hi all,

i've just set up my new tank (85 x 45cm tank) yay i do think i'm starting to have MTS my bf thinks i'm nuts we already have one tank up and going in the living room and i'm determined to convert the spare room into a tank room but he's insisting its going to be his gym! we compromised of course hehe he now has all his gym gear stacked up against the wall :lol: :lol:

anyway washed all my gravel and planted the plants last saturday. i even put the fertiliser under my gravel as plantman suggested hopefully it will help plants grow! brought the tank to temp now 24degrees C. got my 2nd hand fluval 203 filter going (finaly after a few wacks and a sucking on that darn hose and choking on the water), added about 25% of my established tank's water into it. water was cloudy at first now clearing up nicely, almost all clear in fact.

added the tank's first 2 occupants yesterday. 2 x dwarf gouramies, was going to put in neons but the gouramies are my least favourite (i know its terrible but favouritism rules!) fishies so in they went.

Craz devil has most obligingly offered to give away a few of his barbs so they'll be going in somtimes this week. Haven't done my first water change yet tho, when should i do it and how often? i'm not planning to add any more fish in apart from the barbs which need to be picked up pretty soon. any info would be appreciated since this is the first time i'll be setting my tank up PROPERLY

He he .. Good to know Lorraine Sacrificial cycling gouramis

Poor bf, ah well fish trumps gym anytimes.. and he can always go running Forgot to ask, how was those plants I gave ya coming along?

Dun bother changing water for now I'm thinking, let the bacteria fluorish. Btw adding stuff from your old tank like gravel and stuff helps establish cycling faster. Wow your tank is gonna be awesome! Lemme know how it goes I wanna go visit yous sometime once it gets set up.

Why cycle the new tank? If you have a tank set up, put the filter in it to seed.

yeah al poor jungin haha

crazy thing tho - such a small world

crazdevil who gave me some barbs today actually flat with wei ping!! isn't that crazy? six degrees of separation really does exist!!

well now they're in the new tank and i did another water change today with 20% water from my old tank into my new tank

gouramies doing good so far

barbs are busy as they're swimming around exploring man they are HUGE giant barbs!!! hehe well never kept tiger barbs ever so hope everything'll be ok

do u know what kind of fish i can keep with them??

they can be quite nippy im told so best not to chuck long finned fish like angels, fighters etc that will be tempting to the barbs

Wow, its a small world I wonder hows she doing

Any fast non delicate fish that doesn't take forever to eat, and doesn't like their water too hot. Watch out for the feelers of the gouramis btw, might get nipped if they're not careful