Okay well my boyfriend created a monster, he got me a late christmas present; It's a 10 gallon tank. As far as I can tell, all the parts are there for the filter , but if there's not he's helping me buy this stuff, he said they will be our fish children and he started this new little project. But he is 3 hours away all week except for weekends. (college) I wonder who's going to be taking care of them? :rolleyes: Not that I mind, I love fishies. :)

ANYWHO HERE'S THE DEAL!!


I'm looking in to getting some glo fish as well as maybe a Dwarf Gourami. I've been looking online but I can't figure out if Glo fish are Tetras or Danios, because I've heard both.
So here are my questions: are Gourami's and glo fish compatible? What do the ph levels need to be? Should I set up the tank and water WAY in advance and for how long? Water temperatures?

Anything else you think would be important would be helpful as well. As far as I can tell it has all the filter parts and everything as well, otherwise I can go get new ones.

The tank should be set up for 6 weeks before adding any fish.

That's the amount of time it takes for the aquarium to cycle (providing you add bacteria to it)

I have never left it that long, I usually only leave the tank set up for a week or so and have never had any trouble but every fish site I have been to and every store has told me 6 weeks.

I had 2 Dwarf Gouramis and all they did was fight each other and my other fish.
They killed about half a dozen neon tetras, a silver shark and some guppies.
They are supposedly community fish but that's not what I experienced.

If you are going tropical these are the fish we had and they all got along great:
Silver shark (very placid and very pretty)
Red fin shark (can be territorial but generally ok)
Neon Tetras (psychotic but not mean)
Clown Loaches (very shy but placid)
Discus (beautiful fish, but expensive)
Sucking Catfish (neutral, good for algae)
Ghost Knife Fish (apparently nasty but ours was fine)
Silver Dollars (very funny placid fish)
Guppies (pretty but hard to keep)
Mollies (sailfin and balloon, very placid)

I'm drawing a blank now, it was a HUGE tank with a lot of different fish.

Hmmm, well, it's worth checking it out, if they have some pretty Gouramis I still think I might get one. Maybe if there's only one of them and then other kinds of fish they will do better, but you never know.

Haha Somehow I knew you'd be the first to answer. :)
I can't for the life of me figure out how to get the filter and everything put together. We might go to a pet store and check out how the others are done. Otherwise, maybe I can buy the lighting and filter separate from the tank.

Ugh, boyfriend, you gave me quite a project.

Haha, we bought a tank a few months ago and we had to go back to the shop to ask how to change the filter :o
Turns out there was part of it missing and that's why we couldn't figure it out!
Ours has the box that sits near the top of the tank in the cornr and a big tube going down to the bottom. The water gets sucked through the box, goes above the water level to a tray, goes along a filter pad and comes out the other side of the tank... they didn't give us a filter pad.

If you get a Gourami let me know how's yours goes.
They all seemed happy in the tank at the pet store but ours just decided to harass all the other fish.
We returned to remaining one (one died) to the pet store and he was fine again!

Yeah, I hope I can get a new filter. First things first though, I have to get my kitty fixed before I think about getting new fish. Soo, there goes all the rest of my money. Hopefully I can find somewhere that will take student or military dependent discounts. You never know.
Too bad health insurance doesn't cover pets too.

Oh well, that gives you plenty of time to set the tank up and let the water cycle ;)

Get some Stress Zyme, it has good bacteria in it and helps get the water started. Plus it's great for the fish.

The only time we get a discount at the vets is if we have a recurring problem or if we are getting more than one dog seen to at once.
Mum got 3 girls spayed at once and only had to pay for 2 :)

Oh well, that gives you plenty of time to set the tank up and let the water cycle ;)

Get some Stress Zyme, it has good bacteria in it and helps get the water started. Plus it's great for the fish.

The only time we get a discount at the vets is if we have a recurring problem or if we are getting more than one dog seen to at once.
Mum got 3 girls spayed at once and only had to pay for 2 :)

Maybe if I get her declawed in fron and get her vaccinations at the same I can get a discount. I'd rather not get her declawed, but she's tearing up carpet and furniture even though she has scratching posts.

Anything look familiar here for fiters: Aquarium Filters and Fish Tank Filters at AquariumGuys.com (http://www.aquariumguys.com/aquarium-filters.html)

Under canister, there is an undergravel and corner which are both inexpensive starter options.

I ended up having 2 filters and an air stone and in some Chinese restauraunts with aquariums you'll see an undergravel and an external filter and also a bubbler.

Fish temps are generally 72-80 F, usually around 76

I had bad lock with Black Mollies. Guppies can multiply like crazy, but they need a breeding tank to keep the little ones for getting eaten.

Anything look familiar here for fiters: Aquarium Filters and Fish Tank Filters at AquariumGuys.com (http://www.aquariumguys.com/aquarium-filters.html)

Under canister, there is an undergravel and corner which are both inexpensive starter options.

I ended up having 2 filters and an air stone and in some Chinese restauraunts with aquariums you'll see an undergravel and an external filter and also a bubbler.

Fish temps are generally 72-80 F, usually around 76

I had bad lock with Black Mollies. Guppies can multiply like crazy, but they need a breeding tank to keep the little ones for getting eaten.

Not to sound cruel, but I'd prefer the fish to just take care of the population control themselves if they decided to multiply. I don't have the space for extra fishies, and I wouldn't know who to give them to. It's either the fish do it, or they get overpopulated. I don't have the heart to flush them =/ I'll check out the filters and see how much they cost.

It looks something like this one, only black.
Nano Hang-On Filter - Clear (http://www.aquariumguys.com/nanofilter.html)

So, it's probably like this: Whisper 10 Power Filter (http://www.aquariumguys.com/whisperpower4.html)

But based the other's instructions, it should be simple. Hangs on the outside of the tank with a dip tube heading into the tank and stopping at the center. It should have a screen so that fish don't get sucked up into it.

The media fits in the filter.

Then you fill the filter with water (from the tank) before turning it on.