Introduce Yourself!

Paddy, just a heads up about mollies and neons.

Mollies really do need hard water and a high pH or they get something called the shimmies. Neons do much better in soft acid water. They are not compatible.
But on the bright side, you do have a while to decide. I'm currently on day 44 of a fishless cycle........

Hi Apache and Paddy. I'm also new to this and got a couple of starter tanks last October. I have become quite addicted and now have 3 tanks up and running, with another 4 being cycled. I think I may have got a bit carried away.
Good luck to all newbies, I think that we are in good hands with the knowledge and experience we have available to us here.
 

Wow you have been busy! Get some pics up!!?? Yes we seem to be in very good hands 

Sue, thank you for that tip... Am I right in saying that the potential effect of using it is either going to be positive or simply will have no effect? Will it potentially upset my cycle if the product has degraded in getting to my home?

Hello all ,just thought I would introduce myself. I am retired and have lived here in Spain for the past 7 years . I have always had an interest in Tropicals and now being retired I can spend some time on the hobby. I have a new 115 ltr tank having had to replace my old 80 ltr due to age and suspect leakage. I managed to seed my new filter from my old filter and after some 6 weeks now have a fully cycled tank with some new fish and a few of the old timers that survived my previous tank .The new tank came with an internal Cartridge (Interpet CF2)type filter recommended for only 80 t0 100 lte tank so I  added my old fluval 3plus internal  filter .(will this be enough to manage my slightly overstocked tank) .I have just set up a pressurised Co2 system and plants have taken off really well.  I could not bring myself to replace my old favourites with new fish , that's why I have a few singles in my tank. I find the website and forum pages extremely informative and look forward to keeping in touch . signed Blackrat . ( from my old job ) . 

  hi blackrat and littlefish!
Good look in your fish keeping!

Apache6467

If that person who has the tank would be willing to swap some media with you, that would kick start your cycle very nicely.

If he is willing, take some media from his filter - up to a third is safe - and buy him some nice new replacement media of his choice. Do this once you are ready to start cycling. Treat his media like a fish - transport it in a bag of tank water and get it into your filter as soon as possible. Remove some media from your filter and pack bits of the removed media round the donated media to fill any gaps. You can cut up sponges to make them fit snuggly.
Then add your first dose of ammonia.

It's getting the cycle started that's the slow bit. We have to rely on those few bacteria the water company hasn't managed to kill. Adding some bacteria that are well settled into the biofilm on the donated media gets things off to a flying start.

Hi All

I'm new to this forum and new to the hobby. I tried keeping tropical fish 20 years ago and did very badly. I realise now the high mortality rate was due to inappropriate stocking and poor water quality. At the time I put it down to disease. Thankfully this time around there has been an abundance of information and advice on the Internet.

I set my 90 litre tank up 4 months ago. Dimensions 72cm x 30 cm x i3 x 40cm. It's planted. I've used trial and error in plant choice. I've probably lost as many as have thrived.

I currently have:
10 rosy tetras
2 peppered corys
2 bronze corys
1 (accidental) black phantom

I realise the corys need a larger number of the same species. I don't want to overload the biological filter, and only added 6/11 rosies today. My plan is to get 2 more bronze and peppered corys in a month, and another 2 of each the following month.

I am contemplating asking the shop to exchange the black phantom they supplied me with accidentally.

In a few more months I will consider how to complete the stock of my community tank.

At the moment I'm enjoying the fish I have, being careful not to rush stocking, reading lots posted by others, I and worrying I'll do something wrong.

I am pleased to join you all.

Regards
deackie

Hi deackie 
Quite a few of us newbies have joined recently and it's good to see another.

Hello everyone, I am a regular forum reader and have just joined so I may contribute too.

I kept goldfish as a kid with limited success with any of the fancy species, ending up with a single goldfish which is still going strong living with my parents. I made many mistakes, cleaning the filter sponge with hot chlorinated water (my logic being that it was dirty and therefore needed cleaning), I didn't know about gravel vacs and so removed the fish every other week and put them in the bathroom sink whilst I powerwashed the entire tank (again a one man mission to remove 'dirt').  This ultimately ended up with me pressure washing out the sealant and a leaky tank - this is one thing I did do correctly - an aquarium safe silicone was used successfully and again the repair remains to this day.

Last year I set up a tropical tank and needless to say thanks to the use of this website, I have learnt from my mistakes and I currently have a slightly overstocked 65ltr tank (see signature for stocking) which I have recently aquascaped with an 'amazon jungle' theme (wood, rock and live plants) and I am incredibly proud of and everyone is very healthy, despite my other passion for long haul travel(!). I'm currently hoping my german blue rams will breed, they are showing all the right signs but have a love hate relationship and they have only attempted this once before but were not successful in managing not to eat their own eggs!

Hi Matt