Do a nice tank of mbuna if you want active, entertaining fish. They're generally cheap, hardy, colorful fish that tend to work great for beginners jumping into freshwater tropical aquariums. A 300W heater will be perfectly fine for your 75, I have an Aquaeon Pro 250W heater in my 75 and I have never had any problems with temperature fluctuations or failure.
Newb looking for some advice.
- Thread starter scimeca
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Hello; Odds are that you will make some sort of mistake somewhere as you learn. You are on the right track in asking the questions that you have so far. A couple of pointers come to mind. When you get the tank set up, you will decide to clean the glass at some point. A member of a forum with a new 29 gallon tank purchased a scraper with a blade and proceeded to scratch all the inside surfaces of the brand new tank. Blade scrapers can work if used properly. I have found that it is easy to tweak the edges of the blades and this can result in scratches that are noticeable and permanent on a glass tank. I have scraped tanks many times without damage when using blades. There are magnetic cleaners that work well, I have a Mag Float currently, but have used several types over time. They can get bits of gravel or other hard material on the pads that will do some damage.
I will not get into tank cycling as there are many threads and articles on that subject you can find on this and other forums. There are several ways to cycle a tank. Some will lobby strongly for a favored method and it may become confusing. Feel free to ask if you do not understand.
Once a tank is set up, perhaps the most common problem for new fish keepers is overfeeding. I did it as have many others. It can take a while to determine how little is needed to keep fish well fed and avoid the issues that eventually come from too much food.
When asked, I usually suggest to new fish keepers that they start with the less expensive and somewhat more hardy species. This way any errors that may occur, if serious, will not be so costly and the hardy species may actually survive if an error is not so bad. Perhaps the hardiest, most tolerant and usually not costly are the zebra danioes. They also have being very quick swimmers and compatable with many other fish.
I am sure other members will have suggestions about how to avoid mistakes they may have made.
I will not get into tank cycling as there are many threads and articles on that subject you can find on this and other forums. There are several ways to cycle a tank. Some will lobby strongly for a favored method and it may become confusing. Feel free to ask if you do not understand.
Once a tank is set up, perhaps the most common problem for new fish keepers is overfeeding. I did it as have many others. It can take a while to determine how little is needed to keep fish well fed and avoid the issues that eventually come from too much food.
When asked, I usually suggest to new fish keepers that they start with the less expensive and somewhat more hardy species. This way any errors that may occur, if serious, will not be so costly and the hardy species may actually survive if an error is not so bad. Perhaps the hardiest, most tolerant and usually not costly are the zebra danioes. They also have being very quick swimmers and compatable with many other fish.
I am sure other members will have suggestions about how to avoid mistakes they may have made.
skjl47, You always say "Hello" first, and it's so cordial. I feel uncivilized sometimes. LOL.
Great information. How many Zebra danioes do you feel would be a nice start for a 75 gallon tank to make my tank established? Can I add a feather fin catfish or anything else along with them?
A lot of great reading and very informative people here, I love it!
A lot of great reading and very informative people here, I love it!
Hello; There are at least two ways to answer this question. I will approach the first as to how many zebras would make a nice fit and be pleasing to view. To me, that could be from eight on up. A 75 gallon could hold 75 of the smaller varities of danioes with ease. These include the common zebras, pearl and spotted. There are also some tank breed varities with long fins and the glow fish in yellows and oranges. A smaller school of 8 to 10 will be active and constantly interacting. This will leave plenty of tank space for other kinds of fish including catfish. I still have not looked up feather fin catfish, so cannot comment on them. One note on catfish, many can grow quite large and will eat anything that will fit in their mouth. My brother bought some small spotted catfish once which began to devour all the other fish as they grew.
Cory catfish do not get large and are peaceful.
The second way to answer is how many zebras to add to a new tank at the very beginning. This gets into cycling. You will need to decide about how you want to get the tank ready to hold fish in a healthy way. I suggest that you read some threads, stickies or articles about tank cycling. There are different ways ( fishless cycling - without any fish)(fish in cycling - with live fish in the tank to start with) (Plants,snails and later one or two fish is the method I like to use.) Some like to use a variety of chemical treatments when starting up a new tank.
The goal in setting up a tank is to grow a population of benefical bacteria (bb) that consume ammonia from fish waste and change the ammonia into things (nitrates -nitrites) that are less harmful to the fish. Fish have to live in water with their own waste products. These waste products contain ammonia which will build up in the water and can damage the fish. The bb break down the ammonia. It can take a few weeks to grow a population of the bb. The size of the population of bb has to be enough to handle the amount of waste from all the living things in the water. Once the number of bb increase to the point they can consume the total amount of ammonia in the water the tank is known as cycled.
For example if you put a substantial number of fish into a tank with little or no bb, the ammonia would increase in the water over a few days to the point of doing harm the the fish, perhaps even death.
Thats enough for now. Do some reading and post questions about cycling if you have any.
Now I have all sorts of things to think about. I like the idea of having schools of fish then a few other ones. I am thinking the smaller school of 8 to 10 to start. Then 2 or 3 catfish that can get along with the others. Something simple to get the tank going. I would to establish the tank with fish in it. Are zebras and danoies different? If so which one is better?
Thank you,
Thank you,
Always go bigger then the heater is rated for so it don't have to work so hard to keep up with the tank
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And also I like to use two instead of one big one.
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Sent from my XT603 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
