# My new 33 gallon aquarium



## kenny1tothe6 (Aug 12, 2007)

Hello to all....i have a 33 gallon aquarium that I aquaired from a friend and washed up and bleached,etc. and nowe i have my community of fish (some will be moved in to 10 gallon!) and a few plants...everything else is plastic so...yea...i will atach a picture whenever i can get my camera chaged and you can see its uglyness but hope full you guys can help me to it into my dream!!! I have right now: very crappy peices of Java moss(getting a BIG ball of new), one unidentifyed plant(found it in my yard and my mom wanted me to put it in!!), 2 itallian Vals (growing now!!! YAY!!) and an aquarium lily that you would buy from walmart in the package....I want to have bundles of java moss, crypts, anubia, java fer, etc...essentally easy plants...I will go harder later....eventually i will get some flourish excel and make a CO2 reactor (because i got all Bs on my report card YAAY!!!!) i will also get a 200Wat heater for it and ghive the 100 watt to the 10 gallon and will ALSO get a marineland 350 Deluxe? canister filter along with an Emporer 400, Glass hood and a new bulb...Maybe a new light because this one is kinda screwy!!!!well please give me ideas and I will keep posting my progress!!! Thank you!!!


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## kenny1tothe6 (Aug 12, 2007)

I have plastic plants that are going into the 10 as well as some of the ornaments......The two fish i am kinda concerned about eating my plants are my pleco and my 2 apple snails.....but the snails only eat algea while the pleco eats fish food!!!! so yea..... thank you!!!


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## Cliff Mayes (Jan 29, 2007)

Plecos and Apple Snails will not eat plastic plants.


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## kenny1tothe6 (Aug 12, 2007)

No im talking about when i get my 33 aquascaped with REAL plants....the plastic plants are going in to my 10 gallon....I dont know if they will eat what i want......They didnt whenever they were in their planted 10 gallon but all of those plants died and i dont remember witch ones i had....(i had a tank crash!!!)


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## Cliff Mayes (Jan 29, 2007)

Sorry. I must have misunderstood you.

If you already have the Pleco and it is one of the big ones (go by adult size, not what it is now) it might be a tad too big for the tanks. If so find it a new home. You say lots of fish. If you have a bunch (tell us what and how many) you may be seriously overstocked already. The pleco alone may need a really big tank.

The 33g is a good upgrade from your 10 but you still need to restrain your enthusiasm a bit. Even very large tanks and ponds are really small in relation to where most of these creatures come from. No tank, at least in our foreseeable future is really balanced. Under stocking is always better. Very experienced fish keepers can keep an aquarium on the edge for a long time; indeed, inexperienced folk sometimes get lucky for a while. Do not expect perfection.

Do not knock your tanks. The very beautiful creations that you see on the NET are very special pieces of aquarium art done by very special people. The millions of aquariums that most of us keep are not quite as beautiful but we still like them. Yours can probably turn into something that the whole family is impressed with, just wait.

If you did not have good luck with the Java Moss, try to figure out what went wrong before you get more. The Lilly from Wal*Mart might very well turn into a nice plant, just wait. Some of the plants you mentioned have not been so easy for many others. My recommendation is that you try whatever you can get and see how it goes. On these various Websites are a lot of very good suggestions for different light levels and water types. Listen to the suggestions, they are based on a lot of experience, and try what makes sense to you. Sometime you can make something work that others have trouble with. Sometimes just getting anything to grow and do well is cause for cheering (been there done that).

You may have noticed that I said 'just wait" twice. This Hobby, if nothing else, teaches patience, which is a good thing for most of us.

By the way, congratulations on your Bs!


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## apistaeasy (Jul 16, 2004)

Cliff Mayes said:


> Plecos and Apple Snails will not eat plastic plants.


best line ever


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## kenny1tothe6 (Aug 12, 2007)

Its ok...YES MY PLECO IS A COMMON ...so later on i will get a 46 gallon bowfront for him and maybe and oscar...but i dont know just yet.....I have lots of fish but they are really small...i either have to treat a danio or even...GULP!! euthanize it...(( im not good with killing things but im think about just putting him on melafix in my 2.5 quarentine tank because he swims around a lot!! I alsohave an ACF witch i know i will have to move into my 10 gallon because he will eat my fish when he gets bigger....but he is only 1 in?my Java Moss is doing much better since i have taken it out of the gravel and put it on the net....its thriving now!!! yes my aquarium lily is actually a very pretty plant....i had it kinda big then my pleco thew it out of the water (yes i have weird fish..LOL) and those leaves died but now it has new ones.... also how can only a 20 watt light work over a 33 gallon aquarium??!!! im getting a new one!!!!!!!!my entire fish list is: 1 pleco, 2 mollies, 1 platy, 1 male betta, 1 neon and 1 glowlight tetra, 5 skirted tetras, 2 mystery snails,5 danios, and 1 ACF!!! its not that many but they make the tank look active!!!im putting the frog and the mollies and platy in my 10 gallon so i can add more neon and glowlight tetras and get my ADFs!!!YAAY....when i can find my camera i will show you it....its not really that its is so ugly to me its just its not the way i pictured it!!! AND THANKS!!!!


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## Cliff Mayes (Jan 29, 2007)

If it is one of the big Plecos the 46G tank will not be large enough by half. I have seen many Plecos that are a couple feet long.

The fish inventory you gave sounds like way too many. A lot of those fish would rather be in a large group of creatures just like themselves. A good way to populate a tank is to have one large enough to stagger the fish from top to bottom. For instance a top dweller(Hatchets maybe) a group in the middle that school or shoal and a bottom dweller. A closely related fish, say a Cory cat may look the same to us but the fish know the difference. Sometimes similar looking but different fish, can get the most grief from similar look alikes. If you get a larger tank try to get a larger group of the same species. A larger group of Tetras or Cories can be really interesting in a tank and the behavior can be quite different from when you only have one or two or three. Remember what I said about housing fish according to the adult size. Plecos and Oscars can get big and you will be responsible for them until you are thirty or more.

Euthanizing another creature is always difficult. Humanely (?) killing something is probably preferable to slowly, through ignorance and or neglect, allowing anything in our care to get sick and die.

There is a lot more but enough for now.


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## kenny1tothe6 (Aug 12, 2007)

ill start with a 46 gallon and go from there...yea i know....i am going to get larger shoals!!!!!! 6 neons and 6 glows,etc....stay tuned!!! LOL!! ;p


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## Cliff Mayes (Jan 29, 2007)

I will repeat.

A 46G will not be big enough for what you have now.

You have way too many fish and way too many species now.

Six of anything is not a lot.

Good luck partner.


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## kenny1tothe6 (Aug 12, 2007)

OK!!! lets PLEASE stop talking about my fish because i have so many plans it would not be able to fit on the net!!! Moving back on to plants...what kind of basic plants do you think i should get?


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## kenny1tothe6 (Aug 12, 2007)

I doint think i have everything how i want it yet but here will be my list of my equiptment: 1 visitherm 200 watt heater, glass hood to prevent jumpers,ect...,emporer 400, marineland magnum 350 pro canister filter, brown gravel(going to have ShultzAquaticPlantSoil underneath it), 2 DIY CO2 reactors,and a (hopefully if i can find one) 50 Watt light..... sorry on my last post i wasnt trying to yell at you or anything its just i dont like talking about the stoking of my tank....


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## kenny1tothe6 (Aug 12, 2007)

How do i add an image?


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## kenny1tothe6 (Aug 12, 2007)

Im sorry i miss understood what you were saying...come on I need help with this tank!!! Dont leave me hanging!!! Im not trying to tick you off!!! SORRY!!


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## Mr. Fish (Oct 24, 2007)

See what happen here Kenny is simple,
You have heavily over stocked your tank and fail to listen to good advice.
So people stop helping you.
Its giving me a headach reading the stock of your tank,
wheither you wanna listen or not, you need to do some changes on fish before
even thinking about a planted tank. Alot of those fish you have by the singles and should be in schools of 6 or more, then getting into planted tanks is a whole other ball game.


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## kenny1tothe6 (Aug 12, 2007)

Ok you know what i honestly dont care anymore!! im DONE writing back and im sck of people talking about how other people do things!!! if all of my fish die thats my deal!! so what they are all very happy so why do i have to change just because another person tells me to??


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## JoeQuality (Aug 10, 2007)

You don't have to do anything anyone says, and no one is going to force you to either. The fact of the matter is that you came on these forums asking for advice and this is what you get. What most people say is that you really can't have that many fish in an environment that cannot sustain them in healthy conditions for long.

If you want to get rid of fish without killing them, look to Craigslist: people sell or give away fish all the time. Also maybe your LFS will take them for cheap or store credit.


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## SKSuser (Mar 20, 2006)




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## kenny1tothe6 (Aug 12, 2007)

Come on...dont do this to me....i try to keep all of my fish happy and i feel really bad if they dont have A+++ care!!!i try really hard to keep them happy...plus i do 75% water changes every 2 weeks!!


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## kenny1tothe6 (Aug 12, 2007)

BTW: if it meant keeping my fish happy i would get a 1000 gallon aquarium!!!!


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## kenny1tothe6 (Aug 12, 2007)

Im sorry i just dont like thinking about getting rid of my fish....but...i gues sill move some and increase schools... oh well atleast the fish are going to be hapier


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## Cliff Mayes (Jan 29, 2007)

Hey partner.

Parting with someone or something is never easy and it does not get easier the more you do it. In some cases it seems to get harder.

Making a mistake and having to correct it is difficult. The folks who frequent these Forums and are always on hand to help others are all too aware of what they are recommending. Most of them (like most of the Lurkers) have been there done that.

The first thing is don't count on something you do not have. Deal with the ten you have now. I know that there are Hobbyists that keep a lot of the wrong/too big/aggressive tanks very successfully, which does not make it a good choice. Be careful who you listen to.

Generally you will get good advice here because I can guarantee that the minute you say something is so, somebody will immediately chime in with “I have been doing it this way for years and it is fine!” Maybe so, but if the advice you get here is not sound a bunch of folk will jump in quickly with the right and righteous info.

This already to wordy so I will quit now. Keep in touch. Incidentally I do not know how to post a pic here but someone will probably chip in some help.


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## kenny1tothe6 (Aug 12, 2007)

Can you help me fix my aquarium?? I can put my betta in a 5 gallon marineland hex and plant it and let the mollies and ACF stay in the 33 (my platy is in sicktank)...i can put my BSKT and whiteskirt tetras in my moms GF tank when she gets a bigger one because she likes them...then i will only be left with a neon, glowlight, THAT PLECO,my 2 snails,4 danios (other is in sicktank)...and that is it...i think!!!


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## kenny1tothe6 (Aug 12, 2007)

and i can put neon in 5 hex and get a few buddies


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## kenny1tothe6 (Aug 12, 2007)

Oh...did you think i have the 10 gallon? i have the 33 set up with those fish but still doing my ideas!


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

Learning to grow aquatic plants successfully, without excessive algae problems, can be difficult. But, if you are concentrating on the fish and not the plants I think it is more difficult than it needs to be. My preference is to learn how to make plants do well, so I can confidently set up a tank, knowing it will work well. Only then do I start thinking about fish beyond just having a few to watch while I play with the plants. Guppies and Platys are great for that purpose - cheap, easy to care for, rugged and they can be nice to watch. I have been trying to learn this hobby using these forums and experimenting for about 5 total years, and I'm just now thinking about what fish I really, really want.

It is hard to overstate the importance of studying a guide such as http://www.rexgrigg.com/ until you understand all that is there. Then, reading for enjoyment, the plant finder here is another worthwhile effort - it gets you thinking about plants and what they need.


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## kenny1tothe6 (Aug 12, 2007)

im making some changes to my tank: I am adding a marineland penguin 350 filter, getting Shrimp and LOTs of places for them to hide, Getting some dirftwood, getting a nutrafin (essentially DIY) CO2 reactor, getting an aqua clear mini, getting a 200 watt heater, and getting a few otos!! Also my mollies are being move to the 33 while I clean their tank and PLANT it!!!


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