Novice tropical fish owner.

Besides riding my Avanti Pioneer I am interested in other things i.e. tropical fish. My son upgraded to a larger tank and I have his smaller one now (33 litres). It looks great, with curved glass corners with black plastic edging and canopy which houses the light and filter system.

Have had a few problems. Seem to have the knack of choosing sick fish. First couple had a fungal disease and the last one to die had white spot. I thought I had almost cured him, but after a few days of activity, he died. The ones I lost are Platy, I have two who have survived. Also have Guppies. It seems I have chosen the flashy males, and have today introduced 4 females to keep the tank harmonious. The males were chasing each other on occasions, hence the addition of females.

If I am successful with this tank, I would eventually like to get a much larger one so I can have a spectacular display with different fish. :D

Anybody out there with a similar interest?

We've got 5 tanks running currently, 2, 10, 10, 20 and 75 gallons. Mostly bread and butter tropicals, tetras, platys, cory cats, etc, goldfish and the big tank has african chichlids and clown loaches. :)

We bought our son a fish tank and 4 fish for Christmas this past year (he had been asking for some fish for 6 months!). We ended up with 2 Mickey Mouse Platys (one yellow, one orange), 1 Wag Platy (reddish-orange) and a BEAUTIFUL lyretail creamsicle Mollie. They all seem to get along. The mollie sometimes chases the other three. My son didn't show much imagination with regards to naming the fish. Their names are Mickey, Minnie, Wags and Molly. He was only 2 at the time, so I guess I should give him some slack. ;)

We've been able to keep the fish alive, but for the life of me I CANNOT keep live vegetation alive in this tank. Even with the special gro-lite! Aaargh!!

I tend to be a dog person, but I find myself mesmerized by our fish. :)

Though this is widely debated among those that keep livebearers like platies and guppies, the addition of a little aquarium salt into the water helps keep them healthy. I'm not completely sure about the amount to add but that info is out there on the internet I'm sure. If you have a mixed tank with other fish that cannot tolerate salt it is not a good idea to add it to the tank. Hope this helps!

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Originally Posted by Cindyloo

Though this is widely debated among those that keep livebearers like platies and guppies, the addition of a little aquarium salt into the water helps keep them healthy. I'm not completely sure about the amount to add but that info is out there on the internet I'm sure. If you have a mixed tank with other fish that cannot tolerate salt it is not a good idea to add it to the tank. Hope this helps!

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Growing up, between me and my brother we once had 7 fish tanks.

I think that one tablespoon of course salt per 5 gallons in a tank of mixed fish is about right. See this article.

[We've been able to keep the fish alive, but for the life of me I CANNOT keep live vegetation alive in this tank. Even with the special gro-lite! Aaargh!!]

Alert! Alert! Novice giving advice here.....My son has just given me some Dupla Root Fertiliser (resembles large marbles made of clay type substance - though it isn't clay) and some drops of liquid fertiliser (only need to put in 1 drop/day). The balls are pushed into the gravel near the plant roots and apparently disperse gradually. The drops are put in daily because carbon filters draw it out of the water eventually. I have only just put this stuff in my aquarium so it is experimental for me, but my son has used it for more than a year and his plants seem to thrive. :)

Have to report that the newly introduced 'girl' fish have not died and it's 24 hours since I introduced them. The boys look happy. Must be doing something right! :D

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Originally Posted by singletrackmind

We've got 5 tanks running currently, 2, 10, 10, 20 and 75 gallons. Mostly bread and butter tropicals, tetras, platys, cory cats, etc, goldfish and the big tank has african chichlids and clown loaches. :)

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At the moment I am sticking to the easy to care for hardy fish. If I am successful with these, I will try to be more adventurous and get a larger tank and try the more challenging varieties. Just love going to the aquarium shop and looking at their displays. One day I will have a big tank, but I'm taking small steps at the moment.:)

Same here. I'm fond of the bread and butters (easy care cheap fish).

Ma had a 200 gallon with a mess of large turquoise and other varieties of Discus that died when she messed up on a ph adjustment. Oy, how much she spent on those fish and how sad she was to lose every last one. :(

Another aquarium owner here. :) We began with Platies and guppies, but have since moved on to egg layers. Yes, they do indeed like salt added to the water. We found the live bearers to die young, as the females get worn out from giving birth all the time. And unfortunately we could not find a way to keep the guys happy without the females, so we moved on to other fish.