Shanz
Aquarium Advice Newbie
Well, where to start. I live up in the Great White North and have had a few aquariums--mostly little 10 gallon wonders when I was younger.
About a year ago I bought a 25 gallon aquarium and had soooo many dreams for it. Unfortunately, those dreams fell through and having a fishtank wasnt as easy as i remembered it to be. When I was a kid, I never worried about PH or Nitrates, never cycled my tanks.
It all started when When I began to have a nitrate problem. I had my tank set up for 1 day, went out and bought about 4 live bearers--couple of guppies and a molly or two. Then, two days later, went out and bought more and thought it would be great to buy some live plants. A few days later all but 2 of my fish were dead. Went to the store and asked for help and thats when I bought a water testing kit. It took forevere for my water to not be pink.
I ended up getting the hang of things and had about 13 live bearers in my tank and they were reproducing fantastically. My tank lived in harmony for about 6 months, when one day, after a water change, all heck broke loose. I went into the room to look at the fish and found one floating on top...then a few more started to go belly up. Panicked, I fished the rest of the fish out and put them in a different aquarium until I figuered out what was going on --hindsight this probably made things a lot worse. Within about 5 minutes they were all dead.
That was the end of the tank for a while, but I loved sitting there watching the fish, so I went out and bought some goldfish. Goldfish dont really tickle my fancy but I figured they would be easier to take care of. So now I have a 25g tank with 4 goldfish. My sister has a 40g tall tank (i think its a hexagonal tank) with one little lonley goldfish swimming around, so she decided to give me her tank since she doesnt care much for fish.
Now im completely excited for this tank, I have great visions for it lol. But I want to do everything the right way--cycling, ph balancing, set up a nice, compatible community with live plants etc. And that is why Im here.
About a year ago I bought a 25 gallon aquarium and had soooo many dreams for it. Unfortunately, those dreams fell through and having a fishtank wasnt as easy as i remembered it to be. When I was a kid, I never worried about PH or Nitrates, never cycled my tanks.
It all started when When I began to have a nitrate problem. I had my tank set up for 1 day, went out and bought about 4 live bearers--couple of guppies and a molly or two. Then, two days later, went out and bought more and thought it would be great to buy some live plants. A few days later all but 2 of my fish were dead. Went to the store and asked for help and thats when I bought a water testing kit. It took forevere for my water to not be pink.
I ended up getting the hang of things and had about 13 live bearers in my tank and they were reproducing fantastically. My tank lived in harmony for about 6 months, when one day, after a water change, all heck broke loose. I went into the room to look at the fish and found one floating on top...then a few more started to go belly up. Panicked, I fished the rest of the fish out and put them in a different aquarium until I figuered out what was going on --hindsight this probably made things a lot worse. Within about 5 minutes they were all dead.
That was the end of the tank for a while, but I loved sitting there watching the fish, so I went out and bought some goldfish. Goldfish dont really tickle my fancy but I figured they would be easier to take care of. So now I have a 25g tank with 4 goldfish. My sister has a 40g tall tank (i think its a hexagonal tank) with one little lonley goldfish swimming around, so she decided to give me her tank since she doesnt care much for fish.
Now im completely excited for this tank, I have great visions for it lol. But I want to do everything the right way--cycling, ph balancing, set up a nice, compatible community with live plants etc. And that is why Im here.
