Tropical Fish Forums

[rales12]

Hi everybody!

I'm new to the fish tank world... My husband bought me a forty six gallon tank the other day as an early Christmas gift. We had a tank when I was a kid, but I see now, after doing my research on keeping a healthy tank, that we did it all wrong (now I know why our fish usually died after mere weeks or months of having them, despite our best [uneducated] efforts)! I'm hoping that I can avoid making the same mistakes as I start my own.

I'm a stay-at-home mom to a five month old, and decided that keeping an aquarium would be a nice way to keep me occupied as I shuffle through my daily routine and to add some nice decor to our home.

I haven't even put water in the tank yet! I'm looking forward to learning all there is to know about keeping fish. The more I read about them, the more excited I get about it!

[diademhill]

How refreshing for someone to find us here before making the usual rookie mistakes.
You have a nice size starter tank and it is well timed as a Christmas gift as it should be ready for it's first inhabitants just before the holidays.

Fishkeeping is a great hobby and one you can share with the family. Start simple, get test kits and don't make any impulse purchases and you'll do fine.

What fish have you got excited about?

Oh & welcome,

Sue

[Fern]

Congrats on the nice present This forum is a great place for information on all aspects of the hobby! Glad to see you found us
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I think I need a bigger tank......

[rales12]

Well, technically, I helped make the rookie mistakes - for years, even! As a child, every couple of months, I would dutifully help my mom take our 20 gallon tank completely apart, empty all of the water, put our fish into buckets, scrub everything clean (we never did use soap... but we scrubbed all the green "guck" off with toothbrushes) ... rinse the rocks out, and then put everything back into the tank. Never ever could figure out why the fish kept dying. >_< I would have done the same thing this time around if I hadn't remembered how many fish we flushed and how frustrating it was. We also put all sorts of fish together that didn't really get along very well. All wrong.

When we bought it, (of course I went along to pick it out ) I was a concerned that buying one that large was a bad idea, as I was under the impression that a tank this size was for people with more fish keeping experience! We get home with it, I start my research and I realize that the media tells you everything wrong. Ha! I picked it because I think larger tanks are beautiful... and now I'm happy to see that I'll have a good chance of success with it, as well. Phew!

As for the fish I'm excited about... It's varied, quite a bit. It started mostly with Oscars, but as I look at more pictures and read about other ones, I'm starting to prefer angelfish, discus, and some gouramis. But especially the discus... they just look so elegant and gorgeous!

My biggest setback for any sort of fish I decide on is that we only have one pet store in town (yay for little midwest towns!). We also have Wal-Mart, but it seems like they only sell Bettas, goldfish, and guppies, none of which I really want. I'm a little worried I'll have to order the fish I buy from a breeder out of state (which is probably the way to go anyway)... but the idea of getting fish from UPS seems really weird (I'm sure its not via UPS, but its just what pops into my head when I think about it, lol).

Err... I have a tendency to make really long posts and overexplain everything, because I love typing. XD

[Fern]

If you can find a good breeder to order from that would be the best way to go, and yes it may be via UPS or through USPO
A 46 is the perfect beginner size in my opinion! With a tank that size you have more stocking options than a smaller tank.
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I think I need a bigger tank......

[tonergirl]

Hello and welcome to AoA That is a lovely size tank to start out with...many, many stocking options...niiice! !!
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LeeAnn