Hello From New Brunswick, Canada! :)

[BlueOrchide190]

Hello there!

 
I've got a couple questions to ask that motiviated me into making this account, but I figured I'd pop in here and first introduce myself! My name is Christina, and I'm from a small hub-city in New Brunswick, Canada. I have just a 5 gallon fish tank so far that I've had for about 3 weeks. Mainly, I got it for my son (he's 32 months old) because he LOVES fish! But I've definitely found myself kind of in love with it as well!

It's somewhat rewarding to have the little tank, with all it's plants and little fishy friends inside

Very relaxing, haha. I had a tank full of guppies when I was a child, so I had at least an inkling of what to do and expect when taking on this responsibility.
 

In my current tank, I have these little guys: 1 neon tetra, 1 black neon tetra, 1 serpae tetra, and 1 silver tip tetra. It's really neat how even though they're different, all the tetras mostly stick/group together. With them, I also have 1 blue mickey mouse platy, and 1 other platy that I can't remember the name of, but it looks like this: https/encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSb81ftrJpDyaaYBdySYnlUOez-kQUCZ099fbPHUqUJ0V3bX5MY . Both platies are female.
 
Anyway, that's my fishy-back-story. We love them very much

I guess I'll be chatting with some of you at some point very soon! Now, I'm off to bombard you with questions

 
Take care, all!
 
Sincerely, your new member,
Christina (aka - BlueOrchide190)

 

[the_lock_man]

Welcome to the forum.
 
I'm glad you've been bitten by the bug too. There's a few things wiuth your stocking, but hey, you don't want to hear about that yet - this is just the Welcome section

 

[ech0o]

Welcome to the forum.
 
I'm glad you've been bitten by the bug too. There's a few things wiuth your stocking, but hey, you don't want to hear about that yet - this is just the Welcome section

 
As the lock man stated, you might have a couple of issues, but this is the welcome section and we welcome you!   I am new to fishkeeping as well with a 5g tank, about a month in and LOVING it lolol (expensive habit) 

 

[BlueOrchide190]

Thanks for the welcome!!

x
 
Don't worry about limiting yourselves; I'd like to hear what you have to say (as long as it's not rude!). What are the issues I'm having? I have a guess, and that would be that I have only one of 4 different kinds of tetra, and no doubles of each or something. The whole schooling thing. I've been wondering about that, too, but it's just how it is for now. Eventually I plan to upgrade to at least a 10 gallon tank. But this is what I have for now

Anyway, please let me know your thoughts! I want my sons fish to live long and be happy!

 
PS- Yes! A very lovely but expensive habit!

haha ~ Worth it though in my opinion. The Hubby's? Not so much, lol

 

[the_lock_man]

Well since you mention it....

Yes the tetras really need to be in 6s of each.

Just what you have now is too much for even a 10g tank. Further down the forum is a section called Nano Tanks. There is a list of species in there that wre suitable.

 

[ech0o]

Yea tetras generally dart around quite a bit, I have 3 neons in my tank but they are merely short term inhabitants and no larger than 1/2", and they still act like they desire more room and more company.  The mix of tetras I am not experienced with, but generally a rule of thumb while stocking a tank is no more than 1" of fish per gallon of water, although I often stock slightly over that amount with good filtration (10 times the tank volume per hour).    5 gallon tanks are generally reserved for fish that don't require a lot of swimming space, I would definitely get a bigger tank ASAP!