Introduction - Hello, my name is Marisa!

[MarMarOfMystery]

I'm Marisa, and I'm a fairly new aquarist, with about 8 months into the hobby. I researched the ins and outs before beginning, and completed a fish-less cycle (with borrowed media from a local pet store) before adding my first fish in. My first (main/show) tank is a 36g bowfront tank, and I'm currently keeping:

Stock:

• 6 Guppies (2 male, 4 female)
• 4 Panda Cory Cats (all male)
• 2 Honey Gourami (both male)
• ? Bladder snails (the tank's first inhabitants who came with the borrowed media... I didn't know about that back then...)
• 1 Assassin snail (who has greatly reduced the number of bladder snails and continues to do so)

Plants:

• Many plastic plants (the first decorations I had)
• Java Moss
• Guppy Grass
• A Marimo
• A carpeting plant whose name I'm unsure of...

I also keep a quarantine tank, which is currently waiting the arrival of guppy fry (I have a local fish store I vetted ready to take any fry I can't keep).

I regularly monitor and maintain water parameters with the following routine:

Maintenance:

• Weekly 25% water change (I siphon the gravel in different areas of the tank each time) and condition new water with Prime
• Swish carbon filter in removed water weekly to remove debris, keep old filter media (separated from carbon) in a media bag next to filter
• Dose Seachem Stability after %WC
• Biweekly water tests (API Master Test Kit), or when I'm being paranoid (which is often)

Water parameters are always 0 ppm Ammonia and 0 ppm Nitrite, but recently my Nitrate went from around 10-20 ppm to 5-10 ppm, and it has remained this way for a few weeks.

Since I began keeping an aquarium, I have struggled somewhat with some issues I've had with my guppies' health, and I keep Seachem Metroplex and Polyguard in store, alongside Prime, Stress Guard, and Stability.

I'm currently dealing with an issue, but I'll post about that elsewhere. In any case, I've already become passionate about fish, and I'm deeply in love with the hobby. I only wish I had more tanks to keep a greater variety of fish! I thank you for checking out my introduction, and I look forward to being a part of the community!

Attached are some photos of my babies!

 

[PeterFishKeepin]

Nice guppies, could we get a photo of the tank as a whole? I love aqua photos

 

[cdwag29]

Hi there! Welcome to the forum. That blue-purple guppy is especially pretty.

 

[MarMarOfMystery]

Hi there! Welcome to the forum. That blue-purple guppy is especially pretty.

Thank you so much! Yes, he grew up to be so gorgeous! Unfortunately, he's currently struggling with bloat. Here's a Link to my post about my guppy's bloated belly. in case you might be willing to help. I appreciate you taking the time to reply to my introduction!

Nice guppies, could we get a photo of the tank as a whole? I love aqua photos

Thank you for taking the time to respond to my introduction, and of course! For some reason, I haven't taken any full-tank photos since I first added my first guppies 8 months ago and I'm not at home at this moment, but I have some old ones. Since then, I've added some low-energy live plants, and I'm planning to transition and replace all plastic plants with live ones in the coming months. Here are those photos:



Thank you again for your time!

 

[Rose of Sharon]

Welcome to Fishlore! What beautiful tanks and fish!!!

Hope you love it here!

 

[MarMarOfMystery]

Welcome to Fishlore! What beautiful tanks and fish!!!

Hope you love it here!

Thank you so much! I'm glad to be a part of the community!

 

[StarGirl]

Welcome to Fishlore!

 

[cdwag29]

Thank you so much! Yes, he grew up to be so gorgeous! Unfortunately, he's currently struggling with bloat. Here's a Link to my post about my guppy's bloated belly. in case you might be willing to help. I appreciate you taking the time to reply to my introduction!

I replied to your thread! I’m in no means an expert but I’ll try to help. It seems you care about your fish a lot.