Im back to being a fish nerd once again :)

[fijiwigi]

So its been well over 3 years since I sold my 46g saltwater tank. Got a new house, new life basically. Finally decided to get excited about fish tanks again for entertainment because my buddy gave me a 37g high tank for free. Of course I realized my addiction would cost me lots of money while accepting this gift lol

Going to do two tanks

37g. Currently cycling with 40# of black sand and a Tetra 30-60 HOB filter. I bought a submersible 21" Led/Lunar light bar. Way cool. (much cheaper than SW) Put some of the live bacteria booster stuff in the filter pad. I did put a Betta fish in it during the cycle (I know against all fish rules) Happiest betta I have ever seen in my life. In a couple weeks I am planning to purchase a single oscar for this tank and some kind of bottom dweller. Still battling within myself what kind of landscaping I want to do

10G planted betta.
When I am ready for the Oscar in the 37g. I am planning to put the betta in a 10G tank in my bedroom. My overall plan is to make a 10G planted betta tank. I am researching about it now

 

[josh7]

Please do not get an Oscar! They need a bare minimum of a 55 gallon just for themselves there are many other cichlid alternatives. You could get a firemouth, convict, blue Acara, angelfish etc. just don't get an Oscar though unless you buy a 55 gallon and plan on no tankmates. I am glad your getting back into fish though just hate seeing oscars stuck in tanks to small.

 

[Dallascowboys16]

I think that an oscar needs a 75 gallon minimum as in a 55 they would stimm have a pretty hard time turning around and no wher to look around. On what he could do with the tank have you ever thought about a fw communtity?

 

[josh7]

I think that an oscar needs a 75 gallon minimum as in a 55 they would stimm have a pretty hard time turning around and no wher to look around. On what he could do with the tank have you ever thought about a fw communtity?

Either way the tank is to small I know a 55 can be a little small but a lot of the time an Oscar will max out at 10 inches. The point is the tanks to small. A freshwater community would look great in a 37!

 

[fijiwigi]

I was thinking a single baby oscar would be fine for a long period of time before it got too big for the tank. But yeah full grown I definitely see the reasoning behind not keeping an Oscar in a 37. Not even sure what a Freshwater community tank is. I am assuming that is a bunch of the tiny fish. Right now I just have a single betta in the 37. With not decorations at all. And It is one of the coolest looking fish I have ever seen. What are my choices for just doing a 37g betta tank ?

 

[Rivercats]

There are a lot of choices that would work size wise in the event you don't want to upgrade down the road. And not all those fish are considered small. You can look into rainbowfish which come in many colors. A pair of Pearl Gourami's or Angelfish would work then adding a group of cory cats for the bottom, a school or two of tetras which would be smaller, or a nice group of Cherry Barbs (males have intense red color), Purple Rasobara's, and many other fish would be an option. If you like semi-aggressive fish then check into African Cichlids. You have a lot of options. You can even add live plants depending on the type fish you want to keep.

 

[josh7]

An Oscar does not stay small long they usually get to 10-12 inches in 1.5 years. They grow fast and nedd a larger tank right from the start.

A community tank is basically just schooling fish and bottom dwellers look at harlequin rasboras, pearl gouramis, cory catfish, Bridtlenose plecos, neon tetras, cardinal tetras and there are many more community type fish that can live in a 37 gallon for life.

 

[fijiwigi]

I really appreciate the feedback. Ill start googling some choices. Ill wait till I get a larger tank for the Oscar that I have always wanted. I did an African cichlid tank many years ago which was really cool. I even got them to breed so Im wanting to try something new.

Today I collected a large variety of rocks . I am going to play around with some rock placement tonight. Ill post a pic

 

[fijiwigi]

So many choices. I really want to see a fish with lots of personality. . I don't know much about specific types of freshwater fish. Spent years studying the saltwater ones. I do want some sort of cool creepy bottom dweller.

 

[Rivercats]

You cannot do a Betta tank. One male per tank or you could do a sorority of female betta's. But the tank is going to be very empty.

 

[fijiwigi]

An empty tank

 

[fijiwigi]

Ok. So the betta will get a dedicated 10g in my bedroom then decisions decisions lol. After collecting 15 rocks and spending an hour shuffling them around. I decided on just 3 to make a swim threw cave. Attached photo above

 

[fijiwigi]

I decided I am only going to landscape the tank with stuff I collect from the Ellensburg Canyon River. I drive it 3 times a week for work and its a beautiful canyon. I am going to find some drift wood to place on top of the rocks. A larger piece for the left side of the tank. And possibly add some plants to the tank. Not sure if my LED light can support much plant growth though

 

[celtic11]

I decided I am only going to landscape the tank with stuff I collect from the Ellensburg Canyon River. I drive it 3 times a week for work and its a beautiful canyon. I am going to find some drift wood to place on top of the rocks. A larger piece for the left side of the tank. And possibly add some plants to the tank. Not sure if my LED light can support much plant growth though

I've always had a similar goal. I live near a small river/stream that I love to wade during the summer catching all kinds of fish. Someday I'd love to do a 125g tank, decorated with items I find in the stream, and stocked with fish from the stream.

 

[fijiwigi]

The whole point of a fish tank for me is to have some tranquility and peace in a crazy world. Something about watching the fish swim around in a habitat I created for them after a long stressful day at work is very calming

 

[Rivercats]

Just a word of advice. When collecting plants from the wild you will want to bring them home and put them in a bucket with 1 part hydrogen peroxide 3% to 3 parts water and soak them at least 30 minutes. This will kill a lot of unwanted hitch hikers that may have tagged along that you don't want in your tank.

Another thing is the difference in your aquarium vs the river water. My father collected and used plants from streams and shallow rivers in the 50's and 60's and since those bodies of water tend to be much cooler than our aquariums the plants can often struggle a lot. You need to take note of the temp of the water where your collecting from. You may find the water is much cooler and in the beginning you may not be able to run a heater in the tank. Add the plants and let them acclimate a couple weeks without a heater, then very slowly start raising the temp in the tank. Maybe a couple degrees every 4 days or so. This will slowly acclimate the plants to warmer temps. But be aware some plants may not survive.

 

[Coursair]

And any wood or rocks should be cleaned well and test the rocks before adding them.

Boil the wood
Pour Vinegar on any rocks, if it bubbles, don't use that rock.
http://aquariuminfo.org/ornaments.html

 

[Dallascowboys16]

For the rocks you need to pour vinegar on them I think it is and see if it starts fizzing. If it fizzes it is not safe for aquariums and will raise the ph very high. No fizz and your good. Can someone confirm that advice or add anything I missed?

 

[Rivercats]

Put a few drops of vinegar on each rock and if it fizzes or bubbles it means the rock will release buffers into the tank which will raise ph and kh. They are safe for tanks but not if you want a lower ph or kh.

 

[fijiwigi]

Such great advice thank you. I will be doing all of the suggested. Never would have thought about the vinegar thing. As with the plants it may be easiest just to buy those. The driftwood I have lots of places I know of with it laying around to sort threw. Should be fun. My question is will my led light be capable of even supporting plant growth in a tall tank ? I don't want to invest into T 5 the 50 bucks on the led was enough