Not Really New To The Hobby But New Here :=)

[Nalaundi]

Hey guys,

Ive been working with fish (salt and Fresh) for 4 years next month. and just had a desaster with my reef tank (30g system) (had been up 2 years) believe it when they say beauty happens slowly as disaster happens quickly! anyways Ive kept saltwater for 3 years and have had freshwater along the way. I am one of your dreaded lfs personel... I dont claim to be an expert but am certainly not one of those who pull answers out of you know where..... I spend my working hours with the fish, books and a lady who is like the fish whisperer and at home Im hanging out in places like this getting as much realife advice as possible. so I can take it back to my work with me. ive been reading the do's and don't lists here and Im happy to have gotten most of them right lol anyways.... I just started up a small (30g) freshwater centered around angelfish (my roomate loves them and I said hey why not) its been up and going with the ammonia daily routine anyways, Im ready for a few fish on wednesday

anyways,
I'll post pics once I have something in it other than gravel and plants (fyi after my salt water disaster im going as easy as possible in decor hence the fake plants... for some reason I like the look of the fake rather than the real.. Ive done the real plants but my brain just dosent seem to want to retain any of the information.. thus it was shortlived. so fake plants and the clasic fish tank... not fish aquarium lol

specs for the tank thusfar
nitrate down to 5ppm
amm, nitrite = 0

30g tall all glass aquarium/ simple wroght Iron stand rated up to 400lbs
aquaclear 50 (I like over filtering rather than under filtering)
hydor 150 heater
api test kit (vial and drop set)
2" gravel bed
silk plants.. not the cheep shiny plastic
reg flourescent strip light
versa-top glass canopy

will feed mixture of flake (Hakari) and frozen (hakari mysis shrimp/daphnia/baby brines shrimp)
twicex2minutes
weekly 25-30% waterchanges (with my handydandy python)
dechlorinator- prime
benificial bacteria Cycle
with seperate 20g quarintine tank incase of fish sickness heaven forbid

anyways hope to get to know all of you (I know some of you as I have spent the last 2 years in the salwater section of this forum)

 

[minxfishy]

LOL welcome to the freshwater section of the forum

Im with you on the real plants, cant keep them myself, I too have silk plants, no work involved and the fish seem to leave them alone which has come as a huge relief after spending time lovingly planting my tanks to have them munched on and thrown around at the will of the fish - Ive even lodged them under bogwood and rocks to be on the safe side

 

[waterdrop]

Hi there Nalaundi,

Welcome to the "New to the Hobby" forum and thanks for participating in the Fishless Cycling and other newcomer freshwater tropical discussions we often have over here. I always think it sounds like a good thing when someone with a LFS job shows interest in the hobbyist-point-of-view topics like good water testing and fishless cycling.

I think it can be a difficult thing for businesses to figure out what direction to go in when their customers start to go off in different directions that seem to portend less revenue. Usually though, in the long run this fear is unfounded and it just means a shift in the types of products and services that customers need. So if fishless cycling means that fishkeeping hobbyists need different products and different advice, it will be a good thing when more and more employees understand about this and can provide better help.

Perhaps LFS retailers are missing an opportunity for instance, however small, of helping to provide a pure household type ammonia that hobbyists can trust and find quickly to use for their fishless cycling. Perhaps more sales of good liquid-reagent-based testing kits could be made if LFS employees knew what an important item this should be for first time tank owners. Perhaps some new book or pamphlet sales would happen if there were good literature on aquarium startup procedures that include fishless cycling right in the guidelines.

Its easy to think that these types of sales opportunities would not be equal to the loses that come when informed hobbyists realize they don't need many of the bottles of chemicals, the boxes of charcoal and salt and filter refills and help to keep the LFS income flowing, but change can bring surprising things sometimes and who knows what new types of helpful things may become available that are a genuine help to experienced hobbyists. It never hurts to have a positive outlook and that includes LFS employees I think.

Good luck and I'm sure many here will enjoy hearing how the stocking goes on your 30G tall out there in Utah!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Nalaundi]

thanks waterdrop and yes I agree with what you are saying completely. if I did things honestly how our big wigs wanted me to... sell and who cares if they die.. i would leave my job everyday just hating myself as I know it would be a utter falier and there would be so many customers who I would send home tickled with their oscar and two jack dempsy's for a bowl saying oh yeah just swish your finger around for air once in a while and they will be great ( true story of this is what they wanted to do) I refused to sell them the fish (s) of corse.. if Im going the sell a fish... it better be going to the right enviornment (and yes I do have a lot of people who I refuse fish too in that situation) thankfully I can by job discription refuse any fish to any person for any reason. but I will tell you,, those who actually want to start this hobby right always come back and tell me how well their aquarium is doing hence why I am still doing what I am doing... I was grosed out by fish in the beginning and payed one of my co-workers to scrub my designated aquariums (for algae) so I didnt have to stick my hand in that dreaded fish water... now look at me.. lol... now Im just constantly researching and doing and relaying the info! always learning more.. and finding out how much I still dont know lol