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fish tanks-freshwater
- Thread starter chucklenut
- Start date
Yas i need live plants
Which to get and how to care for? I want a mini ecosystem
Which to get and how to care for? I want a mini ecosystem
Be careful buying live plants. We got one from petsmart that was infested with snail eggs. Which meant lots of snails, then we had to get a goldfish to eat the snails.
that doesnt sound like a bad problem lol
chucklenut
- Yes you do need a centerpiece fish. The reccomendation for an Angel fish is a good one. They are a tad aggressive. A silver dollar is a good fish as well, less aggressive but more skittish. Those are the top two. Some very fancy Angel fish can be had nowadays. (They’re not just black and silver.)Also mentioned was to let the tank have some time to settle in. You probably already know there’s 2 kinds of bacteria you need. One takes just a day or two, the other takes about 6 weeks.
Try not to put more fish in until the tank settles in. It’s tough on the fish.
You can’t ever really have a real ecosystem in a freshwater tank, but you can get close. A centerpiece plant like an Amazon Sword should work just fine. It’ll eventually send out feelers an make babies all around it. They look really nice. A couple Leopard catfish will help keep the bottom in shape.
Try to keep it out of the sunlight or you’ll have lots of green on the glass.
Shoot me a PM if you have questions. I’ve had fish all my life.....
solid info. this is for sure a test run for me. i have it set up right by a window but there is a white blind in front of it so some light gets through, is that too much or just need to keep out of direct light?
Also mentioned was to let the tank have some time to settle in. You probably already know there’s 2 kinds of bacteria you need. One takes just a day or two, the other takes about 6 weeks.
Try not to put more fish in until the tank settles in. It’s tough on the fish.
You can’t ever really have a real ecosystem in a freshwater tank, but you can get close. A centerpiece plant like an Amazon Sword should work just fine. It’ll eventually send out feelers an make babies all around it. They look really nice. A couple Leopard catfish will help keep the bottom in shape.
Try to keep it out of the sunlight or you’ll have lots of green on the glass.
Shoot me a PM if you have questions. I’ve had fish all my life.....
also i really like how the silver dollar fish look but the folks at petco told me they get kinda big and a 20 gallon tank might be small for a full grown one
Probably ok where it is. When the warm weather comes again keep an eye on the temperature. It’s should be ok this winter for sure, as long as the heater is working. Get some test strips and stay in touch with what’s going on for the first month or two.
Without that 2nd bacteria (who’s name I forget) the only way to keep the fish alive for the first month or two is regular water changes. You’ll know when you must if you have the test strips.
Some only get the size of a half dollar and stop. (Which is about the size of a grown Angel fish.)
Others like the one I have is about the size of a bream. You never know what you’re getting when you buy one, so they’re right, 20 might be too small. An Angel is probably a safer bet.
The other thing about the Silver Dollar is, it’s a plant eater. It’s a vegetarian piranha actually. It will eat your plants something fierce. A piece of Romaine lettuce comes up missing faster than you would think.
Go for the Angel.
Ammonia will turn into nitrite your 1st bacteria, Nitrite will be consumed by nitrate your 2nd bacteria.
