What's Next?

[Jason Wakelin]

First let me say Thank You again to all who replied to my first two threads. I now not only understand how to do a fishless cycle, but why to and what is happening in the tank! Not to sound to weird here, but I'm getting that same exciting feeling I got 30 years ago when I started to keep reptiles! And I now know how to do a water change. So my next question is, bearing in mind my tank is NOT properly cycled yet, what is the next aspect of fish husbandry to learn? Or possibly could anyone recommend a decent, and current, book/magazine to buy?

The reason I ask is I constantly see newbies on my reptile forums looking to be spoon fed all the answers so they can become "big breeders". I'm not looking for any spoon feeding here, but I am definately a newbie when it comes to fish, and would like to avoid as many mistakes as possible. Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Jason

 

[Spanerman]

I would recomend PracticalFishKeeping magazine! available from most WHSmiths.


Sam.

 

[OldMan47]

A good place to start would be a good read through of the postings in the beginners resource center. It covers a number of things from fish selection, fishless cycling, fish-in cycling, and lots of other subjects to give you that first level of learning. The hardest thing to do is often to get a general answer about fish to fit the actual situation that you have. As an example, the typical community tank gets run at around 75F to 80F. Most of the fish that I keep have a maximum temperature of about 75F or a bit less but I will continue to advise 75 to 80 because most people don't have the same fish selection that I do. If I followed the general advice, my fish would suffer from water that was too warm for those particular species. In order to avoid this kind of thing, it is often best to go to the LFS and have a look at the fish that you think you would like to keep. With a list in hand, people here can help you sort out the good combinations from the not so great combinations. Once you have a selection of fish that you intend to use for stocking, the question of temperature for the tank that will hold them becomes much easier to answer correctly. Different fish also require very different water conditions for optimum growth and health. Again, knowing what your tap water is like will help us suggest compatible fish or groups of fish that can go into that water type with minimal problems. My own spin on fish selection is to choose the fish to match the water rather than the other way around because it makes caring for them much less of a chore. If you are changing water to match fish, you may become a very methodical fish keeper but you will never be able to relax and enjoy the fish.