Hello There!

[KevinKY]

Brand new fish keeper here. I was blessed with a new tank from my wife on my birthday and now I'm hooked!

My main goal in creating an account here was to soak up as much information as I can and meet new people who also enjoy these fish as much as I do.




Thanks for reading and see ya around!

[Delapool]

Hi, welcome to AA.

[Freshwaterking]

Welcome Kevin, I've been into this hobbies pretty much my whole life and I've just enjoy it. What size tank did you receive and what are you planning to put in there? The biggest advise anyone could give you is to be patient. setting up a successful tank doesn't happen overnight, but once it's establish it relatively easy to maintain as long as you set a maintenance schedule and stick with it. Good luck

[HN1]

Welcome to AA!

[KevinKY]

Thanks for the warm welcomes! I'll tell you the story...

For 6 years I have desperately wanted to keep fish. However, my biggest fear was the kids smashing a tank and having time to take care of the fish and even more time to actually enjoy them. So I never sought out the equipment to do it. I just thought 'It's not time for a tank, maybe when the kids are older.'

Well, my wife knew I wanted one so, while I was asleep (I work nights) she rounded up our kids and went to the pet store. Upon waking up I found a 10 gallon tank already stocked with 5 platy fish. (I don't blame her, she didn't know about the first cycle or how to do it. She just wanted me to have fish to enjoy when I woke.)

I was excited but also fear stricken. I have never had a tank. I have only ever talked with 2 friends of mine about setting up a new tank. (One owns a salt water fish store and the other is a salt water keeper) Luckily, they had shared enough information to give me a clue as to what to do. Reading on the internet filled in the missing information.

Out of the 5 starting fish, I found one dead the next day. The move to a new home and unfavorable water conditions was just too much for her. :-( The other 4 were doing great until last week. One of them had some kind of deformity that I noticed when I got her. She had, what looked like a very sharp hump on her back and didn't grow any larger in the months she was with us.

After she passed I was left with 2 males and one female. The males would just not stop harassing the female. Not wanting to add more fish just yet I purchased a few more fake plants, in hopes, this would give her more hiding places so she could get some peace. After 2 days, the males would just not stop harassing the female, even with the new hiding places for her. So I went to the pet shop and found 3 more female Platies. So as of this moment, I have 2 handsome males and 4 beautiful females.

Other than currently shopping Craigslist, eBay, and the local pet stores for a good deal on a 30 gallon tank, thats the story.

Hope you enjoyed it, and thanks for reading! See ya around!