FishChannel Forums / Freshwater Forums / A Place for Beginners

10 G recomendations

muskrat13 — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 16:40:54 GMT

Im starting my first tank i have some but little expirience from when i was younger(helping my dad) so far for my ten gallon i have decided on

-1 pair of dwarf gourami

-4 african dwarf frogs

any rcomendations to topp off the tank I was thinking about a dwarf pleco

Good idea?

Bugman — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 18:47:11 GMT

I have an old 10 gallon tank that I want to get going again. I was thinking of getting 1-2 Dwarf Gouramis, 3-4 Panda Cories, and maybe some Neon Tetra. Do you think this setup will work? If not, does anyone have any suggestions?

First Time Fish Breeding

coolfish1 — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 22:25:43 GMT

Hello,
I have been successfully keeping goldfish for a number of years now and i have just started a small tropical aquarium. I am very interested in breeding up some fish. Could you suggest which type of fish would be easiest to breed? I was thinking along the lines of fancy guppies or swordtails. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks

20 gallon community

Kevin_has_fish — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 07:44:52 GMT

All right. It has been several years since I have had a smaller community tank and don't really remember the rules as fish size goes. I have a 20 gallon tank (regular 20) and at the moment it has feeder goldfish for my turtle. I want to turn it into a community tank and have begun researching the fish I havn't had in a while. I am looking into these types of fish..can someone give me a fish list for the tank?

tiger barbs, cories, zebra/leaopard danios, neon tetras, cardinal tetras, guppies, platies, oto cats,....and a few more I can't really remeber.

any more suggestions...?

ps Not all those fish will be in the same tank its just the ones I was looking at...I'm not a complete idiot =p

Thanks.

-Kevin

Ideas on stocking a 225 gallon tank?

felixpaws — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 22:20:44 GMT

My parents have been talking about starting up a big tank in my house, and I figured it might help move things along if I had a list of possible residents for them to look over. I have a few species books, i.e. axelrod aquarium fish, and several other popular beginner fish books, so might actually have pictures to show them of the fish in question. I'd be responsible for the tank, and they'd get to enjoy it. Please, don't include tiny fish that would be considered food, like the angelfish/neon tetra conundrum. Cichlids might be considered, but not a tank of exclusively cichlids. Thank you, so much! (I need another tank, and this is the only way I'm gonna get it) Sorry if I seem a little anxious, I need more water to take care of!

Rams

David Lass — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 11:54:38 GMT

In a couple of different threads the topic of rams (Mikrogeophagus ramirezi) has come up. They are one of my favorite fish, and since they seem to be a problem fish for many of us hobbyists I thought I would start a topic just on rams. My experience has been that rams simply do not adjust to water that is anything other than soft and acid, which is what the water is like in their natural habitat. In addition, they really prefer warmer temperatures than most typical tropical fish -- this is why they are so often recommended as tankmates for discus, i.e. around 84 -- 86 degrees F.

Rams are such a beautiful fish that fish farmers all over the world breed them and offer them for sale to wholesalers and then to your lfs. The only ones that I have ever had any luck with are the German Blues -- the enclosed photo is a batch I have right now down in my wholesale fish room.

These beauties are from a fish farmer in Florida that I have been buying from for ages. He raises them, along with his angels and severums, in a room that is supplied with water that has been softened, with the pH in the mid to low 6's, and the temperature is in the low 80's.

The problem is that the vast majority of the rams that you will see at your lfs are from the Far East. These are very weak fish that have been "pushed" to get to sellable size at high temperatures, sterile conditions, and lots of live food; they also may have been fed hormones to bring out their colors vividly. These fish get tossed into a bag with a whole bunch of their brothers and sisters, then into a box that is flown half-way across the world. When they are at the wholesaler's/distributor's they are at lower temperatures, have been stressed from their long trip, and all of a sudden they are expected to eat dry flake food. Then, at most lfs's rams are kept under the same conditions as all the other fish.

If you want rams, ask your lfs to specifically bring in some German Blues -- not necessarily from Germany, as there are quite a few breeders in Florida -- but definitely NOT from the Far East. True German Blue Rams will cost more than the Far East ones, but they are worth it. I know that I pay my Florida guy almost twice as much as I could buy rams from the Far East, but they are worth every penny.

Finally, if you are fortunate enough to get some true German Blue rams, they will really only thrive for you if they are kept in soft/acid water, at 80 degrees or higher.

What filter should i buy for my 75 gallon tank?

JoshTS — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 15:07:54 GMT

I have a brand new 75 gallon tank and i am looking to buy a filter but there are so many choices that i don't know what to buy. Could you give me some suggestions of a filter set up big enough for a 75 gallon tank, 6 to 10 medium African cichlids, about 4 to 7 plants, and within a budget of 60$.and i do have room for a canister filter but i cant find one in the size i need or 60$ Thanks

Undergravel filters and water flow

Bremmon — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 07:50:00 GMT

I have a 55 gallon tank that I will be setting up. It will be a planted tank with tropical fish. I plan on having about 2 inches of substrate, probably Flourite.

My questions are these:

1) What are the current thoughts on undergravel filters?

I had one for a saltwater tank many years ago and it worked great. Lately, the saltwater community stays away from undergravel filters for many good reasons.

I don't hear the same negativity towards undergravel filters in the freshwater forums.

2) How much flow should there be in a freshwater aquarium? I imagine there is alot of flow if you use an undergravel filter.

Thanks in advance.

a few novice tank setup questions

pbhound — Mon, 26 May 2008 11:36:44 GMT

hello all im kinda new to the fish aquarium scene (well atleast it has been a while since i had one).

ok this is my set up that i am hoping to put together.

tank: a 90 gal. marineland cornerflow tank.
filter: ehiem (not sure of the model but it will be adequate enough for the tank).

lighting (this is one thing i am stuck on)

stand and hood i already have.

ok now for the tank set up, i would really like to get cichlids for it but i am unsure of the structures for them to be in. i know they like rocks and trees, but am unsure of how to do it.

also i need help with the lighting systems not sure what would be the best economically for me.

thanks

Tetras and Gouramis

painthorse77 — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 16:07:16 GMT

I have a 55 gal tank that I am thinking of either getting rid of or stocking with more fish and getting rid of my 29 gallon tank. In the 29 gal. I have 6 tetras (2 lemon, 2 black, and 2 green light of some sort), 2 cories, a baby pleco, and 2 Killifish. In the 55 gal. I have one African brown knife, 2 kissing gouramis, 2 blue gouramis, and 2 cory cats. I recently get rid of my large clown knife (it went to a local fish store). Would it be safe to keep the tetras with the gouramis or should I just get rid of the 55 gal all together?

The 55 gal. is not being taken care of because of its location and I do not have access to it all of the time. Unfortuanatly the water quality is horrendous and needs to have something done with it.

High pH and water replacement

Goldwing — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 20:24:41 GMT

My well water is high in pH and so everytime I change 25% of my water my pH goes high and I have to use pH down.

Is this bad (other than the expense - I hate that)

Should I use bottled water?

Thanks,

Sheldon

Goldfish-A common misconception

Genga — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 09:05:27 GMT

Goldfish are notoriously abused. People think 'it is just a fish', and not a living animal. I know everyone here has different views on the size of tank, care, ect. People should treat goldfish with respect, but why don't they? So, chat about goldfish care, abuse and how they should be treated. I know most of the time the abuse is done innocently. But what about the current craze of eating live fish? Do they think this is right? I know everyone makes mistakes, and I myself have made TONS, but why make them again and again?

tetra color loss

nukinfutz1229 — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 15:30:18 GMT

my bloodfin tetras are losing thier color can anyone please help

My fish is floating like a cork.

GlitterGuppy2008 — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 16:58:51 GMT

Hi. I'm new to fancy goldfish keeping, and I read the book 'Goldfish: a complete introduction' by Robert Mertlich, which I really enjoyed. I read that you can feed adult goldfsih ants. We have small ants that build nests near our house, and they don't get sprayed. I fed my goldfish two, and now he is floating like a cork, upside down! If he swallowed air I read that it should be self-correcting in a day or two, but at a youngish age it's usually genetic, and that it's not curable. Is this true? My fish has given up fighting to stay upright, and is upside down, just sitting there. If I tap the tank or suchlike he'll swim. Please help me with this. Will he die?

juvie cardinals

rtague — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 10:01:20 GMT

Hi guys,I just got myself a nice school of cardinals(50) about a half inch in size.they all seem very healthy,but faint in color,I know they are small but will they color up as they get bigger?.Thanks in advance.

My Missing Shrimp!!!

cherridot — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 10:11:06 GMT

I once had a tiny ghost shrimp that went missing so I bought two new ones. But I found one of my ghost shrimp laying down next to the new one that was ALIVE and the dead shrimp was pink and white. It was either my newly bought ghost shrimp that died or my old tiny ghost shrimp that died.

proper food for cardinals

rtague — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 19:20:10 GMT

Hi guys, Im in the process of setting up a cardinal tetra species tank and was wondering what the best kind of food was for this species,flake,pellets, live ,frozen?any brand names you could suggest?

thanks in advance.

55 gallon stocking question

rtague — Sat, 31 May 2008 09:07:20 GMT

Hi everyone,great forumIm in the process of setting up a planted low tech 55 gallon,standard 48x12.I plan to stock with 2 species and mabe some bottom cleaners.The species I have chosen are cardinal tetras and boesmani rainbows,big schools of both.Filtration will be xp3 and emp 400x2.

could you please advise me on numbers for both species.Thanks in advance.

tank info question

Tigress — Thu, 15 May 2008 08:26:19 GMT

How many fish can you fit into a 10 to 15 gallon aquarium eithout taking up too much of the fishes space? and what species work best together compatibility wise?I've never had much luck with fish in the past when I was little and I want to learn how to care for fish that will live a long time and that are easy to care for and be able to have a few different species without them inflicted danger on one another. I read that keeping catfish/bottom feeder with certain species of goldfish isn't a good idea.I love goldfish,neon tetra, bottom-dwelling fish and things like that, but I guess you can't keep them all together.I need some good advice from anyone who can help/has had lots of experience with these sort of problems.

barb

bettasrcool — Thu, 29 May 2008 14:58:19 GMT

Does the cherry barb make an ok fish for a ten gallon? I was looking at them at the store the other day and never really thought much of them before but they look like a neat small fish. How many could go in a ten gallon?

The Case of the Missing Cherry Barb

deere_for_chase — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 09:40:02 GMT

Here's a question for you - "peaceful" community tank, gouramis, tetras, cory's and mollys, etc. and one lone Spotted Catfish abouty 4" long...could he actually eat an almost 2" Cherry Barb? I seem to be missing one.

Cleaned the tank last night, moved things around, looked in the filerts...gone!

Last week, I came home to find my female Pineapple Swordtail stuck to the filter intake tube with most of it's middle...gone!

Now I know catfish will eat ANYTHING, so I'm thinking he's the culprit, but why these fish and no others. I actually had 4 Pristella Tetras much smaller and he left them alone. Maybe he's just picky! He seems to do fine at feeding time. And I actually like him...

Any advice/thoughts?

NEW! 46g freshwater tank

lilsaltyfresh — Sat, 31 May 2008 12:05:23 GMT

Hey, my bro. just got a 45-46g tank from his friend and we were gunna break down the 29g to set it up. anyway's i was just wondering if you had any good ideas for what kind of freshwater livestock would be good.

Thanks,

Fruit Cup

tmac1rebok — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 07:10:05 GMT

ight, so this one nite i was at sum place wur i could win goldfish. n wudnt u no it, i won one. yeah so i named him bob and he came in a fruit cup. u no, like one of thos small *** jawns. neways, i brought him home, n by the time we got ther, he was bobbin.... dead. i guess his name fits, but why? i cried for so long that nite. i dont understand. wut did i do rong?

compatibility

bettasrcool — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 16:25:30 GMT

Is a ten gallon too small to house a single dwarf gourami? If not, would having one together with a platy or swordtail be ok (will they get along fine)?

Coral Sand

Optimus Prime — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 11:05:23 GMT

Hi

I'm sure this has been asked before, but I have a problem with my coral sand. We've recently set a new tank up, with coral sand instead of the normal substrate. We used Nutrafin B-Clear, Nutrafin Cycle and Nutrafin Aquaplus, as well as water from the tank we had before.

It's been 1 week and there's algae all over our rocks and the sand. The rocks are sterilised river rocks. The fish haven't been over-fed (they're angels so they're very greedy) and the water seems fine (we haven't done any Ph tests though)

Is there anything we can do to get rid of this algae? Any fish we can introduce? It's a bit hard for us to move the tank as it's built into a cabinet and weighs a LOT.

Any ideas?

10g question

bettasrcool — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 16:18:52 GMT

Right now I have a 10 gallon and am thinking of possibly setting up another one so I can have two bettas. I don't really like those dividers that much. But would this be just a waste of tank space and would a betta use the whole tank? I would prefer not to risk any tank mates that might cause problems so it would be one betta for each tank.
Also regarding male guppies, can they get along in pairs or do you need more than two? Thanks.

Largemouth Bass

Shark Hunter — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 10:44:07 GMT

Since I live in Florida near a lake, is it possible to keep a Largemouth Bass in a tank?

Feeding question

ocean-size — Fri, 16 May 2008 08:31:53 GMT

I feel bad...I feel like I am scrolling the beginner's forum with all of my questions, but I figure since each question is slightly unique, I should start a new thread rather than have one big huge post. Once I get a little more experience I am sure I will quiet down.

Based on past posts, I get the impression that there is no real consensus on how much our fish should be fed. I've seen people say twice a day, but I've also seen people say you can go on vacation for over a week and not worry about feeding them.

I am currently feeding once a day.

Thoughts? Your rationale on those thoughts?

Thanks in advance!

-Barry

Potential stocking list for a 10 gallon tank

Squid — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 18:55:53 GMT

I've got a 10 gal tank with a filter (100gph with bio-wheel) and a heater.

I was thinking of stocking it with:

1 Dwarf Gourami
About 4 Black phantom tetras
2 corydora catfish (I like the look of the false-Julii)

Any suggestions?

Why do LFSs stock some kinds of fish?

Argentis — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 13:30:07 GMT

I've been wondering lately why some LFSs stock some fish that appear to be unsuitable for all but a few specialized setups. Here are a few examples that I've seen lately

Common plecos - it seems to me that these guys get too big for anything under a couple hundred gallons.

Oscars - Again, you'd want 75+ gallon setup for a pair, or even 1 + friends.

There's probably others, but that's all I can think of right now.

pearl gourami's & angel's ?

lilsaltyfresh — Tue, 27 May 2008 18:32:46 GMT

i have a standard 29 g tank and i currently have two male pearl gourami's and are somewhat aggressive toward eachother, and i was wondering if angelfish would be good community fish with the gourami's???

fish tank vacuum

pbhound — Tue, 27 May 2008 11:47:47 GMT

what do you all think of this? i am very interested if it really works as well as they say, and how often you would have to change the water while using it!

http://www.ancientmarinerinc.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=AMI&Product_Code=APGV-100&Category_Code=VAC

Demason's Cichlid

bubblesboy — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 16:58:26 GMT

Do you have any info on Demason's Cichlid
Because I have one and the fish book that I have says
to keep them in groups of twenty but he is
with all of my other cichlids and he is doing fish nobody
is picking him but he is the smallest cichlid in the tank?

PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!!

Koi-Keeping Question

LakotaWolf — Mon, 26 May 2008 03:12:06 GMT

I'm pretty sure this question will get me a good trout-slapping... but I figured I'd ask anyway :}

Is it at all ever possible to house a koi, literally one single koi, in a tank instead of a pond?

I've kept freshwater fish before, so I'm not new to tank maintenance and fish care, but I've mostly kept smaller species. However, I've loved koi my whole life and I've always hoped to have a few someday. The idea of one koi appeals to me - I tend to name and slightly anthropomorphize my pets and keeping only a few fish lets me feel closer to them than I would to a whole school of them hanging out in a pond.

However, a pond is unfeasible where I live - although I have plenty of space for a huge indoor tank. I know koi can grow positively huge, but I've also heard from people who keep pond koi that a koi will not grow to monstrous size if kept in a tank.

If it's possible for a single koi to live in a tank, how large of a tank would be required? 100+ gallon?

Even if it's possible, this would not be an undertaking I'd treat lightly and it's not something I would do unless I felt very, very prepared ;} So any advice is appreciated!

Water Testing - Dip Strips or Whole Kit?

deere_for_chase — Sat, 24 May 2008 18:04:43 GMT

I'm a new aquarist and I've heard from a few of the guys in the pet stores I use that the dip strip tests are highly inaccurate and that I should purchase the whole test kit.

I'm using the ammonia dip strips and the ones that test for everything all at once. I did puurchase an ammonia test kit and while it easy to perform, trying to read the results was like taking a trip back the chemistry lab and I could not for the life of me figure out how much ammonia was present, if any, went back to the dip strips.

Any thoughts, opinions, suggestions, etc. would be appreciated. I obviosuly like the ease of the strips, but how inaccurate are they? I keep them tightly covered, away from moisture, etc.

Kim

90 gallon stocking

rtague — Thu, 22 May 2008 19:41:30 GMT

Hi guys, Im new to the forum and this is my first post.Ive just freed up a 90 gallon and would like to start a planted tank.I know for sure I want to have 20-30 cardinal tetras.What else can I add in terms of numbers and species,guppies,plattys,gouramis.swordtails,etc .I know its a pretty broad question,but Im struggling with species and numbers.Thanks in advance

Beginners and Cycling

fishwhisperer — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 15:31:39 GMT

I'd like to share some thoughts about becoming a new Aquarist and setting up a new tank.

I think most established aquarist probably started off in the say fashion as most beginners. Suddenly you have a new aquarium-either you won a fish at a carnival (like my daughter did) and suddenly you're thrust into the hobby or you were at the pet store with your girlfriend, wife or husband and "oooohhh, look at the pretty fish, let's get an aquarium honey..." without having a clue what is involved.

While it's safer to cycle the tank "fishlessly" before adding the fish, the fact remains that most people start with the fish in the tank. What I'm finding is that most aquarium encyclopedias, aquarium books and aquarium magazines (AFI-to name one), recommend setting up your tank and putting the fish right in.

My first tank was set up in this way with my goldfish (Shadow) inadvertantly-of course, and Shadow is still alive almost three years later. I purposely set up my 30 gal that way, and a year later, I still have the same fish I started with.

The point here is that, cycling with fish does not have to be "dangerous" and if done properly, it shouldn't be dangerous. I feel very strongly that we owe it to new hobbyists to encourage them to educate themselves quickly (providing as much information as we can as well) when they find themselves in this situation.

Thanks.

Ammonia, Nitrites, and Nitrates, Oh MY!

Leviathan — Thu, 08 May 2008 19:55:56 GMT

As has been established many times over, many new aquarists get into the hobby unaware the tank can cycle without fish. My wife and I were no exception. We feel guilty enough putting these poor creatures through what we perceive to be torturous conditions, but we're having a hard time understanding just how long it should be before we see a reduction in the ammonia and nitrites. We test our water almost daily, and the results are always 3.0 mg/l for NH3/NH4, and 0.3 mg/l for NO2.

We have a 90 gallon tank that contains 2 mollies, 4 guppies, 2 platys, 3 apple snails, and an algae eater. Oh yeah, some fish had babies, and now we have 10 fry. We started off feeding them 3 times a day, but have cut it down to once a day. We've had the setup for nearly two weeks now. Should we be worried? Or is this part of the process?

Need stocking feedback

ocean-size — Thu, 15 May 2008 14:45:36 GMT

Hi all:

Ok, so I added the BioSpira to my brand-new tank about 24 hours ago. A few hours after that I went to the LFS to get a few fish, and of course got a little carried away. By the time acclimation was finished and I put them in the tank, it was around 10pm.

(My tank is 92 gallons, my pH is 7.6 - 7.8, my kH is 9, or 160+ppm)

Considering my hard-ish water, I bought 4 neon-red gouramis, 3 blue dwarf gouramis, 3 dalmation mollies, 3 assorted other mollies, and 3 assorted platies.

So 1st question: once the tank is fully cycled and assuming my fish will all be gourami, platy, and molly, how many fish is a good idea for this tank?

They are all doing fine, however when checking ammonia this morning around 7am, I noticed that ammonia had gone from a base level of 0.25ppm (that is what it is at when it comes out of the tap) to a little under 1.0ppm. That seems rapid to me...0.75ppm increase over a 9 hour period. Nitrites are still at zero.

So the 2nd question is: Have I overstocked, considering that the biological filter is not fully established yet despite the full dose of BioSpira? Assuming that I've overstocked, what do I do? Water change? If so, how much? 25%? 50%? 70%?

I will be checking levels again as soon as I get home in about 2-3hours. I have another full dose of BioSpira should that be necessary, but I was hoping not to add that unless my eventual nitrite readings do not decrease on their own.

On another stocking related question: I noticed the dalmation mollies (one in particular) are more aggressive than the others, even the other non-dalmation mollies. The one in particular likes to peck at the sides of the gouramis. I cannot tell yet if it is doing any damage, but it does not appear so...it is not going for the fins, it is going for the sides, and the scales are not showing any damage. This behavior seemed to subside somewhat after being fed. Is this molly being aggressive or is he just looking for a snack off the gourami's scales? I have 7 gourami versus the 3 dalmations and the gourami don't appear stressed or anything (like I would know it if they were!), they just lazily go somewhere else where the dalmation isn't. Any known compatibility problems with this stock?

Bristtlenose plecos

Fleck — Sat, 17 May 2008 20:07:48 GMT

Hello

I would like to keep a few bristtlenose plecos in a 55 gallon tank . The PH here is high (Florida) its 7.8/8.o .

I was thinking of adding some mollies to tank as of now tank is cycling .

It contains lots driftwood and couple val plants .

Any input,ideas would be great thanks