hello ima noob

[tornadonick]

Hello everyone, I am kind of new to this and looking for some help. I am a junior in high school and an animal nut. I have a bearded dragon named PUff. Most notably I am a storm chaser(technically).
In middle school i had a 29 gallon setup so i know some basic stuff, but I failed at a lot of things so could probably do better. Anyway I am setting it back up now and honestly could use a complete noob guide. I got it set up actually 2 days ago, then stole some of my sisters water(she is also a fishy noob, and has had hers for a couple weeks) because i was impatient. Now i have a balloon bellied mollie, a Cremecicle Lyretail Molly, a mickey mouse platty and a red wag platty in there and getting more once i get things figured out a little better.
Right now I have my 29 gallon tank with a Marineland penguin 150 filter and a cheep heater that i can not think of the brand(gets the job done
anyway). Not really any hiding space or decorations other than one fake plant right now because i have stuff to put in but can not seem to be able to find it.
At this point i am going to ramble on and ask a bunch of questions, so if you are not in an answering mood, or if you think i should stop being lazy and should ask these questions in different threads than i would stop reeding now and if you could direct me to where i should be posting this.
I guess the points I would like to raise(very random by the way):
1. how much should i be feeding my fish
2.what are the benifits of plants and which are the easiest to care for.
3. algae control, my first tank had problems with algae like you wouldn't believe. To the point where the glass would be green the water would be murk enough that i couldnt see the back within a couple days of cleaning and using Algaefix to nock it out. what are the reasons behind that and how do i prevent it from happening again.
4. any other major things i should know about.
5. just interesting to bring up and see if anybody knows this. I had plant in my tank once that started sprouting roots from the leaves(weird right?), when something caused part of a leaf to break off it could start a new plant. anybody heard of this and or know what kind of plant this would be?
6.I used to have an absolutely awesome beta. dark gray, very clean perfect looking body, fins that where light blue at the base and grew darker the farther out they went. by the end they where a very dark blue with light grey tips. Sadly this fish developed a big bulge on its head and eventually died(took a few months, hope it wasnt suffering ). What would have caused this?
7. oh ya, is there a recomended temperature more accurate than the general guidelines.
8. This kind of confuses me. right now my two plattys are content with eachother, but my lyretail molly attacks the micky mouse platty, but not the red wag platty. and the balloon bellied molly just attacks the lyretail. Is there anything i can do to keep them from killing eachother?
9. any recomendations to keep my cat off of the tank. he cant get at the fish but he shouldnt be up there.
10. I also plan on getting another tank and keeping cichleds, any thing i need to know on that?

thank you for your time!

 

[tornadonick]

wow, reading through some of the stuff on here, i should definitely found this a couple days ago, all of my research was the general knowledge, petsmart says this will work kind of thing. You guys are good at this! still, would apreciate some help.

 

[kenny69]

Hello everyone, I am kind of new to this and looking for some help. I am a junior in high school and an animal nut. I have a bearded dragon named PUff. Most notably I am a storm chaser(technically).
In middle school i had a 29 gallon setup so i know some basic stuff, but I failed at a lot of things so could probably do better. Anyway I am setting it back up now and honestly could use a complete noob guide. I got it set up actually 2 days ago, then stole some of my sisters water(she is also a fishy noob, and has had hers for a couple weeks) because i was impatient. Now i have a balloon bellied mollie, a Cremecicle Lyretail Molly, a mickey mouse platty and a red wag platty in there and getting more once i get things figured out a little better.
Right now I have my 29 gallon tank with a Marineland penguin 150 filter and a cheep heater that i can not think of the brand(gets the job done
anyway). Not really any hiding space or decorations other than one fake plant right now because i have stuff to put in but can not seem to be able to find it.
At this point i am going to ramble on and ask a bunch of questions, so if you are not in an answering mood, or if you think i should stop being lazy and should ask these questions in different threads than i would stop reeding now and if you could direct me to where i should be posting this.
I guess the points I would like to raise(very random by the way):
1. how much should i be feeding my fish
2.what are the benifits of plants and which are the easiest to care for.
3. algae control, my first tank had problems with algae like you wouldn't believe. To the point where the glass would be green the water would be murk enough that i couldnt see the back within a couple days of cleaning and using Algaefix to nock it out. what are the reasons behind that and how do i prevent it from happening again.
4. any other major things i should know about.
5. just interesting to bring up and see if anybody knows this. I had plant in my tank once that started sprouting roots from the leaves(weird right?), when something caused part of a leaf to break off it could start a new plant. anybody heard of this and or know what kind of plant this would be?
6.I used to have an absolutely awesome beta. dark gray, very clean perfect looking body, fins that where light blue at the base and grew darker the farther out they went. by the end they where a very dark blue with light grey tips. Sadly this fish developed a big bulge on its head and eventually died(took a few months, hope it wasnt suffering ). What would have caused this?
7. oh ya, is there a recomended temperature more accurate than the general guidelines.
8. This kind of confuses me. right now my two plattys are content with eachother, but my lyretail molly attacks the micky mouse platty, but not the red wag platty. and the balloon bellied molly just attacks the lyretail. Is there anything i can do to keep them from killing eachother?
9. any recomendations to keep my cat off of the tank. he cant get at the fish but he shouldnt be up there.
10. I also plan on getting another tank and keeping cichleds, any thing i need to know on that?

thank you for your time!

G'day from Sydney Australia!

Okay here we go....


1. As much as they can eat in 30 seconds once or twice a day (I am sure others have differing ideas but the 30 second rule works fine)
2. Plants help keep your nitrates down, which is the last stage of the nitro cycle (google it) they also look great if you know what you are doing. Plants need good lighting and a good substrate. Easy to read about also. Java fern is pretty easy.
3. Algae, keep the tank away from direct sunlight, or too much outside light. If you use bright lights for your plants (which you should) limit the about of light to about 8-10 hours a day. Get a timer for your lights. Use a magnet slider to keep your tank clean. Also look at getting a bristle nose cat or two to help keep algae under control.
4. Know how to cycle your tank, understand the cycle and the process.
5. No idea however aquarium plants are no different to normal plants, if a root get's hold it will grow, it’s called propagation.
6. No idea.
7. 25-26C (77-78.8F) for tropical’s. Also depends on the species of fish. Goldfish are cold guys, no heater for them.
8. Might be a sex thing, the attacker may be a male fending off other males to get the girl lol. I am sure others with more experience with mollies can help. In my experience with them I never had a problem, any problem I thought I had seem very insignificant now that I have African Lake Malawi cichlids (these guys are crazy if not careful and will kill each other if given the chance)
9. Sorry it’s in their nature. My Ragdoll cat is also very determined bahahaha. It’s funny come on laugh at your cat. I guess as long as he can’t disturb the electrical stuff attached to the tank and can’t get the lid off he should be okay. Might scare your fish though, all though mine just stare at him and don’t seem to be worried at all. They almost do it on purpose.
10. Work out what kind of Cichlids you want, African rift lake or South American etc etc. Know that they can be very aggressive toward each other but this can be controlled. You need I would say at least a 55gal tank minimum. They are beautiful hardy fish that I have really only just started with myself. They grow a heap bigger than normal tropical’s, they require hard water and a high PH of 7.5-9 depending on where your cichlids come from as they are all different. Plenty of buffers on the market to assist getting a high PH and hard water.

I hope this has answered some of your questions. Google is your friend and so is AA.

Good luck!!!

 

[Mr. Limpet]

First off take anything petsmart will tell you with a grain of salt. They want to sell you as much as they can. People here will help you with an agenda of proper care for your fish and help you enjoy aquaria.

First thing you should do is weekly 20 - 50% partial water changes (PWC) using a gravel vacuum and testing your water with an liquid test kit (I like the API FW kit). Petsmart is good for this

As for the fighting going on with your fish, read up on them as some don't get along. Sometimes fish are bullies and the solution may require removal to a different tank, trade with a friend or ?

Allgae bloom can be caused by many things. Light too bright or on too long, sun from a window, infrequent water changes, etc.

Keep posting till you get it settled as there's lots of help/info to be had here.

Welcome to AA too!

Sent from my Epic 4G

 

[Deckape]

Hello and welcome