# Advice for Tropical newbie



## Becki&Daisy (Oct 22, 2009)

Heya, I was wondering if anyone could give me any good advice or tips for a healthy tropical tank.

I'll be setting up on Christmas day, i know to leave it for a few weeks to settle before introducing and fish.

Any tips would be brilliant to do with anything


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## Guest (Dec 16, 2009)

Make sure you have a test kit! 

A few other pointers:


Stock the tank slowly, adding no more than 3-4 fish per week.

Don't listen to the '"one inch of fish per gallon rule" crap, this is severely outdated.

Research the adult sizes and requirements of fish before purchasing, and don't make impulse buys. The likes of 'tankbusters' are extremely hard to rehome.

Feed a varied diet, and carry out weekly 15-25% water changes. Smaller, yet more frequent water changes are far more effective than one large water change every month or so.

And finally, remember not to rinse the biological filter media in tapwater.


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## Becki&Daisy (Oct 22, 2009)

thankyou! could you reccommend any good plants or places to get them?
i've been advised you can buy them quite cheaply on ebay but im a complete novice and wouldn't know if they are crap or not??

do you know what to look out for? / to avoid?
Thanks Luke!!


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## Guest (Dec 16, 2009)

Be careful when buying live plants, as some dealers are dodgy and sell-off terrestrials and semi-aquatic species as the real things, however they simply end up rotting within a couple of months.

Type JJC aquatics into the google search box, it's an ebay store run by my good friend Jared Cave. He sells extremely good quality plants at rock-bottom prices and the delivery rates are very reasonable. You can buy plant selections containing hardy species such as _Hygrophila_ and _Cryptocorynes_.


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## CanIgoHome (Oct 25, 2008)

or If your like me and hate doing water changes (have 5 feet tank = lots of water ) I use tetra easy balance and its does do what it say on the bottle and I test the water too


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## Becki&Daisy (Oct 22, 2009)

may be being really dumb but i can't find the site on google or on ebay  ???


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## magpie (Jan 3, 2009)

I think this is the guy that Pleccy was talking about, though he doesn't seem to have any items listed for sale at the moment: eBay UK Shop - JJC Aquatics:

I also sometimes buy plants from these guys which always seem to be good quality, though I think they've upped their prices a bit since I last bought off them: eBay UK Shop - Last Trading Post: Aquarium, Fish, Tropical


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## Becki&Daisy (Oct 22, 2009)

Thankyou that's really helpful 

I can't wait!


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## clothahump (Feb 16, 2010)

CanIgoHome said:


> or If your like me and hate doing water changes (have 5 feet tank = lots of water ) I use tetra easy balance and its does do what it say on the bottle and I test the water too


You still need to do partial water changes regardless of dumping chemicals into the water, it is a fact of life if you want healthy fish.


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