My fish hobbyist journal. First time noobie(with loads of mistakes)

Hi all
I thought I might start a journal to show my progression (and mistakes) with my new adventure into fish keeping hobby.

Background my 6year old daughter pestered me to get some fish for her. I relented and started my adventure Jan 2021.

Bought a second hand fish tank, was told by seller it was a 60ltr Bio Orb (it wasn't, it was 30ltr). Got it home, dead pleased with my purchase, proceeded to clean it ready to buy fish the following day (we can all see the rookie miskates I am making lol ?). So anyway, tipped all the large gravel into the sink, washed it loads under running water, did the same with the filter and inside the tank (doh !!! I can hear you all screaming now). Filled the tank, using tap safe and quick start, set it on the bench and plugged in.
Looked a dream IMO.

Following day went to pets at home, bought 4 zebra danios, 4 platys and 2 zebra snails. Set them in and stepped back to admire my handy work.

Fast forward a few days, testing water with those stupid strips, indicating everything is high. Right I better do some research. Turns out liquid test kits are sooooo much better. Bought 1 (API master) reading high. So I cut down my feeding. Anyway within a couple days 1 platys had died and one of my snails hadn't moved for days. Went back to pets at home, talked to the sales assistant (expert lol ?) he told me that the snail was probably dead, get some ammonia nutriliser and come back in a couple days to restock.
Binned the snail (now sure that he wasn't dead after more research)
So a few days later went back and was determined to get some tank cleaners in the form of shrimps so I got 5.
Still struggling to get my ammonia levels down. Realised that I hadn't cycled my tank so thought just ride it out. 1 more play dead but my snail, shrimps and danios doing fine.

A couple weeks later I noticed the platys were looking missrible and were probably missing female company., Back to pets at home, bought 3 female platys (2 of which look pregnant).

Once I realised 2 were preg I thought I better get a bigger tank in case bio overload (especially as just got ammonia under control) so went and bought another tank, this time a 60 ltr tetra with sand substrate and decent (IMO) filter.

Bought it (also came with 3 penguin tetra, 3 black neon tetra and 2 pearl danio) but was caked in algie so scraped and cleaned everything (this time using existing tank water). Set it away and once again was pleased.

Then find out I have hundreds of Malaysia trumpet snails hiding in the sand, so remove loads, leave some as clean out crew.
Everything seemed settled until I went to do a clean out, I stupidly decided to take filter out, clean in (yes under running tap water -as if I hadn't learned the last time) vacuumed the sand (looks like it hasn't been done in ages), scraped the remaining algie off the glass.
I now have a tank that is cloudy as I don't know what but hoping it will settle in a few days. I'm thinking a mixture of bacterial bloom, using tap water to clean and disturbance of substrate is contributing to it, going to leave it alone for a few days and see.

All my parameters are good 0 nitrite, 0 ammonia, 15 nitrates (ppm) pH 7.8

Current stock
5 platy (3 female, 2 males)
4 zebra danio
3 penguin tetra
3 black neon tetra
2 pearl danio
5 shrimps
1 zebra snail and
Goodness knows how many Malaysia trumpet snails.

I like that round Orb thing. It's like a crystal ball.

No, it is cool. Any tank of whatever odd shape or size can be practical with the right fish.

It looks quite nice actually. A shame with the cloudiness. I was actually the one pestering my parents for a fish for xmas last year... All I wanted was a silly little goldfish but now I'm just weeks away from breeding guppies and setting up my third tank! There are benefits to these things... It's proved to be a great learning experience.

Personally I learn best from my mistakes. Maybe you're the same? Also if any more of your fish die it might be best to lay off for a while and have a good look at how you're working with things until you can get the problem sorted out.

In the future, don't forget to set up a quarantine tank (can even just be a plastic tote tub with a filter and heater) to quarantine the new fish you get for a couple of weeks. This can help out with preventing nasty diseases like ICH, which I learned the hard way a few weeks ago.

Best of luck, I'm excited to see this journal develop!

Some people talk about the Bio-orbs, especially the small ones, and how they aren't that good for fish...disorienting them, etc
I'm sure others will have different opinions.

I tend to agree, though. I would start a shrimp colony. Sooo fun to watch, you'd be surprised ?, they are active and smart, add a snail or 2, not MTSs ?
You could put some nice plants in and have a real cool set up.

I have a 5g shrimp colony that exploded with nreeding shrimp and my LFS gives me store credit for them.
I usually ask when they run out, winkwink.
Keep us up on your journal ☆

vanalisa said:

Some people talk about the Bio-orbs, especially the small ones, and how they aren't that good for fish...disorienting them, etc
I'm sure others will have different opinions.

I tend to agree, though. I would start a shrimp colony. Sooo fun to watch, you'd be surprised ?, they are active and smart, add a snail or 2, not MTSs ?
You could put some nice plants in and have a real cool set up.

I have a 5g shrimp colony that exploded with nreeding shrimp and my LFS gives me store credit for them.
I usually ask when they run out, winkwink.
Keep us up on your journal ☆

Click to expand...

Not a big fan of MTS but I'll just ride with what I've got for now.
I think the wife would love an increase in shrimps, as they are her favourite animal in there but with only 5 we see them quite infrequently ?, I'm hoping they will reproduce cause can't afford to buy any more at moment

david.molloy2009 said:

Not a big fan of MTS but I'll just ride with what I've got for now.
I think the wife would love an increase in shrimps, as they are her favourite animal in there but with only 5 we see them quite infrequently ?, I'm hoping they will reproduce cause can't afford to buy any more at moment

Click to expand...

Here are my Red Cherry Shrimp

In the 2nd picture you can see 2 females clearly. One "berried," with eggs down below. The other is "saddled", with the eggs still on the top.


If you have fish with them there is a huge possibilty they will eat the shrimplets as she releases them.

Someone correct me if this is incorrect information. @Essjay @mbsqw1d

vanalisa said:

Here are my Red Cherry Shrimp

In the 2nd picture you can see 2 females clearly. One "berried," with eggs down below. The other is "saddled", with the eggs still on the top.
View attachment 132462View attachment 132463

If you have fish with them there is a huge possibilty they will eat the shrimplets as she releases them.

Someone correct me if this is incorrect information. @Essjay @mbsqw1d

Click to expand...

Yes unless there are plants for them to hide theres a good chance theyll be eaten. They will go into ninja mode if they feel threatened. I moved my vallis jungle from the tank with shrimps into a new setup that now homes 30 barbs plus a dozen danios. Some shrimp apparently made the move with the vallis and I still see the odd one now and then!

Update.
Cloudiness
2 days ago

With some patience and 2 filters running I have been rewarded with a tank that is almost cloud free. just need to wait a little longer, plus i think the light is showing particles a lot more.

Thought I would give a little update on my tank.
My tank is going well. I took so me advice and got myself 4 cherry shrimps. My wife loves them.
Chloe (my platy) is still pregnant, nothing much happening there but I've put in a breading box ready (wish I had another tank for breeding).
Went to LFS for advice on floating plants to help with fry but decided against some at moment due to ammonia still being 0.25. the guy suggested it could be my filter is crap as it's REALLY old. Popped in my there filter (transfered the old sponges into the new filter)

Gutted. Was just about to do a water change to find one penguin Tetra dead on the bottom. Don't think it's been dead for mor than an hour of so. No idea what killed it ?

Completd water change.

The floating plants would actually have helped your ammonia. Plants prefer ammonia as their source of nitrogen, and they turn it into protein rather than nitrite.
Tip - don't ask an LFS for advice on anything, most of them haven't a clue and will make up anything to get a sale.

Transferring the sponges to the new filter was the right thing to do to save your bacteria. But an old filter won't be the cause of the ammonia. Provided there's enough media for the bacteria to grow and, and the filter pulls some water through it, there should be enough bacteria to remove the ammonia.


I'm afraid I don't know what killed the tetra, except that in the first post you say you had three of them. As they are shoaling fish, they need to be in a bigger group and with only three they will be stressed. This may or may not have been a factor.

He actually talked me out of a sale lol. I was set on getting some hornswort but following his advice I left with only some fish food (which I needed anyway)

My penguin tetra had been shielding away for a few days and after looking at the dead fish seemed to to have any external damage or disease so I am putting it down to experience. If more die I will have to look deeper into it.

I have noticed that one of my pearl danios seems to be bullying others in the tank so stress may have been the cause. I will be keeping a close eye on them over next few days.

I might have to get a few more tetras to balance things out a bit and to get a decent shoal but am wary to do that for 2 reasons, 1)the wife ? and 2) the ammonia not being zero.

New update.

It's been a little while since I upgraded and some stuff has happened.

One of my platys has gave birth. Don't know which one and I have only found 2 fry.

I've planted a couple of plants and got rid of those crappy plastics plants.

I have lost 2 of my cherry shrimps (not dies just can't find them even though I've had all the decorations out.