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bengoshi2000

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
May 11, 2010
Messages
111
Location
NC, USA
Good morning everyone:

To properly introduce myself you need to know my fish-keeping history:

As kids my parents bought us (me and 2 younger sisters) each a goldfish. My Father, being fundamentally cheap, went with a 1 gallon bowl. It was high tech for the local KMart pet section in 1976, but not so good for the fish. Within weeks, my Dad had his hands on a 20 gallon tank and set it up in our living room with a filtration system of some sort. The three goldfish lived for the better part of the next decade. One tried to commit suicide. My Dad came down early one morning to find one of the goldfish on the carpet in front of the tank... its fins were getting crusty, but it was still gasping for air. He put it back in the tank and it lived for another 3 years. (He did construct a lid for the tank out of lexan... the attempted suicide rate went down after that). Later, one of the goldfish died and he put in a black moor. These fish eventually contracted every malaise known to man (and fish) except for maybe Legionnaire's Disease or Plantar's Warts. Sometime during Reagan's second Presidency, the last of them died.

Fast forward nearly 10 years to 1994 and I wanted a small tank for my bachelor's pad bedroom. My house-mate had a very nice and well-kept 55 gallon tank that I was envious of. So I picked up a small 3 gallon kit with a UGF and stocked it with one dark blue Betta, affectionately named Baltar. Baltar lived for nearly 4 years and moved in with my wife and I in 1995. My wife was never on board with the "Aquarium thing." Apparently, she had a bf in college that had a saltwater setup. He spent more time with that, than with her. His loss... I got his girl and have been married to her for nearly 15 years. But I digress...

In 2007 I pulled this 3 gallon tank out of storage thinking I'd set it up for our kids and stock it with 2-3 guppies. I did EVERYTHING wrong. Here is a list of my transgressions: I cleaned the tank with anti-bacterial cleaner (and iirc, it had bleach in it). I filled it with tap water, gravel, 1 plastic plant and turned it on. Let it run for 24 hours then tossed in 3 guppies (I did try to acclimate them)... no heater and only using the UGF. Mind you, this 3 gallon tank was approx. 9wx9dx18h (very chic but only had a 9x9 water surface for air exchange). I also threw in some pretty pieces of coral. The only time I changed the water was after all 3 fish were dead and I dumped out the tank. I tried adding another filter, adding ph down (because I did have Petsmart check the ph and it was off-scale high... probably due to all of the coral I'd stuck in there), and tap water dechlorinator. I did all of this with the fish in the tank after the first one died. I believe the only thing I could have done worse was a 50% pwc and substituted gasoline for water... and then thrown in a match. Rest in peace Firefish, Captain and Mr. Blue... you never had a chance in our "Chic Tank of Liquid Death."

In April, my Son decided he wanted a fish for his 6th birthday. I went off half-cocked again and bought a Marineland Hex5. Set it up 5 days before his birthday and then started reading here about these concepts like "cycling," "bio-load" and the like. Soooo, I was committed to getting a fish in that tank for his birthday and I had to take some short-cuts that some here would frown upon. But I did hours of reading here to come up with a battle plan that would, hopefully result in no fish death. I also bought a decent heater, thermometer and the most necessary, an API Master Freshwater kit.

I used Seachem Stability only for the first 7 days. I also limited my Son's fish choices to a single, male Cherry Barb until the tank cycled. I did 20% pwc's anytime the ammonia was higher than .25 ppm (which only happened 3 times). I limited feeding as well. It's now been two weeks and my ammonia is 0, nitrites 0 and nitrates 0. During the first 10 days, ammonia was generally .25 with only 3 days where I got a .5 reading. Nitrites and Nitrates have never read more than 0. Ph has been a steady 7.4.

The Cherry Barb, named Sam (not Sammy or Samuel, mind you), seems quite content. I've been watching him closely for signs of stress and haven't noticed any. I know he needs some other Cherry Barbs, but I'm holding off for another couple of weeks and add 2 female Cherry Barbs. The only other thing I might put in there is a Ghost or Cherry Shrimp. Before any of that happens though, I want to be sure that the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels are holding steady. I know that it's not an optimal setup... going with a bigger tank would have only been marginally more expensive. I live and I learn... usually the hard way.

In short, I owe a debt of gratitude to the wealth of knowledge here. Wish I had found this resource back in 2007.

Now if I can just get the wife unit on board with the idea of a larger tank... I'm truly enjoying this hobby.

Peace!
Bengoshi2000
 
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If your nitrates and nitrites have never gone past 0 then it sounds like they haven't even spiked yet, but I don't know if there is any difference in cycling with fish vs. without. As far as I know the ammonia will spike, then as it drops the nitrites spike, then as they drop the nitrates spike. Once all have spiked and are at 0 is when your tank is cycled. Someone correct me if I'm off here please :p. It's actually better in the long run to get a bigger tank, as big as you can afford, because there will be less chance of disease and death since there is more surface area for disease to spread out in, and the smaller of a tank you have the quicker it can spread.

I unfortunately didn't find this site until I had already bought my (in the words of CABroncofan) "Wally World Special 10 gallon aquarium kit". I would have loved to start with at least a 20 gallon but it didn't work out that way.

Anyways, welcome to the forum, I like your story nice sense of humor :) Hopefully you can get your wife on board! This is a really fun hobby! And I don't even have any fish yet! lol
 
No matter how big the tank, the disease can spread. Bigger tanks are better because of the water parameters. They are easier to control in a larger volume of water.
As I stated before, you should have nitrAtes, but no ammonia and no nitrItes.
 
dkpate - I'm definitely waiting for the nitrates to show up before any other fish go in. A good bit of the information I consulted came from your posts. You are to the point, logical and not condescending to newbies. That's something I can respect and appreciate. I know a Cherry Barb named Sam that thanks you for it!

You actually remind me of my sister-in-law who used to teach marine biology down in Wilmington, NC. She had multiple tanks in her classroom.

I know that a bigger tank is better, but I barely got this little Hex5 past the SAC, aka, the wife. I've been half kidding my wife that she needs to get over the x-boyfriend's saltwater obsession... that loser got the boot from her 16 years, a wedding, mortgage and three kids ago. Not to mention that saltwater is a whole 'nother echelon of fish-keeping that I'm nowhere near ready to get into. In her defense I should say that she didn't have pets growing up so this is a new experience for her. She also recalls the aforementioned "death tank" and has often kidded me that any fish I put in there instantly turned into a denuded skeleton... so she's skeptical about the current tank as well.

In the long run, I'm confident she'll come around to the idea and will LOVE having a nice aquarium. I'm just going to be patient, bide my time, and move up to a 30-40 gallon setup after I get her drunk one nite and get her to say yes. ;-)
 
Welcome bengoshi2000!! And I have to agree with you about dkpate's advice--logical but not condescending. VERY much appreciated to us newbs!
 
Awww, thanks guys! I was new not too long ago, so I know how it feels to have people think you are not so smart. ;) I had to have a science teacher come to my house to tell me exactly how the nitrogen cycle works LOL.
I started with one 10 gallon tank, and now I have 4....Did have 5, but finished tearing it down on Sunday. :(
I think for about 4 months, every weekend that my husband got home from work, there was another tank or fish ROFL! :lol: Now I am only allowed to go to one certain town on Sundays when the pet store is closed. :( My husband didn't like the fish too much at first, but now I see him checking them out, and he turns the lights off for me when I am on my night shifts. ;)
 
Welcome. It sounds like you're on the right track. That 5g hex isn't a bad setup. My wife has one that I bought for her for Christmas a few years back. Unfortunately, it does limit your stocking choices. She was getting antsy for more fish, so I offered to set up an extra 20H I have lying around for her if I can have the 5g for an RCS tank. Start taking your wife to the LFS. She'll probably find some pretty fish that she wants, but you can't have because the tank is too small. Tell her she can have it if you get a bigger tank.
 
Actually went to PetSmart last nite to look around (and get some cheap entertainment for the kids). I caught the wife oooh-ing and ahh-ing over some fish and the bow-front aquariums. A little patience... a little wine... and I could be neck deep in this hobby!

Also found out there is a new, locally-owned LFS from one of the PetSmart employees. Must check that out soon.
 
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