Freshwater tank questions: Thanks in advance

15 posts • Page 2 of 2

Discuss all topics related to freshwater and planted tanks.


Okiimiru
 
Posts: 275
Joined: Thu Feb 05, 2009 10:19 pm

by Okiimiru

Yes, you can use an ammonia kit alone. Add fish flakes every day as if you were feeding fish. The first day you measure a nonzero ammonia concentration is day 1. On day 40 you can safely add fish.

I guess try getting a collecting permit and seeing what kind of native plants there are in the streams around you. In your climate, there should be some sort of green life underwater, it's warm enough.


Authorious
 
Posts: 7
Joined: Thu Jan 19, 2012 8:48 pm

by Authorious

Thank you very much for the info :) I will get started on the cleaning and so forth of the tank and so forth today. As for the plants...this island is very small (24 square miles) and there are no freshwater ponds here. We got lots and lots of white sand beaches though. I will be sticking to plastic until I can get vacation to go to Puerto Rico and "sneek" some plants in :P
I will post pics of my progress with this project. I'm glad to be part of this community. Thanks again Okiimiru and Alasse.

P.S. I like cats and never considered fish. I was drunk one weekend in Noverber and walked into the pet store and got this betta...unusual way to end up with a pet but I've grown to like it.
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Okiimiru
 
Posts: 275
Joined: Thu Feb 05, 2009 10:19 pm

by Okiimiru

"I was drunk one weekend in Noverber and walked into the pet store and got this betta" Lol, hey, whatever works. That's a pretty funny story :)

Meh, I guess plants really are not an option. I mean, it's not worth breaking laws just to get them. Maybe you could do some research on the customs regulations to see if there's any license you could buy that would let you import them legally, but really it's not a big deal. You can still keep your fish healthy and even breed them without live plants. Plastic plants don't grow and change like living plants so they're not as entertaining, but they do come in a variety of colors. It'd be neat to have crazy hot pink silk plants. I must admit that's something I've never done before ;)

Here's are tanks that look nice and have all plastic plants:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o36KycGD0mE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3ReAe4lwik
So it is still possible to have a nice looking tank without live plants.

Without real plants, you might want to buy a test kit for nitrate and do a water change every time it rises above 30 ppm to keep the algae growth under control. It might also be worth your time to buy Phoszorb (a product that absorbs phosphate from the water) again to control the growth of algae. Usually live plants compete for nutrients with the algae, but without them the algae would get all of the nutrients and be able to grow quite a lot.


Authorious
 
Posts: 7
Joined: Thu Jan 19, 2012 8:48 pm

by Authorious

I see. Those do look great. I did look up the plant u mentioned, Dwarf baby tear very nice. I'm going to take a week to try to find a way to get that here. If I can't then it will be all plastic. Can't really spare more than a week because this fish needs a bigger tank. I'll update if u do get thorugh with it :)


Okiimiru
 
Posts: 275
Joined: Thu Feb 05, 2009 10:19 pm

by Okiimiru

Well, don't do anything illegal. Good luck with your new fish tank :)

Freshwater tank questions: Thanks in advance

15 posts • Page 2 of 2

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