Setting up an aquarium!

[RPD]

Go fishing.

 

[surfsatwerk]

ahhhH!!!!!

platy gave birth!!!!

what should I do?

Sacrifice them to your gawd.

 

[NutBucket]

Dinner?

 

[micrometers]

Sacrifice them to your gawd.

speaking of which.

the two platys I have named adam and eve.

I think the baby betta will be jesus because he'll probably die to give life to everyone else in the tank.

Tank has been seeded with fairy shrimp.

I should probably rest now.

 

[micrometers]

q: sometimes when I run the air pump which connects to an air stone, the bubbles that it produces are REALLY REALLY BUBBLY.

Is that a sign of some imbalance?

 

[surfsatwerk]

q: sometimes when I run the air pump which connects to an air stone, the bubbles that it produces are REALLY REALLY BUBBLY.

Is that a sign of some imbalance?

Gay fish

 

[evident]

shoulda just did a fishless water cycle. it's the least hassle, no fishes are killed but takes patience and is foolproof if you take accurate measurements. buy a bottle of ammonia from the supermarket or a place where cleaning supplies are sold, dose it for a few weeks, and you should have a fullly cycled tank

 

[micrometers]

shoulda just did a fishless water cycle. it's the least hassle, no fishes are killed but takes patience and is foolproof if you take accurate measurements. buy a bottle of ammonia from the supermarket or a place where cleaning supplies are sold, dose it for a few weeks, and you should have a fullly cycled tank

well, the platys seem to be thriving, actually. Look pretty strong and healthy.

weirdly, they're doing better than the bottom feeders. Snail and shrimps, which i figured would likely have a field day in this type of tank. 8/10 of the ghost shrimp died by the 3rd day. But the 2 surviving ghost shrimp are doing great. the snails just hang out at the top. And I tried to grow some fairy shrimp in the water. a few hatched and swam around a bit, and then I didn't hear from them again.

I ordered some freshwater clams to help filter the water.

So here's something weird about one of the plants. It seems like it grows the top layer of leaves, and then leaves the bottom layer to die. That's the case across the board for the strands of this plant: the top 2 layers has these big green leaves while the rest of the layers underneath are abandoned and dead.

 

[NutBucket]

Not enough light.

It looks bright to you but its not enough for the plants. You can either add more light or get plants that don't require as much light.

 

[evident]

ok i think you're trolling at this point. freshwater clams are notoriously difficult to care for in a tank.

 

[micrometers]

ok i think you're trolling at this point. freshwater clams are notoriously difficult to care for in a tank.

i hope that they clear out the cloudy water.

 

[HumblePie]

I have 3 tanks I recently set up and I'm shaking my head at this entire thread.

10 gallon tanks aren't worth keeping. There are very few things, besides plants, that can thrive in that small of an environment. Not to mention that small of an environment is very delicate. Any little change can completely wipe out everything and force you to restart.

Starting small is NOT the best thing to do for a beginner to this.

I have a 20 gal, 60 gal, and 125 gal tank right now. I have been using the advice of friends who have been keeping fish for decades along with all those fun sites out there such as aquacentral, plantedtanks, and monsterfishkeepers.

For a beginner get a decent size tank. 55 gal is best, but 29 can be doable without many problems. 20 gal is the bare min for anyone unless you doing plants or a single 10 gal betta setup.

This "hobby" is not cheap and shouldn't be considered it. Just to start out with you'll need the tank, adequate substrate, adequate filtration, and a complete testing kit to start with. To know what is adequate all depends on the size of your tank and what you plan on putting in the tank. Some stuff is more expensive that others.

You shouldn't be losing any fish if you've planned accordingly and done your homework. And taken the time to cycle your tank properly as well.

 

[micrometers]

So I"m having trouble with the baby betta.

He doesn't move very much, but prefers to stay in one area of the tank.

When I drop brine shrimp in, he often doesn't find it.

Should I take him out and put him in a smaller tank or something?

 

[NutBucket]

You shouldn't be losing any fish if you've planned accordingly and done your homework.

Biggest variable here is sick fish from you LFS. Can't really guarantee that.

 

[randay]

So I"m having trouble with the baby betta.

He doesn't move very much, but prefers to stay in one area of the tank.

When I drop brine shrimp in, he often doesn't find it.

Should I take him out and put him in a smaller tank or something?

you have to increase his appetite, maybe if you drop some weed in he'll get hungry.