Just starting out.

[New_b0401]

Hello everyone I just set up my first aquarium about a month ago and fell in love! It is a 45 gal hexagon freshwater tank and yes I have to brag that I only paid $25 for the tank stand and lid and its in perfect condition! Ok back to what you want to hear about the fish lol currently all I have in my tank are A LOT of danios haha I have 5 zebras 5 long-finned golden 1long-finned leopard and 4 giant danios I love them they are amazing and entertaining fish. I started my cycle a little over a month ago let the tank run for about week and a half with the filter and heater. Then i went and purchased all but my giants from my local Petsmart left them in for two weeks before deciding to get my giants. I havent lost any fish so far *knock on wood* I dechloranated my water put in quick start and some stress coat when I added new fish and/or decor. I have been feeding tetracolor tropical flakes 3 times a day and my danios love them the second I open the top they are swimming back and forth ready to be fed. My ammonia is right where I want it but my PH is high anywhere between 7.4-7.6 I REALLY need to get it down and was hoping I wasnt going to have to buy new water but I've used all the PH down I can and its not looking good/: im planing on adding bards mollies and Angelis and whatever else I can get haha I'm basing my tank off the hope of one day having angelfish so I know I cant have anything that bites at long fins... any suggestions on what else I could add?Don't worry I know not to over stock some of danios will be moving to another tank I want to cyce. I'm also thinking about breeding so I was going to start off with my danios since I've done some research and they are suppose to be good for beginners? Any tips? Ok I believe that's it and will stop boring you by talking all about me(; thabks for reading and good luck to all my fishy friends out there

 

[GreenLily]

Welcome to AA! Looks like you are off to a good start. You are lucky to not have had problems with your cycling. It is a pretty critical part of keeping fish. Your pH sounds normal to me. I would recommend just leaving it alone because trying to adjust it can cause problems especially since you would have to adjust it every time you added water to it. I'm not sure what pH danios prefer, but they are obviously doing well now. The only time you need to worry about having perfect pH for the fish is for breeding conditions for very difficult and picky fish to breed. Since danios are good beginner fish to bed with, I think you would have some leeway in the pH. Bottom line is, it is more important to keep the pH stable. You can always add driftwood to the tank and that can help lower the pH naturally, but not very significantly in my experiences. Hope this helps! I look forward to seeing you around the forum!

 

[New_b0401]

Thank you so much! I want and got my PH tested by a local pet store and they told me to lower it before I added any other fish which is why I was nervous im glad to hear it a not a problem!

 

[GreenLily]

Unfortunately, a lot of pet stores don't give the best advice. They can have some general knowledge but they probably don't know everything there is to know about fish since they have to know about other animals too, probably. A pH of 7.4-7.6 is probably the best since it's in between the average low and high. My water is at 8.2 which can be tough on some fish, but they can adapt to the changes as long as you acclimate them properly. Lucky for me, I keep cichlids that love the high pH.

 

[New_b0401]

Great to know! Thanks!

 

[New_b0401]

Hello everyone I just set up my first aquarium about a month ago and fell in love! It is a 45 gal hexagon freshwater tank and yes I have to brag that I only paid $25 for the tank stand and lid and its in perfect condition! Ok back to what you want to hear about the fish lol currently all I have in my tank are A LOT of danios haha I have 5 zebras 5 long-finned golden 1long-finned leopard and 4 giant danios I love them they are amazing and entertaining fish. I started my cycle a little over a month ago let the tank run for about week and a half with the filter and heater. Then i went and purchased all but my giants from my local Petsmart left them in for two weeks before deciding to get my giants. I havent lost any fish so far *knock on wood* I dechloranated my water put in quick start and some stress coat when I added new fish and/or decor. I have been feeding tetracolor tropical flakes 3 times a day and my danios love them the second I open the top they are swimming back and forth ready to be fed. My ammonia is right where I want it but my PH is high anywhere between 7.4-7.6 I REALLY need to get it down and was hoping I wasnt going to have to buy new water but I've used all the PH down I can and its not looking good/: im planing on adding bards mollies and Angelfish and whatever else I can get haha I'm basing my tank off the hope of one day having angelfish so I know I cant have anything that bites at long fins... any suggestions on what else I could add?Don't worry I know not to over stock some of danios will be moving to another tank I want to cyce. I'm also thinking about breeding so I was going to start off with my danios since I've done some research and they are suppose to be good for beginners? Any tips? Ok I believe that's it and will stop boring you by talking all about me(; thabks for reading and good luck to all my fishy friends out there

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