iiQuixote

Hi! Thank you very much for the kind words! Before I set my tank up with fish and plants, I went to my local aquarium shop (It’s a small, independently owned shop, so not a pet store like petco or petsmart) and talked with the man there extensively about my tank. I let it cycle for about a month with the substrate, and the plants came second when the water quality was good enough! I’m a little paranoid about giving the fish a good home, so I did so much research that I’ve actually dedicated a little memo booklet to hold all of it and to reference if I can’t get online. Cielo and the Beatles actually didn’t have that big rock hide when I first put them in; it was bare in the middle. I decided I’d add shrimp to automate the cleaning a little better and to make the tank more lively. The Beatles took a bit longer to get used to the hide than Cielo did, because she was checking out my tongs and everything as soon as I put them in! 😊 I love how curious she is, it’s such a treat to see her come up and examine my finger when I poke it in the water. (cielo getting acclimated, and a better view of the tank pre-rock)

Hello! Thanks for replying 😄 I guess I shouldn’t use “salutations” if I want to apply anywhere, LOL I’m actually not entirely sure if it’s an Aqueon tank, I actually got it second hand! My boyfriend had found a ~50gal tank at a yard sale for free, and a few days later he found this one with all of its’ components (filter, pump, heater, net and thermometer). I took the smaller one because of just how little my room is right now. I’m assuming the tank was originally for neon fish, because the top has a blue light as well as the white+blue, and the sealant glows very bright with the blue light! Should I be leaving the white light on while I’m away, or at night? It’s getting indirect sunlight where it’s sitting, but I’m worried it won’t be enough, because I see some browning in the plants in the way back.

Hello friends, PJ here! I’m a new fish nerd from Southern California and just today I finished my very first tank setup. So far I’ve got one female betta (Cielo), four black neon tetras (The Beatles, because I can’t tell them apart 😂), and today I’ve introduced 4 shrimp to the tank: 2 yellow cherry shrimp and 2 ghost shrimp. They’re set up in a 5 gallon tank with an appropriate pump and filter, live plants, a hide made from granite I believe, and some moss tied down to the inside of the hide with transparent fishing line. I also have some aquarium-safe crystals in my tank, including rose quartz, smokey quartz, regular quartz, and amethyst. I made sure to do my research thoroughly and I kept coming back to Aquarium Co-op, so I decided to join and share my experiences here as a newbie. I’m so eager to learn, and any criticism or insight is very welcome! I’m very nervous about giving my new pets the best quality of life they could have, and maybe I overthink things too much, so hopefully posting here and getting some feedback will give me some peace of mind. Thanks for reading! ❤️ (pictured below: my tank setup (please give me pointers if this isn’t a good tank setup!), my betta cielo, and 2 of the 4 Beatles. Also, the tank lights aren’t as blue as my camera makes them out to be!)