Hey! Newcomer Introduction

[MamaDobble]

Hello!

My name is Christine and I am new to the Tropical Fish world.
I have been reading books on fish-keeping and am attempting to plan out a 50 gallon tank that I will be getting fairly soon.
I am attempting to learn all that I can learn before actually buying any fish, and I don't plan to buy my first fish for at least another 6 months.
Call me crazy, but I want this tank to be 100% planned and I want an ecosystem pretty well established beforehand. If I can keep plants alive in a tank, then I will move on to fish. I am not interested in a community or display tank, but a private tank for myself. We have three kids under 5 and a 10 gallon tank for them.. The 50 gallon tank is just for my husband and I. Eventually I would like to breed fish, but that is a different matter altogether. For now I will continue to learn and grow, building a beautiful tank, one piece at a time.

I am here to establish a connection with fish-keepers near and far, as well as to learn more about the art.

Any and all advice, opinions and words of encouragement are more than welcome.

As a side note...

So far, I am leaning towards creating a Pleco tank. I am not absolute, though.

Thanks for reading!
-Christine

 

[eli3000]

Welcome,

try not to take fish keeping too seriously, its supposed to be fun, no need to plan and prepare for 6 months. all that you need is to buy the tank, filter, gravel, and chemicals. clean gravel, add water and get filter running along with heater then cycle the water for 2 weeks, then add plants, wait another 2 weeks, and then fish.

 

[Malawi MaD]

Welcome to the forum i like your enthusiasm and how well you plan thats a good sign

 

[MamaDobble]

I have to take it seriously or I won't take it seriously at all, if that makes sense! Haha
We have a 10 Gal tank for the kids as mentioned and that was not planned at all. Started with a Black Moor and a Common Pleco, and off we go. I haven't even sprouted plants in the tank yet! I feel unprepared and started stressing over not having an airstone today. The more I plan, the less my anxiety will take hold of me.. The less I will feel like my fish are being tortured (like right now) and the less I will feel like a tool.

I can't wait to get deeper into this. I have not been so excited since I birthed my boys. Haha

 

[Tolak]

Welcome to TFF! If you already have an established tank running you can use some of the media from that filter to jump start the cycling process. Your choice of plants may be limited in a plec tank, many being vegetarians they will see them as a tasty snack.

I really don't do plants, as most of my tanks are bare bottom, designed for breeding, but I'll bring this topic to the attention of one of our more knowledgeable planted members.

 

[MamaDobble]

Well as I said, I am not 100% sold on the Pleco tank yet.. I am going to work up a post that would describe my ideal tank and either attach it to this post, or create a new one. Maybe I should just put it in my "About Me" section. That way, anyone who is interested can always view that.
I really appreciate all of the welcomes, and I appreciate you, Tolak, forwarding my post to great sources

 

[minnnt]

Welcome aboard Christine. You will find everything that you need on this site... and more!

Like Tolak said, you could seed your new filter with some of the filter media from your 10 gallon tank. Also have a look at the fishless cycle threads that are knocking about all over the place. Also, as regards to plants, you will need to dose fertiiser for them to stay healthy if you're not stocking any fish once the tank has cycled as plants get alot of the nutrients they need to grow from fish waste. Also, plants may slow down the cycling process as they will consume some of the ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. You should also decide whether you want a high tech planted setup which includes setting up pressurised co2 injected into the tank or dosing liquid carbon such as flourish excel and dosing fertilisers, usually with higher light input, or a low tech setup which basically relies on fish waste and more standard lighting. This choice will also determine what kind of plants you can stock as some require more care than others.

Good starter plants are Anubias, Java Fern, Mosses, Cryptocoryne and Vallis.

A Pleco tank sounds nice, but you will need some other fish in there as you probably won't see the Pleco's alot and you may come bored of the tank. If going planted then a nice sized shoal (say 15) of something like a smaller rasbora such as the Harlequin or Espei or a small Tetra like Neon, Cardinal, Glowlight, Silver Tip, Rummy Nose, Blue, Pristella etc.

 

[MamaDobble]

Thank you for all of those tips, minnnt!
I cannot describe how grateful I am for them. I am looking into everything that you have mentioned in your post now.

 

[laura120381]

hi christine and welcome to the forum! there is no substitute for thorough research and planning! it is great to see someone that is serious about researching and creating the perfect environment for their fish!!

L

 

[ian]

Just to reiterate on what Minnt has said regarding plec proof plants...Anubias and Ferns are the best way forward in a plec tank. Apparently they taste bitter and plecs won't touch em.

welcome BTW

 

[colleen0309]

Good afternoon and welcome to the forum!