 

other loach are more fish shaped but eat predominantly of the ground 

then there are things like apple snail's (not the best at cleaning but very interesting to watch)

then there is the pleco's that will also clean glass and ornaments 
be sure when buying these that you are buying from a VERY TRUST WORTHY SELLER if you get mis-sold one some breeds of these can grow they big but lots stay small 

also just an added note 

i see no merit in testing for Chlorine as long as you use a good water conditioner 

and i would reduce the amount of water tests you are doing because the plants do a remarkable job of keeping your ammonia nitrite and nitrate down 

this is because plants feed directly on the chemical called ammonia 

where as you filter uses the nitrification process
which in short works like this 

ammonia gets turned into nitrite > nitrite gets turned into nitrate 
the nitrate then stay's in your water until you either change some water or there is no ammonia to feed your plants when this happens most plants will turn to feeding on the nitrate 

a starve day once every week or two also makes running a tank much more manageable.

hope this helps


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