Casper's Brand New House

[argoma]

Hi everyone,
as I've been announcing for so long (probably since August), I got a new tank. An actual tank. It is the biggest tank I've ever had and I'm amazed (altought, it is mostly empty).
I wanted to buy a big tank where I could keep many tropical fish and since I'm aware that most tropical fish need tanks bigger than 10 gallons, I had my eyes on a 13 gallon glass tank with zero equipment.
Today I went to the shop, which is something like Petsmart but with more stuff for agriculture and less stuff for pets, and there was a 18 gallon kit with everything I needed as a starter for very cheap. After a lot of thinking and arguing between me and my dad, I finally made up my mind and bought the tank.
Fully equipped tank had a heater, a huge filter, two lights (one bluish, one pinkish), water conditioner, bacteria starter, tropical fish food and a manual.
All I bought was a magnet algae remover and natural gravel.
I didn't have enough money in my budget to buy any more deco so it's pretty empty right now.
My setup was ready and everything going well so I let it to rest for about two hours.
I just arrived home from a walk and put Casper in a floating little thing to acclimatize. He's been there for an hour now and I've been adding tank water slowly.
I tested my water at a store I came by during my walk and everything is as good as it could possibly be.
I still have to buy a test kit and more deco, but for now we're all good!
As soon as I release him in the tank, I'll take more pics and post everything here.
I will be updating this journal each time I have new decoration, new plants, new fish or any news really.
Hope you enjoy!

 

[Blondielovesfish]

Yay on getting the bigger tank!
 
Pics?
 
Until you get your test kit, do daily water changes of about 50%, to make sure that the ammonia stays low enough not to kill Casper.
 
What sort of filter did you have on your old tank? Have you moved the media from your old filter to your new one?

 

[argoma]

Yay on getting the bigger tank!
 
Pics?
 
Until you get your test kit, do daily water changes of about 50%, to make sure that the ammonia stays low enough not to kill Casper.
 
What sort of filter did you have on your old tank? Have you moved the media from your old filter to your new one?

 
I didn't have a filter on my old tank so I'm starting fresh.
 
I'm uploading pics in a second.

 

[Blondielovesfish]

Okay. Try to get that test kit ASAP so you can monitor the cycle
 
Looking forward to pics!

 

[argoma]

Acclimatizing:

 
Curious and trying to fight the reflection:

 

 

 

 
the marimo:

 
final product for now:

 
Excuse the bad quality.
Casper seems to be enjoying his new house as much as me.
Need to do some alterations in the filter so that I can get a flow so I'll turn off the filter for the night.
I'm also having problems with the heater, it is very good and the water is very warm close to the top of the water but much cooler close to the gravel. He doesn't seem to mind at all, he keeps swimming around, up and down, so lovely. But I'm concerned, can I do anything to change this? Could it be the lack of flow of my filter at the moment?
 
Quick edit:
Casper keeps flaring at his reflection and at the silicon. Will this pass? Is it dangerous?

 

[Blondielovesfish]

Casper seems to be enjoying his new house as much as me.
Need to do some alterations in the filter so that I can get a flow so I'll turn off the filter for the night.
I'm also having problems with the heater, it is very good and the water is very warm close to the top of the water but much cooler close to the gravel. He doesn't seem to mind at all, he keeps swimming around, up and down, so lovely. But I'm concerned, can I do anything to change this? Could it be the lack of flow of my filter at the moment?
 
Quick edit:
Casper keeps flaring at his reflection and at the silicon. Will this pass? Is it dangerous?

 
Casper is probably just getting used to the new tank, the flaring should die down soon.
 
He certainly looks like he appreciates the extra space!
 
The water temp should balance out when the filter is working properly. Have you measured the temperature at the bottom of the tank as well as the top? Or are you just judging with your hand?
 
The tank looks a bit empty, but I'm when you buy some plants it will fill up nicely!
Speaking of plants, are you going to use live ones for this tank? I'm sure Casper would appreciate them!
A nice piece of driftwood would look great in there, you could maybe attach an anubias onto it!

 

[argoma]

 

Casper seems to be enjoying his new house as much as me.
Need to do some alterations in the filter so that I can get a flow so I'll turn off the filter for the night.
I'm also having problems with the heater, it is very good and the water is very warm close to the top of the water but much cooler close to the gravel. He doesn't seem to mind at all, he keeps swimming around, up and down, so lovely. But I'm concerned, can I do anything to change this? Could it be the lack of flow of my filter at the moment?
 
Quick edit:
Casper keeps flaring at his reflection and at the silicon. Will this pass? Is it dangerous?

 
Casper is probably just getting used to the new tank, the flaring should die down soon.
 
He certainly looks like he appreciates the extra space!
 
The water temp should balance out when the filter is working properly. Have you measured the temperature at the bottom of the tank as well as the top? Or are you just judging with your hand?
 
The tank looks a bit empty, but I'm when you buy some plants it will fill up nicely!
Speaking of plants, are you going to use live ones for this tank? I'm sure Casper would appreciate them!
A nice piece of driftwood would look great in there, you could maybe attach an anubias onto it!
 

 
I'm meausring the temperature with a thermometer and also did with my hand. Right now I've got a flow and by hand it is all the same temp. I've fixed the problem with the filter and everything should be fine now. I don't know if the flow is too strong for him but he seems to enjoy it, hope so!
 
About deco, I'm going to buy some live plants soon. Probably those that are easy to care for just because I'm beginner and driftwood too or some rock, we'll see. Is driftwood expensive? I haven't had time to look into prices for that.

 

[Blondielovesfish]

It depends on where you buy it.
Try having a look at some local water ways for some driftwood, I've found many nice pieces there!

 

[ReiRei]

 

 


Casper seems to be enjoying his new house as much as me.
Need to do some alterations in the filter so that I can get a flow so I'll turn off the filter for the night.
I'm also having problems with the heater, it is very good and the water is very warm close to the top of the water but much cooler close to the gravel. He doesn't seem to mind at all, he keeps swimming around, up and down, so lovely. But I'm concerned, can I do anything to change this? Could it be the lack of flow of my filter at the moment?
 
Quick edit:
Casper keeps flaring at his reflection and at the silicon. Will this pass? Is it dangerous?

 
Casper is probably just getting used to the new tank, the flaring should die down soon.
 
He certainly looks like he appreciates the extra space!
 
The water temp should balance out when the filter is working properly. Have you measured the temperature at the bottom of the tank as well as the top? Or are you just judging with your hand?
 
The tank looks a bit empty, but I'm when you buy some plants it will fill up nicely!
Speaking of plants, are you going to use live ones for this tank? I'm sure Casper would appreciate them!
A nice piece of driftwood would look great in there, you could maybe attach an anubias onto it!
 

 
I'm meausring the temperature with a thermometer and also did with my hand. Right now I've got a flow and by hand it is all the same temp. I've fixed the problem with the filter and everything should be fine now. I don't know if the flow is too strong for him but he seems to enjoy it, hope so!
 
About deco, I'm going to buy some live plants soon. Probably those that are easy to care for just because I'm beginner and driftwood too or some rock, we'll see. Is driftwood expensive? I haven't had time to look into prices for that.
 


 
A good plant would be Amazon Swords. Just a few would fill up the tank nicely But yeah, plants will make him happy.
Don't worry about flaring. It might last a few days, but he'll stop! Its just his reflection All my Fighters did it on their first time in their tanks

 

[argoma]

So I bought some plants! They had very little amount of plants in the LFS so I too the five ones that looked like they were in better shape.
As I mentioned in a post I made today, the LFS lady took a fish together with one of the plants and I only realised when I was home already. I didn't pay for it but now I have to return ou find a way cause I can't keep it.
Here are some photos of the tank at the moment.
 

This photo up here is only to show the different tanks I have. The tiny tiny one was Casper's first tank, it's a 0,98 gallon. Casper and the marimos were there while I was doing everything in the tank. I soon upgraded for a 2,5 gallon tank, which is where the plants were for treatment for an hour with tank water already. And the 18 gallon on top.
 

Here is the final result after planting, refilling and putting Casper back in there. It's still pretty empty.
 
 

Casper enjoying it.
 

I don't know if you can see that thingy back there on top of the water, it is one of those tiny plants that float on top of the water. Also may have come with the other plants by accident but I'm glad it did, it's so cute.
 
Okay so my dad just told me he may have some rocks that I can put in there. I'm going to dip them for the night in water, tomorrow boil them and give it try. We'll see.

 

[Blondielovesfish]

The plants look great!
 
What was the fish accidentally caught? If you don't know what it is, upload a picture of it and we'll be able to identify it
 
The 18G looks massive next to those other tanks!

 

[argoma]

The plants look great!
 
What was the fish accidentally caught? If you don't know what it is, upload a picture of it and we'll be able to identify it

 
The 18G looks massive next to those other tanks!

I uploaded a pic in my other post about that and it's a Skunk Loach. I'm going to try to find a house for it or return it to the LFS tomorrow.
 
It really does, in real life it looks really big and oh I'm so happy about it!

 

[Blondielovesfish]

Forgot to add, DO NOT BOIL THE ROCKS, rocks can contain air pockets and when boiled, some will explode.
Just pour boiling water over them and let them soak.
 
Glad you're happy with the tank!

 

[argoma]

Forgot to add, DO NOT BOIL THE ROCKS, rocks can contain air pockets and when boiled, some will explode.
Just pour boiling water over them and let them soak.
 
Glad you're happy with the tank!

I was just going to soak them for some seconds

 

[Fishmanic]

what plant is the 3rd pic up from the bottom of your pics?   does is need a lot of light and ferts and co2?---looking for a background plant for my tank