Hello all!
I've been reading up a bit on here and this site seems to have quite a few knowledgeable members with some good links and advice to give, so I decided to sign up. My name's Tom and I live in South Australia, Australia. I've got two LFS's that both have a decent range of products, and the smaller of the two is actually quite friendly and helpful (a family owned shop who have helped my mates with their tanks, without selling half the store to them!).
I'll first introduce myself a little. I'm currently studying 2nd year mechanical engineering (have two remaining after this year), so I'm usually pretty busy with that, but think having a tank would be a hobby that requires a routine, which may even help me organise myself with Uni, rather then my other interests (cars/drifting) which is more expensive and time consuming. I'm living at home while studying, I have an upstairs lounge room with a bathroom and two bedrooms also upstairs. Living in Australia it gets pretty hot in summer (its not uncommon to have a forecast for above 40 degrees C for the week, aka 104 degrees F), and the bedrooms get all the afternoon light, plus having upstairs, it gets rather hot. The lounge room however is quite cooler, which I think would suit an aquarium better. Plus I have a random 1.8mx1m indented corner which would fit an aquarium neatly. Doesn't get too much directly sunlight (in fact, whatever light it does get is diffused by a frosted window, and not too intense).
A few of my friends have tanks and I basically just can't resist for too much longer! I'm looking at what was the Aqua One Euro View 90 (90x50x48 cm). However now its called the Horizon with a rather ugly stand, as opposed to the attractive cupboard the Euro came with. I obviously want to keep tropical fish and have a nice planted tank without using CO2. I was planning on using external canister filter and UV filter.
As for the aquascape, I'm not exactly sure on what I want. Obviously I can't go too crazy without CO2 but my mate is using a carbon supplement called Flourish, by Seachem. His tank seems to grow well with Amazon Swords, lilly's, a small amount of moss (which isn't doing much), and a few other bits. I would love some moss but unsure if I could grow it yet. For features, I was thinking a large, interesting rock on one side with some driftwood on the other, and arranged plants to suit. In keeping with the 'deep at the back, shallow at the front' gravel rule, I was considering building a kind of retaining wall with small rocks to have a small front area which could possibly be carpeted with moss in the future. As for substrate, I was thinking some 3mm black/dark coloured gravel, I was also considering some fertilizer for the first layer but if I was to use a gravel syphon to clean up when doing a water change I don't want my tank turning brown and getting it everywhere! Hence the Flourish product.
As for fish, its not much of a priority at the moment, as I know how long it will take to do a fishless cycle, then adding plants and getting the tank settled how I like it. But I was originally wanting Angels (black or marble) as my 'main' or 'feature' fish, with Neon Tetra as my schooling fish and probably some Bronze catfish to clean up the bottom. That was until I found out that Angels eat Neons in the wild. I would still love to have both but I'm considering silvertip tetra or similar schooling fish in place of the Neons (which sucks, because I LOVE the vibrant colours of the cardinals and neons). I was also thinking cherry shrimp in there (how will these go with the catfish getting around the place?), and something that likes to sit at the top of the tank. I was some at my LFS today but forgot their names. I like a tank where someone looks at it and doesn't see everything in it within 10 seconds. One where you can sit and look at it for quite some time, observing the fish, and then after 10 minutes, see a fish you didn't know was in there, then another might show itself. Discus are the ultimate goal but I don't trust myself when starting out (even if my mates are keeping them successfully now). Could anyone give me any other advice on a 'feature' fish, or what will work well with Angels (do I keep odd or even numbers? Apparently best in groups of 6 or more?).
So thats basically it from me. Just an intro and a few questions.
Thanks for reading and answering if you do!
Tom.
PS I'll post a few photos of my two inspiration tanks that my mates own later.
I've been reading up a bit on here and this site seems to have quite a few knowledgeable members with some good links and advice to give, so I decided to sign up. My name's Tom and I live in South Australia, Australia. I've got two LFS's that both have a decent range of products, and the smaller of the two is actually quite friendly and helpful (a family owned shop who have helped my mates with their tanks, without selling half the store to them!).
I'll first introduce myself a little. I'm currently studying 2nd year mechanical engineering (have two remaining after this year), so I'm usually pretty busy with that, but think having a tank would be a hobby that requires a routine, which may even help me organise myself with Uni, rather then my other interests (cars/drifting) which is more expensive and time consuming. I'm living at home while studying, I have an upstairs lounge room with a bathroom and two bedrooms also upstairs. Living in Australia it gets pretty hot in summer (its not uncommon to have a forecast for above 40 degrees C for the week, aka 104 degrees F), and the bedrooms get all the afternoon light, plus having upstairs, it gets rather hot. The lounge room however is quite cooler, which I think would suit an aquarium better. Plus I have a random 1.8mx1m indented corner which would fit an aquarium neatly. Doesn't get too much directly sunlight (in fact, whatever light it does get is diffused by a frosted window, and not too intense).
A few of my friends have tanks and I basically just can't resist for too much longer! I'm looking at what was the Aqua One Euro View 90 (90x50x48 cm). However now its called the Horizon with a rather ugly stand, as opposed to the attractive cupboard the Euro came with. I obviously want to keep tropical fish and have a nice planted tank without using CO2. I was planning on using external canister filter and UV filter.
As for the aquascape, I'm not exactly sure on what I want. Obviously I can't go too crazy without CO2 but my mate is using a carbon supplement called Flourish, by Seachem. His tank seems to grow well with Amazon Swords, lilly's, a small amount of moss (which isn't doing much), and a few other bits. I would love some moss but unsure if I could grow it yet. For features, I was thinking a large, interesting rock on one side with some driftwood on the other, and arranged plants to suit. In keeping with the 'deep at the back, shallow at the front' gravel rule, I was considering building a kind of retaining wall with small rocks to have a small front area which could possibly be carpeted with moss in the future. As for substrate, I was thinking some 3mm black/dark coloured gravel, I was also considering some fertilizer for the first layer but if I was to use a gravel syphon to clean up when doing a water change I don't want my tank turning brown and getting it everywhere! Hence the Flourish product.
As for fish, its not much of a priority at the moment, as I know how long it will take to do a fishless cycle, then adding plants and getting the tank settled how I like it. But I was originally wanting Angels (black or marble) as my 'main' or 'feature' fish, with Neon Tetra as my schooling fish and probably some Bronze catfish to clean up the bottom. That was until I found out that Angels eat Neons in the wild. I would still love to have both but I'm considering silvertip tetra or similar schooling fish in place of the Neons (which sucks, because I LOVE the vibrant colours of the cardinals and neons). I was also thinking cherry shrimp in there (how will these go with the catfish getting around the place?), and something that likes to sit at the top of the tank. I was some at my LFS today but forgot their names. I like a tank where someone looks at it and doesn't see everything in it within 10 seconds. One where you can sit and look at it for quite some time, observing the fish, and then after 10 minutes, see a fish you didn't know was in there, then another might show itself. Discus are the ultimate goal but I don't trust myself when starting out (even if my mates are keeping them successfully now). Could anyone give me any other advice on a 'feature' fish, or what will work well with Angels (do I keep odd or even numbers? Apparently best in groups of 6 or more?).
So thats basically it from me. Just an intro and a few questions.
Thanks for reading and answering if you do!
Tom.
PS I'll post a few photos of my two inspiration tanks that my mates own later.
to the forums. You're right, there are lots of friendly people here, and you seem genuinely caring about the well being of the fish - not just "Oooh I want AALLLLL the pretty fish, and I don't care that you say they eat each other or the tank isn't big enough or blah blah"... so you'll fit right in 
I'm jealous! Wish I had the room. Also loving that you drift... nowhere around here to do that (I'm in the UK) unless I pay a fortune to go to a race track - I'd now rather spend money on fish haha.
I can help on the angelfish front! I keep and breed angels. I also have neon tetras and cardinal tetras. If you get the angels when they are about dime size and the neons at about 1", you will be fine as far as the angels eating the neons. I have had alot of success keeping them together. My black angel is almost 5" in diameter now(the fish in my avatar) and he doesn't seem to know he should be able to eat the neons. I keep the angels fed well and don't have any issues. But keep in mind, what works for one person may not work for you. Discus are beautiful fish! I had a tank of them many, many years ago. When they all dies mysteriously, I didn't have the heart to try again. Good luck to you with what ever you decide to do!
#41#### Angels, can't you just get along! Haha.
