New to the hobby

[bbryant573]

Hi, my name is Brandi.

I am new to the forum, and my boyfriend and I are new to the aquarium hobby.

But before we even started we have quite a collection of tanks.

We have 2 55 gallons, 2 10 gallons and 1 40 gallon breeder.

In the future, we have talked about upgrading to a bigger tank so we can keep Oscars. 75 or larger…

We set up one of our 55 gallons at the end of June, and its still not fully cycled, I am pretty sure its user error…

We set up our 2nd 55 gallon on the 4th of August…

I don’t plan on setting up the other tanks until I get one of the 55 gallons fully cycled.

We plan on keeping Oscars starting them out in the 55 and upgrading them into a larger tank, I am interested in maybe keeping some cichlids. I want to make both of my 10 gallon tanks into Betta/community tanks. Not sure what we are going to do with the 40g breeder.

thank you for letting me join!

 

[BikerGeek]

Welcome! I am also new to the forum and excited to get back into the hobby.

 

[Back in the fold]

Set up all of those tanks. Time to go fish wild !

 

[Fishmanic]

Welcome to TFF.. We have lots of knowledgeable helpful members here to answer any questions you may have.
Hope you participate in our contests. Right now, the poll for Fish of the Month featuring Plecos is running. Be sure to vote in the poll.

 

[Colin_T]

Hi Brandi and welcome to the forum

If you have one aquarium that has cycled, you can take some of the filter media from that tank and use it to instant cycle another aquarium. It means you don't have to do the whole fishless cycle for every tank. Just take the established filter media/ material and put it in the new filter on the new tank.

--------------------
The minimum size tank for an adult or pair of Oscar cichlids is 4 foot long x 2 foot wide x 18inches high.

Oscars are messy fish and you need to do big regular water changes and gravel cleans, as well as cleaning the filter, otherwise they get hole in the head disease and other health issues.

An Oscar tank should get a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate once a week. The nitrates should be monitored and if they go up above 20ppm during the week, then do 2 big water changes per week. The water quality is directly influenced by the type and quantity of food you feed the fish. Less food means the water will stay cleaner for longer.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

Their filter should be cleaned at least once a month after it has established (been cycled).

A clean filter, clean gravel, and clean water will keep the number of disease organisms down and reduce the chance of the fish getting sick.

--------------------
No idea how big a 40 gallon breeder tank is but you could probably breed cichlids in it. There are dwarf cichlids like Apistogramma cacatuoides from South America, right through to peacock cichlids (Aulonocara species) from Lake Malawi in Africa. They are all pretty easy to breed and have some nice colours.

--------------------
The main thing you should do now is find out the hardness of your water supply. The GH (general hardness), KH (carbonate hardness) and pH of your water supply can usually be obtained from your water supply company's website or by telephoning them. If they can't help you, take a glass full of tap water to the local pet shop and get them to test it for you. Write the results down (in numbers) when they do the tests. And ask them what the results are in (eg: ppm, dGH, or something else).

Depending on what the GH of your water is, will determine what fish you should keep.

Angelfish, discus, most tetras, most barbs, Bettas, gouramis, rasbora, Corydoras and small species of suckermouth catfish all occur in soft water (GH below 150ppm) and a pH below 7.0.

Livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), rainbowfish and goldfish occur in medium hard water with a GH around 200-250ppm and a pH above 7.0.

If you have very hard water (GH above 300ppm) then look at African Rift Lake cichlids, or use distilled or reverse osmosis water to reduce the GH and keep fishes from softer water.

 

[bbryant573]

Hi Brandi and welcome to the forum

If you have one aquarium that has cycled, you can take some of the filter media from that tank and use it to instant cycle another aquarium. It means you don't have to do the whole fishless cycle for every tank. Just take the established filter media/ material and put it in the new filter on the new tank.

--------------------
The minimum size tank for an adult or pair of Oscar cichlids is 4 foot long x 2 foot wide x 18inches high.

Oscars are messy fish and you need to do big regular water changes and gravel cleans, as well as cleaning the filter, otherwise they get hole in the head disease and other health issues.

An Oscar tank should get a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate once a week. The nitrates should be monitored and if they go up above 20ppm during the week, then do 2 big water changes per week. The water quality is directly influenced by the type and quantity of food you feed the fish. Less food means the water will stay cleaner for longer.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

Their filter should be cleaned at least once a month after it has established (been cycled).

A clean filter, clean gravel, and clean water will keep the number of disease organisms down and reduce the chance of the fish getting sick.

--------------------
No idea how big a 40 gallon breeder tank is but you could probably breed cichlids in it. There are dwarf cichlids like Apistogramma cacatuoides from South America, right through to peacock cichlids (Aulonocara species) from Lake Malawi in Africa. They are all pretty easy to breed and have some nice colours.

--------------------
The main thing you should do now is find out the hardness of your water supply. The GH (general hardness), KH (carbonate hardness) and pH of your water supply can usually be obtained from your water supply company's website or by telephoning them. If they can't help you, take a glass full of tap water to the local pet shop and get them to test it for you. Write the results down (in numbers) when they do the tests. And ask them what the results are in (eg: ppm, dGH, or something else).

Depending on what the GH of your water is, will determine what fish you should keep.

Angelfish, discus, most tetras, most barbs, Bettas, gouramis, rasbora, Corydoras and small species of suckermouth catfish all occur in soft water (GH below 150ppm) and a pH below 7.0.

Livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), rainbowfish and goldfish occur in medium hard water with a GH around 200-250ppm and a pH above 7.0.

If you have very hard water (GH above 300ppm) then look at African Rift Lake cichlids, or use distilled or reverse osmosis water to reduce the GH and keep fishes from softer water.

Right, I am trying to get my 2 55 gallons cycled….

I have watched several videos on Oscars and know that they grow fast, they are very messy….

But my pH in my 55 gallon long is low, registering on the API water test is 6.0, I am planning on getting some crushed coral to see if that raises the pH.

I want to do some more research on cichlids, I really do like the Electric Blue Acaras….

 

[amberkiza]

welcome to the forum

Showbox jiofi.local.html tplinklogin​

 

[emeraldking]

Well hi there Brandi,
Welcome to TFF...
There are sufficient members overhere capable of helping you with your questions...