I am a beginner, what do I do?

[Beginner Fish Lover]

I currently have a 26 gallon tank (I Think?) and I don't know what to do. I have 4 tiger barbs, 1 rosy barb, 2 scissor tail rasboras, 2 snails, and 2 different colored glofish. I don't for sure know the genders and there are only three decorations. No live plants or driftwood yet, does anybody have any suggestions?

 

[jessibell]

Welcome! I learned so much here in the past few weeks, it's crazy. The people here are super smart and helpful to us newbies.

First thing they are going to ask is, "is your tank cycled properly?"

If no, then we have some work to do

 

[jestes]

Yup, the people on this site are great! I'm not new to fish keeping, but fairly new to this site. I finally got tired of fake plants, so I joined here to get some info on live ones. I haven't been here long, but that's been plenty of time to find a lot of people who really know their stuff.

Personally, I would ask the following:

1. How long has the tank been setup?

2. What are you water parameters? Example: PH, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate

If you're looking for advice on live plants to get, I'll let somebody with more "green" experience than I have answer that... The only driftwood advice I'll offer is this: Avoid the mopani driftwood from Petco, unless you don't want to be able to see your fish.....

 

[BigJim]

Welcome to AA! Jessibell and Jestes are right. Just like your doctor, we need some basic information to get started.

1. What are your water parameters? Your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels are the important metrics. pH can also be useful, but isn't as important. If you don't know your parameters, I suggest you get a good liquid test kit. Avoid the strips as they're notoriously inaccurate. I recommend the API Freshwater Master kit. It's a little expensive, but I've found it to be reliable and I've been using mine for about 18 months with three tanks.

2. What are your tank dimensions? I've seen several tanks sold as something else and people either got more or less volume than they thought. It's easy to calculate the volume with the length, width, and height dimensions.

3. Tell us about your tank. What kind of filter, heater, lighting, etc., are you running? What kind of substrate are you using? What decorations are you using?

4. What is your maintenance schedule? How often do you do partial water changes (PWCs)? What dechlorinator do you use? Do you use any other chemicals?

5. A picture is worth a thousand words. It's much easier to make decorating suggestions if you post a picture of your tank.

Good luck. Remember, there's no such thing as a stupid question when you're trying to learn. Post your questions here on AA and we'll try to answer them as best we can. There is a wealth of knowledge here and a lot of nice people willing to share it.

 

[Beginner Fish Lover]

I will get back to you when I get home. Right at the moment, I have no recollection of any info. Sorry, I'll post when I get home!

 

[HN1]

You're already off to a better start than a lot of newbies... you're asking!

I agree with the above. http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forum...-but-i-already-have-fish-what-now-116287.html

We love pics too.

 

[Beginner Fish Lover]

Hi, I have most of the info you need now.

Water Parameters:
Nitrite: Safe
Nitrate: Safe
Ammonia: Low
Ph: Normal

Dimensions:
Width: 25 in.
Length: 12 and a half in.
Height: 18 and a half in.

Tank Facts:
Filter: Penguin 150
Decor: 2 Plastic Dec. (1 is a fake wood cave and the other is a fake wood with plastic plants) and 1 rock
P.W.C's: Every month and a half

I will get some pics tomorrow, hope this helped!!!

 

[mfdrookie516]

Water Parameters:
Nitrite: Safe
Nitrate: Safe
Ammonia: Low
Ph: Normal

Can you please post the exact numbers? What some consider safe or acceptable is not always the case.

Dimensions:
Width: 25 in.
Length: 12 and a half in.
Height: 18 and a half in.

Roughly 25 Gallons

Tank Facts:
Filter: Penguin 150
Decor: 2 Plastic Dec. (1 is a fake wood cave and the other is a fake wood with plastic plants) and 1 rock
P.W.C's: Every month and a half

Definitely need to work on the pwc's... I do a 50% every week. I would recommend no less than 25% every week.

 

[Beginner Fish Lover]

Thanks a lot! I will get you the exact numbers in just a second. I will start doing PWC's a LOT more often!

Thanks,
BFL (Beginner Fish Lover)

 

[Beginner Fish Lover]

Levels:

Here are the exact levels:
Nitrate is 20
Nitrite is 0
Ph is 6.2
Chlorine is 0

Hope This helped!!

 

[BigJim]

Looks ok to me. I'd do a PWC if the nitrate gets any higher. I do 50%+ PWCs on my tanks weekly and I don't like my nitrates any higher than 20ppm. Did you get an ammonia reading?

 

[Beginner Fish Lover]

Yes the ammonia reading I got was at its lowest.
I am planning on getting a few more fish on Fri. and some live plants. Do You have suggestions as to which ones? I have a semi-aggressive tank so I need some semi aggressive fish and some beginner plants. I have no experience with plants and I need some help.

 

[CA_BroncoFan]

Yes the ammonia reading I got was at its lowest.
I am planning on getting a few more fish on Fri. and some live plants. Do You have suggestions as to which ones? I have a semi-aggressive tank so I need some semi aggressive fish and some beginner plants. I have no experience with plants and I need some help.

Semi aggressive isn't a bad set up to have if your careful. I would just remember a lot of the semi-aggressive tropical fish really are not that bad if kept in numbers. Also, remember to keep the adult size in mind when buying new fish (tigers can get up to 3 in). I missed your count right now but the general rule of thumb is one inch of fish per one gallon, but I usually round up cuz I wouldn't want to live in a gallon if I'm an inch big, but that's just me. Finally, overfiltration is never a bad thing. This means if you have a 26 gal tank id get a tank rated for 50 gal. Just my opinion though.

As for plants, you can go with a variety of amazon swords, anubis (sp) or some ferns or mosses. Its really up to you as far as what you like so id say do a little googling on plants or even better check out the AA planted tanks section. As far as wood, I love it! And rocks too so just go with what you feel will look best. Oh and have fun with it, but as mfd said...more water changes the better oh and, post lots of pics!

 

[Beginner Fish Lover]

This means if you have a 26 gal tank id get a tank rated for 50 gal. Just my opinion though.

What do you mean by a tank rated for 50 gal?
Just wanted to know
Thanks!

 

[CA_BroncoFan]

That was supposed to say filter not tank, sorry but as for filters they all have a rating like for example it'll say 30-40 gal or sometimes even 30-50 gal so for my 29 gal I got the 30-50gal filter cuz it provides that much more filtration.

 

[HN1]

Semi aggressive isn't a bad set up to have if your careful. I would just remember a lot of the semi-aggressive tropical fish really are not that bad if kept in numbers. Also, remember to keep the adult size in mind when buying new fish (tigers can get up to 3 in). I missed your count right now but the general rule of thumb is one inch of fish per one gallon, but I usually round up cuz I wouldn't want to live in a gallon if I'm an inch big, but that's just me. Finally, overfiltration is never a bad thing. This means if you have a 26 gal tank id get a tank rated for 50 gal. Just my opinion though.

As for plants, you can go with a variety of amazon swords, anubis (sp) or some ferns or mosses. Its really up to you as far as what you like so id say do a little googling on plants or even better check out the AA planted tanks section. As far as wood, I love it! And rocks too so just go with what you feel will look best. Oh and have fun with it, but as mfd said...more water changes the better oh and, post lots of pics!

That is not a general (or any other kind of) rule. That is perpetuated myth and bad advice usually. There are a lot more things to take into account rather than length. Other than that, great post!

 

[DragonFish71]

one inch per gallon kinda falls into a 16 inch oscar in a 16 inch tank. Or a 6 foot, 200lb full grown man in a small dog kennel. Not a pleasant thing

 

[jestes]

I heard an interesting take on the inch per gallon rule once. It said that you multiply the diameter, or height if the fish is tall, by the length. That gives you your true inch per gallon. That makes a lot more sense if you think about it that way.

 

[CA_BroncoFan]

I heard an interesting take on the inch per gallon rule once. It said that you multiply the diameter, or height if the fish is tall, by the length. That gives you your true inch per gallon. That makes a lot more sense if you think about it that way.

Never really thought about that but I don't have a clue as to how id measure my neons. Haha

Is there really a rule of thumb other than the inch rule cuz apparently the bad advice I was given I'm now passing out

 

[mfdrookie516]

I heard an interesting take on the inch per gallon rule once. It said that you multiply the diameter, or height if the fish is tall, by the length. That gives you your true inch per gallon. That makes a lot more sense if you think about it that way.

That does work a little better, but it is still a rough guideline to follow. There is a certain point where you have to have a minimum tank size for individual fish, and since it varies from fish to fish, there cannot be a "rule" like that.