Hello From A Total Novice.

[Aqua Tom]

Hello all, I am new to this fishkeeping malarky so thought I would seek out a group of fishy types who know what they are doing (thats you lot btw).

I went to my local pet superstore three weeks ago with my eldest daughter (3 1/2 years old) to get some supplies for my dog. Whilst we where in there the lil one wanted to go look at the pretty fish's & asked if she could have some. I said no at the time but when I got home I realised that Tropical Fish keeping was somthing that I have always wanted to have a go at.
I spent the next week or so reading up on the nitrogen cycle, begineers fish etc & then measured up to see exactly the right size aquarium for my front room.

After I thought I was ready I went back to the store & bought a 48l fishbox & stand which I then gravalised (made up word) & decorated in a roman/grecian theme. Attached my heater & filter, filled it up with water, decloranated it & turned it on for a week.

After said time it was time for me to start the cycle so I got little 4 little golden zebra danios to cycle for me. I am planing on keeping these guys as I dont belive in flushing live fish (as I have read about elsewhere). Oh this was on Saturday btw.


They are doing realy well & zipping around the tank looking very healthy. One thing I forgot to get was a water test but & master kit should be arriving today.

Anyhoo I will keep you all informed of my progress or lack of it as the case may be.

Cheers.

Tom.

 

[Mo1959]

Welcome to the forum. Your fish should be fine as long as you get your water testing kit and keep an eye on ammonia and nitrite levels until your filter has cycled. Be prepared to have to change some of your water most days to keep ammonia and nitrite levels under .25ppm. This will ensure your fish are safe but still allow your filter to cycle. It can take several weeks though but on a 48litre tank the water changes are really not that difficult. Probably only talking about ten minutes once you get into a routine.

 

[KittyKat]

I always recommend a fishless cycle as opposed to a fish-in cycle (which is what you are doing) because fishless is less work and is quicker, in my experience.

Heads up that you will need to do water changes almost every day for about a month to keep ammonia readings below 0.25ppm. If you let the ammonia rise above that, the fish will be harmed and can even die.

Good luck with your first aquarium adventure.

 

[basil1]

Hi tom, and welcome, as kitty kat says, most of us start with a fishless cycle which is much safer for the fish, and the danios you have in your tank are usually what we put in after a new tank has cycled because they are quite tolerant, anyway you have started now so let's hope all goes well, but to help things along, is there anyway you could get some filter media or gravel from a friend or your lfs, that would help the survival chances of your fish as well, while your decoration theme looks very nice I'm sure, algae will soon strike, have you thought of live plants as well, apart from looking nice they will help with the algae situation by competing for nutriants with the algae, anyway good luck and keep us up to date.

 

[Aqua Tom]

is there anyway you could get some filter media or gravel from a friend or your lfs, that would help the survival chances of your fish as well, while your decoration theme looks very nice I'm sure, algae will soon strike, have you thought of live plants as well, apart from looking nice they will help with the algae situation by competing for nutriants with the algae, anyway good luck and keep us up to date.

Actualy a workmate has a tropical tank, so i could ask him for a bit of his filter, what plants would you recomend?

 

[KittyKat]

Hygrophila, Java moss, Java fern are some of the easiest. I really need to trim my tanks back so let me know if you're interested in mine, otherwise almost every LFS stocks those. Do have a look at Tropica for plant information

I think the general thoughts are that plants slow down the cycle, so might want to wait till the tank is cycled.

 

[Aqua Tom]

Ok so I wont add plants.