Piece of advice 1: NEVER, EVER LISTEN TO PEOPLE AT THE PETSTORE! They are only trying to sell you product and care little about what happens once that product is paid for. Do all of your research online, preferably getting your info from tenured hobbyists. This thread already seems to have a few, and they will give you infinitely better advice than someone at a petstore.
2: Unless you bought it refrigerated, that cycling product you bought was crap. The bacteria necessary to balance your tank cannot survive sitting in a petstore at room temperature.
3: A repeat from a previous poster, but bears repeating…focus on the bio filtration. It is far more important than mechanical.
4: Have patience. Rushing fish into a new tank is certain to lead to the death of those fish.
I have a 125 gallon tank with something like 15 fish, and all of them are over a year old. If you do things right, many fish can live longer than dogs.
[quote]HeavyTriple wrote:
Piece of advice 1: NEVER, EVER LISTEN TO PEOPLE AT THE PETSTORE! They are only trying to sell you product and care little about what happens once that product is paid for. Do all of your research online, preferably getting your info from tenured hobbyists. This thread already seems to have a few, and they will give you infinitely better advice than someone at a petstore.
2: Unless you bought it refrigerated, that cycling product you bought was crap. The bacteria necessary to balance your tank cannot survive sitting in a petstore at room temperature.
3: A repeat from a previous poster, but bears repeating…focus on the bio filtration. It is far more important than mechanical.
4: Have patience. Rushing fish into a new tank is certain to lead to the death of those fish.
I have a 125 gallon tank with something like 15 fish, and all of them are over a year old. If you do things right, many fish can live longer than dogs.[/quote]
2. Well, the water was too toxic until I added the cycle. Unless the wait period really should be 3 weeks instead of 2.
- A biofilter is something that I will work toward.
[quote]juvenile Mangrove Jack(trade name Red Fin Datenoid)
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Well, the water was too toxic until I added the cycle. Unless the wait period really should be 3 weeks instead of 2.
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A biofilter is something that I will work toward.[/quote]
if you can’t afford a canister or expensive back filter get a cheap backfilter to supplement your current filter. instead of putting in the filter media that comes with it put lava rocks in it. the ones sold for bbq grills work just fine. just rinse them off and place them in the filter. they make a fantastic media for bacteria. porous with lots of surface area. don’t get a filter that is clear. bacteria do better in the dark.
the fish above is the only fish I’ve had that was more fun than a Clown Knife.
Anyone own a pet shark? I hear it takes a lot of work and like a 100 gallon tank or bigger. I always dream of having my own one day.