New tank?-- Now with pictures!

[Latrans]

Hi, I'm new here.

I have an empty ten gallon tank (all my parents'll let me get). Next week, I plan to get a new filter, a plant friendly light bulb, some gravel and a couple of small plants. Once that's had a week or so to set up, I was going to get two ghost shrimp. If those do okay, a week or two after that, I was hopping to add three male guppies.

Now; my question: would that make an acceptable tank set up?  

[Kansai_Gal]

Yup, that sounds like an overall great setup. Small tanks can be tough since it's hard to adjust the water (e.g. pH) well, but since you've only got 6" of fish (the guppies) and a few shrimp it shouldn't get dirty too fast which causes a lot of problems. However, I'm not sure I've heard of using only shrimp to condition the tank. Perhaps it would be better to add the guppies one at a time, once a week or so. [I'm not sure only 1 fish could cycle a tank that well, even a 10 gallon... but I could be wrong] Similarly, plants are /usually/ best added after you've had fish for a while (since like other plants they need the 'fertilizer' to build up in the water a bit). Still, if you're not buying super expensive plants it's probably ok to gamble. xd Also, make sure you get male guppies since if you only have a 10 gallon, babies would be a problem. Most females in the stores are usually already pregant.  

[Latrans]

Yeah, like I said, I was planning on getting the males; and that was the reasoning. =P

I was just going to get their $2.00 plants, so if they die it's not really a biggie. =] There was a book I checked out from the library that said that it was okay to use plants to start a tank with, and that they would usually be okay. Perhaps it was wrong.  

[Kansai_Gal]

I fail at reading. sweatdrop

It's not too bad to add plants right away but you could some fertilizer (which would waste money since you can just wait and let the fish do the work) to help them along. But once again, not expensive plants, I wouldn't worry about it at all. Light's probably the biggest factor in the end, but every little bit helps when you've got a plant that's probably stressed from being shipped, etc.
I could guess that the book probably was speaking about 'planted' tanks since it would be rather difficult to arrange with a full tank of fish even syphoned down a little for cleaning purposes. I have no idea. "Add them a few months later" is what my supervisors told me and it seemed logical. Then again, I've never had interest in or great luck with plants aside from this one swordplant I've had for about 7 years now. I can't seem to kill it no matter what. My kind of plant.  

[Latrans]

Well, I had eight little plants in there (I didn't mean to buy so many, but they came in tubes labled 2-4 and had way more than I thought they would =) for over a week, so today, I went out and bought two little shrimp were, at the store, labled marble shrimp. I bought them at petsmart, so we'll see how it goes. They're really supercute. They're a greenish color, with a white stripe down the back, and a thin black stripe down each side of the white one.  

[55G FreshWater]

you got my okay to go with it might want to stock it heaverier when you see it though.  

[Latrans]

Actually, I failed to get the guppies. I ended up with three platties instead. =P And it looks great right now. =]  

[55G FreshWater]

still good  

[55G FreshWater]

so hows the aquarium going for you any proplems  

[Latrans]

It's doing really well. =D The three little fishies are happy as clams (=P) and the shrimp has stopped hiding in the log all the time, which I think is a good thing. My sister's cat likes to watch the fish eat. =3  

[55G FreshWater]

really cool hope it goes well for you in the long run  

[Latrans]

Things are going well, still (although we have lost one of the shrimp-- but I don't think that's too bad for a first time shrimp owner... Although, I did feel like I failed the little guy. Oh well.

The fish still seem happy with eachother, and I've been thinking about getting a job this summer (I'm seventeen; =P) and getting another tank and breeding... something. I'll only do that if I can find a fish store around here that takes little fish, though. I don't want to be stuck with that many fish. =]

EDIT:



Best I can do in MS Paint.  

[BluDragon35]

Guppy?  

[Latrans]

... No, not guppy. o.O Platy. I thought I said that.

Anyway, I have pictures!



 

[BluDragon35]

I only paid attention to the most recent post. xd