Hi,
So, here is my story. I am a chemistry major, and this semester I am taking an analytical chemistry lab course. The concept of the course is pretty neat actually; it is entirely based around a fish tank. All semester we have been doing experiments that deal with applying some principle of analytical chemistry by measuring some chemical in this enormous tropical fish tank that we have in the lab. Basically, we measure all the things that a test kit can measure: nitrate, nitrite, ammonia, Ca/Mg etc. (except we don't get a nice little kit of course
). It got me thinking that I would like to try my hand at fish keeping. After all, I would start out with a pretty good knowledge of the chemistry behind a fish tank. So here I am.
My situation is somewhat unique from what I've seen on these forums in that I really want to take it slow, and I'm not especially impatient to get up and running very soon. My plan so far is to finish out this semester of lab and by the time it is over I will have had time to research what kind of setup I want (I don't know about you guys, but to me researching and planning things like this is half the fun). Then, this summer I will hopefully be going away for 10 weeks to an internship, which seems like a good time to have a fishless cycle going in my room. Just a few questions:
If I am not home to watch over my cycle, how much work would it be for my family to look over? What if I got it started a few weeks before I left to get everything going with active care, and then left it to it's own devices for the ten weeks? Would I be taking a chance with returning home to disaster? I don't want to burden my family too much (though I'm sure they would be willing to take some measurements and do water replacements every now and then).
How did YOU decide whether you wanted saltwater or freshwater fish? I ask it this way because asking "should I get saltwater or freshwater" doesn't seem very useful. Maybe this way I can really understand the pros and cons of each, because at this point I literally have no clue.
I'm sure this is entirely premature, but I really like the idea of breeding fish. Not to actually make money or anything, just because it sounds like a unique thing to do. If I were to try and get into this, what do you do with the fish? Give them away? I don't know anyone who would take them. Sell them? I feel like that would take a lot of effort for a person breeding a few small fish every few months.
I have an old ten gallon tank from when I was really young, but I feel like I would want to go bigger this time. Or maybe I will test out my skills with a ten gallon tank for a while with some easy fish and then use the filter media to jumpstart a new bigger tank once I have a handle on everything. I don't know what I'll do yet.
I'm sure I will have a lot more questions in the coming months, thanks everyone.
EDIT: I almost forgot. Anyone know of any good books that deal with general novice fish keeping?
So, here is my story. I am a chemistry major, and this semester I am taking an analytical chemistry lab course. The concept of the course is pretty neat actually; it is entirely based around a fish tank. All semester we have been doing experiments that deal with applying some principle of analytical chemistry by measuring some chemical in this enormous tropical fish tank that we have in the lab. Basically, we measure all the things that a test kit can measure: nitrate, nitrite, ammonia, Ca/Mg etc. (except we don't get a nice little kit of course
). It got me thinking that I would like to try my hand at fish keeping. After all, I would start out with a pretty good knowledge of the chemistry behind a fish tank. So here I am.My situation is somewhat unique from what I've seen on these forums in that I really want to take it slow, and I'm not especially impatient to get up and running very soon. My plan so far is to finish out this semester of lab and by the time it is over I will have had time to research what kind of setup I want (I don't know about you guys, but to me researching and planning things like this is half the fun). Then, this summer I will hopefully be going away for 10 weeks to an internship, which seems like a good time to have a fishless cycle going in my room. Just a few questions:
If I am not home to watch over my cycle, how much work would it be for my family to look over? What if I got it started a few weeks before I left to get everything going with active care, and then left it to it's own devices for the ten weeks? Would I be taking a chance with returning home to disaster? I don't want to burden my family too much (though I'm sure they would be willing to take some measurements and do water replacements every now and then).
How did YOU decide whether you wanted saltwater or freshwater fish? I ask it this way because asking "should I get saltwater or freshwater" doesn't seem very useful. Maybe this way I can really understand the pros and cons of each, because at this point I literally have no clue.
I'm sure this is entirely premature, but I really like the idea of breeding fish. Not to actually make money or anything, just because it sounds like a unique thing to do. If I were to try and get into this, what do you do with the fish? Give them away? I don't know anyone who would take them. Sell them? I feel like that would take a lot of effort for a person breeding a few small fish every few months.
I have an old ten gallon tank from when I was really young, but I feel like I would want to go bigger this time. Or maybe I will test out my skills with a ten gallon tank for a while with some easy fish and then use the filter media to jumpstart a new bigger tank once I have a handle on everything. I don't know what I'll do yet.
I'm sure I will have a lot more questions in the coming months, thanks everyone.
EDIT: I almost forgot. Anyone know of any good books that deal with general novice fish keeping?
