My Very First Aquarium!

[joe17]

I have been around many animals in my life, including dogs, cats, turtles, horses and various farm animals including cows, sheeps, goats and chicken. I recently moved to the city and was forced to leave all my furry friends at home with my parents since I live in a pet free apartment.

This is when I first discovered the world of fish! My mom offered me a 5 gallon tank as a gift when I moved so I could still have some animal friends. After reading in cycling and barely surviving the anticipation of adding new fish to my empty tank, I decided to buy a couple male fancy guppies and one female platy.

As the love for fish quickly took me over, I decided I wanted more fish. So I bought a used 10g tank and transferred all my fish to the new tank. As I watched my fish thrive in the new, bigger tank I started to wonder what fish I could put in their. Following the advice of my local petsmart I bought one serpae tetra (they said he would be fine with the other fish although he would not be with other members of his owm species). And this is when I joined the forum. After receiving a ton of valuable info from the members, I sadly rehomed the tetra.

I have now decided to replace him with one more platy and I am looking to get a sparkling gourami to complete me setup. Some shrimp will also be added to fill the bottom of the tank with some life!

So here I am, still on the steep learning curve of aquiring my first aquarium and already dreaming about a 50g tank I have decided to set up once we have the room and the budget to sustain it. I am two months in and already suffer of MTS ... and absolutely loving it!

 

[tmoney7]

I have the same problem now i and i am finding that i do not have the budget to go out and buy large tanks and the whole set up since i am only 17 and do not make much.  What i do find myself doing though is always rescaping the tanks that i have. I also just found two more smaller tanks (10 gal and 17.5 gal) in my barn and i am really excited that i will be able to clean these up and hopefully get them running in a couple of months if i can find room for them in my house!

 

[FreshwaterAfishianado]

Welcome to the hobby you have a lovely tank. I'm pretty sure MTS is a permanent condition, right now we have a 55 gal. Black water tank, a 5 gal. Heavily planted for my wife's betta, a 20 gal. Cycling for dwarf puffers and a 30 were just itching to fill lol. Its definitely an addicting hobby, especially when the fish you keep are thriving.

 

[joe17]

also, I feel like the decor of the tank os missing a little something ... So any suggestions in that matter is greatly welcome! I will be adding a moss ball when I add the shrimp but other than that I would like to stay away from live plants until I gain a better understanding of them and a little more experience

 

[ncguppy830]

grat setup maybe if your switched gravel with sand and added some plants it you could get a natural look.

 

[Blondielovesfish]

Some driftwood maybe? You could attach a java fern or a anubias onto it and it would look great!

 

[Ch4rlie]

That a decent tank.
 
Yup, MTS pretty much affects everyone who loves fish and strive to keep them healthy. we are always on the lookout for the next fish would love to keep, lol 
 
I've only got one 90l tank and only just got that a few weeks ago and already dreaming about 200l tanks!! 

 

[joe17]

I did think of adding driftwood but all the pieces I've seen at my lfs were way too big for my tank. I will keep looking around for a piece that would suit my tank.As for the plants, I might get some java moss and attach it either to a piece of driftwood or the rock that is already in my tank. Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[joe17]

So here's a really good news - I managed to convince my boyfriend that a bigger tank was a good idea and came home yesterday to a 40 gallon tank sitting in the living room! Soooo happyy! I will be keeping the 10 gallon tank with the platies and guppies but will keep my stock to that. I am fascinated by angelfish so I will be having on or two angelfish in the bigger tank (I don't know which is better?) and I was thinking of adding a couple schools of smaller fish (tetras, small danios or something similar) along with some cories. Nothing is set and I have changed my mind as to what I want about 5 times already.

I would also like to attempt planting this tank, but don't know anything about plants .. CO3, lighting, water parameters, fertilizers ... A lot of reseatch ahead of me but any info/web site to look at will be a great help!! I am basically just looking at stocking options and any suggestions really!

oh yeah, I will also be putting sand as the substrate, if this helps! Pictures to come soon!!

 

[sputnick]

Well thats cool! For angelfish you can have a pair as long as they are a PROVEN mated pair or they will just fight to the death. Also angelfish need tall tanks. Minimum of 14" IMO. Also I would only recommend one in your tank but I would make sure that you have no fin nippers in your stocking either. 
 
As far as info goes try checking out the different sections, Aquascaping, Plants lighting and C02, ect. There is very good info pinned to the top of each one that will put you well on your way. It really helped me with a few read throughs. You don't need C02 to achieve a beautifully planted aquarium. It just adds to the cost. I'd put the money into filtration and lighting personally. 
 
For a stocking this is what I would recommend:
 
1x Angelfish
12x small schooling fish. (stay away from barbs, exception is snakeskin barbs. in my experience they don't nip fins at all)
10x cories
1x small pleco such as a bristlenose
 
You could probably fit more fish in there but an understocked tank cant hurt 

 

[ncguppy830]

Well thats cool! For angelfish you can have a pair as long as they are a PROVEN mated pair or they will just fight to the death. Also angelfish need tall tanks. Minimum of 14" IMO. Also I would only recommend one in your tank but I would make sure that you have no fin nippers in your stocking either. 
 
As far as info goes try checking out the different sections, Aquascaping, Plants lighting and C02, ect. There is very good info pinned to the top of each one that will put you well on your way. It really helped me with a few read throughs. You don't need C02 to achieve a beautifully planted aquarium. It just adds to the cost. I'd put the money into filtration and lighting personally. 
 
For a stocking this is what I would recommend:
 
1x Angelfish
12x small schooling fish. (stay away from barbs, exception is snakeskin barbs. in my experience they don't nip fins at all)
10x cories
1x small pleco such as a bristlenose
 
You could probably fit more fish in there but an understocked tank cant hurt 

i think the minimum is 18 inches

 

[joe17]

The tank I am getting is 22 inches high which is why I was thinking of getting an angelfish. Thanks for the info for plants, I will check these out!

 

[joe17]

So after some more researching I fell in love with the german blue ram .. so for now my option for stocking would be 2 german blue rams, a small school of serpae tetras, 4 sterbai cory and a small school of tiger bars.

or

one angelfish, a small school of serpae tetras, a small school of neon tetras and a small school of golden pencilfish (maybe) with 3 stebai cory.

This is of course a long-term prpject and after cycling the tank and figuring out what plants I will be putting in the tank, I will slowly start adding the fish to the tank, starting with the sturdiest species. These are not set in stone and any other suggestion for stocking is still more than welcome!

 

[sputnick]

I believe corys should always be kept in groups of 6 or more so consider bumping those numbers up. Also to avoid any mishaps with the tiger barbs I would suggest 7 or more. they normally keep to themselves then. Also I believe that you are able to keep angelfish and german rams together. I'm not positive on this though as I don't know their required water conditions off hand. Otherwise if your thinking of a ram try the bolivian ram out. I love mine and they are hardier than german rams and I belive they are also compatable with angelfish.

 

[joe17]

thanks for the info! I was only thinking of the german rams because of their color but will certainly look into the bolivian rams! From the info I got at my lfs the cory would be fine being only four, but please correct me if I'm wrong!