New to Aquariums

[gsxrated98]

New to Aquariums
Hello everyone. I just picked up my first aquarium over the weekend, kind of father/daughter XMas gift.

I've always wanted a tank, so she convinced me to finally get one for us. Now, we both decided that we wanted "sharks".
I got a 20gal tank, with a few decos, and a few plants. Now, after speaking with the guy at the store, he said this and that shark would be fine in a school of 3 or more, and they would fit in my tank. After doing about 5 minutes of research I've pretty much come to the conclusion that we have way to small of a tank for sharks.

Well, by force of pressure from my daughter, shes 7, we jumped the gun a bit, and got a small school of fish for our new tank. I didn't know about fishless cycling, and I'm not sure I could of lived with her hounding me to get a few fish.

All I have local to me are the large chains, so thats pretty much what I'm stuck with as far as supply. I did some research on fish, and ended up getting 6 barbs for the tank. There pretty small right now, between .5 and .75 inches. I got 3 green and 3 tiger. They seam to be getting along pretty well with each other. The first night, two of the tigers did the barb dance, which was very cool to watch, and after about 5mins of that, everything has fallen into place very nicely.

I took baseline reading of the tank before I put the fish in, so I have a comparison after a few days to go off of.

Quick question, how do you know if you're feeding enough, to much, or not enough?

We will see how things turn out...

Thanks in advance for all the advice.

[melosu58]

Welcome aboard. We are glad you found us here at AA.

[tonedogz]

Feeding them ever other day will be fine. Put in alittle at a time till they've eaten it all then you can add a little more, over feeding will cause problems down the road such as high nitrates.

[gsxrated98]

@tonedogz - every other day, really? I can't remember the paper I read, but it said every 12 hours.

I'm just feeding them flake food for now.

[signalman]

welcome to AA. Any questions theres plenty of peeps here willing to help

[tonedogz]

Originally Posted by gsxrated98

@tonedogz - every other day, really? I can't remember the paper I read, but it said every 12 hours.

I'm just feeding them flake food for now.

I don't know where you read that but thats way to much. I feed mine ever other day with froze food but I rinse it before feeding to get off any of the stuff thats mixed in with it then add a few drops of garlic and vitamine C

[stingrays4]

Hi and welcome to AA
As for the feeding question every single aquarist will give you a different answer Basically you fish will eat as much as you can put in the tank BUT this will cause chaos to your filters and water quality! So best advice is
Feed twice a day and very sparingly! If there is any uneaten food after two minutes you are feeding too much! Feed a good quality flake and feed a little frozen food once or twice a week just to give them some variety

[Convict2161]

Welcome to AA

[Andrew McFadden]

to AA! We hope ya enjoy