Building my first ever tank :)

[Fresh2o]

Those are very red! Perhaps thats a good sign. The ones I get are usually pale and it takes several days to a few weeks for them to regain their color.

 

[Tuck]

Those are very red! Perhaps thats a good sign. The ones I get are usually pale and it takes several days to a few weeks for them to regain their color.

There's two that are pale but the rest are a deep red. I wasn't expecting to get the shrimp today so my moss doesn't arrive until tomorrow but their happy enough on the drift wood and Anubias for now

 

[Tuck]

Hey wasup? Nuttin Just chillin'

My new shrimp house. I hope they like it



My tank as it stands. Adding the house, and hopefully a background and some moss tomorrow.

 

[Tuck]

Added a "blackground" and the new shrimp house, only 2 have dared explore it since all the commotion the rest of the choir are still under the volcano log

 

[Tuck]

So got my first true fishes today, I wanted 5 neons and 5 harlequins. But the lfs only had 3 harlequins left so I ended up getting 6 neons and the last 3 harlequins. They did me a good deal though and are going to contact me when they next get harlequins in so I can get a course more.

Not the best picture but you can see how tiny the harlequins are. Probably why they were the last 3.

 

[FishieMomma]

Looks like a nice community so far!

 

[Tuck]

Looks like a nice community so far!

Thanks Yeah I won't be adding much more after the betta there's 5-6 halfmoon tailed juveniles that I've seen so ill make a thread later and let people give me personal opinions because I can't decide lol.

 

[Tuck]

 

[bullbo]

It's looking good Tuck. I can't wait to add fish to my tank. Ha ha your thread is filling the void until my tank is cycled. What are you going for next? After you collect the rest of the harlequins?

 

[Tuck]

It's looking good Tuck. I can't wait to add fish to my tank. Ha ha your thread is filling the void until my tank is cycled. What are you going for next? After you collect the rest of the harlequins?

I'm getting a male Betta next but trying to decide on the one I want. I have a thread on here, I've narrowed it down to the final 6 lol have a look and give me your opinion.

 

[Tuck]

So my plants arrived today at last!! So that's me for the rest of tonight arranging my tank and what not. I also brought some small stones (from a suggestion earlier in the thread) which I will be adding to pics of tank later tonight haha.

 

[bullbo]

Where did you order plants from? Where you living? I was thinking of getting a java fern and java moss but wouldn't know where to start?

 

[Tuck]

Where did you order plants from? Where you living? I was thinking of getting a java fern and java moss but wouldn't know where to start?

I got the marimo moss balls from eBay, and the java ferns from an online shop (can't remember the site) but I just googled "java ferns UK seller" and there's tons of choices it chose me less that 90p per java fern including postage. I livein UK.

 

[Tuck]

Ok so I planted what I had tried to shuffle a few things around, so I have all my java ferns at one end of the tank attached to the long drift wood.







Then the other side is more open but with the volcano wood rearranged to make it higher and more open and I tied the Anubias to it just for some Colour because its a short plant. plus I added the stones as suggested and I'm very happy with them












And I also added a java fern to the plastic ornament I had (shrimp house) so I tied it to the fake plastic plant that was already attached. I think it looks ok kind of like a whole new plant.







Lastly I simply placed the two Marimo balls in the front of the tank just to break up the tank floor and to help bring the shrimp to the front.

And then around an hour after I had finished I tied an algae wafer to some cotton and gave the fish a special dinner. Which they went crazy for!

 

[FishieMomma]

All the pics are great. I enjoy following threads with visuals.

 

[Tuck]

Well today I took the decision to change from a Betta male to a Gourami. I was originally looking into a single/pair of DG but after much research and advice from you guys I switched to Gold Honey Gourami. Which as I am led to believe are the same size or slightly smaller than DG's and from other peoples experience not quite as territorial. I also decided to max out my stocking with 3 male guppies which my fiancée hand picked from 3 separate tanks she has a good eye for beautiful fish. So now my tank is complete just need a few more plants here's some pictures of the little guys floating.











So now I will be doing weekly 25-30% water changes and monitoring the fish close leg I'm feeding a variety of flake/freeze dried blood worms/and a all-in-one complete pellet. With every Friday being a fast day for my tank.

 

[bullbo]

I like the gourami, gonna buy some myself. Your tank is looking good now mate. More pics when they are all settled in?

 

[Tuck]

I like the gourami, gonna buy some myself. Your tank is looking good now mate. More pics when they are all settled in?

I'll upload some pics in about 30 mins when it's feeding time

 

[Tuck]

Also you should defiantly get some gouramis but be careful on the type they have such a different adult size depending on the variant you go for. For example
Dwarf Gourami 2.5"
Golden/Honey Gourami 2"
Pearl Gourami 4"
Three spot Gourami 4"
And so on. but they are lovely looking fish although they are supposed to be top/middle dwellers mine seem to be middle/bottom but this might just be because they are new and looking for the best places to hide while they settle in but I will keep you updated on this.

 

[bullbo]

Yeah I've been researching them to pass the time while the tank cycles. I like the neon blue dwarf, but I could be swayed into the honey?? I just dunno robe honest but then someone said they are too shy as a centrepiece fish so I'm lost.