Coco1019
Aquarium Advice Freak
- Joined
- Oct 14, 2012
- Messages
- 251
Hi! I'm new here and new to aquariums in general.
On Sunday - 10/7 - I bought a 29G tank kit, some gravel and decorations and was told that we needed to wait 48-hours to add the fish. Added the conditioned water, decor (fake plants and large lava rock), and set the heater at 76 (vertical on one side of the tank) and waited.
Tuesday - 10/9 - brought a water sample, she explained what she was testing for briefly and said that it was okay to add fish, though the pH was a bit acidic. She said Brought home 9 fancy guppies: 3 males and 6 females. She advised one inch per gallon and said guppies get up to about 2". So we're supposed to be good at the 29G, right?
We feed a small pinch of flakes in the morning and evening (what they can eat it 20 secs), run the light 10 hours a day and otherwise pretty much leave it alone she said to get the good bacteria.
I don't know what the levels of anything are ATM, I have an API Freshwater Master Test Kit on the way to me. Just a couple of sample strips that don't seem to be worth a ****. Different readings minutes apart.
We want to eventually add a small school of neon tetras. We were told that should be okay.
I want to make sure I'm doing the right things. I have one of the platinum guppies swimming funny when staying in one place and hiding out. It looks like he's gasping a bit. But, he's eating. I called the owner of the store up and she said that he may be getting picked on. So, I'm keeping my eye out for that.
I thought I did my research, read online, checked out some books at the library, talked to the LFS lady, and nothing mentioned the fishless cycle I'm reading about here. I'm going through and reading the pitfalls thread so I hope to get some more info.
I hope I didn't screw up too bad.
On Sunday - 10/7 - I bought a 29G tank kit, some gravel and decorations and was told that we needed to wait 48-hours to add the fish. Added the conditioned water, decor (fake plants and large lava rock), and set the heater at 76 (vertical on one side of the tank) and waited.
Tuesday - 10/9 - brought a water sample, she explained what she was testing for briefly and said that it was okay to add fish, though the pH was a bit acidic. She said Brought home 9 fancy guppies: 3 males and 6 females. She advised one inch per gallon and said guppies get up to about 2". So we're supposed to be good at the 29G, right?
We feed a small pinch of flakes in the morning and evening (what they can eat it 20 secs), run the light 10 hours a day and otherwise pretty much leave it alone she said to get the good bacteria.
I don't know what the levels of anything are ATM, I have an API Freshwater Master Test Kit on the way to me. Just a couple of sample strips that don't seem to be worth a ****. Different readings minutes apart.
We want to eventually add a small school of neon tetras. We were told that should be okay.
I want to make sure I'm doing the right things. I have one of the platinum guppies swimming funny when staying in one place and hiding out. It looks like he's gasping a bit. But, he's eating. I called the owner of the store up and she said that he may be getting picked on. So, I'm keeping my eye out for that.
I thought I did my research, read online, checked out some books at the library, talked to the LFS lady, and nothing mentioned the fishless cycle I'm reading about here. I'm going through and reading the pitfalls thread so I hope to get some more info.
I hope I didn't screw up too bad.