First time fish owner

[Fishmama82]

Hello all,

Just to get started I have special needs son who has interest in nothing for more than 30 secs we were at a wedding sat and they had fish in vase's and my son was amazed the whole 6 hrs we were there. So Sunday I went out looking for a tank ended up with a 75g everything else look to small to have a wide choice in colors sizes ex. I just filled it hocked up filter heater lights and it's just running. Pet store told me a few days than add fish. Now my problem is I have been researching and have come up with so many different things I Sud do before fish so that's what I'm hoping I can get help with. I've got a gravel vacuum, thing to clean the glass with, right start for the water, a API water test kit. What else do I need I do not want to be adding fish before its all ready or before I have all stuff to do proper care.

Thank much and sorry for long response

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Hello. Welcome to AA.
Very first thing you need to do is learn about cycling.
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/artic...-to-Starting-a-Freshwater-Aquarium/Page1.html
This guide will explain cycling, equipment and maintenance.

 

[FishontheRock]

Wow... That is a great tank to get started with! You have a choice between fishless or fish in cycling. There are two excellent articles on this site explaining both methods.

The benefit of fishless is that it's less work and you don't need to worry about fish while the cycle is established the downside is that you have an empty tank for potentially two months. The benefit of fish-in is that you get fish sooner but it's a lot of work to do it safely. If you can get some filter media from an established tank the cycle process can be quicker.

More people will chime in. You child is one lucky kid. Good luck with fish keeping. Beware it can be addictive!

 

[HN1]

For an alternate method to fishless cycling, check out Fish-in Cycling: Step over into the dark side - Aquarium Advice. It means more work for more immediate gratification. There are some great articles in our articles section on other topics and feel free to ask any specific questions you'd like. Welcome to AA & the aquatics hobby!

 

[Borderlesscott]

Welcome to the site, and what a mum! Super choice of tank, easier to maintain than smaller tanks and you have a massive choice of fish - I recommend you take your time and include your son in the process, read up on the types of fish, Cichlids, Live bearers etc, Cycling - its more fun than you think. It's really pays to take your time at the start as once you add fish you have to stick with what is suitable for that type. If you need any advice just ask, friendly bunch on this forum!

Good luck! And look forward to following your progress.

 

[Fishmama82]

Thank you for replies I have been reading. I will very much include him on this his is really attracted to the colors of cichlids. Now I have Alota research with that because there's so many of them!!! In the pet store he loved the colors on them. But I think for being a beginner I wanna do a tropical tank. Than maybe down the road switch. I'm still reading on fish in cycle and fish less cycle ( but I think fish less as I don't wanna loss one here and there durring it and my son get turned off of it this is a excellent learning and fun experience for him!!!)

 

[Fishmama82]

How hard is care of cichlids? I'll keep reading on them but from personal experience what would y'all say bout it

 

[HN1]

Cichlids are a huge group of fish that span the entire spectrum of difficulty to care for, from really easy to nearly impossible. Do you have any idea what your tap water is like with hardness and such? I'd recommend getting an idea of that and then choosing between African lake cichlids and South American (or African riverine) based on the results. Harder water will make the keeping of Rift lake cichlids simpler whereas, softer water would make it easier to keep the latter.

 

[Fishmama82]

I'm doing lots of research on cichlids. My water is on the harder side. That's the first thing I tested when I got the test kit. I got days of reading a head of me