Hello, I Am New To This All And Was Looking For Some Help

[A277]

I got a 35 gallon tank for christmas this year and I came here in hope of getting tips on how to make my fishys live nice and long. so I have a 35 gallon tank, a filter, a light, and a heater. as of yet I dont have any fish however the water has been sitting in there for a few days. anyways is there anything I need prior to getting fish, and any thing I need to do [other then feeding and cleaning to tank] routinely.

thanks,
-A277

 

[JT-SCFC-1912]

Welcome to the forum, first things first you have to decide whether you want to do Fish in cycling or Fish-less cycling, there's a thread here detailing how to do it etc.

Be sure to ask any of the members on here for help they are very helpful!

 

[Wills]

Hi welcome along to the forum and the hobby

Fishless Cycling or Fish In Cycling is not really a choice - just do Fishless, it means a bit of an unorthadox approach to people new to the hobby but it really works and no shops will ever tell you about it. You add in a small amount of household ammonia each day which simulates the harmful chemicals fish poo creates and it gets the tank into a stable situation for fish to be added - down side is it takes a few weeks to do it and means no fish in the tank for this period but for the long term life of the tank this is the best option.

Heres a good section on thsi forum that is not always that easy to find

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/277264-beginners-resource-center/

Read through the Fishless Cycling article and also the Nitrogen Cycle which will help explain why we need to do the cycle.

Have you had a think about any fish for your tank yet?
A few good sites for you to look at are

seriouslyfish.com
planetcatfish.com

Both are great sites with good profiles.

One tip when you do start getting fish, try not to impulse buy and dont always trust shop assistants as you can sometimes end up with small fish that will grow into monsters. Avoid any fish that are silver and called sharks just skip them, bala sharks, iridescant sharks, blue sharks all are just problematic - some fish termed as sharks are okay though and most other silver fish are good as well lol but these fish always cause issues.

Hope thats helped

Wills

 

[Flute]

Hey A277! Welcome to the forums

I would strongly suggest you go for a fishless cycle- much easier in the long run! Fishless cycles take about 4-6 weeks to complete, but are well worth the wait. You can read about how to go about it here. Fish IN cycles take just as long, but are a lot more hard work because you have to do multiple large daily water changes until the Ammonia and Nitrite levels (both very toxic to fish) stabilise out at a constant 0 ppm. If you have fish in an uncycled tank and don't do these daily water changes you will very quickly have sick and dying fish.

Get yourself a liquid test kit, (they're about £20 online) as it'll make setting up your tank a lot easier because you'll be able to keep an eye on everything. Always research your fish depending on tank size, pH and water hardness, and fish compatibility before buying. Impulse bought fish may look nice, but often cause lots of problems later on. Always observe fish in the shop before buying to ensure that they are healthy and without illness or injury.

If you click on the link in my signature it'll take you to the Beginners Resource Centre, where you can read about all the different aspects to fish keeping.

:Edit: Wills beat me to it

 

[A277]

Thanks for all the help, I read about it and I think I am ready to start cycling the tank (fishless of course). so once again thanks and hopefully see you around

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Welcome.

 

[the_lock_man]

Thanks for all the help, I read about it and I think I am ready to start cycling the tank (fishless of course). so once again thanks and hopefully see you around

Chances are you're going to have loads of questions. Don't feel silly, just ask them - the only silly question is the one you don't ask.