HI there,
I am so happy to have found this great forum! I plan on sticking around for quite awhile. This place is loaded with so much great information, so here's my introduction and background story. It's a bit long, I hope you stick with me. [emoji4]
Just before Xmas, I picked up a used 1.75G plastic tank that came with a heater and purchased my first betta. He was 1 of 10 others. I ended up picking him (we named him Bubbles) because of his huge interest in me. As I looked at the other bettas, Bubbles seemed interested in me and what I was doing. Watching me the entire time, not nervous at all. I am so happy I picked him. We just love this lil' guy so much.
He is the sweetest fish, always appears overly excited to see us even when we are across the room, spends most of his time floating on the side of the tank we sit closest to and is very inquisitive.
After a couple weeks of reading more about bettas, I bought a 10G. Best decision I could have made ever! You could tell he was so happy with his new tank, better filter, air pump and upgraded heater. He hates his LED light that came with it, so we just keep a small lamp on nearby instead.
I started reading about tank cycling (with fish) and at the time, I didn't have a water testing kit, plants, or substrate. I did the best I could with algae wipe downs and partial water changes every 3-4 days, using pretreated and properly heated water i would get ready ahead of time with his old plastic tank.
A couple weeks ago, I foolishly rinsed out his charcoal filter without realizing the tap water would undo all my attempts at building up the beneficial bacteria. I felt like I was starting over.
Fast forward, 5 days ago. We purchased a few ghost shrimp, some sand substrate and our first plant. After quarantining the shrimp for 2 days. I realize now that 2 days is way too short and I should have waited at least min 2wks. There is quite the learning curve to caring for fish and aquariums.
So now in my aquarium i have my sand substrate, ghost shrimp, Bubbles, and real plant. I've forgotten the name of the plant and stupidly planted it in the sand thinking that would be enough to help it root. Plus, i finally picked up my freshwater API test kit.
I've managed to get some interesting results, which I'll post in another thread as I'm sure I've lost most readers at this point. If you are still with me, great! Thank you for your support.
At this point I am just hoping no surprise illness pops up as a result of my ignorant short quarantine, and that I can successfully cycle this tank and perhaps see some plant growth. Oh, and that the ghost shrimp survive Bubbles, I think he has eaten at least 3 already.
So happy to be here and meet you all! [emoji3]
I am so happy to have found this great forum! I plan on sticking around for quite awhile. This place is loaded with so much great information, so here's my introduction and background story. It's a bit long, I hope you stick with me. [emoji4]
Just before Xmas, I picked up a used 1.75G plastic tank that came with a heater and purchased my first betta. He was 1 of 10 others. I ended up picking him (we named him Bubbles) because of his huge interest in me. As I looked at the other bettas, Bubbles seemed interested in me and what I was doing. Watching me the entire time, not nervous at all. I am so happy I picked him. We just love this lil' guy so much.
He is the sweetest fish, always appears overly excited to see us even when we are across the room, spends most of his time floating on the side of the tank we sit closest to and is very inquisitive.
After a couple weeks of reading more about bettas, I bought a 10G. Best decision I could have made ever! You could tell he was so happy with his new tank, better filter, air pump and upgraded heater. He hates his LED light that came with it, so we just keep a small lamp on nearby instead.
I started reading about tank cycling (with fish) and at the time, I didn't have a water testing kit, plants, or substrate. I did the best I could with algae wipe downs and partial water changes every 3-4 days, using pretreated and properly heated water i would get ready ahead of time with his old plastic tank.
A couple weeks ago, I foolishly rinsed out his charcoal filter without realizing the tap water would undo all my attempts at building up the beneficial bacteria. I felt like I was starting over.
Fast forward, 5 days ago. We purchased a few ghost shrimp, some sand substrate and our first plant. After quarantining the shrimp for 2 days. I realize now that 2 days is way too short and I should have waited at least min 2wks. There is quite the learning curve to caring for fish and aquariums.
So now in my aquarium i have my sand substrate, ghost shrimp, Bubbles, and real plant. I've forgotten the name of the plant and stupidly planted it in the sand thinking that would be enough to help it root. Plus, i finally picked up my freshwater API test kit.
I've managed to get some interesting results, which I'll post in another thread as I'm sure I've lost most readers at this point. If you are still with me, great! Thank you for your support.
At this point I am just hoping no surprise illness pops up as a result of my ignorant short quarantine, and that I can successfully cycle this tank and perhaps see some plant growth. Oh, and that the ghost shrimp survive Bubbles, I think he has eaten at least 3 already.
So happy to be here and meet you all! [emoji3]
