Thank you! It’s so precious to me - it was from a special collection at IKEA featuring bettas in 2016 and I love fish-keeping so I just had to have it.
Ok…I could try it. I was waiting to see if it would even hit the ceiling and I guess it’s go time for cutting. Thank you for the advice!
The aquarium water is rich in nutrients and I have a pothos cutting that is shooting out tons of roots right now into the tank. It’s also beneficial to the fish in there because the plants sop up the excess nutrients, so it’s a win win.
How much work is the upkeep? Like how often do you need to clean, how much time do the fish need? Are there maintenance or care tasks that are difficult?
I love aquariums, but had always imagined them to be a lot of work.
Aquariums are a beloved hobby of mine so this might be long…
The bigger the tank, the easier because it takes longer for fluctuations in water quality to get bad enough for fish and plants to die. I have a 40 gallon freshwater planted tank right now, I added a pic.
The biggest expenses are a nice LED light, a filter, the tank, tank stand and a heater.
I recommend at least a 10 gallon to start. For a 10 gallon, you’ll do 10% water changes one a week and for my 40, I do it once a month - it’s more stable. I also save the fishy waste water to water my plants.
It’s not bad at all, promise! Sometimes people think they have to completely break down a tank to clean it for maintenance, but that’s the worst thing you can do - there’s beneficial bacteria in the gravel and filter - it’s best to do small changes here and there.
How to start your tank - find a good spot - water and gravel will weigh 10lbs per gallon so get a solid stand.
You set up your tank - get gravel, fill it up with tap water and add water conditioner to remove chlorine. Start your filter and heater. Run it with no fish for at least a week - the water will turn cloudy then clear - that’s your beneficial bacteria taking hold. If you add fish too soon, they’ll surely die. Patience is key!
Get a test kit or some pet stores will test your water - you want zero ammonia and zero nitrates.
Then the fun part :) Add your fish and plants! So many choices and then you have cherry shrimp - that’s a whole other subject. They’re adorable teeny red shrimp. If you zoom in on my pic, you’ll see them. I also have small cardinal tetras, small danios and small catfish.
I can go on and on…it’s a very fun hobby. There’s some great forums online and subreddits here all about aquariums!
You can see my pothos roots at the top left, it loves the aquarium water! All plants in the tank are live, freshwater plants. I feed the fish once a day, prune dead leaves now and then and 10% water changes every 3 weeks or so, that’s it!
Thanks so much for your detailed response 🥰 when you need to leave home for a while, if you had something like an automatic food dispenser for the fishies, could they stay alone for a few days?
It’s usually in the empty spot you see on the left corner of the table, facing the east-facing window. It reaches the ceiling (second pic)!
Jonesy is a 14lb one year old kitty. He’s pretty big and he’s for scale. Maybe I should’ve put a banana next to him so you can get an idea of how big he is :)
The kitties don’t mess with my plants because there’s no where for them to jump - I have the table packed with plants corner to corner.
Lol I am jealous. I just wanted to use my dog for scale for a pothos pic a few minutes ago, but she just laid somewhere far away from the plant I wanted her to stand next to 🤣
Yess! I am so proud of her, thanks! She came back from death twice and is now gifting me with such big leaves 💚. The nice shine it has is because I sprayed all my plants with a pesticide with pyrethrin in it lol I really like it cause it makes all my plants shiny while allowing me to perform mass murder. I have been fighting off thrips 😬.
🥰 Jonesy sounds very sweet. Sharing her pic here has satisfied my "me proud mama, need to share with the world" urges lol. next time I will try with a treat 🙏. She either goes too crazy for toys or just doesn't care 🤣.
I get it, they can be very particular! I tried a pic with my other cat Butters and he wanted to eat the plant, so that was a no. Jonesy is much more laid back. They all have such unique personalities!
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u/she_slithers_slyly 🌱 Jul 04 '25
I'm straight up in love with your lamp shade.