Introduction from Michigan

[IwshIwerAfish]

Hi everyone,
I'm new to this forum and fairly new to the fish hobby. A few weeks ago the wife had a bit of an accident with our 20 gallon tank and we lost all but 3 fish. While those 3 fish (2 black skirt tetras and a pleco) were safe in a pot I frantically looked around for a deal on another tank. Before the accident we had talked about a bigger tank as the pleco was reaching 5" and growing out of the 20 gallon tall. Looking through the market place I saw a 75 gallon long (48Lx18Dx21H) for $75 and after a few questions to the seller I was off to get it. I can not even describe the feeling of seeing a tank that size and all the wonderful ideas that came with it. After cycling the new aquarium for two weeks It was looking pretty awesome. I took a water sample to Lfs and tank was ready to stock. My excitement wanted to go all out and have the best aquarium in my city! but my wallet said do it in waves (pun intended!) So my method for a successful aquarium now depends on extensive research and a lot of testing water parameters and a talented and professional friendly forums like fishforums.net so here I am. I still don't have my own water quality test kit yet but working on it.
75 Gallon Marineland aquarium
2 Tetra whisper 60G filters
10" long airstream
2ft fluorescent light (that came with it)
1x Firemouth Cichlid
1x Bumblebee Cichlid
1x Tiger Oscar
1x Pleco
2x Black stripped Tetras

 

[Slaphppy7]

Welcome to TFF

 

[emeraldking]

Hi & welcome to TFF...

 

[Back in the fold]

Of all the sneaky ways I've gotten new tanks and all I had to do was wait on the Missus to break it. You're lucky man !

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

If you still have the filter from the broken tank, and the filter media/ material is still wet, you can use that in the new tank to help speed up the cycling process, which normally takes around 4-6 weeks.

If you don't have the old filter media, then reduce feeding to 2-3 times a week for the first month, and do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate 4-8 hours after feeding. Once the tank has cycled, you can feed more often and do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate once a week.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

If/ when you get a test kit, try to get a liquid test kit because they are a little more accurate than dry paper strip test kits.


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Your bumblebee cichlid is an African Rift Lake cichlid that does best in hard water with a high pH (GH above 300ppm, pH above 7.6).

The other fishes in your tank come from softer water with a lower pH (GH less than 150ppm, pH around 7.0 or slightly lower).

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Your oscar cichlid will reach 10-12 inches long and probably eat the tetras.

The tetas are renown fin nippers that should be kept in groups of 10 or more. However, due to the oscar, the tetras might not be aorund long enough to nip anything.

 

[IwshIwerAfish]

Welcome to TFF

Thank you I plan to pick some brains here so my new hobby won't be in vain.

 

[IwshIwerAfish]

Of all the sneaky ways I've gotten new tanks and all I had to do was wait on the Missus to break it. You're lucky man !

Lol!! That's funny bro but even after the mishap with the 20G I really didn't expect us to go that big but hey if I'm gonna do this I'm gonna do my best to do it right! Thnx

 

[IwshIwerAfish]

Of all the sneaky ways I've gotten new tanks and all I had to do was wait on the Missus to break it. You're lucky man !

Lol!! That's funny bro but even after the mishap with the 20G I really didn't expect us to go that big but hey if I'm gonna do this I'm gonna do my best to do it right! Th

Hi and welcome to the forum

If you still have the filter from the broken tank, and the filter media/ material is still wet, you can use that in the new tank to help speed up the cycling process, which normally takes around 4-6 weeks.

If you don't have the old filter media, then reduce feeding to 2-3 times a week for the first month, and do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate 4-8 hours after feeding. Once the tank has cycled, you can feed more often and do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate once a week.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

If/ when you get a test kit, try to get a liquid test kit because they are a little more accurate than dry paper strip test kits.


------------------
Your bumblebee cichlid is an African Rift Lake cichlid that does best in hard water with a high pH (GH above 300ppm, pH above 7.6).

The other fishes in your tank come from softer water with a lower pH (GH less than 150ppm, pH around 7.0 or slightly lower).

------------------
Your oscar cichlid will reach 10-12 inches long and probably eat the tetras.

The tetas are renown fin nippers that should be kept in groups of 10 or more. However, due to the oscar, the tetras might not be aorund long enough to nip anything.

I did wonder about the tetras with oscar but by then I hope to have a smaller tank to house the tetras. I did and I am using the old filter as it is designed for up to 60G and I have since added another filter of the same sitting at opposite sides of tank. My pH sits pretty steady at 7.8 to 8.0 with 8 being the norm for my tap. I also use prime to immediately rid of the chlorine but I do NOT depend on prime for a stable aquarium. Thank you so much for the advise I will be working on the tetra oscar thing.

 

[The603]

Welcome to the forum, nice looking tank.

 

[IwshIwerAfish]

Of all the sneaky ways I've gotten new tanks and all I had to do was wait on the Missus to break it. You're lucky man !

Lol!! That's funny bro but even after the mishap with the 20G I really didn't expect us to go that big but hey if I'm gonna do this I'm gonna do my best to do it right! Th

Hi and welcome to the forum

If you still have the filter from the broken tank, and the filter media/ material is still wet, you can use that in the new tank to help speed up the cycling process, which normally takes around 4-6 weeks.

If you don't have the old filter media, then reduce feeding to 2-3 times a week for the first month, and do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate 4-8 hours after feeding. Once the tank has cycled, you can feed more often and do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate once a week.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

If/ when you get a test kit, try to get a liquid test kit because they are a little more accurate than dry paper strip test kits.


------------------
Your bumblebee cichlid is an African Rift Lake cichlid that does best in hard water with a high pH (GH above 300ppm, pH above 7.6).

The other fishes in your tank come from softer water with a lower pH (GH less than 150ppm, pH around 7.0 or slightly lower).

------------------
Your oscar cichlid will reach 10-12 inches long and probably eat the tetras.

The tetas are renown fin nippers that should be kept in groups of 10 or more. However, due to the oscar, the tetras might not be aorund long enough to nip anything.

I did wonder about the tetras with oscar but by then I hope to have a smaller tank to house the tetras. I did and I am using the old filter as it is designed for up to 60G and I have since added another filter of the same sitting at opposite sides of tank. My pH sits pretty steady at 7.8 to 8.0 with 8 being the norm for my tap. I also use prime to immediately rid of the chlorine but I do NOT depend on prime for a stable aquarium. Thank you so much for the advise I will be working on the tetra oscar thing

Welcome to the forum, nice looking tank.

Thank you lots to do with it still but thnx.

 

[IwshIwerAfish]

Welcome to the forum, nice looking tank.

Thnx!