Hi there, I'm new to the hobby

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Alina

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Nov 2, 2019
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West Virginia
Hello, I am Alina and brand new to the hobby.

My husband grew up with fish and wanted to get my son a pet, a male betta fish in a fish bowl. It immediately became my responsibility and I am trying to do our new family members well, but one problem. I know Jack squat. I have upgraded to a 10 gallon tank and we were told tank mates would be good. So now we also got 6 green emerald cory catfish. Wich we were also told are algea eaters.

Now I am understanding that green cories can get 3 inches long, not algea eaters, needs minimum 20 gallon long aquarium and a male betta should be alone in a tank. So come tax season I am planning on buying a 20 gallon long aquarium with full spectrum timer LED and aqua clear hob filter with foam, quilt batting and ceramic bio media, which I have already stocked up on and cycled so I can seed the new aquarium. I also want real plants, half carpet and a couple algea eaters. And as of right now that is as far as I've got.

I have test strips, unfortunately can't get the master kit just yet, Bill season. But how unreliable can the strips be? If they show me a cycled tank, could it be wrong and I am still exposing them to toxins?
 
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Current tank
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Current readings using strips
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Future plans for 20 gallon tank
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You're doing just fine. That ten gallon will be good for quite a while. Moving up to the ten gallon was a very smart move. The six catfish will be OK for a long time in there. Stick with the ten for a while and read up on aquariums and fish keeping. Don't go off the deep end over reacting to every small perceived error. This is a simple hobby if you know the basics. Watch your fish and enjoy the tank.
 
Thank you!
Its a lot more fun then I first thought, specially when the fish actually have a personality. Like my betta, he is a photo bomber and so curious, he'll swim up and take the food right out of my hand.

I got my first live plant, glued it to cholla wood. A lot harder then it looks like so now I got ugly white glue all over the wood. But unless I magically kill it, it will eventually be covered I guess.. And hope.
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General rule of thumb, If your plant has a rhizone don't bury it in the substrate, otherwise it will die back.
 
Its not actually buried, I stuffed gravel in the holes on the wood so it would disguise it a little bit :)
 
Looks like you're off to a wonderful start. Wherever you're getting your info from....keep listening haha it's all good stuff.

The test strips can be unreliable, but if that's all you have to work with.....than that's all you have to work with.

The test you did shows pretty much everything that I'd expect to see in an established and healthy tank with no weird numbers. I'd accept it as accurate, or at least very close.
 
Thank you, I am definitely getting the hang of it. And definitely gotten sucked in to it, I am sure my husband already regret getting that first fish.

I am looking in to replacing all my artificial plants with real ones, what I got is this tank.
I honestly got absolutely zero idea how good the lighting is and how to find out, but so far I am planning on 2 anubias and a tall background plant like maybe val. But a little intimidated by the fast growth and unsure if it will match anubias well.
I already got API leaf zone fertilizer and a marineland HOB filter on the way, found one for 4 dollars, cant beat that!
 
Unfortunately we lost all our fish to Fish TB.
What a process, had to tear everything down, bleach soak everything and made sure it air dried completely.
Lost all out beneficial bacteria in the process so now we are starting at square one.
Currently ghost feeding and I am not planning on kickstarting it. Looking for a very specific black orchid betta fish so it will take a good while before we get fish anyway.

But I am planning on getting snails for algea, anyone have experience with Nerite snails and if they eat your plants?
I heard mystery snails shouldnt be in tanks much smaller then 20 gallon because of the waste they produce can be too much for a 10!?
 

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