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[Romany]

Hi everyone

I'm completely new to keeping fish & could really do with some help.

I suffer from depression & i have schizo-affective disorder. I was told that keeping fish can help with depression, so......my partner bought me a small starter tank,filter, gravel,etc and a friend of mine is going to give me some of her guppies ( shes over run with them)

Can you give me some advice on feeding, cleaning & just general care ?

Like i said i've never kept fish before so if i come across ignorant, i am !

Thanks in advance

Romany

 

[fluttermoth]

Hi there romany, welcome to the forum

There are some great articles in the beginner's resource centre (the link is in my sig).

{i]The[/i] most important thing to know is that fish produce ammonia in their pee and poo, and that that will kill them unless you; a. remove the ammonia yourself with water changes, using warm, dechlorinated water or b. you have a good colony of bacteria living in your filter which eat the ammonia and turn it first into nitrite and then into nitrate, which is only dangerous at very high levels and which is removed by regular weekly water changes. This is called the 'nitrogen cycle' and the single most important thing to learn about in fishkeeping.

What would be best is if, when your friend gives you the fish, if they also give you a piece of sponge or something from their filter as well. This will have some bacteria on it (as long as your friend's filter is not washed out in tap water when she cleans her tank! Never[/]i wash your filter out under the tap; the tap water will kill the bacteria) and will help start your tank off

You should also get a test kit so you can test for ammonia, and if you ever get a result that's not zero, you'll know you need to change some water.

Apart from that, the most important thing would be don't over feed, as that will also pollute the water. Each guppy only needs an amount of food the size of it's eye. Oh, and only get male guppies, or your tank will get over run too

Hope that all helps; it not really as complicated as it seems at first and there are always people here ready to help out and answer any questions you might have.

 

[Romany]

Thanks for the advice ! no doubt i will be asking more questions when the fish arrive !

 

[Shaddex]

Welcome to the forums, any questions, just ask ! We are a friendly bunch !

 

[Romany]

I do have another query.....


My friend told me to fill my tank with tap water and to run the filter for 2-3 days to establish, its what shes done for the last 16 years shes been keeping fish.

Reading a few posts this isn't recommended, i feel a bit confused !

 

[Romany]

The water has also gone cloudy already !

 

[neonnewbie]

The water has also gone cloudy already !

Welcome to the forum
The gravel will need cleaning.empty the water out and wash the gravel then refill it that should cure it for you.if you have already cleaned it the filter will eventually clear the water.

Hope this helps

NN

 

[fluttermoth]

I do have another query.....


My friend told me to fill my tank with tap water and to run the filter for 2-3 days to establish, its what shes done for the last 16 years shes been keeping fish.

Reading a few posts this isn't recommended, i feel a bit confused !

That's a rather old-fashioned way of doing things

We normally recommend a 'fishless cycle', where you feed the tank with ammonia yourself (instead of having fish provide it) until a good bacterial colony has formed, but if your friend has some tanks up and running, you can get some of her filter media, as I mentioned before, and that will have enough bacteria to start you off.

She can give you up to a third of her media and that would allow (in theory anyway) to stock a third of what fish she keeps in your tank, so if your friend has 30 guppies, she could give you a third of her media and and you could have 10 guppies (or other fish of a similar size).

Hope that makes sense!

 

[colleen0309]

Welcome and good luck! Fish keeping is a great way to relax.