Hi Guys And Girls, Another Newbie Here!

[katiefairyinnit]

Hi everyone,

Just a quick hello, I'm new and still getting to grips with the site and stuff, hoping to make some new fish-loving friends and share experiences. I'm Katie from Manchester. I'm pretty new to the hobby so I still have much to learn! Hope everyone's having a great week and look forward to meeting you all!

 

[Dieses Madchen]

Wlcome to the forum!!! What's your tank size and stock? With pics? (we love pictures here)

 

[katiefairyinnit]

Wlcome to the forum!!! What's your tank size and stock? With pics? (we love pictures here)

Thanks for the reply I shall have to get some photos up soon then. I have a Juwel 120l with a crowntail betta, a golden gourami, 2 endlers, 5 variatus platies, a common pleco and a black molly, oh and a tiny baby endler in the breeding trap who escaped from the shop unnoticed! Its a good job I'd already bought the trap!

What do you have in your tank? Have you been keeping fish for long?

 

[Dieses Madchen]

Which tank lol? I have 8! I have a 40g livebearer tank with 7 platys, 2 swordtails, 6 cories, 3 kuhlis, and two bristlenose plecos.
2 10g tanks, each divided with a male betta on each side
a 125g with 2 oscars and a common plec
a 75g with a breeding pair of jack dempseys
a 47g mbuna tank
a 55g with a breeding pair of green terrors,
and a 55g with 18 convicts babies and 2 baby severums.

You tank sounds lovely. But would you be offended if I gave you a few points to consider?

 

[katiefairyinnit]

Which tank lol? I have 8! I have a 40g livebearer tank with 7 platys, 2 swordtails, 6 cories, 3 kuhlis, and two bristlenose plecos.
2 10g tanks, each divided with a male betta on each side
a 125g with 2 oscars and a common plec
a 75g with a breeding pair of jack dempseys
a 47g mbuna tank
a 55g with a breeding pair of green terrors,
and a 55g with 18 convicts babies and 2 baby severums.

You tank sounds lovely. But would you be offended if I gave you a few points to consider?

No, go for it. i need all the advice I can get. The tank's been running well for the last 3 months without any real problems as yet, not even during the cycle which i was really pleased about! The fish have been added gradually though. I find talking to people is much better than reading books though, so I'll take any pointers you can give me!

Your tanks sound amazing, you seem like a real pro! I hope I'm that advanced one day. Where do you keep your fish? All in your house? Do you ever sell them or do you keep them all? I'll stop there before I overload you with questions!
x

 

[Dieses Madchen]

Well, be careful with Gouramis and Bettas in the same tank. They are not known to get along very well, so I advise a backup plan if you start so see aggression (which some people dont) You have a crowntail betta which tend to be more aggressive than most, but if you havent seen aggression yet, you may never. Just letting you know as a warning. You may try to keep a spare 3-5g tank around just in case. I wouldnt worry about moving him right now if everything is going well. Also, common plecs can get to be up to 2 feet long. You will have to rehome him eventually, unless you get a larger tank. How big is he now?

Its good to hear you had no problems with your cycle. A lot of questions we get from newcomers relate to the cycling process, but i think its wonderful that you have done your research.

I'm by no means a pro lol. I am still learning a lot of new things and getting to know the fish I keep. A lot of experience comes from just doing. Since you know how to cycle a tank, you could very well get into other types of fish. Just make sure you research potential candidates for compatibility. I've only been keeping fish a little over a year. My best piece of advice is the reap the benefits of good knowledge from the members here. I learned the majority from the good people here.

 

[katiefairyinnit]

Thanks for the info. I wasn't told about the betta and the gourami when I purchased them, and I bought them together, so thanks for the heads up. I think I've been really lucky so far in that the gourami is placid and the betta is the loveliest guy in the tank! He's so peaceful and nobody bothers him either which is really great. I'd go as far to say that he's borderline lazy! Either way, I doubt he's gonna cause me problems with tankmates I did spend a while studying the fish in the shop before I bought any of them, to get a feel of their personalities. I think thats really helped me make good choices and probably had a big hand in how well the tank's done so far.

The pleco is only very small. I bought him as a baby and he's a little gem. Really active and doesn't use many of his hiding places I made for him so I get to see him lots. I used to have a bristlenose who I thought had died as he disappeared in my 3 foot community tank, but he surfaced 6 months later out of nowhere and he was HUGE! I know my pleco will outgrow the tank eventually but I'm enjoying him until he gets to that point. Hopefully I'll have lots of pleco time left til then! Have you kept plecos before? If so, how long did it take for them to grow too big?

I have an unlikely boisterous fish in my male black mollie though. I'm keeping a close eye on him as he's very persistent with his chasing some days. But he's not upsetting anyone as yet. He's really large as far as black mollies go but he's not a fin nipper. I've sought advice on him from a few shops and they all say he's probably just a boisterous anomaly and I should watch him for stressing others. In which case, I'll rehome him.

Have you experienced any bad combinations? I was told that my gourami would eat my endlers but the female endler is so confident and doesn't get any grief. She chases the big gourami if he comes too close, its so funny to watch cuz she's tiny!

I've only just noticed your fish list on the bottom of your messages. Sorry for missing that before and making you repeat yourself. You've been successful in breeding your fish, that's really cool. It must be really rewarding when it happens x

 

[Dieses Madchen]

Successful...sort of lol. At the time, the oscars and the jacks were in the same tank and the jacks ate their babies. I am hoping now that the oscars are gone they will breed again. The one common plec that I have is about 8 inches longs, and he was that size when I bought him. I don't have much experience with plecs unfortunately, so I cannot give you a timeline. It is awesome that you have such a placid gourami and betta. I didnt want to badger you with a bunch of you "your stock is wrong!" info, but wanted to make you aware of potential so you know what to watch for. Your setup seems to be working amaingly, so I wouldnt change a thing, personally. Dont fix whats not broken, right?

I have had my experience with bad combos. I have had evils guppies (crazy right??) and even had a jewel cichlid which was incompatible with EVERYTHING. The hardest part of the hobby is that its a "learn as you go" type hobby and nothing in the books can tell you 100% what to expect. Every fish is different.

 

[katiefairyinnit]

Evil guppies? Wow. I guess fish all have different personalities and you can get some rogue ones. I hope your fish breed again for you. Do you keep all the babies? What happened to your jewel cichlid?

I was originally gonna keep a species tank of malawi cichlids, but changed my mind after cycling with platies. i got attached to them and didn't wanna take them back so I went for community instead. Also, I've never kept cichlids before and thought it'd be best to work up to the more challenging fish.

Whats your favourite fish you've ever kept?

 

[Dieses Madchen]

I really loved my jewel cichlid. I rehomed her cause she tried to eat everyone. I think my favorite is my oscars. they have personities like puppies.

 

[TropicalJuwel]

Welcome to the forum, you have made a great choice in choosing this one.

Seems as though everything is going well for you but as mentioned above keep a check on a few of your fish as the common plec will grow huge, ordipending on how much food there is to eat and tank size, as if its starts to out grow the tank it may stunt there growth, but hey its a great excuse to upgrade the tank at a later date lol or if you really get the bug have loads of tanks like Dieses Madchen

Everyone has a bit of luck when starting out in fish keeping and alot of the time learn from there mistakes but you said you have done research before buying and that goes along way to getting you started so maybe you haven't been so much lucky but just doing the right things. I wish I'd found this forum earlier instead of listening to bad lfs advice, but I got here eventually.

Hope everything goes well with the tank and any problems you think you may have theres more than enough experienced people on here to help.

 

[BigTuna]

Just here to welcome you. I'm new here as well and it didn't take me long to find some very helpful people. Best of luck with your fishkeeping!

 

[TyriquePlanty]

Welcome my new friend im new also lol joined last month but WELCOME!

 

[Dieses Madchen]

Oh you dont want as many tanks as I have sooo many water changes!! My sundays are booked!

 

[katiefairyinnit]

Thanks everyone, its nice to meet you all. I've already had really good advice so far getting opinions from others is much better than reading books.

Dieses Madchen, I saw a couple of your entries on the competition pages. Your fish are lovely