Hello Im new

hello. I have tropical fish and have not had this hobby for very long.

Hey Lillydane welcome aboard!

What tropical fish do you have?

You'll find our members very knowledgable and they should be able to help you with any fish related queries

Thanks Rusty
I think my tank is probably boring compared to some. I just have Mollies Swordtails some Neon Tetras oh and a little white thing that a neighbour gave me when they closed down their tank. I think thats a Tetra too.
As I dont know a lot yet I thought it best to keep things simple until I learn some more and know what im doing.

Sensible choice to do.

Don't ever consider a tank boring, I'd rather hear about a well maintained and loved tank full of mollies and tetras than a badly looked after tank full of exotics ;P

Little white thing sounds interesting, a minnow perhaps?

Hello Lillydane! Welcome to the forum!

Your tank sounds nice. What size is it? How long have you been keeping fish?

You'll find all the answers you need here, either within the forum itself or its members.

Sam

Hiya Lillydane, welcome to the forum No tank is boring!

Thanks for the new welcomes.
My tank is 3 foot long. i could only afford an internal filter but I got one as powerful as I could. I let the tank run for 3 weeks then added fish a few at a time. Hope this was right.
I have had the tank about 4 months and have a lot to learn lol

Can I ask if this is a uk forum?

We are based in the uk, but have members in austrailia and the us, everyone is welcome

Your filter unless it was "fed" wouldnt be cycled, eg ready for fish by being full of healthy bacteria that turns fish waste into "healthier" products. Now it has been running 4 months that process should be complete and the filter will be running as it should with your weekly waterchanges you should have no problems

Welcome, Lillydane.

Thanks for the new welcome and the advice. I was given some bio start? that was supposed to kick start things moving with the tank and something called tap start that I am supposed to use when I do a water change. I don't understand cycles and need to read up more.

Tap start, tap safe etc, is a chemical you add to your tap water to remove the chlorine and chloramine, over time these chemicals will cause damage to the fish's gills and it also will remove some of the fish's protective slime coat.

The cycle is pretty simple really, fish produce waste which as it rots produces ammonia, which is harmful to fish. In the filter media (sponges etc) "good" bacterial lives which "eats" ammonia turning it into nitrates and nitrites, which although are harmful in large quantities they are less harmful than ammonia. Your weekly water changes will remove the nitrates & nitrites (plus bacteria) and the new clean water will keep your aquarium healthy with fresh water having other "additives" to keep ph levels stable etc. It is all mind blowing to start with, and very complicated when you start looking at water hardness, ph, kh etc, but very simply you put food in fish produce waste you have to take it out again each week

We have all been there, dont be worried about asking any questions no matter how silly you think they are, we are hear to help

Hey Lillydane Welcome to the forums!

Thanks very much for all the helpful info and the new welcome

You'll find all the answers you need here, either within the forum itself or its members.

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