beginner

Hello Firstly, let me say hello and thank you for taking the time to read this post! Previously I've had gold fish on 2 occasions, once as a child (in 80s) when I had two fish in an old fashioned fish bowl that lived seemingly happy for 9 years until my Aunt killed them whilst we were on...

Hi, I'm a relatively new member here, but you might have seen me already. I first took an interest in fish tanks this fall, and for my birthday in October my dad's coworker gave me their used 20 gallon. It's been up and running for about 3 months now, and I feel like it's really coming together...

Hi there, I’m new to owning fish so have very little experience. I followed the shop instructions by starting off with 6 neon tetras, then a week later added 4 more then a week after that added a 5 more fish of varying species. I went to do my weekly 1/3 water change and found the nitrate...

I need you guys help badly. I went fish store today and did my water test (water was on my 37 gallon tank been one day and filtered 24 hour) Ph 7.2 Nitrate 0 Kh 40 Nitrite 0 Ammonia 0 Chlorine 1.0 Gh 75 employee told me wait couple more days and after that I can get small kind off fishes. I...

hi, I have a 50 gallon tank, which has been fishless cycled for the past month. I introduced 2ppm ammonia until the water parameters were able to absorb ammonia and nitrite in 24hrs. Then I adjusted to 3ppm (for assurance) and that was successful too. I then added 16 fish to my aquarium on the...

3 days ago I added about 20 RCS to my 10g tank and I was wondering of it's alright to continue adding liquid fertilizer to the tank. I was thinking that about 1/3 of the recommended amount ones every other day should be fine. I have some epiphytes and they need some ferts. It's my first time...

Hey there, I have a 10g tank to which I will add some cherry shrimp. I tried to aquascape it as good as I could and I also added all kinds of plants, moss, floating plants etc. The thing is that I really need to inject co2 with these plants and the tank has a sponge filter at the moment. I...

Hey there! I've darkstarted a new tank about a month ago. I put some used filter media to help out the process a bit. The thing is, I've been doing an ammonia test every week, since it's the only test I have left, and each time the ammonia is at minimum, under 0.05 ppm. There shouldn't really be...

Hello, I'm thinking of getting my first aquarium and want to do it right, I only have room for a 20 gallon unfortunately. I was thinking for the stocking I could get a group of Peacock Gudgeons, a group of American Flagfish, and maybe a bigger center piece fish by itself. What do people think...

Hey there! I'm making a new tank for some shrimp and I wanted to get some thoughts from some more people about the hardscape. Nothing is really glued in place yet, only some rocks are glued to one another.

Hey there, I got some plants from a friend and I want to ID 2 of them if it's possible. I'm not exactly sure if the bigger one is a rhizome plant or not.

I want to get a twinstar for a 10G tank and I'm wandering which one to get. The tank is 40 cm long and I can either get a 30-40cm C-line or a 45-55cm B-line light. The C-line has 1000lumens while the other 1200. I'm thinking that the 1200lm one would be better for the kind of plants I want to...

Hey there. I have a 10G that's been running for about a year and a half. It's also heavily planted. At this poin I don't know what to do because when I started I got 7 panda cories, 5 of them died along the way and I never understood why. My water is 24⁰C (75 F). Nitrite and ammonia are 0...

I’ve was given a tank and filter from a friend. I’ve cleaned it, filled it and ran filter for 3 days then emptied and repeated the process a few times. I’m now at the point of leaving it for a bother couple of weeks before we put the fish in for a Christmas present. It’s a cold water fish setup...

I just got 4 new mollies and 2 cory catfish today and after a few hour this one molly has been staying at the surface for the last 10 minutes. It wont ever leave the surface for any reason and it is the only fish in the tank doing this.I checked the water parameters before i added the fish

Hey there! I wanted to ask if anybody here has used one of the chihiros C line lights. Like the C301, C361. They are quite cheap where I live and I don't have a big budget. If someone has used one of these, are they any good? I'm planning to add red plants to this tank as well.

Hello, I want to make a 5-10g shrimp tankin which I want to put red tiger lotus as a center piece and I was wondering if it is feasible in such a small tank. I know that they can grow quite big and that they use a lot of nutrients so I'm quite skeptical if I can use it or not. I plan to use...

The other day one of my fish died overnight in my established 10 gallon. I tested my waters with the api master kit and my nitrites were off the charts purple. My ammonia is zero and my nitrates are about 5 ppm. My kit is not expired and it reads zero nitrites on my tap water and my 29 gallon...

Hi There - Brand new to fishkeeping and have read a lot online. So I think I know where I went wrong, but need to confirm before I make the same mistake again. We started fishkeeping last spring when my daughter’s 1st grade teacher asked us to keep the classroom goldfish over the summer. The...

Hey guys, I'm more or less new to the hobby. Had fish as a kid, but as far as things go I'm pretty much a beginner. I've done a lot of research into different fish and their needs the past year or so but that doesn't compare to real experience so I thought I'd come ask you nice people for your...

Hi. I'm new to fishkeeping. I currently have 10 Harlequin Rasboras, and it's been stressful. I've had my tank about a month (my tank cycled really quickly due to a presence of nitrates being in my tank water, so it took off pretty quickly). The 4 remaining from the original batch of 6 I bought...

In light of the responses to my first post (https://www.fishforums.net/threads/thinking-about-getting-into-fishkeeping-would-like-estimates-of-the-likely-costs.480202/), as well as some further research, I've been able to nail down what I might start with if I get into fishkeeping slightly more...

Okay so i’ve been cycling my ten gallon tank for about a week. I started with an initial dose of about 3ppm ammonia (looking back probably too high) and waited a couple days. I added a full cap of seachem stability on the first day and have been adding a half cap every day since. By day four...

first time keeper looking for advice!!! planning a ten gal planted aquarium for a betta fish. bought the basics in prep for cycling: 10 gal fluval stratum 8.8 lb test kit flourish tabs gravel vac omega one flakes Fluval 50 watt heater thermometer strip seachem water conditioner Aqueon...

Hello everyone! I have a barely used 10 gallon tank lying around and I want to turn it into a shrimp breeding tank. I have done a fair amount of research into the idea, so I have a good theoretical grasp of the idea. I wanted to come on here to get a practical idea of what to expect. I would...

I recently got 4 blood parrots, and they seemed to really like pushing things around the tank, so I threw in a couple of pebbles, which they like. i’ve been told that these blood parrots like digging sand, and I would like to know which type of sand fits best for these fishes, their ease of...

First time having a community tank/tropical fish, and have already learnt so much in a week, especially from mistakes/bad advice. Stupidly bought 4 Dwarf Gouramis 2 days after getting a tank following the guys advice at the aquarium shop. Told me it would be fine to put fish in there after he...

Hey! My husband and I have just set up our 64l tank and it is currently completing it's fish-less cycle. I have gone on **Advisor to try and figure out a good set up for our first small tank. We are planning on: 6x Guppies 5x Dwarf Cory 1x African Dwarf Frog (Not the clawed kind!) 2x Mystery...

Hey everyone! I hope you’re well :) this is my first post so please be kind! I’ve been reading so much conflicting info about high nitrites and I’m super confused. Im extremely new to keeping fish and I want to get it right! I was told by my local fish shop to cycle my fish tank for 24 hours...

Hi All, I'm thinking of getting the aquastyle 620 tank dimensions are 62cm W x 52cm H x 39cm D. It says the capacity is 90L but when I put it in to Aq advisor it says it's 120L and I'm mega confused. Would this stocking work? My tap water GH is 1-2 and PH is 7.56 - 8.01 2 Dwarf Gourami 6...

Hi everyone, Please note I am an absolute beginner when it comes to fishkeeping. I'm thinking of what size tank I should get and what fish I should get, my water hardiness is soft (33-51ppm). I've done quite a bit of research and have been looking at ideas of fish stocking for community fish so...

Just got my tank established and cycled so I am not running out to do anything immediately but want to plan next steps. I am definitely new to this so I want to keep it simple and hardy to begin. Tank conditions: 20 gallons, pH ~7.5 (trying to get this down), temp ~78 F. Soft water Fish that...

Hello, I am new here and new to the hobby. I know this was a rookie mistake but I went online and bought a 20 gallon tank off someone, wasn't until shortly before I got there that I found out it had fish in it!!! The fish were bagged and the tank was about 80% emptied. I brought it home, set up...

Hi All This is my second attempt at setting up a Nano Freshwater Aquarium. The first was a general disaster thanks to lack of research! I've spent quite a few months planning this one and wanted to share my set up with you all. It's a 20 litre Nano tank, using remineralised RO water...

Hey guys this is my second post and since I received so much help regarding my questions on my first post I want to, once again, come here and ask a question. So I have had my tank for over 3 weeks now with fish in it (was established prior to putting fish in through a fishless cycle with Fritz...

Hi all, I’m new to fish keeping but I’ve been trying to educate myself as much as I can. I’ve set up a SuperFish Home 40l planted heated tank and was wondering what fish you would recommend and how many. I’m leaning towards neon tetra as they seem the easiest to take care of and lovely and...

This is a strange one. I have a smaller 60l tank in my bedroom and it is on the cabinet that is beside my bed. I for a while kept just neon tetras cherry shrimp and peppered corys in it and all was grand at night. However I have very recently added a small bristlenose pleco and now the...

Hi all I am very new into the fish keeping world and I made the horrid mistake of buying a black comet goldfish and a shubunkin a while back (3 years) and they have been kept in a small prison 30L tank which not to my knowledge until recently is far far too small for them. I have actually...

Hi everyone! I am very excited to be part of this group. I started my first tank back in September 2020 and it has been a learning experience to get it up and running. I currently have some mollies, Corys, and red tailed guppy’s. I am hoping to get into some live plants eventually but I don‘t...

Hello, I have only had my tropical fish and the tank for a week now, however in that week some fish have started to go missing. 3 tetras and one guppy have mysteriously vanished with no sign of their bodies (we also checked the filter today with no luck). We have reason to believe they have...