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[tafer]

I don't know why, but I know some people think curved tanks are cruel? I forget the reasons.

This:

Something about the curved glass distorting their vision and stressing them out I think.

And it is said that it may damage their eyes. It's also important to keep in mind that some tanks (bowl like specially) have a relatively small area in contact with the air. (Effectively reducing the interchange of gases)

And just in case, tall tanks look gorgeous, but are TERRIBLE to keep: proper illumination for healthy plans becomes a nightmare, water flow becomes a royal pain (Can't be too strong and yet it should "rotate" effectively the water from the bottom to top and vice versa).

 

[Babalu.]

I've been wanting to get turtles since I was a kid. Now that i've had a house for over a year, i think i'm ready to do that.

Does anyone know anything about turtles, i have absolutely zero knowledge. I want swimming turtles, maybe 2 or 3. And if possible maybe some azureus frogs or little frogs or fish with them. Is that even possible or will they eat them?

Is a 55 gallon tank good to start with for turtles?

Any kind of help is appreciated. I'm going to start my great google knowledge quest on turtles tomorrow.

 

[3phemeral]

I've been wanting to get turtles since I was a kid. Now that i've had a house for over a year, i think i'm ready to do that.

Does anyone know anything about turtles, i have absolutely zero knowledge. I want swimming turtles, maybe 2 or 3. And if possible maybe some azureus frogs or little frogs or fish with them. Is that even possible or will they eat them?

Is a 55 gallon tank good to start with for turtles?

Any kind of help is appreciated. I'm going to start my great google knowledge quest on turtles tomorrow.

I don't know much about turtles, but from the Red Ear Slider I babysat for a few months, it will eat anything that will fit in its mouth. I'd say keep turtles with feeder fish only.

 

[tilting_msh]

I've been wanting to get turtles since I was a kid. Now that i've had a house for over a year, i think i'm ready to do that.

Does anyone know anything about turtles, i have absolutely zero knowledge. I want swimming turtles, maybe 2 or 3. And if possible maybe some azureus frogs or little frogs or fish with them. Is that even possible or will they eat them?

Is a 55 gallon tank good to start with for turtles?

Any kind of help is appreciated. I'm going to start my great google knowledge quest on turtles tomorrow.

I wanted turtles so bad when I was a kid, and did a ton of research on them. Most turtles they sell in pet stores (ie red ear sliders) will grow pretty big, usually about a foot. So keep that in mind of you want 2 or 3 - many people cram a bunch of cute little turtles in an aquarium, not realizing how big they get. They can live liek 40 years and they need a lot of room to be happy and healthy. I was at a party years ago and this guy had a red ear in a tiny aquarium, and it had grown so big that it's shell was touching both sides of the glass. The thing couldn't turn around, or even move, really. It was fucking cruel, I wanted to save it from it's misery.

And ya, turtles will eat anything you put in the tank with them. Your fish and frogs will be turtle food.

 

[Boss Doggie]

So I went to a pet shop because my puppy has ticks, and he's too young for the recommended bathing age. During there I saw some "vase-like" mini aquarium with ferns I think and one or two tiny fish. Is that a safe build?

 

[Baraka in the White House]

Still adding food to get that first ammonia reading here. It's only been about a week since I started the tank but it feels a lot longer. I've since added a circulation fan on each side of the tank to keep it all good and stirred. Between the UGF, the canister outlet and the fans the water is moving around nicely. My 406 came stocked from the bottom up with coarse foam, ceramic tubes, carbon and more carbon. I've since taken the carbon out of the top compartment and stuffed it with polishing pads. The water has been relatively colorless but cloudy ever since I fired it up and I'm trying to find way to clear it up without chemicals that might harm the cycling process.

This is the first tank I've started up at my new house and our water seems a bit on the hard/alkaline side. I tested the pH of the tank yesterday and got an 8.2. I'm hoping that'll come down a bit once the cycle finishes but even if it doesn't I don't intend to mess with it much as I've heard that the pH roller coaster is hell on fish while a high-yet-stable one is generally ok. I considered adding peat moss to a canister compartment but don't want to turn the water yellow and then worry about treating the water before I add it to the tank during changes.

 

[Babalu.]

how do you guys test the water for ph/alkaline/amonia or other stuff thats been talked about in this thread.

Is there like an all in one tester or something?

 

[Baraka in the White House]

how do you guys test the water for ph/alkaline/amonia or other stuff thats been talked about in this thread.

Is there like an all in one tester or something?

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000255NCI/?tag=neogaf0e-20

Tests for pH, high range pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate.

 

[Hazaro]

So I went to a pet shop because my puppy has ticks, and he's too young for the recommended bathing age. During there I saw some "vase-like" mini aquarium with ferns I think and one or two tiny fish. Is that a safe build?

You have to elaborate more.

Any small rectangular tank is fine. Java ferns are very hardy plants. Many types of small fish will do ok with just that setup. Just do partial water changes every week or two if you don't have a lot of live plants in your tank.

 

[Head of Vengarl]

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000255NCI/?tag=neogaf0e-20

Tests for pH, high range pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate.

Fuck... I paid like $40 or $45 for that test kit at my LFS. Why didn't I think to look on Amazon? :\

 

[Baraka in the White House]

Fuck... I paid like $40 or $45 for that test kit at my LFS. Why didn't I think to look on Amazon? :\

If it's a mom-and-pop fish store then I'll make plenty of allowances when it comes to pricing because they're cool and increasingly rare nowadays. If you're shopping at a Petco/Petsmart, fuck 'em... do your research in-store and buy on Amazon*.

*also applies to just about everything else you can buy

 

[Goldrush]

I've been wanting to get turtles since I was a kid. Now that i've had a house for over a year, i think i'm ready to do that.

Does anyone know anything about turtles, i have absolutely zero knowledge. I want swimming turtles, maybe 2 or 3. And if possible maybe some azureus frogs or little frogs or fish with them. Is that even possible or will they eat them?

Is a 55 gallon tank good to start with for turtles?

Any kind of help is appreciated. I'm going to start my great google knowledge quest on turtles tomorrow.

They'll grow fast and big. 55 would be decent for 1 at most. Also, they'll poop a lot and are amazing escape artist.

 

[Head of Vengarl]

If it's a mom-and-pop fish store then I'll make plenty of allowances when it comes to pricing because they're cool and increasingly rare nowadays. If you're shopping at a Petco/Petsmart, fuck 'em... do your research in-store and buy on Amazon*.

*also applies to just about everything else you can buy

Yeah, that's what makes me feel ok about it. It's a specialty store owned by an old aquarium enthusiast. I talked to him about driftwood for like 20 minutes the last time I was there. Dude knows so much about everything aquarium-related it's crazy.

Also, I bought 2 Assassin Snails because I wanted to cut down on the Pond Snail numbers in my main tank. (I ended up totally nuking my extra tank that got overrun with them a couple weeks ago.) Right when I put the Assassins in, my Ghost Shrimp swarmed them. I was worried because I thought they were going to eat them, but they were just checking the newbies out. I did see one of my shrimp pinch one of the snails though. The next day one of the Assassins was dead. I don't know what caused it, but I have noticed that my Ghost Shrimp like to fuck with the one that's still alive. Aside from getting harassed by my shrimp, it's doing well and I have definitely noticed a decrease in my Pond Snail population. I wanted to see it in action so today I plucked one of the Pond Snails off of the glass and threw it in front of the Assassin Snail. Mother of god, the Assassin pounced on that bastard and devoured it in like 10 seconds. Very impressive.

 

[Hazaro]

If it's a mom-and-pop fish store then I'll make plenty of allowances when it comes to pricing because they're cool and increasingly rare nowadays. If you're shopping at a Petco/Petsmart, fuck 'em... do your research in-store and buy on Amazon*.

*also applies to just about everything else you can buy

Yup. I'm next to probably one of the best local stores. Prices are not so great, but I wouldn't be as into this if that store was not there.

 

[Baraka in the White House]

So it's day 15 of adding crushed flake food to my tank every couple of days and my ammonia test is still piss yellow. Zero ammonia.

I've added a fair amount of food to the tank in this time and am now reluctant to add any more. It's 55 gallons and all but I think I should have at least registered a reading by now.

Should I keep adding food or just wait it out another week or so?

 

[Hazaro]

So it's day 15 of adding crushed flake food to my tank every couple of days and my ammonia test is still piss yellow. Zero ammonia.

I've added a fair amount of food to the tank in this time and am now reluctant to add any more. It's 55 gallons and all but I think I should have at least registered a reading by now.

Should I keep adding food or just wait it out another week or so?

Can you just grab some established media from another tank?

 

[Baraka in the White House]

Can you just grab some established media from another tank?

I've been thinking about that ever since another GAFer offered some water. My brother has a 29g tank that was started about two months ago but he transferred the contents from his old 10 gallon into it so I imagine it's pretty well colonized by now.

I need to do something because I feel like I just wasted two weeks staring at my empty tank.

 

[3phemeral]

I've been thinking about that ever since another GAFer offered some water. My brother has a 29g tank that was started about two months ago but he transferred the contents from his old 10 gallon into it so I imagine it's pretty well colonized by now.

I need to do something because I feel like I just wasted two weeks staring at my empty tank.

If i recall correctly, it takes about a month before the cycle completes. Generally you can tell the condition of the water based off of the level of cloudiness that exists. If you have a larger tank, it might take a while for the ammonia to build up, but 15 days should still be plenty of time for some build up. You do have a lot of filtration systems, so maybe they're sucking up the waste and they're just collecting on the sponge filters? This should still produce nitrates, though, so it's a little weird.

Technically, you can add labyrinth fish (Betta, Senegal Bichir) because they don't rely heavily on water quality (they breathe via surface penetration), but I'm sure that environment is still harsh for them. You're not adding any plants, right? Even if just floating plants, that could help.

Only thing you can do is wait a little while longer. Normally, your daily feeding proportion should be the amount you would normally feed with the number of fish you had in mind. You'd want to simulate the environment as closely as possible because even with an established tank, if you're tank has only been cycled to handle one fish, but your stock actually has 20 fish, you'll still get an nitrate spike because the bacteria that was cultured wasn't enough to handle the change.

 

[Head of Vengarl]

Man, you really don't know what you've got until it's gone. That Assassin Snail totally wiped out my Pond Snail population, and now I've got algae growing like crazy! I don't know if it's just a coincidence or if my Pond Snails really were that good at keeping algae at bay. I guess this is a perfect excuse to go buy some of those Amano shrimp I've always wanted, at least.

 

[Baraka in the White House]

If i recall correctly, it takes about a month before the cycle completes. Generally you can tell the condition of the water based off of the level of cloudiness that exists. If you have a larger tank, it might take a while for the ammonia to build up, but 15 days should still be plenty of time for some build up. You do have a lot of filtration systems, so maybe they're sucking up the waste and they're just collecting on the sponge filters? This should still produce nitrates, though, so it's a little weird.

Technically, you can add labyrinth fish (Betta, Senegal Bichir) because they don't rely heavily on water quality (they breathe via surface penetration), but I'm sure that environment is still harsh for them. You're not adding any plants, right? Even if just floating plants, that could help.

Only thing you can do is wait a little while longer. Normally, your daily feeding proportion should be the amount you would normally feed with the number of fish you had in mind. You'd want to simulate the environment as closely as possible because even with an established tank, if you're tank has only been cycled to handle one fish, but your stock actually has 20 fish, you'll still get an nitrate spike because the bacteria that was cultured wasn't enough to handle the change.

I'm sticking with plastic plants on account of the UGF but I think I'll toss some floating live plants in there since you mention it. I figure while I wait for the opportunity to raid my brother's tank I'll keep sprinkling food in there and see what happens. The tank clouded up briefly toward the end of week one but then by the middle of the second it cleared up again.

 

[Baraka in the White House]

I rearranged the medium in the canister to hopefully encourage more bacteria growth. Before it was Coarse foam, fine foam, ceramic, carbon and polishing pads. I took the carbon out and made it coarse foam, fine foam, ceramic, a finer ceramic and then the polishing pads. I also lowered the flow rate on the filter.

 

[Snytbaggen]

Technically, you can add labyrinth fish (Betta, Senegal Bichir) because they don't rely heavily on water quality (they breathe via surface penetration), but I'm sure that environment is still harsh for them. You're not adding any plants, right? Even if just floating plants, that could help.

Just a small correction. The senegal bichir isn't a labyrinth fish since it lacks the labyrinth organ, but still breathes air through lungs that doubles as a swim bladder. I have both labyrinth fishes (one betta and two blue gourami) and a senegal bichir, and their breathing behaviour differs a lot. I keep the gouramis and senegal in the same tank right beside my desk and the betta in another room, so I'll be comparing the gourami and senegal behaviour since I see the a lot more than the betta.

The senegal bichir is mostly in the water and darts up to the surface for quick gulps of air once in a while, but the gouramis are up and breathing a lot more and for a lot longer time. I'm talking quickly darting up so fast I can only see he's been breathing by the air bubbles coming out of his mouth, versus staying still breathing for up to half a minute, usually a lot less than that.

 

[Baraka in the White House]

Ey?

 

[Baraka in the White House]

Another possible dilemma:

My pH is about an 8.2, which is fairly common for our city water. We're due to have a water softener/conditioner installed fairly soon which should lower the pH and hardness quite a bit but I still have a tank full of un-softened tap water. If I slowly introduce the treated water to the tank via regular water changes would that be a gradual enough change to avoid causing an undue amount of stress on the fish? Once I get an established media in the tank for a few days I plan on starting with a small school of tiger barbs. I'm not going to try and lower the pH of the water with chemicals because that usually just ends up causing more problems when the fish can usually adapt to the existing pH, but once my taps turns softer that won't be possible.

 

[Baraka in the White House]

Fish GAF, ASSEMBLE.

Spoiler

Help!

 

[tafer]

Another possible dilemma:

My pH is about an 8.2, which is fairly common for our city water. We're due to have a water softener/conditioner installed fairly soon which should lower the pH and hardness quite a bit but I still have a tank full of un-softened tap water. If I slowly introduce the treated water to the tank via regular water changes would that be a gradual enough change to avoid causing an undue amount of stress on the fish? Once I get an established media in the tank for a few days I plan on starting with a small school of tiger barbs. I'm not going to try and lower the pH of the water with chemicals because that usually just ends up causing more problems when the fish can usually adapt to the existing pH, but once my taps turns softer that won't be possible.

It is said that most fish are quite resistant to an inadequate pH during short periods of time, it's also said that not-too-crazy fluctuations are hardly dangerous.

 

[3phemeral]

Just a small correction. The senegal bichir isn't a labyrinth fish since it lacks the labyrinth organ, but still breathes air through lungs that doubles as a swim bladder. I have both labyrinth fishes (one betta and two blue gourami) and a senegal bichir, and their breathing behaviour differs a lot. I keep the gouramis and senegal in the same tank right beside my desk and the betta in another room, so I'll be comparing the gourami and senegal behaviour since I see the a lot more than the betta.

The senegal bichir is mostly in the water and darts up to the surface for quick gulps of air once in a while, but the gouramis are up and breathing a lot more and for a lot longer time. I'm talking quickly darting up so fast I can only see he's been breathing by the air bubbles coming out of his mouth, versus staying still breathing for up to half a minute, usually a lot less than that.

Ah yes, you're correct. I remember it being some type of primitive-lung type fish and assume it functioned similarly to the Betta.

 

[Head of Vengarl]

Took a couple pics of one of my Assassin Snails today. Here you can see the shell of a Pond Snail (lower right) who had the misfortune of crossing his path:

And here he is afterward, looking for more snails to eat and just generally not giving a fuck:

 

[Baraka in the White House]

So I've had seven tiger barbs swimming around in my tank for about a week now and so far they don't seem bothered a bit by an 8.2 pH, though the store I bought them from used water with a pH of 7.8 so I guess it wasn't a huge jump. I just had a water softener/conditioner installed in my home today so over the course of the next couple months I plan on acclimating them to the new water. I'm already thinking of adding a rainbow shark in about a month when this thing should be good and established. From there I'm not sure what else will get along with these guys. I would like to add a small school of either cardinal tetras or cherry barbs but from what I'm reading tiger barb aggressiveness can vary widely. Anyone have experience with these little guys?

 

[Hazaro]

Can't help you on tiger barbs.

My tank. Haven't touched it in like 3 months, but keeping it stable with RO water. No ferts and the shrimp seem to be breeding fine. Been slacking on hooking up refilled CO2, maybe wait another week or two for shrimp to get a bit bigger before redosing again?
Plants are not happy though

 

[Head of Vengarl]

Man I feel like a bad pet owner right now. Like you Hazaro, I haven't done any real maintenance/scaping on my tanks in quite some time, and it's showing. It also doesn't help that I'm not in my office (that's where both of my tanks are) nearly as much as I had been before. Ugh. Algae is blooming like crazy in both of my tanks. I really should go to my LFS today and buy some Amano shrimp and snails. I'm thinking Malaysian Trumpet snails.

 

[Hazaro]

Man I feel like a bad pet owner right now. Like you Hazaro, I haven't done any real maintenance/scaping on my tanks in quite some time, and it's showing. It also doesn't help that I'm not in my office (that's where both of my tanks are) nearly as much as I had been before. Ugh. Algae is blooming like crazy in both of my tanks. I really should go to my LFS today and buy some Amano shrimp and snails. I'm thinking Malaysian Trumpet snails.

I have an excuse because of shrimp breeding. They love stability and I don't have to do anything.
Over 100 babies in last 2 months

 

[Head of Vengarl]

Holy crap lol. What kind of shrimp?

My post inspired me to do something today, so I went to my LFS and bought 10 Malaysian Trumpet snails (it was 10 for $1 lol) and 5 Japonica shrimp. The Japonicas seem to be getting along with my Ghost shrimp so far, which was a concern. My Ghost shrimp immediately started fucking with the snails though, just like when I put those Assassin snails in. Bastards.

 

[blackwatchplad]

I bought a second hand 10 gallon tank today with filter and air pump today.
I filled it up with water today only to find out the gravel in left in it was also filled with colored sand. So now the water is cloudy and with a lime green tint to it.
Guess I'll have to get new gravel. I've tried scrubbing, hosing it down, boiling, Cant seem to get all of the sand out.

 

[Hazaro]

I bought a second hand 10 gallon tank today with filter and air pump today.
I filled it up with water today only to find out the gravel in left in it was also filled with colored sand. So now the water is cloudy and with a lime green tint to it.
Guess I'll have to get new gravel. I've tried scrubbing, hosing it down, boiling, Cant seem to get all of the sand out.

Holy crap lol. What kind of shrimp?
Gravel is cheap. Chuck everything out, rinse, wipe with some vinegar and you should be good to go.
My post inspired me to do something today, so I went to my LFS and bought 10 Malaysian Trumpet snails (it was 10 for $1 lol) and 5 Japonica shrimp. The Japonicas seem to be getting along with my Ghost shrimp so far, which was a concern. My Ghost shrimp immediately started fucking with the snails though, just like when I put those Assassin snails in. Bastards.

Yellow Shrimp, CBS and CRS.
You can see at the bottom area of the tank.

 

[Head of Vengarl]

Well I am very impressed with my Japonica Shrimp and Malaysian Trumpet Snails! Over the weekend the shrimp cleaned off like 90% of the algae that was covering my plants, and the MTS are making steady progress on the algae covering my glass.

In my 2nd tank the 3 Japonica shrimp have completely cleaned my driftwood, which was beginning to get that nasty white algae. I need some snails in there ASAP though, because it seems that the shrimp aren't very good at cleaning the glass. I just have to wait for the MTS in my main tank to breed. I don't even know if they'll make it in my 2nd tank — those damn Assassin Snails are really good hunters. I still can't believe they completely finished off the Pond Snail population in both of my tanks. I thought that was impossible.

Yellow Shrimp, CBS and CRS.
You can see at the bottom area of the tank.

Oh yeah, haha. I thought those were gravel.

 

[Head of Vengarl]

So I renovated my main tank. I got rid of the 4 slate rocks and put in the driftwood that I had soaking in my extra tank. I also took out my dying Wisteria plants. I think the algae did them in.

For comparison, here's a pic I took a few weeks ago when I was testing out a black background that I cut out from a trash bag.

And here's my tank on Monday, right after I did all the moving and sorting. With the errie back glow from my hood, it looked like the apocalypse happened in there.

The rest of the pics are from Tuesday, after the dust had settled a bit.

Because I had to remove and replant almost every one of my crypts, a lot of roots are now sticking out. Hopefully they'll get covered up eventually.

One of my new Japonica shrimp

One of my old Ghost shrimp

Japonica shrimp, Neon Tetras, Green Tetras, Corydoras Sterbai, and Malaysian Trumpet Snails.

 

[Snytbaggen]

I'll take this bump as an excuse to post this photo of one of my guppy fry that's starting to get some nice colors.

 

[3phemeral]

So I renovated my main tank. I got rid of the 4 slate rocks and put in the driftwood that I had soaking in my extra tank. I also took out my dying Wisteria plants. I think the algae did them in.

For comparison, here's a pic I took a few weeks ago when I was testing out a black background that I cut out from a trash bag.

And here's my tank on Monday, right after I did all the moving and sorting. With the errie back glow from my hood, it looked like the apocalypse happened in there.

The rest of the pics are from Tuesday, after the dust had settled a bit.

Because I had to remove and replant almost every one of my crypts, a lot of roots are now sticking out. Hopefully they'll get covered up eventually.

One of my new Japonica shrimp

One of my old Ghost shrimp

Japonica shrimp, Neon Tetras, Green Tetras, Corydoras Sterbai, and Malaysian Trumpet Snails.

That's weird. Wysteria is usually really hardy. I have to prune that practically every week when I had it. Loved how it would photosynthesize so quickly, any bottom-end of a stem that was sticking out from the gravel would produce an oxygen bubble every half second.

Crypts are not bad though. I love me some crypts.

 

[Head of Vengarl]

I'll take this bump as an excuse to post this photo of one of my guppy fry that's starting to get some nice colors.

Very nice!

That's weird. Wysteria is usually really hardy. I have to prune that practically every week when I had it. Loved how it would photosynthesize so quickly, any bottom-end of a stem that was sticking out from the gravel would produce an oxygen bubble every half second.

Crypts are not bad though. I love me some crypts.

I know, I got the Wisteria because everyone said it was really easy to grow. I run a low light setup though, with no fertilizers or co2. The crypts, on the other hand, have been amazing.

 

[DonMigs85]

I still love Clown Loaches. They never got this big for me, though.

The Kuhli loach is also a very hardy species that helped keep the tank bottom clean

 

[smokeandmirrors]

After various setbacks and a movement, I'm starting over this time with trying to see if I can make dwarf hairgrass grow and survive. Then maybe I'll be able to add some ghost shrimp. Gonna cycle with fishfood and see how that goes.

 

[Lucian Cat]

Oh I forgot about this thread. Will have to post pics of my 3 when I get home!

 

[Hazaro]

Had a new batch of CBS babies pop. Only seen 2 so far.
Got rid of a lot of plants/moss.

Will do some rescaping in a month or so after I CO2 nuke the other tank again.

 

[Lucian Cat]

Ok this is my main tank. 4ft. Contains 2 angelfish, 2 black moores, 2 cobalt cichlids, 2 rainbow sharks, 3 bristlenose catfish, and 2 whiptail catfish. I think that's it

And my new 2ft tank in my room. Containing many many cherry shrimp and endlers. Replacing a tiny 1ft tank I had before the shrimp population exploded

 

[tafer]

I have been looking for a new CO2 system for my 60G tank, but to be honest, I'm quite new with this sort of gear, looking around I have found this 2 products that seem to be ok, and within my budget:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0041YLM7G/?tag=neogaf0e-20
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001DTNWF2/?tag=neogaf0e-20

Any advice?

 

[Hazaro]

I have been looking for a new CO2 system for my 60G tank, but to be honest, I'm quite new with this sort of gear, looking around I have found this 2 products that seem to be ok, and within my budget:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0041YLM7G/?tag=neogaf0e-20
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001DTNWF2/?tag=neogaf0e-20

Any advice?

Both seem fine to me, Just need to get a Paintball adapter if you are going to use a 20oz paintball canister (a popular choice).
5lb and 20lb cylinders are too industrial for me.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004M49QDC/?tag=neogaf0e-20

 

[tafer]

Both seem fine to me, Just need to get a Paintball adapter if you are going to use a 20oz paintball canister (a popular choice).
5lb and 20lb cylinders are too industrial for me.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004M49QDC/?tag=neogaf0e-20

Hehe thanks for the advice, but I was looking for a big cylinder. (I have a nice place to hide it)

 

[blackwatchplad]

more really good looking tanks!
I'm still slowly working on mine. I spent all day today walking up and down a river looking for river pebbles, instead of buying gravel.
I've thought about sand, but I'm still debating it. I would need coarse grain sand, and what I can find is really fine.. and I'm a total cheapskate. :c
Still unsure what fish I plan on buying.. I'm sure that would help with my other decisions.
So many choices, so many cool fish, snails, frogs, shrimp and everything else... and not enough tank space for all of them...

I also found a few nice mom-n-pops type aquarium/pet stores, and the difference between them and places like Petsmart/Petco is amazing. I get a lot of help between them and a friend who (mostly) grows aquatic plants.

In the mean time I'm building a stand/hood for a 50 gallon so i can upgrade later.
I'll post pics if I'm successful.

 

[ClovingWestbrook]

Ok, would love some help from you experts.

My daughter just turned 4 years old and my wife and I are looking to buy her some fish.
We're thinking of buying a 10g tank (no idea what brand is good) and would like to buy some fish. What are some good starter fish (not looking for gold fish). Also, is the keep up for modern tanks easy? We'd buy a filter as well but am not sure what the upkeep is like.

Any advice would be appreciated.