Newbie tips

Question
I'm pretty new to having aquatic animals. I've had fish in the past that has always ended horribly. I recently got a mystery snail and an albino rainbow shark. I don't have that big of a tank about 2 gallons but I want another snail and I want to breed them. I have a few questions.
1. I don't know much of anything about fish, what things should I know?
2. I heard that rainbow sharks grow to be about 6 inches, should I buy a bigger tank?
3. I have a gold mystery snail, if I get a black or blue mystery snail can they still reproduce or do I need to get the same kind?

Answer
Hi Brittany,

I'm glad you are asking questions but I wish that you would have asked before you bought the rainbow shark.  He will die from the ammonia build up and cramped quarters of that tank and he belongs in a 50+ gallon tank.  He is an aggressive species and needs to establish territory and can get quite large.  He makes a good community aggressive fish with similar compatibles but really does need a much larger tank.  Unless you are prepared to get this sized tank I would return him to the petstore asap.  See this page as a reference:

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=830+888+1081&pcatid=1081

I could go on all day about what you need to know about fish.  I would suggest that you first decide what sized tank you are prepared to have and we can go from there.  I can help you with stocking ideas.  What you really need to know depends on how large of a tank you can support and if you want a peaceful or aggressive set up, if you are interested in breeding or not.  2 gallons is only large enough to support 1 snail.

You will also need to cycle any new tank that you set up.  No fish should be present while this happens because the process kills them and you probably never cycled any of your other tanks and that's what led to the 'disasters' of the past that you have described.  To cycle a new tank fast, easily and cheap you simply set up the new tank as you would IF you were about to add fish but instead you add a raw cocktail shrimp in clean pantyhose and let it rot.  This will cycle a tank in a couple of weeks.  Once you confirm with your test kit you have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and 5-20 ppm nitrate you are cycled and can remove the shrimp, do a 25% water change and add new fish.

There are only a few simple rules to fishkeeping successfully: cycle your tank before adding fish, choose healthy stock, stock slowly, don't overstock, don't overfeed and do adequate routine maintenance.  This is why I need to know what size tank you are looking at as the guidelines for these rules change depending on the size of the tank.  For example, a 120 gallon tank could have 140 small tropical fish but could only support about 10 goldfish.  It just depends on what sized tank and what kind of fish before I can give you better advice.

The following is a great page all about breeding mystery snails:

http://aqualandpetsplus.com/Bug,%20Snails,%20Mystery.htm

Good luck : ) April M.