Hello from Southern California!

[SarayParay]

Hello! 

I live in the San Gabriel Valley area and I am new to the hobby. I got introduced to it back in October 2019 when my daughter/husband won a male betta fish at a baby shower game. I was very upset as I did not want to be responsible for another living thing. I felt bad for the poor thing so we kept it and I spent like $100 on a tank kit, heater and food. As the weeks went by, I began caring a lot more for Golden (my daughter named him that) and the little guy grew in my heart. I began doing research to continue to have my little guy happy. It is how I began my journey! Fast forward to June 2020 and we lost Goldeen suddenly. I had no idea (at the time) why. My daughter was devastated so we got her another betta fish, this time a female named Seaking and a BN Placo (suggested by a friend). So I decided to do more research. I found out so much more and long story short I now have a 20 gallon and a 10 gallon. Seaking passed from Dropsy and I began doing more research and found "hardy" fish for me because I became enamored with the hobby and wanted fish but didn't want them dying. Soooo as of today I can say that the fish I bought in late June 2020 and early July 2020 are still alive and swimming! 🙂 Super happy. 

I want to continue expanding my knowledge and making my aquatic babies happy!

To add, I think Goldeen died because the previous day I did a thorough cleaning of his tank. I transferred him to a small bowl and cleaned the filter, heater, carbon filter, bio media and ornaments under tap water. Then I placed them back in and filled it up with bottled water and put him back in. After learning that kills off BB I was horrified and wish I would have turned back time to save my little babe. Usually I'd just clean the coarse filter and bio media (with tap water too :[) but I never cleaned the rest of the tank.

Anyways! Nice to be here! I will have a lot of questions for y'all so I hope I don't annoy you! ❤️ 

[FishObsessed]

Welcome to the forum! Out of curiosity, which "hardy" fish did you end up going with? I too, have thought about picking hardy ones 🙂

[SarayParay]

5 hours ago, FishObsessed said:

Welcome to the forum! Out of curiosity, which "hardy" fish did you end up going with? I too, have thought about picking hardy ones 🙂

Thanks!

So for my 10 gallon, I went with shrimp and PandaCorys. In my 20 gallon I have Mickey Mouse Platy and Sunburst Platies, and Zebra Danios. I also have Nerite snails and shrimp. 🙂 

[Ben Ellison]

It sounds like you have a story very similar  to most everyone.  We all seem to been let down by the way society treats fish keeping and have sought out more information.  Its a same really that box stores seem to be perfectly  content providing sub par information.  That being said welcome to community and the fish you choose are not only hardy but very rewarding and a wise choice.

[SarayParay]

16 hours ago, Ben Ellison said:

It sounds like you have a story very similar  to most everyone.  We all seem to been let down by the way society treats fish keeping and have sought out more information.  Its a same really that box stores seem to be perfectly  content providing sub par information.  That being said welcome to community and the fish you choose are not only hardy but very rewarding and a wise choice.

Thank you so much Ben! It's funny because I thought Mickey Mouse Platies were ugly and it's the fish I have come to love so much. LOL

[Ben Ellison]

Well they definitely  aren't show stoppers but they are nice and breed easily. They are also pretty  hardy. I think them and guppies are one of the fish most people would get thenmost enjoyment from with the least investment  and knowledge.