Feedback For Newbie Aquarium

Hello everyone my name is Paul. This is my first post to fishlore and am excited about being part of the community. I have only about a year experience keeping freshwater fish so needless to say this past year has had a lot of ups and downs especially (and I now know, unfortunately) since I was one of those people who jumped head first out of the window without doing research first. I didnt realize there were so many different perameters which had to be paid attention too and I had no clue what the nitrogen cycle was or that it had anything to do with fish. I now am familiar with these things and my tanks are better and my fish happier.

I was hoping someone could take a look at my tanks here and ill include all the details with the pictures, but I was hoping to get some feedback on them. I would love to know if I'm missing anything, need something, don't need something or just feedback in general on them would be great.
The specs for this tank:

Wavemaker
- 1 SunSun JVP-101 800 GPH Wavemaker Powerhead Aquarium Circulation Pump.

Filter
- 2 40 gallon Aqueon Quietflow Internal Power Filters

- 1 5 gallon small corner filter (just for an extra place for bacteria to grow and filtration to occur)

- 1 nicrew led light (contains white and blue leds.

Tank
- 40 gallons
- water temp = 79°F
- ph = 6.2
- Nitrate & nitrite = ?
- Hardness = ?

Fish

7 orange Platties
10 tetras
2 fancy goldfish
1 Blue gourami
1 Gold gourami
1 Dwarf sunburst gourami
2 panda cory catfish
3 African dwarf frogs
2 snails

Also all the plants in the tank are real.
They consist of only bamboo, and moss balls and as for water changes I do 25% change every wednesday and 40 - 50% change every sunday.

I think that's everything for this tank. I appreciate it folks. I look forward to your feedback.

 

The tank looks pretty good. I appreciate how you have so many filters and live plants. You should check aqadvisor to check your stock.

 

Hi! Welcome to Fishlore! That's a nice looking tank. I never thought of using bamboo like that... I'm not weighing in on the stocking because I'm still "green" myself, but I do like the overall look of you set-up.

 

The goldfish will get too big for that tank and needs a cold water tank. See if you can return those 2 unless you want to get a much larger tank. Also, the frog and the fish sometimes aren't good together. Their water needs to be lower so they can breathe without having to swim up so high and too much of a current makes it a workout for them to get there. That's a lot of water changes. It might be overkill, I'm going to wait for someone else to tell you the exact amount but once a week 25% is what I keep hearing, some will give you different percentages but doing 2 changes is usually only what you do when you're cycling the tank.

Get a ApI Master Test Kit, it will save you money in the long run.

 

I see all your awesome replies guys and gals and I promise ill respond shortly to each of you. Got 1 hour left of work

 

Cories should be kept in schools of 6 or more (according to the free eBook I got when I registered on the forum).

Definitely get a liquid drops-based test for your water. You need pH, ammonia, nitrites and nitrates in there. The API freshwater master kit is what most people use: easy to find, not too expensive. While you're at it, you can also journal your test results and any symptoms your fishes show so you can refer to it whenever you need to. I use an app, but others use Excel, pen and paper, basically whatever floats your boat!

 

The goldfish are temperate fish and prefer cooler temps. I'd also say the pH is too low for them. It's way too low for the snails - they need PH above 7 and calcium for their shells.

Watch out for aggression between the gourami.

Otherwise, it looks good.

 

What type of tetra?
The goldfish alone need 40 gallons+ and are not compatible with the rest of your stock
Cories need groups of 6+
What gender are the gouramis?
Make sure the frogs are getting enough food with all those fish around

 

Hello everyone my name is Paul. This is my first post to fishlore and am excited about being part of the community. I have only about a year experience keeping freshwater fish so needless to say this past year has had a lot of ups and downs especially (and I now know, unfortunately) since I was one of those people who jumped head first out of the window without doing research first. I didnt realize there were so many different perameters which had to be paid attention too and I had no clue what the nitrogen cycle was or that it had anything to do with fish. I now am familiar with these things and my tanks are better and my fish happier.

I was hoping someone could take a look at my tanks here and ill include all the details with the pictures, but I was hoping to get some feedback on them. I would love to know if I'm missing anything, need something, don't need something or just feedback in general on them would be great.View attachment 312367The specs for this tank:

Wavemaker
- 1 SunSun JVP-101 800 GPH Wavemaker Powerhead Aquarium Circulation Pump.

Filter
- 2 40 gallon Aqueon Quietflow Internal Power Filters

- 1 5 gallon small corner filter (just for an extra place for bacteria to grow and filtration to occur)

- 1 nicrew led light (contains white and blue leds.

Tank
- 40 gallons
- water temp = 79°F
- ph = 6.2
- Nitrate & nitrite = ?
- Hardness = ?

Fish

7 orange Platties
10 tetras
2 fancy goldfish
1 Blue gourami
1 Gold gourami
1 Dwarf sunburst gourami
2 panda cory catfish
3 African dwarf frogs
2 snails

Also all the plants in the tank are real.
They consist of only bamboo, and moss balls and as for water changes I do 25% change every wednesday and 40 - 50% change every sunday.

I think that's everything for this tank. I appreciate it folks. I look forward to your feedback.

Welcome to FIshlore!

I was going to point out that your filtration seemed a little overkill, but with the goldfish in there you're probably better off going for over-filtered. I agree that they should probably be rehomed, though. They aren't the best community fish, prefer colder water than the rest, get really large (a foot I think?) and make a ton of waste. Wonderful for ponds if you know anyone with one, though.

The Cory cats would do better with a school between 6 and 10. If you rehome the goldies, that should make room for a few more cats.

Do you know what kind of snails you have? Some breed more enthusiastically than others. If you have nerites they won't breed in fresh water, but any other kind you might want to keep an eye on.

I've seen her giving really good advice on stocking, so I'm gonna tag TexasDomer to see if she see any issues the rest of us might have missed.

The bamboo probably isn't going to do well unless you can get the leaves up out of the water. They don't need to be planted, but the leaves will start to melt if you leave them submerged.

Good luck getting everything cycled! The API test kit is a good investment if you're looking for a way to track everything.

 

Your gold fish might be a problem here since they are poop factories. They'll grow bigger and bigger so I would think re-homing these would be a good option. I'm not verse on frogs and snails but one thing to consider is the cory pandas. They do much better in groups of 6+ plus the rocks in your tank (if they're jagged) will likely hurt their barbels (fu man chu mustache on cory). You might want to consider re-homing them as well.

The light...it looks like it's going to fall into the water. That statue is sure putting some weight on it to the point it's bending down. Might want to take that off.

 

It looks like everyone else hit most of the concerns with the tank. I do think it looks great and there's a lot of colorfulness going on.


I'd suggest getting a cover/glass top for the tank. I have those exact sames light and they are not water proof. Any evaporation that gets in the lights will short them out and I'd be worried about them falling in the open water. I know the braces on mine tend to wiggle a lot if I bump them while doing anything in the tank.

For your frog buddies, I'd recommend a flat surface in the tank to put their food on. They're not the brightest and can have a hard time finding food when it's just tossed in the tank. You want to keep an eye and make sure they're eating and can easily get to the top to breathe.

 

The tank looks pretty good. I appreciate how you have so many filters and live plants. You should check to check your stock.

Just want to note thatshould only be used as a rough guide...Stocking is not a black and white process that can be figured out with algorithms; nothing replaces true research

 

Just want to note thatshould only be used as a rough guide...Stocking is not a black and white process that can be figured out with algorithms; nothing replaces true research

I appreciate the feedback. I'll definitely check them out. Thank you for that resource.

 

Hi! Welcome to Fishlore! That's a nice looking tank. I never thought of using bamboo like that... I'm not weighing in on the stocking because I'm still "green" myself, but I do like the overall look of you set-up.

Thanks a lot. I was told that "lucky" bamboo would thrive submerged under water and I loved the way it looked so I picked up a bunch.

 

Cories should be kept in schools of 6 or more (according to the free eBook I got when I registered on the forum).

Definitely get a liquid drops-based test for your water. You need pH, ammonia, nitrites and nitrates in there. The API freshwater master kit is what most people use: easy to find, not too expensive. While you're at it, you can also journal your test results and any symptoms your fishes show so you can refer to it whenever you need to. I use an app, but others use Excel, pen and paper, basically whatever floats your boat!

Thanks for the advice. I need to start doing a journal. I keep thinking it but always forget to start it. I need to get more familiar with the nitrogen cycle. I understand the bare minimum but it is still a bit fuzzy. I understand what the cycle is and why we need to cycle but I need to understand each specific perameter in more detail as well as best practices for each fish I have. I have much to study and learn. I think your finally going to get me to remember to keep a journal. As for testing I have these(in the pic) but I don't test often because...let me put it this way, its like someone taking a driving test without knowing what a car is. Lol I'm not too familiar with the process so I wouldnt know what to do with the results. That's why I decided to come here I def need help. I want what's best for the fish.

Also just to respond about the corys. I have a local fish store down the street which is run by people who are only interested in money and not the well being or welfare of the fish they sell. The tanks they have are all filthy and they are all different colors(the water). Some of the tanks water is a dingy yellow, some are green and brown, they have dead fish etc..its awful. So I went down there recently and in this filthy filthy tank I see these two little corys emerge from the merkiness as they got close to the glass and my heart just bled so I took them home. She only had the 2 so now that I know about them being happier in a school I will def get some. I won't have money to spend for another few weeks. I get paid soon but the entire check has to go to rent, coned and cat, dog, and fish food so my next check after is 3 weeks from now so my question is will the 2 of them be okay for 3 weeks alone? I hope so but let me know what you think. I appreciate it and thank you very much!

 

As other members posted, you have a big stocking mess (no offense intended).
Panda Corys need at least 6 of their own kind and anything above 24 Celsius is no good for them.
Goldfish get big and they are poop machines. They also like colder water as it contains more oxygen.
I am not a gourami guru but sounds like you are asking for trouble by keeping 3 gouramis together.
Overall you need to rehome quite some fish and decide exactly what kind of aquarium you are looking for.

 

Thanks a lot. I was told that "lucky" bamboo would thrive submerged under water and I loved the way it looked so I picked up a bunch.

Lucky bamboo is a terrestrial plant; it cannot survive underwater for too long. I suggest you replace the lucky bamboo with actual aquatic plants (to find out which plants are aquatic, google their scientific names). You can grow lucky bamboo in aquariums, just not with the leaves submerged (they need to breathe air through those leaves).

 

I'd just like to compliment you on maybe the most impressive initial post I've ever seen. The pictures, all the information and care taken to communicate your message are impressive. Well done. Gorgeous tank and I love The Buddha.

 

The goldfish will get too big for that tank and needs a cold water tank. See if you can return those 2 unless you want to get a much larger tank. Also, the frog and the fish sometimes aren't good together. Their water needs to be lower so they can breathe without having to swim up so high and too much of a current makes it a workout for them to get there. That's a lot of water changes. It might be overkill, I'm going to wait for someone else to tell you the exact amount but once a week 25% is what I keep hearing, some will give you different percentages but doing 2 changes is usually only what you do when you're cycling the tank.

Get a ApI Master Test Kit, it will save you money in the long run.

Thanks Lynn. I keep hearing that to be honest about the goldfish. Everyone keeps saying the same thing. They also, in my opinion look funny with all off the other fish in the tank. Meaning their proportions. They are just so much bigger and dopey and it kind of throws everything off in my minds eye. I think you just made up my mind. You sealed their fate Lynn! lol I'm just playing I love em no matter what. id never harm any creature but now I have to decide to either adopt them out or get another tank for them.
As for the frogs I have been keeping a close eye on them and I had them about 4 months now. Theres 3 and I noticed that they figured out that if they stay closer to underneath the wavemaker the current is weaker. They dart up to the surface for air really quick and then back down so I don't think their having too much of an issue getting to the surface. I also purposely let moss and other things get stuck on my wavemaker so it lessens the power. The pic shows what I mean. Thanks a lot for your feedback. It is greatly appreciated!

 

I forgot, keep only 1 gourami to the tank. They can have behavioral issues with multiples being kept in the same tank (after all, bettas are just another kind of gourami). I also saw the pothos growing outside the tank. If you plant one hanging off the surface of the tank with only the roots underwater, you will never have to water or fertilize it ever again. You could do the same with the bamboo.

 

As other members posted, you have a big stocking mess (no offense intended).
Panda Corys need at least 6 of their own kind and anything above 24 Celsius is no good for them.
Goldfish get big and they are poop machines. They also like colder water as it contains more oxygen.
I am not a gourami guru but sounds like you are asking for trouble by keeping 3 gouramis together.
Overall you need to rehome quite some fish and decide exactly what kind of aquarium you are looking for.

Everyone told me not to put 2 gouramis that 3 was better and honestly other than the goldfish the gouramis don't bother each other. I do nothing but look at the tank because I love to watch them. The gold gourami and blue gourami seem to only peacfully follow one another around not agressively pushing but side by side. The sunburst passes the other 2 by but don't seem to care that they are there. Ive had them for a while now and they don't nip or "square up" so to speak the blue gourami does start to become aggressive and territorial when I drop food but other than that they are peaceful. I also got all 3 at the same time so maybe that helped or maybe just their personalities. This tank I must say I have never had any one being bullied or anything. The platties, and tetras just stay together in groups of 3 or 4 and the gouramis just always seem to be more interested in me than anything. The corys as I said in a previous post I basically saved from a really bad fish store with terrible conditions. They were the only 2 which I got only last week so as soon as my wallet gets replenished ill buy more but not until my next check. The goldfish will be gone soon. I was tossing around the idea of maybe giving them to my african cichlids. Is that cruel? I'm not sure. I keep thinking its nature but I feel its cruel because they werent intended to be food idk?

 

No, it is not nature first of all, because those animals would not be in glass boxes first of all, you would never find fancy goldfish in the wild and they would never even meet.
I'm glad the Gourami thing is working for you.
Still, you have compatiblity issues, most importantly temperature issues. What kind of tetras do you have? And even with a thousand panda corys, that still doesn't make up for the temperature issues, they need cooler water.
If I am not mistaken all your fish can do well at 24 Celsius. I would lower the temp if I am correct.
Try to rehome the goldfish, or give them back for store credit, or trade them, if nothing works then yeah, consider killing them first and feeding it to your cichlids, altho goldfish are not really nutritious and killing a fish just because you did wrong research is... interesting.
If money allows it you can probably set a kiddie pool and house those 2 goldfish in the garage or something, that is also something to consider.

 

They look like black neon tetras. Funny because I actually started out with black neons (only in a 20 gallon tank though)! Also, I don't think African cichlids would ever want to eat a goldfish, especially something as large as yours, OP.

Black Neon Tetra

 

No, it is not nature first of all, because those animals would not be in glass boxes first of all, you would never find fancy goldfish in the wild and they would never even meet.
I'm glad the Gourami thing is working for you.
Still, you have compatiblity issues, most importantly temperature issues. What kind of tetras do you have? And even with a thousand panda corys, that still doesn't make up for the temperature issues, they need cooler water.
If I am not mistaken all your fish can do well at 24 Celsius. I would lower the temp if I am correct.
Try to rehome the goldfish, or give them back for store credit, or trade them, if nothing works then yeah, consider killing them first and feeding it to your cichlids, altho goldfish are not really nutritious and killing a fish just because you did wrong research is... interesting.
If money allows it you can probably set a kiddie pool and house those 2 goldfish in the garage or something, that is also something to consider.

The reason I asked was because I love all creatures and personally couldnt kill them myself so I was curious what someone else thought

They look like black neon tetras. Funny because I actually started out with black neons (only in a 20 gallon tank though)! Also, I don't think African cichlids would ever want to eat a goldfish, especially something as large as yours, OP.

Black Neon Tetra

I'd just like to compliment you on maybe the most impressive initial post I've ever seen. The pictures, all the information and care taken to communicate your message are impressive. Well done. Gorgeous tank and I love The Buddha.

Lol thanks seriously. I'm always reading forum threads and the responses to people are always like "MORE INFO PLEASE...!" etc so I thought Id do yall the favor and be clear lol heres the whole tank. My dedication to nature at home

Lol thanks seriously. I'm always reading forum threads and the responses to people are always like "MORE INFO PLEASE...!" etc so I thought Id do yall the favor and be clear lol heres the whole tank. My dedication to nature at home

My second tank

 

I forgot, keep only 1 gourami to the tank. They can have behavioral issues with multiples being kept in the same tank (after all, bettas are just another kind of gourami). I also saw the pothos growing outside the tank. If you plant one hanging off the surface of the tank with only the roots underwater, you will never have to water or fertilize it ever again. You could do the same with the bamboo.

Hey emerald6 could you do me a favor and tell me if I did the pothos correctly. I thought it would also be cool to see the roots grow underwater as well as provide sanctuary for any fish that may like it by providing a place to hide in. Thanks for that tip! Btw you can't tell in the pic but I have fishing line that I used to anchor the plant in place so it won't fall in

Hello everyone my name is Paul. This is my first post to fishlore and am excited about being part of the community. I have only about a year experience keeping freshwater fish so needless to say this past year has had a lot of ups and downs especially (and I now know, unfortunately) since I was one of those people who jumped head first out of the window without doing research first. I didnt realize there were so many different perameters which had to be paid attention too and I had no clue what the nitrogen cycle was or that it had anything to do with fish. I now am familiar with these things and my tanks are better and my fish happier.

I was hoping someone could take a look at my tanks here and ill include all the details with the pictures, but I was hoping to get some feedback on them. I would love to know if I'm missing anything, need something, don't need something or just feedback in general on them would be great.View attachment 312367The specs for this tank:

Wavemaker
- 1 SunSun JVP-101 800 GPH Wavemaker Powerhead Aquarium Circulation Pump.

Filter
- 2 40 gallon Aqueon Quietflow Internal Power Filters

- 1 5 gallon small corner filter (just for an extra place for bacteria to grow and filtration to occur)

- 1 nicrew led light (contains white and blue leds.

Tank
- 40 gallons
- water temp = 79°F
- ph = 6.2
- Nitrate & nitrite = ?
- Hardness = ?

Fish

7 orange Platties
10 tetras
2 fancy goldfish
1 Blue gourami
1 Gold gourami
1 Dwarf sunburst gourami
2 panda cory catfish
3 African dwarf frogs
2 snails

Also all the plants in the tank are real.
They consist of only bamboo, and moss balls and as for water changes I do 25% change every wednesday and 40 - 50% change every sunday.

I think that's everything for this tank. I appreciate it folks. I look forward to your feedback.

Hey everyone I rehomed the goldfish in my tank and sadly the store only had 2 panda corys again for some reason so now I have 4 instead of 2. 2 away from the minimum school size but I planon getting a bigger tank width wise and add 4 more to make 10. Thanks for all your advice everyone! Happy mothers day to all the moms here.

 

Yep, the pothos is done correctly

 

I love the books with the tank but I was just wondering if that shelf was a fish tank stand first and then you added the shelves or which? I'm just wondering about the weight of the books in addition to the tank. I'm not an engineer, at all, I'm just a worrier. I also really like the tank on the trunk with the dark sand and light rock. It looks nice.

 

I'm not surprised you were told that the lucky bamboo was completely aquatic I had the same exact problem, in a bundle I got from Petco that was ironically labeled as an "aquatic bundle." Other plants that aren't completely aquatic to look out for are ribbon plants and Brazilian swords/peace lilies.

The bamboo with survive for awhile, but eventually it will die. If you want to keep it alive, you could take it out of the tank temporarily and wait for it to grow tall enough to stick out of the water. Alternatively, if you have the money, you could buy some taller bamboo (or shorter bamboo and let it grow). Bamboo grows like crazy in the right conditions, so it shouldn't take too long.

 

I love the books with the tank but I was just wondering if that shelf was a fish tank stand first and then you added the shelves or which? I'm just wondering about the weight of the books in addition to the tank. I'm not an engineer, at all, I'm just a worrier. I also really like the tank on the trunk with the dark sand and light rock. It looks nice.

No no don't worry. I'm the same way. I couldnt even imagine 40 gallons on my bedroom floor! It was a 40 gallon tank stand that I bought. The bottom was empty so I cut pieces of wood I had at work to fit between the metal bars to use as a book shelf. The other tank on the trunk is secure as well. I was nervous about the weight of the tank on the trunk so I filled the trunk with bricks and cinder blocks to make the inside solid insteadof hollow.

I'm not surprised you were told that the lucky bamboo was completely aquatic I had the same exact problem, in a bundle I got from Petco that was ironically labeled as an "aquatic bundle." Other plants that aren't completely aquatic to look out for are ribbon plants and Brazilian swords/peace lilies.

The bamboo with survive for awhile, but eventually it will die. If you want to keep it alive, you could take it out of the tank temporarily and wait for it to grow tall enough to stick out of the water. Alternatively, if you have the money, you could buy some taller bamboo (or shorter bamboo and let it grow). Bamboo grows like crazy in the right conditions, so it shouldn't take too long.

Yeah I didnt know at first. Its been about 6 or 7 months now that they have been totally submerged and they are still going but I do see some leaves starting to show signs of stress. I did though as you said pick up 4 pieces of big bamboo and sooner or laterwill replace them all with taller ones. You can see the 4 tall ones in the back of the tank.

I love the books with the tank but I was just wondering if that shelf was a fish tank stand first and then you added the shelves or which? I'm just wondering about the weight of the books in addition to the tank. I'm not an engineer, at all, I'm just a worrier. I also really like the tank on the trunk with the dark sand and light rock. It looks nice.

By the way thank you very much. I prefer a more natural look though the black sand isn't too natural I liked it because I felt it made the fish pop more.