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home aquarium - glurb.com: Iowa Message Board / Forum
I would like to set up an aquarium in my home.
I've had aquariums before, but I always screwed them up.
I think my mistakes were buying cheap equipment and improper cleaning.
Here are my desires for a home aquarium:
- small;
Maybe 3-5 gallons
- little or no maintenance;
Don't want to be cleaning this thing once a week or even once a month;
Once a year is more like it
Any advice?
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Quote: : I would like to set up an aquarium in my home.
I've had aquariums before, but I always screwed them up.
I think my mistakes were buying cheap equipment and improper cleaning.
Here are my desires for a home aquarium:
- small;
Maybe 3-5 gallons
- little or no maintenance;
Don't want to be cleaning this thing once a week or even once a month;
Once a year is more like it
Any advice?
Get a hampster.
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Quote: : Get a hampster.
I've had hamsters.
Love 'em. Stinky little suckers if you don't clean their domicile every week or so.
Now I want fish.
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The bigger you go, the easier they are to maintain.
A small aquarium like that you will still probably have to clean once a week or at least every other week - they don't have much of a filter, and you can't put too many fish in them.
You are not going to get away with cleaning an aquarium once a year no matter how big you go and how many filters you use.
Fish are picky when it comes to temperature, PH, acidity levels, hard/soft water, chlorine levels, etc.
If too much ammonia builds up - from lack of cleaning, you end up with sick or dead fish.
If you insist on a small aquarium, and not cleaning that often, I would go with tONE male Betta and that is it.
Bettas are fairly hardy, very showy, come in many colors, and don't mind solitary life - and if you don't want to clean it that often, one fish is probably about it for you.
Fish are awesome to watch and relaxing, but they are not low maintenance pets, like many seem to believe.
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We have a 55 gallon tank and a 30 gallon tank and I went to Wal-Mart and bought a cleaner for it.
Don't know what it is called but you hook it to the sink and turn the faucet on.
If the switch on the cleaner is turned one way, the tube will suck out the water and crud from your tank and then flip the switch and it will fill the tank with water from the faucet.
Best $40 we ever spent!
It won't do much for a smaller tank but it will save tons of time on a larger tank.
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Saywhat, I have one of those too -- I am thinking it is called or made by "Python".
I currently have a 90 and a 125 gallon set up and it is WONDERFUL as long as your aquarium is close to a drain or a faucet for the tube to reach.
For the smaller ones a regular gravel cleaner works well.
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I have a 30 gallon tank with a ciclid that has grown HUGE!
It is a very clean fish too, having only the one in there.
The tank started with three ciclids and a pleo, but the pleao died and one ciclid ate the other two (it started as the smallest fish in the tank, maybe an inch long).
Now it is up to 6 or so inches long!
I think the best advise is to make sure to give the tank time to get the right balance of chemicals and the microbes it needs to break down the waste.
I have a biowheel filter and think that it helps alot.
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Where is a good place in central Iowa to get everything I need, including assistance from a competent advisor?
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Quote: : Where is a good place in central Iowa to get everything I need, including assistance from a competent advisor?
The Ark in Ames.
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Quote: : Claus The Ark in Ames.
+1. That place might not win any beauty awards, but their staff knows their stuff!
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