Recent content by Kat1103

Severum mama is right, do not change your filter during cycling! In fact don't change it until it's falling apart. You want to keep all the good bacteria that grow on it. If it gets kinda gunky just rinse it off with old tank water.

Check out this link it will help u in the long run with your tank I just learned about cycling but I already have fish. What now?!

Looks great! As long as it's cycled u should be in good shape :thumb:

The tank looks great! Show us more pics when u add more stuff ;)

I used aqua advisor to help me stock my tank. You should check it out, it's pretty cool. Next time I'm at the petstore to get dog food I'm going to pick up some more neons and a background

At petsmart they say neons can get to be 2 inches. But I've never seen any that big. Does any know if this is true?

I have a BN pleco in with my African cichlids and so far no one has even tried to bother him. I was kinda nervous to put him in the tank bc he is still small, but I think having lots of hiding spaces has helped.

Looks great! What type of cichlid tank is this? Hopefully they won't munch on your pretty plants.

Thanks everybody for the advice! I'm now going to do a black background but still haven't decided on the substrate yet. Does anyone think my tank is fully stocked or could I add 2-3 more neons? That would be it if I could though....

I tried stability before and don't think it made any difference at all. But in my 55 I used some stuff called TLC and it worked great. I bought it from a LFS. Not sure where they get it from but u could look on google

What about getting a gourami as your centerpiece fish and still doing the cories? I also recommend not putting a red tailed shark in anything smaller than a 46-55 gallon tank. I have a rainbow shark in my 55 and he seems very comfortable.

I almost got the albinos but the julii were to cute to pass up I will have to post more pics after the substrate change :) Does anyone have any suggestions on a background color? Should I just do black?

the substrate is more like pebbles and they're rounded. But I was thinking of changing to a lighter color substrate bc the cories are hard to spot against the black.

also, I know you said that you were nervous about caring for fish but once you have an established tank, fish are very easy to care for. Good luck with cycling!

You stated this is a brand new tank? Most likely it is cycling. Cycling is strenuous on fish. And with your betta's old age he probably wasn't strong enough to ride it out. You need to get a test kit and test the water often during cycling and do frequent water changes to prevent anymore deaths...