New To Aquarium And Looking For Advice

Hi. New here and still doing a lot of reading.

I have a 4 year old who is HFA (High Functional Autism). She fell in love with the glo fish. She has probably seen Dory movie 100 times. I went and bought a GloFish 5 gallon aquarium kit. She seems really happy and it is something I can use to help her with her ABA (Applied Behavioral Analysis) therapy.

I will admit I didn't do any research and the glofish marketing got me. Doing some reading I've found out that a 5 gallon tank is not enough. I currently have (5) GloFish Danio and they are really small about 1/2" or so. (1) recently died and I went back to petsmart for a replacement. Ideally I would want to add some Barb, tetra or even the shark as I heard they are good bottom feeders and they look cool. I know this is not possible for a 5 gallon setup. I'm trying to determine what size would be perfect enough for a nice collection without going to crazy. I don't what to get a 40+ gallon tank.

Now I did more reading and it has me thinking how much work is involved with maintenance and if i'm over my my head. I used to have a 24' above ground pool so i'm used to testing chemicals, cleaning and making changes to the water. I actually ordered a testing kit along with all the tetra maintenance liquids. I'm looking for advice. Most of my co-workers are telling me to back off now before I get too deep into it. They say that that amount of work with aquarium is too much specially cleaning.


Some of my notes....

Aquarium: GloFish 5G aquarium kit with blue and white LED's (5 gallon)
Heater Type / Thermometer: Tetra submersible heater & fusion thermometer
Pump Type: Whisper Micro Aquarium Filter Set Model 25799 or 25807
Filter: Tetra Whisper Unassembled Bio-Bag Filter Cartridges (Medium)

Feeding: (GloFish® Special Flake Fish Food) For the first few weeks you want to feed only once a day, while the tank cycles. This will help prevent ammonia and nitrite spikes. Feed approximately one - two flakes of food per fish each time. Once the tank has completed the initial stages of the nitrogen cycle and your parameters are 0 for both ammonia and nitrite, and less than 10 ppm for nitrate, you can then begin adding a second meal each day. At most, 2 small meals per day is recommended.

Maintenance Liquid:

- Tetra AquaSafe Plus Water Conditioner/Dechlorinator (Monthly Maintenance)
- Tetra EasyBalance PLUS Water Conditioner for Healthy Water - Reduces water changes. Change 50%-75% of aquarium water once every 6 month (Weekly Maintenance - 5ml)
- Tetra SafeStart Plus To Cycle New Aquariums (5ml when adding fish, after water changes or after replacing filter)

Temperature: 72– 80

 

A 29 gallon is a perfect size...its not to big or to small and it still gives you some room to play around with the danios and tetras

 

You can’t get sharks is you don’t get a 40+ gallon. I would get at least a 20 long for danios and you could get a few more. If you want to add barbs OR tetras at least a 30 gallon. 29 gallons footprint is the same as 20 long so I would not get danios and tetras/barbs because they occupy the same area of the tank. For barbs, tetras and danios I would have at least a 40 gallon and to add shark probably at least a 55

 

*shark
Singular. You cannot get a shark if it is not at least a 40 gallon. If you wanted 2 sharks you would need at least a 125 gallon. They are highly territorial to others of their own kind and will attack and kill.

However, sharks are not good bottom cleaners.

My recommendation: a 20 long OR a 29 gallon. This is an excellent starter size (they are the same foot print, the 29 is just a bit deeper). Gives you enough room to have a group of fish without having a huge tank to clean. I have a pair of 29s and my weekly maintence for the pair is less than an hour. And I'm still using a bucket to do water changes in those since they're in my office. You can get a thing called a python water changer and your life will be infinitely easier and less messy when it comes to cleaning tanks and water changes. I can not reccomend this item enough.

For a 29 gallon considering your current stock (that you would move over to the bigger tank), I would say something like this would be good:
8x glofish: danio
10x glofish: tiger barb
8x albino corydoras catfish
2x nerite snails

Corydoras are a small schooling bottom feeding catfish. They are peaceful and won't get more than about 2 1/2 inches max. They will make a cute active bottom dweller instead of the shark. Also by getting the albino version they will shine brightly under the 'glofish' lifhts as well - glofish lights are just UV blue lighting, which most lights you can get will have a blue mode - I reccomend Nicrew brand off amazon, cheap but very nice lights you can even grow live plants with if you want.

The nerite snails will be your real clean up crew. They will help keep your algae under control (although no animal will eliminate your need to clean a tank completely, just reduce it). Nerites snails don't breed in fresh water (they will lay eggs which will never hatch) so you don't have to worry about overpopulation of snails either.

Add the tiger barbs (glo-barbs are tiger barbs) in last. They will be your most active and entertaining fish but they can be incredibly rambunctious so let the danios and the corydoras get settled first before adding them. And add the tiger barbs as a group so they will stay focused on themselves and not chase the danios around - they find bottom dwellers boring and will ignore the corydoras.

 

*shark
Singular. You cannot get a shark if it is not at least a 40 gallon. If you wanted 2 sharks you would need at least a 125 gallon. They are highly territorial to others of their own kind and will attack and kill.

However, sharks are not good bottom cleaners.

My recommendation: a 20 long OR a 29 gallon. This is an excellent starter size (they are the same foot print, the 29 is just a bit deeper). Gives you enough room to have a group of fish without having a huge tank to clean. I have a pair of 29s and my weekly maintence for the pair is less than an hour. And I'm still using a bucket to do water changes in those since they're in my office. You can get a thing called a python water changer and your life will be infinitely easier and less messy when it comes to cleaning tanks and water changes. I can not reccomend this item enough.

For a 29 gallon considering your current stock (that you would move over to the bigger tank), I would say something like this would be good:
8x glofish: danio
10x glofish: tiger barb
8x albino corydoras catfish
2x nerite snails

Corydoras are a small schooling bottom feeding catfish. They are peaceful and won't get more than about 2 1/2 inches max. They will make a cute active bottom dweller instead of the shark. Also by getting the albino version they will shine brightly under the 'glofish' lifhts as well - glofish lights are just UV blue lighting, which most lights you can get will have a blue mode - I reccomend Nicrew brand off amazon, cheap but very nice lights you can even grow live plants with if you want.

The nerite snails will be your real clean up crew. They will help keep your algae under control (although no animal will eliminate your need to clean a tank completely, just reduce it). Nerites snails don't breed in fresh water (they will lay eggs which will never hatch) so you don't have to worry about overpopulation of snails either.

Add the tiger barbs (glo-barbs are tiger barbs) in last. They will be your most active and entertaining fish but they can be incredibly rambunctious so let the danios and the corydoras get settled first before adding them. And add the tiger barbs as a group so they will stay focused on themselves and not chase the danios around - they find bottom dwellers boring and will ignore the corydoras.

Thanks for the advice and i'm going to look into this more. Like you mention a 29 gallon seems like the best option. By any chance do you have pictures of your aquarium?

Also about the shark are we talking about this one (

I'm surprise how big tank is needed for them. Learn something new.

A 29 gallon is a perfect size...its not to big or to small and it still gives you some room to play around with the danios and tetras

Thanks. This is good to know.

 

I have to agree with above. I do the basic 5 gal buckets for water changes and with my 29 gal I have it down to about 20-30 minutes total, including refilling the bucket and treating the new water for the following week (I treat the water before putting it in vs putting straight from the tap water into the tank and treating there.. to each their own). If a dedicated hour max out of your week (plus the time needed to feed daily and test water) is too much then maybe stay with the smaller thank but I would keep doing research. If you and your family are really enjoying it then maybe you are just aquarium people and your coworkers are not! I personally feel the work you put in is absolutely worth what you get out of this amazing hobby. I love learning every single day something new about it.

 

dmora, welcome to the forum. This is the best place to come to looking for info to start your aquarium.

It looks like you are on a good start, especially with doing all of your due diligence.


One of your products you mentioned stands out as being questionable, the Tetra Easy Balance +.

I had to Google it. According to their website, it is supposed to be doing a lot of things. It states it has "nutrients for denitrifying bacteria", it can "reduce the need for water changes up to 6 months", "balances pH" and a lot of other statements.

I think this product might be marketed to people who do not do maintenance on their tanks.

The time between water changes usually does not go longer than every 2 weeks.

It talked about old water having pH issues that needed to be balanced, or something like that. If somewhat regular water changes are being performed, then the tank has no "old water".

Also, the Tetra Safe Start product to help jump start the nitrogen cycle is something that I have used before. It worked for me on 2 different tanks.

Once your tank is cycled, there will not be a need to use it when performing water changes or adding fish.

The beneficial bacteria colonizes in the substrate and in your filter. It is not suspended in the water column.

As the other members stated, a 20 gallon or 29 gallon will most likely be the best size for your needs. They had excellent advice regarding everything.

I like the Top Fin Essentials Aqaurium Kits from Petsmart. They are usually 30-50% off I store. I would not pay full price though. I started out with their 20 gallon combo kit and still have it running.

They include 1 filter, but there is space to use 2 side by side. The filters that are included are good, but are undersized and some simple DIY media can be used instead of the cartridges.

Here is a link of a write up I did, on how to add DIY media to hang on back (HOB) filters. The examples given are cost effective ways to increase filtration and to help colonize your beneficial bacteria.

LINK DIY Media

Also, to keep your glo-fish glowing in a non-glofish brand of tank, Amazon has submersible blue LED aquarium lights for reasonable prices. The blue LED will make them glow in the evenings.

I bought a 2-pack of cheap timers for $10 and a Mingdak brand LED light from Amazon for my 10 gallon tank. The timers control the separate white and blue LED lights.

Here is a link for the .

After your new tank is set up, I would get the widest blue light that will fit if you continue having glo-fish.

When setting up your new tank, consider that gravel substrate will be harder to clean compared to sand. I use pool filter sand in my 75 gallon and 10g. My original 20 gallon still has gravel. Uneaten food and fish waste will sink through the gravel, making it more time consuming to vac.

My tanks with sand is easier to maintain because the majority of uneaten food and fish waste lies on the top portion of the substrate, making it very easy to clean.

If you want to use sand, I suggest using Quikrete brand of pool filter sand. It's $5 for a 50lb bag, and you will not use the whole bag.

It has to be very thoroughly washed though in a bucket with a garden hose. Keep rinsing until none of the sand particles will stay suspended in the water.

Whatever tank you upgrade to, if you don't ive feed and don't overstock, your weekly maintenance will be reduced.

Please ask as many questions as you need to, either in this thread or in a new post

You will always get a ton of positive responses from a lot of good people.

 

Thanks everyone for you advice. greatly appreciated.