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I'm setting up my very first aquarium! I got a 20 gallon starter kit and it seems to be humming along and test strips have all come back good but I'm not really sure what my next move is. Add some plants? Get the fish? Get the fish and plants together? I'm only planning on having a 6-10 guppies and tetras and am a complete and utter beginner at this.
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Apr 17, 2023 22:25
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| # ¿ May 5, 2024 02:36 |
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Alright, that's what I needed to know! Plants first, a snail, wait for a bit then get the fish.
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Apr 17, 2023 23:37
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I'm Minnesotan so basically, yes. I'm going to seek out some plants after work today, first I've got to get some glue. A few websites that I've looked at mention that you should attach these plants to "porous rocks." Can I just grab some from the parking lot islands and rinse them off really, really well or are there "special" rocks I should get (sounds really dumb when I type it out but that's going to be 95% of my posts as I get this thing up and running)?
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Apr 18, 2023 14:36
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Should I get plants and a snail at the same time or get plants first and wait for them to gunk up the tank a little for the snail?
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Apr 18, 2023 19:50
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Update: for some incomprehensible reason, there are no Nerite snails to be found anywhere in the Twin Cities for love or money.
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Apr 19, 2023 02:54
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That's good stuff, I'll take a watch when I get a chance! I'm finding that I'm actually getting a lot of enjoyment out of planning and making a little underwater diorama and the actual fish are going to be somewhat secondary to all of this. You know what I think would look cool? A model airplane, WWII era, lying on the bottom like it crashed and sunk in the ocean. I wonder if I can pull that off without poisoning the water.
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Apr 19, 2023 03:26
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Stage 3 of preparations are complete:  His name is Dr. Snailbert. I'll run through some test strips tomorrow and Saturday but I think it might be getting time to actually put some fish in this fish tank!
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Apr 20, 2023 22:30
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I got some fish! Four little tetras. I brought a water sample in to PetSmart and they tested it then upsold me on some starter bacteria which, fine, it was only $8. The little guys mostly huddled in the bottom the first day and then yesterday were more active and darting around. Hopefully that means they were exploring their new area and not trying to escape a hostile environment. But one of them was dead this morning.  The other three all seemed fine and thinking back yesterday afternoon I did notice that three of them were sticking together pretty much constantly but one was going off on its own more and more. I'm "hoping" this means that I just got one that was at the end of its life but I'm still worried what I'll find when I get home this afternoon.
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Apr 24, 2023 14:57
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Update: all three fish looked perfectly fine this morning. I couldn't find Dr. Snailbert yesterday afternoon which was a little concerning but I assumed he'd burrowed under something. Sure enough, this morning he had ascended to the top of that mountain-like decoration I have and was waving his antenna around in triumph.
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Apr 25, 2023 14:21
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When should I do my first water change? Here's the timeline as of today: Plants - 1 week Snail - 5 days Fish - 3 days
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Apr 25, 2023 21:19
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Hadlock posted:I would probably do a 20% water change today or tomorrow if it's a new tank, out of an abundance of caution, since you recently added the fish and another one in 5 days  The good doctor has been doing a lot more climbing recently. Earlier today I watched him make a few laps over the round rock in the next picture.  Lookit these little guys.  They've been darting around a lot more starting today instead of sticking to the corners of the tank. There's two that are almost always together and a third that's a bit more of a loner and goes off on his own.I'll give the water a change tomorrow and then if all is still going well, add a handful more fish on Saturday.
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Apr 26, 2023 02:48
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How do fish know when I'm trying to take a picture of them and start darting around all willy-nilly?
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May 2, 2023 02:49
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 So this cloudiness is to be expected and not something to worry about? I've done one water change since getting the majority of the fish, going to do another one this weekend at about the 2-week point from the last one.
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May 17, 2023 03:17
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   I think my snail is broken.
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May 26, 2023 23:59
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My nerite snail died. All ten tetras that have been in the tank just a little shorter than the snail are doing fine and the testing strips are all showing normal. Over the last month I did notice the snail was falling more, like he'd be on a plant or at the waterline and just let go and sink. Then over the weekend he started really slowing down and just stopped. Do they just ... get old?
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Jul 11, 2023 01:44
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What's the difference between a black nerite snail and a black racer nerite snail? I want to replace the deceased Snailbert but the local shop only had the latter.
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Jul 15, 2023 23:28
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So it's just a matter of slight appearance then, not an issue of if I buy this kind my tank will eventually be overflowing with snails like in the Star Trek episode with the tribbles?
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Jul 16, 2023 01:49
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| # ¿ May 5, 2024 02:36 |
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Warbadger posted:Here's some photos of the 20G tank. Stocking is about a 10 CPDs and 10 Emerald Dwarf Rasboras, a pair of Otocinclus, 1 mystery snail, and 1 nerite snail. Plus some blue velvet shrimp (which I think are mutiplying), a handful of Caridina gracilirostris, and some of the aquatic arts Sun Orange Amano Shrimp. No CO2, no heater, so this is actually pretty low maintenance. Is that gravel or dirt?
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Apr 21, 2024 13:46
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