Greetings from the California High Desert

[Mongo75]

Hi all

Name's Tony, and I relearning all I forgot and more. Back before the turn of the century, I started out with a 30g FWLRO. Around '02, I bought 2 120g tank, one for various cichlid, the other for all the cute little fishies. Life got too busy around '06, so I sold all my fish and gear.

Fast forward to '19. I'm retired living with my son, his wife, and my beautiful 16 month granddaughter. Looking for something she and I can share as she gets older, I decided I wanted to get back into fish keeping. Hopefully, it's a hobby she will come to love

We have a 20g Marineland kit that's been running since July 18. I've just successfully made it through a fish in cycle with 2 Creamsicle Lyretail Mollies, 2 Dalmation Lyretail (marble) Mollies, 1 black Angel, 2 Nerite Snails and 2 Mystery Snails. There were no casualties and no signs of distress.

Daily testing and 50 to 75 percent water changes and never had any major spikes. Ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and pH are 0, 0, 5-20 and 7.8 to 8.0.

I'm planning on a 75 or 110g Angels as the centerpiece and a few other compatible tankmates from the Americas.

Anyway, Hi

 

[FishGuest5123]

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

What sort of flower is that in your avatar picture?

 

[Kritastrophe]

Looks like a California orange poppy.

 

[Mongo75]

Hi and welcome to the forum

What sort of flower is that in your avatar picture?

I wish I knew. I was at the California Poppy Reserve, near Lancaster, last April, and that random wildflower was growing in that clump of poppies. I couldn't resist the "Kodak moment", but I have no idea what it is.

Edit: The orange ones are California Poppies.

 

[Kritastrophe]

Oh I missed the purple flower bwahahaha. Pretty cool. Hi and welcome to the forums!

 

[seangee]

Hi and welcome

It is worth checking the hardness of your water (GH) before getting too far into choosing stock. Most S American fish (including angels) thrive in soft water. Mollies require very hard water. Not really sure to what extent we knew about this before the turn of the century - I certainly didn't. These days I try to keep fish in water that is as close to their natural environment as possible.

For most people I recommend that you choose fish that are suited to the water that comes out of your taps, as this is by far the easiest option. (I chose to ignore this advice and making water takes me a lot of time every week - and of course is not cheap)

 

[Ingrid]

Enjoy your new hobby

 

[Mongo75]

Hi and welcome

It is worth checking the hardness of your water (GH) before getting too far into choosing stock. Most S American fish (including angels) thrive in soft water. Mollies require very hard water. Not really sure to what extent we knew about this before the turn of the century - I certainly didn't. These days I try to keep fish in water that is as close to their natural environment as possible.

For most people I recommend that you choose fish that are suited to the water that comes out of your taps, as this is by far the easiest option. (I chose to ignore this advice and making water takes me a lot of time every week - and of course is not cheap)

Right now, I'm not doing anything to control pH or even measuring the GH or KH.

When I get the new tank set up, it will have both wood and if necessary, peat or something to soften the water.

I knew better than to get the Angel, but being the softie I am, I let my DIL talk me into it. So now, she's gonna have to acquiesce to the second, larger tank . I'm planning on December or January, lol.

Edit: It's not decided yet. I may go with Africans. With the exception of a green terror, that's what I had back in the past. I find the so much more colorful

 

[Back in the fold]

Hey ! You're back in the hobby for all the right reasons. This is a great hobby to get the youngsters into. Retirement is great ain't it? I'm giving up my part time gig in another month because I loathe taking orders from snot nosed whelps that I should take a switch to. You won't have any problems remembering what to do and if you do there's some really smart people on the TFF Forum here that really know their stuff.

 

[Mongo75]

Hey ! You're back in the hobby for all the right reasons. This is a great hobby to get the youngsters into. Retirement is great ain't it? I'm giving up my part time gig in another month because I loathe taking orders from snot nosed whelps that I should take a switch to. You won't have any problems remembering what to do and if you do there's some really smart people on the TFF Forum here that really know their stuff.

When I retired, my son and his wife asked me to come live with them. How could I refuse? Get to play with my granddaughter every day and spoil her to my (and her) hearts content! Oh Yeah, lol.

I saw a post where someone had said how much technology, theories, mindsets and the like had changed. This may be true, but the basics have remained the same. Test your water, do water changes, understand the nitrogen cycle, still the same. Don't put Guppies with your Oscar's, or your Oscars in a 10g and expect anything but failure, no change there. Don't listen to the kid at Pet(bigbox), same.

Though a couple of the guys at my local PetSmart are fish kerpers, and I've overheard them giving good advice to the people that want an Oscar and a dozen Neon Tetras that want to put in that 10g tank

Where I'm at, we have 2 PetSmarts. 1 Petco, 1 lfs that caters more to saltwater and reef, and 1 lps that caters to reptiles and has the sorriest fish section I've ever seen. No killies, no kribs, no lots of more interesting fish. I really miss living where there were 5 or 6 decent fish stores within 10 miles of home, but I'll sacrifice that and the "more interesting fish" for family any day of the week.

The one lfs with all the reef stuff do have some good freshies, and I figure if they can keep a huge tank of Discus (not for sale), they can be trusted. When my DIL showed interest in a Ghost Knife and I said "not in a 20g tank", one of the employees came over and helped me explain why that would really be a bad idea, rather than selling one to her

 

[Back in the fold]

True dat Brother! The basics don't change.

 

[TheTenthDoctor]

Welcome!

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Hello, and welcome to the forum!

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