# New to the fish world.



## Strongbad (Dec 7, 2010)

Hi all. I am new to the world of fish. My 5 year old wanted a fish and a friend gave me a 40 Gall and 29 Gal tank with all the fixings. I started with the 29 gal tank. Filled it and let it sit a week. Checked the ammonia levels and added some bio stuff that for good bactiera. Kept testing for a few weeks till it got to 0. Then did a 70% water change and added a few fish. and one plant.

After a few weeks I now have 2 gold swords , 6 black Tetras , 6 Zebra Danos and one Gold Molly.

To tell you the truth I dont have a CLUE what I am doing. I am in the dark and till I started looking around today had no clue things are so complicated. Luck has gotten me this far but I hope some knowldge will get me even farther.

I would like to get some more real plants because I like the looks of them. The pet shop guy said I dont need to plant them in media if I dont want them to grow fast so the one plant I got is in a bundle of Anacharis just anchored in the rocks.

I also would like to get a couple Angelfish but at 15-20 a pop I want to make sure my tank is rock solid and I and I have a few months under my belt before I start killing off big money fish.

Well thats my story. So far I havent killed anything but as a noob my fish are one mistake away.


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## Strongbad (Dec 7, 2010)

Quick pic of the tank.


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## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

Hey, great to hear you're getting into the hobby! I've been keeping fish for ~14 years now, started when I was 12, and I had no clue what I was doing back then too. I'll give you the scoop to the best of my knowledge:

Nitrogen Cycle: MUST KNOW
Excess fish food, fish waste, rotting plant leaves, etc. = mulm (sp?). Decomposition of mulm leads to ammonia, which is bad for fishes. Bacteria in the tank converts ammonia to nitrite, which is also harmful to fishes, and additional bacteria turns nitrite into nitrate. Nitrate accumulates in your tank, fish aren't harmed by it unless there is a lot in your tank (+40ppm), and 2 ways to get rid of it are partial water changes (PWC's), and plants. Vacuuming gravel helps get rid of a lot of the mulm, but if you're going to be keeping live plants the plants don't like having their roots disturbed.

Live plants lower stress levels on fish as well because they make the tank much more natural and give much better hiding places for the fish. Plants consume ammonia, nitrate, and nutrients from fish waste left in the gravel. They consume CO2 in the water and produce O2, except at night when they do the reverse. Plants need good lighting and good undisturbed substrate like sand to get along well, but most varieties are very hardy and won't die easily. You can keep plants in polished gravel tanks if you provide root tablets for supplements and don't vacuum the gravel often.

For starting out with the equipment you've got, stick to low-light plants (any online aquarium store will categorize them as such). Do weekly PWC's of 25% to 50% (I do 50%), test your water at least once weekly with 5-in-1 test strips, and the amount of live plant matter in your tank should be inversely proportional to the amount you vacuum the gravel (but ONLY after your tank is established and you've added all your fish and plants).


Most of us nerds have invested in some sort of CO2 injection system, very expensive and powerful lighting, and have feeding routines for our plants that are just as involved (if not more so) than feeding our fish. The result is our tanks look more like underwater jungles and we are able to support some very delicate plant life in our tanks. I'm also probably not saying half of what I just told you correctly, which my friends here will correct I'm sure  Hope this helps, and shoot us any and all questions you may have!


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## Lil Gashog (Dec 1, 2010)

How do you do partial water changes?:S


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## Strongbad (Dec 7, 2010)

Lil Gashog said:


> How do you do partial water changes?:S


 A simple siphon gravel vac thing I got at the pet store. Then I put tap water with a conditioner back into the tank.

Am I on the right track?

I hope to get good enough at this stuff to do some Angle and Discus stuff.


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## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

PWC's are relatively easy, save for lugging the water around. Here's what you will need:

1-4 5 Gallon Homer Buckets from Home Depot (or a similar large-volume bucket that is CLEAN). Don't make the mistake of doing what I did last year - thinking you can get away with using your mop bucket to do PWC's. Have buckets that you buy clean and use ONLY for your PWC's.

Siphon with gravel vacuum. These are obtained from any store which has a fish section like PetsMart, PetCo, WalMart, or your local pet store. This is basically a length of clear plastic tubing with a wide-diameter plastic fitting on one end. This plastic end is what you push into the gravel and move around - it will suck up water and mulm but heavier particles like gravel and sand won't be sucked up.

Water dechlorinator (i.e. API Tap Water Conditioner) - MUST HAVE or chloramine from the tap water will kill your fish.

Various chemicals such as pH buffers (SeaChem Neutral Regulator), Stress Zyme, Stress Coat, API Aquarium Salt, etc. are sometimes useful but honestly aren't worth your money. pH from your tank and tap should actually be very close to each other. Stay with a dechlorinator and you'll be fine.

Procedure - turn off all electrical aquarium stuff - easy to do if you've got it all on a surge protector, just flip the breaker switch. Put a bucket on the floor at the foot of the tank, insert gravel vacuum into the tank and suck on the other end of the tube, then lower end of tube into bucket to start the siphon action. To vacuum the gravel, push the vacuum end into the gravel and move it around. You'll get massive clouds of brown crap - the mulm - which float up into the tube. Occasionally a small fragment of substrate will get up in there and clog the tube, just drain the tube, clear the blockage, and restart the siphon. You'll know when you've vacuumed enough when the clouds of mulm are at a minimum.

Keep in mind you need to vacuum the whole tank and you're only siphoning out at most half of the water in the tank - more than half is necessary only in the event of disease and medication, or something equally Earth-shattering for your fish. So if you've got a 10 gallon tank, in the time it takes to fill 1 Homer Bucket you need to canvas the entire floor of the tank. Also, don't worry about moving structures, and don't worry about the areas immediately surrounding plants - as stated before, their roots are better left alone.

After the tank is emptied use the same bucket and fill it with tap water. Sticking your hand in the tank and then in the tap water to get the right temperature of tap water is generally good enough to get them within a few degrees of each other. Dechlorinate the water in the Homer Buckets - DO NOT add the dechlorinator directly to the tank, or you won't get the mixing action and there will still be some chorine in the water. Fill the buckets and SIPHON the water back into the tank - don't dump it in all at once or you might shock your fish. I generally prop the Homer Bucket with the new tank water on the corner of the tank to siphon it back in (which is stupid, because one day I'm going to dump it all over my room!), but placing the bucket anywhere that is higher than the water level in the tank will siphon everything out of the bucket into the tank.

One last note:
If you're changing filter media and/or overhauling your aquarium hardware for cleaning, do it in the dirty tank water in the Homer Bucket before you dump it down the drain. Soak all filter media thoroughly in the dirty tank water, especially carbon for your filter, or you will flood your tank with black carbon dust and other unwanted stuff.

Short example & procedure using my 30 gallon tank:
1. Turn off all electrical stuff.
2. Start siphoning/gravel vacuuming/hardware overhauling (2 Homer buckets for my tank, 10 gallons).
3. Change filter media, wash in old tank water which is in the buckets.
4. Dump old water, fill buckets with new water.
5. Dechlorinate (and add other chems, if applicable) while buckets are filling. Use hands to approximate temperature.
6. Siphon water back into tank.


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## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

And Strongbad - you're doing the right thing for sure. Just make sure you're not dechlorinating the tank, dechlorinate the water you add to the tank


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Had to smile at the pic...looks as if your fish are putting on a parade or something - all lined up. Must've known it was picture day.


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