Hello from Sunny San Diego

[Sheri]

Hi Everyone,

I hope you are all fabulous.  I am starting my first tank and I am excited to join this group to learn and receive feedback.

Sheri

[CorydorasEthan]

Welcome! Your tank looks great!

[Sheri]

Thank you.  A friend was moving and wanted me to take her fish.  This little community is probably over stocked for a 5 gallon tank, but they have been living together for 2 years already so they do all get along.  It has 2 cory, 2 white clouds, 3 cardinals and 3 nerite snails.  

[Hannah Parker]

I love your decorative rocks on the substrate, they are so pretty. 

On 6/29/2022 at 1:42 PM, Sheri said:

Thank you.  A friend was moving and wanted me to take her fish.  This little community is probably over stocked for a 5 gallon tank, but they have been living together for 2 years already so they do all get along.  It has 2 cory, 2 white clouds, 3 cardinals and 3 nerite snails.  

I also have a mis-matched community tank, from combining tanks and not replacing some fish in schools that had died off. But I think it's better to keep them than give them back to the pet store because they don't have a full school, and give them a good home for the rest of their life. That's awesome that you took them for your friend 🙂 I also have white clouds, love them!

[Patrick_G]

Looks great!  Some floating plants will help keep the toxins in check since you're a tad overstocked. Dwarf water lettuce is my favorite, but Savinia and Frogbit are good too. 

[Sheri]

Cool.  Thank you for the advice.  I did buy a few more plants, but AC didn't have any floating plants.

  🐟🐠🐌🙂

@Hannah Parker Do pet stores actually accept aquarium fish from customers?  I thought they didn't take fish because of possible diseases.

Edited June 29, 2022 by Sheri

[Hannah Parker]

On 6/29/2022 at 2:53 PM, Sheri said:

Do pet stores actually accept aquarium fish from customers?  I thought they didn't take fish because of possible diseases.

Yeah! At least all of mine do. My local fish store will give store credit, but the chain stores like Petco and Petsmart will only take them for free. I don't think they would take a fish that is obviously sick though, they always give them a look. 

[drewzero1]

I got a tank from a friend last spring, and none of the fish were species I had any interest in keeping. I rehomed the ones I couldn't take care of and kept the ones I could, and they all kind of grew on me a little.

Your tank looks very nice! Love the plants. 5 gallons is on the small side, but none of those fish are tank busters (like the common pleco I re-homed). I'd probably consider upgrading to a 10 or 20 gallon at some point to give more swimming space. For a while I was using a 5 gallon for my white cloud minnow juveniles, and while it worked for them, it was hard to keep the parameters stable.

[Sheri]

On 6/30/2022 at 11:40 AM, drewzero1 said:

For a while I was using a 5 gallon for my white cloud minnow juveniles, and while it worked for them, it was hard to keep the parameters stable.

I totally agree.  I am having a hard time keeping the parameters stable.  I am only in a 10 x 10 space, so I have to keep it small.  The chlorine, ph, etc. are fine, but I keep getting ammonia spikes.  I watched Cory's video about dechlorinaters causing that, so I ordered some more plants and a different product.  In the mean time, I am doing partial water changes every day.

[Sheri]

New plants, new picture.  The additional plants do seem to be helping.