My top ten for new fishkeepers

[dorkopolis]

Since I started back in fish-keeping months ago, I've accumulated a total of six aquariums. I have remembered and learned a lot. So I decided to make a list of essential things that any fish-keeper would want to keep on hand.


1. Antibiotics and Anti-fungals: I recommend that you keep two bottles of Melafix and Pimafix, and a fresh container of antibiotic food.
2. High-quality water parameter test kit. Dip sticks aren't good enough once the tank is cycled.
3. An extensive understanding of the Nitrogen Cycle.
4. Water conditioner, Amquel and/or ammoblock (for emergencies)
5. Python for major water changes.
6. Understanding of fish-less cycling. This saves money, stress, and fishy lives.
7. Lighting: Should not overheat aquarium, and should provide optimal spectrum (if needed) for plants, inverts, etc.
8. 5-gallon buckets - buckets should be designated for dirty or fresh water.
9. a quarantine and/or hospital tank for all new fish and/or sick and injured fish.
10. Knowledge of aquascaping and fishy personalities. You need to understand how to provide a proper home for your fish -- perfect water parameters is not enough. You also need to understand the compatibility (and temperaments) of fish species, and the needed aquascaping necessary for having unstressed fish.


If anyone disagrees with my list, please help to make it better. Thanks!

[salman]

I think water changes should be atleast #2. People dont understand how important water changes are. Which reminds me, i still havnt done the water change for today.

[gm72]

Good list, but I would re-order such that fishless cycling and the nitrogen cycle are #1 and #2. A new aquarist shouldn't even think about getting a tank until they understand at least the basics of those 2 things.

A python is definitely not necessary. I have 9 tanks and get along just fine without one. Not sure I'd have it on the list. Ditto with the water conditioner unless it is needed. I add stress coat when I add new fish but otherwise use nothing and all is well.

Adding to your list at #3 I would put research about the fish you are planning on stocking. This is the #1 area we typically see new aquarists fail.

Totally agreed though with the liquid vs. strip test kits. Great call. Ditto on the lighting, quarantine/hospital tank, and the buckets.

[dorkopolis]

I think water changes should be atleast #2. People dont understand how important water changes are. Which reminds me, i still havnt done the water change for today.

LOL It never crossed my mind!

My lazy nights = water changes

do it when you are bored, seriously!

[salman]

LOL It never crossed my mind!

My lazy nights = water changes

do it when you are bored, seriously!

haha i always do water changes when i am bored. Gives me something to do for 10 mins and then after the water change i always feel like i want to look at the fish, so i get a chair and relax and watch the fish swim. Sometimes i even imagine or wish i was a fish to swim in the water lol. I want to be a fish ;p

[salman]

Good list, but I would re-order such that fishless cycling and the nitrogen cycle are #1 and #2. A new aquarist shouldn't even think about getting a tank until they understand at least the basics of those 2 things.

A python is definitely not necessary. I have 9 tanks and get along just fine without one. Not sure I'd have it on the list. Ditto with the water conditioner unless it is needed. I add stress coat when I add new fish but otherwise use nothing and all is well.

Adding to your list at #3 I would put research about the fish you are planning on stocking. This is the #1 area we typically see new aquarists fail.

Totally agreed though with the liquid vs. strip test kits. Great call. Ditto on the lighting, quarantine/hospital tank, and the buckets.


I agree on the research about the fish. Haha, im getting loads of memories..

also there should be a DONT TRUST YOUR LFS SALES MEN! Research your fish and everything before you go to the store. They will most likely lie to you to sell their stock.

[MeganL3985]

Definitely the liquid kits!! As a beginner who started out with strips I can totally vouch for the strips being crap as compared to the liquid one! Even before cycling is finished

[dorkopolis]

Definitely the liquid kits!! As a beginner who started out with strips I can totally vouch for the strips being crap as compared to the liquid one! Even before cycling is finished

I don't have much time for posting. Gimme a a day to update it but you guys have GREAT points, and I want to include those in my idea.

Thanks!

[salman]

i started with the liquid, and then thought the strips were better but i was WRONG! the only thing i use the strips for is for my nitrate. Everything else i test with the liquid.

[dorkopolis]

\ Ditto with the water conditioner unless it is needed.

I may be ill-prepared, but I have had many times when I have NEEDED water conditioner.

I have a total of 153 gallons in my home. What if I need to do 50% on all of them? I can't stockpile that much naturally dechlorinated water

[dorkopolis]

oh i i wanted to mention that because i had Melafix and Pimafix TODAY ... I still have 70 dollars worth of fish that I would have lost.

Those meds are INVALUABLE

[dorkopolis]

I think water changes should be atleast #2. People dont understand how important water changes are. Which reminds me, i still havnt done the water change for today.

yeah, sorry, i didn't arrang by importance. I was hoping that someone would take my list and perfect it.

[salman]

oh i i wanted to mention that because i had Melafix and Pimafix TODAY ... I still have 70 dollars worth of fish that I would have lost.

Those meds are INVALUABLE

What do they do? I've had fish for over 3 years and i've only heard of them like a week ago. Never used them before.

[Lady Hobbs]

A hint that I found useful is always keep a tube of silicone glue! No one wants a leaking tank in the middle of the night and making an emergency trip to Walmart at 2 AM.

My second suggestion is to understand the fish you want to get. Cycle your tank while you are reading about them. Don't put a pleco in a 10 gallon tank, for instance, or bala sharks or discus or angels, etc. Know what fish will go in your sized tank and what tank mates go with what you want.

Read, read, read.

[zackish]

Definetly combine knowledge of nitrogen cycle and fishless cycling and then you have room for one more.
I would say stress coat but that could go under #1

[Lady Hobbs]

I don't agree on the Melafix or Primafix either. In over 2 years, I used Metafix once and it didn't work for what I needed it for. Keeping water clean and gravel vacuumed regularly will prevent most disease and problems and this stuff will never be needed.

Just some cheap Jungle Lab drop in pellets for fungus or ICK work just as well and work faster, IMO.

I'm not saying to not ever get the Metafix or Primafix. Just don't see it as the top 10 things to know right off the bat.

[MeganL3985]

Is the stress coat a must have kind of thing? I just use my aquasafe for my water changes and some salt. Should I be using stress coat?

[Lady Hobbs]

It's a dechlorinator. Doesn't matter the brand. Why the salt, tho? Live bearers about the only fish that require salt ...other than cichlids. Some cichlids, I should say, but they use other kinds of salt.

[dev]

Tetra AquaSafe is an all in one solution, offering both a stresscoat, chloramine and chlorine removal and binding of certain heavy metals.

There is no need for salt (as in salty salt - sodium chloride) for most freshwater fish, including most livebearers. A lot of fish requires a certain amount of calcium salts and the plants will love you for providing a little magnesium salts. The specified GH requirement for each species indicates the concentration of these salts.

It seems there is a lot of confusion around this. A mix of 75% calcium sulfate and 25% magnesium sulfate is often referred to as dH-salt. While both of these ingrediants are technically salts, they have very little in common with table salt and will not make the water taste salty even in high concentrations.

Common livebearers make the confusion complete as these require a certain level of calcium/magnesium salts (GH), and can optionally live in brackish water containing actual sodium salts (tablesalt, sea salt, aquarium salt).

My #1 on the list would be water changes followed by the nitrogen cycle. Medications would be a very low priority.

I also think strips tests are excellent for your weekly checks after the tank has been cycled, and everything is running smoothly. Then when you think there is a problem, it is time to bring your portable lab :)

[dorkopolis]

I agree on the research about the fish. Haha, im getting loads of memories..

also there should be a DONT TRUST YOUR LFS SALES MEN! Research your fish and everything before you go to the store. They will most likely lie to you to sell their stock.

I am SO going to add this. It is ESSENTIAL.

*runs off to play with her list*

[dorkopolis]

I don't agree on the Melafix or Primafix either. In over 2 years, I used Metafix once and it didn't work for what I needed it for. Keeping water clean and gravel vacuumed regularly will prevent most disease and problems and this stuff will never be needed.

I respectfully disagree. I realize that you are a fishy goddess, but melafix and pimafix have saved me tons of times. I have a community tank which means lots of little fish in the tank. And each fish can introduce a disease.

My Pleco brought a bacterial disease with him a few weeks ago (before I had a quarantine tank.) Now I have about 10 fish with various bacterial and fungal infections.

Newbies are not going to keep perfectly clean water (I know you have IMMACULATE tanks) and they are going to get hasty and impulsive and that is going to introduce disease into their tanks.

(I have a balloon molly that gets seriously ill everytime I do a water change without heating the water first. Melafix has saved her at least 4 times now.)

[MeganL3985]

It's a dechlorinator. Doesn't matter the brand. Why the salt, tho? Live bearers about the only fish that require salt ...other than cichlids. Some cichlids, I should say, but they use other kinds of salt.


Not sure why the salt, the guy at petsmart told me I needed it. Since being here though and learning more, I haven't used it in the last 3 water changes i've done. Now i'll just be using it for my betta.

[Rue]

...the salt debate!

It's thought that low levels of salt (tonic levels) aid in osmoregulation, help prevent parasite outbreaks...etc., Tonic levels are 1 tbsp. per 5 gallons of water.

Some say that certain fish (esp. those without scales) and all inverts...do not tolerate any salt.

Petsmart uses tonic levels of salt for all their tanks. So any fish or inverts you buy from them are used to the salt.

I use salt in my community tank and in my goldfish tank. I've had healthier tanks and less issues when I use salt.

Now, others say NEVER to use tonic salt in a tank! That it's unnecessary and unhealthy for the fish! FW fish don't need any salt! The only place for salt is in a treatment tank. It is agreed that salt is of medicinal value when treating parasites such as ich, or to promote healing of ulcers., etc.

Now you have to figure out your position on the 'salt issue'!

[Rue]

BTW...I have one betta in the salted tank...the other in a non-salted tank...

Both are fine...

[Lady Hobbs]

It remains a debateable topic like the carbon does. Think it's up to your own thoughts.

From my reading on it, it can eventually break down the slime coat and fish can get "used" to salt so when it's needed to treat illness, it is no longer effective or much more is used.

I have used and not used it. I have one lone platie in my tank that has had no salt at all for over a year and is fine.

It's one of those topics that seem to have no end to the discussions and never a resolution. It's a personal choice, I think.

My Walmart claims to use "lots of salt". I've asked them, why then, do half their fish have ICK. sheesh!

PS......It probably is a good idea to use salt if your fish are from salty waters in nature....like Rainbows. If, in nature, they come from non-salted water, then perhaps it could be eliminated. Betta's come from rice paddies so is there salt in their natural habitat?

[dev]

What species are "rainbows"?

[Rue]

Rainbow fish, Boeseman's Rainbow fish, etc....

...several genera...

[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

[salman]

I think this should be a stickie.
This thread tells everyone what they think is most important for your fish tank. For begginers and intermediates, and maybe proffesionals.

[MeganL3985]

I like this thread alot :)

[dev]

Rainbow fish, Boeseman's Rainbow fish, etc....

...several genera...

[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

I've checked the three main genuses; Chilatherina, Glossolepis and Melanotaenia.

I can't find anything about salt in their natural habitats in any of my "offical" sources - I do get a lot of references to salt on google though. In the atlas they are all listed with soft to medium hard freshwater. GH 0-15 for most species (about 0-260 ppm calcium and magnesium salts).

Anyone have an official sources that says something about the salanity of their natural waters? Would be nice to know. Never used any salt when I had an aussie tank.

Also found an interesting article on using salt in aqariums that theorize that it is a change in the salanity that has an effect on pathogens and parasites, rather than just having a certain amount of salt in the water. As usual there are no references, though :( Here's the link anyway: [Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

[elmer]

edit: never mind - misunderstood the purpose of the thread

[2manyfish]

Ahhh...the great salt debate!
Salt is an irritant. So for freshwater fish it causes them to produce more mucous which can smother ich and other parasites. This mucous is also produced on the gills which can reduce the fishes ability to absorb oxygen. So it can be good, but it can do harm too.

JMO but I have never used salt in a freshwater tank.
And although I have some medications on hand, they are probably outdated. Really though, unless you live where going to the LFS is a major undertaking, most diseases or parasitic infestations will be alright for a day. (Exception is velvet). My knee jerk reaction to a fish acting "off" is to do a water change! Frequent water changes can have amazing results!! I also use carbon in all my filters. Always have. Helps to keep the water clear IMO.
Where I live, dechlorinators are a must...my water supply has chloramines so I use Amquel.
One bucket kept just for the fish is essential but a python is a luxury! I love my python!! It has made water changes a breeze for me!

The best advice I've ever gotten and really I think should be #1 on the list is to sit down and watch your tank. Sounds simple doesn't it? But really, sit back, sit still and watch your fish and how they react to each other and their environment. Learn what is normal behavior, learn what are the signs of good health. Do all the fish have good color? Are their fins open and erect? Is one fish getting chased by all the others? Or is one fish chasing everything else in the tank? How does each fish feed? Learn which ones are slow feeders and which ones just gobble everything up. Then, when the fishes behavior changes you will notice it right away....