starvinmarvn Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 I am the proud owner of a new 3' fishtank but dont have the foggiest of what to do with it. Im hoping to have tropical fish swimming around and i have the heater, filter and air pump. I have heard i may have to condition the water? Im willing to be patient and not rush into putiing fish into an enviroment that will kill them. Can anybody give me some advice? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shiesh Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 Set it up and leave it running for a few days to allow natural ''friendly'' bacteria to build up in the tank. Before adding fish take a water sample to your local 'Pets at Home' they will check the condition of your water free of charge before you purchase any fish! Good Luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blade1983 Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 biggest advice I can give: DO NOT BUY FISH FROM PETS @ HOME!!!!! I have a tropical tank and a marine tank - started with the tropical a couple of years back - every fish I ever bought from there died within a few weeks!! go on: http://www.tropicalfish.site5.com/tfc/ it's a forum site and people are very helpfull! if i were setting up again this is what i'd do: - buy a filter that claims to filter a tank larger than the one you have - maybe one that sits under the tank. - heater for the size of tank - guessing you have the lighting - some fish shops sell you "pre-conditioned" water which helps massively cus it doesn't contain all the cr*p that comes out of our taps. - talk to the guys in a local fish shop and buy some "good bacteria" from them. follow the instructions on the bottle. - wait at least a week from setting up before adding any fish - when you first add fish, only add around 3 small ones and don't feed them much (maybe once a day, very small amount) - then if they are doing ok, add a couple more fish about a week later (again, don't feed too much) - ask the guys at the shop about a good simple book to buy. - you also need to know about water changes. any questions just PM me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shiesh Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 biggest advice I can give: DO NOT BUY FISH FROM PETS @ HOME!!!!! That is strange because every fish I ever bought from Middletons in town died within a few weeks. I was told (by someone on this very forum) the only pet to consider buying from Pets at Home was their fish as they give a replacement guarantee for 7/10 days should the fish die suddenly after purchase! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blade1983 Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 That is strange because every fish I ever bought from Middletons in town died within a few weeks. I was told (by someone on this very forum) the only pet to consider buying from Pets at Home was their fish as they give a replacement guarantee for 7/10 days should the fish die suddenly after purchase! ye i know about the guarentee - but lots of mine died just after the 10 day period. I suppose it's down to personal experience - i don't like them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twiglet Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 Pets at Home are great for the water testing - but again I've bought lots of fish from there and all died within a few days. They did replace them no quibbles but the replacements kept dying so eventually I gave up. I also noticed when I was in there the other day that most of their Platys were infested with whitespot, so they could spread infection to any other fish in your tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blade1983 Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 Pets at Home are great for the water testing - but again I've bought lots of fish from there and all died within a few days. They did replace them no quibbles but the replacements kept dying so eventually I gave up. I also noticed when I was in there the other day that most of their Platys were infested with whitespot, so they could spread infection to any other fish in your tank. sounds very familiar! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simondjuk Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 Check the water acidity level too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beamer Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 There's a tropical fish suppliers on Infirmary Road...they are fantastic...they sell yuppies,neons,angel fish etc for tropical tanks,they will give you any advise you need at all,including testing your tank water for free too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heartshaped1 Posted October 12, 2006 Share Posted October 12, 2006 Yuppies I thought they died out in the eighties! Seriously, would second the recommendation for shop on Infirmary Rd - have just set up my first tank and the fish are in MUCH better condition than those I've seen at P@H. Was also at P@H on Monday and seven tanks had dead fish in them, and another contained several fish with a lot of whitespot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.