sallyjano
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Last August a babysitter took our two small children to a local fair and came back with......two goldfish! At first I was slightly irritated at her bringing home something new for me to take care of. I had no tank or anything so just put the poor things in a glass mixing bowl. To be honest I expected they would quickly die as I had heard fish from fairs were normally not well taken care of and likely diseased......but I was wrong! Two days later they were still swimming around.
At that point I took pity on them and we headed to the pet store to get a goldfish bowl. Back at home, watching them swim around, I started to realize how fun fish are! I recall being fascinated with the tank at my dentist's office as a child and I became quite attached to these 2 little goldfish. Sadly however they didn't last and a few days later they were belly up but by that time I was hooked.
The next trip to the pet store resulted in a purchase of a 10g tank and 3 tropical fish. Despite my proclamations to my husband that 'it's all for the kids' secretly I suspected I loved them the most.
In the next few weeks I poured so much time into that tank! Why did the fish keep dying?? Why where the nitrates so high??!! My local fish store was not much help. They told me to use ammonia remover to get rid of nitrates (???). When that didn't work they told me I should throw it all away and start again. I didn't want to do that. So.....I turned to the internet and soon started to learn that I had a simple problem - my tank just hadn't cycled yet. Lots of water changed and a few weeks after that the tank cycled and stabilized and all was good.
Now 18 months later I am ready for an upgrade. I just bought a new tank and am very excited!! My new shiny 60 gallon is sitting in my living room as we speak. I filled it with water last night and am letting it run for a few days before doing anything else.
So that's my story. I am excited about joining this site. I have already posted 2 questions and was amazed at how fast I got responses! And I have already been given great advice, so thank you.
Sally
At that point I took pity on them and we headed to the pet store to get a goldfish bowl. Back at home, watching them swim around, I started to realize how fun fish are! I recall being fascinated with the tank at my dentist's office as a child and I became quite attached to these 2 little goldfish. Sadly however they didn't last and a few days later they were belly up but by that time I was hooked.
The next trip to the pet store resulted in a purchase of a 10g tank and 3 tropical fish. Despite my proclamations to my husband that 'it's all for the kids' secretly I suspected I loved them the most.
In the next few weeks I poured so much time into that tank! Why did the fish keep dying?? Why where the nitrates so high??!! My local fish store was not much help. They told me to use ammonia remover to get rid of nitrates (???). When that didn't work they told me I should throw it all away and start again. I didn't want to do that. So.....I turned to the internet and soon started to learn that I had a simple problem - my tank just hadn't cycled yet. Lots of water changed and a few weeks after that the tank cycled and stabilized and all was good.
Now 18 months later I am ready for an upgrade. I just bought a new tank and am very excited!! My new shiny 60 gallon is sitting in my living room as we speak. I filled it with water last night and am letting it run for a few days before doing anything else.
So that's my story. I am excited about joining this site. I have already posted 2 questions and was amazed at how fast I got responses! And I have already been given great advice, so thank you.
Sally
