# Hello from Oakville!



## bumbleboo

Hello everyone!

I've been lurking on this site all morning, and it seems like a really great forum so I decided I'd join!

I'm fairly new to fishkeeping, I started with two fantail goldfish in a ten gallon, did some research (should have done it BEFORE I got them), and realized they needed a bigger tank. They were just babies, but after a couple of months I got them a new tank so now they're in a 46G bowfront. 










So now I'm trying to track down 6 Celestial Pearl Danios for my 10G (I heard Menagerie has them - but for the past few weeks they haven't!)

And I'm in the process of cycling a 5G tank for a female betta and some shrimp... (if she goes after them I'll just move them to the 10G).

Anyway, I talk a lot, but I guess basically in short I am hopelessly addicted to FISH.

It's very nice to meet you all!


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## Fish_Man

allo and welcome.

Nice tank


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## bumbleboo

Fish_Man said:


> allo and welcome.
> 
> Nice tank


Hello Fish_Man!

And thanks.  I'm still really new to aquascaping so I know it's not quite as good as it could be, but maybe I'll get there one day.


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## thename123

Hello fellow Oakvillian


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## bumbleboo

thename123 said:


> Hello fellow Oakvillian


Well hello there.


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## Steeners

Welcome! Nice tank 
Am also from Oakville and just started into fishkeeping too.

Welcome!!


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## Ciddian

Hi There!!! Thanks for joining up!


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## bumbleboo

Steeners said:


> Welcome! Nice tank
> Am also from Oakville and just started into fishkeeping too.
> 
> Welcome!!


Thanks!
Oh cool! What kind of fish do you have?



Ciddian said:


> Hi There!!! Thanks for joining up!


Hello! Thanks for the welcome!


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## Tbird

Welcome!! I'm also from Oakville, its good to know that there are a few others close by.

Wil


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## Abner

Welcome to the the GTAA. All we do here is fuel the addiction!!


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## Steeners

bumbleboo said:


> Thanks!
> Oh cool! What kind of fish do you have?
> 
> Hello! Thanks for the welcome!


I have pristella tetras
bronze and peppered cory cats
two red calico bristlenose plecos
and 6 boesemani rainbows


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## Hack02

Welcome to site neighbour. I'm just around the corner in Bulrington. Lots of great folks on this site to help you out.


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## bumbleboo

Tbird said:


> Welcome!! I'm also from Oakville, its good to know that there are a few others close by.
> 
> Wil


Well, hello there! 



Abner said:


> Welcome to the the GTAA. All we do here is fuel the addiction!!


Before I know it I'll be broke and up to my eyes in fishes! And that's the way I like it.

(Well, maybe not the broke part!)


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## bumbleboo

Steeners said:


> I have pristella tetras
> bronze and peppered cory cats
> two red calico bristlenose plecos
> and 6 boesemani rainbows


Very cool!


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## bumbleboo

Hack02 said:


> Welcome to site neighbour. I'm just around the corner in Bulrington. Lots of great folks on this site to help you out.


Hello! And thanks for the welcome! You are indeed not very far away, and I'm grateful for the help of this site already!


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## KhuliLoachFan

I like your rocks and your plant selection. I think a little shuffling and re-arrangement could really make it look "spectacular".

I have an aquascape suggestion: I think you need a more open front area, with some "foreground plants". A lot of good planted arrangements have a focal point, created by drawing your eye in towards that focal point.

I think your rounded rocks are really nice, but I think it would look better with fewer of them. Just try and see if you can't get it a little more sparse, and open looking, with some kind of center. If you really like lots of rocks, pile them carefully upwards, and outwards, towards the back corners and see how that looks. (Careful with rock piles, so you don't break your tank! Consider egg-crate as a protector, if you don't have that already.) The brilliant thing about leaving an open area, or some tall vertical rock with open space beside it, is that it looks so striking when your fish swim around these underwater "mountains".

Look at this picture, it shows how this guy starts by planning his hardscape, leaving open areas, and spacing the rocks out, using the photographic "rule of thirds":









His whole article and site are great, they are here:
http://www.guitarfish.org/category/planted-aquarium-guide

W


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## bumbleboo

KhuliLoachFan said:


> I like your rocks and your plant selection. I think a little shuffling and re-arrangement could really make it look "spectacular".
> 
> I have an aquascape suggestion: I think you need a more open front area, with some "foreground plants". A lot of good planted arrangements have a focal point, created by drawing your eye in towards that focal point.
> 
> I think your rounded rocks are really nice, but I think it would look better with fewer of them. Just try and see if you can't get it a little more sparse, and open looking, with some kind of center. If you really like lots of rocks, pile them carefully upwards, and outwards, towards the back corners and see how that looks. (Careful with rock piles, so you don't break your tank! Consider egg-crate as a protector, if you don't have that already.) The brilliant thing about leaving an open area, or some tall vertical rock with open space beside it, is that it looks so striking when your fish swim around these underwater "mountains".
> 
> Look at this picture, it shows how this guy starts by planning his hardscape, leaving open areas, and spacing the rocks out, using the photographic "rule of thirds":
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> His whole article and site are great, they are here:
> http://www.guitarfish.org/category/planted-aquarium-guide
> 
> W


That's great info, thanks!! I am going to read through this site for sure, it looks very good! I was planning on doing some rescaping.  So this is perfect.

I was wondering if you might have any good foreground plant suggestions that my goldfish will not eat? I think that's the main problem I've been having.  I'd definitely love to have some ground cover plant!


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## KhuliLoachFan

Hmm. My goldfish absolutely love duckweed/frogbit and floating lettuce stuff. I think I might lean towards growing a crapload of that outside, and leaving a constant stock of it in your tank, so that your goldfish will eat that and do less damage to your other plants. I don't know of much that goldfish will ignore, other than probably java fern, java moss, and possibly hygro. 

The nice thing about hygro is that even in my convict tank, where the fish LOVE to shred plants, I have so much hygro that I don't care if he shreds it. And I think he's about the happiest fish I've ever seen, when he's rescaping the tank and shredding up plants. He's happier than a hound dog with a big bone.

W


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## bumbleboo

KhuliLoachFan said:


> Hmm. My goldfish absolutely love duckweed/frogbit and floating lettuce stuff. I think I might lean towards growing a crapload of that outside, and leaving a constant stock of it in your tank, so that your goldfish will eat that and do less damage to your other plants. I don't know of much that goldfish will ignore, other than probably java fern, java moss, and possibly hygro.
> 
> The nice thing about hygro is that even in my convict tank, where the fish LOVE to shred plants, I have so much hygro that I don't care if he shreds it. And I think he's about the happiest fish I've ever seen, when he's rescaping the tank and shredding up plants. He's happier than a hound dog with a big bone.
> 
> W


Haha, that's cute about your convict!!

I actually don't really have much option to grow things outside because I live in an apartment.  My goldfish seem to leave my plants alone, they don't bother the lotus at all, or the anacharis. They eat the babies of the pennywort sometimes... They don't bother the echinodorus I have either, or the oriental sword.

Does hygrophila make a good foreground plant though? :O I thought they got kinda tall (I could be thinking of the wrong plant?)


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## KhuliLoachFan

Yes they get enormous but they send out roots every inch or two. I have used it to do foreground cover. You take the small bits that break off the tall background plants and plant them on the foreground. If you take a piece that is 3" long and plant it horizontally, so that the main stem is mostly under the gravel, just the leaves are up, you can coax it to grow alone horizontally. The leaves will re-adjust their angles, it looks not-bad, in my opinion. I am doing this because almost everything else MELTS in my tank.

W


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