# [Wet Thumb Forum]-Thoughts of a newbie



## Little Fish (Apr 6, 2003)

Hi,
thought I will share my experience here. I have kept fishes a few times since I was young. Then I saw Takashi Amanoâs tanks. Thatâs what I was looking for, a piece of nature to put in my home. Inspired, I started searching for information on how to keep a planted tank.

After 1-2 weeks, I felt ready to take up the challenge. Made a list and went out to buy a 15g tank and all the necessary accessories. Within 2 days, I set up the aquarium and bought some plants and planted them in the tank. Read somewhere that it would be best to make sure the plants are growing first before putting fishes.

1 week later, still did not see any pearling on the plants, got impatient and put in some cheap neon tetras. Put in also some Amano shrimp to eat any algae that crops up. Argh, within 2 days, all the shrimp died and I lost more than half of the neons. Went back to the internet to search for answers. Finally realised that there was something known as the New Tank Syndrome (good grief, I never knew of this in all my years of keeping fishes







). Also found out that if the plants were growing properly, they would consume all the toxic ammonia. Why were the plants not growing? The CO2 was ok and I have added the fertiliser but I had clean forgotten about the lighting requirements. I only got a 15W tube with the tank! Made a trip to the lfs and got a light fixture with 36W output.

The first day, there was no sign of any photosynthesis and I was beginning to get anxious (did I spend the money for nothing?). The next day, I started seeing some bubbles from the plants and I was overjoyed (felt like giving myself a pat on the back







). All this while, my wife was beginning to think I had gone crazy, staring at an almost empty fishtank for hours. A few days later, decided to put in some more fishes (10 neons, 2 catfishes and 4 otos). Sadly, from this batch, 1 oto died after 1 day and another after 5 days. It has been 3-4 weeks since I introduced the fishes and no other fish has died (keeping my fingers crossed). Found out also that some of my plants were not aquatic plants at all, threw them away and redid the aquascape.

This has been a most humbling and satisfying experience. Here I was, trying so hard to bring a small piece of nature into my living room. It makes me marvel at the immense intricacy and fragility of nature (and all I wanted was a planted tank!). I am grateful for the internet, this forum and most of all, the people who have contributed their knowledge and ideas in this forum. Without a doubt, I could never have been able to enjoy the beauty of a planted tank on my own efforts.

This is a picture of my tank 2 weeks after redoing the aquascape to something I was satisfied with.









[This message was edited by Little Fish on Fri April 18 2003 at 01:45 PM.]


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## Little Fish (Apr 6, 2003)

Hi,
thought I will share my experience here. I have kept fishes a few times since I was young. Then I saw Takashi Amanoâs tanks. Thatâs what I was looking for, a piece of nature to put in my home. Inspired, I started searching for information on how to keep a planted tank.

After 1-2 weeks, I felt ready to take up the challenge. Made a list and went out to buy a 15g tank and all the necessary accessories. Within 2 days, I set up the aquarium and bought some plants and planted them in the tank. Read somewhere that it would be best to make sure the plants are growing first before putting fishes.

1 week later, still did not see any pearling on the plants, got impatient and put in some cheap neon tetras. Put in also some Amano shrimp to eat any algae that crops up. Argh, within 2 days, all the shrimp died and I lost more than half of the neons. Went back to the internet to search for answers. Finally realised that there was something known as the New Tank Syndrome (good grief, I never knew of this in all my years of keeping fishes







). Also found out that if the plants were growing properly, they would consume all the toxic ammonia. Why were the plants not growing? The CO2 was ok and I have added the fertiliser but I had clean forgotten about the lighting requirements. I only got a 15W tube with the tank! Made a trip to the lfs and got a light fixture with 36W output.

The first day, there was no sign of any photosynthesis and I was beginning to get anxious (did I spend the money for nothing?). The next day, I started seeing some bubbles from the plants and I was overjoyed (felt like giving myself a pat on the back







). All this while, my wife was beginning to think I had gone crazy, staring at an almost empty fishtank for hours. A few days later, decided to put in some more fishes (10 neons, 2 catfishes and 4 otos). Sadly, from this batch, 1 oto died after 1 day and another after 5 days. It has been 3-4 weeks since I introduced the fishes and no other fish has died (keeping my fingers crossed). Found out also that some of my plants were not aquatic plants at all, threw them away and redid the aquascape.

This has been a most humbling and satisfying experience. Here I was, trying so hard to bring a small piece of nature into my living room. It makes me marvel at the immense intricacy and fragility of nature (and all I wanted was a planted tank!). I am grateful for the internet, this forum and most of all, the people who have contributed their knowledge and ideas in this forum. Without a doubt, I could never have been able to enjoy the beauty of a planted tank on my own efforts.

This is a picture of my tank 2 weeks after redoing the aquascape to something I was satisfied with.









[This message was edited by Little Fish on Fri April 18 2003 at 01:45 PM.]


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## Roger Miller (Jun 19, 2004)

Welcome to the hobby, LittleFish.



> quote:
> 
> All this while, my wife was beginning to think I had gone crazy, staring at an almost empty fishtank for hours.


You know, a lot of us have said the same thing. What if our wives are right?

Roger Miller


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## ekim (Jan 31, 2004)

looking good


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## Little Fish (Apr 6, 2003)

> quote:
> 
> You know, a lot of us have said the same thing. What if our wives are right?


I guess there is a small (or large?) dose of craziness that comes with every passion.


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## catfish (Apr 17, 2003)

> quote:
> 
> Originally posted by Roger Miller:
> You know, a lot of us have said the same thing. What if our wives are right?
> Roger Miller


Or husbands!









Looks like a good start Littlefish!


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## JamesHoftiezer (Feb 2, 2003)

well we're just glad you found us. 
Without these forums I would never even gotten into this hobby. I love the idea of growing a garden in a tank, but I have to admit I never thought it would be this difficult. I was warned, but didn't really get it until I got started. I'm glad to see you overcame the frustration to just chunk it out a window and give up. You've got the start of a beautiful tank here. Just remember patience.

*James Hoftiezer

Tank Journal - Aquascape ( Latest / Archive )
Tank Journal - Parts and Construction ( Latest / Archive )*


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## Birgit & Wolfgang (Feb 5, 2003)

Now what a nice tank! You have quite some feeling for tank designs. Reading your post, I donÂ´t think this will be your last tank. Your will become even more crazy, trust me!

Keep us updated on your progress.

www.naturaquarium.at
view some of our pictures


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