Your current Fish tank Setups!

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They are the PC World equivalent of pet shops.

Made me laugh but sadly very true.

I just love their holier than thou attitude when interrogating you about tank/water parameters etc before selling you their disease-riddled fish :D

It might only take 2 - 3 weeks to cycle your water -my current tank took 6+ weeks but that's cos mine has a special type of soil in there that leaches loads of ammonia initially. My first basic tank took about 2 weeks to cycle. There's some stuff (such as Filter Start) that can kick start your filter bacteria and shave a few days off the cycle. Some works, some doesn't.
Most fish shops will test your water for free.

Personally I'd get your water cycled & stick some guppies or neon tetras in there. Forget about goldfish -they're messy & boring anyway :)
 
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Don
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Went to an Independent Pet shop and got some fish tank maintainer liquid that keeps the water clean.

She also said if the filter in the bubble making thing goes black then it needs changing. Other than that I should be OK.

Its probably some form of Ammonia locking product. usually a last resort, or used by people with high ammonia tap water levels
 
Don
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Made me laugh but sadly very true.

I just love their holier than thou attitude when interrogating you about tank/water parameters etc before selling you their disease-riddled fish :D

...

Personally I'd get your water cycled & stick some guppies or neon tetras in there. Forget about goldfish -they're messy & boring anyway :)

Neon's aren't cold-water, they need a heater.

White Cloud Minnows and Zebra Danios will look very nice though.
 
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Soldato
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Zebra Danios are one of the most common species placed in inadequate sized tanks.

They might only reach 5cm SL, but they are incredibly active. I wouldn't and don't keep them in anything less than 120cm long, my last remaining male zooms around the upper water all day long.
 
Don
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I had zebra danios before, and they annoyed the hell out of me.

Always surface skirting, and flying around like nutters. Very VERY annoying!

I guess it depends what you want in a tank, I quite enjoy watching them flit about everywhere. My colony of RCS are the docile ones in my tank, I can watch them for ages too
 
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Thats a real shame, I thought Pets at Home was a reputable store.

This is what we were told in store: http://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/advice/fish-care-advice/setting-up-your-aquarium
That Guide is way too basic and makes no mention of cycling the tank and how to test the water during the process.

That link also doesn't show what you were sold but I'm guessing it's something tiny. As has been mentioned, goldfish grow huge and live a very long time when kept correctly. Stick them in a small tank and they'll die very young. You need a decent sized tank for fancy ones and a very big one or preferably a pond for commons, comets, shubunkins. My goldfish are in a 1200+ Gallon pond. Sadly I had one pass away this year and it measured 10" long x 4" top to bottom and approx 3" in width.

Unfortunately P@H is renowned for not training staff properly. Occasionally you'll get a member of staff that actually has an interest in fish and will know what's what but otherwise they've read that same basic guide you linked to.
 
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I keep a dwarf puffer in a planted tank. I won't show a picture though as whenever I have on other places I just get negative comments about how it's boring and pointless to keep one fish. Puffers are aggressive and should be kept alone. I'm happy with the tank and my single fish so that's all that matters to me.
 
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Thats a real shame, I thought Pets at Home was a reputable store.

This is what we were told in store: http://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/advice/fish-care-advice/setting-up-your-aquarium

I bought an interpet 19l moon tank kit from p@h and followed advice on setting it up adding filter start and leaving it, checking the ph levels in the water etc and finally added some small fish.

Turned out the tank was totally useless and the supplied filter totally not capable of doing the job. All the fish died regardless of me buying chemicals and testing kit to try and maintain the levels.

I decided keeping fish was not for me and if I did ever think of getting another tank, to get a good sized one on its own stand with one of those external filters you put underneath in the cabinet.

As for the goldfish, I had one in a small tank for most of my childhood, it just kept going and I called him Fred. Just changed the water and cleaned the gravel out once a week and I remember adding some chemical to the water I out back in. No filter, just the fish, the tank and gravel.
 
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As for the goldfish, I had one in a small tank for most of my childhood, it just kept going and I called him Fred. Just changed the water and cleaned the gravel out once a week and I remember adding some chemical to the water I out back in. No filter, just the fish, the tank and gravel.

I to kept my goldfish this way as a kid. If I remember correctly it was always trying to jump out and lived about a year. This might have been acceptable when we were kids but the fish keeping hobby knows better now. Goldfish can live in excess of 20 years when kept correctly. If you want to try fish keeping again just join one of the many fish forums and you'll get the advice you need on how to set up properly and how many of what you can realistically keep in a certain size tank.
 
Soldato
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having a bit of a situation in my tank. ive got a maxi mini anemone in whos currently my favourite inhabitant but in the last week hes decided to move up his rock about 4-5 cm and has started smothering 2 nobbly mushrooms on the piece of rock above him.

now I don't plan on moving the anemone but am wondering if the mushrooms will move/migrate themselves out of the way or I should just kiss them goodbye?

MQhETuVl.jpg
 
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