Newbie in town

[comedykicks]

Hi there everyone! I'm new here and only started my fish hobby in February (when I moved into my own apartment )

I currently have 2 ten gallon tanks and a 2.5 gallon. Here's how they're set up:

2.5 gallon: 1 live plant & 1 female betta

10 gallon a: 3 black mollies (also a baby which was born about 3 weeks ago, might have been more but the other fish probably ate them before I came home and discovered it) , 2 mickey mouse platies, 2 dalmation platies, 1 female betta, 3 bloodfin tetras, 1 pleco (whom I inted to keep until I am either able to purchase a bigger tank for or will sell/give him away when he becomes too big to comfortably move around), 3 black snails, 3 zebra danios, 2 blue danios, live plants, and several ghost shrimp (not sure how many).

10 gallon b: approximately 8 male/female fancy guppies, 1 pleco (whose fate will be the same as the one above), 2 gold snails, 2 neon tetras, several ghost shrimp, and live planes.

I know tank 10 gallon a is overcrowded but I am planning to get either a bigger aquarium or another 10 gallon to ease that problem (got a little overexcited when I first started ). The suprising thing though, is that I only have to do water changes once or sometimes twice a month and in between that time I do regular water tests and the levels are always in the safe zones.

Anyway, any suggestions on how to ensure that my fish live a long and healthy life will be greatly appreciated as well as information on other fish which I could acquire would delight me greatly.

Hopefuly I'll be able to post pictures of the aquariums soon. Thanks for having me!!!

[fish_doc]

Welcome to the forum,

Glad to see you let us know a bit about yourself and what you keep.
Hope you stick around.

[euRasian32]

Welcome. Sounds like you have an addictive personality like the rest of us who have MTS (multi tank syndrome).

Some suggestions, per your request: even though your tests come out on the good side, it's still good practice to do water changes weekly, but every other week is sufficient. If you were to ever fall back on your water change schedule, the use of aquarium salt helps.
When overstocked, more filtration is necessary to handle the load of multiple fish. Even a sponge filter can help some, but you definitely have to compensate wether it's more frequent water changes, a second filter, or a bigger filter altogether.
The use of live plants does help with denitrification.
Opposed to getting another 10 gallon, I'd recommend something bigger, at least a twenty. If room is an issue, you can always construct a stand that would allow you to stack tanks.

Hope you stick around, this is a great forum overall and the people here are great.

C

[fishfreaks]

Welcome to fish forums! Hope that you'll stick around

[comedykicks]

Well, I do use aquarium salt since I've read on various sites that it's helps with the health of the fish as well as fight off harmful bacteria.

The reason I haven't gotten a bigger tank yet is that 1) I didn't expect to become so addicted and 2) when I got the first tank, my landloard said that if we had a 10 gallon or under we wouldn't have to pay the "pets" deposit. But now I think it'd be worth it!!

[Baby_Baby]

welcome to the forums!

[sharky]

hi and welcome!

[maxpayne_lhp]

Welcome aboard... hope you will enjoy your stay!

[comedykicks]

Mi familia:

[fish_doc]

Oh a pet deposit. As long as you set a tank up on a level surface and make sure you dont break the side out you will get your money back. Trust me bigger tanks are worth it.

[Baby_Baby]

don't worry, fish_doc only bit one of the new members....he's a pretty good guy!

cool fish tanks!

[fish_doc]

Well at my age I dont bite to hard. My gums dont leave a mark either. LOL