LuminousAphid
New Member
Greetings!
I am fairly new to the whole hobby, but my first fish was actually way back in grade school. I think it was a white cloud, and we used it for an "experiment" on fertilizer runoff. This involved putting a 2 liter bottle half, with several fish in it, below another 2 liter bottle, in which was a terrarium with plants. I think we used fertilizer in some, and not in others, and we recorded how many of the fish died I guess... seems sort of sadistic now that I think of it, but I guess it was a good lesson in ecosystem trickle-down effects. I actually kept a couple of the fish afterward, and 1 of them survived for a couple of years after that, with just an undergravel airstone filter and minimal water changes. I remember the tank being clogged with floating algae at some points (obviously it wasn't planted), so I'm sure that little guy didn't have a great life, but I didn't care too much or think about it at that point, I was a little kid with better things to worry about.
Within the last couple years, I have picked up the hobby again, this time actually bothering to read up at least a little on the basics. I still really had no idea what I was doing when I got a starter 10 gallon kit about 3 years ago, because I didn't really understand how to maintain a cycled tank. I would do things like tear down the whole tank and clean everything when there was too much algae, or get a Golden CAE that would quickly outgrow anything I had to keep it in. So, I was still making tons of mistakes and not really enjoying it that much, until recently...
Even though we have several around the area, I hadn't been to a locally owned fish shop, and had just been shopping at the big box stores for everything (including advice, which I now know is hit-or-miss at the very best). I began seeing a green sign with "aquarium something" on my way to my aunt's house, and began to get curious. I don't know why, but it took me a while to actually stop in. Once I did, there was no turning back. I am now hopelessly entangled in the world of the planted tank.
Aquarium Co-Op, in Edmonds, is responsible for this. I walked around for a while, slightly intimidated by all the crazy fish I had never seen, but awestruck just the same. I didn't know where to begin, but had been interested in trying live plants for a while, so I started by asking about their large selection. Cory, the owner, suggested that I try this pack of 4 bulbs, aponogetons, which weren't picky about water quality or light levels. I believe I left that day with that one item, but it was just the start.
Now I have 3 tanks instead of just 1, and instead of just 3 species, I have more than a dozen species of various creatures. I know this seems meager, and I know this is just the start of where this hobby can go, but I have had a great time with it the past couple months, even with setbacks like a leaky tank and using the wrong equipment. I have joined a couple of forums so far, one in the U.K. and then theplantedtank, but it's awesome that there is a local forum I can use now. I look forward to getting some local perspective on things and maybe giving some small pieces of my own advice.
- Ryan
20 High: 11 blue tetra (B. fredcochui), 3 amano shrimp, 3 nerite snails (2 olive, 1 horned), 1 ramshorn hitchhiker, 1-2? ghost shrimp, possibly adding 5 longfin leopard danio
3 Gallon cube: 6 pygmy corydora, 1 blue mystery snail, thinking of adding 2 tiger endlers
10 Gallon: 3 adult guppies, 1 juvenile guppy, 6-10 guppy fry, 7 red cherry shrimp, 1 ghost shrimp, 1 royal pleco
P.S. are attachments for pics allowed, or do I need to use an external site?
I am fairly new to the whole hobby, but my first fish was actually way back in grade school. I think it was a white cloud, and we used it for an "experiment" on fertilizer runoff. This involved putting a 2 liter bottle half, with several fish in it, below another 2 liter bottle, in which was a terrarium with plants. I think we used fertilizer in some, and not in others, and we recorded how many of the fish died I guess... seems sort of sadistic now that I think of it, but I guess it was a good lesson in ecosystem trickle-down effects. I actually kept a couple of the fish afterward, and 1 of them survived for a couple of years after that, with just an undergravel airstone filter and minimal water changes. I remember the tank being clogged with floating algae at some points (obviously it wasn't planted), so I'm sure that little guy didn't have a great life, but I didn't care too much or think about it at that point, I was a little kid with better things to worry about.
Within the last couple years, I have picked up the hobby again, this time actually bothering to read up at least a little on the basics. I still really had no idea what I was doing when I got a starter 10 gallon kit about 3 years ago, because I didn't really understand how to maintain a cycled tank. I would do things like tear down the whole tank and clean everything when there was too much algae, or get a Golden CAE that would quickly outgrow anything I had to keep it in. So, I was still making tons of mistakes and not really enjoying it that much, until recently...
Even though we have several around the area, I hadn't been to a locally owned fish shop, and had just been shopping at the big box stores for everything (including advice, which I now know is hit-or-miss at the very best). I began seeing a green sign with "aquarium something" on my way to my aunt's house, and began to get curious. I don't know why, but it took me a while to actually stop in. Once I did, there was no turning back. I am now hopelessly entangled in the world of the planted tank.
Aquarium Co-Op, in Edmonds, is responsible for this. I walked around for a while, slightly intimidated by all the crazy fish I had never seen, but awestruck just the same. I didn't know where to begin, but had been interested in trying live plants for a while, so I started by asking about their large selection. Cory, the owner, suggested that I try this pack of 4 bulbs, aponogetons, which weren't picky about water quality or light levels. I believe I left that day with that one item, but it was just the start.
Now I have 3 tanks instead of just 1, and instead of just 3 species, I have more than a dozen species of various creatures. I know this seems meager, and I know this is just the start of where this hobby can go, but I have had a great time with it the past couple months, even with setbacks like a leaky tank and using the wrong equipment. I have joined a couple of forums so far, one in the U.K. and then theplantedtank, but it's awesome that there is a local forum I can use now. I look forward to getting some local perspective on things and maybe giving some small pieces of my own advice.
- Ryan
20 High: 11 blue tetra (B. fredcochui), 3 amano shrimp, 3 nerite snails (2 olive, 1 horned), 1 ramshorn hitchhiker, 1-2? ghost shrimp, possibly adding 5 longfin leopard danio
3 Gallon cube: 6 pygmy corydora, 1 blue mystery snail, thinking of adding 2 tiger endlers
10 Gallon: 3 adult guppies, 1 juvenile guppy, 6-10 guppy fry, 7 red cherry shrimp, 1 ghost shrimp, 1 royal pleco
P.S. are attachments for pics allowed, or do I need to use an external site?
Tanks are looking great. 
!: its still in the garage. When my angels eggs hatch and grow up. Im gonna need a grow out tank. 
