GoldenGardner

My tank is doing pretty good. It has been two weeks. I see new growth on the plants. But what about all the algae that is growing. Can I add shrimp before the tank is fully cycled?

YES! I have planted Amazon sword, 2 bunches of Dwarf Hair Grass, Jungle Vallisneria and Java fern. I'm not sure if I should break up the bunches of dwarf hairgrass. My plan is to have the right side of the tank more planted then the left. I also have a Scarlett temple that I'm recovering, that I will add at some point. But right now it's clipped to the side of my other tank at the top so that it can possibly regrow. It's looking good so far. I'll also add some floating plants once everything else has established well enough. I feel like that's enough if I'm nice and patient with growth. I have the fertilizer and co2 from AC as well that I will be adding once I have the light.

HI All! I got my new filter from AC today along with plants. I am not quite sure if I like the set up yet. I wish I had a pineapple to go in here. I'm not quite sure about the structure on top of the rock pile. The structures all came with the tank when I bought it. I did get a spiderwood that I'm planning on attaching moss too. I love it right in the middle and putting the filter in the middle too. What do you think? I also have this little chest that puts out bubbles and opens and closes. The tube is teeny though. Comparing it to the tube I usually use for pumps or airstones. How do I hook this up? I'm still waiting on my new light to come in, so the tank doesn't have a light yet.

That's a good question. I've only done community tanks, so I just don't know. I always stayed away from anything that was remotely aggressive. Plus I don't know what you do in a non community tank, you still need fish that clean right? I love the look of schooling fish. I think I may have to go to a larger fish store in Raleigh to decide, because what my local Petco (Chapel Hill, NC) while very good, is limited in species. Lots of Platy's, Tetra's, and rasbora. The Rasbora get too big.

I finally got the backing put up on my tank and I LOVE the way it looks. Black substrate and black back. Makes all the colors inside really pop. I have had this tank set up for about 2 months, and it's really doing well now. I put my quarantined Red Platy's and Dalmatian Platy in too and everyone seems really happy. My Bristle nose pleco is a workhorse and is just constantly cleaning. I am now going to set up my other 29 gallon tank with natural looking rock, some wood and a river rock backing. Not quite sure how I'm going to fill the tank though. I don't want a second community tank. Any ideas?

My dalmation platy does not seem like he's doing better. He hangs out at the bottom of the tank most of the time. One morning I even thought he was dead. I've been doing the Ich Treatment and the Maracyn treatment. I also added salt to the tank yesterday. I'm not quite sure what to do with him. There are 2 other red platy's in the tank with him.

Update, I clipped my Scarlet Temple up at the top of the tank. At first I thought it was definitely a goner, then the other day I was just about to pull it out and noticed some new leaves. Today it looks pretty darn good! I've not moved it at all, but will move it down a little bit once it hits the water line.

You got the store right. We found a guy in Morrisville who repairs and makes custom aquariums and he was the one that confirmed my fears yesterday after buying the fish. I got some bubble bee platy's, and our pleco at the Petco in Chapel hill and they were in great shape. Last time I was in they had some 24KGold Minnows that were so tiny and cute. I haven't had a chance to look into how they would do in my community tank yet, but I would love a school of those.

Good points of course. I know that any store can have Ich, but I think it was more about going against my better judgement. I look at this as a learning lesson and my kids will learn this later when I let them know one died. I'm glad I still have three and I have three more platy's in my other tank too. So if they all bread and make little cute platy babies I'll be pretty psyched.

Oh yes for sure. I also have all healthy fish in my main tank. I wouldn't want to contaminate them. So bummed. I was hoping to get more Neon Tetra's soon, but this is going to really put it off.

Well, against better judgement I bought fish from a fish store in Cary, that I should not have bought. Here's the story. We moved from the Aquarium Coop vicinity in Seattle to North Carolina. When we came to visit back in June, I visited a local fish store, The store was so cool. So much variety. Smaller tanks, but a lot of them, and not too many fish per tank. Everything looked great. So yesterday, my husband and I drove down to get some more fish. This store had a lot of variety, A LOT, when we went before, so I thought it would be cool to get some unique colored fish. Well, they still had a lot of variety, but the tanks had a lot more fish, and a lot of dead fish. I shouldn't have bought any there, but I felt bad that we drove all the way down to not get any. I also wanted some floating plants and snails, which my local REALLY NICE Petco did not have. So I selected 2 sets of platy's from tanks that didn't have any dead fish in them. 2 red platy's and 2 Dalmatian platy's. I also got 2 nerite snails, another plant and a floating plant whose name escapes me. I later talked to a guy, that is from the area and he confirmed my fears that I should not have bought fish from that store. He said to be sure to quarantine and treat them for ICH. Well last night I put everything in my quarantine tank but didn't start treating them yet. Today I woke up to one of the Dalmatian platy's dead. I treated the tank this morning, and will definitely tank my time adding them to my main tank. I was pretty disappointed in myself, I had a bad feeling and didn't go with it. For the plants and snails, will it be safe to add them to my main tank? I really need a snail and my local petco doesn't have any. BTW, the Petco in Chapel Hill, does have a really excellent selection and clean tanks. I was really surprised how nice it was.

We moved cross country and finally got a new tank setup. It's been fully cycled. I started off with three Glofish, three bubble bee platty's, and the cutest Bristlenose Pleco, that is about 1.5" long. I love it. Just wanted to share pictures. Forgot to mention, he goes into the tube of the filter, which worried me, but he got back out.

Was just coming here to look up what was wrong with my plant. Thank you for the info! Mine is definitely a lighting issue. I do not think I am going to correct the lighting though to get it to root and grow. It's disappointing because I loved the red leaves in there. Is there another colorful plant that doesn't require as much light?

I wish petco let you search by length and width.

HI Everyone, I bought a new to us tank from a lovely fellow about an hour away. He sold us his full set up, with cabinet and enough stuff to probably outfit 4 more tanks. Really quality stuff too. Much higher end then I would have bought. So we're basically happy. The tank had some scale on the side and while I was out running some errands today, my husband decided to help me out by cleaning the scale off the tank. Well... now the tank leaks. So we need to buy a new tank for this set up. The tank is 36" long by just over 12" wide. It looks like Petco doesn't have a 29" gallon tank that is that narrow and long. Where can I get a tank that will fit the stand? I am in NC.

After googling, I think you are correct! Huh... they seemed to have just tetra's in their tank then. Interesting.

HI All! I finally got a new to me tank today! It also came with 5 fish, 1 neon tetra, 2 Glofish, and 2 mystery fish. The guy I bought them from thought they might be a tiger fish of some sort but couldn't remember. Any ideas? They are currently in my little 5 gallon quarantine tank I moved with, they are not in their old tank yet. Still need to set that up, but the bottom got a bit wet in transport so we're letting the wood dry. Maybe these are Rosy barbs? BTW, the Glofish next to it, is HUGE. Biggest I have seen.

HI All! We just moved from the Seattle area to North Carolina!! We were unable to take our aquarium with us, but I was able to give my set up to a fellow aquarist in our neighborhood. Anyway, when we bought our house there was this little pond set up. I stuck my hand in it yesterday to put an inadequate pump in it, and it's pretty fowl in there. So I'm thinking I need to dump it and start fresh? Or what? It needs some kind of pump, the pump I bought only works in direct sunlight, and I think it is way too small anyway. Can I save this and put fish in it? How should I approach this? We're still unpacking for the rest of the house, so it's going to be a bit to set up the rest of the aquariums. It needs a pump, does it need a filter? Can I just throw fish in?

Welcome! We are moving to NC this month! I can't wait to start back with my aquariums. I gave my aquariums to a friend in the neighborhood, and miss them so much. I'm hoping to do 3 tanks when we land.... Just need to convince the husband.

Any updates on your tank?

Just came here to research Axolotls. My daughter would like one when we move. We're moving to a part of the country that uses AC, but I think we'll probably not drop the house down past 72 when we are using it regularly. Do you think a fan is effective enough to drop the temp in those conditions?

Oh great! I went to the one in Carey towards the end of the day. They really had a great selection. They had some bubble bee chilids that were so cool.

We're moving to North Carolina and I gave away my aquarium and my beautiful fish. I just couldn't picture them surviving a 3000 mile drive in the heat of summer. We went to visit the Raleigh/Durham area last week to check it out. I also went to the Fish Room. Has anyone been there and had experience? They had a wonderful selection of fish that looked healthy, a good selection of plants. Nothing was very deep in inventory but everything looked healthy. One thing I noticed was a lot of people came in to get refills of either fresh or salt water. Why would they do that? I also was wondering about other stores in the area and the experience people have had. We currently live near Aquarium Coop where I have found the customer service to just be wonderful so I'd love to find something like that, where I can get good quality advice as well as good customer service.

If we drive it's a little under 3000 miles in a Honda Pilot that will be holding 5 people.... We'll need room for luggage too, I don't know that the fish will do well for that long.

Can I take them with us??? It's a long drive with three kids in the car. I have two tanks, one is 29 gallon the other is 5 gallon. Guppies, Cory's, Platty's, Pleco, Neon Tetra, Ember Tetra. Shrimp and Snails.