Freshwater Tips and Tricks

[oldnovice]

As a relative newbie, the first few things I would suggest to another relative newbie would...

1) take your time, no need to rush into the hobby. buy a book or two about the type of tank or fish you choose and do some reading before getting started.

2) buy and set up a 10 gallon QT tank for your new fish. having a QT tank is invaluable.

3) buy the biggest tank you have space for. and buy a filter rated for the next bigger size tank (i set up a 75 gallon tank and use a Rena XP3 filter rated for 125 gallons).

4) if you are doing a planted tank, know how much light you have before you start buying plants. if not, you will buy plants that may not be appropriate for your lighting conditions, and waste money.

5) be ready to find a place for a second...maybe a third tank.

 

[fishorama]

Water change, water change, ad infinitum. With vacuuming, every week at least, if anything seems wrong, no excuses.

The second tank you get should be a quarantine tank.

Know what fish you're buying before taking it home. How big, how mean, what it eats etc. & can you supply its' needs?

 

[Sounguru]

Stop buying at pet stores and either order online or shop on Craigslist. That saves an awful lot of money.

Very sad to hear someone say that .....:headshake2:

As far as what I have found to be the thing that helps me best is.....

Superglue.

 

[smbjedi]

prime

 

[Obelisk]

Since I feed my fish several different types of foods, I measure the amounts ahead of time and put the food in those weekly medicine things. It takes a lot of time out of feeding when you feed your fish different types of foods. I feed them frozen stuff as well which I give to them separately, but most of what I give them is dry foods.

 

[littlerodia]

I use my dirty tank water to water my plants. It's natural fertilizer, and it cuts down on the total amount of water I use. You just shouldn't use the fish water for cacti or succulents because they don't need that much nitrogen.