New to fish Keeping

[bigmick474]

Hi, I'm Michael.
I bought my first ever fish tank about 5 months ago and every thing was going fine until last week when my fish started dieing.
I have a 32 gallon tank tropical tank and found your site whilst looking for answers to the hundreds of questions i have,(i've found alot of them on this site already).
I'm 20 and live in London UK.
I'm looking forward to owning a tank that will keep me happy, and the fish alive.
I dont know what else to say really.

 

[willtang3000]

what fish do you have what are your parameters ?and what fish are dieing

 

[bigmick474]

i've moved all my fish to a friends tank now, except for an angel fish and an algae eater. i need advice in what fish i should keep together too as mine were eating each other.
I really no nothing about fish keeping

 

[FishLuvr]

First of welcome to the hobby and to this forum

For starters you need to get yourself a test kit, API (aquarium pharmaceuticles inc) makes a very very good test kit, The things you need to check on a regular basis are, Nitrites, Nitrates and AMmonia and PH, Your optimium levels should be Ammonia and Nitrites at 0 and nitrates no higher than 50 40 or 30 would be wonderful. Ph depends on the type of fish you want, before purchasing any fish, go to the LFS see what you like then come back online and do some reaserch on it, by GOOGLING the name of that fish, you will find out the specifics. GH/KH general hardness and carbonate hardness are test that you may need but only if you are having problems with your PH.

Identifying the fish you currently have would be helpful to, you mention an algea eater, well what kind, pleocs, ottos and more, pleocs for instance are very messy and overhyped when it comes to being algae cleaners.

Unfortunantly most people new to this hobby think that all they need is a tank some water and some fish, but remember you are taking care of LIVING creatures and with that comes great responsibility. It maybe a little overwhelming at first but once you get everything down, you will enjoy this hobby as much as i do.

Get your test kits, test your water and get back to us with the results =)

kevin