File :-(, x, )
Anonymous
Dear /an/

I am planning to get a ~75-90 gal aquarium soon, and need some advice. I eventually want it very well planted, but am just planning to start out with just java moss and java ferns.
I was thinking of maybe eventually getting small fish that school and having a lot, but someone suggested that I try my hand at some bigger fish. Anyways, I plan to cycle it with a few neon tetras and a pleco.

do you aquarists out there have any advice or pointers?

Pic maybe related.
>> Anonymous
1. your tank is never big enough, never!
2. get as big a tank as you can afford, easier to maintain
3. get as big a filter as you can afford, easier to maintain
4. before getting fish in, let it cycle for two weaks minimum, better a month.
>> Anonymous
>>91959
that's a lot of cycling, you let it go too long and the water will eat the fish it'll be so teeming with bacteria
>> Anonymous
>>91962
huh? no, of course you should do the weekly water change, just like normal.
In a way you're right, because the bacteria in the filter will have time to grow this way.
Without these, your nitrite and nitrate will stay in the water and poison your fish.
>> Anonymous
>>91959
I've always cycled using a few fish; mostly neons and stuff since they are so cheap and survive. It goes a lot faster.
as for steps 1,2 and 3, I've got those down. I've previously only had 10-20 gallon tanks.
>> Anonymous
if you plan to have some snails, those are good for early cycling too.
They'll poop and thus help the filter create the necessary bacteria.
>> Anonymous
buy some baitfish to cycle tank then go fishing with them to get rid of them
>> Anonymous
If you want a the small fish to school tightly, you should think about getting something bigger and maybe slightly agressive. Otherwise, after being in the tank awhile and realizing there's no real threats, the fish will stop schooling as much.
>> Anonymous
Please cycle your tank before you put stuff in it.
You'll save yourself a lot of money and heartbreak . and dont buy your tetras and stuff from walmart/petco/wherever, go to a dedicated aquarium store so you dont get fish that are 100% garunteed to go belly up in a week or so.
>> Anonymous
>>92048
not the op, but also planning to start a tank.
What is cycling? I looked it up, but am still confused. Is it ok to have plants in there when I cycle?
>> Elf
What they mean as cycleing is that you let the tank's filter run without any fish in it. If the tank is freshwater, then about a week is all you need, if salt go a month and get your rock bed going.

As for plants, well,they can be a giant pain in the ass and can cause your water to be all murky and nasty. You can get plastic plants that will last forever, create an attractive environment and not hurt your fish for a lot less than the live stuff. Just the water being in light with the temperature to keep the fish will cause alge to grow so a pleclostomist would be a valuable asset to your tank.

Then again there's what sort of fish you should get for your tank. You have community fish, semi-agressive and agressive. Commmunity fish can pretty much go together and get along with everything while your agressive fish . . .

Well,lets just say that if you turn off the light on a tank full of African Ciclids they'll kill each other in the night.

I'd recommend semi-agressive. The fish are hartier and you can still have some community fish in the tank as well without having an Aquatic Battle Royal. Not to mention most of your guraemis and larger tetras are semi-agressive and some of your prettier fish.

Good luck with your tank and yes, buy your fish at a true fish store and not Petco and so on and so forth.
>> Anonymous
Go small first. As they are easy to maintain. Go for fresh water fish as though they have a few good varieties. (dont have to bother with water/alt balance). And most important of all treat fish as pets! I mean they will fight. and you will have to punish them i.e. prison for fish with net if to aggressive. So to avoid this don't get beta fish (i think thats the name) they look good but they kill...that is all
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
Get a coelacanth.
>> Anonymous
Fish eats food. Fish excretes ammonia. Ammonia is very toxic to fish.

Beneficial bacteria #1 comes in and converts Ammonia to NitrIte. NitrIte is still toxic to fish.

Beneficial bacteria #2 comes in and converts NitrIte to NitrAte. NitrAte is less toxic to fish, but needs to be removed from the aquarium through weekly water changes.

Cycling the aquarium means you give the beneficial bacteria time to establish. There are numerous ways to cycle.

http://www.aquahobby.com/e_articles.php
>> Anonymous
>>92351
^ needs to google moar + stop listening to petshop employees who spout shit to make money off goobers

google 'the nitrogen cycle', lern, lern moar, THEN you can make helpful posts that won't kill OPs pets
>> Elf
>>92351here,

>>92524, I have had a 55 gal long community tank, a 20 long with only placos and other catfish, a 20 long with a freshwater lionfish, and another 20 for only amphibians. I had a black skirt tetra live for six years. I think I was doing something right.

(But damn that freshwater lionfish was hard to take care of. You need a slightly brackish tank for them babies.)
>> Anonymous
Freshwater lionfish grow to one foot long. Not something you'd want to keep in a 20 gallon or even a 55 gallon tank.

What kind of plecos did you have? Many new fish keepers don't realize some plecos can grow up to two feet long.
>> Anonyduce !wO85dPgWfA
personally 4-7 days is plenty of cycling. Just make sure to monitor the levels of the water.

Also use Giant Danios for the first fish in the tank they get big and arent aggressive towards other fish.
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
Cycleing, as the previous posts have said, is allowing bacteria to colonize the biological filter for the aquarium so that they may turn fish waste (ammonia, very toxic) to Nitrites (slightly less toxic... still bad) and finally to Nitrates which are ok in small levels and if you change some of the water every other week (about 10% is good) to keep the nitrates low. as for plants, they wont murk up your water if you know what your buying and care for it with proper lighting. if you dont feel like buying lights that the plants can live with then just get plasitcs. but of course having a whole living plant/fish ecosystem is a much better display than plastic junk. I prefer keeping Reef aquariums myself, but they're a whole different world from freshwater. Pictured: my Percula Clownfish (Amphiprion Ocellaris)and her host, a Bubble-tip Anenome (Entacmaea Quadricolor)
>> Elf
>>92613

Our freshwater lion fish seemed to be fine in that tank. However, she was more like five, six inches long versus a foot. And she really didn't swim much. She was content to be in her cave, only exiting to eat.

We had some of the wide mouthed placos and the ones that are armored. Also, the ones with the bristly things on their nose. None of them oddly never got any bigger. Now the placo in the 55 got huge.

Also? Sicilian Worms are NOT fish. They're a form of amphibian and will climb out of the tank. Sadly, they end up drying out before they can get back in.
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
i hate to be a bummer, but that is not amphiprion ocellaris, dear. that's amphiprion percula-- a percula clownfish. :P You can tell by the thick black lines, instead of skinnier ones, which are common on amphirion ocellaris, the so-called false percula.
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
I has a fish!
>> Anonymous
Quick easy guide to distinguishing the false Clownfish from the genuine ones:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=J5c5p5lGi6Q
>> suprneb !!4B1zlA5K1JB
>>92970
LIAR
>> Anonymous
Make sure your PH is right for your fish.

And make sure you let it cycle like previous people has said.
I stuck my fish in only after 1 week and they died because of the constant water changes.
>> Anonymous
>>92926
Ha, I didn't think anybody would realize I made a mistake about the scientific names. Well played, Anonymous.
>> Anonymous
>>92395
Nitrate is not toxic unless in very high quantities that are seldom obtained in a tank with live plants.
Get lots of live plants, they will keep your nitrate-lvls (nitrate acts as pure fertilizer) down and with some fast growing plats your algae won't get the upper hand in the fight for fertilizing.
>> Anonymous
Am sure your mother had that fish. nigger
>> Anonymous
>>92872
that's because all the fish in the smaller tank, which are larger species of fish, stunted. aka; small housing = small bodies = insides keep growing = dead fish. which should have been apparent when the pleco in the big tank kept getting bigger