Finally A Decent Photo Of My Tank

[WrestlingFan]

Sorry about not being able to post first photo of my tank. I thought it did post, but anyhow, here is the picture of it. I am going out today to get some starter tropical fish, to get the cycle going. I still cant believe I only paid 150 for everything including stand not sure how to resize the photo. I apologize for it being so large.

 

[Assaye]

Good size, what are you planning to stock it with? How big is it?

Out of interest, why are you opting to cycle with fish rather than do a fishless cycle? A fishless cycle is safer for the fish and much less work for you as it doesn't require the daily water changes the fish-in cycle will need.

 

[WrestlingFan]

Well I had my neighbors water in it for about two weeks, the guy told me I can get a few tetra fish to finish the rest of the cycle process. (he told me it would help the process)
since its almost done anyway, he told me it takes roughly 2 to 3 weeks to cycle. I am clueless on what type to stock it with, it is a 55 gallon.
I would like some suggestions on stock for it. I want all colorful fish.

 

[Sean W.]

hmm.. thats still a pretty crappy picture...


to get a good picture...


Turn your tank light on
turn the room lights off
turn the flash off on your camera
and take the picture...

 

[Always Learning]

Wow, moving up in the world Sean. From telling everyone to 'get a background', you're now onto photography. Top marks.

 

[always4lora]

Well I had my neighbors water in it for about two weeks, the guy told me I can get a few tetra fish to finish the rest of the cycle process. (he told me it would help the process)
since its almost done anyway, he told me it takes roughly 2 to 3 weeks to cycle. I am clueless on what type to stock it with, it is a 55 gallon.
I would like some suggestions on stock for it. I want all colorful fish.

Having your neighbours water in the tank will do nothing as far as cycling go's , for cycling you need to be providing the Filter with a source of ammonia which water is not going to do... remebver your' cycling the filter not the water Check the stickies on the site that go into Cycling.

hmm.. thats still a pretty crappy picture...


to get a good picture...


Turn your tank light on
turn the room lights off
turn the flash off on your camera
and take the picture...

I do this to get all mine, depending on the type of camera have a play around with the White balance settings too, most DSLR's will have settings for differernt sorts of lights.

 

[WrestlingFan]

hmm.. thats still a pretty crappy picture...


to get a good picture...


Turn your tank light on
turn the room lights off
turn the flash off on your camera
and take the picture...

hmmm I dont think a photo has to be "perfect" in order to view a photo. I personally think it looks fine.
As long as it is viewable, than who am I hurting?

 

[betta fish]

The photos fine, it shows us what we need to see I do hope you are going to plant it up though, it will help the fish feel more comfortable as it is a large tank.

 

[WrestlingFan]

Yeah I will be doing that, and the guy at the store told me live plants help the fish with there oxygen.

 

[ian]

hmm.. thats still a pretty crappy picture...


to get a good picture...


Turn your tank light on
turn the room lights off
turn the flash off on your camera
and take the picture...

this coming from David Bailey.

 

[emmettbaby]

If you want colorful fish, may I suggest cichlids? The mbunas are probably the most vividly colorful fish I have ever seen. But they can be VERY aggressive, so you need to do your research and ask lots of questions in the cichlid sections. Cichlids aren't the fish you can just go out and impulse buy, you need a plan and stock list. Otherwise you could do what I accidentally did and buy the most aggressive and the most docile types of mbuna and have them kill each other by starvation (with food in the tank!) I'm no expert on cichlids so I'm not sure which fish your tank can hold but its probably quite a few.

But these fish can also be on the expensive side. So you definitely want to cycle your tank completely first, otherwise you're throwing your money away!

And I think the picture's fine.

 

[Sean W.]

Wow, moving up in the world Sean. From telling everyone to 'get a background', you're now onto photography. Top marks.

im jusst sayyyin

 

[Assaye]

Well I had my neighbors water in it for about two weeks, the guy told me I can get a few tetra fish to finish the rest of the cycle process. (he told me it would help the process)
since its almost done anyway, he told me it takes roughly 2 to 3 weeks to cycle. I am clueless on what type to stock it with, it is a 55 gallon.
I would like some suggestions on stock for it. I want all colorful fish.

Having mature water won't help your cycle much at all - in fact, there isn't really such a thing as "mature water" because the vast majority of the bacteria you want to grow are in the filter and not the water. Even if you did have mature water (so you got a little bit of good bacteria from your friend's tank water) it will all have died in the two weeks that you didn't have any fish waste in the tank.

Remember, the bacteria needs ammonia all the time to stay alive. It will starve very quickly. It is also incorrect that a typical cycle takes 2-3 weeks. Most cycles take about 6 weeks, although there are ways to cut this time down.

To cycle the tank you need an ammonia source. Ammonia is found in fish wee and is what the bacteria eat. Please have a read of the resources on cycling here before you get some fish. There are two main methods to consider - fishless and fish-in. A fish-in cycle will expose the fish to their own waste which will damage their health if the cycle is not conducted very carefully.

This isn't always the case but very often we as a community on TFF know more about cycling and maintaining a fish tank than people that work in shops (and often more than shop owners). This is because many people that work in shops are poorly trained, or trained to sell lots of stock rather than make sure each fish is properly card for, or because they have not kept up with the developments in the fish keeping world.

 

[stiddy]

If you want colourful fish try looking at rainbows, they pretty easy too look after as well. And in 90% of cases they wont be aggressive, how ever one of my New Guinea Rainbow fish got a little aggressive with the Dwarf Neon Rainbowfish. But he's now in a better place. Back at the LFS in their display tank of mature rainbow fish.

 

[Evobe]

Always go with neon tetras m8, greatest fish evaaaar!!!
but as you get more experienced with fish keeping Cichlids are really interesting fish GL m8!

Oh and about plants you should start with some java moss and java fern, they are very easy to keep !