General Newbie Questions?

by **miami754** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 3:43 pm

Hey don't worry about it. Every one of us has a different idea of what we want our tank to look like. All that matters is that you properly care for your fish and enjoy your layout. Some people may hate my rocks, but I love them. Other love fake decor although its not my style. It's a matter of individual taste so just do what you enjoy.

In terms of cycling your tank, I would suggest you do a fishless cycle. If you click on the Articles tab above and then scroll down to the Freshwater section, you'll see an article there that I wrote on how to do a fishless cycle. It walks you through it in a step-by-step fashion. It is pretty rough on fish to go through a cycle (even the hardy ones your LFS guy was going to sell you) so fishless cycling is really the way to go. Plus it makes it so you only get the fish you want. You don't have to buy some initial "cyclers" and then get the ones you really want in addition.

That's my recommendation at least. If you have questions, just ask. There's alot to fish keeping so being a beginner can be a bit daunting.

The single most important thing to do is to make sure you stock with the correct fish. What I mean is that you want to make sure you get species that are not going to out grow your tank and are compatible with each other. Search around on the internet and tell us species that catch your eye. We can tell you if they will work in your 29 gallon or not.

Oh, and about the water level - yeah, fill it all the way up so it hides behind the black trim.

Again welcome to the hobby.

P.S. And guys, let's go a little easy. He's here asking questions which is more than what 95% of beginners do. If you just insult his tank, he's not going to listen to what you say. Lighten up a little. He hasn't done anything to harm fish at this time. Getting fake decor is hardly a crime.

by **bigwillcast** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 4:10 pm

as for the fake decor, I was overly excited about this fish tank, I would really like to stack up tons of black slate in it... which I have on order, but only a small amount.

Plus, the job of stacking the slate intimidates me. I'm worried it's going to fall and kill the fish.

Miami, thanks for the advice man, I'm going to read that fishless cycling article.

PS.. I hate my water heater, fish guy says it should be at 78 degrees and it was at 76 last night and turned off, so I turned it up a lil bit and now it's at like 81. any suggestions? do they sell digital heaters where you can pick the temperature exactly?

as to fish, I looked up some online, here's ones that caught my eye:

koi swordtail
koi angel
albino angel
silver dollar
balloon molly
golden sailfin molly (male looks cooler)
bumble bee goby (says I should add salt to the tank? I'm guessing this is not cool with other fish?)

by **a1k8t31524** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 7:50 pm

slate can also be glued together with silicone so if you are worried about it falling over just do that but you can also aggange them in a way that they will not fall just give them a good shake test.

by **a1k8t31524** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 8:56 pm

also on the goby i belive that it is a brackish fish. Brackish water is a mix of fresh and salt you would find that where say a river empties into the ocean both fresh and ocean water are mixing together. Mollys are also brackish fish but are pretty much comerically farmed in fresh water so they do fine
I am sure that the goby would do ok in fresh water but would live a much happier longer life in brackish water.\
Mollies are cool because they are liveberrers and they would be greatsize for your tank.
silver dollars get pretty big and probally to big for your 29 gallon
1 or 2 angels will be ok but also they get 6"+ so i would say nor more than 2 mabey just 1
And with they Koi i dont know if you are talking about an actual Koi or a type of sowardtail/angel...
Koi is a def no they get huge and belong in ponds not tanks

by **fihsboy** » Sat Nov 15, 2008 12:25 am

go to home depot....buy some Aquamend. Its safe to fish and if you want it to be a color just add some food die. if you want it black.....add a few colors. Aquamend is strong as hell, it holds together everything in my tank and NOTHING moves, not even with my turbo snails and sea urchin prying at the rocks.

by **nicholas542** » Sat Nov 15, 2008 1:44 am

the bumble bee is a brackish water fish. Brackish tanks are awsome I use to have a 55 gallon brackish tank. If you want predator fish the green spotted puffers are cool I had two they ate any shellfish that I threw in the tank in a matter of seconds, and they got the size of baseballs. And as for stacking rock up the side of you're tank I have a couple pieces that are balanced on the back glass on the tank and no nigrafalls yet. The've been there for 9 months now.

by **Tmercier834747** » Sun Nov 16, 2008 8:36 pm

If you wanted hate you should've asked for it. Maybe you shouldn't read so deep into things, it causes unnecessary drama. I asked questions because I wanted to know the nature of what this ''fish guy'' had told you. LFS employees are notorious for not knowing shit, excuse ma français. I haven't posted 474 messages of hate to newcomers, or anyone for that matter, believe it or not.

Most of your questions had been answered by the time I posted and you chose a different route so forgive me for figuring you acted on impulse when your final product ended up looking nothing like what you said you wanted to model your tank after. I never said I dissaproved of your choices..I also noted that your original post (no tank) to the last post (tank with decor, water, and running) took all of 9 hours to elapse. I know what impatience can lead to in this hobby and generally it doesn't work out best for the fish in regard to any aspect of fishkeeping.

Best of luck.

-The Bad Guy

by **bigwillcast** » Mon Nov 17, 2008 5:09 am

hey, don't worry mercier. there's always that guy that thinks he must interject. You were just it this time, maybe It'll be me next time.

by **cedricandcandy** » Mon Nov 17, 2008 6:34 am

Hi bigwill, I note that you said you wanted to have live plants in your tank. I love tanks with live plants in them. You also said you wanted to put silver dolllars in the tank. Just so you know - they eat plants! And your plants probably wont be able to grow quicker then they are eaten, so unless you're prepared to constantly buy new plants I would suggest dropping the silver dollar choice. (I had to choose between my planted tank and two beautiful large silver dollars as the two are not compatible)
Other then that, I've got a swordtail and a couple of angels in my planted tank, and they're a good choice.
The worse thing about setting up a brand new tank, is doing the cycling. Its a real headache. However, if you don't do it and dont be patient before putting fish in you really will regret it. Its worth the wait; at least when you finally put your fish in, you know they're not going to die and be stressed.

by **jweb1369** » Mon Nov 17, 2008 6:22 pm

I would say don't buy fish that you are just buying to cycle a tank unless you are setting up a salt system and buying damsels for first test stock so you don't accidentally kill high price fish.

Just let the tank run for about 3 weeks without fish, and do you water changes. You can buy some cheap ghost shrimp from the pet store (about a dozen or so). If they die, all the better just leave them in the tank. It will add to the ammonia in the tank and start the cycle a little faster. After about 4-5 weeks of cycling add whatever fish you desire and compatible tank mates. Best of luck.

General Newbie Questions?

176 posts • Page 2 of 18

General Newbie Questions?

176 posts • Page 2 of 18