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Hello, noob here!! :)

tyberiusj12

tyberiusj12

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Joined
Jun 19, 2022
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Location
Arvada CO
I've actually owned my tank for about a year and 9months, however ive only kept the fish because they were peaceful. i never took the time to learn about them nor study how to keep them alive. i guess you can say ive been very lucky since i got them. i bought the 5gal package that came with everything i needed, changed/cleaned the gravel every month or once i saw it getting bad. put in weekly and monthly chems, bought new fish every so often if i thought it was cute. lost a lot of beautiful creatures due to the lack of fish keeping knowledge. mostly frogs/crabs/snails/ and black moor and transparent fish.
i upgraded to a 30gal because 2 fish i got started eating other fish
i currently own ({2pink, 2purple, 1blue, 1yellow glofish tetras} , 1upside down catfish, 1Longfin serape tetra, 1white skirt tetra, 1red cap orando goldfish, 1goldfish, 1pleco, and a sick pictus catfish) in the 30gal and (1 oscar and 1 black molly) in the 5gal
i only started considering this a hobby after my pictus catfish got sick (2-3 days ago) and it upset me enough to do research on aquatic life
i hope to correct all my failures and grow beautiful thriving fish.
my fish bring me so much happiness every time they freak-out when i approach them, my redcap orando as well as my oscar even allow me to hand feed them flakes and watching the orandos little body swim and my oscar jumping out of the water every time i approach with food brings me so much joy.
I hope you all except this thriving family into your community and help us along our journey to a 400gal tank.
 
Did you really mean to type 400 gallon??? Wow, that is nice! Either way, congrats on the MTS, and welcome to the forum.
 
outofwater said:
Did you really mean to type 400 gallon??? Wow, that is nice! Either way, congrats on the MTS, and welcome to the forum.
Click to expand...
400gal dream lol but before i invest into that i want to be 5years fatality free
also MTS: Multiple tank syndrome correct? lol
Edit: OMG its a real thing lol
 
tyberiusj12 said:
400gal dream lol but before i invest into that i want to be 5years fatality free
also MTS: Multiple tank syndrome correct? lol
Edit: OMG its a real thing lol
Click to expand...
MTS is very real 🤣 I started with one tank in December last year, up to 3 now and have the upgrade in the works to go from 29g to 55g.
 
Hi and welcome to the forum :)

GRAVEL CLEANING
Get yourself a basic model gravel cleaner like the one in the following link. It lets you clean the gravel while it's in the tank and you simply drain some water out and clean the gravel at the same time. You can even make them from a 1, 1.5 or 2 litre plastic drink bottle and length of garden hose.
www.about-goldfish.com

Aquarium Cleaning Made Easy

Aquarium cleaning should take 30 minutes every two weeks. Learn how the professionals do it in 18 easy steps.
www.about-goldfish.com www.about-goldfish.com

If you do a 50-75% water change and gravel clean the substrate once a week, it will keep the water cleaner and the fish healthier.

Gravel doesn't need to be changed and will last as long as the tank and even longer.

-------------------
FILTERS
What sort of filter is on the tank?
How often and how do you clean the filter?

Power filters should be cleaned once a month. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use them. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens.

If you have filter pads/ cartridges that need replacing every month, put some sponge in the filter instead of using the pads. Sponges last for years and only get replaced when they start to fall apart.

You can buy sponges for different brands of filter and use a pair of scissors to cut them to fit. I like AquaClear sponges but there are plenty of other brands.

Add the sponge/s to the filter and leave it there with the old filter media for 2 months. Then remove the filter pad. You can add more sponge after this if you like.

You can also put round/ cylindrical sponges on the intake of most external power filters (canister or hand on back style). These act as a pre-filter and can be washed each week when you do a water change. They also reduce the chance of small or sick creatures being sucked into the filter.

-------------------
Try not to add chemicals to tanks. Fish need clean water that is free of chemicals. The more chemicals they get exposed to, the more chance of them suffering organ failure (liver disease) or dying from a chemical overdose.

-------------------
TURNING LIGHTS ON AND OFF
Stress from tank lights coming on when the room is dark can be an issue. Fish don't have eyelids and don't tolerate going from complete dark to bright light (or vice versa) instantly.

In the morning open the curtains or turn the room light on at least 30 minutes (or more) before turning the tank light on. This will reduce the stress on the fish and they won't go from a dark tank to a bright tank instantly.

At night turn the room light on and then turn the tank light off. Wait at least 30 minutes (or more) before turning the room light out. This allows the fish to settle down for the night instead of going from a brightly lit tank to complete darkness instantly.

Try to have the lights on at the same time each day. Use a timer if possible.
 
tyberiusj12 said:
400gal dream lol but before i invest into that i want to be 5years fatality free
also MTS: Multiple tank syndrome correct? lol
Edit: OMG its a real thing lol
Click to expand...
LOL, I told myself I'd be getting rid of my obsolete 10-gallon months ago and finally put it outside to be cleaned. I hauled that thing back into my house 2hrs ago, MTS is real!!!
 
Colin_T said:
Hi and welcome to the forum :)

GRAVEL CLEANING
Get yourself a basic model gravel cleaner like the one in the following link. It lets you clean the gravel while it's in the tank and you simply drain some water out and clean the gravel at the same time. You can even make them from a 1, 1.5 or 2 litre plastic drink bottle and length of garden hose.
www.about-goldfish.com

Aquarium Cleaning Made Easy

Aquarium cleaning should take 30 minutes every two weeks. Learn how the professionals do it in 18 easy steps.
www.about-goldfish.com www.about-goldfish.com

If you do a 50-75% water change and gravel clean the substrate once a week, it will keep the water cleaner and the fish healthier.

Gravel doesn't need to be changed and will last as long as the tank and even longer.

-------------------
FILTERS
What sort of filter is on the tank?
How often and how do you clean the filter?

Power filters should be cleaned once a month. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use them. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens.

If you have filter pads/ cartridges that need replacing every month, put some sponge in the filter instead of using the pads. Sponges last for years and only get replaced when they start to fall apart.

You can buy sponges for different brands of filter and use a pair of scissors to cut them to fit. I like AquaClear sponges but there are plenty of other brands.

Add the sponge/s to the filter and leave it there with the old filter media for 2 months. Then remove the filter pad. You can add more sponge after this if you like.

You can also put round/ cylindrical sponges on the intake of most external power filters (canister or hand on back style). These act as a pre-filter and can be washed each week when you do a water change. They also reduce the chance of small or sick creatures being sucked into the filter.

-------------------
Try not to add chemicals to tanks. Fish need clean water that is free of chemicals. The more chemicals they get exposed to, the more chance of them suffering organ failure (liver disease) or dying from a chemical overdose.

-------------------
TURNING LIGHTS ON AND OFF
Stress from tank lights coming on when the room is dark can be an issue. Fish don't have eyelids and don't tolerate going from complete dark to bright light (or vice versa) instantly.

In the morning open the curtains or turn the room light on at least 30 minutes (or more) before turning the tank light on. This will reduce the stress on the fish and they won't go from a dark tank to a bright tank instantly.

At night turn the room light on and then turn the tank light off. Wait at least 30 minutes (or more) before turning the room light out. This allows the fish to settle down for the night instead of going from a brightly lit tank to complete darkness instantly.

Try to have the lights on at the same time each day. Use a timer if possible.
Click to expand...
thank you for the welcoming as well as all the info!!!
 
Hi and welcome to TFF... :hi:
There are several people on this forum who are dealing with MTS... A real addiction... :rofl:
 
tyberiusj12 said:
I've actually owned my tank for about a year and 9months, however ive only kept the fish because they were peaceful. i never took the time to learn about them nor study how to keep them alive. i guess you can say ive been very lucky since i got them. i bought the 5gal package that came with everything i needed, changed/cleaned the gravel every month or once i saw it getting bad. put in weekly and monthly chems, bought new fish every so often if i thought it was cute. lost a lot of beautiful creatures due to the lack of fish keeping knowledge. mostly frogs/crabs/snails/ and black moor and transparent fish.
i upgraded to a 30gal because 2 fish i got started eating other fish
i currently own ({2pink, 2purple, 1blue, 1yellow glofish tetras} , 1upside down catfish, 1Longfin serape tetra, 1white skirt tetra, 1red cap orando goldfish, 1goldfish, 1pleco, and a sick pictus catfish) in the 30gal and (1 oscar and 1 black molly) in the 5gal
i only started considering this a hobby after my pictus catfish got sick (2-3 days ago) and it upset me enough to do research on aquatic life
i hope to correct all my failures and grow beautiful thriving fish.
my fish bring me so much happiness every time they freak-out when i approach them, my redcap orando as well as my oscar even allow me to hand feed them flakes and watching the orandos little body swim and my oscar jumping out of the water every time i approach with food brings me so much joy.
I hope you all except this thriving family into your community and help us along our journey to a 400gal tank.
Click to expand...
Well hello there. Don’t fill bad as when I sterted fish keeping I had no one to give me advice. Hard to say this but this was before cell phones & internet so looking up info was not happening. I made every mistake you could possibly make but i stuck with it & have had my 120 set up & running for over 16 years now. I kept 2 fish alive for 16 years. Lucky now we have internet will all the advice on fish keeping one could want. I wish you the best & hope you stay in this hoppy a very long time.
 
Hi and welcome.

"i currently own ({2pink, 2purple, 1blue, 1yellow glofish tetras} , 1upside down catfish, 1Longfin serape tetra, 1white skirt tetra, 1red cap orando goldfish, 1goldfish, 1pleco, and a sick pictus catfish) in the 30gal and (1 oscar and 1 black molly) in the 5gal"

Don't know why, but nobody has mentioned this before:

Both thanks are overstocked, and if they are not yet (because of juvenile fish), they will be, very much so in a short time. In addition, both tanks include fairly incompatible fish.
The 5 gal with the oscar and molly. A single oscar will fully stock a 55 gal tank! And they grow fast, even in poor conditions. The Oscar needs low(ish) pH and soft water to do well and thrive. The molly the exact opposite!

The 30 gal- The 2 goldfish and the pleco (hopefully not a common pleco as that will make it worse because it gets huge) are the maximum stock the tank can have, only because they are still young, and really it is not enough even for those fish. As in the situation above (oscar and molly), the tetras (all of them) thrive in softer, lower pH water, whereas the goldfish thrive on the opposite. The upside down (Synodontis) cat and the pictus cat may not be the best friends for long, particularly when they grow. In addition, the goldfish are cold water fish, whereas the rest are warmer water dwellers.

The suggestion is to reconsider the stocking for both tanks, reduce drastically and choose fish that are compatible with each other. In addition, it is best to think not about the current size of each fish, but about the maximum attainable by each type of fish. Use the later to arrive at decisions regarding stocking. Most likely you will be able to return fish to the store or where they came from, or give away to good homes.

One last comment is to recognize that just about everybody who keeps tanks has made similar mistakes at one point or another. The important part is to recognize them and learn from them.
Good luck!
 
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