freakinfishgeek
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
I call myself a fish geek because that is what all my friends call me. I'm a 29 year old single mom who would have a tank on every flat surface if I could afford it. I accidently found this hobby when my 5 year old daughter decided she wanted a gold fish for her birthday last year. We bought a pretty orange and white fan tail and,,,, don't judge I didn't know better,,,,, Wal-Mart 
We put her in a 1 gallon bowl with a bubbler wich I acctually thought was a filter,,, so embaresing to admit. So superise superise when three days later she was floating on her side in the middle of the tank gasping for air. I am a major animal lover and honestly did not know I was doing anything wrong. I got on the net though and was shocked to find out there is soooooo much more to it that a bowl water and a fish with a little decor. I rushed to the LFS with a water sample and came home after having spent $150 big ones with a 10 gallon tank kit bubble curtains, air pumps, gravel, decor, special medications and potions of all kinds. They told me from the water sample and description that she was suffecating on her won waste,, ammonia poisening. The woman there is my age and we are acctually great friends now! Anyway I got Fanny into the new tank and she improved quickly but we still had the nitrogen cycle to get through. So long story short she got sucked up the wrongly installed filter tube twice and lived but lost lots of fin, almost didn't make it through the nitrite spike and then came down with a mild case of velvet! Beleive it or not she is now HUGE healthy and my best buddy. I have fallen head over heels in love with gold fish. Fanny is now is a 45 gallon beautiful tank all by herself and loving life. Her roomate, a young black moore is in a 5 gallon QT waiting to join her. But with all she has been through I am terrified to exposse her to him. I would like three goldies in my 45 gallon tank. Then a betta in the 5 gallon and a tropical community in the ten. I also have a 55 gallon tank I want to set up with cichlids when I get the money to put it together. So any advice to a well read newbie is always welcome. I have never QTed a fish before so I really don't know what to look for other than the obvious. I am excited to meet others who understand why I can write an essey about my gold fish and get why I cry when she is sick and get pissed when I see the tanks at drug stores! God Bless you all and all your wet pets!
We put her in a 1 gallon bowl with a bubbler wich I acctually thought was a filter,,, so embaresing to admit. So superise superise when three days later she was floating on her side in the middle of the tank gasping for air. I am a major animal lover and honestly did not know I was doing anything wrong. I got on the net though and was shocked to find out there is soooooo much more to it that a bowl water and a fish with a little decor. I rushed to the LFS with a water sample and came home after having spent $150 big ones with a 10 gallon tank kit bubble curtains, air pumps, gravel, decor, special medications and potions of all kinds. They told me from the water sample and description that she was suffecating on her won waste,, ammonia poisening. The woman there is my age and we are acctually great friends now! Anyway I got Fanny into the new tank and she improved quickly but we still had the nitrogen cycle to get through. So long story short she got sucked up the wrongly installed filter tube twice and lived but lost lots of fin, almost didn't make it through the nitrite spike and then came down with a mild case of velvet! Beleive it or not she is now HUGE healthy and my best buddy. I have fallen head over heels in love with gold fish. Fanny is now is a 45 gallon beautiful tank all by herself and loving life. Her roomate, a young black moore is in a 5 gallon QT waiting to join her. But with all she has been through I am terrified to exposse her to him. I would like three goldies in my 45 gallon tank. Then a betta in the 5 gallon and a tropical community in the ten. I also have a 55 gallon tank I want to set up with cichlids when I get the money to put it together. So any advice to a well read newbie is always welcome. I have never QTed a fish before so I really don't know what to look for other than the obvious. I am excited to meet others who understand why I can write an essey about my gold fish and get why I cry when she is sick and get pissed when I see the tanks at drug stores! God Bless you all and all your wet pets!
