I should totally know this by now, but I did not do my research into fish before diving in again... ::slaps own hand::
I thought I knew what I was doing, as we had a few successful tanks while growing up, and even in college. My most successful tank was my tiny goldfish hex (about 5g I think) that was self-maintained for about 2 years (yeah, um... I tended to forget about it because it was in the spare room, and I was working 4 jobs at the time and taking care of a host of fuzzy animals). That was the one fish I never thought would last (won him at a rock festival one time and he survived 3 months in a bowl with reg h2o changes). Once he made it that far, I picked up a slightly larger tank for him (the hex) and promptly forgot about him... He passed away about 2 years after I got him, when my stupid house-mate decided it would be cool to put him in the window right above the heater.
This time around, I got a pair of guppies (the female was preggers) who had a ton of fry... then I thought I would add some tetras and a glass cat. Shortly after that, I was given 4 juvi angels, and quickly learned I needed a bigger set-up. My brother and the guy at the fish store helped me out with this... so now I have a 10g with 3 guppies, a ton of fry, 3 neon tetras, 2 zebra danios, a glass cat, 2 ghost shrimp & a cherry shrimp. It also has 2 pretty bushy plants & a banana plant (the 2nd bushy plant is cuttings from the first when it grew too big in under 3 weeks... now they are both 6' high with about 7 stems each). My second tank is the new 29g with one golden danio (gives the angels a run for their money... his buddy died recently), 4 angels, 3 ghost shrimp, 2 decent-sized sword plants & 2 other plants I can't identify... I want to still get 2 gouramies (one neon blue and another of some color variation), a placo of some kind, one really cool orange-red fish that the fish guy said would work with all of the above, and a cool-looking filter-feeder shrimp (insert "duh!" if all shrimp are filter feeders... it's midnight & I can't remember my bio just now)...I also want to add more plants & hides for the big tank, but I want to know what would work with my fish first.
I really like the glass cat, and would prefer to move him to the 29g but I'm looking for opinions on that. There's more space for him in the bigger tank, and I tend to go by the addage "bigger is better" - how I manage all my herps and rodents, and my philosophy at the nature center). Would "he" be compatible with the angels? I want to add some color to that tank too, that's why I'm considering the gourami & the orange-red fish that I can't remember the name of atm. Would there be conflict with the cat and the other planned fish?
I know I'm asking a lot of stupid questions, but my brain is mush from reading up on stuff in this forum and on the net for the last 3 hours...
Any help, constructive criticism, opinions & useful info is greatly appreciated. I will try to post pics of teh 2 tanks when I get them loaded onto the computer. the 29g still needs a lot of work, as does the 10g...
~Chrissy
I thought I knew what I was doing, as we had a few successful tanks while growing up, and even in college. My most successful tank was my tiny goldfish hex (about 5g I think) that was self-maintained for about 2 years (yeah, um... I tended to forget about it because it was in the spare room, and I was working 4 jobs at the time and taking care of a host of fuzzy animals). That was the one fish I never thought would last (won him at a rock festival one time and he survived 3 months in a bowl with reg h2o changes). Once he made it that far, I picked up a slightly larger tank for him (the hex) and promptly forgot about him... He passed away about 2 years after I got him, when my stupid house-mate decided it would be cool to put him in the window right above the heater.
This time around, I got a pair of guppies (the female was preggers) who had a ton of fry... then I thought I would add some tetras and a glass cat. Shortly after that, I was given 4 juvi angels, and quickly learned I needed a bigger set-up. My brother and the guy at the fish store helped me out with this... so now I have a 10g with 3 guppies, a ton of fry, 3 neon tetras, 2 zebra danios, a glass cat, 2 ghost shrimp & a cherry shrimp. It also has 2 pretty bushy plants & a banana plant (the 2nd bushy plant is cuttings from the first when it grew too big in under 3 weeks... now they are both 6' high with about 7 stems each). My second tank is the new 29g with one golden danio (gives the angels a run for their money... his buddy died recently), 4 angels, 3 ghost shrimp, 2 decent-sized sword plants & 2 other plants I can't identify... I want to still get 2 gouramies (one neon blue and another of some color variation), a placo of some kind, one really cool orange-red fish that the fish guy said would work with all of the above, and a cool-looking filter-feeder shrimp (insert "duh!" if all shrimp are filter feeders... it's midnight & I can't remember my bio just now)...I also want to add more plants & hides for the big tank, but I want to know what would work with my fish first.
I really like the glass cat, and would prefer to move him to the 29g but I'm looking for opinions on that. There's more space for him in the bigger tank, and I tend to go by the addage "bigger is better" - how I manage all my herps and rodents, and my philosophy at the nature center). Would "he" be compatible with the angels? I want to add some color to that tank too, that's why I'm considering the gourami & the orange-red fish that I can't remember the name of atm. Would there be conflict with the cat and the other planned fish?
I know I'm asking a lot of stupid questions, but my brain is mush from reading up on stuff in this forum and on the net for the last 3 hours...
Any help, constructive criticism, opinions & useful info is greatly appreciated. I will try to post pics of teh 2 tanks when I get them loaded onto the computer. the 29g still needs a lot of work, as does the 10g...
~Chrissy
Key factors will be your lighting, whether you are using CO2, and ferts.
