grimlock3000
Aquarium Advice Addict
When I was young, my parents always had a 55 gallon tank that I would stare at for hours. I finally decided to get my own tank after getting some extra money and taking a few trips to the pet stores. I bought most of the stuff at Wal Mart since it was so much cheaper than any pet store in the area. I got as much advice as I could locally before starting anything, I had to get a 10 gallon tank because I live in a small apartment. Here is what I have:
-10 gallon glass tank
-flourescent bulb hood
-AQUA-Tech 5-15 filter
-50 watt heater set to 78F
-1200cc/minute air pump blowing through a 14 inch air stone
-11 pounds of standard aquarium colored rocks, mostly black and purple
-two small and five medium plastic plants
-some small and colorful plastic stones sitting around the bottom of the tank
I rinsed everything out with water, put it all together, filled the tank with tap water, made sure the temperature was stable, added some water conditioner, then waited. I have a valve on the air hose and it is blowing VERY slowly to keep everything in the tank calm otherwise the 14 inch air stone puts out way too many bubles for its own good. Anyway, after waiting a day, I went out and picked up some fish:
-two small dwarf gouramis
-two peppered catfish
-four head and tail light tetras
The guy at the fish store said all of these fish are calm and should be OK in a 10 gallon tank. I only wanted four or five fish to start but it was reccomended that I get the tetras to have some movement. All of the fish were 2 for 1 as well, hence the paired fish. When I got home, I floated the bags in the water for a while and let the fish loose. All of the fish look heathly, the gouramis poke around the bottom behind plants, the catfish go all over the bottom, and the four tetra school around near the top of the tank. No fish have been agressive to the other fish in the time I have been looking at the tank.
Everything appears to be going well, so I want to know where I should go from here. I was thinking about adding some larger plants that would float up to the top of the tank. I am open to any advice on fish I can add to the tank in a couple weeks or anything I could do the help out the fish I already have. What should I do for the best fish owning experience?
Also, do I have to worry about my filter sucking up my fish, and if so, how can I prevent that?
-10 gallon glass tank
-flourescent bulb hood
-AQUA-Tech 5-15 filter
-50 watt heater set to 78F
-1200cc/minute air pump blowing through a 14 inch air stone
-11 pounds of standard aquarium colored rocks, mostly black and purple
-two small and five medium plastic plants
-some small and colorful plastic stones sitting around the bottom of the tank
I rinsed everything out with water, put it all together, filled the tank with tap water, made sure the temperature was stable, added some water conditioner, then waited. I have a valve on the air hose and it is blowing VERY slowly to keep everything in the tank calm otherwise the 14 inch air stone puts out way too many bubles for its own good. Anyway, after waiting a day, I went out and picked up some fish:
-two small dwarf gouramis
-two peppered catfish
-four head and tail light tetras
The guy at the fish store said all of these fish are calm and should be OK in a 10 gallon tank. I only wanted four or five fish to start but it was reccomended that I get the tetras to have some movement. All of the fish were 2 for 1 as well, hence the paired fish. When I got home, I floated the bags in the water for a while and let the fish loose. All of the fish look heathly, the gouramis poke around the bottom behind plants, the catfish go all over the bottom, and the four tetra school around near the top of the tank. No fish have been agressive to the other fish in the time I have been looking at the tank.
Everything appears to be going well, so I want to know where I should go from here. I was thinking about adding some larger plants that would float up to the top of the tank. I am open to any advice on fish I can add to the tank in a couple weeks or anything I could do the help out the fish I already have. What should I do for the best fish owning experience?
Also, do I have to worry about my filter sucking up my fish, and if so, how can I prevent that?