The Aquarium Thread!

For Christmas I received an aquarium starter kit and a crisp new copy of Freshwater Aquariums for Dummies. In a few short days I had become a beginner aquarist. It is delightful.

Of course, my first attempt was an Epic Fail, resulting in two dead fish, but I'll spare you the details on that. I currently have a ten-gallon tank with three platies (different varieties) and plan on adding more once my auto-feeder arrives. I can see this becoming a major hobby of mine down the road.

What about you, Tropers? Any other aquarists out there? Anyone feel like sharing anecdotes and whatnot?

You plan to stick with just platies? Cute little dudes but if memory serves, they also go good with mollies, swordtails and cories. If you get the latter you should also get some plants because they live to stay under big leaves or shrubbery.

If you do get live plants FOR GOD'S SAKE CHECK FOR SNAILS. If you get an infestation they are a pain in the butt to get rid of short of completely emptying your tank and replacing the gravel. Don't bother getting clown loaches to eat them. I don't care what people say, they don't do jack.

Last week, my mother bought some more catfish to replace the ones that died... only she bought 3 Emerald Catfish, and my lone catfish was a Bronze Corydoras. What should I do with them?

There is a good chance your bronze cory and the emeralds will be perfectly fine schooling with each other, but if you're uncertain then it might be best to see if you can exchange the emeralds. Or just buy a few more bronze cories, if your tank if big enough to hold that many fish.

Given that every time I see my Bronze Cory, I immediately think of the Forever Alone meme, I think it might be best to exchange the Emerald Catfish.

Yeah, probably a good idea.

Hmm... in the course of the last few weeks, every catfish I owned suddenly began to grow rather pale, 'wasted away', and died. Does anyone know what's going on?

Hey, my thread actually did something! Still good with the platies, although I had to replace my heater. The one that came with the set was developing corrosion (rust?) on the coils inside. Anybody ever have that problem?

Only ever had to replace my heater when the first was too small for the new aquarium.

Just the cories? Do you know if they had been eating lately?

Otocincli are interesting. They're like living vacuum cleaners.