beginner

After 12 years out of the hobby, I have just over the past few months gotten back into the hobby. It was a passion project with my son, and now it’s peaked the interest of other two boys. I’m the kind of guy who likes to be diligent about my research, and apply my learning to what I’m doing...

So I am a beginner, and I have a 22 gallon tank with 4 dalmatian mollies and a gold mystery snail. I have a few questions 1. what do I do if my ammonia spikes? 2. what do I do with unwanted fish? (too much breeding) 3. What do I do to get ph to 7.5 - 8.5?

Hi Everyone! I'm pretty new to the forum - I posted once before to ask for help on my 21 Litre Nano, because every time I did a water change, my nitrites would go up! I've actually had to break down the tank and nearly gave up on it (and the hobby) altogether - but here I am. I started having...

Hello everyone, wondering if anyone can help me identify if this is Ich on my new fish. i purchased some new fish yesterday: 10 Neon Tetra 6 Glowlight Tetra 6 Lemon Tetra 4 Albino Cory Upon coming home and putting them in the tank (drip acclimated for an hour) I had to shoot off and returned...

Hey Everyone, New to the forum, and new-ish to the hobby. Had an odd issue I thought I would warn other beginners' about. I recently set up a new 10 gallon planted tank, and after a few weeks of using some bio ceramic rings from a friend's tank, everything was going very well with my water...

I currently have a 180lt 4ft tank with a 1250 lt cannister filter. Its got a few plants, a betta 2 bristlenoses 5 black neon tetras 4 Cory's and 4 swords I was hoping to add a few more fish hopefully a pair of blue rams and a clown loach I know clown loach get big and you need a school of them...

Greetings from Amsterdam Fish community! This is my first post on this forum so hopefully it goes well! since one or two days one of my guppy is swimming upright with his head up and his tail down he seems to be struggling to stay afloat and moves rather slowly, sometimes he also hides in his...

Hey! I've always wanted a tropical fish tank, i want to do it properly though, i've looked into keeping tropical fish and have reserached some basics but i need help with whats the best tank to get, which water testing products are best, which fish go with which, heating in the tank, all the...

Hello! I am new to the forum and hoping to get advice on a few good species to stock a freshwater 38 gallon tank. The tank is 36 inches long and 12 inches wide, 20 inches in height. I am in the process of setting up the tank, it's completely empty right now so I can build the substrate/decor...

Hello All, Firstly a very good day to you and I hope everyone is keeping safe! I understand my question may be a bit clichéd to all the experienced aquatists out there but please bear with my rookie questions; I have a fresh water aquarium with a lone bala shark, a pair of small (Approx 4cm...

Hi Guys, I Just wanna share my experience and i hope to get some advice too. so i had algae problem in my planted betta tank, and i had this stupid idea to place some feeder shrimp there since they are cheap and i think they eat everything including algae. So i bought some of them and put them...

So I'm trying to cycle my 29 gallons with fish in them, I bought pretty hardy fish but think I got too many in there for it to cycle well. I currently have 5 guppies, 1 platy, and a spotted catfish. I recently moved them from my ten-gallon tank so it has some of the substrate from it (that...

Hi all, Was hoping to get some thoughts on a centerpiece fish, shrimp or other fish I can get for my aquarium (unless I'd be overstocking); I've had a look at the other "centerpiece fish" forum posts, but every tank is different so wanted specific thoughts to reduce the chance of any issues. I...

Hello! I am completely new to fishkeeping. I mean, I had a goldfish fish when I was 5 that my father took care of but that is it. I am most likely going to buy a 16.5-gallon nano tank, that I will put saltwater fish in. I have read lots about fish in the last few weeks so I do understand the...

Hello! I have recently (as in the last week or two) been interested in buying some saltwater fish. I have already watched a lot of youtube videos to know that it will require regular maintenance. I have not bought anything yet, however I am very interested in a Nano tank that is 63 liters...

Intro: Hi everyone thank you for taking the time to read my first post. This isn't my first forum experience and I am well aware of the search function. However I wanted to post this asap and hopefully someone can help me faster then me looking for the answer. The problem: I noticed a...

hi. I'm not technically new exactly, I've currently got a 10-gallon betta tank, but definitely not experienced. Anyways, my cousin might be upgrading one of her tanks from a 36 gallon bowfront to... something bigger come spring. If she does, she says she'd be willing to give me the old one. I...

I’m a newbie who was gifted a small Fluval Spec 19L tank (″ (W 52 x D 19 x H 30 cm, for reference) with 5 armano shrimp and a few fish (not sure what they are!) about 4-5 months ago. I have some tap safe and water cleaner, and have been doing 10-15% water changes every 7-14 days. I'm in London...

Hey! I'm new here :) Just wanted to ask what the major facts I need to consider when considering about the 10 gallon aquarium. This article had some interesting facts. Will those help me? https://theaquariumhobbyist.com/10-gallon-fish-tank/

We had two Platy fish for almost a year in a 3.5 gallon tank. One morning, the male was dead where he had seemed his normal self the night before. We replaced him with a smaller version of himself. Two days later my husband remarks that female fish looked very pregnant. I’d had this pair for...

Hi all. I’m a total beginner fish keeper. My brother has given me some fish so I’m still learning! I have 9 platy and a Bala but one of my platy has had clamped fins for the last few days. At first I thought it was stress but I’ve noticed he’s swimming erratically, he’s lost weight and he swims...

Hi Guys, I'm new to fish keeping and have got a 10-gallon tropical tank that I'm about to cycle and wondered if you guys could give me any stocking advice. I also wanted some sort of algae eater and some shrimp in there too, if possible. Unfortunately, you can't get ammonia where I live so I...

Okay, I've had a goldfish for around 5 years now, we got him from a fairground as a small one and he's grown into a 10cm long fish. He's currently in a biorb 15l which is clearly too small for him as the water is constantly turning dark green. We're looking to buy a new aquarium/tank with a...

Most people's first fish tank is small, usually 5 US gallons (19 liters) or less. It is far too common that people will buy a 1 gallon, or 3 gallon, or 5 gallon tank, and then find out later they have stocked it with the wrong kind of fish, or too many fish, or a bad mix of fish. So I wanted to...

Hi everyone, I'm getting back into the hobby after about a 10 year hiatus, and am looking to start out again with my first truly planted tank, a 35 gal. cube with some dwarf grass, marimo moss balls, and a Xmas moss bonsai. The most I've done with plants in the past has been some hornwort...

I would like to Hardscape my aquarium - (Rocks, Stones, Gravel, and Limited Plants) However, have got some fish doing just fine in my tank that has a mix match of ornaments, such as a large fake wooden background log thing...:S:fun: and a few small fake plants. The fish I have...

Hi all, Used to keep a 25 gallon freshwater fish tank when I was a kid, and now getting back into the hobby after being gifted a 60L BiOrb tank (http://www.biorb.com/en-us/shop/aquariums/life/biorb-life-60/)- about 16 gallons. I've read a lot about cycling the tank, how long it can take...

Hi All, This forum is invaluable for people like me who always had the desire to set a happy and healthy environment for fish to thrive in but never had the push to do it. Well, I have taken the plunge and decided to purchase my first tank as a beginner (I am 33 yrs old so not too late I...

Hi, In advance I am really sorry if this has been asked before etc but I am absolutely gutted!! Bought the biorb was so excited to get a cold water arrangement of minnows, shrimp, snails etc... Turns out I can only have 4 minnows and no shrimp because of the way the biorb is set out... My...

Hi everyone! I have a new tank which has 12 Neons 5 Salt and Pepper Corys and a male Betta in. The tank is rougly 18gallons (though I live in the UK so its 70 litres). I've been using the JBL proscan test strips and app. I've always had really reliable results and my local aquarium shop...

Hello! To begin with, I'm totally new to fish keeping and want to ensure everything is done right before I add any fish to the tank. These forums have been a great source of information for me. I purchased a 180L Rio Aquarium which came with an internal Juwel filter and I fitted an external...

I just got my first paradise betta and tank. I wanted to use shells from when my family visited Florida. My father claimed I could boil them for 6 minutes or more and then rise them well. Will this work? I want to make sure to keep my fish living and thriving as much as possible. Also any...

I'm afraid my fish, John Quincy Adams, is sick! He had a white spot on his fin when I first got him 9 months ago but it did not grow or change so I left it alone. I've begun to notice that his tail looks like it might be deteriorating and some of his dark blue color is lightening. He has...

Finally got round to setting up my Fluval Flex 57L this weekend. Been researching this a lot over the last few months and decided to do a low tech planted tank. The lights probably aren't the best and perhaps the plants I've used are of a higher spec than I think but I'll give it a go. Not...

My readings are Ammonia- 0.25 ppm Nitirite- 5 ppm Nitrate - 20 ppm Do I need to continue feeding ammonia? Does my tank need a water change? Any advice is appreciated, thank you

Recently got into fish keeping after many years since i was a child, i have set up a 20 gallon semi-aggressive community tank. So far i have 2 japanese algae shrimp, 1 Ghost shrimp, the 3 tiger barbs which are the fish that i am worried about due to lack of color and what seems like rapid...

Hey, Panicking! I cleaned my tank a few days ago, still trying to get back on track from my last issue (water pump turning the water cloudy, has since been removed). I assumed the water was still cloudy or that I'd somehow got dust in the tank, however on closer inspection...THE DUST IS...

Hello! I've recently started sorting out the tank I've had since childhood (The scrub mistakes I've made over the last ten years...). So far I have replaced the rubbish internal filter with an eheim ecco pro 130, replaced the substrate and decorated it with some Java ferns, Java moss, Hair...

Hello friends, I'm new to fish keeping so I apologise for any obvious mistakes I may have made! I have a lovely 5 gallon tank set up with filter, heater, LED lights. I bought my little guy home a couple of days ago, half moon betta, no obvious discolouration, no ragged fins, no white spots or...

Hello, I've only gotten into tropical fish keeping about 3 months ago since I took over the family aquarium. In the aquarium at the moment is grey gravel with the odd bright coloured rock, it looks disgusting. I was thinking of switching to sand so I could put live plants in and also for looks...