Ooo So Excited

[ceilidhgirl]

HI everyone

i'm hopefully getting my first tank on sunday

a 20 uk gallon

cant believe i'm so excited, i feel like a kid at christmas

would love to hear stories and memories of first tanks.

will keep u all updated on my progress

ales xx

 

[Breedon]

You now have the fish bug just like me one minute you have 1 small tank the next you find your self looking round your rooms and finding *empty* space for more tanks just like me .

What are you getting? be careful of impluse buying the bane of my life

 

[Torrean]

Well...are you looking for happy stories or true stories?

My girlfriend and I were walking through an lfs (local fish store) and she said we should get a fishtank. It was very close to her birthday so I took it for a hint. I bought her a 29 gallon tank and went to another lfs to aquire some fish. I walked in and told the employee my situation, he said I'll fix you right up. I walked around the tanks picking out random pretty fish. Then I noticed a sign that said something to the effect of tell us if your tank is newly set up. I asked the guy what it was about and he said oh nothing really. Anyway I continues merrily picking out the prettiest fish in the store. I ended up with
2 blue gourami
1 gold gourami
2 dwarf puffers
4 rainbowsharks (which were being sold in trios!!!!!!)
1 pictus catfish
1 khuli loach
1 common plecostomus
12 danio (6 zebra 6 gold)
probably a few more I can't think of at the moment.


I filled the tank and put in the fish. Couple days maybe a week later the fish started actin funny and dyin off. I was like WTF ya know. So I got on the net did a search and the first thing that popped up was this wonderfull place. I posted a couple threads and was quickly informed that I was a fool. dwarf puffers go with no other fish gourami are often very aggressive rainbow sharks should be kept singly common plecos get 20" long pictus cats get 8" and need groups of 3 khuli loaches need groups of 3 and all these fish were added at once which led to a 2 month long cycling battle. I ended up buying a 55 gallon in a failed attempt to sort out the rainbow shark issue. I spent WAY WAY more money than I needed to, aswell.

Moral of the story do research and never trust LFS employees unless you confirm what they say by atleast 2-3 other sources.

 

[Durbkat]

While I was in the 7th grade (2 years ago) we had to do a project so I looked through a book and saw a project that said to get a 10g and 5 goldfish and count how many times each goldfish opens and closes its mouth in a minute. So I went to the lps and got a 10g some water dechlornator, gravel, a few plants, a heater with no thermostat and you have to un plug it once it reached the right temp, and a UGF then I got an employley to come and net the fish out and he said that I should get 5 black widow tetras (thank goodness or I would have had to return them) so thats how I started.

 

[mark.w.jones]

I'm sitting looking at my first tank as I write this. It's a bit smaller than yours though. Only 45litres (10galUK). Wish i'd got a bigger one now as i've since found out that bigger tanks are easier to keep when you're a beginner. I'm fishless cycling at the moment. It's easier than it sounds even for a newbie like me. Just seach this forum and read all the advice. Get your liquid master water test kit and some good ammonia solution, (No fragrances or dyes etc.) and away you go. All the waiting to put fish in is killing me though. Ive had the tank around 2 weeks now. It looks impressive though, with plants and rocks + one stowaway snail called Sid (although I havn't seen him the last few days.) God, please make my nitrite go away quicker. Good luck.

 

[timmystood]

I had wanted fish for ages and eventually I was aloud some!
So I trotted off to my LFS got a tank and the very next day got 4 fish (1 betta and 3 Head + Tail tetra)!
That night I was on the net looking for fish stuff - found this place and found out about fishless cycling! - Thankfully because I had found this place quick enough, I didn't lose a single fish!

 

[morgan]

Hi, I drifted into fishkeeping. A friend gave me a small hexagonal coldwater tank as a thanks for a favour. My husband saw I liked the fish and was getting on well with it. So, for our 30th wedding anniversary he bought me a surprise 20gal Juwel tank. It did not go well at first but I learnt! (It got a lot better when I got internet access). I now have a 65ukgal Juwel and it is all going well. I think I am hooked! I might even get a 100 ukgal sometime in the near future.

 

[ceilidhgirl]

ooo 4 days to go