Aquarium Newbie - Day 10

3/10/09 - Pics!

So here are some pictures of the tank so far! I'm really getting the itch for a reef aquarium! Budget-wise I'd only be able to do something like a 6 or a 12 gallon NanoCube even though they are much harder to maintain.

I probably won't be doing as many aquarium updates after this as I think I'm doing pretty good so far with this 10 gallon freshwater tank. I think it's got a little bit of cycling to do yet but all the fish are doing well. I may take the Guppy out because I still think it's a tad bit overstocked right now. Oh yeah, and one of my Tetra's is missing a back fin, one of the fish bit it off. He's not doing so well, kinda stays by himself, I wonder if the 'pack' of the 'Others' (Neon Tetra's) are bullying him because he's the weakest...

Aquarium Newbie - Day 8

3/8/09 - Cloudy water after partial water change

Well, on Friday the 6th I bought 4 Neon Tetra's despite the tank being a tad overcrowded with them. People warned me and I did think I was going to lose them that night! I brought them home and acclimated em for about 15-20 minutes adding tank water to the bag every 5 minutes. They were ok for a while but then they started to lose their brilliant color and stopped schooling all together. So, I went to bed figuring I'd wake up to dead fishes but much to my surprise the next morning they were all very awake, alive, schooling together and full of color! I fed them and they ate eagerly, which about made my day.

Saturday I did a 25% water change for the fist time since I started the tank a week ago. Took me a while to figure out the siphon but eventually I got portions of the gravel vacuumed until about 25% of the water was in the bucket. Forgot to clean out the filter in the old tank water though, oh well, next week should be fine. I de-chlorinated 2 1/2 gallons of tap water and added it to the tank along with the EasyBalance water treatment...

This morning and throughout the day the water has been a bit cloudy again, all fish seem to be doing very well however. The Tetra's are looking good and even a tad bigger, but that may just be my imagination. The Molly is growing a bit of a belly and my wife and I think she may be pregnant. We'll see in a week or two how that goes! Not sure what we'll do with a bunch of fry in an already crowded tank but I figure the Molly or another fish will most likely have them for breakfast. Anyway, I'd like to note that the tank may still be cycling and I hope the fish survive it. I should see a difference tomorrow if the cycle was anything like the first 72 hours.

I'll post some pictures of the cool little Tetra's as soon as the water clears a bit.

Aquarium Newbie - Day 4

3/4/09 - Monitored Aquarium

Everything looks good so far, the Molly is a bit of a bully as she is always chasing and nipping the Guppy. She seems to leave the Platy's alone, probably because there are two of them that stay together. The water is still a bit cloudy but not much. I turned the temp down a degree or two so it should be hanging right at around 78F and added 1/2 tbsp of Aquarium salt to the tank in hopes that it would calm the Molly down. Seemed to actually work after about 30 minutes!

Went to Mr. Aquarium during lunch with a buddy and checked out their reef tanks and saltwater fish, very cool. I would like to eventually have a 75-100 gallon saltwater tank with live rock but that seems pretty distant considering I'm still such a beginner and have no experience with saltwater aquariums. Speaking of experience, I'll be going over to said buddy's house this weekend to help him clean out his 20 gallon saltwater tank and get the cycle going. He's had trouble keeping his Damsels alive in there and gave up a while back. Come to find out after researching the issue, he had the salinity wrong because you have to make sure the water temp is correct while mixing the sea salt prior to adding it to the tank. He was getting a false salinity reading. So hopefully he'll have better luck this time around.

Regarding my tank, I plan on doing a 15% water change this Sunday and vacuum some of the gravel with a siphon at the same time. Until then!

Here is a shot of the tank now, it's clearing up a bit.

Aquarium Newbie - Day 3

3/3/09 - Tested water and added new fish

Here are some pictures of our setup, nothing fancy but it's a start!

Here is one that shows the lighting, notice the cloudiness of the water indicating the cycle...


After the dramatic and rather quick deaths of the 1st round of fish I took a bottle of my now 48 hour cycled water to Petsmart to have it tested. Test proved perfect! Purchased additional decor and a 50w heater. Also purchased freeze-dried bloodworms and aquarium salt for the Mollys. Went to WalMart and got a refund on first round of fish, RIP. Purchased 2 Platy's, a Dalmatian Molly and a male Guppy. Set up heater in tank to bring temp up to 78F. Added ½ tbsp of aquarium salt for the Molly. Floated fish in their bag for 15 minutes, adding tank water to bag every 5 minutes. I then moved the fish from bag to the tank one by one without letting the bag water into the aquarium. I let the fish swim around for about 1 hour then fed a very small amount of flakes and bloodworms. All fish ate eagerly which is a good sign. Need to try to not overfeed the first few weeks. They seem to be doing quite well after 2 hours in their new home. Fish were named with the help of the family...

Molly – Molly, Carly’s fish
2 Platy's – unnamed, Drake’s fish
Guppy – Charlie, Macy’s fish
2 Ghost shrimp – Jacque and FeeFee, Clay’s invertebrate’s

Aquarium Newbie - Day 2

3/2/09 - Research, research, research

After last night's fish slaughter I continued to read up on how to set up a new aquarium and the do's and don'ts of caring for tropical fish. Went back to Wal Mart during my lunch break and spoke with an employee who knew his fish (at WalMart..surprised?) he told me that they would replace the fish at no charge, cool! I decided however that I would let the tank continue to cycle for at least another day to avoid any further casualties. Went ahead and purchased a tank thermometer.

That night I observed that the Ghost Shrimp were doing quite well for themselves, they are very hard to spot sometimes! I installed the thermometer and after an hour or so the water was hanging around 72F, which was on the low end of the 'comfort' range for tropical fish, who really need anywhere from 73-80F. Added a few Tetrafin flakes to the water to start getting the nitrate cycle going a bit faster, not to mention the shrimp found one or two and dined on them. Noted that the water was still very clear.

Aquarium Newbie - Day 1

3/1/09 - Purchase and Setup of the Aquarium

I know a lot of people with Aquariums, I have always liked the idea of having a tank as a kid but I failed miserably. So I was at Wal Mart doing some shopping and stopped by the fish isle and had the sudden urge to try again after all these years, plus the kids would love it. So I go home and get the wife and kiddo's and head back up to Wally World. We perused (that means thoroughly searched btw) the tanks, stands, and accessories as well as decided on some fish.

We ended up buying a 10 gallon Aquarium kit with the filter, some food and water treatment all in the box for about $30. Picked out some blue substrate, plastic plants and decor to go inside. For the fish, we purchased 2 Glofish, a small Pleco, a Gold Snail, 2 Dalmation Mollys and 2 Ghost Shrimp. I set up the tank and rinsed the substrate thoroughly. Added 1 part tap water (room temp) and 1 part RO water until we filled the aquarium to within 2 inches of the top. Rinsed and set up decor and added the EasyBalance water treatment (1 1/2 capfuls) Let filter run for about an hour, put the fish into the tank in their bag and floated them for 15 minutes. I then let the fish out of their bag and into the tank. Yep, I know what you experienced people are thinking, tap water??? All fish perished within 2 hours except for the Ghost Shrimp, who are quite hardy. I figured the Chlorine killed them because I forgot to treat the tap water and didn't let the tank cycle for at least 24-48 hours. After this discovery, I added 1 tsp of Aquasafe water conditioner to bring down the chlorine and chlorinate levels to livable conditions.

So the first day was a real disappointment, especially for the kiddo's. I was not deterred though, I researched into the night on how to care for tropical fish...