Re: New to this hobby. In need of advice
There are always a few things that you will need to consider first.
1. If you are getting some colourful fish, you may want to consider some tetras and corydoras. These looks better and live better in a planted tank.
Before you buy any fishes, you may to consider some form of a planted tank.
2. Just like in a renovation, where ceiling and flooring are the foundations, in a planted tank, the soil you use is the foundation. Very tedious to add soil or change that later. You may want consider good substrate which plants can root and grow easily.
3. If you do not want the hassle of planted tank with soil, you may want to consider plants mounted on wood, rocks, coconut husks and others. Easy and hardy plants are those anubias and java ferns. They need less light, and usually left alone by fishes and snails.
4. Depending on the plants you keep, get the appropriate light.
5. If you are planning to get larger fish, you may need to consider a bigger tank. 2 ft tanks are usually for starters, but the water quality is usually more stable in a 3 ft or larger tank. You can make more mistakes in a larger tank without so much casualty.
6. Filter. Very important for any living creatures. They serve a few purposes. (i)Mechanical--they take away the visible shit and ugly stuff from the water. (ii) Bio--More importantly, the bacteria growing in the media in your filter can take away the invisible harmful compounds in your tank, these are ammonia, nitrates and nitrites. Fish, decomposing plants and excess food creates these compounds. The more fish you are going to keep, the larger (litre of water passing through the filter) the filter you will need. The chlorine in our tape water kills bacteria, which is why you will need to get anti-chlorine. (iii) chemical--usually activated carbon that takes away other harmful chemical compound in your water.
7. Filter also serve other indirect purpose, they create water movement. Certain fish likes moving water. The water movement also breaks the water surface, which increase the dissolved oxygen which your fishes need. Get the type of filter most appropriate to the kind of fish you are going to keep.
8. It takes time for your filter to mature! That means your bacteria colony in the filter media needs time to grow and accumulate. Usually takes at least 2 weeks for your tank to have enough bacteria.
To hasten the process, you should get some seed bacteria culture from other fish-keeping friends. (usually a piece of dirty sponge in other people's tank). You can also ask for a piece of dirty filter media from your fish shop. They will usually give it to you if you ask nicely. Most of those instant bacteria culture sold in bottles in LFS don't really work.
9. Now, after all that at the end of 2 weeks, you can go and finally select your fish. Do find out more about the species and their pecular requirements before you buy them. Some fishes, shrimps and snails simply cannot get along with other fishes, or cannot be kept together because of the different environment they need.
Last edited by sthh; 25th Jan 2010 at 14:20.
My fish friends --------------------------------
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1 discus tank
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