I have never had fish before, and I think I'm learning by trial and error more than anything else. Most of the articles I find online about new tanks are for "real aquariums" and they all seemingly feel that the mini aquariums are toys. But I don't have a lot of experience and don't want to get "burned out" on aquriums before I even have a chance to enjoy the pleasures of caring for fish. I purchased a 5 gallon tank with mini filter included. I also purchased a little 50 watt heater and an air pump. I have the heater next to the filter in one corner and the aerator set on low in the other corner. I wish I had purchased a heater that I could adjust. But this one does keep the tank at 75 degrees F, so that's not all bad. I just can't turn up or down the heat if I need to. I also purchased some gravel, extra filters, dip-in water testers, plastic plants, a small fish net and a small gravel vac.
I had some old buckets that can hold 4 gallons of water. I took a permanent marker and marked the insides of the buckets with 1/2 gallon increments up to 2.5 gallons in each bucket. This way, when I make water changes, I know exactly how much to prepare and put back into the tank. I learned early on, I need to make sure that the water I add back into the tank is the same temperature as what the tank already is. So I scoop out a cup of water from the tank when I'm ready to make a water change and immediately go to the sink and start "temp" testing. I found that if I place my fingers into the cup of water and then into the water from the tap, and back and forth again and again while adjusting the faucets trying to get the same temp, that I'm one step ahead when I do start to take water out of the tank. My waste and refill buckets are interchangable. I make sure to clean the buckets with 10% bleach water (1 cup of bleach with 9 cups of water) on a weekly basis. I always make sure to rinse everything thorough with a bit of salt water afterwards. I use a solution of 2 tablespoons of aquarium salt with a gallon of water to dip nets, cups and gravel vacuums into.
I have read enough to know "don't start with goldfish." So I thought I would try with neon tetras. ummmm... sorry fishies :( I later read that these little guys really need a more stable environment than a new tank can provide and possibly lower PH than we have in our water. So I went back to the petstore, with a sample of my water and got two platy (moon fish) - red wag tails. I also purchased better water testers this time. The type where you need a vial of water to get a more accurate reading.
Again, due to my inexperience, I end up with one male and one very pregnant female. Yep, that's right. She gave birth two weeks ago. 15 of the fry survived long enough for us to get the babies into the little "nursery" container.
I noted immediately after the birth of the fry, the male was chasing the poor tired female all over the tank. Then we experienced popeye and velvet on the female. Based on what I'm reading on the subject, velvet is a opportunistic parasite that can be dormant for some time in the water until a stressed out fish can no longer resist the attack. Kind of like a cold virus. The popeye was probably due to the stress and the velvet. So, I went back to the petstore and bought a 2.5 gallon tank, 50 watt adjustable heater, antibiotics, parasite medication, another net, some seachem prime, more gravel, plants, gravel vacuum. It was suggested that I isolate the female since she was the only one with pop-eye and exhausted. I started up the smaller tank, took the carbon out of the filter, and put powder antibiotics into the water for her to swim in along with parasite meds. I also raised the temperature up one degree per day until it was 80 degrees F. I did a 20% water change every day when I would add new meds. The Prime kept the ammonia levels from getting out of hand.
In the 5 gallon tank, with the fry (which looked like mosquito larva with two big eyes) and the male Platy, I also took the carbon out of the filter but I could not raise the tank temps. I debated whether to use the parasite meds with the fry still in there. But I was noticing that the male was starting to scratch himself on the heater, the filter, the plants and anything else that he could rub on. I figured that the parasite meds would have to be a necessary evil at this point even with the frys.
Here I was with a still fairly new (uncycled) mini-tank, for the most part and trying to figure out what to do next. After four weeks, my five gallon tank is not stable or fully cycled. I wish I had not bothered to use the filters with carbon in them. I should have simply opened up the new filters and dumped the carbon out first. Live and learn. Well, I'll stop here for now.
I had some old buckets that can hold 4 gallons of water. I took a permanent marker and marked the insides of the buckets with 1/2 gallon increments up to 2.5 gallons in each bucket. This way, when I make water changes, I know exactly how much to prepare and put back into the tank. I learned early on, I need to make sure that the water I add back into the tank is the same temperature as what the tank already is. So I scoop out a cup of water from the tank when I'm ready to make a water change and immediately go to the sink and start "temp" testing. I found that if I place my fingers into the cup of water and then into the water from the tap, and back and forth again and again while adjusting the faucets trying to get the same temp, that I'm one step ahead when I do start to take water out of the tank. My waste and refill buckets are interchangable. I make sure to clean the buckets with 10% bleach water (1 cup of bleach with 9 cups of water) on a weekly basis. I always make sure to rinse everything thorough with a bit of salt water afterwards. I use a solution of 2 tablespoons of aquarium salt with a gallon of water to dip nets, cups and gravel vacuums into.
I have read enough to know "don't start with goldfish." So I thought I would try with neon tetras. ummmm... sorry fishies :( I later read that these little guys really need a more stable environment than a new tank can provide and possibly lower PH than we have in our water. So I went back to the petstore, with a sample of my water and got two platy (moon fish) - red wag tails. I also purchased better water testers this time. The type where you need a vial of water to get a more accurate reading.
Again, due to my inexperience, I end up with one male and one very pregnant female. Yep, that's right. She gave birth two weeks ago. 15 of the fry survived long enough for us to get the babies into the little "nursery" container.
I noted immediately after the birth of the fry, the male was chasing the poor tired female all over the tank. Then we experienced popeye and velvet on the female. Based on what I'm reading on the subject, velvet is a opportunistic parasite that can be dormant for some time in the water until a stressed out fish can no longer resist the attack. Kind of like a cold virus. The popeye was probably due to the stress and the velvet. So, I went back to the petstore and bought a 2.5 gallon tank, 50 watt adjustable heater, antibiotics, parasite medication, another net, some seachem prime, more gravel, plants, gravel vacuum. It was suggested that I isolate the female since she was the only one with pop-eye and exhausted. I started up the smaller tank, took the carbon out of the filter, and put powder antibiotics into the water for her to swim in along with parasite meds. I also raised the temperature up one degree per day until it was 80 degrees F. I did a 20% water change every day when I would add new meds. The Prime kept the ammonia levels from getting out of hand.
In the 5 gallon tank, with the fry (which looked like mosquito larva with two big eyes) and the male Platy, I also took the carbon out of the filter but I could not raise the tank temps. I debated whether to use the parasite meds with the fry still in there. But I was noticing that the male was starting to scratch himself on the heater, the filter, the plants and anything else that he could rub on. I figured that the parasite meds would have to be a necessary evil at this point even with the frys.
Here I was with a still fairly new (uncycled) mini-tank, for the most part and trying to figure out what to do next. After four weeks, my five gallon tank is not stable or fully cycled. I wish I had not bothered to use the filters with carbon in them. I should have simply opened up the new filters and dumped the carbon out first. Live and learn. Well, I'll stop here for now.
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