I am a newb

31 posts • Page 2 of 4

Discuss all topics related to freshwater and planted tanks.


the57man
 
Posts: 14
Joined: Tue May 19, 2009 1:50 am

by the57man

I'd say you were a little rough on the Graduate, huh? I can see your point but he was here just asking for help and advice. How you going to learn? By the way, arn't you worried your fish will jump out of your open tank?


jb20high
 
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon May 18, 2009 2:02 pm

by jb20high

This is one of the few hobbies where inexperience really is a death sentence for the very thing you are trying to care for. I can see both sides as I am fairly new to it myself. In his defense Yash has probably seen this same story play out to the certain death of many of the very things he cares for. At the same time, the guy did seek out experience in order to save what fish he has left. So he at least hhe isn't sitting there blamng the fish and comiting further homicide with more pet store victims.

Jlidd this is a great site, with alot of people very passionate about not just keeping their fishy friends but careing for them. If you seriously want to create a home and not a prison for your fish, this site will guide you to that end. Of course the guidance will sometimes come in the form of a smack in the back of the head! LOL

I personally don't mind a little tough love when it gets me where I want to go:)

JB


dizzcat
 
Posts: 648
Joined: Tue Jun 24, 2008 2:30 am

by dizzcat

Seriously Yash, what the hell was that?? This person just started out, we all make mistakes at first and that was totally uncalled for because this person is asking for advice, not a flaming!

09: I recommend that you read the articles about cycles and bacteria, etc. Once you understand that you will have a healthier tank and better luck with the fish you have. Go to the articles section of this site, there is good reading there.

As far as the fish, if you plan on keeping the Kribs and Angel, they will need to go in the bigger tank. Read up on their profiles so you can see what their needs are and what would be compatible with them. A 10 gallon can't handle more than a couple Mollies and a catfish (depending on what kind of cat, most get huge!) I have a cute little 10 gallon myself, it has 6 Guppy's in it and it is full. The 1 inch of fish per gallon rule is not a very good one, fish have very different needs. Some make hardly any waste, and another the same size will make 6 times as much. With as young as your tank is and as many fish you have, I recommend you do a water change of about 20% at least twice a week. Do not rinse your filter media in tap water, if you need to clean it, swish it in tank water. You need to get the good bacteria to grow to handle the fish load. Don't get any more fish until you have a bigger tank and it is properly cycled. Then, before you buy, read up on them. This will prevent a lot of aggression issues and compatibility issues. Its very hard not to buy fish on impulse, (done that!) but try to resist and you will have a much better experience in the long run. :-)

Here is a couple good sites to look up fish. Pay attention to adult sizes, aggression levels, diet and the type of water they need. Its very easy to forget that all fish in the store are still very young and someday may become a total tank buster! (did that too LOL).

http://liveaquaria.com/product/aquarium ... .cfm?c=830

http://www.aquahobby.com/e_freshwater_t ... m_fish.php

http://www.fishchannel.com/


Good luck!


yasherkoach
 
Posts: 1306
Joined: Sat Jul 26, 2008 1:24 pm

by yasherkoach

I know I was hard on the young man, I apologize. But common sense must tell you that the fish and other living species in our tanks are not ants, sheesh, even ants get a pretty cool set up with an ant farm.

But you're right, I was too hard on him...it's just there are so many aquariums on this forum - even my best friend got a scolding from me for he didn't do a water change in, get this: 4 months, and then he wondered why he has such cloudy water in a tank that's been sitting in his basement for 7 years let alone having only a handful of fish struggling, circling around at the surface for weeks on end, and my friend is 58 years old; the things some people do - that have such potential, but through the neglect of the hobbyist, the fish or any living species suffer.

It's not like I have a perfect record. I have kept a log book notating every water change, every passed on fish, every leaf of a plant pruned off, every type of food I gave, even to the gallon of water, all notated, you name the date from May 8, 2008 to today, I will tell you what happened in the tank, but yes of course, I still lost fish, plants died back...I just moved from one house to another in the last 4 weeks, lost all my ghost shrimp, they couldn't handle the stress...so I know.

But when you first get into this hobby you research, you read, you learn about cheimstry. Sheesh, all fish hobbyists are freaking chemists after having an established tank. IT's crazy I know, but I am sure dizz and others can relate, we're all chemists biologists in regards to keeping fish by now. It's our hobby. It truly becomes a way of life. It's a beautiful process to create a river or a lake or an ocean in your den or basement or what have you. Billions of years are sitting in our glass tanks. We're right there, before you man, the essence of mankind is sitting in a glass tank in our living room (etc). And to blow it is to....oh I have words to speak but........never mind.

09, just read about the world of fish, read about the world of (good) bacteria, read about the world of plants, read about the world of water...and somday, I can only hope, you will be a "chemist" or a "biologist" to the very fish you hold dear (I suppose you do hold them dear...............)

Happy fishing

whew


yasherkoach
 
Posts: 1306
Joined: Sat Jul 26, 2008 1:24 pm

by yasherkoach

by the way 57man...I have African Dwarf Frogs, I have not lost any of the frogs through the open top. In fact, before I had this set up with no top on the tank, I always left the hood (half) up.

I wonder, do you ever see glass hoods over a lake or a river or the ocean...and when it freezes with ice, this does not count...natural man natural.

I respect the living species in the tank, and I have provided them an environment that each one would find if it were out there in the wild. I have caves, I have live plants, I have wood, I have stones, I have open space, I have constant water flow on one side of the tank and on the other it is as still as a lake, I do not fertilize, I do not use artificial lighting - if I could, I'd toss the bio-wheel filters and the heater out the window, but so far I can't seem to be able to get around these two last artificial means of survival (though the heater is a toss up; the filtering, 400 gph with bio-wheels providing rich good bacteria, well it's har to get around this simple fact), so I am stuck with these two things - I supply the fish, invertebrates every other day with frozen or live foods, dry flakes, light sprinkling twice a day and then on every Sunday, the fish are not fed to clean out their digestive systems, I perform two water changes each week, one on Thursday (9 gallons) and the other on Sunday (9 gallons), only additive I ever use in the tank is a dechlorinator, again, can't get around this one; on every Sunday, I test for PH, Alkalinity, Hardness, Nitrate, Nitrite, Ammonia, and once a month on a Sunday I add: tests for phosphate, iron and oxygen, all liquid testing, I leave the heater at a constant 75, and I get pure natural vitamin D plus sunshine through the venetian blinds from sunrise to sunset from the south side of the house (south or north side is the way to go for if it is from the east, it would be too penetrating a light) except on cloudy days, where the live plants and fish enjoy a slow down; I only have anubias of every sort in the tank, and the olive nerite snails and trumpet snails keep the pores of the plant leaves clean or open while the trumpet snails burrow throughout the gravel, thereby I do not ever vacuum, and the Dwarf Chain Loaches keep the trumpet snails in check...PH is always at a constant 7.2, Nitrite at a constant 0, Nitrate varies from 20 to 30 and ammonia at a constant 0..................

jump out...why should they the57man, they have the best home on the riverfront.

how's your tank the57man...I'd like to see, break it down to me, what do you do to provide your living species a home on the riverfront?

Happy fishing


the57man
 
Posts: 14
Joined: Tue May 19, 2009 1:50 am

by the57man

I have to admit, you have more than your share of passion for this hobby, and believe me thats a good thing. Especially for your fish. Your right, why would they want to jump out?? As for the young man, sometimes common sense is the last thing they think about. Heck, out government has no common sense, how can we expect our young people to exibit it, but I don't want to go off on that tangent, save that for another day. As for my tank, Its a 55gal freshwater with lots of hiding placesI have six silver dollar, two bala shark,three peacock eels, 4 pineapple swords, cory cats, one angel and the luckiest guppy in the world! I have two emperor 400 filters and have converted my two 15w hoodlights to 55w each aquarium lights. I am in the process of setting two more tanks, 30g for a single breeding pair of convicts and a 10 gal for fry. I agree about staying away from chemicals if possible and I resist treating my whole tank at all costs. I have at times used a "fish dip" on individual fish with a parasite of fungus or something like that but this treatment is isolated to the fish I am treating and no other. It works very well. I had some problems when I first set up the tank but everything is going alond fine now and everyone is happy.
d4e55-55gal fresh water.jpg


the57man
 
Posts: 14
Joined: Tue May 19, 2009 1:50 am

by the57man

I have to admit, you have more than your share of passion for this hobby, and believe me thats a good thing. Especially for your fish. Your right, why would they want to jump out?? As for the young man, sometimes common sense is the last thing they think about. Heck, out government has no common sense, how can we expect our young people to exibit it, but I don't want to go off on that tangent, save that for another day. As for my tank, Its a 55gal freshwater with lots of hiding placesI have six silver dollar, two bala shark,three peacock eels, 4 pineapple swords, cory cats, one angel and the luckiest guppy in the world! I have two emperor 400 filters and have converted my two 15w hoodlights to 55w each aquarium lights. I am in the process of setting two more tanks, 30g for a single breeding pair of convicts and a 10 gal for fry. I agree about staying away from chemicals if possible and I resist treating my whole tank at all costs. I have at times used a "fish dip" on individual fish with a parasite of fungus or something like that but this treatment is isolated to the fish I am treating and no other. It works very well. I had some problems when I first set up the tank but everything is going alond fine now and everyone is happy.
e548f-55gal fresh water.jpg


the57man
 
Posts: 14
Joined: Tue May 19, 2009 1:50 am

by the57man

I have to admit, you have more than your share of passion for this hobby, and believe me thats a good thing. Especially for your fish. Your right, why would they want to jump out?? As for the young man, sometimes common sense is the last thing they think about. Heck, out government has no common sense, how can we expect our young people to exibit it, but I don't want to go off on that tangent, save that for another day. As for my tank, Its a 55gal freshwater with lots of hiding placesI have six silver dollar, two bala shark,three peacock eels, 4 pineapple swords, cory cats, one angel and the luckiest guppy in the world! I have two emperor 400 filters and have converted my two 15w hoodlights to 55w each aquarium lights. I am in the process of setting two more tanks, 30g for a single breeding pair of convicts and a 10 gal for fry. I agree about staying away from chemicals if possible and I resist treating my whole tank at all costs. I have at times used a "fish dip" on individual fish with a parasite of fungus or something like that but this treatment is isolated to the fish I am treating and no other. It works very well. I had some problems when I first set up the tank but everything is going along fine now and everyone is happy.
d5a7f-55gal fresh water.jpg


yasherkoach
 
Posts: 1306
Joined: Sat Jul 26, 2008 1:24 pm

by yasherkoach

well the57man, you know your stuff too. You have a serious set up, my hats off to you pal.

It just bothers me with those who get into this hobby like the fish are plastic or something. These people who treat fish like this should get into the snake hobby first, so when they live to tell their life stories, the fish hobby will be a joy.

Thanks for the compliment pal


natalie265
Site Admin
 
Posts: 746
Joined: Sat Nov 01, 2008 9:48 pm

by natalie265

Lakes and rivers don't sit in a glass box four feet above a dry carpet. Sorry, yash, i don't think that's a valid comparison. SOME species require a covered top, whether you think it's "natural" or not. And i really think your rant is inappropriate.

09: you've made some of the mistakes that most of the rest of us made when we first got into the hobby. You didn't deserve the lashing you received and i hope you'll continue to use this forum. There are some experienced fish people on here who will give you great (and usually friendly) advise. Listen and learn from those people.

I am a newb

31 posts • Page 2 of 4

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