Loooooong time - no post

[Leader of Men]

So, it has been quite a while since I've posted here! Hopefully I'll be around more this time.

The last time I was around here I had a 29 gallon tank all setup and I even remember that my first fish were penguin tetras. I also had SAEs, gouramis, and a few other kinds of tetras.

However, a year and a few months ago I was heading off to college. I wasn't sure what to do with my fish so I gave them away rather than worrying that my parents couldn't take care of my very old needy dog and my fish. It would just be another burden. However, my dog (my best friend) was put to sleep just before I went to school this year. It leaves my house and life feeling quite empty and so I am starting up my tank again. I truly missed getting all excited and looking down the road (ok, my next fish will be this and that) and feeding them and watching their different personalities.

I'm home for a month now and so I'm getting my tank all cleaned up and then I'm going to put gravel and water in it and do a water change right away just to get the gravel cleaned up all the better. Can't hurt, right? After that I'll start running my filter and make sure all systems are go and I'll be adding cycle and dechlor.

I hope that by the end of next week I can be adding fish into the tank and hopefully those will fare well and I can add another batch again before I leave. Another thing I may do is start a 10 gal. this summer for breeding and possibly some quarantine. I'd probably just get one of those tank dividers to be able to separate the parents and to keep the little fry out of the filter. But that's a discussion for another day.

I'm glad to be back, and very excited about my aquarium!

 

[black hills tj]

Great to have you back. I'm home from college for christmas break as we speak. Yesterday I brought the 10g GBR Tank(trying to get them to spawn,anyone have any fish aphordisiacs?) from my dorm room home. Set it up and rescaped it last night. Fish are doing well.


Regarding starting the tank back up, look into fishless cycling here on AA. Your tank could take all winter break before its ready for fish if you are unlucky.

 

[rubysoho]

welcome back! I am doing a bit of the same thing - though I just graduated a year and a half ago and have led quite the transit lifestyle since then. Now it is looking like life is settling down enough that I can look into getting my tanks up and running.

Black hills, we'll have to compare notes on the GBRs. I was successfully spawning a few pairs of GBRs before I had to take down my setups. My problem was keeping the fry alive and strong. Of course, at the time they were in a community tank which was the main problem (fry are nothing more than snacks once mum and dad decide to abandon them).

So, LoM, what do you have planned for your tank in regards to fish? Any specific kind you are interested in breeding?

 

[Leader of Men]

As far as breeding goes for the other tank I was thinking whatever is easiest or on the easier side at first so I can get the hang of it. Then I'd like to try my hand at cichlids or angelfish.

I suppose I could partition my 29 gallon and breed in there, even!

 

[rubysoho]

yup! And then the 10 gallon could be a small grow-out tank

 

[tropicfishman]

welcome back! sorry to hear abotu your dog though. I had to come home on my lunch break not to long ago and put my cat I've had since I was 9 or 10 to sleep, it was sad. then on halloween someone stole my 21 lb all black cat

 

[black hills tj]

If you are only looking for easy, then livebearers will get you there. I know a lot of fishkeeping idiots who brag to me about how their molly's, platies, or guppies spawn all the time, but my GBR's don't. They don't quite understand the difficulty in first, getting the GBR's to spawn, and second, raising the fry!

If you want to skip livebearers though, angels seem to spawn pretty easily. Not sure about raising the fry though.

I mentioned I'm trying to spawn a young pair of GBR's right now, and I'm also raising a trio of young Albino bushy-nose plecos to try to spawn.

 

[Leader of Men]

I'll look into breeding angels and doing nitrogen cycles!.

tropicfishman, all the best on finding your cat. I can imagine this would be devastating.

 

[rubysoho]

Angels are fun, and can be relatively easy if you just keep your water clean and are lucky to get a pair. You can always bring home six and return four once two have paired. Mine preferred a slanted piece of smooth slate (as opposed to my German Blue Rams with their anubias). And the fry look really neat growing up. I never grew my fry out (didn't have the space) but I've read they need a tall tank for growing out to correctly develop their fins. I am sure someone on here knows more about this. And there are plenty of sites with tips.

 

[Leader of Men]

So the tank is all setup and ready to go! It is running now and I'm doing some cycles and it should be ready for fish probably by Thursday or Friday. I think Friday will be the day I go in and get the fish.

I am looking for something fairly hardy since they will be the first fish in on this round. I was thinking possibly some tetras, any suggestions as far as that goes?

Then I'm thinking a week and a half or so later I'll get a couple angels and an algae eater. Does that sound good, or should I add more fish in before getting angels?

Thanks!

 

[rubysoho]

zebra danios are cool. I got them as my first fish because that was how the LFS told me to cycle my tank (I know!) and ended up keeping them because they were just fun to watch. A lot of times they played in the stream of the filter. And they put some of the more shy fish at ease by being out and active (which led the other shy fish to think there was no danger around).

 

[Leader of Men]

Well that sounds pretty good! I'll definitely consider those!

A big part of it depends on what catches my eye that particular day, too!

What would you say about angelfish and an algae eater in the 2nd group?