Hi all. I just joined because I keep getting conflicting info everywhere I go and thought I could use some consistency. Hopefully I can get that here! As suggested in the welcome email, I'm writing this post to give all the info and background. I'll then post in another forum with all my questions to keep things separate.
I have had a 1 gal betta tank since last Christmas and recently decided to give my betta a better tank since I have him at home instead of at work with me. While doing this, I tried to do research and failed so many ways.
Background:
First of all, I got a 5 gal tank with cheap LEDs and wanted plants and other fish in the tank. I put my betta in the tank and then went out and bought low light plants (1 anubias and 1 rubin sword). Had my first run in with snails that way, but thankfully got it under control quickly. Then had the sword the LFS guy suggested die because it wasn't getting enough light. Replaced it with bamboo and another anubias. After putting the plants in with my betta, I went to Petsmart and got a blue mystery snail and 7 neon tetras on sale (wanted only 5, but they had 7 and I didn't want to leave just 2 there for someone to buy and think was ok). Being a complete newbie, I put them straight in my new tank. I knew nothing about quarantining and cycling yet.
So the tetras were apparently sick and my 6 month old betta died within a few days of a fungus. Started treating the whole tank for fungus and saw ich on 2 of the tetras, so started treating for that too. After a couple days I noticed that all of the tetras had red around the gills and were spending a lot of time floating at the top of the tank, probably from too much ammonia in an uncycled tank... I returned the fish and snail so Petsmart could heal them properly, but had already bought a new betta I was keeping in the old 1 gal tank.
That brings us to now. I have returned the 5 gal and bought a 10 gal with a Tetra Whisper 10i filter and still using the 25 watt heater, since it was pretty overpowered in the 5 gal and I couldn't return it. I set that all up 5 days ago with new plants and gravel. Temp is consistent at 78F. On advice from a few different fish stores, I added my betta to the tank during cycling and also got a zebra nerite snail since they were available and are otherwise harder to find here.
I returned most of the plants from the 5 gal and bought new to prevent transmitting disease to new tank. Now have 1 short bamboo, 1 marimo moss ball, 1 banana plant (cuz they looked pretty awesome), and 3 from a combo pack from Petco that I have no idea what they are. They were taller and I wanted taller plants for my betta. I still have 1 anubias from my 5 gal tank that is in my 1 gal being treated w/ the fungus and ich meds so I can hopefully move it into my new tank in another week or so.
What I want to do with this tank is add 2 African Dwarf Frogs as soon as I can without killing them, and then add 6-7 (someone told me odd numbers are better) neon/cardinal tetras. I haven't decided which, and since someone said they'll school together, I'm thinking about doing 3 of each.
That's me. The noob that's screwing up all over the place while trying to figure things out. Hopefully here I can get some advice that won't kill my fish and will allow me to have the tank I really want!
I have had a 1 gal betta tank since last Christmas and recently decided to give my betta a better tank since I have him at home instead of at work with me. While doing this, I tried to do research and failed so many ways.
Background:
First of all, I got a 5 gal tank with cheap LEDs and wanted plants and other fish in the tank. I put my betta in the tank and then went out and bought low light plants (1 anubias and 1 rubin sword). Had my first run in with snails that way, but thankfully got it under control quickly. Then had the sword the LFS guy suggested die because it wasn't getting enough light. Replaced it with bamboo and another anubias. After putting the plants in with my betta, I went to Petsmart and got a blue mystery snail and 7 neon tetras on sale (wanted only 5, but they had 7 and I didn't want to leave just 2 there for someone to buy and think was ok). Being a complete newbie, I put them straight in my new tank. I knew nothing about quarantining and cycling yet.
So the tetras were apparently sick and my 6 month old betta died within a few days of a fungus. Started treating the whole tank for fungus and saw ich on 2 of the tetras, so started treating for that too. After a couple days I noticed that all of the tetras had red around the gills and were spending a lot of time floating at the top of the tank, probably from too much ammonia in an uncycled tank... I returned the fish and snail so Petsmart could heal them properly, but had already bought a new betta I was keeping in the old 1 gal tank.
That brings us to now. I have returned the 5 gal and bought a 10 gal with a Tetra Whisper 10i filter and still using the 25 watt heater, since it was pretty overpowered in the 5 gal and I couldn't return it. I set that all up 5 days ago with new plants and gravel. Temp is consistent at 78F. On advice from a few different fish stores, I added my betta to the tank during cycling and also got a zebra nerite snail since they were available and are otherwise harder to find here.
I returned most of the plants from the 5 gal and bought new to prevent transmitting disease to new tank. Now have 1 short bamboo, 1 marimo moss ball, 1 banana plant (cuz they looked pretty awesome), and 3 from a combo pack from Petco that I have no idea what they are. They were taller and I wanted taller plants for my betta. I still have 1 anubias from my 5 gal tank that is in my 1 gal being treated w/ the fungus and ich meds so I can hopefully move it into my new tank in another week or so.
What I want to do with this tank is add 2 African Dwarf Frogs as soon as I can without killing them, and then add 6-7 (someone told me odd numbers are better) neon/cardinal tetras. I haven't decided which, and since someone said they'll school together, I'm thinking about doing 3 of each.
That's me. The noob that's screwing up all over the place while trying to figure things out. Hopefully here I can get some advice that won't kill my fish and will allow me to have the tank I really want!
