Tropical Fish Forum

Think Fish Tropical Fish Forum => Welcome to our Tropical Fishkeeping Forum - Please Read => Topic started by: Sue on September 19, 2012, 02:38:18 PM

Title: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on September 19, 2012, 02:38:18 PM
The old Thinkfish forum had many active members, who will hopefully soon find the new forum is now active, and there will be many new members joining. I thought that it might be an idea for members, both old and new, to introduce ourselves.


I’ll go first

I started keeping fish in 1995 when my teenaged sons came home from the fair with 4 goldfish. I gave the goldfish away after 9 months, bought a heater and got tropical fish. I signed up to Thinkfish in 2006 after finding the forum while researching a fish I wanted to buy.
Back in ’06 the forum did not have the facility for user names; we had to use our real names. So although we can now choose user names, since I was known on the old Thinkfish forum by my real name I will continue to be known as Sue.

I have a rather old degree in chemistry, and one of my sons worked for several years for a water testing company, so I am usually able to help with water chemistry problems, even if I have to consult my son occasionally.
I was well known on the old forum for my lack of plants growing skills so I leave planted tanks to other people.


I currently have 3 tanks.

125 litre
Green neon tetras, male endler/guppy hybrids, dwarf chain loaches, trio cockatoo cichlids, trio honey gouramis, amano (japonica) shrimps, zebra nerite snails.
Sand substrate
Java fern, anubias, salvinia

50 litre
Male plakat betta (moved), female and fry endler/guppy hybrids, pygmy cories, cockatoo apisto juveniles (swapped for the killifsh) and 2 red and 1 bumblebee nerites. And the occassional male endler/guppy visitor for breeding purposes. New: 10/10/12 a trio of Aphyosemion striatum, a type of killifish
Sand substrate
Java fern, hornwort, salvinia

25 litre
Male plakat betta
Sand substrate
Java fern

Just to prove I do have other interests besides fish, I have collections of African violets, thimbles and minerals in the shape of eggs. I’m also interested in family history/genealogy.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: narp on September 19, 2012, 04:11:03 PM
Hello.

I 're'-started with fish at Easter this year, after a break of some 20 years.

I found this forum months ago in it's broken-down state when I was searching for online information to help me with my shockingly out of date knowledge.

I use a freshwater sumped setup with a weir and a refuge (refugium?) because I was given a tank that was a marine setup in an earlier incarnation, and I run a Moving Bed Filter in the sump with k1 media, like a koi pond might, because it looked interesting when I read about it and I needed a filter of some sort! The advantage of being out of date is that I don't know when I'm trying something stupid or difficult, and therefore stand an increased chance of getting away with it.

I have a single tank - around 400 litres in the new parlance (I would have called it a 'four-footer' in the old days), which reaches that capacity in combination with the sump running underneath. It's tropical, but at the lower end of what's defined by that - 23 degrees C keeps my Daisy's Ricefish, Cardinal Tetras, White Cloud Mountain Minnows, Bronze Corydoras, Oto's and Red Cherry Shrimp all happy.

What I have noticed above everything else 'this time' around in fish-keeping is how helpful, knowledgeable and generous are the fish-keepers online - I am proud that the only fish I have had to buy from a shop have been Oto's (they're blessed difficult things to find through breeders or enthusiasts!).
                                       
So, many congratulations on managing to sort out your technical issues with the forum - I have enjoyed the Guides and Fish Profiles I have browsed so far, and will continue visiting.                           
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on September 19, 2012, 04:26:45 PM
Hi narp, nice to see a new face. I'm so jealous of your tank. 125 litres is the biggest I'm allowed - for some reason my husband thinks that furniture is important :o

 
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Chucklett on September 20, 2012, 09:48:20 AM
Welcome back Sue! And welcome to the Forum Narp  :D 400 litres...... WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Will you be posting photos in the gallery at some point??? We love to see pictures of other peoples tanks & fish on here.

Ive been checking regularly for the forum to be up & trotting again and am delighted this morning to find its now running!

My story:

Being allergic to fur, Ive always kept birds. I got my first tank in April 2010. A 200 litre Roma with an AquaManta EFX 300 external filter. My first fish were 4 Mollies. 36 hours later I had 24 mollies!!! That was when I found out that Mollies give birth every 6 weeks or so! Thus, the 200 litre became my Molly tank, but also stocked with 4 Otos, 5 SAEs and 9 Japonica Shrimps.

It wasnt long before I wanted another tank! So along came the 240 litre Roma with an AquaManta EFX 400 external filter. This tank is now about a year old with 12 Cardinal Tetras, 4 SAEs, 6 Dwarf Chain Loaches, Forktail Rainbows, Threadfin Rainbows and Neon Green Rasboras.

Im also now quite experienced in moving tanks! Needing a new carpet in the lounge, I thought it a good idea to do it before getting the second tank, so had to move the 200 litre out, have the new carpet laid, then move the tank back again! Whilst ThinkFish has been offline, we moved house. Both tanks were moved 15 miles with, sadly, a few fish loss. But we love our new bungalow with huge garden! (Old ThinkFishers will be happy to know that!)

Sue - I will probably be posting about the difference in water here.... its worse than the old place! pH test went straight to deep purple with the first drop of solution.....



So, welcome back peeps. Looking forward to seeing who else comes back and also "meeting" newbies  ;)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on September 20, 2012, 10:25:39 AM
Hi Chucklett - you've managed to move I see. I'll bet that's a relief. I think 'filtration and cycling' is the section for pH's since it does say water chemistry too. We'll soon get the hang of the new layout.

You found the forum was back pretty quickly, it only reappeared yesterday. I had advance notice  ;D While I was waiting I looked through the shop database and noticed there were some updates for my area, so I emailed the site owner - who said he'd email me back when the forum was active again. I got the email on Tuesday evening so I was ready waiting yesterday.
Oh, and that validation thing every time you want to post - I asked, it disappears when you've made a few posts. Forums these days have problems with spambots and I presume this is a way to deter them.

My tanks have moved on a bit since the forum was last active. I've broken my own rule and put a betta in with other fish! Though you might notice that most are not very colourful - grey, black and white cories, grey endler females and even the apisto juveniles are grey and black for the time being. I do have a male endler in there at the moment but the betta ignores it.
Speaking of apisto juveniles, my cockatoo apsitos bred just before the old 60 litre tank started to leak. 5 fry survived being moved around, 2 males and 3 as yet unknown. But my gorgeous gold male cockatoo got dropsy and died  :'(  And my bolivian rams have died. I wasn't surprised at the female, she was never right after getting gravel stuck in ther throat and she just got thinner and thinner. After she died, the male just went downhill till he died as well.



Edit - I have discovered that if you want a notification email when there's a new post on a thread, you have to click the notify box at the bottom of the thread. There are a few differences from the old forum - we now have a personal messaging system for instance.  I spent a while in my profile settings getting it set up how I want!
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Chucklett on September 20, 2012, 08:10:08 PM
Thanks for the tips with the new site. I will treat myself to an afternoon of having a good look round, sort out my settings & profile etc. We only moved 4 weeks ago so Ive not really had time to do much other than unpack! Ive popped online quickly here & there to check emails (and ThinkFish!) so it was just luck really that I looked this morning. Although I lost a few fish, Im actually very pleased with the move and how the tanks have settled so quickly.

Im sorry to hear you've lost a few. Your male cockatoo was gorgeous - if I remember rightly, you hadnt had him that long. I guess the female ram was inevitible and its a shame Mr.Ram pined himself to death. Who says animals have no emotion? Great to hear about the fry though and I had to chuckle about the Beta!

I will find the chemistry section you mention and post on there in due course. Thanks again  :)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Stuart on September 20, 2012, 08:12:36 PM
Hi all, (all 3 of you! lol).

Good to see the forum is up and running at last. It's been so long I can't remember what my user/nick name was on the last website.

I have the 4 foot tank which I got for free a couple of years ago. I cleaned and revamped it and I've loved it ever since. I started off with 2 internal filters and 2 internal heaters. I now have a 1400 lph pond solutions external filter and a Hydor external heater.

I used to have a cichlid tank (until they all matured at around the same time and all hell broke loose). I then changed to a pair of large red severums which laid numerous eggs which either weren't fertilised or got eaten.

I now have guppy's, neon tetra's, a bristle nose plec, a horse faced loach, angel fish (which have just started to lay eggs) and Kribensis (a male and 50-60 large fry in the main tank and a female and 50-60 small fry in my 60 litre quarantine tank).

I am having to give the large fry away tomorrow, as the store I have been selling (50p per fish) will no longer take kribs due to the market flooding (no pun intended). If anyone wants some krib fry, I'm in Buckinghamshire!

Hope to let you help me soon Sue!

Stuart.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself! Hello again!
Post by: Pixiecatjo on September 20, 2012, 09:14:28 PM
Hello all, its really good to have the forum back up and running, I have a Juwel Rio 180 tropical aquarium, with 3 Peppered Corys, 2 Sterbia Corys, 1 Bolivian Ram, a pair of albino Bristle nose cats, a pair of Lace Gourami's, 3 Pencil fish, 4 Harlequin Rasboros, 4 Slender Rasboros, 4 Otto's, 3 Black Neon Tetra's, 2 Threadfin Rainbow fish, and 3 Glowlite Danios, now i know its a bit of a mix, but its kind of an on-going evolution, having been given the tank complete with fish, some 2 years ago from my sister who was down sizing.
I also have a 28ltr nursery tank which currently has around 40 baby Bristle nose cats in as the pair in my main tank have spawned a couple of times, which was really exciting for me! :o
I have always received really good advice everyone on here, so its really good to have you back!!  ;D
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Murf on September 21, 2012, 01:24:05 AM
Hi all again, I can't remember what user name I used back on the old forum but it was either Fluffter or Murf I used.  Anyway I'm back again and with bigger and better tales to tell as I bought a Juwel 400 back in july and still have my 3ft tank that I originally started with back in February.  Really got into growing plants and now have a well planted 5ft tank which I will get blogged as soon as I get a bit of time to update. 
I have kept checking back for the forum and Im really glad you are back online  :)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on September 21, 2012, 08:51:52 AM
Fluffter, there was an Irish member called Murf on the old forum......?
I've seen your thread in the gallery, the new tank is already looking spectacular even just at the water and wood stage. And the 3 foot is looking good. I think it was your cycle with ammonia that made me ammend my fishless cycling thread, Natalia or Julia said about high ammonia levels damaging some types of plant.



And there was also a member called Stuart.



Returning members will probably remember that I posted a lot (probably inane drivel a lot of the time) so I read the names of the regular posters over and over again! I have the kind of brain that retains trivial information, but ask me to do something and I'll forget. So remembering names on a forum is easy, remembering to turn the oven on to cook dinner is a completely different matter.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Murf on September 21, 2012, 01:49:54 PM
Yeah Sue that was me then lol .... now under the guise of Fluffter :)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: SteveS on September 21, 2012, 08:12:48 PM
You're back! ;D ;D  I'm afraid I've sinned and have visited, and yes, even posted, on other forums whilst you were gone.  I thought you weren't coming back; I lost hope;  It wasn't the same;  It didn't mean anything;  I'm sorry!

Nice to see some familiar faces already;  Hi chucklett, sticking to the scientific method I see ("can I have a yellow one please")  :)  Hi Sue, I like the inane drivel best! :)

My life has been pretty eventful, but not in the good sense. I succumbed to a raging infection of the leg, ankle to knee was all ... well it wasn't a pretty sight.  I am now entering my fifth week of antibiotics, including a week of IV antibiotics in hospital in an attempt to control it.  One of the side-effects was to make my brain hurt!  I went through a whole range of weird stuff, hallucinations, paranoia, disorientation... I thought I was losing it!  Anyway, one of the unintended side-effects was that my tank got wiped out due to, I am sorry to admit, neglect, albeit unintended.

So I have a 110 litre planted tank, cycled filter and an empty shopping list for fish to filled over the next week or so.

Now, how can we advertise the new forum?
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on September 21, 2012, 09:01:40 PM
Ahh so that was you ('wonky steve') on a certain other forum! I did wonder with the user name but they don't like mention of rival forums on blank.net (the owner here might not like rival forums either!) and you didn't have enough posts to pm you. I'm essjay over there.
Your health problem sound really awful, I'm glad you're finally on the mend. Your fish tank was the least of your worries.

Did all your fish die or were there some survivors?
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Mike on September 21, 2012, 09:30:47 PM
Awesome, think fish is back! I've been waiting ages for its long awaited rise from the ashes!

My story:

As a kid I kept a few fish tanks with my Mum doing most of the work. I really enjoyed going to the fish shops choosing new fish and watching them in the tank.
Many years later, having moved out of home, I decided to get another tank. Should be easy I thought having kept a few tanks before! How wrong I was! Turns out fish keeping is a lot harder than I remember. I think my Mum must have been doing all the hard work and worrying for me.

My tanks
Aquaone 620, 90 litre
Set up in August 2010
Sand substrate
Live plants
1 red tailed black shark, 4 blue rams, 6 harlequin rasbora, 6 rummy nose tetra, 1 bristle nose Pleco, 4 khuli loach, 4 amano shrimp, 2 corydoras, 1 zebra nerite and several assassin snails

Aqua nano 40, 55 litre
Set up May 2012
Tetra complete substrate and black gravel
Live plants
4 cherry shrimp with lots of babies, 5 crystal red shrimp, 8 neon tetra, 1 small bristle nose Pleco, 1 nerite snail and 2 assassin snails
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: SteveS on September 21, 2012, 10:20:38 PM
Your health problem sound really awful, I'm glad you're finally on the mend. Your fish tank was the least of your worries.

Did all your fish die or were there some survivors?

Hi Sue!  "Newbie" eh, can't be the Sue I know.  :)

'Wonky' was me.  When I escaped from hospital (big thanks to Eric from the Escape Committee) I had 1 surviving Cherry Barb!  Sadly, it perished soon after I started repairing the water.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Chucklett on September 22, 2012, 08:51:22 AM
Good to see people finding the forum up & running again.

Hi Stuart. Good to hear alls well your end. And you were "Stuart" before so I recognised you straight away. You kept coming & going before, so I hope you're around a bit more this time. It gets a bit worrying when people disappear..... remember Jan? Lovely chap.....

I dont remember you Pixiecatjo. I guess you must have had a different username before?

Fluffter, I remember you as Murf. You hadnt long joined the site before it went "off air" so its good to see you persevered with checking back in.

SteveS! Great to hear from you. Sorry to hear of your woes lately. Sounds pretty awful. Good that you're on the mend though. "Scientific Chuck" as always  :)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on September 22, 2012, 11:58:58 AM
Hi Sue!  "Newbie" eh, can't be the Sue I know.  :)

That's the worst thing about us all starting again from zero, I had a postcount of 4000+ on the old forum. You'll notice I'm well on the way to the next 4000  ;D I think Peter must have agreed to me posting so much as soon as the forum was open to encourage new members to join. Nothing more off putting than a forum with no posts  :)



Steve, what are your plans for the tank? Same again or something completely different?

Edited for terrible spelling
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: marjanb021 on September 22, 2012, 12:46:56 PM
Hi everyone.  :)
My name is Marjan and I'm from Serbia. Sorry for eventually language mistakes.  ;D

This website is great and I'm happy to join it. There's so many good informations here. All commendation.  ;)

I don't think I'm advanced experienced aquarist although I have aquarium all my life and kept so many species.

Currently I have active one 112liter aquarium with couple of guppies, black mollies, two around 15 years old Giant danio's and one around 7 years old Peppered cory. Plants are cryptocoryne aponogetifolia, Egeria Densa, anubias nana and Java moss. Have External filter and quartz substrate. Aquarium is very very old and in bad shape so I plan to repair and refresh him as soon as I get time and the money. :D
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on September 22, 2012, 12:54:48 PM
Hi Marjan, nice to have a new member. Don't worry about any language mistakes, so long as we know what you mean that's all that matters.

We had a very friendly community on the old forum, so don't forget to join with all the chatter as well as fish stuff  :)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: SteveS on September 22, 2012, 01:20:48 PM
Hi Marjan;  Welcome to the madhouse!  Don't worry about your English, it's far superior to my, and probably everyone else's, Serb.

Steve, what are your plans for the tank? Same again or something completely different?
  In the short term, I don't really have the mobility, or the energy, to shop around for fish, so I plan on doing some work on the plants, they took a bit of a hammering over the last few weeks but have, mostly survived.

In the longer term I have two plans, mutually exclusive I'm afraid.  1)  A new community, it will be different but the same.  The only species I have decided upon are a load of corydora something or other.  2) Shelldwellers, I have taken a fancy to some Neolamprologus multifasciatus.  I am doing research as we speak.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on September 22, 2012, 02:15:47 PM
So you have a tank with plants but no fish. Are you feeding the filter or will you be stocking slowly and letting the plants keep your tank healthy, ie a silent cycle? If the latter, you'll have to write it up as an example of how to do a silent cycle  :)


I've always been intrigued by shell dwellers. It's just their need for hard water that's put me off. My tapwater has GH9 (or 6 if you believe my water company) so I'd have to add rift lake salts at every water change.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: DARRELL on September 22, 2012, 05:51:28 PM
OOOOH look the forum is back!!  Good to see some familiar faces (well names).......guess i have plenty of posts to read and catch up on
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: SteveS on September 22, 2012, 06:02:25 PM
I'm going to try and keep the filter fed.  I may write up my remodelling as a project, as I say, it's on the low priority list at the moment until I decide exactly what my plans will be.

Living in London, my water is naturally like concrete.  My "normal" pH, in the tank, is 8 - 8.2.  I don't have a hardness tester but my water company says it's CaCO3 equivalent is 275-300 mg/l which is about 15-16 dH.  So I think they'll be OK with that "out of the bottle".
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on September 22, 2012, 06:50:45 PM
Darrell - how about starting some threads  ;D The forum looks empty at the moment.....


Steve - I've heard about London water. Most people seem to refer to it as liquid rock. It would be great for all the rift lake fish.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Pixiecatjo on September 22, 2012, 10:18:55 PM
 Hi Sue I think your right I did have a different user name on the old forum, but for the life of me I can't remember what it was !!
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Julia on September 23, 2012, 08:45:12 AM
Good to see some familiar faces back on here!!!

I'm still currently running the four tanks...3 freshwater and the marine....

Lost my father at the end of July so things have not been brilliant as of late but it's good to see the site back up and running!!!
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: David on September 24, 2012, 01:46:10 PM
Hi, good to see the forum up and running again!!

I got into tropical fish in 2005 with a 110lr tank, and have now got a 160ltr tank!!  :)
What's in the tank:
2 Albino Corys
2 Leapard Corys
2 Zebra Loach
2 Ottos
2 Dwarf Guami
2 Galaxy Danios (did have 5)
Hi Fin Cat Fish
4 Swordtails
2 Rumueynose Tetras
2 Redeye Tetras
4 Pearl Danios
Did have 2 Kribs but one died yesterday??!!

Got all live planted tank, n ot sure it quite how I want it looking at moment, still not right, but.............

David.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Jiros on September 24, 2012, 05:06:45 PM
Hello

Great website. I bought my first fish tank last week, a 100L tank from allpondsolutions.
I still have a lot to learn before I am confident that I can keep fish correctly and safely and this site has been a great help. Also still have lots of bits and pieces to buy.

anyway just thought I would say hi after registering on the forum. 
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on September 24, 2012, 06:59:27 PM
Hi Jiros

Fishkeeping is a very interesting hobby, but as you have no doubt already discovered, there is a lot to learn at the start. Can I just warn you to take anything a fish shop tells you with a pinch of salt. Research before buying anything! There are some good shops around, as you get into things more you'll be able to spot which ones they are and which ones talk rubbish.
So just to start you off, have you read my 'how to' threads in the 'filtration and cycling' section? You'd be surprised how many people have problems when they've only just started because of bad advice/lack of advice from the shop or tank instructions.



But I need to warn you - fishkeepers are never satisfied with the tank they have. They always want more, bigger tanks. We even have a name for it - multiple tank syndrome  ;D
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Jiros on September 25, 2012, 10:35:01 AM
Hi Sue,

Thanks I have been reading through your threads on cycling, very helpful. Need to buy the pure ammonia solution and get a testing kit to carry out fishless cycling, and will continue doing more research.

haha, multiple tank syndrome.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Murf on September 25, 2012, 08:52:20 PM
Hi Jiros

Fishkeeping is a very interesting hobby, but as you have no doubt already discovered, there is a lot to learn at the start. Can I just warn you to take anything a fish shop tells you with a pinch of salt. Research before buying anything! There are some good shops around, as you get into things more you'll be able to spot which ones they are and which ones talk rubbish.
So just to start you off, have you read my 'how to' threads in the 'filtration and cycling' section? You'd be surprised how many people have problems when they've only just started because of bad advice/lack of advice from the shop or tank instructions.



But I need to warn you - fishkeepers are never satisfied with the tank they have. They always want more, bigger tanks. We even have a name for it - multiple tank syndrome  ;D

I got that a few months after I had my 108 litre tank ..... went to a 450litre lol .... infact I think I'll always have it !
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Natalia on September 27, 2012, 10:55:22 PM
Hi Everyone,
It has been truly a while since the old forum was running. I actually checked today after quite a few weeks without much hope – and the forum is back!
I am still keeping a few tanks, with the new thing being an optiwite glass custom made aquarium. As always, all of my tanks a heavily planted and as always, I am being a kind of a “nerd” of fish keeping: the new optiwite is dedicated to freshwater flora and fauna of Australasia (based on “Wallace line”), another tank is a Burmese one (with the addition of Venusta and Tumida shrimps), and so on, so on.
I use EI method of fertilizers customised to each tank and simplified to fit into a busy schedule with pressurised CO2 in most of the tanks.
I am having a bad patch in life at the moment. I will be flying a few thousand miles next week to see my Mum who had a stroke – she lives sooo far away, and this does not make things cheap or easy. So, I cannot promise I will be posting often, although I was itching to add something to the topic of plant fertilizers... will do if I have any time between work and getting everything sorted and ready for going away for over two weeks...
P.S. Glad to see Chucklett, Sue, Darrell and the others from the old forum!
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Chucklett on September 27, 2012, 11:27:48 PM
Hey Natalia - good to see you  :)
I was hoping you'd find your way here sooner or later! Nice to know theres a good aquatic gardener lurking in the background.

Im sure you talked about a freshwater flora & fauna tank before? Great to hear you've got it underway.

Sorry to hear about your mum - I hope she's on the mend. Not easy for you being so far away. Have a safe trip, keep your chin up and try not to worry too much  ;)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Murf on September 28, 2012, 04:20:39 PM
Hey Natalia - good to see you  :)
I was hoping you'd find your way here sooner or later! Nice to know theres a good aquatic gardener lurking in the background.

Im sure you talked about a freshwater flora & fauna tank before? Great to hear you've got it underway.

Sorry to hear about your mum - I hope she's on the mend. Not easy for you being so far away. Have a safe trip, keep your chin up and try not to worry too much  ;)

I 2nd that .... good to see you back Natalia, I often thought 'what would Natalia do here' when I ive been stumped regarding plants lol

sorry about your mum :(
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: TigzFish on October 01, 2012, 10:50:14 PM
Hi all,

Glad to see the forum finally up and running again.  :)  The revamp of the whole site looks pretty amazing.

I joined the previous forum just a small number of weeks before the site went dark, so here's a quick recap of where I was up to.

I had scrapped an an attempt at a planted fresh water tropical tank because I was having problems with plants and decor and decided to go for a "temperate" fresh water variant instead.  When I arrived at the forum last time (21st April 2012) I had just started a fishless cycle.

By 28th April I suffered a pH crash, which I think it was Sue helped me out by suggesting addition of a small quantity of bicarbonate of Soda.  This worked a treat and got me back on track again, but it did take until 26th May to get the cycle completed, and then I started to add fish.

The decor has gone through some changes, from just plastic plants to some potted live plants, which are just about to be replaced by some silk plants and the live ones are slowly being devoured  >:(

So, here's the low-down thanks to the ThinkFish "tank mates" and stocking calculator (hope they come back):-

64 litre Interpet "FishPod" (aka "FishBox") ([L] 60cm x [W] 32cm x [H] 37cm)
[26th May] 5x Vietnamese White Cloud Mountain Minnows (Tanichthys micagemmae)
[2nd June] 4x Japonica (Amano) Shrimp (Caridina multidentata)
[22nd June] 1x Zebra Otocinclus (Otocinclus Cocama) *deceased 11th July  :'(
[30th June]  1x Zebra Otocinclus (Otocinclus Cocama) *deceased 20th August  :'(
[7th July] 5x Glowlight Danios (Danio choprai)
[14th July] 5x Glowlight Tetras (Hemigrammus erythrozonus)

Very Soft water is a steady heated 24 deg, pH 6.5 to 7.6
Fluval 130 External Cannister filter (replaced the manufacturers internal one)

You'll see from the above that I lost both of my Zebra Oto's.  I'm convinced that the first developed an illness that went undected due to their reclusive nature and the second I think gave out during a water change, possibly suffocating, but I can't prove it.  The body of the first Oto was not touched by the other fish, whilst the second was almost half eaten by the time I spotted the carcus.

Not happy about loosing both, as they were absolutely brilliant lookers, but I'm not planning to get any more.

I've had one outbreak of Planaria which I replaced the whole of my substrate to combat. This worked great, and indeed it looked like it was caused by waste food rot.

Well, that's where I'm up to at the moment and all is going fine. 60% water change once a week is keeping the Nitrate levels at 20ppm and below, and I'm a happy fishkeeper at long last.  :o

Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: DARRELL on October 02, 2012, 11:53:40 PM
Hi there, good to see a fellow Lancastrian on the forum.  It sounds like you like the idea of live plants......id say if thats what you want keep plugging away. 
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: TigzFish on October 04, 2012, 02:21:16 PM
Hi Darrell, yes I really am keen on live plants, and it would be simply fab if the Amano's would stop chomping on them.  >:(

The fish fortunately don't bother the plants at all, so its more like a slow death than an all out assault.

At the moment the plants look positively sick, with holes all over them so they need to come out.  I think the Amano's are pooing more as a result of their feasting too (and they do poo a lot).

I've got hold of some nice looking silks, 20 & 30 cm mixture of different sorts and will be putting those in at the weekend. I'd like to see the Amanos eat those!  ;D
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Chucklett on October 04, 2012, 08:48:24 PM
Hi TigzFish (I remember you as Dave)  :)

I researched the net when my amano shrimps starting eating the plants. I found one person claiming the same thing (oddly, with the same plant) and they were met with complete disbelief. Shrimps do NOT eat plants! Ohhhh, but they DO! I watched a female chomping quite merrily on my alternanthera. Well, chomping isnt quite the right word..... "descimating" is more like it. She happily ate her way through the middle of a leaf, from one side to the other, leaving the tip-half to float off into the sunset. After doing this to a few leaves, she then happily munched through the main stem leaving the top half of the plant to float off into the sunset!

I tried a new batch of alternanthera, only for it to meet the same fate. I researched more and found a couple of people saying the same thing about their alternanthera. So I gave up on the beautiful red plant. Its obviously a delicasy for female amano shrimps! All was well between shrimps & plants until last year when I was forced to put the tank on a diet. For 6 weeks, I could only feed the fish once-a-day. During this time, my Brazilian Pennywort slowly disappeared. Mollies are known to be fond of munching this plant, so they may by guilty for its disappearance, though I suspect the shrimps know something about it too!

Again, all was well with my plants until the last few weeks. I moved house in August and for some reason, my much loved Twisted Vallis has since been mowed! All along the back of my tank looks like Ive cut it down to 6" - 8" with scissors! Though I dont have handfuls of leaf tips floating around this time, I just know its those shrimps.......

I have to wonder if amanos have a "time of the year" where they just have to have vegetation in their diet. The Alternanthera happened around June/July 2010. The Brazilian Pennywort was July/August 2011 and the Twisted Vallis has just happened..... August/September. Hmmmmm, I see a pattern emerging every 13 months! Bizarre or what?  ???

Keep trying with live plants. They really do add that finishing touch to a tank  ;)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Helen on October 07, 2012, 05:38:03 PM
Hello. I feel like I've been away for ages! And a bit slow on finding the new forums.  :-[

Nearly 2 years ago, my boyfriend asked me if I wanted a fish tank for Christmas, on the condition that it would be wholly mine and he would not take any responsibility for looking after it in any way. After a (very) bit of research, I decided that a planted tropical freshwater fish tank would be a great 'first pet'.

I now have a 240l Roma tank, that is fairly heavily planted. I live in a fairly soft water area, so found it a bit of a struggle to keep my plants alive - until I discovered CO2 injection and fertilisers. I started researching fertiliser salts, and got to a point where my tank was doing really well plant wise, but not so well fish wise. I think this is where I was up to before losing touch with the forums.

I had to move my fish tank, fortunately only to another wall in the same room. But found it incredibly stressful. I made the decision to take out the minimum water I had to and leave the fish in place. I ended up removing at least 100l of the 170l of water, and by the time I realised I'd have to do this, it was too difficult to catch the fish amongst all the plants. So they spent the best part of an hour or so in less than 10cm of water!

Turns out, I was the only one that suffered from stress and the improvement in water quality that resulted from such a large water change benefited my fish enormously. I didn't lose any fish for several months (except the odd stupid cardinal tetra swimming into and getting stuck behind my second small pump).

Then in May, I discovered that I was pregnant and morning sickness as well as an increased sense of smell, meant that my tank maintenance was somewhat neglected. My husband is a bit of a worrier, so water changes are now a joint effort, as he does all the lifting of buckets of water - both into and out of the tank! (I don't think he factored that into his original conditions!  :o

Over the last 3 weeks, the water conditions have started to show on my fish and I have lost several - including the last of my dwarf gouramis.  :'(  But today I've done a 90l water change and hope to 'get back on the wagon', so to speak and make a much better effort at maintaining my tank. I will post a photo at some stage, when I work out how.  ;)

Btw, I currently have 5 kuhli loaches, 7 bronze corydorus, 3 harlequin rasboras, a pair of cherry barbs, 9 cardinal tetras and a glowlight tetra.

Helen
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on October 07, 2012, 07:14:45 PM
Congratulations on the forth coming happy event  ;D Luckily mine were in their teens when I first got fish (well, they first got fish) so I didn't have any tank maintenance to do while pregnant. Heaven knows how I'd have coped with the second, I had 'morning sickness' 24 hours a day till he was 6 weeks old - I blame the iron tablets they gave you in those days from first diagnosis of pregnancy till six weeks after the birth. (They let me change brands with the first which worked a treat, but not with the second for some reason).

It's times like this when the tank does have to take second place - well done on getting your husband involved, I'm not sure I'd ever manage that  ;D
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: DonnyMac on October 08, 2012, 12:32:19 AM
Hi Fishy-People,

I'm Donny and have just purchased a largish bio-something-or-other for my 20 yr old son as he expressed an interest in having fish in his room...

However, Anna and I have always had the fish bug and ended up buying an 80 litre tropical thingamy as well with a 120 litre pump and associated gubbings.

Anyhoooo, my being here should be kept a secret, as fish are clearly boring as hell... Since set up, some hours ago, we're starring at it desperately waiting for 7 days to pass for the week to be over before we can stock it, phrases such as "ooh, isn't it pretty", and "wait until it has our little babies in it" should clearly be ignored because this is our first tank and will deny it if asked.

Can't bloody wait!

So, now I've been outed as a fish tank owner, what are we looking at stocking on a soon to be 7 day old tank @ <>26' with adequate filtration and of course clorine and bacteria treatments?

Thanks in advance for the advice, please PM me if I don't responded quick enough and whatever you do, if you find someone with the same username on a Maserati or Ariel Atom type forum , don't, ever, mention the fish!

Looking forward to taking part.

All the best,
Donny
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on October 08, 2012, 02:22:08 PM
Hi Donny and welcome to fishkeeping.


The largeish bio-something (biorb perhaps?) and the 80 litre - are they both brand new, and no other tanks in the house? If that's right, then I hate to have to tell you but they won't be ready for fish in 7 days whatever the instructions/shop might have said. Sorry, I hate having to say that to someone who is keen  :(

In a fish tank, the filter grows two colonies of bacteria to deal with the fish's waste. A brand new filter does not have any bacteria in it, they have to grow, and it can take a couple of months for this to happen. You mention bacteria treatments - you need to know that they do not cycle the filter (ie grow the bacteria) instantly. Some don't work at all, some grow one of the bacteria but not the other, and some do speed things up. Notice I said speed things up not do it instantly. Some of this last group only work if they've been refridgerated at all times since manufacture, but there is a good chance they've been allowed to warm up at some point in their journey rendering them useless.

So what can you do? First of all can I recommend that you read the following threads
http://www.thinkfish.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,15.0.html
http://www.thinkfish.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,16.0.html
http://www.thinkfish.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,17.0.html

The first explains what cycling is and gives a general outline of the various methods in use. The other two are detailed instructions for how to do two of these methods. Read them though a few times so you get your head round them, then you'll be able to decide which method you want to go with. The downside with fishless cycling is you have an empty tank for a few weeks, the downside with fish-in cycling is that you have to do a lot of water changes, daily at first. You can still use your bacterial product with both methods, just don't assume it wil do anything - and if it does, you will be pleasantly surprised!



Sorry to be the bearer of bad news! If you really can't wait for a few weeks, then do a fish-in cycle. But only a very few fish. The 80 litre tank converts to 21 gallons (it's always American gallons in fishkeeping) and the recommended maximum for fish-in cycling is 1 inch of fish for every 5 gallons - giving you a maximum of 4 inches of fish for a fish-in cycle. But that's not the size of the fish now, they are all babies/juveniles in the shop, it's the size they'll grow to. So you can have 1 fish that'll grow to 4 inches, 2 fish that'll grow to 2 inches, or 4 fish that'll grow to 1 inch. Check the fish profile in the menu above for the fish you want, or if it isn't there google fishbase.





Oh, and if your son's tank is a biorb, please be aware there are limitations on some kinds of fish. Ask and I'll tell you what they are.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: DonnyMac on October 08, 2012, 05:35:39 PM
Hi Sue,

Thanks for the advice.

I've probably read about 30+% of the site and just about every 'how-to' on Google over the past 36 hours.

I was going to wait a week and then take the advice of the store for a fish-in cycle, my guesstimate was 6 little ones, but sounds like 4 juveniles, then the wait, testing, wait, testing, wait for the drop-off and get a couple more additions, test and repeat?

I was thinking, disasters aside, that we should be fully stocked in three months or so?

On the Bio-Orb front (square) my lad isn't known for looking after things too well, so we may well commandeer that later for a quarantine for new arrivals over the coming months should he not keep his little friends in the luxury they deserve.

We did purchase a heater for the Orb so fish should be interchangeable should the levels closely match.

I've read about a community calculator but believe it's not online right now - any recommendations on a nice colourful active bunch to aim for once the cycle is complete, top, middle and bottom feeders?

Thanks again,
Donny
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on October 08, 2012, 07:33:32 PM
Hi Donny,

Take everything a shop tells you with a huge pinch of salt. Too many of them haven't a clue what they are talking about but they are extremely good at sounding convincing. There are some that instruct the staff to make things up to make a sale. For instance, I heard someone in one shop telling a customer to add a bottle of bacteria to a brand new tank and also add all the fish he wanted at the same time or the bottled bacteria wouldn't work. I went home and googled the product in question, and it said to add a few fish at first, wait a couple of weeks and add more a few at a time. Not exactly what the shop was telling customers!

Regarding a fish-in cycle, that's right. Get a few fish, measure both ammonia and nitrite daily (twice a day is better) and do water changes every time you see either/or ammonia and nitrite. A lot of people find it helpful to make notes of the readings so that one day when you say to yourself 'I haven't had any ammonia or nitrite for a few days even though I haven't done any water changes' you can look at your notes and see how long it's been  :) When it's been a week, the filter is cycled for that number of fish. It could take anywhere from a month to three months to reach that stage, you just have to be patient. That's one thing fishkeeping teaches us, because these are living things (including the filter bacteria) they go at their own speed which may be slower than we'd like. Don't forget you can only get more fish slowly. If you had four fish, you could add maybe 2 more once the filter is cycled, then a week or two later, two or three more.


If your son's tank is square, that sounds like a biorb life. The main problem with stocking biorbs of any shape is the fact that the rocks on the bottom are the main part of the filter where the bacteria live and they are quite rough, so that means no corydoras or loaches. These fish like to root around on the bottom for food but they have barbels which can get cut on rough stones which allows infections in.
There could also be a problem with using one as a quarantine - it is usual to move the quarantine's filter into the main tank to keep the bacteria alive when the tank isn't in use, but you can't do that with a biorb's filter. The alternative would be to keep fish in it all the time and swap them over to the main tank when you want to use it for quarantine.

But for your 80 litre, what are the dimensions, that would give us a better idea of fish for it. Some tanks are long and shallow, others are tall and narrow. And how far away would you sepnd most of your time viewing it from? It's no good recommending tiny fish if you woud be too far away to see them  :) And it would also be useful to know the pH of your water and whether it is hard or soft (eg does the kettle fur up or not). It is much easier to get fish to suit your water rather than try to make the water suit the fish.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: DonnyMac on October 08, 2012, 09:34:34 PM
Interesting point on the Bio filter and one that wouldn't have crossed my mind if you hadn't of mentioned it :)

My tank is in the main triangular, identical to this but double the volume -

http://www.petsathome.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplayLargeImageView?storeId=10551&imageName=/wcsstore/ConsumerDirectStorefrontAssetStore/images/products/extralarge/15625.jpg&productName=Mini%20Pentagon%20Aquarium%20by%20Clearseal%20(Available%20In%20Store%20Only)&productCode=15625&catalogId=10601&langId=-1

The tank is placed on a 3-4mm bespoke foam 'mat' which I made sitting in the corner of our granite breakfast bar, so visible for breakfast (not like that) and through out the day pretty close up.

I've no idea of levels just yet as I was going to get the testing kit next Sunday after the tank had settled for a week, chlorine removal etc., we're in a hard water area of London.

I've used seperate API treatments for chlorine/heavy metals and double dosed the bacteria/slime coat treatment as advised.

The tank has medium/small sized rounded gravel so as not to discount bottom feeders in future.

Small but perfectly formed, starring at pretty bubbles looking forward to next week and hundreds of litres of tank cleaning efforts all over the floor in the coming weeks!

Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on October 09, 2012, 03:00:03 PM
If you are in London, your water will be very hard and alkaline. Another member, SteveS, lives in the London area and he says that's what his tapwater is like. If it was my tank, I'd stick to lots of small fish, but I do know that other people like bigger fish too  ;D I'd stick to fish that grow a maximum of 2, maybe 2.5 inches. And avoid fast swimmers as corner tanks don't have a long swimming space. There are plenty of fish that like to swim slowly.

So with tapwater like yours, the first thing to do is warn you against fish that like soft acid water - the main examples of fish that woud hate your water are things like rams. But you'll find that livebearers love your water, and if you ever get a bigger tank, so would Rift Lake cichlids. So for an 80 litre tank, fish like platies, endlers or guppies (though a lot of guppies these days have been so inbred to get their gorgeous tails that they are quite weak). Avoid mollies and swordtails as they are a lot bigger. Platies would be one of the best bets for cycling, maybe two of them. But be warned about livebearers - they can overpopulate your tank in no time at all. Females can store sperm for up to 6 months, so even if you went with just females you'd get fry if they'd ever spent more that about 5 minutes in the company of a male. You could also cycle with a couple of endlers. Most of the ones in the shops are endler-guppy hybrids but they are less delicate that pure guppy. The downside with these is that the females are plain grey-beige and with all livebearers you need at least two females for every male with mixed sexes (males chase the females contantly so more females than males gives each female time off). You can keep all male endlers - I have a group of males in one tank and a group of females in another, the males just try to mate with each other  ???

Non-livebearers? You'll find quite a lot of fish that have hard alkaline water at the top end of their prefered range. Fish like cherry barbs, some of the tetras (check out their water preferences in the fish profile section), dwarf rainbowfish [Melanotaenia praecox], some of the blue-eyes [eg Pseudomugil furcatus] and so on. The easiest thing to do is go round your local shops and make a note of the smallish fish that cach your eye. Then go home and look them up - check out what type of water they need and the final adult size. If they are not in the database on here, look at fishbase, though it is easier to find fish on there if you know the latin name - it's an American site and they often use different common names. Ask at the shop for the latin name, even if they don't know it they should be able to look it up on their wholesaler's list.

Above all, take your time. I speak from experience when I say you'll have a fully stocked tank then see a fish you really like and have no room for  :)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: DARRELL on October 09, 2012, 09:28:13 PM
Have to agree with Sue, the advantage of needeing to take a bit more time before you can add fish is that you can keep looking online and in a few different fish shops and get an idea of what fish catch your eye and you think you would like.

I've lost count the number of time i have had a plan in mind for my next fish then spot something else and completely change my plans!!
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Glyn on October 12, 2012, 01:42:41 AM
thought i'd throw in my hello,

like a few other people i've stuck to using my own name on forums i just find it easier in honesty, I've had fish off and on my entire life while living with my parents, started with goldfish and then tropical although I admit once i moved out and had my own family and tried fish-keeping i did so many things wrong it ended being a disaster.

This time i decided to be much more careful and alsp to do it right and avoid the disasters and so I got books and read a lot first now i have an AquaOne set up it's about 100 litre tank I think..it's 31.5" x 15" x 11.5" I've had it running for a few days now before getting my new fish which i'll be doing on Saturday...planning on 4 gourami's to start me off and working from that, adding a few fish once a week or so until i'm happy with how everything looks and is working.

I found the forum during my internet searching for knowledge so I joined it and here I am hoping for a happy informative time
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on October 12, 2012, 01:59:50 PM
Hi Glyn,

You'll find fishkeeping has changed a lot in recent years. The 'get a few fish, then a few more after a week' idea is no longer in favour, I'm afraid. Just running a tank without doing anything to it doesn't get it ready for fish.

Can I suggest you read throug these two threads to get some idea of current methods of getting a tank ready, known as cycling.
http://www.thinkfish.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,17.0.html
http://www.thinkfish.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,16.0.html

The first deals with the method for cycling with fish (the way you mention) and the second deals with fishless cycling, a method of growing the bacteria in the filter before putting fish in the tank. As you'll see from the first (fish-in cycling) you get a few fish then do water changes as often as necessary until enough bacteria have grown to keep both ammonia and nitrite at zero, and only then get more fish.

When you read up on fish-in cycling in the link, you'll see that you need to buy a test kit at the same time as the first fish, and that it will be several weeks before you can get any more. You will probably find you have to do at least one large water change every day for the first few of those weeks.



Which gouramis do you intend to get? I ask because dwarf gouramis are not a good choice to cycle a tank with. They are notroiously weak fish, dying for no apparent reason. Coupled with the fact that a large proportion of the ones bred in the far east have a disease called DGIV (dwarf gourami iridovirus) which kills the fish within a couple of months of purchase. If it was dwarfs you wanted, can I suggest you choose a different fish for cycling with.



Sorry I seem to be telling you that you can't do what you suggest. You did say you want to get things right and avoid disasters  :) The books I've looked at in the library and bookshops don't give very good advice I'm afraid. And neither do a lot of tank/filter instructions, nor a lot of shops.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on October 12, 2012, 03:04:10 PM
Forgot to add: in a 100 litre tank, if you want four gouramis I would get 1 male 3 females. You might get away with more than one honey gourami male if the tank has lots of plants (real or synthetic) which reach the surface to break up line of sight. But I wouldn't risk more than one male dwarf or any of the bigger gouramis as they is a very good chance the dominant male will attack the other males.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: si chezzer on October 20, 2012, 12:42:03 PM
Hi, thought I would say hello to everyone. I'm new to this edition of thinkfish, but I did use the previous version and i'm looking forward to the progression of this version. Just getting back into the hobby of fish keeping. I have an interest in tropicals and i'm a sucker for small catfish and corys (I think I may have made a pun there!). Over the next few months I will be setting up a new 150L tank so again the info on this site will be invaluable, and I hope I can post some pictures as I go on as well, but in the meantime, once again Hi to all.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Don on October 20, 2012, 09:28:40 PM
Hi all good to see everyone back and the forum up and running.

Background, started keeping fish when i was 12 with the help of my dad and as i got older took a increasing role in keeping them until i had my own tanks in my room until i went o uni at 18. Was out of the hobby until 2006 when i started a small tank. Moved to my own house and set up a 160ltr tank and in the last 5 years have kept a variety of fish from south american puffers to canara pearl spot.

2 years ago i got a 25inch custom 255ltr cube aquarium, this has gone through a few setups. Last year i picked up a pair of apistogama noberti who over the last year have bred a lot and i currently have 4 fry from the last batch. I have also been breeding platinum blue angel fish although they keep eating there eggs. These are currently in my 160ltr corner unit.

My 255ltr has recently been changed it now houses 6 wild green discus 3, queen arabesue plecs, a red morph spiny eel and 8 licorice gouramis.

Hoping to see lots of pics of tanks from leople new and previous.

Ps chucklett i finaly got to trimar in august.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on October 20, 2012, 09:34:32 PM
Hi Don, been wondering if you'd find the new forum  :)

How about pics of your own tanks as well as other peoples'....... ;D
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Don on October 20, 2012, 09:55:55 PM
Okay you twisted my arm :)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Chucklett on October 21, 2012, 10:39:49 AM
Hey Don - great to "see" you here  :)

Glad alls well with you and your tanks. And so you finally made it to TriMar then - you said you'd get there one day!

Looking forward to seeing recent photos of your tanks  ;)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Don on October 21, 2012, 02:08:44 PM
Glad to here youve moved chucklett, have you gone far?

Ye i did it was a nice well set up shop but i wasnt wowed. They had some nice fish and the prices were good but nothing that made me think wow i need that now. Rare aquatics on the other hand blows me away everytime and its where all my latest fish have come from but i think thats because deep down south americans are where its at for me.

Should have pics up soon, most are on my phone and i cant resize them on it and it wont connect to my pc so i will have to get me camera out.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Chucklett on October 21, 2012, 08:15:10 PM
They do have quite an assortment of fish dont they, and yes well set out with tropical down one side, cold water another, etc, but, well, I have my experiences and opinions!

Yeah, we finally got a fantastic little bungalow with a lovely huge garden. About 15 miles from where we used to live, so wasnt too bad moving. The biggest stress was, of course, moving the fish! Been here about 2 months now so getting quite settled and the greatest thing is that my husband is already much happier and he has started applying for jobs  :D
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on October 21, 2012, 08:51:53 PM
That's such good news about your husband. Living in your old flat must have been so stressful for him with everything that happened there. Moving to somewhere different with no bad memories would seem to be helping, from what you said.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Don on October 22, 2012, 06:44:53 PM
Haha ye enough said.

Thats great news to here your husband is doing well and youve got a nice new house. Garden sounds big enough for a pond ;D  ::).

Its the one thing i dread and i no its gona have to happen sooner rather than later but the thought of moving my tanks gives me chills.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Chucklett on October 22, 2012, 07:41:23 PM
A fresh start was just what the Doctor ordered Sue! And its worked a treat  :)

Funnily enough Don, Ive already said how a nice pond would make a lovely centre-piece.......  ;D
My best tip for you when you come to move your tanks...... dont stress!!!!!!!  :o
(edit: actually, on a serious note, I have moved tanks enough times now to earn a degree in it! So, if you do have any questions when the time comes, I may be able to give you a few tips  ;) )
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Skull on October 22, 2012, 08:19:04 PM
Hello new to the forum,but have used think fish since I started 12 month ago it's been like my bible.my tank is a aqua one 165 litre ,just posted some pictures on the gallery
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on October 23, 2012, 08:29:53 AM
Hi Skull, I'd seen your post in the gallery and was just waiting for the pics   :)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Skull on October 23, 2012, 07:25:46 PM
Yes sorry,did it a bit back to front
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Lellynelly on October 27, 2012, 08:30:11 PM
Wayhay! forum back!
I will introduce myself. I'm Lellynelly. I have a community tropical aquarium that I set up in October 2010 housing a variety of fish, Harlequin Rasboras, Neon tetras, Mollies, Platys, Plecs, Catfish, and a pair of dwarf aquatic frogs. I am just in the process now of setting up my first marine aquarium from scratch, whcih I am planning will eventually house soft corals, and a few fish.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Chucklett on October 28, 2012, 08:24:06 AM
Hi Lellynelly, and welcome  :)

Did you have another username before? I dont remember you, sorry!

Sounds like a nice mature tank you have..... and wow - a marine setup on the way, awesome!! Julia has a marine tank (http://www.thinkfish.co.uk/marines/cost) - Im sure you two will be swapping notes and tips! Look forward to a pic in the gallery  ;)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Lellynelly on October 28, 2012, 01:05:30 PM
I think my previous name might have been Mummy.
here is my my one day old marine set-up
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Chucklett on October 28, 2012, 09:08:55 PM
Dont recall "Mummy" either!

Looking great at only a day old  :)
I totally love corals - they simply fascinate me. They are so beautfiul and I find it quite amazing they are actually a living "thing", more than "just a plant". Maybe one day I'll get the courage for a marine set up.....  ::)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Mervyn on October 30, 2012, 12:46:05 PM
Hi,
I have only just started an aquariium and am in my 60's  ;) I have a new rio 180 and it is on its 4th day of a fishless cycle.
I am sure that I will have many.many questions but first I will take a look around you place if I may.

I have no doubt I will be a regular
Cheers
Mervyn
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on October 30, 2012, 01:46:31 PM
Hi Mervyn,

There are a couple of us older fish keepers on Thinkfish, I'm only a couple of years younger than you  ;D


There are lots of articles by the site owner and the forum on the old Thinkfish was a very friendly place to exchange views - hopefully the new site is as well! Ask as many questions as you want, the only silly thing is not asking  :)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: chewie1971 on November 02, 2012, 11:39:34 PM
Hi
I've been keeping fish for a little over two years,although as a child i kept goldfish and caught fish from the local river!they never lived for that long and now i know why!lol

I started with a 60L tank that was given to me and patiently waited for it to be ready for my first fish which helped with the cycling!my first fish was a common plec and a black molly,the black molly later gave birth to about 20 little fry and it was then that i was hooked!

Over the 2 years or so i have upgraded my tank to a 450L AQUA ONE 1530XL and it looks impressive along with the fish that i have,it's a community tank with an assortment of Gourami's, Tinfoil barbs,Black widow tetras and some large specimens of common plec one being 13 inches long, and yes i still have my first plec and that one is 9 inches long along with a couple more!

I also have a 130L coldwater tank with a couple of bristlenose plecs that are quite comfortable being in a tank with Goldfish.
I am also experienced in moving large tanks as have moved my larger one 3 times with no loss of fish!I'm looking forward to learning more about this hobby that i have gained so much enjoyment from!and sharing my experiences with others too
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on November 03, 2012, 11:49:39 AM
Hi Chewie, welcome to Thinkfish.

That was a big jump from 60 to 450 litres  ;D I'd love a tank that big but my husband seems to think we need furniture in the lounge  ???





Edited for spelling  :-[
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on November 03, 2012, 11:56:08 AM
I've just noticed - that was my 100th post and I'm now a full member  ;D ;D ;D ;D
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Don on November 04, 2012, 08:32:50 AM
Awsome congrates sue. Im having the same problem no matter what way i put it my wife is not convinced replacing a sofa with a 6 foot tank is a good idea.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Chucklett on November 04, 2012, 08:58:25 AM
Don - Try: "A 6ft tank is more relaxing than a sofa"  ;D (cant argue with the truth!!!!!!)

Congratulations Sue  :)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Don on November 04, 2012, 11:12:24 AM
Haha i will, although her argument is guests cant sit on a fish tank. I have howeer managed to get her too agree to a 12x3x3 foot tank when we move in the future and house wil be chosen with this as a consideration  ;D. 
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Chucklett on November 04, 2012, 11:34:45 AM
12 x 3 x 3? You cant mean a 12 foot tank surely  :o That would be a small swimming pool  ;D

Whatever size you meant, you're in the right direction for another tank, albeit you gotta wait a while  :)  Remember, I had to save for about 6 months for my 4-footer, then I had it sat for about 4 months before I could set it up (trying to get the bits & pieces I wanted for it), and THEN I had to watch plants grow for a further 5 months before I could get fish!!!! All good things come to those who wait LOL!  ;)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Don on November 04, 2012, 11:55:06 AM
haha i do indeed mean a 12 foot by 3foot by 3foot tank. Think it comes in at 3000ltrs  ;D ;D.

the worst bit is gona be the decor gona need half a beach for the substrate not even thinking about putting a plant layer down, gona use the root tabs. Plus i think im gona need a fork lift to move the bog wood and rocks. Gona filter with external pond filters, was thinking about a sump but the sheer size of it and the pumps required it is cheaper.

ye agree its gona take an age to get ready although i already no the stocking i wana up my wild discus to 30, and have loads and loads of corries plecos and licorice gouramis, basicly my 260ltr on a stupid scale.  ::)

i also wana light it with tmc but i think this may be a bit beyond the budget  :(

haha ye its still a dream but the missus has given it a go ahead and im prepared to wait as long as it takes. Gona try and include it in my redecoration budget, im sure we wont need a new bathroom or kitchen  ::)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: SteveS on November 04, 2012, 12:06:45 PM
Haha i will, although her argument is guests cant sit on a fish tank. I have howeer managed to get her too agree to a 12x3x3 foot tank when we move in the future and house wil be chosen with this as a consideration  ;D.
You've heard of coffee table aquariums?  Why not try to sell her on the idea of a Sofa aquarium?! :)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Don on November 04, 2012, 12:16:12 PM
Awsome i like that idea. Will bring that up tnite   :D
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Chucklett on November 04, 2012, 02:14:36 PM
Oh my goodness Don, a 12-footer is well worth the wait  ;D I didnt even know you could get tanks that size!!!!! Can you?? The cabinet would have to be made out of concrete with 18ft foundations LOL! I assume this tank isnt going upstairs  :o

You will also need to get a camera with an extremely wide-angle lens so you can post a pic in the gallery  ;D

Word of wisdom from a woman - I wouldnt try to do the wife out of a new kitchen! But hey, who needs a new bathroom anyway?

Wow - I bet you cant wait to move house!!!!!!!  ;D  ;D  ;D
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on November 04, 2012, 02:21:29 PM
3 foot tall - you'll need arms like an orang utan to reach the bottom of that  ;D



Hmmmm...... I seem to remember a thread on the old forum where we were discussing the need for scuba diving Sven (or his sister for the men) to clean our enormous tanks for us. That's not what you were thinking of is it   ;D ;D ;D ;D
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Don on November 04, 2012, 02:30:50 PM
Haha i wasnt but i am now  ::). Hmm think that would go down worse than getting rid of a sofa.

Ye that i havnt figured out yet, need them to invent gogo gadget arms.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: andy.basingstoke on November 06, 2012, 06:47:31 PM
Hi My name is Andy and im brand new to Fish keeping. i have a tropical setup with a few fish. :-\
 
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Chucklett on November 07, 2012, 10:42:56 AM
Hi Andy - welcome to the forum and the wonderful fishkeeping hobby  :)

You've found a very friendly and helpful site so any problems or questions you may have, feel free to ask and the lovely folk here will do their best to help you......... The only silly question is one that isnt asked  ;) With regards to any problems, remember to add as much info as possible in your posts - it helps us (well, usually Sue, bless her!) to work out what could be going wrong and how to put things right. Include things like the size of your tank, what fish you have and how many of each, your maintenance regime, when you last changed or added anything, and most importantly your water readings (pH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate), along with anything else you can think of.

Hope to "see" you joining in with discussions too!

Maybe when you've got time you could pop a pic of your setup in the gallery? We like to nose at other peoples tanks and fish  ;D

Good luck  :)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Richard123 on November 07, 2012, 10:41:54 PM
Evening all,

Good to see the site is up and running. My name is Richard, I was an irregular
visitor towards the end of the old site being closed down.However I am now into
the 3rd year of keeping quality water, plants and fish  :).

I still have the one tank, 320lt (ish) 5ft tank, FX5 filtration (still going strong), 5pcs
bogwood, medium planted, 4 banks of LED lights with controller (Chuck, you sent
me a nice thread on lighting  ;D).

Current stock, Sunshine Plec L014, Blue Spotted Phantom Plec, 4 x BN Catfish
6 x Denosini Barbs (torpedo barbs), Violet Dragon Goby, Columbian Red Fin x 8,
mixed Tetra shoal, Silver Tips & Lemon, 8 x Copper Harlequins, 2 x Golden Panchax
& 2 Blue Diamond Discus. Many Assasin snails.

Will talk soon and load some pics.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Chucklett on November 08, 2012, 08:29:30 AM
Hey Richard, welcome back! Hope you're around a bit more this time  ;)

Look forward to seeing how your tank is looking  :)

Ahhhhh, LEDs  :P My infamous lighting thread is gonna haunt me forever innit???!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: brecon on November 14, 2012, 09:37:42 AM
Hi

I'm Brecon

Been fishkeeping now for 19 years and have two tanks.

The first is a 240ltr with a mix of Congos and Clown Loaches, two of the loaches I have had since I started and they have moved house twice. Love these fish although they can give you a few scares.

The second tank is new to me, my wife came home after walking one of furrier creatures and told me that there was Bow front aquarium on someones driveway down the road marked for sale. Turned out to 180 litres bow fronted with a stand and lots of bits and pieces Ł60.00 the lot. Well who could refuse a bargain. Needed a very good cleaning but way too good to miss. Anyway its set up and built into my new study. Painted the glass black on the outside and sorted out some new Eheim filters to keep the guys clean and happy. All cycled up and looks great, something to watch when I am on the phone. Always say it beats TV never any repeats.

Great Forum and Website.... Looking forward to the new community creator and gettiung down to reading the posts.

Thanks for all the good advice in anticipation
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on November 14, 2012, 09:56:14 AM
Hi Brecon, with 19 years under your belt, you should be able to give plenty advice  ;D
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ros on December 07, 2012, 07:43:50 AM
Hello I'm Ros I came on to  the old forum  for advice  and asking endless questions  for a long time  when i first started keeping fish 3 years ago. I can honestly say that without all the help and advice i've had I  wouldn't still be keeping fish!!
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on December 17, 2012, 03:08:14 PM
Hello all - I'm Colin and I'm pretty new to fishkeeping having bought an AquaCube 40 (55 litres) in May. At the moment I've got one Platy and 4 guppies in it, plus lots of plants. I've had all sorts of problems with Capillaria worms and fin-rot (well - the fish have, not me) taking it's toll, plus a snail infestation that blocked the pump flow down enough for two guppies to swim up the out-flow and get mashed by the impellor. The resulting mess caused an ammonia spike which offed one of the platies!!

I've also got a 5-gallon quarentine tank that has a guppy whom I suspect still has worms and a platy bully in it. I've tried a few time to get him back in the tank with all the usual tricks of changing the decor etc, but he's not having it and still torpedos the other platy.

It's no wonder so many people give up in the first year - it's such a steep learning curve.

Anyway - this is a web-site I've come to rely on, and the forum seems small, yet polite, so I thought I's say hello.

(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-EEH5RqLotjs/UM80ZfVwMQI/AAAAAAAACms/tfrzpFF9XdY/s640/DSC01836.JPG)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on December 17, 2012, 04:48:49 PM
It sounds like you've had quite a start to fish keeping!

Guppies are quite prone to intestinal worms, though camallanus are the most common. What have you been using to treat the worms? Sera nematol is a recommended medication for intestinal worms.



Yes we are a small forum, I suspect it's being a .co.uk rather than a .com or even a .net website. It makes it easier for us to get to know each other  ;D
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on December 17, 2012, 06:07:33 PM
I'm using Chanaverm, which is a Levamisole Hydrochloride solution. It does Capillaria and Camillanus and seems to have done the trick, though one of my Platies was too far gone to respond. He came ready infested and, being new to all this, I didn't spot the warning signs quickly enough. He was my favourite, too!
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on December 17, 2012, 07:09:24 PM
I've not come across that med before. I know about Sera nematol and wormer plus but that's all. Off to have a google.....

......found it. I'll make a note of that, thanks.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: jjthefridge on December 17, 2012, 10:22:33 PM
Hi,

 Got tank 2004 ish, then big corner aqua one ufo, split with ex(four years back) she kept tank apparently she helped payŁ25, tank was Ł500.

Karen got birthday present(aqua one ufo 550 Ł300 new, Ł75 on ebay and all works) Been running for 4 weeks now, 6 neon tetra's and a sucker mouth ?????? don't know his proper name, get water checked weekly, providing its all ok, more fish after christmas, (grand kids love watching them)

You get different information from different shops so may be lots of questions

thanks

j.j.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on December 18, 2012, 08:16:46 AM
Hi, welcome to Thinkfish.

Ask away, the only silly question is the one you don't ask  ;D


Be careful with advice from shops. They have the reputation for giving bad advice, though some are worse than others.

Can I suggest you ID the suckermouth; some stay small, others are 2 foot monsters. If you can photograph the fish, post it on here and we'll do our best  :D
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: kale23 on December 24, 2012, 05:18:51 PM
hi everbody i used to keep tropical fish in the 1980s,in them days you did not have so much information on keeping fish as you do now,and you made a lot of mistakes,i used to lose a good few fish due to lack of knowledge,i have just retired now so decided to make it a new hobby,have just bought a new fish tank 200 litres,and planted it up with new live plants, and am going to leave for a few weeks,and doing a water test, before introducing any fish
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on December 24, 2012, 06:38:53 PM
Hi, welcome back to fishkeeping!

As you say, things have moved on a lot. If you have a lot of live plants, if you get them growing well you'll be in a good position to do a silent cycle. With this, once the plants are thriving, you stock very slowly and the plants keep the ammonia under control.

But don't forget that testing the water before getting fish will show it is perfect as there will have been no source of ammonia in there. If you get too many fish, or if the plants are growing well, the water tests won't be perfect very long.
Of course, you could always use the few weeks you intend waiting to do a fishless cycle.......... ;D
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: kale23 on December 25, 2012, 08:03:34 AM
hi sue thanks for your advice,will do what you suggest.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: jesnon on December 28, 2012, 06:13:44 PM
Hello =) I'm entirely new to keeping fish, and after visiting my local garden centre and many months of obsessing over getting into it I've finally taken the plunge and got a tank for Christmas! I've always wanted to keep fish but never had, so I'm guessing this forum is going to be a massive help! Unfortunately I've only just discovered the fish I was planning to have seem to be too complicated for a beginner so I'm going to have to find some different fish to get once we're all set up now!
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on December 28, 2012, 06:38:24 PM
Hi, and welcome to fishkeeping  :D

What fish were you originally thinking of? Maybe we can come up with something similar but easier.

And do you know about cycling the filter? There are two methods, with fish and without. There are two 'how to' threads in the Filtration and Cycling section, if you haven't already found them. They'll let you know what's involved with each method so you can decide which is the one you want to do.
If the garden centre told you all you have to do is set the tank up and add fish, maybe also adding a bottle of bacteria, don't believe them!
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Philip on December 28, 2012, 08:51:01 PM
Hello there, after a long gap I returned to the hobby 3 months ago and set myself up with a Juwel Rekord 800.

Tank is now fully cycled so busy stocking it up!

I look forward to meeting you all around the forum.  :)

Philip
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Nat on January 13, 2013, 01:32:03 PM
Hello All (Again),

I say 'again' because I've already made one post without clocking in here.

Anyway, I was introduced to keeping fish about ten years ago when my civil engineering company was asked to include a large aquarium in a new office design. Whilst the structural design of the tank itself, along with the associated equipment room behind was straight forward, we had very little idea what else would be required to maintain the underwater world for fish, rocks and coral. It was when we brought in the experts to assist with the necessary equipment, plumbing and lighting designs that my eyes were opened to a whole new experience. During the following 18 months we were asked to include three more aquariums in building designs for other clients, as if we had become the new tank kids on the block. Needless to say the underwater world experts seemed to live in our design office during that period.

It was when one of the clients wanted a fresh water tropical tank that I decided to get my own tank at home. The equipment seemed a lot simpler and tropical fish had more of a smiley face than most of the brutes I'd seen in those reef tanks and you could have underwater plants too. Well, I was hooked (excuse the pun), but more so on the equipment side in order to get that near perfect tank with as little input from me as possible. I had the experts to call on, so why not use them.

I ended up with a 500 Lt tank with two Fluval 405 filters, two external heaters, a 5 hr per day Co2 injector, 5 stage RO system with a chlorine/chloramine zapper in the reservoir tank, a 50 Lt per day pumped drip feed water changer, LED lighting with dusk/dawn controller and an UPS system that would power everything for 3 hrs in the even of a power failure. After my daughter bought me an iPad, I then added WiFi monitoring of water condition/temp/level and a live camera. I just love gadgets.

As for the plants and fish, well the plants were made up of about twenty types all with latin names ::) and the fish were mostly small shoaling types, about twenty blue, about ten golden yellow, about fifteen red and two small catfish that liked gardening and digging. :-[ As you can see I learned very little about the different fish and plant species, I just like looking at their underwater world wondering if they appreciate all the hi-tech stuff they have.

At the moment I'm currently tankless and designing a new setup, as I've just moved house and the person who bought my old house wanted my previous tank setup too. So the adventure starts again, but with so many major advances in equipment, coupled with new retirement time I'm getting over excited. Hopefully this time I'll start learning something about fish species, but I still enjoy the shoaling type.

Nat

PS. The new lights will definitely be controlled 'Cree' LEDs, but after reading another thread here I'm not going to say much more. :-X
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Helen on January 13, 2013, 01:39:31 PM
Wow, that is a lot of technology for a first fish tank! I can imagine the discussions my husband and I would have had if we'd viewed your house and thought that there was a chance of inheriting all that kit! I think I'd have wanted to buy the house for the tank!  ;D
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Nat on January 13, 2013, 02:07:33 PM
Wow, that is a lot of technology for a first fish tank! I can imagine the discussions my husband and I would have had if we'd viewed your house and thought that there was a chance of inheriting all that kit! I think I'd have wanted to buy the house for the tank!  ;D

Hello Helen,

Not quite my first tank, that's were I ended up on my third tank. I went through the bigger and better stages like most people I suspect.

The couple who bought the house were already fish tank people too. I did check that they understood how to maintain the system for the little inhabitants sake.

Nat
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: jesnon on January 13, 2013, 04:56:22 PM
Wow fantastic!


After my daughter bought me an iPad, I then added WiFi monitoring of water condition of a power failure.n/temp/level and a live camera. I just love gadgets.

Out of pure curiosity how does that work!? :)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Nat on January 13, 2013, 06:38:00 PM
Wow fantastic!


After my daughter bought me an iPad, I then added WiFi monitoring of water condition of a power failure.n/temp/level and a live camera. I just love gadgets.

Out of pure curiosity how does that work!? :)

Hello Jesnon,

There is a good article here
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2011/8/equipment

and a few bits of equipment here
http://www.draquarium.com/

A Google search on "Aquarium Internet Monitoring" should open up lots of geeky ideas.

If you know your way around your home wifi network then it's quite straight forward, but it's not really plug n play stuff.

Nat
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: jesnon on January 13, 2013, 08:33:16 PM
My boyfriend is a Computer Scientist and very into playing around with stuff like that - perhaps I can get him to have a play to get him more involved in our whole tank! =D Sounds like a very cool idea even if it's too technical for my first tank anyway, thanks for the links!
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Scooter User on January 13, 2013, 08:57:05 PM
Hello all,

After posting a few questions on the help part of the site I ought really to introduce myself!  I have been keeping fish now for 6 or 7 years.  I rented a flat for many years and pets were not allowed...except fish.  Back then it was community tank with neons and dwarf gourami's with a male beta thrown in for fun  ::).  It ran pretty well.  When I met my lovely other half the tank moved and gradually there were unfortunate losses.  The new location was not ideal being in a hot conservatory but it was the only place it could go.  A new home later and we had not just a community tank but a friend had passed on a Rio 180 which we populated with 4 angel fish. 

A final move and the community tank had dropped to a few neons and a barb, while the angels were down to just 2.  Despite the risk to the neon there was no option but to combine the two tanks in the smaller tank (the larger one now resides in an outdoor shed) - oddly enough the neons survived well with the angels. My health has taken a turn for the worse over the years and care of the tanks was not within my ability.  The result was the loss of the final fish a few weeks back, despite efforts to keep things going  :'(.  The good news is that I am now on the mend and also this house is my own...no more moves.  Those who have read my requests for help will know that another friend asked if we could help her home some guppies so the smaller tank was brought back to life, with the addition of a new pump and some more neons with a couple of shrimp to aid housekeeping.  The tank now resides in a good, permanent location where I can tend to the water with ease - I was once told we don't keep fish, we keep water...the fish just happen to live there! - and so with luck be able to watch my little schoal bomb around like loonies :D

The help I had from the people on this site was useful and, more importantly, welcoming.  I think it sounds like a good place to come for advice.  I look forward to hearing from people as time goes on.   8)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Markycopple on January 25, 2013, 08:18:19 PM
After having lurked for some considerable time (previous site & current updated site) I thought I should say hello.

I started keeping tropical fish in my teens and had 3 tanks running at one stage.  Then after a break of 20 odd years I decided to take the plunge and start again and bought a 4 ft tank of approx 260 litres net just over 2 years ago.  It was then I found out how much had changed in the hobby  ;)

I am running a mixed community tank with harlequins, black phantom tetras, red phantom tetras, cardinal tetras, lemon tetras, rummy nose tetras, blue gouramis, peppered corys, bronze corys, clown plecs and a couple of ancistrus.  The tank is well planted and I tend to do 2 x 20-30% water changes every 3 weeks,

I find the tank more relaxing to watch than the TV!  I haven't tried out the new community creator yet but intend to do that shortly.

Regards to all

Mark
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: TigzFish on January 25, 2013, 09:33:05 PM
Welcome on-board Markycopple. ;D
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: piggy on January 26, 2013, 09:28:59 AM
Hi Guys,

Thought it was time to introduce myself properly.
I started with a 60ltr Bi-orb Tropical setup (in my office at work), followed the instructions to the letter and could not understand why my fishies were not lasting very long.  So I spent seemingly days researching on the internet and discovered that  it was because i was following the instructions so carefully, so i threw them away bought, a test kit and I have not lost a fish in there since,  it's still at work, it's a cold factory so I run a heater on its lowest setting and I've had 2 goldfish and 3 zebra danios in there for well over a year now.
I then bought a 240ltr Fluval Roma with a 305 cannister for home,  it's not been without its problems but all seems well in there now (see gallery) currently housing a Pleco, various Gourami, Rams, Swordtails and a climbing perch, I also have a baby bi-orb with 2 leopard danios and a Male Betta in my kitchen.
So I have fish at work, in my lounge and in my kitchen so I can be mezmorised by them for the majority of my waking hours,
Thanks to the people who answered my first few questions and offered advice   ;D

Tank update..... my goldfish from work have been successfully re-homed into a huge pond, the 2 danios from the baby bi-orb are now residing in a 19ltr in my utility room while i decide what to put in it (leaving the male Betta on his own), then they will join the other 3 danios in my office Biorb 60.  to set the 19ltr tank up i ran a small internal filter in my 240ltr for a week and also suspended a net bag of ceramic media in the flow, both of which are now in the small tank.
My Pleco has been rehomed into the LFS  :'( and replaced with 5 Leopard Corys and 6 Rhomb barbs, all my tanks are doing great, i have got the hang of doing water testing now.  It's also very nice to get up in the morning to find my largest tank in the same condition as when i went to bed (The Pleco enjoyed re-arranging it for me overnight) although he was lovely to look at.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ady81 on January 30, 2013, 11:06:45 PM
Hi all after a afternoon of aquatic gardening I thought it was about time I introduced myself.
I have been keeping fish since my granddad got me a tank when I was 12 and I have had a tank or two ever since. I worked In a aquatic store for a few years while at college and have kept a few different fish over the years. I moved house and scaled down 3 years ago as I was getting a bit obsessed with multiple tanks and it all got a bit much. At the moment I just have the single juwel rio 180.
looking forward to using the site and meeting you all, Aiden

(http://)

This was the result after a afternoon with the scissors.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: phil on February 04, 2013, 10:27:09 AM
hi iam Phil from Canterbury not long moved there and have kept fish many years ago ,so i have caught the bug for a new tank purchased a aqua 650 from gumtree got a real bargain it is up and running small community tank liked it so much for xmas my wife suprised me with the next size up a 850 it is up and running with a mix of tetras ,loach,golden barb and 4 angels  i have introduce 3 boseman rainbows but they are chasing the red fin tetras hope they will settle down and i thought they were good community fish?? hope to post a few pictures just find my way around the site looks very interesting
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on February 04, 2013, 12:09:25 PM
Welcome to the site, Phil.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Stan798 on February 10, 2013, 04:54:24 PM
Hello everyone. I got into fish keeping around 18 months ago when I bought an Aqua One 620T. I think it's about 130 litre capacity. The main reason for this was that it's a nice looking aquarium with curved glass (no corners). With hindsight though it's a little tall making it awkward to reach the bottom when cleaning the glass etc. However after much trial and error with planting (real and artificial) and different fish I am at a stage where I am happy with my set up. I currently have 2x peppered cory, 2x bronze cory, 2x albino cory, 3x black phantom tetra, 2x golden barb, 5x neon tetra, 3x leopard guppy, 1x red eyed molly, 2x loach and 1x electric blue ram. Everybody seems to be happy and getting along. I am looking forward to contributing to the community if and whenever I can.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: mikewilde on February 15, 2013, 11:18:02 PM
Hi all

I thought I'd introduce myself here before I post in the newbie section my current predicament.

I've just bought myself a Juwel Lido 120 fish tank to get back into fish keeping. I've had goldfish as a kid and a brief experience with a 30litre biorb that didn't do too well.

I'm hoping I can get this tank well established with plants eventually and have a sensible amount of fish.
I like the look of rosy fin tetras and some type of shrimp. I thought about a fresh water crab or two but apparently they  like to prune your plants!

Great site from what I've read so far

Mike
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on February 16, 2013, 12:04:02 AM
Welcome Mike. Enjoy your stay here - there's plenty of good advice...... and some frivolous chat which is mainly mine!!!
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: pmalipha on February 16, 2013, 09:19:07 AM
Think I'd better introduce myself after already being in the emergency room!
My name is Paula and I've had fish for 3 years now. I did used to be on the forum, although I didn't post often. Think I just used my name on it. (am going to try and change the one I have just now as I was in a bit of a rush when I set the account up!).
Our original tank was a 60l tetra aqua art. We had so many problems with it, especially with the hood. After our 3rd hood gave up the ghost I decided to get a different tank as it would be cheaper in the long run. We now have a rekord 800 set up with live plants and our few remaining fish from the old tank. Unfortunately I screwed up and didn't take enough media from the old tank to seed the new one, hence emergency room visit.
Will take some photos of new set up. It's very much a children's tank just now. I have a 9 year old, a 7 year old and a 3 year old, plus I'm currently working as a childminder. The children all drew designs for the tank hence we have 'Bikini Bottom' (sponge bob square pants), 'The Dead Lands', 'Legendary Corner', and 'Mermaid Land'. I'm actually a freshwater biologist by training and can't wait for the kids to leave home so that I can set up a more natural looking tank! Mentioned a second tank to hubby, but for some reason he just squawked! I'm hoping that eventually the plants will at least screen Bikini Bottom and Mermaid Land off  ;)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on February 16, 2013, 09:44:12 AM
Welcome to the forum Paula.

We definitely want photos before the plants grow. ;D
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on February 16, 2013, 12:24:19 PM
Mike - rosy fin tetras and shrimps, yes; crab, no  :)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Flatdog on February 19, 2013, 10:23:36 AM
Hello Folks

Brand spanking new to keeping fish so apologies for soon to be numerous questions and advice seeking.
After seeing in my 50th summer, I recieved a Aqualantis 90L tank and am in the process of fishless cycling ( by the way any knowladge I have about aquariums was gathered from "thinkfish" ).
The tank has been running fishless for about 2 weeks now and I have seen a few very small snails, not sure if this is a good sign or not? All the daily water tests are with mentioned specs so hopefully all is well.
Be sure to recieve many many questions from me.
Cheers
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: TigzFish on February 19, 2013, 10:33:33 AM
Welcome to the forum Flatdog.  Ask away, there is a great collective of experience here.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on February 21, 2013, 07:27:34 AM
Welcome Flatdog. I'm forever fishing snails out of my tank - I think an egg bundle came in on a plant I bought and they breed like rabbits. I found another one this morning!
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: chrisp on March 10, 2013, 04:04:40 PM
hi im chris.

im new to tropical fish but i have done some very heavy research.

ive just had a marina style fish tank with cabinet, 100 x 40 x 40. it came with 2 external 'waterfall' filters, 2 lights and 1 heater. ive also got another heater just encase.

im just waiting for my gravel that i ordered and also my background before i can fill it with water.

fav fish got to be the siamese fighter fish, but also a big fan of the red tailed black shark and silver sharks

im sure i will have a lot of questions in the future and the site looks great and very helpfull (thats y i signed up)  ;)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on March 11, 2013, 10:09:22 AM
Welcome to the forum Chris. Ask away - we like being helpful :)

Heavy research is good - but there's an awful lot of conflicting advice 'out there' so always get at least three opinions on everything. It takes a while to learn the sites to trust - this is definitely one of them.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Gazza.Esq on March 15, 2013, 08:37:54 AM
Hi people
I have had tropical aquariums for just under two years. Started after the wife fancied a biOrb she spotted whilst getting guinea pig food in our local branch of a well know pet supermarket. Needless to say we were given poor advice so I ended up purchaing a new 60 litre Aquael to re-home the 4 Pearl Danio we bought. The biorb now planned to be converted to a terrarium. Danio sadly passed on for a variety of reasons, but now have 3 Cherry Barbs 6 Panda Cories and 3 Otos in the Aquael. My two boys also have a tank in their rooms with a few Endlers (strictly segregated now !) and some shrimp. Planning to upgrade the Aqauel and go for a Roma 125l.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on March 15, 2013, 09:04:05 AM
Welcome to the forum Gazza.

p.s. We like pictures. :)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: notungz on May 27, 2013, 06:56:38 PM
Hi. My name is Ian.

I bought a 60 litre aquarium and 14 fish on ebay this morning. I'm brand new to the hobby, so may well be asking advice.

Still trying to identify all of the fish, but they do include 1 x Angelfish, 3 x Golden Barbs, 6 x Cardinal Tetras, 2 x Gouramis (maybe Croaking) plus what I was told is a Clownfish (but aren't they marine? It looks like a 5cm long Clown loach) and what I was told is a plec. (Hardly seen it. It's been hiding).

But overall I am very pleased with my purchase. The seller was moving and included everything that was needed to get started.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on May 27, 2013, 07:40:52 PM
Have you got the fish at your house now? Did you keep the filter nice and wet during the journey?


Let the fish settle in and we can help you sort out your fish. Some of them are unsuitable for a 60 litre tank (the angelfish, the loach and the plec get too big; and the loach needs to be in a shoal. Google 'marge the clown loach' and you'll see what I mean about too big!). Your priority now is helping them get over the move. Did the seller include a test kit?
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: notungz on May 28, 2013, 12:03:05 PM
Hi Sue.

Thanks for the advice. I have probably been doing everything wrong. I was doing what the seller advised. He had drained the tank of about two thirds of the water leaving the fish in it. I drove it back to my place (only a 5 minute drive) and then gradually refilled it over the next 4 hours or so.

All of the fish seem to be fine. The 2 gouramis are a bit timid, but otherwise OK. Not sure if the clown loach or the plec are what he said. He actually said clown fish!!! The "loach" is only about 5cm long. I don't know how old any of these fish are. The "plec" is completely black, about 7cm long and spends most of its time upsidedown. Upsidedown catfish maybe?

Not sure what you mean by test kit. He included some Tetra Aqua to balance the ph and some Nutrafin to make tap water safe. I have used both of these.

Again, thanks for the advise. The only advice I had had was from the seller and I'm not sure he knew what he was talking about. 

Thanks, Ian.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on May 28, 2013, 12:22:50 PM
I will be bluntly honest and say I don't think he did.

The nutrafin stuff to make the water safe - is it aqua plus or cycle? The first (aqua plus) removes chlorine from the water and needs to be added to new water every time you do a water change. If it's cycle, that is a bottled bacteria product which doesn't work very well.
The tetra stuff - can you say exactly what is written on the bottle? You shouldn't use anything that alters the pH. It is most likely to cause swings in pH which are bad for the fish. If the seller told you the water should be exactly pH 7, he definitely didn't know what he was talking about, I'm afraid.

What I mean by a test kit is something like this (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/api-freshwater-master-test-kit-/221228786578?pt=UK_Pet_Supplies_Fish&hash=item3382436392). There are several makes, this is just one of them.
There are bacteria in the filter (thought - I assume there is one?) which remove poisons from the water.  If these got killed off during the move to your house, the poisons will be building up and the test kit will tell you. Fish breathe out ammonia and it's in their waste. This is the first of the poisons and the ammonia eating bacteria turn it into nitrite, the second poison. Nitrite eating bacteria turn that into nitrate. The test kit will tell you if there is either/or ammonia and nitrite in the water. If there is (that is, some or all of the bacteria died) you will need to do water changes to keep the fish alive.


Can you take some photos of the fish for a definite ID? You can either attach them to the bottom of the post (though they need to be small) or use a site like photobucket and copy the img code.


Don't worry, despite the previous owner not knowing his stuff, we can help you learn  ;D
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: notungz on May 28, 2013, 02:18:03 PM
Hi Sue.

Thanks for the reply.

The Nutrafin IS Aqua Plus, so I hope that is a good sign. The other bottle says "Tetra Aqua. Easy balance. Eliminates frequent water changes. Add once a week to keep aquarium water biologically balanced. Stabilises the water's ph and mineral salt content (KH). Reduces phosphate levels helping algae control".

There is a U2 fluval filter suitable for a tank up to 110 litres. The seller said it was quite new. Should I go to my local Pets at Home to get a test kit?

I tried taking photographs with varying degrees of sucess, but I am having trouble attaching them to this message.

Thanks again, Ian.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on May 28, 2013, 03:42:11 PM
Welcome to the forum, Ian. You're in safe hands here and we'll do all we can to help you get up and running. Ask lots of questions.... we like helping.  :)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: notungz on May 28, 2013, 03:54:35 PM
Hi Colin.

Thank you. Yes, everyone seems very friendly on here and as you can see Sue has been helping me. (Before I even knew I might have a problem).

I think I might have worked out how to attach photos. So (hopefully) pics of the two fish I was talking about to Sue are attached. The second pic isn't very good. He is upsidedown attached to the filter. Think the first one might be a small clown loach (about 5cm). Second one I was told is a plec.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on May 28, 2013, 04:20:40 PM
Yep - that's a Clown Loach. The other photo..... well...... ??? You might want to look throught the pictures of Plecos in the 'Fish Profiles' section to ID him/her as there're many different species. Unfortunately, they all get too big for a 60litre tank.

...and "Yes", a test kit is vital. I would advise you to get one as soon as possible - not just wait 'till the weekend.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: notungz on May 28, 2013, 04:59:23 PM
Thanks Colin.

I just popped along to my local pet shop. She doesn't stock test kits because she said they aren't worth it and that they cost Ł40 to Ł50. Is this correct? If necessary, I'll see if I can get one from Pets at Home.

Looks as though I might have to invest in another larger tank in the near future.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on May 28, 2013, 05:15:08 PM
The easy balance - don't bother. Do the water changes. I don't like things that give the impression that all water changes do is remove nitrate. There are other things in the water that need removing on a regular (ie weekly) basis. Things that are secreted by the fish and live plants. And the water changes will also get rid of the fish waste caught in the gravel (assuming you have gravel  ;D ) because water changes are done with a siphon tube with a wide end which is pushed into the gravel to suck up the muck. Did you get one of those with the tank?

The filter is fine for a 60 litre. Though the thing that does worry me is the "quite new". This could mean it isn't even cycled - that means it might not have grown the two colonies of bacteria I mentioned earlier. Or not enough bacteria for the fish you have.

Pets at home do sell the API test kit that I have (the one in the link I gave you) but it is Ł31 (and that's the reduced price on their website) :o If you can't run to that just at the moment, get the ammonia and the nitrite testers (they are only Ł9 each on the website). The big set contains pH and nitrate testers as well, but they are not as important just yet. Don't believe any shop that says you don't need one.
In fact lesson #1 for new fishkeepers - don't believe anything a shop says until you've researched it for yourself.


As for your fish, let them get settled first then think about what you want to do.
The angel will grow too big - they need at least 18 inches depth of water or they do a 'jaws' impression and their fins get deformed. Min tank size 100 x 40 x 50 cm
The clown loach also needs to go. They grow huge (over a foot), need to be in a shoal of at least 6 and a tank with a footprint of at least 180 x 60cm.
The plec could be anything from a 4 inch bristlenose to a 2 foot sailfin. As Colin said, there are no plecs suitable for a 60 litre.
I'm curious about the gouramis - you said you thought they were sparkling gouramis (http://www.thinkfish.co.uk/fish/sparkling-gourami.html). Are you totally sure? If they are, you could have a group of them, but if they are something bigger (such as an opaline (http://www.thinkfish.co.uk/fish/three-spot-gourami.html)) they need a bigger tank.
The golden barbs and cardinals are fine  :D These 2 species alone take up two thirds of the amount of fish you can have. The only possible problem is that cardinals need 24 deg C minimum and the barbs like 24 deg maximum. You'll need to keep the tank as near 24 deg as possible.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: notungz on May 28, 2013, 06:01:24 PM
Hi Sue.

Thanks for that. I'm starting to think that the guy I bought this from didn't have a clue.

I was planning on doing regular water changes and I did get a syphon tube with a wide end included.

Money is tight at the moment. I am currently unemployed, but I will see what I can do about a test kit of some description.

As for my 2 Gouramis, I did say in my first post that I thought they may be Croaking Gouramis, but on checking your suggestion, I thing they are Gold 3 Spot ones (although they don't have spots). Photo attached if you can make it out.

The tank temperature is spot on 24C.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on May 28, 2013, 07:43:06 PM
Yes, that is one of the 3-spots not a croaking gourami. I'm sorry to say they need bigger than 60 litres.

You can get the water tested at some shops, but make sure they write down the actual numbers, not some waffly word like 'fine'. You need to know your ammonia and nitrite asap. It's that "quite new" filter that worries me........



Don't worry about the seller not having a clue. You have the tank and fish now, and you are educating yourself. It is possible that a shop might take the unsuitable fish from you and give you credit for them (they never give you cash) which you can use to buy different fish  :D

Have you found the community creator on this site yet? If not, go to 'fish profiles' at the top, click on any fish and scroll down to the bottom  of the page. Then just enter your tank details and add whichever fish you fancy. The CC will tells you if the fish are too big, not enough of them, incomaptible with your other fish etc. If you want to save it, you have to register for the CC separately from the forum.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: notungz on May 29, 2013, 11:08:38 AM
Hi Sue.

Yes, I have used the Community Creator and, as I am sure you have guessed, there are numerous problems.

This tank is too small for Angelfishes Clown Loaches are too large to be mixed with Cardinal Tetras Three Spot Gouramies are best kept in either singles or groups of five or more This tank is too small for Three Spot Gouramis Clown loaches must be kept in groups of at least 3 This tank is too small for Clown Loaches This tank is too small for Bristlenose Plecs Your stocking level (93cm) is above the recommended level (60cm) - See more at: http://www.thinkfish.co.uk/fish/clown-loach.html#sthash.s8zCXZea.dpuf

That is cut and pasted.

The 93cm of fish is obviously what they will grow to be and not their current size. I am fairly certain that my plec is a Bristlenose. I managed to get a slightly better pic of him which is attached.

I have started checking out larger tanks on ebay.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Gaynor on June 01, 2013, 03:36:08 AM
Hi all,
     I'm new to keeping fish, so I just wanted to introduce myself, and warn everyone that I'll be asking questions.  I also wanted to let others know that the API Master Test Kit is currently selling on Amazon for Ł20 plus a few pence.

     Okay, now for the story behind me becoming a freshwater fish keeper.  My eldest daughter was given a very small tank and about 30-40 Albino Convict babies by her boyfriend, who is now thankfully her ex, or I would have drowned him by now.  He gave her lots of useless information, a filter way too small for the tiny tank, and left her to it.  Unfortunately  7ish months later, when she decided to move out, I went into her room to pack up her things and found the poor tank in a right state.  All but one of the fish were dead, the tank was green, and the water was so low the fish was trapped in one spot.

     My hubby cleaned out the tank, set it all back up in our living room, and popped Chuck back in.  We named the fish Chuck after Chuck Norris, as it was the only survivor of the fish apocalypse, and deserved a worthy name.  Knowing next to nothing about fish we figured poor Chuck would be lonely, so we went to get him some new equipment and a 'friend.'  We came home with a pair of Firemouths, popped them in, along with a new filter etc, and all was well.  Then the tank went mad, cloudy and green tinged, and though we had been reading up on fishkeeping, we hadn't come across a mention of this.  We had read that we needed a bigger tank for the fish we had, so we went out and got a 125ltr, with all the appropriate equipment.

     We popped the fish into it, and all went well for about 3 weeks, when we lost the smaller of the 2 firemouths.  She seemed very weak and timid from the start and stayed in one corner the whole time we had her.  We read that convicts are notoriously aggressive, but Chuck, who turned out to be a girl, wasn't at that time.  Anyway, a week later we discovered that Chuck was female, she started courting what turned out to be the 'male' firemouth.  We've so far taken two lots of eggs out of the tank while cleaning!  Then last week, the fourth week of the new tank set up, the water turned misty and we have a bacterial bloom.  We've been getting advice from an uncle on how to deal with this, but in desperation I decided to look online and found this site, and thankfully the advice we were given is correct. 

     We're checking our water daily, the fish don't seem to care and are fine (they are so fine Chuck laid her second lot of eggs last night!).  So now we're just waiting on the cycling to end, whilst reading everything we can.  What I needed was a place where I could find everything I wanted under one easy to navigate roof, I seem to have found it here.   :)

     P.S.  I hope you forgive me for cycling with the fish in the tank, I didn't realize the mistake I was making until about a week after I put the fish in the bigger tank, by then the old tank was long gone.   :'(

     
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on June 01, 2013, 10:31:47 AM
Hi Gaynor. Don't worry about the start you've had, so many of us (me included) don't get off to the best start.


A tank full of baby convicts wasn't the best present for your daughter! These fish breed so prolifically it is almost impossible to rehome all the fry. Shops won't take them or they'd have nothing but tanks full of convicts.
With the new tank, you are doing a fish-in cycle as you realise from your comments. So long as you make sure the ammonia and nitrite in the tank are kept very low, the fish should come through it OK. Both fish are pretty hardy species.


The problem you may encounter is the fish you have. I'm not well up in central American fish, but I do know that convicts are prolific breeders as you have discovered. And they do cross breed.  If you ever sell/give away any fry from this pair, you must inform the shop/new owner that they are hybrids. But the best thing to do is remove the eggs as you have been doing. The danger is that even if you tell a new owner it doesn't stop them passing off the fish, or their offspring, as non-hybrids.



The things our children get us into. I had fish before I had a tank thanks to my sons and the dart stall at the fair. They won the goldfish but guess who had to look after them! I did everything wrong - too small a tank, not nearly enough water changes, no test kit (though they weren't that common back in the 1990s) but the fish survived and grew so big we had to give them to someone with a pond within a year. And I changed to tropicals.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on June 01, 2013, 11:33:32 AM
Welcome to the forum Gaynor - you've found the right place here.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: jesnon on June 01, 2013, 11:58:39 AM
Wow what a way into fishkeeping Gaynor! Best of luck to your new setup cycling quickly, and I'm sure you will find a lot of friendly faces and answers to any questions here!
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Gaynor on June 01, 2013, 01:33:35 PM
Thanks everyone,
     
     I must admit the convict would never have been a fish I would have chosen myself, I feel guilty stealing her eggs too, but she is one hell of a character and I wouldn't part with her now.

     To be honest I was very wary of posting, I posted on a US forum just after I got the bigger tank and got verbally slammed for just about everything I had done.  When all you're doing is trying to learn and save a fish I found that a bit upsetting.  Thanks for being so understanding, I feel at home already, and will definitely stick around.   :)

     As soon as the cycle clears I'll get some pics uploaded.   :)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: jonny888 on June 10, 2013, 11:58:26 AM
Hello,

I have kept some tropical fish (on and off due to occasional house moves) since the early 1980s, but only in a relatively small tank (24in x 15in x 12in) which usually resided in the living room.

However, my wife has never really been too enthusiastic about them, and flatly refused to allow me to have anything bigger than that. She did mention that when all the children had left home, I could have the smallest bedroom as a "hobby room" and I did not need telling twice. Now I can indulge my fantasy of a 4ft tank.

So, I have just taken delivery of a Jewel Rio 240, but have not set it up yet as I am now a bit short of cash after paying for my daughter's wedding.

But, I hope to make some slow progress over the coming months, hence the browsing around sites such as Thinkfish.

If I am honest, I am slightly over-awed by the size of the tank that I have in front of me, and have yet to decide exactly how I want to plant and populate it, but I am in no rush and my youngest son has bagged my smaller tank, so that his mother can have a fish free living room.

Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on June 10, 2013, 03:46:39 PM
Welcome back to fishkeeping  ;D
I know the feeling about spouses that aren't keen on fish. I wish I could have a bedroom as a fishroom, but both ours are still full of beds in case either of our sons and their partners want to visit.

You'll find things have changed a lot since the 1980s, especially in our understanding of the cycling process. The best thing you can do is to read up on that. Once you get off to a good start, the rest is easier  ;D
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Resa on June 10, 2013, 05:07:03 PM
Hello Jonny888,

Welcome to the forum!
How brilliant!  At least you won't keep spotting fish you would like to keep just to find out that your tank isn't big enough ;D  That's what I kept doing...hence a bigger tank on the horizon!

Do keep us updated on what you decide to do...we're all very nosey.....well, I am anyway ;D

Resa
  :)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: New fish on June 25, 2013, 10:15:34 PM
Hello every one,
we had fish when I was a child, 14 yrs old they were looked after by my father who seemed to know everything, lol

Anyway I have been looking for a new hobby and a friend said they had a tank they wanted to sell, the price seems good so I have picked it up to check it, see link to first post....http://www.thinkfish.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,396.0.html (http://www.thinkfish.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,396.0.html)

I am reading up and things have changed so much I may most quiet a few questions.

Thats all for now.... ;)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on June 26, 2013, 10:50:37 AM
Welcome to the forum, NewFish. You'll find lots of advice and friendly people here.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: jesnon on June 26, 2013, 11:16:25 AM
Welcome aboard! I only started my first tank back in April and the guys on here have been an invaluable resource throughout the process, I don't think I could have done it without them!
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: New fish on June 26, 2013, 06:57:13 PM
Thanks for the welcomes.... 8)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: daniel_james_taylor on July 03, 2013, 09:58:10 PM
Hi All,

I joined this forum a few months ago so thought it was about time I actually introduced myself.

I have kept tropicals and coldwater fish over the years since I was in secondry school (10ish years ago), unfortunatly making all the classic newbie mistakes as I went along with books out of the libary that were older than time themselves. Near the end of last year after moving house I decided to re-kindle my interest in fish keeping and bought a 55L aqua nano tank; thats when I discovered this forum :) .Well im now on my new 200L tank so I can definatly say im "hooked" (pardon the pun) on the hobbie again!

Anyway thats enough about me for now :D

Daniel.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Resa on July 04, 2013, 02:58:05 AM
Hi DJT,

Glad you're still with us :) We're a pretty ok bunch on the whole.....you've just got to look out for the 'poo-watchers'  ;D

I look forward to seeing your tanks progression....lots of pics, please ;)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on July 04, 2013, 08:37:38 AM
all the classic newbie mistakes as I went along with books out of the libary that were older than time themselves.

I know the feeling - that's how I started too  :)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Etienne on July 06, 2013, 09:01:05 AM
Hi All

Just joined this forum, although I've used Thinks Fish for few month even before buying my first tank (thanks for the guidance guys  ;)).

I'm very new to the hobby as I bought my first tank back in April this year. After battling with few conflicting advices (and the Mrs) I'm know the proud owner of a cycled 60L Marina tank with the following lodgers:
- 6 harlequins
- 5 cardinal tetras and 1 neon tetra
- 2 dwarf gouramies (Salty and Rusty)
- 4 very shy cherry shrimps

To accommodate all these I have added a Fluval U2 filter to my Marina S15 filter, I also have real plants and bogwood (to bring the pH down a bit and help the shrimps hide) and a wee air pump.

Would love an additional tank...

Etienne
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on July 06, 2013, 10:28:51 AM
Hello Etienne and welcome to the forum - you've found a good place here, but I think you know that already! :)

Any piccies are always much appreciated and admired.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: jesnon on July 06, 2013, 10:47:43 AM
Colin beat me to the piccy suggestion! Welcome :-) Glad ti see you've already found the forum useful too!
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: denzilsdad on August 01, 2013, 01:28:29 PM
Hi All,
          Ian here, just restarted the fishkeeping hobby after 20 years.  Have 72L juwel tank with internal filter. sand substrate, I have 2 pearl gourami's, 12 neon's, 6 black widows, 2 silver mollies, and a common pleco.  great site for information.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on August 01, 2013, 04:56:31 PM
Hi Ian,

You'll find things have changed a lot in the last 20 years. I started keeping fish 17 years ago, and I can vouch for that  :D




Just one comment - your plec will  outgrow your tank pretty quickly. Common plecs are huge fish which will become stunted if you keep it, and create an enormous amount of waste. Can I suggest you see if the shop will take it back and exchange it for something more suitable. You might just get away with a bristlenose plec which can live quite happily in a tank with a 60 x 30cm footprint.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: denzilsdad on August 02, 2013, 07:11:09 PM
thanks sue. I think I will take your advice the pleco is growing a fair bit and doesn't half chuck the sand about. Ian
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on August 03, 2013, 11:58:16 AM
Welcome to the forum, Ian. I hope you enjoy it here.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: denzilsdad on August 05, 2013, 06:26:49 PM
Thanks for the welcome Colin.  Sue, I managed to rehome the plec.... my daughter works at a local hotel and she has put him in the big tank they have. :D
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on August 05, 2013, 07:23:05 PM
Glad to hear it's gone to a good home  :D
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Greendragon on August 10, 2013, 02:56:38 PM
Hi.  I used to keep tropical fish, back when Noah's dog was a pup. 35 years on I am returning to the hobby in a small way with a 35 litre tank (external filter) well planted on a gravel sustrate (wife restricts my natural exuberance for a larger tank).

The tank has just finished its initial cycling and I have introduced Black Neons.  Once the tank has matured I want to introduce some shrimp and my wife would like a few more tetras (which ones she has not yet decided) and is humming and haaing about a pair of Dwarf Gouramis.

She would really like a pair of Kribensis but I suspect that the tank would not be quite big enough
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on August 10, 2013, 03:13:13 PM
Hi greendragon.

I have just posted a reply on your other thread.

Things have changed a lot since you last kept fish. I don't think the nitrogen cycle was understood 35 years ago? And it is now advised to have fewer fish than years ago.
Fish are farm bred nowadays meaning they are not as hardy as they used to be, even the hardiest ones, and are not likely to survive the old way of doing a fish-in cycle. I posted a link in your other thread for how to do a fish-in cycle with less risk to the fish.
Now I know how big your tank is, I have to tell you that you have a lot of fish for a fish-in cycle. You are going to have to do a lot of large water changes to keeep your black neons alive.


And the tank is too small for kribs and dwarf gouramis, though you might get away with honey gouramis.
With black neons, honey gouramis and shrimps, a 35 litre tank will be just about up to capacity, I'm afraid. The Community Creator on here suggests you would be only 41% stocked, but small tanks like this should be understocked.

What is the length of your tank?
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Greendragon on August 10, 2013, 03:35:02 PM
The tank is 38cm x 32cms
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on August 10, 2013, 03:52:19 PM
Welcome to the forum, GreenDragon - enjoy your stay here..... and we love piccies (hint, hint). :)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: CoralPeachy on August 22, 2013, 03:29:44 PM
Hi!

I'm 14 and have been fish keeping for two years now. I have two goldfish, Coral and Peachy and hope to get a siamese fighting fish sometime next year! My fish were first in a 30 litre tank and then were upgraded to a 45 litre tank at easter. I know I'm overstocked but they are fancies and I never miss a water change! I am starting to keep live plants right now which is going ok (apart from the annoying algae on the leaves!  :D
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Resa on August 22, 2013, 03:37:10 PM
Hello CoralPeachy,

Nice to have you join us :)
If you can get any pics of your tank and its residents on the gallery, that would be great...we like pics!

Resa
  :)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Resa on August 22, 2013, 03:38:13 PM
Oh...forgot to say...I have a Siamese Fighting Fish called Rafe....he's beautiful!
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on August 22, 2013, 04:21:04 PM
Welcome to the forum, CoralPeachy. It's good to have some youngsters around.... some of us are getting on a bit  ;D ;D
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on August 22, 2013, 04:36:02 PM
I assume you mean me and maybe SteveS there Colin? If they hadn't changed the retirement age for women, I'd now be an OAP. So youngsters are definitely welcome.

I have a betta as well, though mine doesn't have name, unlike Resa's, unless you count Mr Fish which is what all my bettas have been called.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Resa on August 22, 2013, 11:05:54 PM
Mmm....by Steve's own admission, he is pretty ancient ;D ;D

Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Resa on August 22, 2013, 11:09:11 PM


I have a betta as well, though mine doesn't have name, unlike Resa's, unless you count Mr Fish which is what all my bettas have been called.
[/quote]

Ah..sad.....fish with no name :(
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Resa on August 22, 2013, 11:11:02 PM
Oh, this bloody quote malarki...I give up :-[
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: SteveS on August 23, 2013, 12:08:45 AM
Mmm....by Steve's own admission, he is pretty ancient ;D ;D

Yeah, but I'm not senile.  See, I can do quotes ;)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Resa on August 23, 2013, 12:48:36 AM
I'm not quite senile, yet.....just blonde  :D
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Resa on August 23, 2013, 12:58:19 AM
Mmm....by Steve's own admission, he is pretty ancient ;D ;D

Yeah, but I'm not senile.  See, I can do quotes ;)



So can I ;).....sort of :-[
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: DutchyHolland on August 23, 2013, 08:56:56 PM
Mmm....by Steve's own admission, he is pretty ancient ;D ;D

Yeah, but I'm not senile.  See, I can do quotes ;)

So can I ;).....sort of :-[

Just showing off... ;)


Another 2 years (I think?) and I get senior rates on everything, so another oldie here too.   :-[
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Resa on August 23, 2013, 09:02:20 PM
Just spotted this! I don't want to do quotes anyway ???

I'm not so much old as, more nicely patina-ered ;D
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: SteveS on August 23, 2013, 09:24:08 PM
Just spotted what? ;D
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Resa on August 23, 2013, 10:17:21 PM
You're a little tinker, Steve ;)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Resa on August 24, 2013, 03:12:19 AM


Yeah, but I'm not senile.  See, I can do quotes ;)
[/quote]

So can I ;).....sort of :-[
[/quote]

Just showing off... ;)


Steve...I meant this....oh blast...the quote thingy didn't work again >:(
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: SteveS on August 24, 2013, 04:52:13 AM
Hee Hee Hee... Please stop... my sides are aching.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Resa on August 24, 2013, 10:54:23 AM
I really don't see what's so amusing ???
My quote button obviously doesn't work ;)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: foolsgold on August 26, 2013, 10:04:10 AM
Good morning everyone, just joined so I thought I'd say hello :)

Currently running a Juwel Rekord 800 which has Platies, Lemon Tetra, Colombian Red Fins and Black Phantoms as inhabitants.

Looking forward to being part of the forum, seems a friendly place!
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on August 26, 2013, 10:32:13 AM
Welcome to the forum, Foolsgold. I hope you enjoy your stay here..... and we like piccies! (...of the tank ;D)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Resa on August 26, 2013, 10:34:27 AM
Morning Foolsgold....and welcome!
It IS a really friendly place....though some of the folk on here are a little strange...they seem to spend a little more time watching fish-poo, than is strictly healthy ;D ;D ;D

Resa
  :)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on August 26, 2013, 12:11:42 PM
...they seem to spend a little more time watching fish-poo, than is strictly healthy ;D ;D ;D

Resa
  :)


It beats watching UK TV. :-\


...tho' French TV isn't any better, from the little I've seen.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Resa on August 26, 2013, 06:37:22 PM
Mmm...you've got a point there, Colin. Although, we don't watch french t.v.....it's dreadful! Thank Heavens for satellite ;)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: foolsgold on August 26, 2013, 07:05:02 PM
thanks for the welcome, I've put a couple of pictures up, more to come  ;D
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Resa on August 26, 2013, 11:31:27 PM






Steve...I meant this....oh blast...the quote thingy didn't work again >:(

HEY STEVE!

I think I've sussed it! ;)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: SteveS on August 27, 2013, 01:31:41 AM






Steve...I meant this....oh blast...the quote thingy didn't work again >:(

HEY STEVE!

I think I've sussed it! ;)
You just need to learn not to shout now :) The grass skirt's kinda cute ;)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on August 27, 2013, 08:15:33 AM
The grass skirt's kinda cute ;)

Easy Tiger  ;D ;D ;D

(http://www.millan.net/anims/gifs/germanhula2.gif)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Resa on August 27, 2013, 11:50:36 AM






Steve...I meant this....oh blast...the quote thingy didn't work again >:(

HEY STEVE!

I think I've sussed it! ;)
You just need to learn not to shout now :) The grass skirt's kinda cute ;)

Sorry Steve....I was just excited that I thought I'd cracked the quote thingy....but obviously :-[ as you can see....I haven't :-[
Mind you, a little bit of it was in consideration of your age... ;D ;D ;D....oh...and thanks..it's a self-portrait ;)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Jim on October 03, 2013, 12:13:48 AM
Hello All  :)

Im just another old fish keeper, been in the hobby about 30 years, still have lots to learn, but i enjoy meeting new people, and talkin fish.  Ive also run a few forums in the past, and look forward to staying in that game, most was on the same smf platform as this, so i feel right at home here.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on October 03, 2013, 07:53:00 AM
Welcome, Jim. It's always good to have more people around.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on October 03, 2013, 08:18:20 AM
And more people around with a lot of experience  :D
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: jesnon on October 08, 2013, 12:15:42 PM
Hi and welcome Jim :)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Heinrich Lourens on November 02, 2013, 07:50:12 PM
Hello Think fish people!

My name is Heinrich and I'm 17 years old. I live in Pretoria, South Africa. I have a great passion for motorsport and aquariums. I hope to learn a lot from you guys & gals!

I currently "own" one tank but we have 4 tanks in total as a family.

Mine- 225L Semi aggressive community.
1 Rainbow shark (still small)
5 Tiger Barbs (still small and soon to be 6 or 7)
6 Red eye Tetras (already had them so had to stick with them)
2 Bronze cories (soon to be 4)

I plan on adding an Opaline gourami and live plants soon.

My sister's- 60L Random.
7 Mixed danio (glofish, zebra and leopard)
2 Black Kuhli Loaches.

My Mom's- 13L Betta
1 Betta Splendens

My dad's- 20L nano Reef
1 Clarkii Clownfish
1 Bicolour Blenny
1 Spotted Cardinal Fish
1 Red fire shrimp
Various Hermit crabs and snails.
Live plants of different species I have no clue what they are!

So there you have it! I hope you enjoy my posts and I look forward to learning with and from all of you!
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Stefan on November 29, 2013, 11:27:23 PM
Hello Think Fish Community!

My name is Stefan. I have been keeping fish since 15.07.2013 so I'm considered new to the hobby. Owned a gold fish or two in the past when I was a young lad but that's as far as keeping fish went until recently. What got me into the hobby was watching YouTube videos of people who owned these incredible collection of tropical tanks with very cool looking fish. So one day I woke up and decided I wanted to get into the hobby and keep some cool tropical fish of my own.

I currently have 1 tank.

96 litre
6 Black Phantom Tetra's (3 Male & 3 Female), 6 White Cloud Minnows (3 Male & 3 Female), Ancistrus cf cirrhosus and finally a Ancistrus sp. Cucuta
Silica sand substrate
Bogwood and Artificial large tree stump, Plants and  Broken Pot as decor

Just keeping it nice and simple due to being a novice. Hope you enjoyed my post and hope to learn from you all :)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Richard W on December 04, 2013, 01:31:43 PM
Just thought I'd introduce myself as I'm new to the forum. Like many others, I'm returning to fishkeeping after many years, my previous experience being as a teenager to early twenties, tank given away by parents when I finally left home …........ a common story, I expect. This summer I was given an empty 65 litre tank, stand and equipment by a friend who was moving away. Subsequently I have bought four more tanks, all used from EBay, a Rio 125, another slightly smaller, a 75 and a 65 litre. I decided to completely reorganise a room and disposed of some fairly useless furniture, so making room for these tanks. I decided it would be easier to do everything in one go. One tank came with a few fish, the others all empty. I've replaced some filters, heaters and light tubes, but as I only paid Ł113 for the four tanks I bought, the total hardware costs come in at well under Ł200, considerably less than the Rio 125 alone would cost new.  Last weekend I set up all of the 4 empty tanks and planted them, only the one I bought with a few fish being operational before that. Thank goodness none leak!

 I read a great deal from books and the internet over the past few months before deciding how to set up these tanks. However, the greatest influence was undoubtedly Diana Walstad's book “The ecology of the planted aquarium”. I myself work as a self-employed ecological consultant, specialising in surveys of terrestrial insects and other invertebrates but I also get to survey a lot of ponds, plus occasional streams etc. This made the scientific side of the book extremely interesting, and convincing, to me. I am therefore, to a great extent, planning to follow the Walstad method. The tanks have a bottom layer of soil as substrate, topped off with gravel/sand. I have planted heavily, about 50 plants in each of the larger tanks, 30 in the smaller ones, but keeping to “easy” plants. I plan to wait a good while before adding any fish, none before the new year i.e. about a month after planting, so that the plants have a chance to get going. I hope that I'll then be able to follow the “silent cycle” method.

As far as fish are concerned, I like fish that look like fish! I don't want “oddballs” or overbred fish, so no guppies etc. I'm sticking to reasonably small shoaling species i.e. smaller barbs, rasboras, danios, tetras and Corydoras, in groups of 5 or 6 (Corydoras and barbs) to 10 or 12 for the smaller species. That still leaves an enormous choice. My water comes out of the tap moderately hard (pH 7.3, hardness 13 gdh, nitrates 6 mgNO3/litre) and so I'll be avoiding the real softwater specialists.

Anyway, that's about it and I'll update here as things proceed, which I hope will be of interest.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on December 04, 2013, 02:14:21 PM
With your background, you should be able to follow Diana Walstad's methods quite easily  :D

Once your tanks are running to your satifaction, don't forget to post some photos  ;D
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Helen on December 05, 2013, 11:06:57 PM
I'm looking forward to hearing how your tanks get on Richard. I also read Diane Walstead's book, and loved it,  but because my science background is more physics, I wasn't brave enough to stray far from what has become conventional fish keeping. However, my 240l planted tank has been experiencing reduced maintenance closer to Diane's method since I had a baby in February!
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Chris on December 15, 2013, 03:57:36 PM
Hello. I would like to introduce myself.
I am a recent convert to fish keeping, following a baptism of fire two years ago, when I moved to a house which had a 250-litre, fully stocked, tropical marine tank (http://www.thinkfish.co.uk/marines/cost).
It was absolutely beautiful, with clown fish, anemones, live coral, shrimps, crabs and many other species.
I discovered very quickly that this is not the tank for a beginner. There was so much to do, every day of the week. I was frightened to go away even for a weekend.  Within a couple of months, I realised that I had taken on too much and had the tank cleared by an expert.
The tank lay empty until last month, when I decided to start over with a tropical freshwater environment.
I cleaned all the existing equipment, bought new filter media and started from scratch.
Six weeks on and the tank has a gravel substrate, is planted up and now cycled.
Thanks to my LFS for their advice and steadfast refusal to sell me any fish until they were satisfied with the nitrite and nitrate levels in the water.
Yesterday they gave me the “green light” and we put in our first fish, just a few platys, to set us on our way.
I’m hoping to put in some more next week, provided I keep the new guys alive!
I’m really excited at the thought of building up the stock, with so many different species to choose.
Fortunately we seem to have a few good LFS in my area and all seem very keen to impart free advice.
In addition, I have been trawling the web for aquarium keeping sites. “Thinkfish” is where I keep returning and is a firm favourite.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on December 15, 2013, 04:26:25 PM
That was quite a baptism you had. Freshwater tropicals are much more straight forward by comparison.

Be careful with shop advice though. Some good ones still give the odd bit f bad advice when it comes to which fish to buy. Check on here are Seriously Fish to make sure they go in your water, and with each other.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: mfritz307 on February 26, 2014, 11:32:43 PM
     Hello everyone! Have enjoyed the Thinkfish site for a few months, but am new to the forum. My name is Michael and I live in the U.S.  I have been keeping fish for about 14 years now and have two tanks. First is a large 300 liter (80 US gallons) which I am in the process of draining and giving a full makeover. It has only one fish left in it which I have a question about and will ask after my intro. My second is 110 liter (30 US gallons) which was given to me free of charge by a close friend. I just started it In January. It is what I call my "Asian tank". That is, it is a community tank occupied by various Asiatic species. It is moderately planted with a good dark substrate and driftwood. Very natural looking, which is my approach. It currently houses 7 pearl danios and 6 gold barbs. All are doing very well and I had NO cycling problems. I hope to post pics in the near future.
    My question is this. I have a fish left in my 300 liter tank that I want to place in my 110 liter. However the water in the 300 is quite hard, and the water in the 110 is medium soft. What would be the best way to transition this fish?     
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Robert on February 26, 2014, 11:40:56 PM
 :wave: Great to see you here Michael - I'm sure someone will have an answer for you soon, alas, I'm but a techie - I am learning mind , watch this space! :D

 
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Resa on February 27, 2014, 12:46:04 AM
Hi Michael :wave:
Welcome to the forum!
I am no expert but I would imagine you will need to gradually add the softer water to your fish's water until he has acclimatised to the change. I guess as well, that it depends on what type of fish he is, as to whether or not he will be happy in softer water. Someone will know for sure though, and will steer you right.
Good luck with the changeover....I look forward to the pics :)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on February 27, 2014, 08:14:48 AM
Resa ia quite right. You need to change the water that the fish is in very slowly till it is used to the softer water. Though again, is it a species that needs hard water and won't be happy in soft? Fish like Rift Lake cichlids or mollies, for example, would not do well in soft water.

Assuming it will be fine in the softer water once you have acclimated it, do you have a quarantine tank, as a smaller volume would be easier than 300 litres? But whatever tank you use, you need to do frequent small water changes, say 10% a day, using the softer water until the hardness finally drops to similar to the 110 litre. I know that when you buy fish from a hard water area to keep in soft water you have to acclimate them much faster than that, but in that case there is only a bag of hard water not a tank full. Going slower will be easier on the fish though it does mean more work for you.
When you have the fish in the 110 litre, you said you wanted to give the 300 a makeover - will it be running with harder water again? If it will, and you intend keeping the filter bacteria fed and building up more of them, you'll need to bring the hardness up slowly again so you don't shock the bacteria, though you'd be OK 'hardening' the water faster than you softened it.



Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: mfritz307 on February 28, 2014, 12:10:47 AM
    Thanks for the replies. I sort of thought slow acclimation was the way to go, but it's good to get other opinions. The fish I am moving is a Chinese algae eater. I have alot of experience with these fish and they adapt to various water conditions very well. I have heard stories of them being aggressive as they age, but I have had a few of them over the years and have not once had a problem. I even had one a few years back that grew to nearly 8 inches (20 cm) before it "retired".
    As for the 300L. It is going to be emptied and treated as a new tank. My plan is a thoroughly planted Amazon  tank. Often referred to as a "blackwater" tank.  It will be acidic,soft water, and will house a nice variety of amazon fishes. However it will be some time before I will start this project. Just concentrating on my 110L. for now.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Resa on February 28, 2014, 09:57:38 AM
Hi mfritz,

Good luck with transferring your CAE to his new home :)
I'm looking forward to seeing your Amazon set-up when it's done. If you have the time, you could post on here as you're doing it...stage by stage, for anyone else interested in doing something similar.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Robert on February 28, 2014, 10:07:49 AM
The new setup sounds exciting MrFritz, I'd like to echo Resa's thoughts too! Keep us posted if you can!  :)

Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: chris213 on March 30, 2014, 03:24:25 PM
hello all
iam in the process of buying my first tropical fish tank after six months of looking around and researching and failed bids on ebay.
looking forward to getting my first tank and my adventure into keeping fish.
not to sure on the exact types of fish i would like to have yet althow i have some ideas,
i like the plecos and i am quite keen for some shrimp.
fingers crossed for a winning bid on ebay soon  :)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on March 30, 2014, 05:12:56 PM
Hi Chris, :wave:

What size tank are you looking at? We are all very nosey and will want details when you do get a tank  ;D
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: chris213 on March 30, 2014, 06:06:54 PM
iam currently looking at a 5 ft tank that has recently come up for sale , i have been looking at both 6 ft and 5 ft tanks  :fishy1:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on March 30, 2014, 06:42:40 PM
Oooh, starting big  :) Much better than a 25 litre tank then discovering how limited they are  :D My biggest is 3.5 ft.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: chris213 on March 30, 2014, 09:14:01 PM
yes after a fair bit of thort i decided that was better to start big and have less fish in a bigger tank that start small and try to get to many in a small tank or have to upgrade.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on March 31, 2014, 07:46:46 AM
Hello and Welcome to the forum, Chris.  :wave:

I'm sure you've considered it, but...... a 5ft tank plus water, gravel etc will weigh about half a ton. Is your floor up to it?
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: chris213 on March 31, 2014, 09:44:57 AM
 :wave:
yes i have had the floor boards up and checked the beams they very good and strong the tank will be postioned next to the wall and will run across the beams so should be more than up to the job.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on March 31, 2014, 10:17:12 AM
That never occurs to me   :-[  - all my tanks are on a concrete floor except my 25 litre which is on a kitchen worktop.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: jesnon on March 31, 2014, 03:59:25 PM
Oooh, starting big  :) Much better than a 25 litre tank then discovering how limited they are  :D My biggest is 3.5 ft.

This is very true and unfortunately the situation I find myself in now! I so wish I'd bought a bigger tank to start with and researched more before buying the tank. Still you live and learn! Welcome to the forum and fish keeping! This place is a life line!
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Richard W on March 31, 2014, 04:27:31 PM
I assume also that you have considered that when buying on EBay you'll need two reasonably strong people to load and unload it at each end. It sounds like you might be taking it upstairs, a pretty hefty job if so. If it doesn't come with a stand, you'll need a very strong piece of furniture to support it.I've bought all my tanks (11)) off EBay but I've restricted myself to 30 inch/80 cms max because I'm on my own  and that's the biggest I can lift (just!) without help. There's something to be said for getting two or more smaller tanks rather than one big one, since you can make conditions on each different if you like and also if there are compatibility problems you can move fish around.
If you like plecs, I'd still advise you to look at  the bristlenose or clown plec as they do stay a good deal smaller, the normal plec will get to over a foot long and can create quite a mess in a tank. You may not see much of shrimps if they are in with boisterous fish, they like a quiet life. Look at the fish profiles here before you buy any fish, read up on fishless cycling and don't always (ever?) believe what your local fish shop tells you, especially if they want to sell you something. These seem to be the main lessons which have been learned, sometimes the hard way and too late, by many people using this site ............................
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: chris213 on March 31, 2014, 06:24:12 PM
yes i had considered the loading and unloading problem and i have a mini army of people that will help to lift and carry ( they just need a little bribe coffee and a bacon sandwhich tends to work well or a cold can of carling if the day drags on   ;) ).
iam also lucky enough to have a van at my disposal so that side of it is fairly well sorted althow yes the stairs are a bit of a worry as it is going upstairs will give my helpers there weatabix that day  ;D.
the tanks that i mostly have been looking at are comeing with there own  stands as  have been mostly looking at the complete setups as i felt this would give me a better starting point to work from.
well i must admit that i would already like more tanks in a variety of sizes.(lol i havent even got my first tank yet and already dreaming of more  ;D)
the bristlenose is deafantly one of the plecs i have been looking at alot.
i have been looking threw at various fish profiles and iam yet to make a final choice as to what to get but i seems to be drawn more to less agressive types of fish(for now at least ).
yes i have been reading the fishless  cycle information and have found that very useful as its something i hadnt really thort to much about.
iam extremly glad to have found this forum and have spent the last 24 hours trying to read all the posts and trying to gather as much  information as i can :) and find myself more and more excited about what lies ahead for me and my fishy adventures.
iam sure as i get started i will be asking alot of questions and advice (sorry in advance for any stupidly asked questions with obvious answers feel free for a smack :to the head  ;D.
thank you to everyone for a freindly welcome.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on March 31, 2014, 06:51:34 PM
When you do finally win a tank, if it still has fish in it, ask the seller to keep the filter wet. A tank the size you are looking at will normally have an external, so they just need to close the taps to keep it full of water. Then when you set it back up you will find a lot of bacteria will still be alive. Adding a dose of ammonia will tell you this - if both ammonia and nitrite are both zero the day after adding ammonia you will be safe to add fish straight away.
But if the tank has been emptied and the filter media dry, you will need to cycle it first.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: dbaggie on March 31, 2014, 11:12:10 PM
If you haven't already done so you could also try other selling sites such as Gumtree or more specialist sites such as aquarists classified if you're looking at picking up a second hand tank. I got mine off Gumtree and it was a bargain. Daft as it sounds you may be able to get a better deal on the larger tanks as the demand can be lower owing to them needing so much room! Getting some established filter medium like Sue says is a good tip - if you can't get any off the seller perhaps you may have friends or family with an established tank which you could borrow some filter medium from? And Hi!  :wave:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: chris213 on April 01, 2014, 11:35:37 AM
just  a quick little update tank was  won this morning and hope to collect this weekend  :).
unfortuantly the tank has been emptied for somewhile so any chances of the filter media being ok are none :(.
dont really know anyone that is willing to donate some of theres but as iam new to all this would be good for me to start it from scratch anyway and build my skills :fishy1:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on April 01, 2014, 11:51:01 AM
And it will give you time to decide what fish you want  ;D  It gets frustrating when you see a fish on-line but then discover that none of your local shops stock it. You can use the cycling time to visit all your local shops to see what is available. It is possible to buy fish on-line but the delivery charge is usually very high.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: chris213 on April 01, 2014, 12:56:21 PM
 :yikes: trying to choose there,s so many  ;D.yes i have seen many of the fish and have to admit iam a bit of a buy it online addict but seems alot to put the fish threw as we all know that most couriers seem to think the word fragile means unbreakable and please feel free to test it with lots of heavy handling and throwing around :(.
have already planed a afternoon of  visiting the local fish shops this weekend (must remember to leave credit card at home for that  :rotfl: :rotfl:)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on April 01, 2014, 01:00:51 PM
have already planed a afternoon of  visiting the local fish shops this weekend (must remember to leave credit card at home for that  :rotfl: :rotfl:)

 ;D
However; do remember to take a pen and notebook with you to write down all the fish you like the look of so you can come back and research them.  :isay:

On the other hand..... you're probably younger than me so you can remember them. ;D
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: chris213 on April 01, 2014, 01:05:43 PM
'' pen and paper ''

iam young enough to have to ask what that is  :raspberries , i have a smart phone can take pictures and add notes to , much more modern way to do it  ;D
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Richard W on April 01, 2014, 01:12:20 PM
I wouldn't worry about delivery problems. Only specially licensed couriers can legally deliver live animals, including fish, which is probably why delivery is quite expensive, though the same for one fish or hundreds. Many thousands of fish are delivered every year, including those from wholesalers to retailers. If a courier caused problems, they'd soon lose the business. APC seems to be the usual one.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Richard W on April 01, 2014, 01:16:56 PM
Don't forget that many fish don't look their best in fish shops. They are often young and crowded in conditions where they don't show their best colours. This is particularly true of many tetras and barbs, which is why they are often overlooked. View the profiles here and also on other sites, particularly (if you haven't found it yet) http://www.seriouslyfish.com/ which has probably the best information of any site, and also many photos of most species of fish.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on April 01, 2014, 01:23:26 PM
Yes, I got some dwarf rainbowfish last week - they were greyish in the shop and they are getting their light metallic blue nicely now.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on April 01, 2014, 01:29:23 PM
Something I haven't mentioned - don't ask for ammonia at a fish shop. They either look blank as they've never heard of a fishless cycle or they look horrified and tell you that's so old fashioned, buy this miracle product which will cycle your tank instantly. Ammonia is getting more difficult to find as it can be used in certain illegal activities. I think Homebase still sell it in the household cleaning section. My local DIY shop also sold it a few years ago. Failing that, try ebay/amazon.



Those bacteria in a bottle products are a waste of money on the whole. Only one brand easily available in the UK has the correct species of nitrite eating bacteria and even that doesn't cycle instantly when it does work (if it's been mishandled it won't work at all).

Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: chris213 on April 01, 2014, 02:05:22 PM
i have just found the ammonia on ebay and ordered a bottle its the kleen off brand that has been mentioned on here but will make sure when it arrives that it contains no other nasty products inside it.
thank you very much for link richard i hadnt found that one yet.
is good to know that the couriers are ok to use as iam sure i will end up trying the online purchase of fish at some point.:)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on April 01, 2014, 02:09:45 PM
'' pen and paper ''

iam young enough to have to ask what that is  :raspberries , i have a smart phone can take pictures and add notes to , much more modern way to do it  ;D

 ;D ;D ;D

I use the Kleen Off ammonia - 'tis fine.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on April 01, 2014, 02:16:09 PM
So do I. It doesn't say on the bottle so I emailed them and they said it was pure ammonia solution at 9.5%
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Tommo on April 04, 2014, 06:40:33 PM
Hello all I'm justin, very new to fish keeping. Have recently purchased a 165 lit re tank and whilst waiting for delivery I read as much as possible, mostly on this site. I am currently 9 days into a fishless cycle and am enjoying the tank even without fish.

To start I have set the tank with a layer of fertilising substrate then natural pea gravel. We have a lovely big piece of bogwood and some immitation plants. We will also be adding live plants in the future. I have an external filter running at present with ceramic balls and various coarse filter foam.

I look forward to posting on this site and draining you all of knowledge  ;) :wave:

Justin
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Robert on April 04, 2014, 07:03:25 PM
Great stuff, thanks for sharing Justin! Keep us all posted!  :cheers:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on April 05, 2014, 01:28:19 PM
Hello Tommo, and Welcome. :wave:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Christine Snape on April 05, 2014, 04:13:17 PM
hi I am Christine ,I have 48litresbox tank just a nice size for my living room,i thought it would be a good ideato join the forum for tips and ideas,i recently changed from gravel to sand and my ammonia has gone up to 0.5-1.0 I have done a part water change I have also put some live plants in ,so I will see how I get on :)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on April 05, 2014, 04:27:53 PM
Hi Christine  :wave:

Do you have fish in the tank, and was the ammonia at 0.5 before changing the gravel?

You can get an increase in ammonia when changing the substrate because there will be muck in the gravel and when it is released during the change over it can release ammonia. Also there would have been some bacteria on the gravel, how many depending on how long your tank has been running.

But if your ammonia was at 0.5 before you changed the gravel, how long has the tank been set up, how many fish do you have and what is your nitrite reading? 0.5 is high for a tank that has been running a while, it should be zero.
Water changes are now your friend until the ammonia level drops to zero, and if the nitrite also shows a reading above zero.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Christine Snape on April 06, 2014, 11:39:59 AM
Hi thks for the reply my reading did go up a little after introducing a dwarf placo,but when I put the sand I it messed my readings went up.I have had my tank  for12mths,I have4small fish and my dwarf. placo
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on April 06, 2014, 12:35:34 PM
I just needed to check you weren't in the middle of a fish-in cycle  :D

The readings can go up after adding fish, usually ammonia first then sometimes nitrite as the ammonia spike falls. The filter has exactly the right amount of bacteria for the fish that were in the tank, when you add fish you need more and although these bacteria can double in 24 hours under optimum condition, our tanks are rarely optimum. With plecs creating a lot of waste for their size, adding one to a tank containing 4 small fish did add quite a lot to the bioload, the most likely explanation for the ammonia rise before you changed the gravel. It's why I always recommend checking ammonia & nitrite for a few days after getting new fish. And removing the gravel probably stirred up a lot of mess which contributed more ammonia.

The way to deal with ammonia and nitrite levels above zero is water changes to get them to zero until they stay there by themselves. This does mean checking the readings every day, and possibly doing daily water changes. The good news is that these mini spikes don't usually last long.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on April 06, 2014, 12:49:04 PM
Hello Christine, and Welcome to the forum.  :wave:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Christine Snape on April 07, 2014, 05:34:29 PM
I just needed to check you weren't in the middle of a fish-in cycle  :D

The readings can go up after adding fish, usually ammonia first then sometimes nitrite as the ammonia spike falls. The filter has exactly the right amount of bacteria for the fish that were in the tank, when you add fish you need more and although these bacteria can double in 24 hours under optimum condition, our tanks are rarely optimum. With plecs creating a lot of waste for their size, adding one to a tank containing 4 small fish did add quite a lot to the bioload, the most likely explanation for the ammonia rise before you changed the gravel. It's why I always recommend checking ammonia & nitrite for a few days after getting new fish. And removing the gravel probably stirred up a lot of mess which contributed more ammonia.

The way to deal with ammonia and nitrite levels above zero is water changes to get them to zero until they stay there by themselves. This does mean checking the readings every day, and possibly doing daily water changes. The good news is that these mini spikes don't usually last long.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Methe3rd on April 08, 2014, 03:36:07 PM
Hi all, I am Mason and
I am returning to the hobby after 10 years.I have really missed my fish but health and toddlers meant it was out of the question until now.

My brother in law is a keen fishkeeper so we consult each other on issues and this site is a constant guide.

My interests are fish health and diseases, taxonomy and biotope aquaria.

So I just wanted to say 'hi'
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on April 08, 2014, 05:13:26 PM
Hello, and welcome to the forum.  :wave:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: dbaggie on April 08, 2014, 05:47:08 PM
Hi Methe3rd  :wave:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: BurningGiraffe on April 13, 2014, 06:47:43 PM
Hi to all.

Just getting back into fishkeeping after a break of 15 years or so after a friend gave us a tank they no longer required about 5 months ago. It has been stocked with a variety of tetras, alongside a bulldog plec and an angelfish.

That has gone pretty well but it has been a learning curve too. Just purchased a 240L tank and I am currently just letting the plants grow in.

Previously my interests were South American cichlids and catfish but I am just mulling over options about this new tank at the moment.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on April 13, 2014, 07:01:25 PM
Hi there BurningGiraffe  :wave:

The new tank sounds a good size, plenty of options there. You'll have to tell us what you decide to do with it.

And we like pictures  ;D
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on April 14, 2014, 09:06:36 AM
Hello, and welcome to the forum, BurningGiraffe. (There's a story in that name, surely :)) )

Yep - piccies please.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: James Harper on April 15, 2014, 04:26:15 PM
Hi all

I'm James,

I've had a fish tank for a around 14 years, although it's been empty for a few years.  I'm currently in the process of moving and would like it to start it back up on once we moved into our new home.

Would definitely like to go with a planted aquarium any thoughts on a decent substrate would be helpful
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Richard W on April 15, 2014, 05:01:04 PM
I've written enough about it already, so won't go into details again, but I've found an inch of ordinary garden soil topped off with another inch of sand or gravel to give great results. Put "Walstead" into the search box and you should find the info. I would never pay the ridiculous prices asked for "special" substrates which just seem another way to get us to spend money without need.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: chris213 on April 15, 2014, 05:15:30 PM
hi james
I to have just followed richard's advice about using garden soil after reading many of his posts here (thank you for sharing your knowledge btw richard ).iam just starting my fishless cycle but am looking forward to planting once its done.:)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on April 15, 2014, 05:32:59 PM
Hello, and welcome to the forum, James.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: jaypeecee on April 27, 2014, 06:28:48 PM
Hi Folks,

I have had an interest in fishkeeping for - wait for it - 45 years! Approximately fifteen years ago, I actually started keeping freshwater tropical fish. A few months ago, now that I am semi-retired (whatever that means!), I have started keeping fish in earnest.

So, I am currently in the process of setting up an 120 litre freshwater tropical tank with live plants. I am taking this opportunity to dig deep into the science of fishkeeping whilst not losing sight of the beauty of the fish and plants, which grace my home.

I look forward to being part of this community.

JPC
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on April 27, 2014, 07:03:39 PM
Hi jaypeecee, welcome to the forum  :wave:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: chris213 on April 27, 2014, 07:59:12 PM
hello jaypeece welcome to the forum :cheers:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on April 28, 2014, 11:55:46 AM
Hello and welcome, JCP.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: jaypeecee on April 28, 2014, 10:01:45 PM
Thanks for the warm welcome.

It's time for me to do some exploring. Now, where shall I begin?!

JPC
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on April 29, 2014, 01:03:01 PM

So, I am currently in the process of setting up an 120 litre freshwater tropical tank with live plants. I am taking this opportunity to dig deep into the science of fishkeeping whilst not losing sight of the beauty of the fish and plants, which grace my home.


That's good news. Best to start (in my not-very-humble opinion) with the science of....... water. As they (whoever 'they' are) say; we just keep water, the fish look after themselves.

There's a great thread on here where some of us batted around the chemistry of General Hardness and Carbonate Hardness and how, in turn, pH was buffered. However; as I'm less intelligent than the average guppy I can't for the life of me remember where that thread is. The 'typing encyclopedia' will soon chip-in to help out on this, as I'm sure she'll have the thread at her fingertips. ;) ;)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on April 29, 2014, 01:59:30 PM
Is this (http://www.thinkfish.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,292.0.html) the thread you meant Colin? It only took me 5 mins to find it doing a search for posts containing the word 'hardness' by author 'ColinB'  :D
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on April 29, 2014, 03:22:57 PM
I bow to your brilliance...... I didn't even remember that I'd started or what it was called!!! :-[

Thanks Sue.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: dbaggie on April 30, 2014, 10:28:36 PM
Is this (http://www.thinkfish.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,292.0.html) the thread you meant Colin? It only took me 5 mins to find it doing a search for posts containing the word 'hardness' by author 'ColinB'  :D

 :rotfl:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Puffin on May 04, 2014, 03:31:16 PM
Hi, I'm Jane, thanks for the welcome message.
I am also on another fish forum but have found that some members on here have / had one of the tanks I'm thinking of getting and thought that would be useful.
I'm currently researching tank, plants and fish. The one I'm interested in is an aqua nano 40 as we have limited space. Would be very interested to hear any pros and cons and will post re this later on.
I want a planted tank as I think they look lovely and would make up for not being able to house much in the way of fish!
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on May 05, 2014, 11:29:21 AM
Hello Jane, and welcome to the forum. I've answered some cons in another thread..... so I'll answer some more here.

Pros:
It's a very good looking tank.
It has massive amounts of filtration (I use oversized external in the community creator) - but I've changed mine about a bit as per the 'other thread'.
All the equipment (pump, heater, filter) is hidden from view, and I've put a thermometer in the pump housing too.

Cons:
You're restricted to the one placement for the pump outlet... and very small fish can swim into the pump outlet and get mashed by the pump. (RIP Dill the Guppy :-[)
The little plastic clips break easily.
The earlier Cube40s had an 18Watt 2-pin compact fluorescent bulb which are almost impossible to find now. You can really only get 11Watt ones as a 2-pin. The later Cube40s have an LED strip in the light housing.
The big black sponge is big (and black) and can clog and restrict flow.

I'll post further thoughts when I've thought them.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Richard W on May 05, 2014, 12:20:10 PM
If you want a planted tank you need to consider the substrate. I doubt if plain gravel would be much use in such a small tank. You would also need to be very careful in choice of plants, as many would quickly fill a tank of that size. You might be better to get a smallish piece of bog wood for a central feature and attach Java fern or Anubias to it, both of which grow very slowly.
Personally, I don't see why these nano tanks are so popular. I don't think there are many fish that are really happy with only 40 cms to swim in any direction. Unless you are really very restricted for space, I'd always go for 60 cms minimum. I have several of these and just about any of the normal small fish, tetras, rasboras, small barbs, Corydoras, seem happy in them. I bought one from Maidenhead Aquatics which is the Supoerfish Aqua Expert 70, which is still good value at Ł79.95, though after Christmas (when I bought mine) it was Ł59.95, complete with good filter, heater and LED strip light. Great value and makes most of the nano tanks seem overpriced.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Puffin on May 05, 2014, 07:21:34 PM
Thanks Colin and Richard,
Richard do you have the dimensions of that tank? I've found it on maidenhead aquatics but the info it gives is minimal.
Yes we are somewhat restricted for space having recently moved from a house almost twice the size as this one! (It's  a compromise we've had to make to get a pretty special location)
Colin, I've read your comments on loubaa's post and have replied on there. Btw both the old version with fluorescent bulb and the new one with led are available in our lfs.  I take it you would advise getting the new one?
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: johniepneumonic on May 05, 2014, 09:56:12 PM
Colin, I'm an electrician and am suprised your having trouble sourcing 18 watt 2PIn lamps. I fit them often, have you tried an electrical wholesalers I get mine from CEF.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Richard W on May 06, 2014, 06:51:53 AM
The tank is 56 cms long by 32 cms front to back and 38 cms high. Still a small tank, not much bigger in volume than the  40 cms cube, but with a larger surface area and gives that bit extra swimming space. It looks neat and tidy, the LED lighting means that the hood is very shallow. I don't think it can be beaten at the price and was an absolute bargain at the new year sale price.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Wookiejedi on May 06, 2014, 09:26:48 AM
Hi all I'm Colin. I've been mostly keeping goldfish since 1999 with a good amount if success. Since my last one got too big for the tank and my children wanted one with more fish in I have branched out into the tropical world.
I have a Biorb 30 with 2 zebra danios and 3 White Cloud Mountain Minnows. I plan on popping in some others once that have ad time to settle in.
Thanks
Colin
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: chris213 on May 06, 2014, 09:41:03 AM
hi colin welcome to the forum  :wave:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on May 06, 2014, 10:13:42 AM
Hello Colin, and welcome to the forum. This could get confusing!!!
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on May 06, 2014, 10:19:10 AM
Colin, I'm an electrician and am suprised your having trouble sourcing 18 watt 2PIn lamps. I fit them often, have you tried an electrical wholesalers I get mine from CEF.

mmmm - I've just looked at the CEF site for 2-pin CFL lights here (http://www.cef.co.uk/catalogue/categories/10087-single-compact-fluorescent-2pin) and there are no 18Watt bulbs that I can see. If you could point out a source for them then I would be very grateful.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: johniepneumonic on May 06, 2014, 04:47:54 PM
Colin part code is edd18/ then quote which colour, ie warm white. Mine has them on the shelf.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on May 06, 2014, 06:23:42 PM
Colin part code is edd18/ then quote which colour, ie warm white. Mine has them on the shelf.

 :-[ Still can't find an 18W CFL with a G23 2-pin base. Sorry - I'm being very slow today. Please use small words with me!
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: chris213 on May 06, 2014, 06:35:21 PM
i am probably wrong but i think i just found them on ebay althow it might be wrong one iam unsure.Are we allowed to post links to ebay on here ?
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on May 06, 2014, 06:42:09 PM
I have posted links to Ebay. It's posting to your own selling website that's frowned upon as that amounts to free advertising. And links to other general fish forums - we don't want people migrating to the 'opposition'  ;D Links to specialised fish sites are fine.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: chris213 on May 06, 2014, 07:02:49 PM
hmm unsure how to post it here without it being really long me and technology dont mix  :vcross:

i just went onto ebay and searched for 18 watt 2 pin warm light and got some results but as i said i am unsure if there the right connector
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: SteveS on May 06, 2014, 11:21:47 PM
hmm unsure how to post it here without it being really long me and technology dont mix  :vcross:
Hardly an advantage for an electrician!  :yikes:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Resa on May 07, 2014, 12:45:15 AM
No,no, SteveS....isn't it johniepneumonic who is the electrician ???
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: SteveS on May 07, 2014, 02:11:45 AM
No,no, SteveS....isn't it johniepneumonic who is the electrician ???
Maybe Chris213 is an electrician too!  You can't be sure about these things... as I seem to be well capable of demonstrating... :-[ :-[ :-[  Sorry, I've been busy struggling with Linux all day and I'm in a bit of a dither as a result.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: chris213 on May 07, 2014, 06:32:44 AM
not a electrician its even worse i am cnc engenieer (computer controled lathes milling machines ) and i am terrible with computer technology but i do seem to have a degree in useing ebay  ;D
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on May 07, 2014, 07:58:34 AM
i am probably wrong but i think i just found them on ebay althow it might be wrong one iam unsure.Are we allowed to post links to ebay on here ?

ooo - if you click on the address bar (of the page in ebay) so it's highlighted in blue, then Ctrl C to copy it. Then Ctrl V to paste that link into your post on here, surrounded by the URL and /URL tags in square brackets. That should do it. There're pleny of 18W 2-pin CFLs out there, but not with a G23 base.

I would just like to point out that I've thearched and thearched and thearched until I'm thick of thearching for the thodding things and the only place I've found (in Ireland) won't reply to any enquiries. :-[
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: chris213 on May 07, 2014, 08:28:07 AM
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/390517614351?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&var=660106592173&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/390517614351?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&var=660106592173&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT)

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/390517614351?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&var=660106592173&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT (ftp://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/390517614351?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&var=660106592173&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT)

cant be sure they are  the right base  :-\
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on May 07, 2014, 08:50:12 AM

cant be sure they are  the right base  :-\

Thanks, Chris - but, as you say, wrong base. I need a G23 style base.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: chris213 on May 07, 2014, 08:55:01 AM
 :-\ seems they are tricky things to find 
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: SteveS on May 07, 2014, 03:40:28 PM
I recalled this discussion (http://www.thinkfish.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,177.msg1684.html) where we discussed your lighting before. Some of these links still apply, in addition you could have a look here (http://www.joesaquaticworld.co.uk/aqua-one-pl18-w-sunlight-fluorescent-lamp-for-aquanano-40.html) or perhaps here (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AQUARIUM-AQUA-ONE-COMPATABLE-LIGHT-TROPICAL-BULB-18W-2-PIN-FOR-FISH-TANKS-/251391362573) or maybe wander over here (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AQUARIUM-AQUA-ONE-COMPATABLE-LIGHT-TROPICAL-BULB-18W-2-PIN-FOR-FISH-TANKS-/251391362573) or here (http://www.seapets.co.uk/products/aquarium-supplies/aquariums/aqua-one/aqua-one-shop/aqua-one-lighting/all-products.html) or even here (http://www.aquarium-parts.co.uk/aquanano-40-spares/aqua-one-pl18-sunlight-fluorescent-lamp-for-aquanano-40.html) for some ideas. Not all of these would be suitable, so you would have to review them.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on May 07, 2014, 03:59:26 PM
Steve - you're a genius. Thanks very much for this info. That previous discussion involved me buying 11W bulbs because I couldn't find any 18W ones with a G23 base.

I think this from one of the sites sums up my frustration at the difficulty of finding this tube: This Aqua One PL18w light tube with two pin connection is unique to the Aqua Nano 40 and will not fit any other PL18w socket neither will any other PL18 tubes featured elsewhere on the site fit the Aqua Nano 40.

Looks like I'm a captive consumer as far as this bulb is concerned. >:(
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: SteveS on May 07, 2014, 04:04:50 PM
Steve - you're a genius. Thanks very much for this info.
Well... one doesn't like to blow ones own trumpet, but... ::)

I think this from one of the sites sums up my frustration at the difficulty of finding this tube: This Aqua One PL18w light tube with two pin connection is unique to the Aqua Nano 40 and will not fit any other PL18w socket neither will any other PL18 tubes featured elsewhere on the site fit the Aqua Nano 40.

Looks like I'm a captive consumer as far as this bulb is concerned. >:(
From the previous thread, you got an 11W tube, you still have this option, or you could replace the light with the new LED based one for your tank or something similar. The 18W tubes are really expensive, you wouldn't take long to recover your costs.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on May 07, 2014, 04:15:03 PM
From the previous thread, you got an 11W tube, you still have this option, or you could replace the light with the new LED based one for your tank or something similar. The 18W tubes are really expensive, you wouldn't take long to recover your costs..

I was just browsing through one of the sites you linked to and found the LED set-up for the Nano40 (here (http://www.aquarium-parts.co.uk/aquanano-40-spares/aqua-one-double-led-10w-clip-on-light-for-aquanano-40.html)) and that got me to thinking that this, for Ł40, would pay for itself in ~3 years.

Either that AquaOne part, or this (http://www.allpondsolutions.co.uk/aquarium-1/aquarium-lighting/small-led-fish-tank-lighting/small-planted-tropical-aquarium-led-lighting-64-led-s.html) at Ł27. Though this one is 3.5W as against the AquaOne genuine part at 10W which should be brighter.

Choices, choices, decisions, decisions. *sigh*
Title: Hello
Post by: Silksheen on May 13, 2014, 12:57:24 PM
Thank you for the welcome Robert. And a big hello to everyone here. :cheers:
I have had my fish tank for about six weeks now and need to ask some questions on up keeping. I have had a quick look around the forum and there is some very impressive info here. :fishy1: For instance I didn't know that you should clean the filter in tank water not tap water. :vcross: Looking forward to chatting with you guys and gals will post questions in appropriate threads. Sorry if my questions have been asked umpteen times before. :yikes: Please be patient. Many thanks. Mike. (Second post)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: SteveS on May 13, 2014, 01:43:16 PM
Hi Mike. You are most welcome and if you do ask questions that have been asked before, or stupid questions, or (and this is even better) stupid questions that have been asked before, well... we are quite used to it...  ;) Most of us, not Sue because she is omniscient and powerful, but the rest of us have been there, done that, got the T-shirt.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Puffin on May 13, 2014, 02:47:57 PM
Hi Mike, you are six weeks ahead if me then, I get my tank on Thursday... Yay!
Please get asking your questions, I'm learning lots from reading others' questions and the answers!
Jane
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on May 13, 2014, 04:35:35 PM
Steve, you are forgetting that I joined Thinkfish in 2006, back on the old forum. You should have seen the questions I asked then  :o
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: SteveS on May 13, 2014, 04:41:46 PM
Steve, you are forgetting that I joined Thinkfish in 2006, back on the old forum.
Convenient isn't it?  :rotfl:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Resa on May 13, 2014, 06:26:39 PM
got the T-shirt.

My T-shirt has shrunk :-[

Hi Mike  :wave:
Welcome to the forum :)
Steve is right....Sue knows absolutely EVERYTHING!!! You won't need to go anywhere else for your answers ;) and Steve is the 'post-it-in-the-right-thread' police...he can be very strict C:-)
Good luck with your tank...what fishies have you got or getting? Colin will want piccies...and he's right, piccies are a must.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: dbaggie on May 13, 2014, 06:42:42 PM
I'm over 100 posts in and still asking plenty of daft questions ;D
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Silksheen on May 13, 2014, 07:10:04 PM
Haven't got the Thinkfish.co.uk. T shirt yet. :rotfl: I will try to make sure of posting in the right place like what's the best food for my great white in the intro thread. :vcross:
I have been trawling through the article's on this forum, well written easy to understand fantastic, learnt tons of stuff already, including the type of fish I have. :fishy1: Neon Tetra. Qty 6. Dint know that till I found it on here. Will post some pics. Anyway I won't waffle here anymore as the next bit I want to say belongs in another thread. Don't want to upset anyone do we. :yikes:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on May 15, 2014, 10:24:35 AM
Hello Mike..... and welcome.  :wave:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Fiona on May 21, 2014, 06:47:39 PM
Hi there.

My son and I got ourselves a modest 54L tank last weekend which we set up and planted and are leaving to 'settle down' for a week or two before we add any tropical occupants. We bought the gravel and plants from the specialist shop but we've added some cobbles from our pond (we boiled them to clean them) do you think they'll be ok? We've also decided to order a piece of aquarium bogwood because we really like a naturalistic look.

I'll post a piccy when we've finished but we're both childishly excited about the whole thing.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on May 21, 2014, 07:02:21 PM
Hi, welcome  :wave:


The cobbles should be fine as you've boiled them which will kill any nasties that might have been on them.

Leaving the tank to settle down will do nothing I'm afraid. You have 2 choices - do a fishless cycle using ammonia solution or do a fish-in cycle.
Fishless is easier; fish-in does mean you can get a few fish now but you'll have to do frequent water changes (at least every day) until the tank has cycled, which is hard work. I do realise that with a child involved, you may not want to wait until you get fish, but if he's old enough the cycling process will teach him a lot.

Here are a couple of links telling you what is involved with the two methods. There is a lot to get your head around so read them through a couple of times. I'll bet the shop where you bought the tank never told you about cycling so the concept is very likely new to you.

fishless cycling (http://www.thinkfish.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,483.0.html)
cycling with fish (http://www.thinkfish.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,17.0.html)



One piece of advice - don't believe anything the shop says until you have researched for yourself. This is especially true when it comes to buying fish. You'll be surprised at the number of people who have followed a shop's advice and have fish that will outgrow their tanks in months or fish that will kill each other  :-\
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Fiona on May 21, 2014, 07:17:11 PM
Hi Sue thanks for the welcome. The guy in the shop advised me to add a small amount of fishfood everyday to help build up 'friendly' bacteria, I also purchased some aquasafe and a liquid weekly plant feeder. I'm going to read about cycling right now  :) I know I've got some prawns in the freezer somewhere.

BTW my son is 26  ;) The last aquatic project we did together was adding an 8ft by 5ft wildlife pond to the back garden which is now teeming with life and now seems a lot easier than setting up an aquarium I have to say. Patience is a virtue they say, so fishless cycling here we come.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on May 21, 2014, 07:31:26 PM
If your son is 26, ignore what I said  ;D


Fishfood is not a good way to encourage the bacteria to grow. Because you can't measure how much ammonia is formed when it decomposes you can't know if you have grown enough bacteria. If you don't want to use ammonia solution, the best way to use fish food (or prawns for that matter) is to put them in a bucket of water, wait for them to decompose then test the water to see how much ammonia is there and use that water as the source of ammonia. If that makes sense.

Glad to hear your pond is doing so well  :D
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Fiona on May 21, 2014, 07:57:34 PM
I'm starting to wish I'd bought a bigger tank than a 55l one, it seems my fish options are going to be quite limited due to the required fish to water ratio. Ho hum... I'll have a chat with my son and see which way he wants to go.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on May 21, 2014, 08:27:50 PM
I have a 54 litre tank (though it's a bit of a cheat as that 54 litres is full to the brim and obviously you can't fill it quite that full). Tanks that size are do-able as long as you stick to small fish. I have some sundadanios (http://www.thinkfish.co.uk/fish/axelrods-rasbora.html), pygmy corydoras and cherry shrimps in mine.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Resa on May 21, 2014, 08:29:51 PM
Hi Fiona (& son) :wave:

Welcome to the forum! We're a friendly lot on here and someone, (usually Sue) will know the answer to any questions you may have or problems..hopefully few of those..you may come across.

Anyway, you have discovered the first problem of fishkeeping....not getting a big enough tank to begin with :vcross:
It's amazing how many fish you will see that you want in your tank only to find out that they need a bigger one! Most of us do it.
Never mind, you will still find others that will fit in their new home. Have a look on the fish profile on here to see which ones might take your fancy....happy fishing :)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on May 22, 2014, 08:00:50 AM
Hello both, and welcome to the forum.

I too have a 55litre tank (tho' it is an actual 55litres of water when there's gravel in and an inch air-gap at the top) and there are a number of suitable fish that are (or seem to be) doing very well in there.

If you know your water pH and hardness, then we can help you with fish choice.... and also the dimensions of the tank. Some small fish need a lot of swimming room so if your tank is 60cm long then you'll have more options than my 40cm cube.

I'm jealous of your wildlife garden. We're hoping to move house within the next year, so the 'new' house will definitely be getting one...... and now I know someone to ask ;D
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Fiona on May 22, 2014, 01:36:15 PM
Thankee all for the welcome. I'm just about to order some water testing kit, as from reading on here I gather its cheaper to buy online.

My tank is 60cms x 30cms x 30cms btw. I think once we've got that up and running nicely we'll get a bigger tank, as my son really would like some angelfish. As I've mentioned online shopping already, does anybody here buy fish online?

Another cycling question..is it ok to do fishless cycle with plants in situ? Mine have started to root nicely and it seems a shame to move them.

We had our first lot of frogspawn this year which I was dead chuffed about as we built it especially for them really, we have 2 types of newts, snails: common and ramshorn (which I think came in on the pondweed we bought) and sticklebacks, although I have  no idea where they came from, also a bit of pond dipping produced freshwater shrimps, again no idea how they got there and damsel fly larvae.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Puffin on May 22, 2014, 04:07:58 PM
Hi , your pond sounds awesome. I have a great photo of a dragon fly emerging from its pupa taken at my parents' pond.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on May 22, 2014, 04:12:27 PM
If the plants are growing, you can cycle with them. But it depends on how many you have. If it's two or three, use the method on here, with 3ppm ammonia to start. If the tank is very heavily planted, the plants will use some of the ammonia, so cycle using 1ppm ammonia. If it's in between use 2ppm.

60cm long does give you more options than the cube tanks around as a lot of fish are fast swimming and need the length to show their normal behaviour. There are several small shoaling fish that are suitable, and a few specimen fish that are kept alone of in pairs. But their water needs do vary, so before naming them it would help if you could let us know if you have hard or soft water - your water company's website should have that somewhere, and also does your kettle/showerhead fur up as that is also an indicator.

I have bought fish on-line. The downsides are: you can't inspect the fish before buying, the postage is usually very high; a lot of sellers won't let you choose male or female (not important with shoaling species but can be very important with centrepiece fish), and the seller's water could be very different from yours meaning you have to acclimate the fish very carefully.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Heather1979 on May 22, 2014, 09:26:21 PM
Hi all my names Heather ,

I currently have a 60l tank with dwarf gouramis, dwarf rainbow fish , 2 ram cichlid and some corrys. My son has a 30l new tank we are just setting up and my daughter who is 6 has some danios and a weather loach.

I've not had my 60l for long but have the bug I guess and I'm going to get a 120l tank as I have no room to anything bigger due to having a bearded dragon and she takes up a lot of space in the lounge.

I'm really stuck and could do with some help for my new 120l tank.
I would like some larger , interesting unusual fish , I originally wanted Discus but found they would get too big and the same with Angel fish , Malawi cichlids and Oscars. Can anyone give me some ideas please as I'm stuck???

Fish I don't want are -
Molly's
Platys
Tetras ( unless very unusual)
Rainbow fish
Dwarf gouramis
Betta fish
Barbs

We'll think that's about it , I want plenty of colour but something that will stand out .

Any help would be appreciated , I do struggle with hi ammonia levels where I live but I'm dealing with that at the mo and I'm happy to use RO water.

Thank you to anyone who has read this far
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: jenpink on May 23, 2014, 10:18:55 AM
Hi,
I'm Jen,  I have been keeping fish on and off as long as I an remember really got my first tank for my 6th birthday which if I remember rightly were Guppies,Platties, and Neons.
Currently the fish I have are 6 Silver Dollars, 4 Golden Severums, 3 Clown loaches and 4 Rams. housed in a Juwel trigon 190 with JBL cristalprofi e1500.
As well as fish I have 5 children,3 cats and a labrador. We own a race track and I run drift events based in the northeast. 
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on May 23, 2014, 11:15:48 AM
Hello Jen, and welcome to the forum. :wave:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on May 23, 2014, 12:30:27 PM
Welcome both  :wave:


Hi Jen - the north east, I live in Teesside!

Hi Heather - I've replied on your other post.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: jenpink on May 23, 2014, 12:51:48 PM
do you know teesside karting? thats us
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on May 23, 2014, 03:52:49 PM
I'm not familiar with it so I googled it and it said you're in South Bank? I'm in Yarm.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: jenpink on May 23, 2014, 08:17:16 PM
I live durham side of darlington and we work in southbank.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: dbaggie on May 23, 2014, 08:28:39 PM
As well as fish I have 5 children,3 cats and a labrador. We own a race track and I run drift events based in the northeast.

Hi Jen. I take it you like the quiet life then??  ;D
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: dbaggie on May 23, 2014, 08:38:50 PM
Currently the fish I have are 6 Silver Dollars, 4 Golden Severums, 3 Clown loaches and 4 Rams. housed in a Juwel trigon 190

Nice tank by the way - I nearly got one of those before finally going with the Juwel Vision 180. I like Juwel tanks but they rob you blind on the lights  >:(
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: jenpink on May 23, 2014, 09:34:17 PM
 :D yes that's me loving peace and tranquility, mind you never a dull moment.

The tank was a complete impulse buy we had just bought a juwel 180 long type tank new a few weeks before  but were offered this one for Ł100 so as I'd always wanted one so we got it that night. never had to replace the lights so no idea how bad that'll be when they blow, got me worried now as everything else on the tank has blown up or just stopped working this year.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: dbaggie on May 23, 2014, 10:12:53 PM
It's probably not as bad as I made out! I recently replaced both light tubes in my vision 180 but discovered beforehand (with some advice from the good folks on here) that Juwel make their own size T5 which means that you can't just replace them with any generic (and cheaper!) make.

There are some 'juwel compatible' tubes around but I found that they weren't that much cheaper really - I ended up getting 2 official juwel tubes off ebay for around Ł25 delivered.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on May 24, 2014, 02:09:37 PM
I live durham side of darlington and we work in southbank.

In that case you are not far from Chilton Aquatics or even Paddock Farm (though that's not what it used to be since it changed hands). Nice choice of dwarf cichlids at Chilton.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: jenpink on May 25, 2014, 06:26:21 PM
I have been to Paddock farm today. I got some plants including a free bag of duckweed lol. Have gone for old reliables and opted for java fern which my dollars aren't overly keen on so that'll last, also a large waxy leafed plant (beginning with A? I think) and also trying some moss and grass things that came in fancy tubs.

 I have started another tank up which is only small, so its going to be mostly for growing plants to replace any eaten by the dollars and I might add a few small fish maybe although I do love a Betta so might have one of them instead but that's for another day.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: MaidinBelfast on June 01, 2014, 04:23:34 PM
Hi there
I decided earlier this year to get a tank, at first I was going for cold water fish but since have changed mind and going for tropicals, have no fish yet..am beginning to cycle my tank. I have some plants in, and waiting pateintly for woods to become waterlogged...seems Im in for a lengthy wait by all accounts >:(
Cannot decide what to get in tank, probably 4 0r 5 neon tetras which I love, a few bigger fish and would like a shrimp and a snail...my tank is only 54 litres so hoping this isnt too many fish!  I live in Belfast, with my 3 dogs, other hobbies inc dolls houses and cross stitching, interests inc greyhounds and reading and now fish!
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on June 01, 2014, 04:39:02 PM
Hi, welcome to the forum  :wave:


It can take a while for wood to become waterlogged, but hopefully it will be by the time the cycle finishes.

54 litres can hold a reasonable number of small fish - I have one around 50 litres. Provided the tank is rectangular rather than cubic, you could have 6 plus neons (they do better with at least six). But it does depend on your water hardness. Do you know if you have soft or hard water? Your water supplier's website should give that info somewhere, though a good indicator is whether or not your kettle/shower head get furred up. Neons prefer soft water. If you find you have hard water you'd be better having fish that prefer it hard - it is easier to get fish to suit your water rather than try to alter the water to suit a particular fish.

I'll wait till I know your hardness before suggesting larger fish  :D
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: MaidinBelfast on June 01, 2014, 04:51:08 PM
Ill find out, but when talking about it other day I was told its about half way between soft and hard...Ill call the waterboard tomorrow and see
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on June 02, 2014, 07:56:31 AM
Hello.... :wave: .... and welcome to the forum.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: MaidinBelfast on June 02, 2014, 04:26:54 PM
Hi, welcome to the forum  :wave:


It can take a while for wood to become waterlogged, but hopefully it will be by the time the cycle finishes.

54 litres can hold a reasonable number of small fish - I have one around 50 litres. Provided the tank is rectangular rather than cubic, you could have 6 plus neons (they do better with at least six). But it does depend on your water hardness. Do you know if you have soft or hard water? Your water supplier's website should give that info somewhere, though a good indicator is whether or not your kettle/shower head get furred up. Neons prefer soft water. If you find you have hard water you'd be better having fish that prefer it hard - it is easier to get fish to suit your water rather than try to alter the water to suit a particular fish.

I'll wait till I know your hardness before suggesting larger fish  :D

I found out, soft to moderately soft water on a 1-5 scale, its 1.5
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: MaidinBelfast on June 02, 2014, 04:27:25 PM
Hello.... :wave: .... and welcome to the forum.

 :wave: thank you  :fishy1:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on June 02, 2014, 04:53:28 PM
I found out, soft to moderately soft water on a 1-5 scale, its 1.5

In that case, neons are fine. If it had been 4 or 5 on that scale, they wouldn't have been suitable. Or any other small shoaling fish from the Amazon.

For bigger fish, you can't go really big in 54 litres, maybe up to 2 or 2.5 inches, but a fish that would do well on its own or in pairs. How about a pair of honey gouramis (http://www.thinkfish.co.uk/fish/honey-gourami.html)? The photo on here is the wild coloured form, most shops don't sell that particular colour. But they do sell the yellow or red forms. Or perhaps dwarf gourami, though they are prone to an incurable disease  :-\
If your tank is 60cm long, apistogramma agassizzi (http://www.thinkfish.co.uk/fish/agassizs-dwarf-cichlid.html) would be suitable, a male/female pair. This is one of the hardier, more easy to find apistos.

Or perhaps a bigger shoal of neons and a shoal of one of the dwarf species of corydoras - that's C pygmaeus (pygmy cory), C habrosus (salt and pepper cory, not to be confused with the larger peppered cory) and C hastasus (don't know if that one has a common name). With cories you need sand or smooth gravel on the bottom of the tank.


Shrimps would also be fine, but a group of them. They don't add much to the bioload. Cherry shrimps are the hardiest of the small shrimps, and if you had just neons and dwarf cories they would breed. Bigger fish would eat the babies. Snail - I like nerite snails, they are good algae eaters. They are becoming more common in shops, but they also travel well by post if you need to use mail order.
If you do get shrimps, make sure you have hiding places for when they moult. Until their new skin hardens, they are very vulnerable to being eaten. Plants, dense ones being better, or ornaments with shrimp sized crevices are good hiding places.


Some ideas for you  :D



My '54' litre tank (it doesn't actually hold that much water!) has Sundadanios (http://www.thinkfish.co.uk/fish/axelrods-rasbora.html), pygmy cories, cherry shrimp and nerite snails, the orange-red with black markings variety.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: MaidinBelfast on June 03, 2014, 07:17:13 AM
wow, thank you...glad to know that the neons will do ok in my water, Im off today to get a few rocks and plants and any thing else I need... shall write down the fish suggested and have a look, and see what they keep in stock..its a massive store so would imagine I will get sorted out no problem with whats suitable
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: MaidinBelfast on June 03, 2014, 07:21:25 AM
do the snails multiply quickly?
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: SteveS on June 03, 2014, 08:31:14 AM
Think of rabbits and calculators!  ;)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: MaidinBelfast on June 03, 2014, 09:05:20 AM
I mean the big ones like the apple snail, not the little ones that come in plants, I have already found a few of those since planting last week >:(
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: SteveS on June 03, 2014, 09:13:57 AM
"Snails" is another of those catch-all terms. There are thousands of different species. They have a quite diverse mix of reproductive strategies. Some require access to the air to lay eggs, some require sea-water, some require rivers, some reproduce asexually, some don't. It is difficult to generalise. However, the two largeish species of snail that I am aware of for aquariums are the nerite snail, which requires sea-water to breed. or the Apple snail which is, I think, prohibited according to recent EU legislation.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: MaidinBelfast on June 03, 2014, 09:28:46 AM
yes was told that at aquatic store that apple snails can no longer be sold, will be up there later so can ask which one would be suitable  :)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on June 03, 2014, 11:20:27 AM
The apple snail fiasco is a good example of one size fits all EU legislation. One species of apple snail was found in one part of Spain, so they banned the import across the whole EU. I can't see them surviving outside in the wild in the UK let alone somewhere like Finland. Sorry, moan over.

Nerite snails would be a good choice, once you have some algae growing. They are becoming more common in shops but mail order is an option with these creatures; they survive the post very well in a tub with some damp tissue or filter wool.

Be warned about fish browsing. You will likely be approached by a shop assistant who will tell you that you are wasting your time cycling the tank, buy some of this miracle product, just add it to your tank along with all the fish I'm going to sell you now. None of these products work instantly and most don't work at all.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on June 03, 2014, 11:39:23 AM
I can't see them surviving outside in the wild in the UK let alone somewhere like Finland. Sorry, moan over.

But they may evolve......

(http://m.flikie.com/wallpaper/download?paperId=16793850)

 ;)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Digs1923 on June 03, 2014, 12:20:43 PM
Hi everyone  :wave:

Some of you already know me as I jumped straight in to with forum with questions instead of doing the polite thing and introducing myself first  ::)   Bit like the way I got the tank and fish BEFORE researching and finding out it was the wrong way round.... Impulsive?  Me?  Nah.....

Anyway, for those of you who haven't already had the "pleasure" of putting me right on a few things:

Have got a 60L BiOrb which was a birthday present for husband who had been mithering for fish for YEARS...  Although I loved the look of aquariums, was of the firm belief that one would NOT fit into our living room (quite small house and the only other room would be the dining-kitchen which has full sun for most of the day).  After seeing the BiOrb I relented as it fits quite nicely in one corner away from the window and looks lovely (well, we think so!).  Hubby has since relinquished all care and decisions (i.e. control, lol) to me.  I'm definitely hooked!!

Just as well as my other half has even less patience than me and would have quite happily chucked several BIG fish into our tank.  In fact it was his idea to get the three Black Widow tetras we've had from day one and he only chose those because they were bigger than all the other tetras!  (What is it with men and size  ;)  )

So now three and a half weeks into a fish-in cycle...  Our water is very soft and we had an "emergency" when the pH of the tank dropped to 6.0 which I now understand will probably have stalled the cycling.  Following some excellent advice from Sue and Colin (to name just two) I have added Tropic Marin re-mineralisation salts and pH is now at 7.6 and has remained stable for three days.  Not done a water change during that time as ammonia was showing at 0.5 and using Sue's "ammonia calculator" this converts to 0.0108 (with 0.05 being the cut-off point).  Still no nitrites  :(   But hoping things will get going now that the pH and KH are okay (forgot to mention that as well as the API master testing kit, also using the Nutrafin test for KH/GH).

The Black Widows seem happy (I swear I can see them smiling  :)) ).  The tank has silk plants and two real plants and am about to add some hornwort (will leave to float on the surface).  Am just "washing" it in some conditioned water....  Hope that's the correct thing to do!

Once the tank has cycled, we will add two more Black Widows to make a "gang" of five and will slowly add some glowlight tetras and some neon netras.

I already have a bad case of MTS and have been looking at Juwel 190 corner tanks (has to go in the corner the biOrb is currently in)....  Haven't dared broach the subject with hubby yet  ::) 

This forum is brilliant!  So helpful and informative - very glad I found it  :) :)

Liz
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Resa on June 03, 2014, 12:40:21 PM
Hi Digs,
There are some excellent tanks for sale on ebay atm ;) I did see a couple of corner ones too....can't remember if they were ebay or gumtree though....just a thought :)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Digs1923 on June 03, 2014, 12:44:35 PM
Thanks Resa  :)    I'll take a look now.....   Can always "blame" you if hubby asks  :rotfl:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: chris213 on June 03, 2014, 12:52:18 PM
be  very careful with ebay its all to easy to click buy and go much bigger than you intended to as i did , was looking for a 60 liter and bought a 8 ft tank instead  :yikes: (winter project now )
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Resa on June 03, 2014, 12:55:29 PM
Yeah....blame me, I'm tough ;)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on June 03, 2014, 12:57:55 PM
Haven't I seen you somewhere before?  :))

Hubby owes you, big time..... so you just tell him what you want after you've found the tank that you want. He (like all men) will say "yes, dear" 'cos it's anything for a quiet life and us men pounce on indecision like a chicken changing its spots in midstream.

Sorry chaps - I'm giving away all our manly secrets here. :-[

(However - it's all Resa's fault, whatever happens. So you can't lose.)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Resa on June 03, 2014, 01:08:24 PM
be  very careful with ebay its all to easy to click buy and go much bigger than you intended to as i did , was looking for a 60 liter and bought a 8 ft tank instead  :yikes: (winter project now )
There's that thing with men and size again....and I notice, like most chaps, no self-control :rotfl:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: chris213 on June 03, 2014, 01:11:02 PM
its all ebays fault the buy it now button looks to tempting  :vcross:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: dbaggie on June 03, 2014, 01:12:37 PM
I already have a bad case of MTS and have been looking at Juwel 190 corner tanks (has to go in the corner the biOrb is currently in)....  Haven't dared broach the subject with hubby yet  ::) 

Keep an eye out on Gumtree as well - I saw a Trigon 190 near me recently at Ł50, although it did need a thorough clean and a filter.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Resa on June 03, 2014, 01:13:11 PM


Sorry chaps - I'm giving away all our manly secrets here. :-
Oh Colin, bless you....such an innocent O:-) Do you REALLY think we don't know all your secrets???  ;)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Digs1923 on June 03, 2014, 01:15:35 PM
Hubby is guilty as charged, Resa  ;D  (Poor Colin - he really is deluded isn't he  ::) )

And you're right Colin about him owing me big time....  but it will definitely be a case of "softly softly catchee monkey"  :D  After 39 years married  :yikes:  I can play him like a fiddle, hehe.

Don't worry Chris - I'm restricted to space so definitely wouldn't bid for an 8'.  Just a 190 litre..... or maybe a 350  ;)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on June 03, 2014, 01:19:37 PM
Oh! That might explain a few things then. "Yes dear". *sigh*
Title: Saying Hi
Post by: sideing on June 28, 2014, 06:12:01 PM
I have a tropical tank 70 litres
 4 fish swimming about
 1xzebra danio
 1x longfinned danio
  2x swordtails
 Started in may so very new to what I see as a very rewarding hobby
  Not sure of sex of danios, anyone help please as to how I tell?
  speak soon bye for now
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on June 29, 2014, 03:50:20 PM
Female zebra danios are less colourful and have rounder bellies than males. Unfortunately, this means you need to see males and females side by side to ell the difference. If both yours are the same sex, you won't be able to say which one.

And on the subject of danios-
If you did a fish-in cycle, once the water conditions are stable, you need to get more danios. They should be in a group of at least 6. You can get sort finned, long finned or even leopard danios which are the same speices just a selectively bred colour morph.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: sideing on June 30, 2014, 08:51:30 PM
 :wave:
 hi sue
 thanks for the info, could not find your reply till now,sorry for delay.
 Hopefully get use to navigateing site soon.
  bye for now
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: steve j on July 04, 2014, 03:10:43 PM
Hello everyone my name is Steve, I have just started keeping fish again after 25 odd years just turned 60.My things have changed. I've bought a complete setup(this might be a mistake as I had to rewire all the electrics & then find out the tubes are 23" hard to find i`ll use everything till it fails) it`s 120 ltr  3ft quite a lot of artificial plants (i've never had much success with live plants) and some java fern. i`m changing to external filter the 1 i've got is too bulky, setup has been ok! for 3wks & i have.
6 danios.
4 koolie (banded)
1 RTB shark
1 pearl gourami(1 died stress i think also had 6 koolies)
 2 bristle plecs (just added today)

I desperately want a big shoal of cardinals (but know not yet!) I also like kribs,& corys, if anybody has any suggestions re: stocking levels, would be appreciated.

thanks

s johnson     
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on July 04, 2014, 03:28:48 PM
Hi Steve, welcome  :wave:

Things have changed quite a bit in 25 years. They've changed since I started 17-ish years ago. And it looks like I'm a tad older than you as I'll turn 61 over the weekend  ;)

As far as stocking goes, you need to be aware that rtbs need a 4ft tank, but other than that the fish are fine for a 3ft tank.
Have you found the community creator yet? Click on fish profiles in the menu at the top of the page, then click on any fish and scroll to the bottom of the page. Then just fill in your tank details and add fish from the profiles. If you want to save your tank you will need to register and log in separately from the forum - and it uses email address not forum user name. It also has the habit of logging you out after quite a short time, just to warn you!


When you get the new filter, the best way to set it up is to use all the media from the current filter and add the media that comes with the external to fill in the gaps. That way you'll preserve all the bacteria in the old media.
However, I should ask - did you cycle the filter before getting fish? That is probably the biggest change in the last 25 years. We now know that it is safer for the fish if the tank is cycled with ammonia solution before fish go in the tank. If you used the old method of fish-in cycling, you need to keep an eye on your ammonia and nitrite levels; they are both toxic to fish above 0.25pp-ish.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on July 04, 2014, 03:42:18 PM
Hello Steve, and welcome to the forum.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: cavorite on July 22, 2014, 04:23:26 AM
Hello everbody what a great site had only just stumbled upon it.
Used to keep fish a long time ago in Tewkesbury, now I am in Melbourne Australia.
Just aquired a little tank 35 litre (can't convert it in my head to gallons which is the proper measurement)
My dad used to keep tanks in the celler when he married mom so I got a few tips from him, I like the one where he used marbles so the live bearing fish could not get at their young.
Doesn,t time just fly by I,m coming up to 58 years, it,s getting faster and faster.

I think I,m on the right thread here, let me knoew if not.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: chris213 on July 22, 2014, 07:29:50 AM
hi cavorite welcome to the forum  :wave: 

litre are fine with me , i get headache with all that gallon conversions  :rotfl:
 :yikes:   tewkesbury to melbourne that was only a short move then just down the street  :rotfl:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on July 22, 2014, 05:14:33 PM
Hello Cavorite, and welcome to the forum.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: lmc on August 03, 2014, 10:38:52 PM
Hello, I'm in Bolton, had a beautiful big tropical aquarium, nicely established, until we moved to a house with nowhere to put it! Rehomed it but have missed fish keeping ever since.
So today i bought a small set up, to brighten up a corner in the kitchen, with light, filter and pump. But been reading up because it's been a few years! This is a great site, very informative
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: chris213 on August 04, 2014, 06:11:38 AM
hi lmc welcome to the forum  :wave:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: dbaggie on August 04, 2014, 07:15:41 AM
Hi lmc  :wave:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on August 04, 2014, 08:33:32 AM
Hello, and welcome to the forum.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: lmc on August 04, 2014, 09:47:03 AM
Thankyou :)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: bferg4 on August 14, 2014, 11:33:29 PM
Hi everyone, signed up today and looking forward to interacting and learning about fish keeping, fish and pretty much everything really :).

Billy
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: chris213 on August 15, 2014, 07:36:54 AM
hi bferg4
welcome to the forum , lots of interesting things to learn here. :wave:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on August 15, 2014, 07:50:43 AM
Hello Billy, and welcome to the forum.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Rich_D on August 15, 2014, 10:22:42 AM
Hi Billy and welcome to Thinkfish
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: dbaggie on August 16, 2014, 09:33:44 AM
Hi Billy  :wave:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Fiona on August 16, 2014, 02:40:56 PM
Hello and welcome :) This site has been a life saver for me, no problem is too big or small :)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Billy on August 21, 2014, 09:03:54 PM
Hello everyone
My name is steve. I had a 60 L tank for a year or so  and had some great advice on getting started . I have just taken on a 250L one to stop all the fish ending up in porcelain heaven. I think i will need a lot more advice and help. Thanks in advance
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: BlackLight94 on August 22, 2014, 01:08:08 PM
Hello all.  :wave: I am on the sunny north west coast of Lancashire and have only been 'into fish' since around March this year although I had wanted a tank for the best side of fifteen years before that. I have gone from owning a ridiculously small 'lifestyle' tank to something only slightly bigger at just over sixty litres but I have aspirations of one day owning something in the region of 120 litres or so. Nothing to ask so far but I'm sure that I will have soon  :)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Fiona on August 22, 2014, 01:20:30 PM
Heyas Blacklight  :wave:  you're in the right place, these guys are awesome at fishy problem solving
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: AndreaC on August 28, 2014, 03:52:30 AM
Hi everyone :) I've just moved to Perth, Australia from Auckland New Zealand where I had a beautiful 170 liter planted tank in which I had pearl gouramis, harlequins, panda cories, otos and a pair of german blue rams. I'm actually just starting out again with a 60 liter tank as that's the biggest I have room for at the moment :)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on August 28, 2014, 08:38:13 AM
Hello to both BlackLight and Andrea - you're both very welcome here.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: dbaggie on August 28, 2014, 08:19:29 PM
Hi Blacklight  :wave:

Hi Andrea  :wave:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Rich_D on August 29, 2014, 04:07:00 PM
Hi Steve/billy welcome to think fish ( like the name change confusion too lol)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Pitbull on August 30, 2014, 11:00:49 AM
Hi folks

New to the forum.  I kept fish for many years but being in the forces the turbulnt life and lots of moving means I gave up around 2002.  Now with me having settled and a house big enough to keep an aquarium, I rediscovered the hobby 12 month ago.

I live in a village called Dawley near Telford Shropshire and I have a Juwel Rio 125 tank in a tropical set up with a variety of social fish but my faves are my 3 Plecs which are great to watch along with my brood of zebras which are the cheeky monkeys of the tank

I am live planting the tank and starting to look at Co2 systems for their maintenance.

That is about it for my intro, look forward to some good discussions and help.

Kirk
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on August 30, 2014, 11:07:38 AM
Hi Pitbull, welcome to the forum  :wave:

I had a rio 125 till Jan when I upgraded to a 180 litre. Nice tanks.


Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on August 30, 2014, 02:22:30 PM
Hello and welcome, Pitbull.

Co-incidently, I was in both Wolverhampton and Telford last weekend, as well as a few other places.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Diz1 on August 30, 2014, 03:13:50 PM
Hello Pitbull, and welcome to the forum. Out of interest, which type of plecos do you have?

 :wave:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Pitbull on August 30, 2014, 08:54:11 PM
Hi Diz,

I have 3 Dwarf Plecs which are just about full size now.  Very good at hiding and blend in with the wood and plants very well
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on August 30, 2014, 09:00:44 PM
There are hundreds of plecs, a lot of which could be called dwarf. And some that the shops describe as dwarf but aren't.
With your user name, they could even be pitbull plecs  ;) Those are dwarf at 5cm adult size......
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Diz1 on August 30, 2014, 09:39:56 PM
I fancy trying a plec myself in my 180 Juwel Rio, but they're really messy, so it puts me off a bit. They are lovely to look at though! :)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: chris213 on August 31, 2014, 07:30:14 AM
hi pitbull welcome to the forum  :wave:


i have a golden nugget pleco still a baby at the moment but he isnt that messy no were near as messy as my snakeskin gourmai , only real disadvantage to him is he is nocturnal (which i knew before purchase ) so in the day time he curls up in his den and chills out but because of that is feels that little bit more special when you do see him out and about.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Richard W on August 31, 2014, 07:33:07 AM
I inherited a pair of "golden" (= albino) bristlenose plecs with a second hand tank, not my choice therefore, but I haven't found them at all messy. They are in a well stocked 120 litre tank. All of my tanks are densely planted and have lots of snails and I never have to vacuum the substrate. The plecs do a very good job of algae control, with algae wafers to supplement their diet.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Diz1 on August 31, 2014, 07:36:06 AM
That's very interesting Richard, I do like the BNs myself. I also like the look of the golden nugget plec, but I think it would grow too big for my 180 litres. :)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Pitbull on September 01, 2014, 06:16:30 AM
There are hundreds of plecs, a lot of which could be called dwarf. And some that the shops describe as dwarf but aren't.
With your user name, they could even be pitbull plecs  ;) Those are dwarf at 5cm adult size......

Yes agree sometimes cats and plecs get called various names.  The species I have is the same as that listed under Dwarf/clown on this forums main website

http://www.thinkfish.co.uk/fish/dwarf-clown-plec.html

Mine are around 8 cm now.

Kirk
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Tim_b65 on September 01, 2014, 11:46:31 AM
Have just joined this forum for advice and try and re sett up my vision 450 and running internal filter but have an fx5 external filter to set up, just running empty at moment to keep filters going and water moving
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on September 01, 2014, 11:56:52 AM
Hello Tim, and welcome to the forum.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Tim_b65 on September 01, 2014, 12:09:17 PM
thank you. hope to be posting photos as tank develops
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Mirage on September 09, 2014, 07:40:43 PM
Hi, my name is Phil and I'm totally new to the world of fish.
I have recently purchased a jewel rio 125 and with the help of my 3 yr old daught I am in the process of building from the bottom up, arranging gravel and ornaments in the tank and getting the filter and heater working through.
I'm sure I'll be asking loads of questions when the time comes to add a couple of fish,

Cheers

Phil.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on September 09, 2014, 07:52:16 PM
Hi Phil, welcome to the forum  :wave:

Have you read up on fishless cycling yet? The method is here (http://www.thinkfish.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,483.0.html). It's far easier than using fish to cycle, which needs lots of water changes; and when it's complete you can get most of your fish wish-list at once  ;D
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Mirage on September 09, 2014, 08:07:05 PM
Hi sue, the tank is actually second hand from a friend I've added new gravel but the filter medium is what she had, I don't know if that's a good thing or not to be honest ? I'm hoping good
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on September 09, 2014, 08:48:43 PM
If the filter media has been kept at least damp, in other words hasn't been allowed to get really dry, there should still be some bacteria alive on it. The way to test it is to add some ammonia to get 3ppm and see if it has all gone 24 hours later, together with a zero reading for nitrite. If both are zero, you are fine to get fish. If one or both are not zero, you don't have enough bacteria for a tankful of fish but depending on how much ammonia is left and whether there is any nitrite present, you could be OK for a few fish and build up slowly. But if there are no signs of a fall in ammonia coupled with zero nitrite, that would mean there were no viable bacteria on the media and you'd have to start from scratch with cycling.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on September 10, 2014, 07:54:05 AM
Welcome to the forum, Phil. We like photos.... hint, hint  :))
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: lady Dee on September 26, 2014, 02:09:51 AM
Hi  my name is dee i love fish keeping it is my only hobbie that i have i would to have some  fish chat or fish tweets @lynn8248.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on September 26, 2014, 08:03:36 AM
Hello Dee, and welcome to the forum. Why don't you tell us a bit about the tank and fish you have.... and perhaps even post up a photo. We love photos on here!
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Mad_BMS on September 29, 2014, 04:30:34 PM
Hi All

I have just come back to fishkeeping after a 35 year or so gap. Starting up with a rather large tank and my first 7 fish - rummy nosed tetras (see attachments). I have now retired from a career in NHS laboratories and am an avid bird or maybe better to say nature watcher/amateur photographer now adding this hobby to join these other interests. In my teens to late 20's I kept a community tank with a main interest in breeding swordtails though I also successfully bred Siamese fighters then as well.It seems to have become much more scientific than I remember from then though I was probably testing the water then as well.
Anyway joining forum to pick up on all I have forgotten and hopefully enjoy aquarium again.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on September 29, 2014, 04:40:41 PM
Hello, and welcome. That's a good lookin' tank you've got there..... what are your plans for future additions?
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: chris213 on September 29, 2014, 04:47:46 PM
hi there  :wave:
wow stunning looking tank, cant wait to see it develop
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: dbaggie on September 29, 2014, 05:21:20 PM
Hi BMS & welcome to the forum  :wave:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Rich_D on September 29, 2014, 08:04:11 PM
Hi Lady Dee and Mad_BMS welcome to the forum!

That's a lovely tank you have there Mad_BMS
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: dbaggie on September 29, 2014, 08:17:37 PM
Hi Lady Dee and Mad_BMS welcome to the forum!

Oh yes, and Lady Dee as well - missed that post!  :wave:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: CluckieT on September 30, 2014, 10:12:00 PM

Hi all, I have just registered so thought I would introduce myself  :)
Having kept goldfish as a kid I had always wanted a tropical tank and finally got one a month ago yeay!
I am looking forward to getting advice on everything as I now know that I know nothing, there is soooo much to learn and I'm now glad I'm an avid reader.  :fishy1:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Rich_D on September 30, 2014, 10:51:55 PM
Welcome CluckieT were a knowledgable bunch but you're always learning when keeping fish no matter how long you've  been keeping them!
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: chris213 on October 01, 2014, 07:29:11 AM
welcome cluckie enjoy the forum  :cheers:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Jillypud on October 01, 2014, 08:15:51 PM
Hi All  :wave:
Joined the site several months ago, but only just getting round to posting.

Fairly new to fish keeping, having set up my first Tank in January. I have a 125l tank, stocked with 5 orange finned danios, 6 cardinals, 5 cherry barbs, 2 yoyo loach (rescued from a way too small 30l tank which we were given) and 5 panda corydoras.  I spend far too much time just sitting and watching the fish swim about, it's more interesting than anything on TV most of the time TBH!
I also have a 30l tank that we were given, it came totally over stocked and was in pretty poor state, it was a wonder that the fish were alive! It currently has 3 pygmy corydoras and 1 penguin tetra, inherited with the tank. The smaller tank is my sons really and it is the intention, eventually to stock if with Galaxy Rasboras.

Looking forward to exchanges tips etc with you all

Jilly x

 :fishy1:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Resa on October 02, 2014, 12:12:15 AM
Hi Cluckie :wave:
Welcome to the forum!
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Resa on October 02, 2014, 12:14:10 AM
Hi Jilly :wave:

Welcome....and can we have some piccies please....some people on here are REALLY nosey :rotfl:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Rich_D on October 02, 2014, 12:30:11 AM
Hi Jilly pud the tanks sound very nice and I love the look of Galaxy rasboras! But they are too small for my tank.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: dbaggie on October 02, 2014, 08:08:36 AM
Hi Cluckie, Hi Jilly - welcome to the forum  :wave:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Mad_BMS on October 02, 2014, 09:04:11 AM
Thanks all for comments and the welcome.
I am really pleased with tank as is my wife from a furniture viewpoint but she is rapidly becoming interested in the fish as well. Linda would like to get 'red' fish so have been looking at platies as next addition as the bog wood desperately needs some algae eaters. Colin I noticed you have 5 clown loach a friend suggested I get 2 but when I put it into 'my tank' on the site it suggested they were too big for this tank and to be kept with the rummy's. What do you think?
Thanks
Tom
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on October 02, 2014, 09:09:19 AM
Hello Chuckie and Jilly - good to have you around.

....and BMS, I don't have any clown loaches (there's another Colin on here - it may be him) but this site's profiles say 120cm tank for them.... they can get up to 20cm and they like to be in groups so they need room.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Mad_BMS on October 02, 2014, 09:17:57 AM
sorry Colin was the reply below you Chris213 had the loaches thanks
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on October 02, 2014, 10:11:27 AM
sorry Colin was the reply below you Chris213 had the loaches thanks

No probs!
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: chris213 on October 02, 2014, 06:37:16 PM
clown fish are a very social fish and better kept in slightly larger numbers when i first had mine i suffered a few losses and droped down to just two and i could see that they wasnt happy so purchased another 3 and they soon were all playing about happily causeing trouble together , clowns are a wonderful fish to own but are better in larger numbers so give it alot of thort before purchasing - mine are in with small fish and ammano shrimp and there not bothered by the smaller things in the tank mostly just pass them bye but they can play little games from time to time there a very cheeky fish when in the mood
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Mad_BMS on October 04, 2014, 11:11:19 AM
Hi Chris that is more or less what friend said except numbers he only has 2 in a tank smaller than mine. Will think about it just now but really still studying options. Thanks for replying.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Jillypud on October 08, 2014, 10:51:58 PM
Hi Jilly :wave:

Welcome....and can we have some piccies please....some people on here are REALLY nosey :rotfl:

Thanks for the welcome guys.

Resa, I'll see what I can do. Assuming I can work out how to upload pics to here!  ???
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Resa on October 09, 2014, 01:45:31 AM


Resa, I'll see what I can do. Assuming I can work out how to upload pics to here!  ???

It's not for me, you understand.....it's all the others that are just SO-OOO nosey :rotfl:
Title: Like a Fish out of Water Newbie
Post by: ellen on October 12, 2014, 01:18:11 PM
Hello everyone!  I'm very new to fish keeping (and it shows :-[).  We started a 38L freshwater tropical tank 2 1/2 months ago.  To date, things have been ok (I think), but we've realised that the way we've started is SO WRONG.  It's now a matter of doing what we can to learn what to do to avoid harming / losing any fish during the cycle :-\. We were guided by the fish shop to introduce 4 red balloon platys on day 12, who checked our water and said we'd cycled?? (we planned for all girls but definitely have 1 boy, possibly 2!), followed by 2 blue girl wagtail platys in week 6, and 2 female calico sunset platys in week 9.  They are beautiful and I so want to make sure they're ok. Water readings are mostly checked daily (with API master liquid kit) and have been fairly stable throughout - Ammonia 0-0.25 (I've never seen it rise above 0.25 and the colour always seems to be somewhere in between the '0' yellow and '0.25' pale green), No2 - 0, No3 -30-40ppm (try to lower this without drastic water changes, and realised our tap water is around 50+ about 6 weeks ago, so have been using bottle water since), KH - 6- 8 (trying to keep at 8 with remineralise in W/Cs but drops down again), pH - 8 - 8.2.  I doubt the tank has cycled, and this makes me very nervous.  I do 10-15% W/Cs once or twice a week (depending on readings) with tap safe and remineralise.  We started with live plants, but I took them out last week, and replaced with artificial ones, as a lot of brown algae started forming on them, and the plants were breaking down quite a bit.  I was worried about keeping the plants in there in case they caused a problem with the water quality (perhaps something to go back to when I'm better versed in the subject?).  I rinsed out the filter, last week, for the first time (in old tank water & didn't change anything), and did a partial gravel clean with a small syphon the week before that, but wary of doing too much at once, so took it easy.  I stated using API stress zyme in the last two WCs also.  So, all in all, the fish seem happy (maybe not so much with the plastic plants - I've just ordered some silk ones which I hope will be softer and nicer for them?).  One concern has arisen just this morning - one of my calico sunset platys has closed her top fin and seems a bit jaded.  Then she seems to 'snap out of it' for a while.  I understand this is stress?  I'm going to read up a bit more on this, as i see a few threads about this on this site.  Sorry for the long introduction! :-X
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Resa on October 12, 2014, 02:42:03 PM
Hi Ellen :wave:
Welcome to the forum....you're in safe hands here :)
Don't blame yourself for how you've set your tank up, the obvious conclusion would be that you can trust a fish shop to know what they are talking about, but sad to say, most of them are only interested in selling you stuff, and often don't know about, or agree with, fishless cycling....why should they care if your fish die, you'll just go and buy some more :(
Anyway, don't panic, have a read through of Sue's cycling methods, (you will now be doing a fish-in cycle). She explains it all very clearly, and will probably pop along later and advise you how to move forward from here.
It all seems very confusing and scary to start with for a hobby that most people go in to for the relaxation ( :-\) but honestly, it gets better and when your tank is all done and happy, with all your little fishies whizzing about merrily, you'll realise that it was all worth it.
Good luck and remember, support, advice and sometimes some good natured ribbing are just a post away...at all hours of the day and night ;)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on October 12, 2014, 03:00:08 PM
Hi ellen, welcome to the forum  :wave:

We've all been there at some point. Shops are not the best places for advice, as you have found.

How many platies do you have now? And what's the male/female ratio? From your intro, I make it 8 in total with one, possibly 2 males.

It does seem odd that you haven't seen a very high reading for ammonia. The usual thing is for the ammonia to get very high, often off the top of the scale. Can I just check that you are adding reagents from both bottles for the ammonia test? I don't mean to insult you but it is worth checking every possibility  ;) Brown algae is diatoms which are common in new tanks as the result of a lot of ammonia in the water, which is at odds with your readings.
8 platies is a lot for 38 litres, even 4 for the first few weeks is a lot for fish-in cycling and I would have expected higher ammonia and nitrite, though you say you have been doing drastic water changes which would have kept them low.

Clamped fins is a sign of stress. But as this fish is female, she could be about to give birth. Have you had any fry at all since you got the first platies? Though they might all have been eaten so perhaps I should ask, have you noticed any females suddenly looking thinner?

You mention having done a partial gravel clean - with that many fish that poo as much as platies do I would clean all the gravel every week. There will be some bacteria on the gravel but unless it is very deep, you shouldn't churn it up enough to bury all the bacteria in the top layers of gravel.
Washing the filter media (the stuff inside it) in tank water was the right thing to do. It's tapwater that can do damage to the bacteria colonies. As long as you aren't so rough that you dislodge the biofilm on the media, washing it is quite safe, and a good idea. The slimeyness on the surface of the media isn't biofilm, you can wash that off.

API stress zyme is supposed to break down sludge. But regular, thorough cleaning of that tank will do that too  :)

So from here -
keep up the water changes and weekly gravel cleans.
Keep checking the ammonia and nitrite levels, and do a water change is you see a reading for either approaching 0.25. Once the readings stay at zero without having to do any water changes, you can start doing weekly water changes. With your stocking, I'd suggest around 30 to 35% a week.
Keep an eye on the platy you are concerned about. It could be she is about to drop fry or it could be a health issue. The calicos were the last ones in so she shouldn't have been through the worst of the cycle.
And regarding fry, don't try to save any. With 6 or 7 females in the tank each dropping a couple of dozen fry (probably more) every month, the fish population will get out of control if you try to save any.




I'll leave the plant question to someone else. After 18 years of fish keeping, it is only this year that have finally replaced all my fake plants with live ones, and easy live ones at that.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: chris213 on October 12, 2014, 03:17:18 PM
hi ellen welcome to the forum  :wave:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ellen on October 12, 2014, 06:02:18 PM
Hello Sue, many thanks for your advice and time.  Yes, we were unclear about stocking limits for our tank (you won't be surprised we were initially told to build up to 20 platys!!).  Needless to say, we won't be taking that piece of advice, and we've definitely stopped now.  You counted right at 8 (6 girls, 1 definite boy, and 1 undecided but think male).  I've been concerned about the ammonia readings not showing above 0.25 (in terms of expecting it to, and why it hasn't before now).  I've been using two separate ammonia kits (both API liquid) just in case one was giving false readings (I'm using both reagents - bottle 1 x 8 drops & bottle 2 x 8 drops and shake :D).  I will step up the WC to 30-35% and do gravel cleaning once a week - thank you, I was just a bit scared of overdoing it.  On the pregnancy front - I've been watching for any changes in the girls, and to be honest, I can't say I've noticed any suddenly looking slimmer, but one of the red balloons is looking a little more rounded underneath - I find it quite tricky to tell with the balloons' shape, but I try to check them from above too, when feeding them, for any body shape changes - I'll keep watching.  As for the calico with closed fin - she doesn't look obviously pregnant (but I'm not sure I can tell yet).  She's still dipping in and out of having spurts of 'social activity' with the others.  She comes out from a rock arch, with fin up  :), mingles around with the others for a bit, before that fin goes back down, and then slopes back under the rock :(.  I wonder if the male, who's chasing all the girls, a lot of the time, has given her a hard time over the last couple of days, or perhaps as we're overstocked, she's finding it a bit too busy?  Oh dear  :vcross:

Thank you Sue, I'll get reading up on platy pregnancy/illness, step up the WC amounts and frequency of gravel cleaning, and hope we haven't done these beautiful fish a huge disservice!  :wave: 
   
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ellen on October 12, 2014, 06:11:04 PM
 :wave:  Hello Chris!  Thank you all for the warm welcome  :)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on October 12, 2014, 06:59:35 PM
Livebearer females usually look more or less square when viewed from the side when they are about to give birth. Sort of \_/ shape. When endler females are about to give birth, they get grumpy with any fish that go near, they go off by themselves, go off their food and sort of pant for breath. I don't know if platy females show the same signs but those are things to look for.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on October 13, 2014, 08:03:06 AM
Hi Ellen - and welcome to the forum.

I started out with platies..... and lost quite a few in the first six months, I'm afraid. They've been heavily bred for their lovely colours so their immune system is quite weak and they seem fragile to start with. However; once past the first few months they seem to settle and Crumble the Platy is approaching his 3rd birthday now.

If you can (I know you're after plastic plants) then give lots of places for platies to hide behind and break up lines of sight. These can be anything from terracotta plant-pots to plastic fairy castles (sorry Richard!) as well as plants.

If you're anything like the rest of us (except your avatar seems to show you as reasonably normal :) ) then you'll be after a bigger tank within the next six months anyway!

p.s. Platies are fine in hard water with high pH, so don't worry about the bottled water thing. I live in a hard water area and keep barbs and tetras (in a different tank to Crumble and the 2 guppies) so I dilute my tap water 50:50 with either rain water or Reverse Osmosis water I buy from my Local Fish Shop for Ł1.40 per 10litres. Cheaper than bottled water - which has a load of minerals in it. My tap water also has 40ppm+ nitrates in it (50ppm is the legal limit), so it helps to halve that too.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ellen on October 13, 2014, 09:08:30 AM
Hello Colin  :wave:  Thank you very much for your message & advice.  I've just captured a picture of the fish I'm worried about, in response to Sue's note below, to see if she looked pregnant (I don't think she is unfortunately).  I just can't upload them yet, as the files are too big, so I'll try and reduce them enough to post them when I get back from work today.  I isolated her, within the tank, last night because I was a bit worried some of the other fish were being too inquisitive (she stuck herself between a rock at the side of the tank for a while yesterday evening), but came up to the top, almost as normal, when I opened the lid.  She seemed fine this morning, too, so I released her back.  After a few mins of swimming about (see group photo!), she's hidden under the rock bridge.  The tank looks more bare than it did with real plants, so I'm hoping the ones I've ordered will be here today/tomorrow to break up the line of sight again.  I just wish I could do something for her but I guess it's, as you say, going to happen.  :(.  This only started yesterday morning - I don't suppose immune boosting medication helps, does it?  As for being 'normal', and bigger tanks... We had no idea how 'small' the tank we bought was, for keeping fish, so we're definitely going to upgrade ;D 
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on October 13, 2014, 09:28:49 AM
If you use a photo-hosting site (say Picasa or Photobucket) you can just post the link to that photo's URL. This means no resizing's necessary and you can embed the photo anywhere you want in your text.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Rich_D on October 13, 2014, 08:08:14 PM
Hi Ellen welcome to the forum! Hope your plate survives, but if it doesn't dont blame yourself, bad advice coupled with platies not being that tough anymore has contributed far more than anything you've done!
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: lynda51 on October 19, 2014, 07:15:00 PM
Hi - I'm totally new to fish keeping!

It was my hubby's idea to keepfish as he wanted a new hobby ...but guess who's done all the research, set up the tank, chosen our first fish,  etc...yes me!
I've learnt a lot from this site so THANK YOU!

We currently have a Juwel Rio 800 tank with a juwel bio super filter / heater.
So far we have 4 corydoras, 5 black phantom tetras, 2 female platies, and a bristlenose plec (male) who we call Molly!
We hope to introduce some cardinal tetras at somepoint in the coming months...

My husband has just bought a 60cm / 57 litre tank which he wants to set up in his computer room.

We've also been given a 90 cm / 110 litre tank which, depending on how we get on with keeping our current community of  fish, I might decide to put in our bedroom sometime next year!

This site has been a great help to me, along with a vast supply of library books!
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on October 19, 2014, 07:29:10 PM
Glad we could all be of help. It sounds like you have multiple tank syndrome already  ;D
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: lynda51 on October 19, 2014, 07:34:46 PM
thanks Sue ...yes ...why didn't people warn me that fish keeping was addictive???
 :fishy1:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on October 20, 2014, 09:59:00 AM
Hello, and welcome to the forum, Lynda.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Rich_D on October 20, 2014, 08:00:39 PM
Instead of multiple tank syndrome I just keep buying bigger tanks and storing the old ones till we move house lol, welcome to the Forum Lynda
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: dbaggie on October 20, 2014, 08:04:20 PM
Hi Lynda  :wave:

Instead of multiple tank syndrome I just keep buying bigger tanks and storing the old ones till we move house lol, welcome to the Forum Lynda

So you have THS - Tank Hoarding Syndrome??  :o
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Rich_D on October 20, 2014, 08:23:06 PM
Hi Lynda  :wave:

Instead of multiple tank syndrome I just keep buying bigger tanks and storing the old ones till we move house lol, welcome to the Forum Lynda

So you have THS - Tank Hoarding Syndrome??  :o

If you've got to put a name to it then yeah lol. Until we move house then I'll probably have enough for a tank in each room almost
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: gaynor crawte on October 20, 2014, 08:47:10 PM
Hello all, my name is Gaynor. an amateur tropical fish owner but not a complete novice.  Looking forward to hearing from people and reading up on various subjects
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: dbaggie on October 20, 2014, 09:18:10 PM
Hi Gaynor, welcome to the forum :wave:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on October 20, 2014, 09:18:44 PM
And hi from me too  :wave:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Resa on October 20, 2014, 11:09:31 PM
...and me :wave:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on October 21, 2014, 07:53:11 AM
...me too! :wave:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Rich_D on October 21, 2014, 09:51:17 PM
And me three  :cheers: :cheers: :fishy1: :fishy1: :fishy1:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Fiona on October 22, 2014, 03:46:43 PM
and from me also   :wave:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: jnw100207 on November 13, 2014, 04:30:10 PM
Hi ya
We're newbies too. We managed to get a 60 litre Hexaset II tank for Ł20. Cost a lot more so far!!! LOL. We got it for our 30 month old twin girls cos they absolutely go mad over fish, especially colourful ones. Tank cycled, we have just started stocking it. So far, 10 Malaysian Trumpet Snails and 2 totally cute and adorable Borneo Suckers. We have a list of fish we'd still like to get, but if anyone here has some recommendations as to what to get - please feel free to chip in. We've also got some Cherry Red Shrimps coming.
Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions provided.
Cheers
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on November 13, 2014, 04:45:08 PM
Hi, welcome  :wave:

Interesting looking tank, and seeing the prices on-line you did get a bargain!

With it being a tall thin tank, you need to stick with small fish and/or slow swimming fish. A lot of small fish zoom around and need a fair bit of swimming room.

The best thing you can do is look at Seriously Fish (http://www.seriouslyfish.com/knowledge-base/) as that site does give the tank size needed - start off with your wish list. It would also help to know the hardness of your water. Your water company's website should have it somewhere (some of them do make it hard to find  :-\ )

However, given that you already have borneo suckers (are they one of the Beaufortia species?) you need to look at fish that need slightly cooler temperatures and high water flow.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Diz1 on November 13, 2014, 04:48:06 PM
Hi, welcome to the forum  :wave:
Here you'll find loads of advice and lots of requests to see your fishy pictures!
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Devilish Accord on November 20, 2014, 10:07:12 PM
Hey folks,

Been lurking for some time, thought it was about time to say hi.  I've been a fishkeeper since Feb 2012, though I think they are keeping me to be honest.  I had a 64cm 'FishBox' (horrible thing) until the summer of 2013 and moved into my current 100cm Roma 200.

Current layout (attached) has been up since about the end of August this year.  Got rid of live plants and a dirt base... too much trouble, so I've gone for simple (albeit a little minimalist at the moment).

Vietnamese White Cloud Mountain Minnows, Panda Corys, Glowlight Tetra, Glowlight Danio, Penguin Tetra, Black Neon Tetra, Cherry Barb, Amano Shrimp, Assassin Snails and the usual pesky Pond Snails too.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: aga666 on November 24, 2014, 12:24:22 PM
hello. I am new to the forum, hopefully I will find some people to talk to... I have for 360 lites tanganika cichlids tank . there is my tank- Thanks  Aga
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Bryan C on November 28, 2014, 12:10:33 AM
Hello, thank you for making me welcome. I have read through a good deal of the posts on the site but felt that, to get the most out of the forum, I should join in.
As time goes on I hope to use the forum for all of the great info and experience that I have seen from the members and hopefully add some of my own thoughts once I have them from re starting the Tropical fishkeeping hobby a few years away.
Bryan
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: naughtymoose on November 28, 2014, 09:22:59 AM
Hello new fishy friend! :fishy1:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: MikeAqua on December 19, 2014, 02:48:27 AM
Hello I thought I would introduce myself and my fish tank to this forum.
I had been thinking about having an aquarium for a few years now, so with my wife’s go ahead, I bought a 30l tank. This was always going to be a starter tank for me, to see if I could cope with all the pressures, as it turns out.
I bought the tank a few days earlier and had put water in it with added ‘Aqua safe’ and heated the water to around 23 degrees, although the weather was really good so the heater did not switch on much. The filter was also running.
I visited a local fish shop for advice. I told them the size of my tank and with their guidance we chose our fish. I had 8 neon Tetras and 4 Otto’s. Picked my substrate a few plants and went home with them.
I added all the fish, carefully, as told. Everything looked fine. They settled in very quickly. The fish were not fed on the first day, but I did on the second day and they all ate something.
My problems started on day 3. One of the smaller Tetra had died. I thought it may have been down to the shock of moving from the shop tank to mine. The next day I had 2 more deaths, one Otto and one Tetra. This was now worrying. So I searched on the internet for help, as the shop was not open. During my trawling I found Thinkfish. I read the article on cycling tanks. Was amazed by its contents and decided to follow it.
Starting with a 50% water change and ordering a test kit, I lost one more Otto and Tetra the next day. So I carried on with water changes. My test kit arrived 2 days later. The first reading for ammonia was 2.0 ppm. Poor little sods! No wonder they were dying.
My cycling started on the 25th of July this year. I did a 25% water change every day, not always taking readings, but always did a WC. My ‘fish in ‘tank was cycled on the 24th of August. (3 days of ammonia 0 and nitrite 0). The 6 neon’s and 2 Otto’s were still alive. They had been through the tank cycling, tough little cookies!
Nowadays I do a 20% water change about every 10 days now. All readings are good. The fish look healthy and some of my plants are growing well. The light in the tank is only about 10 watts, so not good for plant growing, so I read on Tropicas website.
I’ve made a decision to go for a larger tank. I know that my tank is too small for the type and quantity of fish I have and I also like the idea of aquascaping, so a nice tank like the new fluval fresh aquarium would fit the bill. I put a post on here asking if anyone has one and could give me there experiences of the tank, but I’m almost certain that this will be the one early next year.
Well just to round up, I should have done more research online or in the library before I started. The fish shop was a load of rubbish, never going there again  :vcross:. I suppose they made their money! And I wanted to send my thanks to everyone on this website and forum for their help and advice. Just by reading your posts I have learnt so much, it’s been an eye opener for me.

I wish you all a Happy Christmas and thanks again for all your help.
Hopefully I can get a few pictures on here of the early and later days of my 30l tank.
I took a few over the last 6 months!!

Mike
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Resa on December 19, 2014, 03:09:38 AM
Hi Mike :wave:

I'm glad you found us! Fish shops generally, it seems, cannot be trusted to give proper advice...such a shame, 'cos the fish suffer and the owners feel bad. Never mind now though, you are in safe hands here. There are so many knowledgeable and friendly folk on this forum. Someone will have the answer to your every problem ;)
 A new, bigger tank is pretty much on everyones list almost as soon as they have cycled their first (usually too small) one, if not before ;D

It would be good to see your pictures....we love piccies here, 'cos we're all incredibly nosey :-[ So, looking forward to them.

Meanwhile though, I wish you a very happy Christmas and a trouble free, fishy 2015  :cheers:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: chris213 on December 19, 2014, 07:42:11 AM
hi mike welcome to the forum , it sounds like your well under way on a infections disease that takes hold of most of us fish keepers its called mts ( multiple tank syndrome ) , you start with one tank they buy a bigger one becuase you realise its to small but the smaller tank ends up being left running with some other fish in and so on  :rotfl:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on December 19, 2014, 08:19:44 AM
Hello Mike, and welcome to the forum. You're in very safe hands on this site...... mainly 'cos we've all made mistakes and have learnt from them and pass on what we've learnt. I see you've already learnt important lesson #1: fish shops often give rubbish advice.

....and we love piccies!
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Robert on December 19, 2014, 11:00:07 AM
Mike, love reading stories like this. They're a great bunch here, glad to hear you've had a positive experience!  :cheers:

Oh, and a big hi to all the other recent new members, hope you're all getting what you need and have a great Christmas!  :wave: :wave:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: nickyarthur on December 20, 2014, 03:54:47 PM
Hi everyone,
This forum has saved fish!
I'm very new to fish keeping, only about 6 weeks and through naivety and rubbish advice from the LFS on setting up a tank 7 fish died after 5 weeks!!
 That's how I found this great forum, through reading all your great advice I now have a proper water testing kit and after many 50% water changes I now have much happier fish phew  :)
I look forward to reading your great advice, I'm turning into a fish keeping geek :)
Nicky x
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on December 20, 2014, 04:03:06 PM
Hi Nicky, welcome to the forum  :wave:

Glad we could help  ;D
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on December 22, 2014, 09:54:08 AM
Welcome to the forum..... this is a good place to be!
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Tim_b65 on December 26, 2014, 07:54:33 PM
hi everyone,
been quiet for a while but helped me so much when restarting my tank.

still work in progress lol

12 scissor tails
8 green tiger barbs
3 pearl gourami
3 three spot gourami
6 clown loach
2 small bristle nose plecs

here few pics
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Aquamaid on December 26, 2014, 09:15:52 PM
Oooh beautiful colours tank and Barbs, well done you  :)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Tim_b65 on December 27, 2014, 05:21:40 PM
hi aquamaid,
just added 6 rosy barbs and 6 tinfoil for more colour, pics to follow when can get clear ones good enough to post online
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: steven on December 28, 2014, 05:02:28 PM
Hi all, haven't been on here for a while. Winter months are our Peak at work and I don't have much time for anything else.

My mom had fish. That was several years ago and I don't remember much about them, but for some reason I remember this giant plec she had (seemed giant when I was little). I remember being fascinated with it and watching it for hours.

Getting older and spending most of my time in the house, I mentioned to my wife I'd like to start keeping fish. Two years ago she bought me a 60 liter tank for Christmas. It was disaster after disaster. I read quite a bit about fish and tried to follow instructions but every fish I bought died within days. As it turned out the filter that came with the tank wasn't adequate. The shop she bought the tank from admitted they were getting a lot of complaints about the filter and offered to replace the fish I'd lost.

But I'd given up. It was too disheartening to wake up to a tank of dead fish over and over again.

A couple months later a friend offered me a 90 liter tank with an oversized external filter. He convinced me as long as I and add fish gradually, I wouldn't have a problem. I started with Western Rainbows and all went well, then added a golden gourami, which was a mistake. The gouami kept attacking my male rainbow and one morning I found it dead. That experience taught me to be careful of what species to mix. The same friend that gave me the tank took the gourami off me and eventually i added a small Angel and 6 albino corys.

All went well until the rainbows outgrew the tank then I started having problems.

I now have two tanks. The 90 and a 175 liter.

90 liter - 5 Platys, 4 Albino Corys. Soon to add a male and two female Dwarf gouramis.

175 liter - 8 Western Rainbows, 2 medium Angels, 2 small plecs and a recently added redtail shark.

If it wasn't from the advise I'd gotten here, I'd never had succeeded, so thank you all loads.

I still have a very low PH cause of soft water area, but as long as I keep changing 20% weekly the fish are okay with it.

Oh yeah, I also have two large Dogs. Sammy a cross between an Akita and Staffe, a big softy. And Rosie a resued ex racer Greyhound.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Aquamaid on December 28, 2014, 05:28:19 PM
Hi, Stephen, glad you seem to have got things sorted, i had to message you cos noticed you say you have Western Rainbows,(is that Australis?)  i'm looking to get some Rainbows, i want the Banded but they get really big, and the Western don't appear to be so large, are yours very colourful? and what size. Mm maybe you will post pics sometime, i'd love to see  :D
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: MikeAqua on December 31, 2014, 02:34:26 PM
Happy new Year  :cheers:
Thank you for making me welcome.

Here is a couple of pictures of my tank. I'm not a great picture taker, so sorry for the blurry fish and wrong lighting  ;D
The first picture is of my set up after 4 days
The second picture is of about 70 days.
Some of the plants grow ok under my lighting and feeding conditions. Others struggle. I suppose it saves me having to trim them every week ;D
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Aquamaid on December 31, 2014, 06:44:20 PM
Hi Mike, loving the blue background, it really makes things stand out  :)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Tim_b65 on February 25, 2015, 09:16:45 PM
just an update with a few pics, hope it in right place
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Aquamaid on February 26, 2015, 11:28:25 AM
Wow!, that's a beautiful looking tank  Tim :))
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Tim_b65 on February 26, 2015, 05:00:25 PM
Thanks Aquamaid, trying to find the culprit that pulling my plants up at moment and looking for second tank he he he, know which one but cant find at right price or other end of country as normally the case, am looking for another jewul but a rio 400 in black
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Anne on March 05, 2015, 10:13:45 PM
Hi  :wave:

Fish keeping is all very new to me, I decided to get a fish tank for Christmas as I needed a hobby.  It has been a steep learning curve since then with lots of conflicting advice from various sources.

Unfortunately I did not come across this site until after I had cycled my tank so am guilty of not doing a fishless cycle but have been an avid reader since finding it and hopefully a more responsible fish keeper.

Everyone seemed nice and friendly on the post I read so I decided to join - first time I've ever joined an online forum - my IT skills are slightly better than my fish keeping skills.

Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on March 06, 2015, 12:31:20 PM
Hi Anne, welcome  :wave:

It is an unfortunate fact of fishkeeping life that tank and filter instructions, and shops are not the  :-\best sources of information.


So now we all want to know - what tank do you have and what fish are in it  ;D
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Anne on March 06, 2015, 10:18:03 PM
Hi Sue

I have a Fluval 90 litre tank.  It's planted, has bog wood and stones and has a sand substrata - as I have cories.  Residents include the afore mentioned peppered cories (6) who haven't realised they are meant too bottom dwellers as they think the whole tank is theirs.  3 variatus platies (1M/2F) one of which is either very fat or pregnant and 4 amano shrimp who seem to prefer stealing the cories' pellets than eating algae. 

My tank is temperature and kept at about 20/21 degrees as I thought this might help to reduce the  risk of infections etc due to my beginner status but it does limit me in the choice of fish.

I am a bit of an anxious first time mother counting and checking when I feed them as I have thought they have had every ailment going ( well the ones mentioned on the forum) but so far they are all OK.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on March 07, 2015, 09:17:48 AM
Sounds a nice tank.
You'll find there are several species that will do well at that temperature. Fish like white cloud mountain minnows, glowlight danios etc.

Have you found the community creator on here yet? That will help you decide how many more fish would be OK in the tank.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Richard W on March 07, 2015, 09:28:56 AM
I've found Odessa and Checkered barbs to be very nice fish for my cool water tank, in with White cloud minnows, Zebra danios and Peppered corydoras. Odessas stay smaller than Checkered and perhaps more suitable for 90 litres.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Anne on March 07, 2015, 11:26:30 AM
I have had a play with the community creator and am thinking about my next additions which will be a small group of schooling fish so I will check out your suggestions.  My tank is only 60 cm so it does limit some of my choices.  Then that will be me fully stocked.

I have attached a photo it is more plants than fish but they are in there honest. :fishy1:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: m6rrd on June 07, 2015, 09:49:08 PM
Hi All! have just joined your lovely little website, have viewed some of the topics as a guest before joining and am very impressed by the general atmosphere and the help offered to new fishkeepers. it was refreshing to see and a welldone all round is richly deserved. My name is Richard, I'm just the lower side of 40 and have been keeping fish since I was 4 (albeit very limited at the time :-) I had m first proper glass tank 24"x12"x15" when I was 7, my uncle donated it to me when I won 2 goldfish at the local fair (called R2 and D2 lol) he told me that I could only have it if I cared for it completely, water changes, cleaning the filter beds with a gravel cleaner, feeding etc. At the time I thought........ OMG but he was teaching me the correct way. My Uncle (actually my great uncle) was an assistant editor on fleet street before he retired, he and my aunt moved back near to us, he used to write on the staff of PFK in the early to late 70's. I used to love visiting with them, he had 50 tanks spread about various outbuildings and the house, breeding just about everything you could care to imagine, everything I learnt, I learnt from him. reading articles nowdays his methods seem old and severly antiquated and sometimes downright wrong according to some genius or other but yet all those little fish all made babies! half the equipement we read about nowdays he had never had or did ever hear of, these newfangled "necessities" would be a mystery to him! I miss him dearly, he'd have something to say about it I'm sure. I left home joined the army and now work for a local authority's highways department, I fear I've forgotten most of what that dear man taught me but I've always had a tank, and its always been sucessful to varying degrees. Anyway enough of me, pleased to meet you all and I look forward to "speaking" to all of you.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on June 08, 2015, 10:44:37 AM
Hi, welcome to the forum  :wave:

Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Robert on June 08, 2015, 11:29:37 AM
What Sue said  :cheers:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: m6rrd on June 08, 2015, 08:40:00 PM
Thanks very much, and  :wave: back!  :)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: chriswhy1967 on July 28, 2015, 04:42:26 PM
Hello All
I am Chris from the Salford area, Girlfriend has sort of agreed to let me start up a tank again after 18 years or so, last tank I had to give up as I was never home to manage it (was always at the Girlfriends).
So with the area of the living room assigned (allowed) it seem I will be going with the Jewel Trigon 190 aquarium (Dark Wood) once some DIY jobs have been completed I can get the tank and cycle up etc, Great info on here and the fish less cycle seems worth the wait.
Still have time to think about the stock, so far my list is Banded Gourami -  Fiveband barb -  Dwarf Rainbowfish - White Cloud Mountain Minnow - Bulldog Catfish - Assassin Snail - Bleeding Heart Tetra

But will be open to ideas.

Look forward to the chats.

Regards
Chris
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on July 28, 2015, 04:51:46 PM
That sounds good  :)


The only comment I would make is that banded gourami aren't terribly common, and I've never actually seen a bulldog plec. Of course your local shops might have more choice than mine  ;D
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Cichlidman on October 07, 2015, 10:22:40 PM
Hello everybody.  Just wanted to introduce myself.  As my user name might suggest, I am interested in Cichlids and am slowly building up my aquariums.  Currently have 5 Honduran Redpoints, a few fry from some Convicts and intend getting some Bolivian Rams before too long. 

Have just returned to the UK after living abroad for a number of years during which time I was unable to keep any fish.  Things on the fishkeeping front seem to have changed quite a lot during the last 15 years and it seems I have a lot to  catch up on.

Nice to meet you all
Regards
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on October 08, 2015, 12:40:57 PM
Hi Cichlidman, welcome to the forum  :wave:

I've never kept HRPs or even convicts, but I have had bolivian rams in the past. I too love cichlids but tend toward the smaller ones such as apistos and my current nannacaras.

You do realise that we expect photos of your cichlids  ;D
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Elaine on October 25, 2015, 05:29:27 PM
hello there,just been reading through your site here,and thought it looked
a nice place to join and say hi to you all.  :)
so, hi i'm Elaine....nick name lainey...so feel free.
i have kept fish over the years,starting with fairground fish in the bowl,that the pingpong
landed in !......how wrong was that !
i have....an impaired memory  :o  (has it's advantages) so i might ask something that i should already know,
but i look stuff up usually before i bug people
umm anything else,just ask.
 :wave:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on October 25, 2015, 06:00:41 PM
Hi Elaine, welcome to the forum  :wave:

That's how I started keeping fish too, only in my case it was due to my sons' dart throwing abilities. They came home with 2 each  :o That was 19 years ago now.........

(And the elder son went on to be treasurer of the local pub darts league  ;D )
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Elaine on October 25, 2015, 06:24:31 PM
do i have to fill that little section out at the bottom of the page every time i write a post ?
my brother started around the same time i guess,he impressed us all with a 4ft tank,all lovely
and planted...and it's gone on from there.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on October 25, 2015, 06:28:27 PM
If you mean what I think you mean, you only have to fill that in for the first few times. As you can see from my post count that was a while ago for me and I can't remember that far back  :-\
It's to stop spam bots (in theory!)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Elaine on October 25, 2015, 06:33:36 PM
 ;D it's gone !  whoooohoooo i must be past the egg stage  :o
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Extreme_One on October 25, 2015, 07:02:50 PM
Welcome aboard Elaine.   :wave:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Anne on October 25, 2015, 07:24:05 PM
Hi Elaine,  :wave:

What fish do you have?

Anne
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Elaine on October 25, 2015, 08:15:37 PM
Hi simon and Anne
umm lets see now.....
neons ,tiger barbs,clown loaches,petricola synodontis (sp)platys,odessa barbs,red phantom tetra ?(actually
i don't think that's what they are but i can't remember)
cherry barbs,one witty surviver platy fry,pair of angels.one lonely cory. and a male jewel cichlid.
admittedly fake plants,along side amazon sword,anubis,soon in the post vallis and corkscrew vallis.
fluval 402 filter umm tank is rio 300.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: rk285 on October 25, 2015, 10:44:48 PM
Hello, I'm Beckie, been using the resources on here for awhile as a guest & decided to join properly! I've got a 200litre tank with live plants (no idea what sort), 4 clown loaches, 3 coolie loaches, 3 hill steam loaches, 9 platys & 9 male guppies.

To be honest, when I started out with this tank (6 or 7 years ago) I had no idea what I was doing! I've learnt by reading, trial & error and by looking at forums. There's a lot I would do differently if I was starting again, knowing what I know now!

Anyway, hello and thanks for all the knowledge I've already gleaned just from reading posts here! :)

Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Anne on October 25, 2015, 11:19:28 PM
Hi Becky  :wave:

Welcome to the site. 

Anne
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Extreme_One on October 26, 2015, 07:46:10 AM
Hello Beckie. Welcome aboard

I can certainly relate to the sentiment about doing things differently ... :)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Alex_N on October 26, 2015, 12:35:45 PM
I'm Alex if you hadn't guessed  :)
I have a 100L tank with 10 Penguin Tetras, a male kribensis and a lot of fry. Did have a pair as some of you are aware.
I found this site though searching for starting help for my tank, all your help and positive criticism has helped me and my tank out a lot.
I first got in to fish years ago with my dad having a huge guppy colony and helping him out. But never kept and cared for fish properly myself so I thought I would give it a go :)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: rk285 on October 27, 2015, 11:59:59 PM
Thanks for the welcome Anne & Simon  :wave:

Hello Alex too!

:)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: tracymeg on November 16, 2015, 08:31:12 AM
Hi all I'm Tracy and live in Bournemouth uk. Got my first tank just six months ago and followed up with a new one just a week later. Multiple tank syndrome hit me fast and hard.
Currently have 15 litre with ghost shrimp. And a sixty litre with four minnows and three platys. All doing well.

I remember my dad having a large set up when I was young that he actually bricked on and used as a tv cabinet. Must have been around 150l, wish I had the room. Used to have allsorts in there.

I've started off simple as I work random shifts and can't be home at regular times to feed, etc.
Thank you for allowing me to join. I have been viewing the forum for a while, so I hope to get involved.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on November 16, 2015, 10:30:21 AM
Hi Tracy, welcome to the forum  :wave:

Any photos of your set ups? We like photos  ;D
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Extreme_One on November 16, 2015, 03:40:09 PM
Welcome TraceyMeg. Hope you enjoy your time here.  :cheers:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: tracymeg on November 16, 2015, 08:50:25 PM
Will pop some photos up soon. Trying to fiddle with the kindle camera is a pain.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: kevrjones5253 on January 07, 2016, 04:00:38 PM
Hi all I was bought a fish tank  for Christmass and as it is over 20 years since I had a setup running I guess that there is a lot that
has changed and new and am hopeful that you can help with any problems I may have.
Yours kev
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on January 07, 2016, 04:11:03 PM
Hi Kev, welcome to the forum and back to fishkeeping  :wave:


The main thing that has changed in 20 years is cycling a tank. You'll still find lots of people who do it the 'old' way - add a few fish at a time and hope they don't die! We now have fishless cycling which is a lot easier, both for the fish keeper and the fish. Just in case you haven't found the method yet, it is here (http://www.thinkfish.co.uk/forums/index.php/topic,483.0.html)

There are also a lot more fish species in the shops than there used to be, so make sure you research any fish before buying. One of the best complete resources for info is Seriously Fish (http://www.seriouslyfish.com/knowledge-base/)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Barzers on January 08, 2016, 01:28:13 AM
Hi :wave:

I have kept fish a long time (20) but for the past 2 years I have taken a much bigger interest.

I have used this site for years but have only just registered.  I love sharing photo's of set ups and seeing other peoples pictures and getting idea's for my tanks. 
I bought a fluval vicenza 260ltr before christmas been setting it up for a few weeks now and going to introduce a few cardinal tetra's soon and go from there.  Look out for pics soon. 

I also have a Aquaone UFO 550 corner tank.  Had it for about 4 years.
Kind Regards
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Extreme_One on January 08, 2016, 07:55:14 AM
Welcome Kev and Barzers  :wave:  :cheers:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Pamela on January 11, 2016, 09:53:50 AM
Hello All :)

I've been using the site for a while for info but thought I'd pop in and ask a few questions - I've had a tank since I was a kid in a very un-researched trial and error kind of a way, having not had the funds or time to set up properly for a few years I've just got a new tank and excited  to be starting over properly.  :)

Pamela :)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Fiona on January 11, 2016, 11:51:31 AM
Hi Pamela and welcome. I found this place to be a life saver, quite  literally. If you need help just ask, somebody will give you an answer pretty quickly.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Spud on February 10, 2016, 09:36:55 AM
Hi sue everyone I am retired I have two tanks 1 metre long one has goldfish in the other has tropical fish in and when it warms up gold fish will go in my pond . I really like the web site so looking forward to joining in this hobby. As you can probably tell I do struggle with modern technology as a lot do but I get there in the end . Thanks for letting me join the forum .
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: fcmf on February 10, 2016, 10:36:48 AM
Hi Spud,

You're very welcome to the forum! I'm not retired but on a morning of annual leave today, so am uncharacteristically able to look at the forum this morning and so welcome you to our community. :)

I kept goldfish until recently, so glad to have another goldfish-keeper on here. Glad you like the website and hope you enjoy using the forum too.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Skittler on February 10, 2016, 10:38:55 AM
Hello Spud, 

Welcome to our happy band. The people on here are absolutely brilliant! Don't worry about the technology, I have learned so much since they decided to put up with me !! 

                                                     Skittler
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Extreme_One on February 10, 2016, 10:51:21 AM
Welcome Spud.  :wave:

The technology isn't too difficult to master once you've spent some time with it, but the tech isn't what's important, it's the people that share a common passion that's the important thing.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Grae on February 22, 2016, 11:56:33 AM
Hi

I've just joined today; already begun to appreciate the wealth of experience on these pages, thanks.  :cheers:

I think I'm going to need ongoing assistance as I'm intending to start a community of tropical fish for my family to enjoy and nurture. I live in Stafford, so we have some of the hardest water in the UK in our taps.  I don't want any catastrophes!

Haven't even got a tank yet, but we've agreed the location. I'd like a completely integrated system, with some real plants. We can go up to 80 x 40 x 40.

Peace and love
Grae
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on February 22, 2016, 12:40:47 PM
Hi Grae  :wave:

Are those inches or cm? And how hard is the water? Your water company's website should have that info on its website somewhere, but make a note of the unit they use as well as the number as there are several different ones they could use.

If it's inches, you could look at Rift Lake cichlids or some of the larger livebearers (swordtails, mollies); if it's cm look at fish like the smaller livebearers (guppies, endlers, platies) or maybe even one of the shell dwellers (small cichlids from Lake Tanganyika)
Depending just how hard the water is, there are also some shoaling fish that might be OK.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Extreme_One on February 22, 2016, 04:04:14 PM
Hi Grae,

Don't forget that you're not limited to using the water straight out the tap.

You could fit an RO (reverse osmosis) unit which will strip out the minerals from your tap water,, but this will produce quite a lot of waste water.
Alternatively you can buy RO water from most LFS. I buy 25L for Ł3 so it's not a huge drain on finances.

Bear in mind though, you can't simply use RO on its own as the minerals that give water its 'hardness' are also needed to prevent PH from crashing.

I simply mix my RO water with tap water but you can also buy remineralisation products.


Or, with careful selection, there will be quite a good variety of fish you'll be able to keep with the water from your tap.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Fiona on February 23, 2016, 07:25:29 PM
We're thinking about fitting an RO unit to the kitchen cold water tap. Why is there a lot of waste water?
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: apache6467 on February 23, 2016, 07:43:48 PM
2 bronze catfish (Corydoras Aeneus)
5 Kribensis (1 male 4 females)
1(was 2) tiger hillstream loaches
3 clown loaches
2 pearl gouramis
4 small angelfish
If any tips on keeping these fish come up please notify me!
Thinking about getting some Otocinclus
My catfish laid eggs on the glass so any ideas how to get them to lay on a piece of glass to be moved into a breeding tank would be helpful!

Apache6467  :fishy1: :fishy1: :fishy1:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Extreme_One on February 23, 2016, 07:58:02 PM
We're thinking about fitting an RO unit to the kitchen cold water tap. Why is there a lot of waste water?

The following quote is taken from another site on the subject.

Quote
Depending on the model, most RO filter systems* will discharge 4 to 20 gallons (15.1 L to 75.7 L) of backwash water for every gallon of filtered water it produces.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on February 23, 2016, 09:20:00 PM
    Hello!
    I currently have a 190L Juwel corner aquarium with:
2 bronze catfish (Corydoras Aeneus)
5 Kribensis (1 male 4 females)
1(was 2) tiger hillstream loaches
3 clown loaches
2 pearl gouramis
4 small angelfish
If any tips on keeping these fish come up please notify me!
Thinking about getting some Otocinclus
My catfish laid eggs on the glass so any ideas how to get them to lay on a piece of glass to be moved into a breeding tank would be helpful!

Apache6467  :fishy1: :fishy1: :fishy1:



You did ask.....

The cories need to be in a group of at least 6 of the same species. Bronze cories also come in an albino form so you could mix standard and albinos if you don't want 6 that look the same.
Kribs - if you get a pair, the other 3 might get picked on
Clown loaches grow huge, and should also be in a shoal. be prepared to get a much bigger tank, or find a new home for them before they get too big or they'll get stunted.
Angelfish - see comment on kribs

Otos are nice little fish. You'll need a shoal of them. They commonly just die shortly after purchase because of the way they've been caught and handled in transit. Otos need to be fed carefully and they often don't get the right kind of food after capture. Once they reach a certain stage of starvation they can't start eating again. Buy fish that have been in the shop a couple of weeks so the weak ones will already have died, and choose the ones with rounded abdomens as those are eating OK. And make sure you have plenty algae in the tank before you buy.

As for the cory eggs - see your other threads.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: apache6467 on February 23, 2016, 09:39:03 PM
Thanks for the advice sue...
If I add in more catfish, will it mess up my current catfish breeding?
As for the kribs... I shall see what I can do as they squabble a lot. The angelfish are small and I don't know the genders...
The clown loaches are small and grow slow, got them last week so when they grow big I probably will regime them
Once again
Thanks very much sue :cheers:
Apache6467
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on February 23, 2016, 09:46:20 PM
Adding more cories will probably encourage breeding as they'll be happier with more of them. Provided they are all the same species, that is.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Paddyc on February 25, 2016, 07:39:40 PM
Hi there,

Newbie just registered, I will soon be setting up my first tropical aquarium but have experience from my teenage years helping my dad look after his own aquariums. I want to give myself the best chance of creating a good clean and hygienic environment before buying any fish, I obviously realise it takes sensibility and patience by the bucket load... And after a quick browse through the forum, a hell of a lot of reading!

I don't have ANY equipment yet but have been provisionally offered a tank, filter and heater by a friend and colleague so I will update the specs of what I will be working with. I have been reading about tank cycling (which I was never aware of my dad doing) so I'm learning already.

A few initial questions...

1. What testing kit is best value for money?
2. Other than Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, ph and temperature, what else should I monitor?

The rest of my questions I will search the forum for, I struggled to find anything about testing kits.

Many thanks in advance, glad to be here!

Paddy
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on February 25, 2016, 07:59:57 PM
Hi Paddy  :wave:

Test kits - liquid reagent ones work out cheaper per test than dip strips (though they cost more to buy initially, they do more tests for the money) and the strips don't test for ammonia. I use the kit by API which contains ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH and high range pH.
I've also heard good things about the JBL set but not having used it myself I don't know exactly what's in it.

With pH, test your tapwater straight from the tap and let a glass of water sit out on the worktop and test that after 24 hours. You'll probably find them to be different. You need to know both.

Liquid nitrate testers have 2 or 3 bottles (depending on the make). One of the bottles needs shaking well as a reagent tends to settle on the bottom of the bottle and the shaking is important to redissolve the reagent. Failure to shake enough is the main cause of inaccurate readings. The instructions will say which bottle it is.


Those are the main things you need to test for. Hardness is also useful to know and you can either buy a separate tester, look on your water company's website or ask a shop to test a sample of tapwater for you.
GH (general hardness) is what fish websites mean when they talk about hard or soft water, and that's what water companies mean by hardness. There are several unit in use; fishkeeping uses two but water companies can use any of half a dozen. If you find the info on their website, make a note of the number and also which units they use so if necessary it can be converted to one of those used in fishkeeping.
If your water turns out to be soft, it would help to know your KH (carbonate hardness). Most water companies don't give this so you have the choice of buying a tester or getting a shop to test for it. Carbonate buffers against pH changes. If it is low, like mine, it is possible to get a pH crash; if it is hard it will be impossible to change the pH so get fish that like hard alkaline water.





Your father probably never cycled a tank as the understanding of that is fairly recent. A lot of shops don't believe in it so they may well ridicule the idea.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Paddyc on February 25, 2016, 08:07:32 PM
Thanks for the comprehensive reply Sue, I have now found some info on the API Test kits and will add that to my shopping list, along with an auto-feeder since my missus and I work shifts and I want to keep a rigid feeding routine. Initially for my setup I'm aiming for a gravel substrate and live plants, which I assume I will have to assemble before commencing a cycle?

Could you clarify the logic/science behind doing a >75% water change once the tank is cycled? My naivety ont the subject leads me to think this "undoes" the cycle process?
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: fcmf on February 25, 2016, 08:13:09 PM
Welcome, Paddy  :wave:

Sounds like you're doing everything in the right order in terms of doing the reading/research first, etc, and Sue's excellent advice should keep you on the right tracks.  I'll leave Sue/others to answer your further questions but just wanted to say hello in the meantime.  :)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on February 25, 2016, 08:19:54 PM
During the cycling process you don't do any water changes so adding ammonia ends up as quite a bit of nitrate. The big water change is to remove all that nitrate and get it back to the level in your tapwater. It doesn't undo the cycle, provided you remember to add dechlorinator to the replacement water, as all those bacteria you have grown are attached to the surface of the media inside the filter, and to the glass, and all the decor in the tank. Newly grown bacteria colonies are susceptible to the chlorine or chloramine that your water company adds to kill bacteria which is why we use dechlorinator.

If you want live plants you can either wait till the cycle is finished then plant them, or plant right at the beginning then wait a week or two to make sure the plants don't die before starting the cycling process. Dead and dying plants make ammonia and will mess up your results.
Plants use ammonia as food so they can help speed up the cycle; and they are likely to have filter bacteria on them which will also help.
It is possible to do something called a silent cycle where there are a lot of well growing plants which use all the ammonia made by the fish, but I would wait till you have confirmed your plant growing skills before going down that route  ;)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Paddyc on February 25, 2016, 08:53:17 PM
Great info, thanks again Sue and @fcmf cheers for the welcome  ;D

Having checked the water tables for my supplier, I appear to have a very soft water supply so I foresee some challenges with the pH levels... Time will tell, I suppose.

I reckon I will go for live plants and leave for 2 weeks , then cycle, then get the fishies  :D It's going to be torture for my 5 year old daughter who expects the tank to arrive then off to Pets at Home to pick out loads of fish  :-\

Looking forward to the process though and of course, the reward once it's up and running  :D
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on February 25, 2016, 09:04:28 PM
As your water is soft I suggest you add some bicarbonate of soda at the beginning of the cycle. Use at the rate of one level 5ml spoon per 25 litres, and monitor your pH every couple for days once ammonia starts to fall. You'll find small tubs of bicarb in the home baking section at the supermarket if you don't already have some in the kitchen.
The bacteria you will be growing prefer high pH (and bicarb will increase that) and they need carbonate to help them grow.

Sodium isn't very good for fish so when you do that big water change at the end of the cycle make it more like 100% to get rid of the bicarb. Once you have fish, make sure to do a water change of at least 25% every week, or even more often if you feel like it. I have a KH of 3 german degrees and I prevent pH crashes that way. Back about 10 years ago I did get lazy about water changes (errrmmm, every 3 weeks  :-[ ) and my pH crashed down to below 6 - this is how I first found the site, looking for advice.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Paddyc on February 25, 2016, 09:20:10 PM
Aah yes we keep a stock of baking essentials in the kitchen so good to know there is a low-cost solution to the pH problem I probably will have since my water carries a KH of 1.94 German degrees  :o
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on February 25, 2016, 09:27:24 PM
With a KH that low, once you've finished the cycle and removed all the bicarb you may want to think about using something to increase GH and KH a bit. Things like limestone or tufa rocks, or shells or coral as decor, or even crushed coral mixed in the substrate or in a bag in the filter, space permitting.



And I've seen you admiring sailfin plecs in another post - be warned that sailfins are one of the tankbuster species which grow HUUUUGE.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: fcmf on February 25, 2016, 10:08:11 PM
Your water hardness is very similar to mine. Take a look at my signature and 'community creator' tanks for some ideas on fish which are suitable for very soft water aquariums.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Paddyc on February 25, 2016, 10:30:27 PM
I could sit and read these threads all night but I must get some sleep now, the alarm is set for 0430  :o

This forum is an absolute goldmine of information... Much respect to the moderators and the members for accumulating such a depth of knowledge and advice for novice aquarium enthusiasts like me... I will definitely be losing many hours of my life on this forum but I will enjoy it immensely.

@fcmf, I have gathered on what I have read so far that you may indeed be the very chap I will come to with my questions but I will try not to pester you, I am a firm believer in searching for the answer in the forum content before jumping straight in screaming for help  ;)

Sue, I have indeed read in the forum about Limestone/Tufa and crushed coral. Should I do specifically as you say ie. complete a cycle, 100% water change then add these?

I am aware of the capacity for growth in the Plec species... An old plec of my dads grew to nearly a foot long! I will choose carefully when it comes to the fish. But I'm doing my best to be disciplined and take the baby steps required to get the best out of my setup.

Rough plan for initial setup (having been reading for 2 hours now)...

1. Assemble tank with filter, heater (30degC), substrate, dechlorinated water and live plants (start as I intend to carry on)
2. Leave for 2 weeks, monitor pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels
3. Begin Ammonia treatment tank cycle (keeping pH under control using bicarb)
4. 100% (as close as possible) water change
5. Add fish.

6.... cross fingers and toes
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Extreme_One on February 26, 2016, 07:40:06 AM
Welcome aboard Paddyc.  :wave:

One thing you might want to consider adding to your plan is 2cm of John Innes No 3 potting compost beneath your gravel substrate.
This will act as a relatively cheap but effective slow-release fertiliser for your plants.

The recommended ratio is something like 2cm depth of soil and 3cm of gravel on top.

Good luck. :cheers:
I look forward to hearing how it goes and hopefully seeing some photos of your set up in future.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Paddyc on February 26, 2016, 09:00:30 AM
@Extreme_one, many thanks, I'm quite excited to get going. I have read quite a few very helpful comments of yours in the forum, I'm grateful to be able to learn from folks like Sue, fcmf and yourself.

I will be going to view the tank tonight so I'll get the pics up tonight or tomorrow. It won't be in my home til at least Tuesday next week so for now I'll be ordering an API test kit and some compost for the live plants I will definitely be wanting to use. Are there different test kits for tropical water or should the freshwater kit suffice?

I have been offered the tank (80w x 40d x 70h (cm)) with wooden cabinet stand and top, gravel, rocks, plastic plants, heater and lights and I have been told a substantial external filter unit... Make and model unknown. All of this for a very reasonable price so I'm delighted!

I calculate the empty capacity of the tank to be 224 litres so realistically I should be looking at 200-210 litres of actual water.

Is there a section of the forum where people create their own progress/project threads? If not I was thinking of starting my own in the New Fish Keepers section as I think this to be the most appropriate place.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on February 26, 2016, 09:45:39 AM
It's freshwater testers you need, they cover both cold water and tropical. The kind to avoid is marine testers.

That sounds a nice sized tank for starting. Bigger tanks get out of control more slowly than small ones giving you time to do something about it  :) It's bigger than my biggest tank! 70cm tall sounds quite big, I hope you have long arms  ;D
At just 80cm long you will need to stick with smaller fish though as they won't have the swimming length usually associated with 200 litre tanks. [For example, my old 125 litre was 82cm long and my current 180 is 107cm long]

New Fishkeepers sounds fine for a journal. If you want to do a photo journal rather than lots of text, try Gallery Showcase.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: apache6467 on February 26, 2016, 05:01:48 PM
 :wave: Hi PaddyC :wave:
I am also a bit of a fish keeping newbie!
What fish are you hoping to get? Maybe this will help you decide! http://www.thinkfish.co.uk/article/first-fish-for-your-tropical-aquarium
Keep me posted as when i am older i will probably get my own tank as i share one with my dad!
Best Of Luck :afro
Apache6467 :cheers:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Paddyc on February 26, 2016, 08:34:27 PM
:wave: Hi PaddyC :wave:
I am also a bit of a fish keeping newbie!
What fish are you hoping to get?

Thanks Apache, many thanks for the welcome. My fish shopping list is still under advisement. I intend to be sensible from the outset and I aspire to collect some of the prettier species once the tank has matured. Initially I'm thinking of some Barbs (not Tiger) and Mollies, a few plecs and MAYBE a hardier species of Tetras. I have a soft spot for the Neons but these won't appear for at least a few months without any issues.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Littlefish on February 26, 2016, 09:00:48 PM
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.
 :)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on February 26, 2016, 09:03:22 PM
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........
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Paddyc on February 26, 2016, 09:23:05 PM
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........

Dear god I pray I don't have quite so long to wait for my environment to stabilise. I am the patient one in the house but the girls will be pestering me to get the fishies in!

Regarding mollies, I have learned tonight after having a play with the community creator that they aren't compatible. Sticking to the rules on it, I have decided to leave Mollies alone for now. I'm having an issue logging in to the community creator so cannot save just now and need to get to bed but for the sake of passing on what I have initially looked at (subject to change obviously) and recording the species so I don't forget...

Zebra Danio x4
Dwarf plec (x1 initially maybe adding another plec of same/similar species)
Rosy Barb x4
Dwarf rainbowfish x4


I await any heads-up and advice, as I say I will undoubtedly tailor this shopping list as the weeks go on during the cycle.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Paddyc on February 26, 2016, 09:23:53 PM
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  :) :)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on February 26, 2016, 09:33:14 PM
You could speed things up by using Tetra Safe Start, though it is not guaranteed to work (if it's been kept too hot or too cold since manufacture that would degrade the product). It will tell you how to use it with fish but just use ammonia and pretend it's fish.

It is one of just a couple of bottled bacteria products that actually have the right species of nitrite eaters, the rest have the wrong species. The other one is rarely available outside America.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Paddyc on February 27, 2016, 05:49:30 AM
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?
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on February 27, 2016, 10:05:46 AM
It is one of those things that will either work or it won't. I won't do any harm.


But Tetra Safe Start and nothing else. The others may help with growing the ammonia eaters but usually do nothing for the nitrite eaters. Don't let a shop persuade you to get anything else.


Or, do you know anyone who has a tank? And the filter that comes with the tank you are getting - how long since it has been used? If it has been used till fairly recently and has not been cleaned, don't clean it. The filter bacteria go dormant before they die and any left alive in the filter will help.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: blackrat89 on February 27, 2016, 11:12:57 AM
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 ) . 
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on February 27, 2016, 12:08:08 PM
Hi Blackrat  :wave:

Well done for seeding the new tank from the old filter.
I too have several old fish, left overs of shoals. I don't get rid of them just because they are old. Although there aren't really enough of them, and I don't want to get any more, they seem to do well in their small numbers.

Goggling the Interpet cf2, it says for 68 to 90 litre tanks with a flow rate of 480 litres per hour - divide by 5 gives 96, so that's the max size tank. So yes, good that you used the other filter as well.
The Fluval 3 plus has a flow rate of 700 litres per hour so that is quite capable of filtering your tank by itself. In my opinion it is also the better filter - I don't like those like the Interpet one that use just carbon filled cartridges. Sponges are a much better medium.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: apache6467 on February 27, 2016, 01:09:05 PM
 :wave: hi blackrat and littlefish!
Good look in your fish keeping!

Apache6467
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Paddyc on February 27, 2016, 01:14:50 PM
Or, do you know anyone who has a tank? And the filter that comes with the tank you are getting - how long since it has been used? If it has been used till fairly recently and has not been cleaned, don't clean it. The filter bacteria go dormant before they die and any left alive in the filter will help.

Yes, I know someone with a tank.

The filter has gone unused for some time, so no hope of any bacteria survival.

Welcome, Blackrat!
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on February 27, 2016, 01:22:56 PM
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.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Paddyc on February 27, 2016, 04:33:28 PM
If I can do this, I will... Sounds like a great way to get the good bacteria started  :)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: deackie on February 27, 2016, 08:51:55 PM
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

Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Paddyc on February 27, 2016, 08:57:37 PM
Welcome along deackie  ;)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Littlefish on February 27, 2016, 09:02:03 PM
Hi deackie  :wave:
Quite a few of us newbies have joined recently and it's good to see another.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: fcmf on February 27, 2016, 10:57:31 PM
Welcome aboard, both Blackrat and Deackie.  :wave:  Really interesting to read of your experiences so far and look forward to reading more as they progress.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Matt on February 28, 2016, 05:15:24 PM
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!
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: fcmf on February 28, 2016, 06:27:21 PM
Welcome, Matt  :wave:

Glad to have someone else on the forum who is / has been a goldfish owner. Hope the goldfish continues to live on for many more years. Your tropical tank sounds similar to the sort of fish I have / am interested in, so I'll read your updates with particular interest.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Littlefish on February 28, 2016, 06:32:48 PM
Hi Matt
 :wave:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Rootjj on February 28, 2016, 06:39:01 PM
Total beginner here (if you don't count the fairground goldfish I kept as a child!)  My husband has kept one or two small tanks a while ago, but hasn't had any for at least 10 years.

We've started with his old 50l hexagonal tank, planted a few live plants (which look SO much better than plastic!) and acquired about 4 or 5 snails in the process.  First batch of fish were 6 neon tetras, followed by some guppies and peppered corys a few weeks later.  We've lost a couple of fish so far  :(

Currently trying to cope with the basics and not lose any more fish.  Rapidly learning that you don't just get a tank populated and sit back to admire it - there's a fair bit of maintenance to do!  Already asked a couple of questions on here and very impressed with the knowledge and friendliness of the site
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: fcmf on February 28, 2016, 06:47:32 PM
Welcome, Rootjj - have just been responding to your other thread  :)

Goldfish are wonderful (RIP your fairground goldfish) and tank maintenance is similar but tropical fishkeeping requires a different type of knowledge base (eg suitable fish for tank size and water type, compatibility of fish with one another, etc) and so can be a comparatively steep learning curve. We'll certainly do our best to help with any further questions.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Matt on February 28, 2016, 07:17:45 PM
Welcome Roomjj and good luck going forwards!

@fcmf  I would absolutely recommend sparkling gourami - they are my latest addition and they have quite unique characters, they interact well with both me and the other fish in the tank, they will appreciate some hiding spaces and floating plants. The ThinkFish profile picture makes them look a little 'dirtier' than in real life, mine are silver with blue neon spots and a striking blue eye.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: fcmf on February 28, 2016, 07:40:21 PM
Thanks, Matt - the sparkling gourami have always tempted me (what I've read of them - I've never actually seen them) and what you're telling me is tempting me even more although I'd be at risk of overstocking my tank if I got them now. Out of interest, have you heard the males making croaking sounds yet and is it quite loud ie would it antagonise the other tankmates and be audible from a neighbouring room?
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Matt on February 28, 2016, 07:43:14 PM
I haven't heard it no, I found a video of them doing it at one point - it was like a clicking, barely audible above the other tank equipment.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on February 28, 2016, 09:10:08 PM
I had them several years ago. I did hear them croaking - more a sort of football rattle sound. I could just about hear it from the other end of the room if it was quiet.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: jalot on May 25, 2016, 05:35:12 PM
hi my names jack and have recently set up my juwel rio 180 and have added 6 harlequin and was wondering what fish would go well in a community tank i have been looking at:
electric blue rams
emperor tetras
platys
mollies
1 green phantom pleco
1 blue phantom pleco
2 silver sharks
dwarf gourmi
and so on please help
I also have a external filter which is a 1000EF< and thats all i know about it? would be very greatful if someone could tell me where to get the media or what not for it?
and sorry if this is on the wrong page i have no idea what im doing on this forum...
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Fiona on May 25, 2016, 05:41:32 PM
and sorry if this is on the wrong page i have no idea what im doing on this forum...

We won't hold it against you  ;) Hello and welcome.

Have you kept fish before and hav you heard of cycling a tank? If not we can help you with that.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on May 25, 2016, 05:44:06 PM
Hello Jack, and welcome to the forum.

The first, and most important, question is.... have you cycled your tank? If you haven't, then it's vital that you do for the health of your fish. We'll help you with all you need to know, but please don't be tempted to add any more fish until that's all sorted out.

EDIT: I see Fiona's beaten me to it!
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Paddyc on May 25, 2016, 05:47:52 PM
(http://i.imgur.com/DpYj47y.gif)

Welcome along Jack! All the best with your new aquarium, you'll find all the answers you're after here.  8) 8)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: jalot on May 25, 2016, 05:56:56 PM
i kept goldfish years ago i know people that have fish ive done a hell of a lot of research
ive put 7 real plants 1 bog wood and an air pump in my tank and thats about as much as i know but my tank was second hand and came with mature media which was only stopped about 2 hours before i set it up
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Paddyc on May 25, 2016, 06:00:25 PM
i kept goldfish years ago i know people that have fish ive done a hell of a lot of research
ive put 7 real plants 1 bog wood and an air pump in my tank and thats about as much as i know but my tank was second hand and came with mature media which was only stopped about 2 hours before i set it up

Do you have a tester kit? If so, which? It seems like you have most likely inherited an active colony of bacteria so it is likely you are cycled. Although it depends on what has been disturbed/replaced in your setup...
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: jalot on May 25, 2016, 06:05:38 PM
i dont have a tester kit but i did take my water to pets at home they tested it for me and said the water was fine
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Paddyc on May 25, 2016, 06:43:12 PM
i dont have a tester kit but i did take my water to pets at home they tested it for me and said the water was fine

Good for you. In all probability it is fine. Just to let you in on our general feelings towards Pets At Home... They are a good source of kit etc for your tank and occasionally you get the odd worker in there who knows their stuff but a lot of them only know what they learn on their "fish retailer" course and aren't experienced in fishkeeping.

So they have weird policies like my local P@H which won't sell me more than 8 fish at a time which was useless when I wanted about 20 fish to start off my stock after my fishless cycle. They didn't listen to me when I said I needed a minimum of 20 to keep the nitrogen cycle going in my tank or else the bacteria would go dormant and I would struggle to maintain the parameters.

Generally their prices are mid-range as well. Do you have a local independent fish stockist?
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Littlefish on May 25, 2016, 07:03:41 PM
I am a big fan of my local aquatics centres. The staff are friendly, they all keep fish and are very tolerant of us newbies. The local Maidenhead aquatics is staffed by quite young people, but they all seem to have been keeping fish since they were barely out of nappies, will chat for hours whilst showing pictures of their own fish tanks, and are quite happy to have a chuckle about the addictive nature of fish keeping. At the other one I go to (Amwell Aquatics in Soham) the staff I have met there seem to be obsessed with fish and have an apparently encyclopaedic knowledge of them. It never ceases to amaze me. They are also kind proud of some of their more unusual tropical fish and (on a good day) will feed them so that you can see unusual behavioural characteristics. Last Friday I saw a leaf fish yawn, it was amazing. They were also quite cool when they were feeding. Before anyone asks, no I didn't buy any.
I have even (only once mind you) met a member of staff at P@H who was an avid fish keeper and spent quite some time discussing aquatic plants with me.
It is great to get the information from this site and the experienced keepers on this forum. It is also very useful if you manage to find a local aquatics place that you can trust.  :)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: fcmf on May 25, 2016, 07:11:41 PM
Welcome, Jack :wave:

I'd also advise buying your own test kit. While it's helpful to get water test results done at whatever LFS you find is best, the problem with this is that the test results are only valid on the day they're done. If you have your own test kit, then you can test as/when you like, daily if need be.

Find out what your water hardness is by entering your postcode into your water company's website. Once we know what that is, then we should be able to help you work out the most suitable fish from your list for your tank.

Looking forward to hearing how your tank progresses and what you ultimately decide to stock it with as well as the harlequins which are lovely fish - I have them too.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on May 25, 2016, 07:17:30 PM
Hi Jalot  :wave:

Every fishkeeper does really need heir own test kits - to test for ammonia, nitrite and pH at the minimum. Liquid reagent testers cost more to buy than strips but work out cheaper per test. And master kits contain ammonia testers which a lot of strips don't. The problem with getting water tested by a shop is first they aren't open 24/7 and something usually goes wrong when they've just shut; and shops tend to say things like fine when they're not fine.

If the tank came with mature media that was running with fish right up till the time you took it, you should still have the majority of the bacteria. You'll probably have lost a few during transit but not many.
Don't forget though that you'll have only enough bacteria to deal with the ammonia made by the number of fish the last owner had in there. If it was lightly stocked, you'll be OK adding fish to the amount he had, but go slowly from there.


You have both hard and soft water fish on your list - mollies need hard water while tetras and gouramis prefer soft water, though some species would be OK in middling hard. Do you know how hard your tap water is? You should be able to find it somewhere on your water company's website.

But looking at your fish list in general -
Silver sharks, Balantiocheilos melanopterus, is a shoaling species which means at least 6 of them but they are HUGE fish. They grow up to 35 cm long and need a tank with a footprint of 240 x 60 cm.
Dwarf gouramis are often infected by an incurable disease by the time they reach the shop. If you really do want these fish, look very carefully at all the fish in the tank and don't buy any if even just one looks a bit iffy. or get another type of gourami - honeys and pearls would be fine for your tank.
One or other of the plecs.
Emperor tetras. I used to have some of these and they were like a swarm of locusts in the tank. They drove me nuts so I part-exed them for some pencilfish. If you don't mind hyperactive, greedy fish, they're fine.




fcmf just beat me to it, so I'll end by agreeing with her - once we know how hard your water is, we can go from there.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: jalot on May 25, 2016, 07:25:29 PM
this is the only thing i can find on my water: Staffordshire - Slightly to moderately hard
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: fcmf on May 25, 2016, 07:35:34 PM
This might help you find a more accurate reading:
https://www.south-staffs-water.co.uk/household/my-water-supply/water-quality/water-hardness (go to "Water quality zones" on the lower half of the page)
or
https://www.stwater.co.uk/my-supplies/my-water-supply/water-quality-in-your-area/
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: jalot on May 25, 2016, 07:43:04 PM
That's the best I've got
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: fcmf on May 25, 2016, 07:45:38 PM
That's perfect; we'll continue the discussion around this over on your "Please help" thread, so that you have all the useful info together. :fishy1:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Crispyz99 on May 26, 2016, 08:33:31 AM
Hello,

I have kept fish since 2010 so I still consider myself as "small fry" in a big pond when it comes to fish keeping.

I have a 60l tank and included in the tank are;

Silver Shark
Neons
Guppies
Plecostumus

The guppies are a real treat and woah they bred like wildlife... which was good in one respect because I knew they were relaxed in their home. The plec seems to love everything from the glass to munching on the sand.

I love the fish as i think they are memorising to watch as they all seem content in finding their own way around but always seem to swim head first into the glass and wonder what is going on! But thats the beauty of watching them!

Thought I would introduce myself and say hello!

Happy fishing!

Chris
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Littlefish on May 26, 2016, 09:03:19 AM
Hi Chris and welcome to the forum.  :wave:

I have only been keeping fish since October last year, so you are way more experienced than me.  ;D

 :cheers:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Fiona on May 26, 2016, 09:35:51 AM
Hi Chris and welcome.

You're going to have problems with that silver shark, its going to grow far too big for your tank I'm afraid. What sort of plec do you own?
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on May 26, 2016, 10:01:51 AM
Hello Chris.... and welcome.

We like piccies of tanks on here..... hint, hint! :)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Anne on May 26, 2016, 06:47:30 PM
Hi Chris

Welcome to the site.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Extreme_One on May 26, 2016, 09:16:33 PM
Hi Chris and welcome.  :wave:

I'm afraid I have to echo Fiona's sentiment regarding your Silver Shark. Your tank is far too small for a Silver Shark and they need to be kept in a shoal too.

Hopefully your LFS will take him back when you explain that your tank isn't large enough.
Otherwise you may find a local group on Facebook where someone would be willing to rehome him.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: fcmf on May 27, 2016, 12:16:05 AM
Welcome, Chris! :wave:

What do you do with your baby guppies?

Aquarist-classifieds.co.uk has a good reputation if you're ever looking to sell on fish.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Hampalong on June 12, 2016, 01:26:30 PM
Hello.

Thinkfish.... that's pretty much what I've been doing since I started keeping fish 45 years ago. I'm active on a few forums, and decided to come here on a one-in-one-out basis, due to the imminent closure(?) of the PFK forum.

It's always quite exciting joining a new forum, and I'm looking forward to being here.

I used to work in 'the trade'. I dropped myself in at the deep end, working in retail, wholesale, importation and consolidation (importing boxes for other people), supplying about 50 fish shops and pet shops on a weekly basis. Since then I have managed a couple of shops, but these days I'm back to being just a hobbyist.

I've kept an awful lot of fish since my love affair with Oscars. I love most fish, but my main passion is a few oddballs from most families, and cichlids.

Happy to be here,
Regards
Mark
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Paddyc on June 12, 2016, 01:40:19 PM
Welcome along, Mark. Great to have you here. 45 years eh? It's awesome having someone so experienced with us.  :cheers:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Robert on June 12, 2016, 01:47:13 PM
Welcome - Great to have you here Mark!  :cheers:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: fcmf on June 12, 2016, 01:48:38 PM
Welcome, Hampalong/Mark! :wave:

It's awesome having someone so experienced with us.  :cheers:
:cheers:

What fish do you currently keep?
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Hampalong on June 12, 2016, 02:03:42 PM
Thanks for the welcome.  :wave:

I'm in a bit of limbo atm, soon to be moving house.  I have one tank set up with a collection of assorted Dollars, which were acquired as tankmates for a large Black Ghost that I'd had for about 8 or 9 years. Sadly it died a few months ago. They're in a 6x2x2.

My wishlist for the near future includes some of the African Coptodon spp, depending on the size and number of tanks I can house.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Fiona on June 12, 2016, 02:29:07 PM
Hey Mark. Thanks for joining, its good to have you here.

ps: We love photos on here.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Hampalong on June 12, 2016, 02:58:55 PM
Hey Mark. Thanks for joining, its good to have you here.

ps: We love photos on here.

Thanks Fiona.... and point taken.  :)

How do I get to the desktop site on my phone... I can't seem to find a link..?
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on June 12, 2016, 03:04:17 PM
I do like your signature  :)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Hampalong on June 12, 2016, 03:08:09 PM
I do like your signature  :)

It's the most important aspect of fishkeeping... :)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Robert on June 12, 2016, 03:40:09 PM
Hey Mark. Thanks for joining, its good to have you here.

ps: We love photos on here.

Thanks Fiona.... and point taken.  :)

How do I get to the desktop site on my phone... I can't seem to find a link..?

There's only one version at the moment Mark, some windows 10 users have related issues - I have yet to find an SMF (forum software)  fix.

Are there specific problems you're having?

Generally, the forum works best in landscape mode on most smartphones but it's hard to cater to all devices.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Hampalong on June 12, 2016, 04:04:23 PM
I just prefer default styles to mobile "friendly". It works for the main site, but when I click on the forum it defaults to a mobile version. The incessant pop up telling me to go landscape is very annoying, to say the least... it never stops!!
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Robert on June 12, 2016, 04:15:15 PM
Ah! I may be able to do something about that nag box - it was designed to get people to turn their phones and make it all easier. The theme was modded to be more responsive (work on all devices) and the tradeoff was ensuring that users flipped their screens if viewing in portrait.

I'll see what I can do, thanks for the heads up!

Update: Nag message has now gone, subtle message in header now instead.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on June 12, 2016, 04:26:17 PM
Hello Mark, and welcome to the forum.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Hampalong on June 12, 2016, 05:08:52 PM
Hello Mark, and welcome to the forum.

Hi Colin, thanks.

Robert, thank you. Typing is a lot easier in portrait, for me...

:)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Littlefish on June 12, 2016, 05:32:24 PM
Hi Mark and welcome to the forum.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Hampalong on June 12, 2016, 06:44:35 PM
Hi Mark and welcome to the forum.

Hi Donna, thanks.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Littlefish on June 12, 2016, 07:58:08 PM
I hope that you don't mind me being nosey, but what sort of oddballs do you have?
Although I don't have a great deal of experience, I am quite fond of the slightly more unusual fish, and would be interested to see what you have.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Hampalong on June 12, 2016, 10:35:11 PM
I don't have any oddballs at the moment, unless you count this...

(http://i981.photobucket.com/albums/ae299/ghostblack/Fish/Mine/T1%202012/Hampala/LL1800x516-1.jpg) (http://s981.photobucket.com/user/ghostblack/media/Fish/Mine/T1%202012/Hampala/LL1800x516-1.jpg.html)

I'll let you guess what it is. :)

I only have one tank set up, which was dedicated to my Black Ghost...

#Invalid YouTube Link include https#

... so I collected a few dollars, mostly rescues, and the fish above. I had a nice pair of Severums with them for a while, but BGs don't like cichlids so they didn't stay long.

I had a Syno angelicus that I tried to put in a few times, but it didn't like the ghost so it couldn't stay either...

(http://i981.photobucket.com/albums/ae299/ghostblack/Fish/Mine/T1%202012/DSCF1310.jpg) (http://s981.photobucket.com/user/ghostblack/media/Fish/Mine/T1%202012/DSCF1310.jpg.html)

I also rescued a couple of Lemon Fin Barbs...

(http://i981.photobucket.com/albums/ae299/ghostblack/Fish/Mine/T1%202012/2012-1-18b8.jpg) (http://s981.photobucket.com/user/ghostblack/media/Fish/Mine/T1%202012/2012-1-18b8.jpg.html)

... that were far too powerful for the dollars (and were rapidly growing too big for the tank), so....

Here's a pic of the tank that made it into PFK magazine a while ago...

(http://i981.photobucket.com/albums/ae299/ghostblack/Fish/Mine/pfk/4-done_zpsc15df79c.jpg) (http://s981.photobucket.com/user/ghostblack/media/Fish/Mine/pfk/4-done_zpsc15df79c.jpg.html)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on June 13, 2016, 07:14:11 AM
Great photos. I really must try harder to get more than a couple of blurs when I try and take a piccie.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Extreme_One on June 13, 2016, 08:08:26 AM
Hi Mark and welcome.  :wave:

Great photos! :cheers:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Littlefish on June 13, 2016, 09:24:19 AM
Fantastic photos.  8)
I wish I had enough room for a BG. Also liking the syno angelicus, beautiful. Shame it had to go, but if it didn't work in the tank...I currently have a bit of a thing for plecs and synos, so whenever I go to MA the guy there that has some shows me pictures of his tanks. It's like having the fish by proxy. My main reason for going to my (not quite so local) independent LFS (apart from stocking up on live food) is also to look at the fish I can't have. Actually, that's a bit of a lie, it's also to catch up with the staff and look at pictures of their current projects, again most of which I can't do/have.  :)
I only got into fish last October, so basically a newbie. I'm hoping that the more experienced people here will help to guess what the first fish is.  ;D
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Robert on June 13, 2016, 10:14:18 AM


[trying to put a video in here but getting "invalid YouTube link"]


Thanks for the heads up, the original code looked for a "http" instance in the link, Google updated youtube links to "https" (secure) urls a while back and I didn't realise that they'd no longer work as embeds,  hence the no worky outcome you experienced.



In any case, I've now edited the code and it will now work for fully qualified https://youtube.com and mobile type urls.

 :cheers:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Hampalong on June 13, 2016, 11:33:24 AM
Hi Simon.

Robert, I tried it again but it still says invalid link. The video link starts "http", not "https" (?)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Robert on June 13, 2016, 11:35:01 AM
That's very odd...

Would you mind sharing the url Mark?
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Robert on June 13, 2016, 11:57:21 AM
Sometimes, the owner of the video doesn't allow it to be shared externally, in which case it won't work no matter what.

http will definitely no longer work and if you were trying http yesterday, then it should have worked... subject to the above of course.

You could try substituting https for http but I'm doubtful that'll work either.

Throw the link across and i'll take a look. Might be a device specific bug that I've not encountered.

Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Hampalong on June 13, 2016, 12:03:03 PM
#Invalid YouTube Link include https#

It's privacy setting is "public"
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Fiona on June 13, 2016, 12:18:09 PM
Nice vids Mark :)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Robert on June 13, 2016, 12:22:45 PM
#Invalid YouTube Link include https#

It's privacy setting is "public"

Ah! I may need to edit the code again to account for the .be extension

Here's the vid embed without the .be extension

#Invalid YouTube Link include https#
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on June 13, 2016, 12:27:59 PM
What tags d'you use to embed a video?
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Robert on June 13, 2016, 12:37:16 PM
[ youtube ]url here[ /youtube ]

No gaps between the [ and the word YouTube though
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Hampalong on June 13, 2016, 12:57:48 PM
Cheers Robert.

So do I remove the . from youtu.be or are you taking care of that?

:)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Hampalong on June 13, 2016, 01:00:45 PM
What tags d'you use to embed a video?

There's a YouTube button above the reply box...
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Robert on June 13, 2016, 01:09:43 PM
Cheers Robert.

So do I remove the . from youtu.be or are you taking care of that?

:)

For now, remove the ., change the http to https and add .com where the be was youtu.be to YouTube.com/watch?v=

So "#Invalid YouTube Link include https#" becomes "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ef-YCHSLJk4" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ef-YCHSLJk4</a>"

I'm out at the moment but will check it all out later and see if I can apply a catch all fix :)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on June 13, 2016, 01:26:31 PM
There's a YouTube button above the reply box...

Is there? I've just been through all the buttons that I have and none of them give me youtube tags. ???

I have img, url, email and ftp buttons, the rest are formatting.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Robert on June 13, 2016, 01:40:23 PM
It's there Colin...or should be!
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on June 13, 2016, 01:58:43 PM
I don't have that.... this is my layout:

(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-IFmugJ65zvQ/V16t1Ler8yI/AAAAAAAAFY4/fgVDTkMNPuk53GYt_6y7ojwlDeDzR27JQCCo/s604/Buttons.JPG)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Robert on June 13, 2016, 02:25:11 PM
I don't have that.... this is my layout:

(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-IFmugJ65zvQ/V16t1Ler8yI/AAAAAAAAFY4/fgVDTkMNPuk53GYt_6y7ojwlDeDzR27JQCCo/s604/Buttons.JPG)


Really!? What browser are you using Colin?

Talk about day of the bug!!!  :vcross:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on June 13, 2016, 02:35:37 PM
Really!? What browser are you using Colin?

Talk about day of the bug!!!  :vcross:

Chrome.

(http://www.indiewire.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/them02.jpg)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Robert on June 13, 2016, 02:46:02 PM
Really!? What browser are you using Colin?

Talk about day of the bug!!!  :vcross:

Chrome.

(http://www.indiewire.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/them02.jpg)


 :rotfl:


That's just really bizarre.


[ youtube ]url[ /youtube ] (minus gaps) will have to be your method for now.


Walks away scratching head...
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Somethingfishy on June 13, 2016, 03:01:49 PM
Hi another PFK forum newbie here  :'(

I have a 200l amazonian(ish) biotope, planted with a few crypts and anubis which hangs around the 6.8-7.2ph scale at the mo. I have cardinals, assassins and columbian tetras at the moment. Hoping to add corys and harlequins at some point and swap the columbians for keyholes or bolivian rams.

Started fish keeping as a child and even worked at a LFS as a teenager. Gave up for a while after having children, but started a new tank this year as a (very successful) home education project (which I quickly claimed as my own...*insert maniacal laughter*).
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on June 13, 2016, 03:07:54 PM
Hello, Somethingfishy.... and welcome to the forum.

Piccies please.... it's the law, you know ;D
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Robert on June 13, 2016, 03:09:58 PM
Hi another PFK forum newbie here  :'(

I have a 200l amazonian(ish) biotope, planted with a few crypts and anubis which hangs around the 6.8-7.2ph scale at the mo. I have cardinals, assassins and columbian tetras at the moment. Hoping to add corys and harlequins at some point and swap the columbians for keyholes or bolivian rams.

Started fish keeping as a child and even worked at a LFS as a teenager. Gave up for a while after having children, but started a new tank this year as a (very successful) home education project (which I quickly claimed as my own...*insert maniacal laughter*).


Welcome, to thinkfish Somethingfishy!


Good to have you here!  :wave:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Littlefish on June 13, 2016, 03:47:18 PM
Hello Somethingfishy and welcome to the forum.  :wave:

We also welcome maniacal laughter when managing to claim a tank for your own. Well done.  :cheers:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: fcmf on June 13, 2016, 07:04:58 PM
Welcome, Somethingfishy! :wave:

There are a few harlequin keepers on here, including myself, so that choice of potential new fish get a thumbs-up from me. :)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Somethingfishy on June 13, 2016, 07:11:39 PM
Welcome, Somethingfishy! :wave:

There are a few harlequin keepers on here, including myself, so that choice of potential new fish get a thumbs-up from me. :)
theywere one of the first ever fish I kept....it's either them or hatchetfish......or a bigger tank ;)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Somethingfishy on June 13, 2016, 07:33:45 PM
would love to post a pic, but the insert image button just does this:

(http://)

any ideas?
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on June 13, 2016, 07:41:24 PM
I use the 'attachments and other options' below the reply box. Click on that then use browse to find your photo. There is a size limit so check you haven't exceeded it.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Paddyc on June 13, 2016, 08:01:38 PM
Hi another PFK forum newbie here  :'(

(http://i.imgur.com/DpYj47y.gif)

Sorry you've all had to find another forum... Never a happy thing to happen to such an established vault of great info...

But we are happy to have you, you'll be made very welcome  8)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Littlefish on June 13, 2016, 08:43:35 PM
Well Somethingfishy, my response would usually be another tank. Even I'm starting to run out of room now.
I can't keep harlequins (even though I really like them) because I have hard water. I do have some silver hatchets and I think they are great.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Somethingfishy on June 13, 2016, 09:48:10 PM
Having a little problem with hair algea but on the plus side my assassin snails have laid eggs 😊
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Paddyc on June 13, 2016, 10:01:06 PM
Nice pics, great colour... the natural feel is very under-rated I think. If I didn't have a young kid I wouldn't have any brightly-coloured ornaments and go for the natural feel myself.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Littlefish on June 13, 2016, 10:24:11 PM
Great tank and nice pictures.  ;D

Paddy, if you didn't have any brightly-coloured ornaments in your tank we all would have missed out on the pictured of Olaf and the malaysian trumpet snail on his behind, and I for one am very glad we saw that.  :rotfl:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Paddyc on June 13, 2016, 10:26:56 PM
Great tank and nice pictures.  ;D

Paddy, if you didn't have any brightly-coloured ornaments in your tank we all would have missed out on the pictured of Olaf and the malaysian trumpet snail on his behind, and I for one am very glad we saw that.  :rotfl:

Ah yes... One for the family album I think   :rotfl:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Fiona on June 13, 2016, 11:17:12 PM
Hello Somethingfishy and welcome  :wave:

To be honest I'm saddened by the PFK forum closure, I wasn't a member it was a good alternative source of information. I hope you find a good home here  :)

ps: the Olaf trumpet snail incident was a triumph in irreverent photography and one I'll cherish  :afro
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on June 14, 2016, 07:27:31 AM
Great piccies - thanks.

I tried to get a few piccies of my tank yesterday, but the camera battery was flat. As I haven't charged the battery since we moved house there followed a long drawn out search for the charger, by which time I'd lost all enthusiasm for photography. *sigh*
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Littlefish on June 14, 2016, 12:02:54 PM
Without wishing to sound like a numpty, but can any of you "old timers"/experienced fishy peeps help to identify the fish in Mark's first picture on page 31 (I think). Thanks.

Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Paddyc on June 14, 2016, 12:37:08 PM
Without wishing to sound like a numpty, but can any of you "old timers"/experienced fishy peeps help to identify the fish in Mark's first picture on page 31 (I think). Thanks.

This guy?

(http://i981.photobucket.com/albums/ae299/ghostblack/Fish/Mine/T1%202012/Hampala/LL1800x516-1.jpg) (http://s981.photobucket.com/user/ghostblack/media/Fish/Mine/T1%202012/Hampala/LL1800x516-1.jpg.html)

In fear of sounding like a numpty myself... Maybe an Albino Red Tail shark or something like that? Can you even get those???

{Hides behind couch}
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Littlefish on June 14, 2016, 12:38:33 PM
That's the fella.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on June 14, 2016, 12:50:33 PM
It's not an oddball (he said so). It's big. There are several in his tank.

Which means I don't know as I haven't a clue about most big fish. But it has a sort of barb appearance to it.......
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Littlefish on June 14, 2016, 01:51:16 PM
I'm guessing that the odd thing about it is that it doesn't normally have spots.

After a rummage around YouTube, following the links that Mark posted, being distracted by all the ones about the black ghost (which was awesome), and finally coming across one titled "Barbs and lettuce" <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRnzMFaUWiI" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRnzMFaUWiI</a>
where a pair of the fish in question make an appearance.
Clip says it contains the following fish "Lemon Fin Barbs/Diamond Barb/Diamond Shark (Hypsibarbus wetmorei)", so I had a look at them and couldn't find any with spots on.
However, did find a link to the PFK forum archive where there was a discussion about lemon fin barbs being sold to people as diamond sharks, so I think Paddy can come out from behind the sofa because barb or shark even more experienced people were being mis-sold one as the other (didn't think it could be an albino with spots though).

That's as far as I've got because I keep getting distracted by other fish.

Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: fcmf on June 14, 2016, 08:43:26 PM
Hmmm - pic looks different on mobile .v. laptop. Semi-tempted to dig out my old fish mags to help identify the fish - but that would be cheating!
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Littlefish on June 14, 2016, 08:48:26 PM
That's not cheating, that's research. 
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Paddyc on June 14, 2016, 08:50:29 PM
That's not cheating, that's research.

You're dying to know what it is, aren't you?  :P
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Fiona on June 14, 2016, 09:08:19 PM
But it has a sort of barb appearance to it.......

The two spot orange tailed barb?  ::)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: fcmf on June 14, 2016, 09:14:15 PM
75% of the way through the "research" (thanks, LF!) and not looking too optimistic that I'm going to get the answer... I think Fiona O'M's suggestion sounds good, though.

OK - last mag. The markings bear a resemblance to a pic of a Narayan barb, Pethia setnai - but the dorsal fin of it is orange-coloured (not the tail), the body looks deeper, and, come to think of it, those markings aren't quite in the same location. Hmmm - that's not it, and the barb in the pic looks less shark-like...

Edited to add: after lots of googling as well, it's most uncharacteristic of me but I'm on the verge of giving up due to being well-and-truly stumped...
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on June 14, 2016, 09:17:33 PM
Got it!

In his post, member Hampalong said "I'll let you guess what it is".

That was a huge clue.


When you all give up, I'll tell you what it is and how I found out  ;D

(it did involve a bit of 'cheating')
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Paddyc on June 14, 2016, 09:21:14 PM
Man, it's like a fishy cryptic crossword puzzle now...  :vcross:
Title: Newish fish keeper
Post by: Mascol on June 14, 2016, 09:33:57 PM
Hi there,

I've been lurking on fishy forums for a while (like some sinister presence!) but never became a member until very recently. This forum has a great and active feel to it, and lots of very helpful peeps, so it seemed the obvious choice!  :wave:

In terms of fishy history, my dad always kept tropical fish. For years we had a big five foot long tank that he had siliconed himself and built into a wall unit that separated the kitchen and dining room. We'd have dinner and watch the tiger barbs, plates, swordtails and kissing gouramis swim by. It was great, as well as very peaceful  ;D

Fast forward to the mid nineties when I was commuting 2 hours a day to and from a very busy job in London, whilst simultaneously doing a 2-year post graduate university degree. This was all very stressful, so I decided that having some fishes to look at would be wonderfully relaxing and help me unwind. So off I went to this little lfs in Kingston-upon-Thames run by a slightly eccentric lady with large glasses. She obviously loved fishes but she did sell me a small tank (probably no more than 45L) and six (yes six... I know  :-[) goldfish to put in it. The internet not being what it is today, and never having had goldfish (my dad only ever had tropical fish), I was alarmed to find that these goldfish just kept growing! And making a mess!

Eventually I took 4 back to the LFS. Some time after that two very thoughtful friends gave me a larger 90L fish tank as a wedding present and the remaining 2 goldfish moved into that. They were with me for several more years, but then my husband and I decided to have fry of our own, and the aquarium was shelved for several years.... until 3 years ago when son number one all of a sudden asked about having a goldfish.

I started by looking at small tanks that would fit in his room, but soon decided that it was much easier to keep a bigger tank downstairs - the larger the body of water, the more stable the environment, etc. I then remember my old 90L in the garage, so got that out, dusted it off, plugged it all in and hey presto, the old Eheim Classic 2213 was still up to the job :-) My son had asked for a goldfish but, well, I really fancied having tropical fish instead. In short, and you may not be surprised to hear this, the aquarium that was originally was going to be 'for my son' is now and in fact always has been entirely mine, mine, ALL MINE.

The aquarium was cycled without fish, although sadly there were some casualties due to incorrect advice from a large and supposedly reputable LFS not far from us (not the lady with the glasses)  :'( There were still some ups and downs but eventually I established a nice mature tank with generally healthy fish.

Last summer there was a small incident with the aquarium whilst we were away on holiday, involving an open top aquarium, a spray bar that was tilted upwards and water being sprayed out of the tank once the water level dropped below the level of the spray bar... When we arrived home we found the aquarium containing only 20 centimetres of water and the carpet soaked with tank water! Suffice to say the carpet was ruined, but much more importantly all fish survived the ordeal.

However, it did make me think that perhaps it was time to upgrade my tank (of an obscure German make MP Aquarien). After all it was getting on a bit (nearly 15 years old) and the cabinet has the worst design of any cabinet ever designed. And of course it made perfect sense to go for a BIGGER tank :-)

So now I have just set up a lovely Fluval Roma 240 (as well as new carpet in the lounge). Unfortunately I seem to have made a little bit of a hash of the whole tank-move/cycling thing. Also, whilst I have done lots of research on which fish make good community fish, I've only recently realised that our local tap water is a hugely important factor. As a result much of my stock is not really right for my tank :-( Thirdly, I'm hoping to get some rainbow fish soonish and am hoping for some expertise in that area here on ThinkFish. To avoid clogging up this thread, I'll be posting about my many issues (and that's before I've even started on my fish tank....) in the appropriate places.

/wave
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on June 14, 2016, 09:40:18 PM
Hi Mascol, welcome to the forum  :wave:

You've had quite a journey to get here  :)

Ask any questions you want, one of us will probably be able to help.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: fcmf on June 14, 2016, 09:45:51 PM
You're very welcome, Mascol! :wave:

I've thoroughly enjoyed reading your "intro" and particularly chuckled at your comment about the old tank being "mine, mine, ALL MINE". Looking forward to being able to help you out if I can in due course and to read about what fish you ultimately opt to have in that lovely tank.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Paddyc on June 14, 2016, 09:47:48 PM
Welcome, along, Mascol!!

(http://i.imgur.com/DpYj47y.gif)

Loved your background tale, very descriptive and funny  ;D

Looking forward to hearing what you have in the tank(s) at the moment and there's no doubt you'll get any and probably all the assistance you might need on here. It's great to have you  :cheers:

#picsoritdidnthappen
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Littlefish on June 14, 2016, 09:49:28 PM
Hi Mascol and welcome to the forum.  :wave:
So glad you decided to join us. I am all for the "mine, all mine" sentiment when setting up a tank (or two) currently have several Fluval Romas of varying sizes scattered around my living/dining room, along with some smaller tanks. I am very impressed with your fish surviving the holiday/spray bar incident.
Best of luck with your tank and we look forward to trying to help with any questions you have.  ;D
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Littlefish on June 14, 2016, 09:57:16 PM
As for Mark's fish, it's not cheating it's research, especially if you cite sources by telling us how you found out.
And I've already mentioned that I'm nosy, so wanting to know shouldn't be a huge surprise. I try to tell myself the it's not nosy, it's a need for continued education (yeah, right).
My slight downfall it that whenever I look at other fish I get distracted by said other fish, whether they would be suitable for my water, what size tank would I need, and where would I put another tank. It's a tough life.  ;D
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Mascol on June 15, 2016, 12:09:22 AM
Thank you for your kind and welcoming words  :) It's very nice to be here! I've already posted something in the New Fishkeeper forum and will do my best to keep updates flowing - though maybe not at Cora's rate! It's surprisingly interesting to read about other people's aquariums and fish  :))
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on June 15, 2016, 07:15:31 AM
Hello Mascol, and a warm welcome to the forum.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on June 15, 2016, 09:20:40 AM
To keep it all in one place and not clutter up this thread, I have started a new one in General Fishkeeping Chat on the identity of the fish in hampalong's post.
Thread (http://www.thinkfish.co.uk/forums/general-fishkeeping-chat/fisg-identifiction-from-photograph-in-'introduce-yourself'/)


Have fun trying to work it out  ;D
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: HultonD on August 18, 2016, 12:03:09 AM
So after months of planning and research the tank arrives tomorrow! 30 years have passed since my last adventure in the tropical fish hobby. So excited! How things have changed. Cannot wait to get started setting up.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Littlefish on August 18, 2016, 06:20:57 AM
Hi there and welcome to the forum.  :wave:

A new tank is always a very exciting time.  ;D
What tank is it?
Have you decided what sort of fish you want yet?
We love keeping up with what people are doing, so it would be great if you could start a thread about your new tank and keep us updated with lots of chat and photos during your set up.
 ;D
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: ColinB on August 18, 2016, 08:12:21 AM
Hello, HultonD, and welcome to the forum.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: MarquisMirage on November 16, 2016, 12:28:16 AM
Hi, just joined the forum today.

My aquarium story starts with an eight year old girl at a funfair in June who wins a prize at a hook-a-duck stand and looks at me with puppy dog eyes as she selects a 6cm comet goldfish.  So we bought a Superfish Aqua Expert 70l tank.

Many months later my daughter has lost interest in the aquarium but mine has only grown.  The tank now contains 10 WCMM, a dark blue male VT betta, 2 african dwarf frogs, 5 Amano shrimp, 5 assassin snails and a (now controlled) outbreak of pond snails.  They're all very happy and the water is crystal clear.

My wife has an Aquael Shrimp Set Smart 30l which she has aquascaped and contains blue and red cherry shrimp.

I'll be getting a 400l plus tank in January which will be a correctly setup project.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: fcmf on November 16, 2016, 08:05:07 AM
Welcome to the forum, @marquismirage  :wave:

My aquarium story starts with an eight year old girl at a funfair in June who wins a prize at a hook-a-duck stand and looks at me with puppy dog eyes as she selects a 6cm comet goldfish.
As someone with a particular soft spot for goldfish, I do hope there's a happy ending with the comet (eg he's been relocated to and swimming happily round a pond now) but maybe best not tell me if the story had a sad outcome...

Sounds as though you and your wife are really embracing fishkeeping/shrimpkeeping/frogkeeping which is great - quite rare to have two partners both as interested as one another, so well done there.  :)

Your best investment, if you don't already have one, is a good, liquid-based test kit for ammonia, nitrite and nitrates (eg API Masterkit) - this will ensure that you can measure progress through the new, large tank's fishless cycle as well as be able to monitor water quality in all the tanks. Crystal clear isn't necessarily a good indicator - ammonia, nitrite and high nitrates are toxic but invisible, so the only way to know is to use a test kit. Hope that's helpful.

Looking forward to reading how your developments progress - and seeing some pics too in due course.


Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on November 16, 2016, 09:56:36 AM
Hi marquismirage  :wave:

That sounds familiar, only in my case it was two teenaged boys, a dart throwing stall, and 4 goldfish  ;D

And for fcmf's benefit, one goldfish didn't make it through the first night - in a large mixing bowl in undechlorinated water as the boys turned up from the fair late in the evening with the fish. The remaining three grew and grew and next summer were given to someone with a pond.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Littlefish on November 16, 2016, 10:03:16 AM
Hi @marquismirage and welcome to the forum.  :wave:

Great to see the family getting involved with aquatics, and the  way you started appears to be quite a common one.

I always appreciate anyone who gets so invoved that they go from a 70L to a 200L in a matter of months as it makes me look slightly more normal.  ;D
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: MarquisMirage on November 16, 2016, 02:05:21 PM
Thank you all.  All advice is welcome.

fmcf, my wife and I tried really hard to keep the goldfish alive... and succeeded.  We both realised right away the mini tank he was in was a death sentence and got the 70l tank the same day.  Used some chems to clean the water and crossed fingers.  We got a friend for him (a shubunkin) and both lived happily in the tank for two months before being moved to a pond with other goldfish (with permission) where my wife works.  She checks in on them and they're doing fine but currently covered for winter.  That was before the betta and frogs.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on November 16, 2016, 02:13:17 PM
Can I give you a warning about keeping frogs with bettas, something to be aware of. Forewarned is forearmed  :)
I once had a betta with 2 frogs. As you will know, bettas are greedy little things which will eat anything, and frogs have poor eyesight. Shortly after feeding my tank the betta went to look for food on the tank bottom and one of the frogs mistook him for live food. I caught the betta frantically swimming round the tank trying to dislodge the frog which was clamped onto his tail.
I set up my quarantine tank and moved the frogs into that, and spent the next few weeks trying to cure the finrot that took hold of the damaged part of the betta's tail.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: MarquisMirage on November 16, 2016, 06:52:36 PM
My wife wants to transfer the betta to her shrimp tank as the shrimp breed like crazy and the betta can be used for population control.  I'm concerned that the betta may eat all the cherry shrimp given their size.  What do you think?
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on November 16, 2016, 07:01:30 PM
Bettas have very variable personalities. Some will ignore shrimps, others will kill every one they can find. I did once read of a betta that was killed by shrimps - he ate far too many in one sitting and it did him no good at all.

One thing you could try is putting a couple of shrimps in the tank the betta is in now. They will be safe with the other fish in there and the frogs and it will show immediately if he is a shrimp hunter. If he's laid back with them then maybe move him and see what happens.


I have had a series of bettas. Until recently the tank had silk plants which regularly got covered in algae. I would remove the plants every so often and scrub the algae off under the garden tap. On one occasion with my previous betta I managed to get a woodlouse on the plants and it ended up in the tank. The betta went frantic and tried to dismantle the woodlouse. It was only when it played dead that he lost interest. This is the kind of behaviour to watch out for.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: fcmf on November 16, 2016, 08:56:10 PM
fmcf, my wife and I tried really hard to keep the goldfish alive... and succeeded.  We both realised right away the mini tank he was in was a death sentence and got the 70l tank the same day.  Used some chems to clean the water and crossed fingers.  We got a friend for him (a shubunkin) and both lived happily in the tank for two months before being moved to a pond with other goldfish (with permission) where my wife works.  She checks in on them and they're doing fine but currently covered for winter.
Excellent - this lovely story has completely made my day (stifling the lump in throat and watery eyes with joy - I kid you not!). Thanks for sharing this.  :)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Andy The Minion on November 16, 2016, 11:20:18 PM
Woodlice you say @Sue Well that is very logical because they are close relatives of shrimp and ....my grandmother told me they were used in cooking to add a flavour of prawns. Umm yummy Im off to rummage under some logs,  anybody want to try some?
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Matt on November 17, 2016, 06:43:32 AM
 :sick:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Littlefish on November 17, 2016, 01:30:05 PM
Ummmm, no thanks, I'm still a bit full from lunch, but I appreciate the offer. Really I do.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Gazzariff on January 10, 2017, 01:15:15 PM
Hi everyone another newbie hoping to join the ranks, my name is Graham I hail from South Shields and I am currently setting up my first tank 64L in size. No doubt I will be coming on here to pick all your brains in the near future but for now a big HELLO to everyone.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on January 10, 2017, 02:25:39 PM
Hi Gazzariff, welcome to the forum  :wave:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Littlefish on January 10, 2017, 04:02:22 PM
Hi there @Gazzariff and welcome to the forum.  :wave:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: fcmf on January 10, 2017, 07:45:47 PM
Welcome to the forum and fishkeeping, Graham / @Gazzariff  :wave:

Looking forward to hearing from and helping you in due course.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Matt on January 10, 2017, 09:10:08 PM
Hello from a fellow 64litre owner  :)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: fish-friends on January 14, 2017, 11:05:02 PM
Hey, I'm new to the forum and the world of fish, well fish in a tank! I visit Cyprus every summer and love to dive to see how many different fish I can see, I find it so relaxing watching them all swim happily (while trying to stay still so they will come near me)
My son also loves the little fishies he sits still in the water and there are lots of little white fish,
This year he said he'd made a Christmas wish to have his own fish so that's what we have🐠🐠🐠🐠
But I wish I'd of found this site before adding my four flame tetras as clearly fishless cycling is the way to go!!
But now I know and with the help of sue  :)
How to get my water right and daily water changes and testing are really working!
I came to this forum for help and that's exactly what I got! People on here seem very friendly and helpful.
I am looking forward to increasing my fish and learning how to keep them all happy   :fishy1: :fishy1:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: fcmf on January 15, 2017, 08:59:23 AM
2 of the 3 messages removed as this message had been triple-posted.  C:-)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: fish-friends on January 15, 2017, 10:59:21 AM
Yes sorry about that not good with technology!!  :)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: fcmf on January 15, 2017, 02:16:08 PM
No probs at all, and glad you're enjoying the forum. :fishy1:

You've brought back a memory of when I was a young child, enjoying watching those little white fish near the rocks on Spanish beaches when on hols. I used to catch them in a bucket, watch them swimming in there for a while, then let them out back into the sea - unfortunately, I recall that some of them looked a bit worse for wear by the time I set them free again...  :-[
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Ian1962 on August 16, 2017, 02:49:30 PM
 :wave:
 Hi my name is Ian. I'm 54 years of age. I kept tropical fish around 30 years ago for 3 years. It was all different Back then. I came back to fish keeping 8 years ago. I have a Jewel 260 ltr freshwater setup, which is a community tank. I have a reasonable understanding and knowledge of the hobby. I have tried a number of times keeping floating plants, with no success. 2 months ago my tank lighting unit blew. So I changed and bought led lighting unit, and my tank is now open topped. I have now kept floating plants for 2 months and they are showing signs of new growth. So I must be doing something write. I'm always interested to learn more about this fascinating hobby. It just goes to show, an old dog like me can learn new tricks.  :rotfl:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Matt on August 16, 2017, 03:50:37 PM
Hi Ian!  :wave:

I too have had limited success with floating plants. Even duckweed(!) I think I've figured out why though... many species don't like high surface flow from filters which they can easily get sucked towards. In particular they don't much like being submerged by it. I'm just trying a new species (Limnobium Laevigatum) though which I'm giving 3 weeks to show its muscle against my filter and ill then report back.

Which species of floating plants do you have?
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Ian1962 on August 16, 2017, 05:39:36 PM
Hi Matt
  I'm experimenting with Limnobium Laevigatum. Also something a bit different, Hygroryza Aristata which is a water grass, but also a floating plant. It's different in as much as it looks like a stem plant with large narrow leaves. Also Elodia Densa which can be planted as a background plant. But im using it as a floating plant. All are doing well at present. I'm using 8 hours of lighting a day, also dosing with liquid carbon once a day and liquid frets once a week. My fish seem to love them. In time I will pick one I prefer and go with that one plant.
A tip I use is fishing line tied to 2 rubber suckers. Laid across the tank at water level near the filter inlet. It keeps my plants away from the filter.  :cheers:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: fcmf on August 16, 2017, 05:59:11 PM
Welcome, @Ian1962!  :wave: The suspense is too much for me - do enlighten us as to what fish you have in your community tank.  :fishy1:

@Matt - re floating plants, I've responded with some suggestions in the thread with that title.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Matt on August 16, 2017, 06:42:57 PM
I always thought that Hygroryza Aristata looked too big for my 65 ltr. I mean with roots that went too deep and leaves too high up... does that make sense? What do you think?

Possibly a good place excuse to upload a photo of your tank!? @Ian1962
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Littlefish on August 16, 2017, 07:01:22 PM
Hi Ian and welcome to the forum.  :wave:

We'd love to see some pics of your tank.  :)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Ian1962 on August 16, 2017, 08:14:27 PM
Thank you for warm welcome.
Hope photo of my tank works ok, never uploaded photo before.
Current fish in my tank are. 4 sunset Gourami, 6 Cherry barbs, 6 Golden barbs, 4 Rosy tetra, 1 Ruby shark, 4 Lepord Cory. My plants are low tech, Anubias, Crypts, Java fern. I'm quiet pleased with my tank, it gives me many hours of enjoyment.
Sorry I tried to send a photo of my tank, but it won't allow me to send it
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on August 17, 2017, 08:53:42 AM
Hi Ian, welcome to the forum  :wave:

Did you use the attachment button just below the text box? There is a size limit for photos; I've had to resize mine in the past.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Ian1962 on August 17, 2017, 01:07:20 PM
Hi Sue.
Thanks for that info. I'm not up with computer tech. I will try give it ago.
Thanks.  :fishy1:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Aquarius Barbara on August 25, 2017, 12:48:23 AM
Hello  everyone
My name is Barbara I live in Consett County Durham Uk.
I have been pondering for years about setting up an aquarium, I have always like fish though only ever had goldfish, as a child at home the family had them and I was always the one that ended up caring for them even if they weren't mine, then as a wife and mother again ended up caring for them even though they were hubby's and kids.. but I always felt I would like some tropical/marine fish, so now that kids are up and gone (Hubby Still Here  :D  His name is Alan by the way)  I have decided to take action and set up an aquarium.

So hoping to learn lots from this forum and hopefully gain some knowledge in the next few weeks while I buy and set up the tank.

I would love some help on what is the best reading material to help me along the way and if members could kindly point out any good posts to read on the forum for setting up a tank.

Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on August 25, 2017, 08:51:03 AM
Hi Barbara, welcome to the forum  :wave:

I'll reply more fully in this thread https://forums.thinkfish.co.uk/say-a-big-hi!/newbie-hello/msg35102/?topicseen#new
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Littlefish on August 26, 2017, 11:10:16 AM
Hi Barbara and welcome to the forum.  :wave:

Looking forward to hearing about the plans for your tank.  :)
Title: Introduce myself
Post by: Dominique on February 19, 2018, 12:59:21 AM
Hi, my name is Dominique, and I've been in charge of my aquarium for about 6 weeks now and I love it. 

This is my first official foray into fishkeeping.  I have long wanted to have a tank because the library I regularly visit has an enormous one (60 gallons = 227 liters), and I covet the beautiful display they have.  When I was small I had angelfish for a while but I don't really count that.

My tank:  10 gallon (38 liter) tank with 4 white cloud mountain minnows (WCMM).

I test the water and frequently make water changes. On this website I've been looking at the fish community creator tool here.  I also look at the articles which are super-helpful.  Thank you.
 
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Matt on February 19, 2018, 06:39:32 AM
Welcome Dominique  :wave:

Looks like you've made a great start in the hobby  :)  I'm sure we'd all love to see a photo of your tank?

What would your dream aquarium look like?
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: fcmf on February 19, 2018, 07:30:12 AM
Welcome  :wave:

I love white cloud mountain minnows, so would also like to see a photo of your tank.  :)
 :fishy1:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Littlefish on February 19, 2018, 09:20:07 AM
Hi there and welcome to the forum.  :wave:
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Dominique on March 15, 2018, 12:48:21 AM
Hi and many thanks for the friendly welcome by Little fish, Matt, and Fcmf on this network. 
I am continuing happily with my WCMM in my small tank and have both brown /gray variety and the gold (I have since added a few more).
My dream aquarium, Matt asked? Tee hee hee.  I was thinking neon tetras when I bought this mature tank from a college kid (near perfect water, beautifully balanced chemistry, java moss, and 4wcmm).  I've since changed my ambitions to finding a cold water fish that could live with my WCMM and ideally it would be small and blue.  Still looking.  THe near perfect water and balanced chem still are there, so are teh fish, but the java moss is failing I suspect because we have somewhat hard tap water 7.6 - 8.0 in my area.  Maybe brown from something else?

Am trying to post a picture of my tank as requested (thanks for the request!) but the website isn't cooperating w/my image file or vice versa.

Am enjoying reading a lot of good posts on this site and discovering what others care for and think about.
I visit an official aquarists' club on Monday next (Boston aquarium society = BAS) where I will join some people who assemble each month in Boston, MA to talk and play with fish.  Giving it a try.  More on this later!  Take care. 
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Matt on March 15, 2018, 06:59:26 AM
It's likely that your picture is too large... if you reduce the size of it and try again you may have more success!

I'm not sure any of us are fish club members on here...? Interested to hear how that goes...

As for blue cold water fish, I would suggest looking for a blue colour variant of the variatus platy, which its self is a colder water variant of the  'normal' platy.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Slinkymalinky on October 29, 2018, 07:05:44 PM
Hi. I’m totally new to any fish forum. I’ve been keeping fish for a couple years and always find myself searching through answers on the forum so I figured I should finally take the plunge and join one.
I have a 500litre community tank with 3 Bala shark, 1 bristlenose plecostomus, 5 rainbows, few mollies, 2 moonlight and 2 golden gourami, 6 african dwarf frogs, 8 barbs. I did have some clown loach and cardinal tetra also but ich got them when I was on holiday 😢.
Also a 150litre for my 2 angels
and a 28 litre for my Betta.
So 3 tanks in total.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Sue on October 29, 2018, 07:11:22 PM
Hi, welcome to the forum  :wave:

Wow, a 500 litre tank. Picture me green with envy  ;D
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Slinkymalinky on October 29, 2018, 07:26:50 PM
I was super lucky to get the 500litre Sue. My husband looked on Facebook and someone was selling it cheap because the night club it was in had closed down. We got the whole setup really cheap. I was soooo excited 🤗. Would never have been able to afford it otherwise.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: fcmf on October 29, 2018, 07:39:36 PM
Welcome to the forum  :wave:  Very envious of your tanks!  [Wow - a fishtank in a nightclub; poor fish must have been very stressed with all the noise, even indeed any survived very long as a consequence. Glad the tank is being put to better use in someone's home where its inhabitants can enjoy comparatively peaceful surroundings.  :D]

Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Littlefish on October 29, 2018, 09:20:30 PM
Hi there @Slinkymalinky and welcome to the forum.  :wave:

Your tank looks great.  8)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Slinkymalinky on October 29, 2018, 10:04:10 PM
The tank was a marine tank in the club I think judging by the equipment that came with it and salt particles in the filter. It was empty of fish when I got it.  I restocked completely with fresh water fish. Used the old media in a new filter and the substrait from my old 150l with 100l of the water so cycled straight away. That Bala in the middle is 6 inches so my moonlight gourami on the left has surpassed the Bala in size by over an inch ....how crazy is that 😮. I didn’t even think moonlight gourami could get that big. He is the tank boss, even over the plecostomus. Absolutely stunning fish, green/turquoise blue hue over his opal white body with bright orange feelers. ❤️
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: daveyng on October 29, 2018, 10:09:47 PM
Lovely tank and welcome to the forum.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Rustle on October 30, 2018, 06:39:22 AM
Welcome to the forum Dominique & Slinkymalinky  :)
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Matt on October 30, 2018, 07:37:23 AM
Welcome!!! Good looking tank.
Title: Re: Introduce yourself!
Post by: Caroline on June 04, 2023, 01:18:02 AM
Love it  lol xx