i had one years ago and i pretty much gave the fish cancer cause i had no idea what i was doing (14 years old), and my lady got me a 5 gallon aquarium starter kit with chemicals and lighting and filter etc, just add fish and decor cause she knows how much ive wanted one
so im wondering about a couple general rules of thumb:
1 gallon per inch of fish? im hoping for about 5 neon tetras, an algae eater, and maybe a few snails, but i do not want to overcrowd the fish, except the problem is neon tetras enjoy being in schools, so a minimum of 5 is needed
live plants?? i had plastic ones and i wanna step it up, i think the live ones could help out with the biological cycle in the tank, nitrates and ammonia and such, and i think theyre much more aesthetically pleasing, but i need info on how i should go about planting them from some owners and the care needed
idk if it happend to be the 2 ppl i spoke to at petsmart but i think they were completely wrong about whatever they were saying, as soon as i told them i had a 5 gallon tank they said i could buy atleast 10 fish :run:
i know before putting in gravel, decor, and filter, they should be rinsed, and after the water is in, before adding fish give about a 2 day period of water adjusting, as well as clearall solution to take care of chlorine and other contaminants in the water to be removed, but when i add fish, isnt there something about the nitrate cycle im supposed to let happen? add 2 fish every 2 weeks until desired amount of fish is reached, and make sure to check pH and such
i know this is a small tank, but i want to be able to understand the fundamentals before i step up and it makes a nice piece on my desk at home, i know its kinda lame but i think having fish (tropical) is a fun and relaxing hobby, and when i own my own home id like to mount a tank in the wall in the bathroom lol
With a 5 gallon tank, 10 tetras and an algae eater would be more than enough. I wouldn’t over do the tank right away with the snails though.
As far as the live plants, I would establish your tank first… give it about a month or so, just so that everything is settled in before you bombard them with live plants.
Make sure that you rinse with hot water all of the fake plants, gravel, filter, etc thoroughly. If you have the clearall solution then you don’t need to leave the take sit for 2 days because the clearall solution is removing the chlorine and chloramines from the water, but give it atleast a couple of hours.
Tetras and Plectos are very resilient fish (not as fragile as saltwater fish) so you can add them at the sametime.
When you get home from the petstore…
1.) Rinse the outside of the bag with a clean washcloth and some clean water.
2.) Place the entire bag into the tank and allow to sit there for atleast a half hour (but not too long as the oxygen level in the bag will begin to deplete.)
3.) Open the bag and slowly allow the fish to swim out of the bag and into the tank on their own, as to not stress them while still including the water that they are used to (which contains the necessary nitrites.)
Then monitor your fish for the next day or two to make sure they are reacting properly.
DO NOT feed the fish the first day, as they are already stressed and feeding them will make it worse and deplete the oxygen levels in the tank more…
Any more questions you can PM (I have a two year degree in Fish Health Science lol)
awesome thanks for the bit of info, if anyone has pics of their tanks thats also cool lemme see em, if 10 is sorta pushin it, ill def go with the 5
the only thing i was worried about was that i was advised NOT to mix the water that i have with that from the store, to transfer the fish i was told to empty the bag in the sink over the net, let the fish fall in, then put them in the tank, however, this does seem much more stressful to them
Were you told this by the people at Petsmart? (Mind you those are normally kids who had a 3 day training on how to do their job and what a ‘fish’ really is…lol… Don’t forget, the goals of large companies like that are to get as much of your business as possible even if it means your fish dying.
I once bought a couple of feeder fish from there and tried to keep them, they died of course within the first week. I went back in to exchange them and the guy told me that they were feeder fish and weren’t supposed to live, they were ‘bred to dye’. Its utter bullshit. You want quality fish then go to a quality store…
Markheims on Niagara Falls Blvd is pretty good, so is Hayes Fish on Harlem, and Niagara Aquarium on Military… Mainly you want to go to a ‘Fish Store’ not a bulk pet store like Petsmart or PetCo.
Smaller pet store breed their fish for quality because they want your business, larger companies breed large quantities and they hatch and grow them too fast which is why they never quite get as big as they’re supposed to, they die easier, and they’re disfigured. A lot of people don’t realize it or don’t how many fins a fish is really supposed to have (2 pectoral, 2 thoracic, 2 pelvic, 1 dorsal, 1 caudal, 1 adipose depending on the fish). When I started school I didn’t know either… That’s why i try to educated people as much as possible. Some of the people at Markheims are really good when it comes to telling about the fish, the best way to care for them, which fish get along with others, etc.
You just made my Christmas. No clue why I find this amusing. I’m gonna go to that place tomorrow and demand a fish fry and make a huge scene when they deny me
dude, go to the fish place in NT at robinson and oliver. they got a ton of info in there. as for your tank, youll be fine with 5 neons and an algae eater, watch the snails though if you dont you could end up with a shitload of them after a while. live plants- youll need about 12 hours a day with the light on, and there are certain types of plants that require certain lighting. youll be limited with the live plants in that tank. my suggestion is go fake, when your ready to upgrade to a new tank try live then. its more upkeep though keeping the tank clean. youll want the tank running setup for a good week or so bfore you get fish. use chlorout shit on the tapwater when you fill it at first, and rinse the gravel and decore in just warm water before you set it up.
heres a pic of my 45 gal tank from last summer before i had a disaster(ich out chem bottle broke open when i was treating tank due to some infected german blue rams-basically i had to start over and its not as nice now)
most of the fish are hiding, others blend in.
we have a 55 gal in the dining room as well. fish are sweet.
OK number one… DON’T do any of that!!! That method probably works very well for gold fish but not tropical fish.
I have a 60 gallon tank I’ll post a picture up tomorrow. It has 18 neon tetras, 5 black skirt tetra, 4 zebra dannios, 3 ( and multiplying) sunburst platys, 1 dalmatian molly , 1 black angel ( female), 1 Pleco that is getting huge ( as they all do so be wary with getting one as it will get big), and 1 dumb ass black moore that is completely gold now.
A good site to check out for any fish related questions is fishlore.com
read through the FAQ as it explains it much better than I could.
Start with these:
I went with a live plant route and ended up changing my mind half way through. I run a combination of live and fake now. I run mostly low light growing plants Java fern, and Flame Moss. I’ll be adding Java moss which is an awesome starter for anyone considering live plants.
For any beginner I’d suggest starting with zebra dannios for anyone as they’re one of the heartiest fish out there and are very active. Honestly for that small of a tank I’d skip a Pleco as I said before they get huge and are NOT growth limited by the size of their tank.
Where I’d start is setting up the decor of the tank first. Add the water … then add the tap water conditioner … then add stress coat. Let the filter run and everything get acclimated for a while. With zebra dannios you only need to wait about two weeks at minimum because of how hearty they are. With any other fish I’d wait at least a month. If you have a test kit you can find out exactly when you can add them.
FYI beware before you start. This is an addicting and expensive hobby. I started out with a cheap 36 gallon setup from a forum member and it turned into a 60 gallon and big ass show tank. I’ve got well over 600.00 total invested so far.
