just set up my first tank

so i just set up my first fish tank. its a 10gal.

i set it up yesterday so i let the pump run for a day and let the water acclimate.

i just went to the pet store and i got 3 cheap ass tetras that im gonna leave in there for a week so i know my water is good. (dont wanna buy expensive fish and they die since i just set it up)

right now its got a sand base and i have some bigger rocks in there. im gonna buy a plant or 2 to throw in there so the fish can have something to swim around in.

my plan right now is to get another group of 3 tetras so i'll have 2 groups of 3. then i was gonna get a pair of apistogramas so they could boss everyone around and it would be interesting to look at.

anyone else on here into fish and have any pointers?

im also looking for a good fish forum to join

 

i have a fish tank in my house that ive had since i was 2 so that would be 14 years old along with the turtle that has been in it since then...i love my streaked head turtle

 

hey check out fishlore.com nice little forum was a good helper for me when I setup my 30 gallon tank about 6 months ago. Something I will recommend to ya that I have found out is omega one seems to be the top brand for fish foods (gives the best color), and seachem is the best for chemicals or plant foods if your gonna go live plants. I'd also recommend picking up some seachem prime when you first start out to keep your nitrate and ammonnia levels in check so your tetras will last (tetras arn't the hardiess fish, if they die pick up some zebra danios that what I started with, not the best looking fish but I swear they could live in a septic tank). If you got any other questions or need any help I'd be glad to give ya any tips or tricks that i've learned thus far with my tank.

P.S just curious what filter are you running at the moment?

 

im not exactly running a filter. my friend breeds fish so he left me with a spare tank and pump, but he made a filter. the air tube goes down into a pilljar that is connected to a sponge type thing. so when the air is pushed out of the tube it pulls the water through the sponge. so i just clean the sponge everyfew weeks. seems ghetto but it works. ive seen the same setup used to breed 30-40 discus fish.

i'll snap a pic if your interested in seeing it haha

 

haha might wanna upgrade that in the future especially when ya get those apistos a good filter will keep your water levels in check once it builds up the beneficial bacteria. im running a rena xp3 on my tank they make a xp1 which would probably work on a 10 gallon idk might have to much current though as thats a pretty small tank size

 

I used to breed african cichlids for about 5 yrs. Electrablue johanis, brown feulaborni and yellow labs. Had a 50 gal setup. After my tank was established with about 20 or so mixed cichlids I had one fav female brown fuelaborni that had a personality like a dog. ( they all had personalities) she would swim up against the palm of my hand and let me pick her up and out of the water and also swim between my fingers. Anyway I had read that getting them to breed in an established tank was pretty difficult. One day I came home and her head and mouth were extremely swollen and she came over to the side of the tank kinda wagging her tale like a puppy and yawned right up against the side of the tank.
I saw maybe 20 eggs all packed in there!!! So a few days later she did the same and there were about 20 tiny baby fish inside her mouth. ( they are mouth brooders, raising there young in there till they can take care of themselfves) I was pretty excited to say the least.
When I went to the pet store to see if they were interested in buying some, the guy thought I was pulling his leg. He told me it was near impossible to breed them unless the habitat is super close to there natural habit in the african lakes from such they came from. (Tanganyaki and malawi).
I invited him over and he saw for himself that they were in fact breeding.
The female and the male had found a sloped piece of rock I had in there that was about 6 inches wide. One would be at the 12 o clock and one at the 6 o clock and they would go counter clockwise skimming along this rock. She would lay an egg at 12 o clock and he would come around and fertilize and it would roll down the rock. When she got to the 6 o clock the egg would be there and she would pick it up with her mouth and they would just go round and round in a circle like that. Saws pretty cool to see them breed and I was pretty proud knowing that I set my tank up that well to mimic there natural habitat.

Sorry for the novel. Thought I would share.
If you end up with a bigger tank eventually, try some african cichlids. They are so awesome to watch and grow and I swear each one has its own little personality like puppys. Gonna try and get another tank setup soon. Its been almost 12 yrs since I had one.

 

1. Always clean your plants before you put them in. Lots of stores keep snails in the same tanks and you can and up with a zillion little snails in your tank from eggs off the plants.

2. Never use a new sponge to clean your tank. Sponges are usually sold with bleach impregnated in them so they don't mold in transport/storage. If you don't wash it out first, you'll kill your fish.

3. Neons are really hardy, IE: fairly hard to kill. They are also fairly difficult to breed, and very pretty. Guppies are easy to breed, but also fairly easy to kill.

 

Also, there are many fish that will chew on your plants. Either get several edible ones that grow fast, or get the kind of plants that taste bad. Maybe even opt for plastic plants.

 

Found this pic. circa 1997?

 

mahalo!

 

My two biggest tanks are a 300 gal and a 240 gal. PM me if you have any questions about it.

 

Oscars are fun too. I had 2 albino oscars that each grew to the size of my hand. I had just 2 of them in a 20 gallon tank. I'd feed them pellets for the most part, but once a week I'd give them feeder fish. That's always fun to watch. Good luck on your tank. It's probably as addicting as fixing up our Tacomas!

 

Fish tanks are really fun! I don't have one now but I've had a 55 and a 150 gal tanks in the past. In my last tank I had 3 Peacock Bass, Jack Dempsey, Figure 8 Puffer fish, a couple catfish, Texas cichlid, green terror, and a sick Arowana. I used to have oscars but they got too big from eating goldfish
The Peacock bass are my favorite, they are pretty aggressive and the get huge!