My Gourami Tank

[Ny82]

Before I start-it's nothing as fancy as the other tanks on here. I initially just wanted a small setup for my 2 year old. Now i'm obsessed
I have the aquastart 340. When I started I had a pair of platy and now have a pair of barbs too. The tank looks empty most of the time as they swim around fast together and love the plants.
When I first got the tank it was very basic set up with 2 plants.

Then I added a hiding place for them.

Then more plants as it looked bare. The glass needed a clean

I didn't expect the plants to grow so fast, the red one has even flowered. So I trimmed them again this morning as I was changing the water, bunched them together and planted them in the foreground.

When I was cleaning the glass I came across my snail.

it's certainly grown since the last time lol.

Like I say it's not spectacular. The fish seem happy. My female platy i'm pretty sure is pregnant. She has the spot which has appeared and I can see it from afar.
Here are some random shots of my male barb who I think is such a stunning colour and some of the rest of them too. They all come up to the glass when anyone goes near the tank, and they love the plants.

Oh just a quick question-are guppys tropical fish? They are beautiful with their fancy tails!
Thanks for looking.

 

[mike455555]

Before I start-it's nothing as fancy as the other tanks on here. I initially just wanted a small setup for my 2 year old. Now i'm obsessed
I have the aquastart 340. When I started I had a pair of platy and now have a pair of barbs too. The tank looks empty most of the time as they swim around fast together and love the plants.
When I first got the tank it was very basic set up with 2 plants.

Then I added a hiding place for them.

Then more plants as it looked bare. The glass needed a clean

I didn't expect the plants to grow so fast, the red one has even flowered. So I trimmed them again this morning as I was changing the water, bunched them together and planted them in the foreground.

When I was cleaning the glass I came across my snail.

it's certainly grown since the last time lol.

Like I say it's not spectacular. The fish seem happy. My female platy i'm pretty sure is pregnant. She has the spot which has appeared and I can see it from afar.
Here are some random shots of my male barb who I think is such a stunning colour and some of the rest of them too. They all come up to the glass when anyone goes near the tank, and they love the plants.

Oh just a quick question-are guppys tropical fish? They are beautiful with their fancy tails!
Thanks for looking.

yep guppies are tropical nice looking tank, (personally i don't like ornaments, but for a tank with them in it looks good)

 

[Ny82]

yep guppies are tropical nice looking tank, (personally i don't like ornaments, but for a tank with them in it looks good)

Thanks I am not a big fan of the chest and the canon but my 2 year old daughter-who loves pirates had to have them
That's a shame about the guppies, I am not wanting to go tropical, I used to have angel fish and they were so vicious!
I like lots of greenery-is it ok that I trimmed them and put them elsewhere? If my platy is going to have babies, I would feel really barbaric if they got eaten then again I can't be over run. My friend already has his eye on her for his tank. He wants more females so I said once she has had her babies, I will give him the female and any fry who survive if any. Is this fair on my male? I don't want him being sad when she's gone
It will definitely be less stress on the female though.

 

[MegaZerino]

I love the turtle in the first picture

 

[Ny82]

I love the turtle in the first picture

I hated that thing. My girl had a tantrum in the shop so it had to come home with us
I managed to inconspicuously remove it from the tank the 2nd or 2rd day it was set up, she still hasn't noticed

 

[mike455555]

i thought plattys were tropical fish?

why dont you want to go tropical?, you get loads of nicer fish and plants? the only difference is a heater
dont get angels in the future? there's loads of peaceful types of fish

 

[MegaZerino]

I love the turtle in the first picture

I hated that thing. My girl had a tantrum in the shop so it had to come home with us
I managed to inconspicuously remove it from the tank the 2nd or 2rd day it was set up, she still hasn't noticed

now that, is slick
i would prefer to have it outside my tank as a little ornament because it would make the tank look tacky

 

[Ny82]

Here is a pic of the gang and the female in question who I put up on the livebearers section and some users confirmed she's early in her pregnancy. (They are not camera shy in the slightest, always come upto the glass lol) They like swimming together.
She's the one on the very right.

now that I think of it-my female barb isn't as streamlined as she used to be-maybe eating too much?

 

[Ny82]

i thought plattys were tropical fish?

why dont you want to go tropical?, you get loads of nicer fish and plants? the only difference is a heater
dont get angels in the future? there's loads of peaceful types of fish

These are variatus platy. They are temperate fish. The reason I joined this site was because a member had asked why pets at home were selling them as cold water fish but they aren't as such-they do state they are temperate on their tanks.
That one question led to me joining this awesome site and learning so much. Thanks everyone
As for tropical, I could never keep the temperature level my angel fish were attacking my poor siamese fighter-he was a stunner. I don't know why.
I think a novice like me should stick to something basic lol.

MegaZerino-I am going to disinfect it and give it to her to play with!

 

[walkers101]

research first

Also the barbs are tropical

 

[Ny82]

research first

Also the barbs are tropical

Really? they had temperate on the tank too. They seem to be swimming around fine and are eating well.
It also says on this site they are sub tropical - just like the platy
http/www.wetwebmedia.com/fwsubwebindex/subtroptks.htm

 

[three-fingers]

As for tropical, I could never keep the temperature level my angel fish were attacking my poor siamese fighter-he was a stunner. I don't know why.
I think a novice like me should stick to something basic lol.

The temperature keeps itself, unless you had a broken heater. Literally requires no effort to keep the temperature, you just sit back and watch the heater work .

If you ask here or research online before buying fish you will have no problems. Angelfish with a Siamese fighter is a generally a big no-no and is really an obvious one to anyone whos been keeping fish for a while, so you must have had bad luck with the LFS/pet store . So many give terrible advice, sometimes for the sake of the sale.

I'm another advocate for tropical, theres a huge variety of easy and peaceful fish available for your tank out there .

 

[Ny82]

As for tropical, I could never keep the temperature level my angel fish were attacking my poor siamese fighter-he was a stunner. I don't know why.
I think a novice like me should stick to something basic lol.

The temperature keeps itself, unless you had a broken heater. Literally requires no effort to keep the temperature, you just sit back and watch the heater work .

If you ask here or research online before buying fish you will have no problems. Angelfish with a Siamese fighter is a generally a big no-no and is really an obvious one to anyone whos been keeping fish for a while, so you must have had bad luck with the LFS/pet store . So many give terrible advice, sometimes for the sake of the sale.

I'm another advocate for tropical, theres a huge variety of easy and peaceful fish available for your tank out there .

Yeah they are quite persistent. I had to take him back to the shop, he was beautiful deep red/blue flip. I had the 2 angel fish for about 3 years before I had to move and couldn't take them with me. I tested the temperature in my tank at the moment with my spare digital thermometer and it's sitting at 20. It must be due to me having the heaters on most the time, and I live on the top floor of a block, there's 2 others below me-it's usually like a sauna in here. On that site that I linked to, it says the barbs wont like any temp above 22 so I hope it doesn't rise. Other than that, I will stick to these the now although you are really tempting me to "switch"

 

[Sahira]

I think your tank looks really nice! The plants make a huge difference, very nice!

 

[Ny82]

Thankyou, I do really like live plants, I am going to trim them again since they grow super fast (apart from the red one, that seems to be shrinking) and make little bushes at the front