Lurking 4 weeks, now I have something to say

[jphonger]

Hello fellow fish enthusiasts!
I have been lurking on this forum for a couple of weeks now, and I really enjoy the community that I see, so I decided it was time to come out of my shell and post. The thing that attracted me to this forum over others is the way that the members seem to adhere to a certain code of ethics, while at the same time being understanding of those that make mistakes, and may unknowingly treat their pets poorly.
It reminds me of my grandfather, willing to give advice, and make suggestions, but not judging.
I was just informed by my wonderful wife tonight that I am getting a lovely 10g tank for valentines day. We currently have a 2.5 gal tank that is running, but no fish, and now I get to have something that will support some "little buddies" humanely, and I can keep the 2.5g for a hospital/quarantine tank.
I am happy to hear of any suggestions for stocking my new tank, and I will be reading those already made in other threads.
I do want to thank you all for providing so much excellent information and such a warm environment to share experience and knowledge.
I look forward to becoming active in this community.
-JP

[OscarFan]

Welcome to Ac. DO you know what type of tank you want.

[snipers_den]

Hello and welcome to the AC forum.....the folks here are friendly and offer great advice.....:22:

[shalafi04]

welcome.
i think it would help if we knew what types of fish you liked, what type of water (fresh or salt) live or fake plants etc.etc.etc.

just tell us what you want, and we will tell you what you're doing wrong.. or where we think you could use some help :) yay

[crackatinny]

Welcome to the forum, I am glad it comes accross the way you describe, as that is the aim of the staff and members:thumb:

[KcEE]

Hey!!! Welcome to the A.C!!!! Glad to hear that you like our community! And now you are a part of it. thumbs2:

[jphonger]

Thanks for the replies!
It looks like the only way to go for me with this new tank is to do a beginner style freshwater setup. While I would love to have a saltwater tank someday, I don't think that a 10g would be the way to start. In years past i started with a waterdog, (really cool!) and then had some mollys,corys and a red tail black shark. For now I would like to try doing a sparsely planted setup with just a few small "buddies". Size, hardiness and life span are main concerns. I really appreciate all species. I will be setting up the tank soon and after the fishless cycle is complete, I might just post the water parameters, to see what people think would do best in the given conditions.
Thank you all for the warm welcome :)

[Drumachine09]

Welcome to the A.C.!

[country_boy454]

Welcome to the forum!

[Dave66]

Howdy and welcome to a wonderful hobby/passion :)

Dave

[digital3]

Welcome to the A.C. Get ready to have some fun! You've come to the right place!

[zeon]

Hello and Welcome! I love it here. Most of the time I can find my answers just by reading the threads. That is a big plus in my book. :c12: That and everyone is really helpful.

[Lady Hobbs]

What a wonderful welcoming message that was!! That was so nice to hear. We keep things pretty much on key here and have fun, too.

Welcome to AC and I'm happy to see you are no longer a lurker. :)

[shockshockshad]

Welcome to AC!!!!!!

[Nick_Pavlovski]

I think there is a good standard of behaviour here. It's great - as opposed to some other hobby forums I've been on.

We all make mistakes;
We can all fall prey to bad information (from friends, lfs's, the net);
Not everything is textbook;
Some people will do their thing anyway (for example, I've got 2 Corys in a small tank even though I know I should have a school- but there's no room);
There's enough bad behaviour, abuse and bad language around us anyway;
We can always choose to log off.

It seems everyone here tries to regulate their bahaviour so mods almost never have to use the big stick. It's a credit - and thank you for pointing it out to some of us!

[jphonger]

Hello to all!
thanks so much for the continuing welcome wagon!
this forum is filled with so much great information that I am still in the researching phase. My wife and I will pick up the 10g setup that is my Valentine's day gift tomorrow. I will be going with a "fishless cycle".
I was thinking of starting with Danios. Of course, I want to get the tank cycled properly, and take our water ph into consideration before I put anything in.
All coments, and suggestions are invited, and appreciated.
While I have some experience from the past, I am pretty much a newbie...

[Pr0eve]

Yes, welcome to AC. we are only humans, but AC as a whole really try not be judge mantel at all. and that is what I like the most. AC will tell you that your wrong when you are, and some times be very firm on it, but it is not because their mean, it is because they care. and again that is what I like the most.

[jphonger]

Hello again!
My wife and I went an picked up the tank. It is a second hand ten gallon with a HOB filter, and came with a hood and lights. Everything is up and running as of tonight, but the filter had a really nasty filter cartridge in it, looks like a whisper 10. I tossed out the cartridge, and will have to get a new one. We picked up a 50 watt heater, I am probably going to add a sponge filter, run off an air line, in addition to the HOB. I am still looking around for pure ammonia...... Hopefully the hardware store will have it.
I really want to get this baby cycled, so I can add fish!
The ph came in around 7.4, any suggestions for stocking would be greatly appreciated.

[mitcore]

welcome thanks for the lovely post,

the members here are great i agree

i would probably go for the smaller breeds like guppys, platties, sword tails or tetras, you can get some brightly coloured smaller fish
check my 3ft sig for other examples

[jphonger]

well, lost a few posts today, but just wondering what you all think about starting with 6 zebra danios. I read that they are active and like to be in groups.
would that be overstocking, or would it be fine?
I also am interested in guppies... I have plenty of time to decide as I am going to start my fishless cycle today!!
I am very interested to hear what others would put in their own ten gallon tank.....

[OscarFan]

I would go with some Danios about 5. And about 5 neons or cardinals and an Oto.

[jphonger]

I would go with some Danios about 5. And about 5 neons or cardinals and an Oto.
That sounds like a pretty good combination! thanks for the advice. I may very well do just that once my fishless cycle is complete.