KGTropicals hey I’ve been raising a frontosa for the last year & he’s getting big. I got him at the size of a quarter. I Do not use any water conditioner’s .AT ALL. I buy my water & im hot roding my hang on filters & everything is fine. I’m doing water changes like I should. I’m in Washington,Dc & I’m a valued fan . Thanks for all the tips. You & your wife really helped me in the beginning
After a 40 year hiatus from fish-keeping, I am now 74 and getting back into the hobby. Back in the day, I had a 25 gallon tank. Now I’m in the process of setting up a 75 gallon tank. I’m super excited and every day I’m studying EVERYTHING. So much more is now known and a lot has changed in fish keeping so there is a lot to learn. We are putting together the stand for the aquarium now. Before buying any fish we will have the water perfectly ready. In the past I had Discus, Angels, Neon Tetras and some Cory Cats, which we are planning for again. Your videos are absolutely excellent and exactly what I need now to be successful. Thank you!!
Loved reading this. After 20 years Im getting back into it. So happy to see the brands I always knew to still be available, to still be a force in the industry. I got a small Fluval Flex. Excellent little aquarium. The wealth of information today is so encouraging. Going to try having a planted tank. Excited (and nervous) to see how it all goes! Good luck to you in revisiting the hobby!
Hey buddy with a tank that size and being in a situation your in, past experience and the patience to research, can I suggest a cichlid tank, they have beautiful colours and a tank that size will suit them perfectly. I have a 55 gallon with 8 cichlids in it and if you didn't know any better you'd think it was some sort of marine reef aquarium, they're beautiful and they have a lot of character 😂 just be careful adding single fish they can be a bit territorial however I found adding groups of two to four at a time seems to do really well. Take it with a grain of salt I'm what you'd call an amateur being into fish keeping for about a year but with 3 tanks the 55 gal cichlid tank is my pride and joy, it honestly brings me so much excitement and joy getting home from work in the morning turning the light on and watching them all come to life ready for breakfast. I've even had 2 different species successfully breed which is so rewarding to witness and learn about.
Here's the quick rundown: 1. Water conditioner (1:00) 2. Spare air pump/hose (2:19) 3. Python water change system (3:25) 4. Breeder boxes (4:48) 5. Spare heater (6:12) 6. General Cure (7:18) 7. Aquarium salt (8:16) 8. XTreme fish food (9:30) 9. An extra tank (10:46) 10. Test kits (12:06)
Newbie to the tank world :) I had a situation where my tank had al leak and I had no idea what to do but knew I needed to take the tank down befoe all the water was in my carpet. I did not even have a bucket in my house to put my fish in. I am grateful to Dale at Fantastic Fins in LIvonia, MI for allowing me to put my beautiful fish into a spare tank in his shop. This happened on a Sunday night about an hour before they closed. Well now I have a spare tank and just about everything you listed here because stuff happens!!! So now I am prepared. Also you gave the names of a few things that I do not have so I will be shopping to get my list of spare items together and on stand bye. Thank you so much for the videos. I really appreciate them.
I also keep my tanks in my room, but I use a hose (siphon hose) that I hook up to the tap in the bathroom to fill up my tanks. To empty my tanks, I just stick the end of my siphon out the window and water the bushes below. Works like a charm. I used to use buckets, but that was wet, messy, and heavy. The siphon was worth every penny.
Gotta have a fine mesh net! It makes removal of excess food, floating debris during water changes, and dead plant matter a million times easier (and countless gallons of water saved). I also love it for those unsightly canister filter restart debris. Of course, the fish transfer is a huge one, too. Finer, softer mesh means less risk of hurting our buddies, too.
I started keeping fish on my own a year ago since for 8 years I have had them as family pets, and my first fish were 2 oranda fish, I was really struggling and stressed with keeping them since I had the mindset that keeping fish was impossible and they would die after 2 days anyway. And the one thing that helped me learn how to keep care of my fish and helped me stay educated on keeping my fish was your videos! I now am completely confident and happy with my now 13 fish! I just got a new one today as well so thankyou for your help! 🌸🌸🌸🌸
3:25 This is so true. I never thought I would love doing maintenance on anything. Especially the type that requires cleaning. There is always that great feeling in the end where I sit down relax and watch my fish enjoy their clean tank. My wife even jokes and says "if only you were that good at maintaining your man cave clean". I feel that I got even more attached to my fish because I individually named them. I have 24 now.
I absolutely love how you cover basics in every field because no matter how much I think I know about fish you don't make me feel dumb ...just explain everything
"You look in your tank, and see something that catches you entirely off guard" *looks to the left where my fish tank is* My biggest female guppy: :D *starts dropping babies*
I love this video and all of the "must haves." My number one would be water conditioner and two would be back up products. Both can be overnight fish-life changers.
Another tip, if you don't need the item right away, let it sit in your cart for days, weeks, months and check the price frequently. For example I don't always need tap water conditioner but I will eventually. I let aqueon and fluval sit for awhile and the prices on each dropped down to no joke $2 each, for like a 16oz bottle
Five gallon buckets, are helpful to have around for many reasons. Other than water changes they can be used as a holding tank to quarantine sick fish or babies, mixing conditioners or salt, cleaning out for aqua scapes, rinsing filters, soaking rocks or wood, etc..
I'm very new to this and looking forward to getting better. This was really helpful and I will be getting everything that I don't already have. I started with a Betta in a 1 gallon. unpgraded when my parents Betta died, a month after getting mine, to their 2.5 gallon. I then bought a 10 gallon and put tetras in it. First set survied (4 lemon tetras) the rest (neon variety pack) died. Sad times at our house. I learned about the Nitrate cycle and ammonia throught this page and others. I will note, my family had fish growing up and I loved them! I got our fish after a knee surgery and COVID-19 as a way to bond with my daughters. We then upgraded to my parents 20 gallon tank when they got their first 75 (previous biggest for them was 55 fresh, then salt water). I now have their 20. I cycled for a few days with that tank and I think its good for my fish. We added our fish, and they're doing well. I am now preparing my 10 gallon for new fish. I am getting it cycled, with bacteria from my cycled 20 tank and levels are smoothing out. My plan is to get Panda Cory's (4) and then add my male black orchid Betta after the Cory's settle in. If the Cory's and Betta don't get along, the cory's will move to the 20 with 6 tetras and a pleco. I hope it works since my 11 year old is stoked about getting Guppies and possible breeding them. I hate losing fish, and feel guilt every time, but this adventure so far has been an amazining teacher in life for my girls. I hope I'm learning enough to be succesful in making my 10 and 20 gallon succesfull! If I am successful, I will probably sneak a 55 in with or without the wifes approval. I know my 11 year old will have my back. LOL PS: I will keep the 2.5 as a quarantine tank, and if I upgrade, the 10 will take its place. 2 tanks is all I think I can handle.
You should use the dirty tank water to water your plants. It will give nutrients to your plants. My plants were not doing good with normal clean water but when I started doing this they have started thriving.
It's probably easier to just throw the dirty tank water away, and just use normal houseplant fertilizer for your plants. That way you don't have to vaguely match dirty tank water to houseplant nutrient needs, they're just two separate systems.
Catch me being humbly surprised that I already have all of these products! 😁 I really wish that I could show all of your Top 10 videos to everyone who wants to get started with fish.
I rarely do water changes. My tanks have a perfect balance of loads of live of plants (which are the main reason I dont need water changes), the right amount of wood, shells, and not too many fish. I add ferts for the plants and thats it. I top up my tanks with tank water. If you do the tanks a certain way you dont need water changes, or rarely. Think the last water change I did for any tanks was 2-3 years ago.
This probably falls under "water conditioners", but I really like having charcoal bags on hand. I do aquaponics, and once after adding a new plant, I noticed some shrimp dying off in my tank. I quickly put a charcoal bag in the tank near the filter, and was able to save the rest of the shrimp. It turns out, the retailer that I got the plant from used some kind of spray containing copper to protect the plant from pests, and that has a negative reaction with shrimp. Charcoal absorbs toxins, but has the unique ability to hold on to them, and not leach them back into the water.
Got a few spare heaters and I have an extra uv stabilizer sitting around also. The heater is a must cause most people’s tanks are not heated or cooled by the ac in the house. Comfortable room temp for us is not the same as comfort to the fish. The heater is for sure a must just in case.
I have two heaters set to the same temperature, my theory is , if one fails the other will take up the slack, I keep an eye on them to make sure they are both running and switch one or the other off for a day at weekends and watch the tank temp, if it starts to drop I know the one still running isn't working and can replace it asap.
Yes sir. Gave everyone thier own little black comb and had to line up in the gym or activity room all day and us girls trying to sneak off to the bathroom mirror. Lol. And one year we got a little white podium to pose our arms on and a long white think we could lean our backs and sides against. Good ol days
I like the Hygger AC power aquarium vacuum/siphon. It has a super long hose and does not need batteries, just an electrical outlet. I open my window and siphon the water out of my tank, goes up and out the long hose, and straight into my flowerbed. To fill up, I just switch and put the hose in a bucket of treated water and pump it back into the tank. No muss, no fuss, and saves your back. Doubles as a gravel cleaner/siphon, so I do both for water changes. Easy peasy!
I've been keeping fresh and saltwater fish for the better half of 20 years, and i worked at Petco for 9 and I never recommended anything other than prime and/or stress coat for conditioners. Even if people didnt wanna spend the money for them, I'd squirt a bit into a bag or vile for them to use. They really are my absolute favorites 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Soon to be fishkeeper, and I’m very excited. As someone who’s only going to have one tank, I have a question about keeping an extra tank for quarantine: Would it make any sense to get a small nano tank, such as a 3 or 5 gallon, since it will only be a temporary home? Or would a fish have less success recovering from illness because they are stressed by the small space?
I purchased the conditioner using the affiliate link I hope this helps support you guys a little bit I really like what you do and would like to hear more my wife and I are brand-new to fish and you have been our go-to Channel
API sells replacement test tubes... if you want to test multiple tanks, it helps if you have 20+ test tubes (I have 4 tanks; 4 tanks x 4 kinds of tests = more than the 4 the kit comes with). Especially if you drop the test tubes and then step on them by accident... not that I have ever done this, mind you.
If your filter goes out its not a dire situation at all unless your tank is heavily overcrowded. A lot of people dont have filters on purpose in fact. In youtube search bar type 'No filter aquarium' , amazing tanks! If your tank is set up properly (but one that needs a filter) you can safely wait several days or ever a week or two depending on how big the tank is, how many plants, fish, etc. An air stone would mean you could wait much much longer before getting a new filter. or if you have a spare water pump you can make your own filter. Google is your friend.
With all the tanks I have I use safe instead of prime. Most of this stuff you mentioned I always keep in hand. I just recently added the general Cure. Great video!!
I’ve heard that another option instead of buying a quarantine tank is to get a big clear plastic tub and set it up. Never tried it but have seen other you tubers do it.
I've witnessed dozens of small tropicial fish (sword tails) live for literally weeks in a 8 litre bucket outside in a garden in the UK in winter without water changes or food. They'll be OK for a good while in a plastic tub in your home
I wanted to say thank you so much you made my life so much easier by introducing me to the python tank cleaner! It is so worth the money and I couldn't be happier with it!!! Would love to neet y'all one day and get some amazing tips.
I love the outtakes! Especially in these times, it’s nice to have a little laugh! And if you see this comment, could y’all do a video on maintaining pH in aquariums or treating FUNGAL infections? (Or link me if I’m just dumb and can’t find it lol)
If you are talking about finrot, bump up your water changes(for example, I had to bump up mine from 10% a week to 30% a week for a 10 gallon betta tank) and treat with aquarium salt.
I buy Prime from my lfs, $26 and I have enough for about 2 years(although if I convince my wife to let me get another 40 it would almost cut the time in half). I run 2 AQQA medium filters on my 40, so if one goes out, I will be okay until I can get another one. My tank is in my basement so I just use a gravel vac right to the drain in the floor and I have a float that will autofill my tank and I have it running slowly, so it takes about 12 hours or so to completely finish. Although, I have never considered using a breeder box to isolate an injured fish, but I keep live bearers in order to give my kribs another source of food. I keep my house warm enough that even if the heater were to go out, the temp would only drop 2 degrees, so I would have time to get another heater.
Hello, I’m wanting to change my 125 from guppy’s and shrimp and put them in my 75. I saw that u painted your 240 black all my tanks but the 125 or black and it look great what u did. Mine is blue and I’m going to paint black. Ok my question is I want to do cichlids and my substrate is eco complete would that be okay for cichlids? I really like that white substrate you guys have. What is it? I live in the desert and I have a Petco is all or I can buy it from who u recommend. Or should I keep it black on black like my truck lol thank you for all the videos you make and I would love that 360 or 340 I don’t even know where to find big tanks like that. Thank you for any advice you can help me with.
I have only tried 2 water conditioners and I have grown to love ammo lock. I have a 10 gallon tank and I have 2 air pumps hooked up to my tank running 2 airstones and 1 double sponge filters. I use a upto 40 gallon pump and a upto 10 gallon tank all hooked up to to the same air line. And I use 2 one way check valves to make sure air goes were I want it to go.
Great advice! I’ll be picking up an extra heater and some chemicals I hopefully will never need. But you never know right? I want to say that the outtakes at the end were hilarious. Every video should have those 😆
Nice video. Only thing i would add is extra parts for canister filters such as impellers and o rings. I love ur videos pls keep em coming. U guys are awesome 2gether, its nice when u can share ur favorite with ur favorite
A sponge filter is an awesome back up filter. Cheap and seeds w/ bacteria fairly quickly. I have a tank where I have two “extra sponge filters” running. I needed one during a routine maintenance job on a whisper 500 HOB filter. The thing was so old that the impeller blade broke on me. My son grabbed a sponge filter out of the other tank and all was safe until we found a fix. 👍🏽
Thank you so much! All of your videos are very helpful and keep posting! For not only the beginner hobbyists but for everyone who loves their animals, keep it up brah!
this is great, and you are right. what I have trouble with is where best to source larger-end tanks themselves. ideas? 55 gallons is difficult to find. larger seem nearly impossible
Love the bloopers. Made me laugh out loud. Been watching your videos for almost a year now, even went to meet you guys at pvas meeting before pandemic started. Ty again for the selfies and extreme flakes. I was kinda star struck meeting you guys and completely forgot all my questions. From the vids I finally got your names, John Hudson and Lisa. ( my last name is Hutson with a t instead of a d) My question is what does K and G stand for in KG Tropicals? I hope I find the answer one day if your unable to answer, doesn’t matter, still love you guys. Hope to meet again someday when pandemic is over.
What I've done is I buy a new sponge filter, hosing, and pump for any tank I get and every pump I get is rated for a larger tank than its on so if any one of my pumps breaks down I can just run some tubing to one of my other pumps in a pinch. I also kept the Hang on the back filter that came with my 10 gallon kit and have 4 airstones so if heaven forbid 2 of my pumps go down at the same time I have a backup plan for my backup plan. Always have a plan C.
Magic erasers. Amazon yes. I get mine at local dollar store. 25c each. ORIGINAL nonscented. . Cleans, no scratches and does the silicon corners and tubing. A quarter a use. Besides the magnetic glass cleaners, magic erasers are perfect
I have a battery operated air pump with an air stone. I bought it for my minnow bucket while fishing. I will be digging it out and keeping it on standby now incase of a power failure
Spare Heater is definitely a must-have. My fish in a 60-gallon tank was recovering from ick when late at night my heater stopped working. Since it was 11pm at night, I couldn't go and buy another one. I had to wake up to half my fish dead. :/
In this situation. Depending on the temperature the fish need i would raise the room temp, safest option. Or heat lamp, incandescent light etc shining on it but this could also cook your fish if not careful. The former i have problems with in the summer, when i have the air conditioning on but my 115g and 150g remain at 80°f battling it out. In the winter it's nice though.
OXO Good Grips Deep Clean Brush Set, Phillips Avent Bottle Brush. Hose to Bucket Clip, the Blue Ones, make more secure with Wire Ties, and use the bucket handle, to lock it to the bucket. Bucket Handle Replacement Grip, the Six Color ones, you cut the old split handle off. Lab Wash Bottles, Plastic Lab Graduated Cylinders. Triangular Intake / Outtake Containers, get the ones with Imperial and Metric Markings. Battery Operated Air Pump, Tubing and Course Air-stones. For Saltwater, I have an extra Immersible, that’s smaller than my Return Pump, to get me through if the Return Pump Fails. I also use it to pump water back in the tank from my mixing barrel. ATO, and a make up water Vessel to put it in. Food Grade Citric Acid for cleaning filters and pumps. Vinegar will ruin your mag-drive pumps!
One of my favorite videos so far! To me its all basic knowledge stuff but to the newcomer, its great info! Super funny at the end. I would have to say that the quarantine tank is probably the most important and underused item on the list.
I agree with every one of these. I'd just change #6 to meds in general and not limit it to only General Cure. Ick X and ParaCleanse are good to have on hand too.
Great advice even though I have kept and bread fish for years, you learn every day, thank you much appreciated , like the new food for extreme feeding, I will look for some here in the UK. Again thank you.
I haven't used water conditioner in over a yr. I have city hard water and there's chlorinate. I just put the hottest water from my tub into buckets, let it cool for for 24hrs and its ready to go. I have 3 tanks, planted non planted. but all mainstream fish, guppies, coli loach, snails, crayfish, algea eater, neon tetras. I've kept betta in there too. Not sure if im lucky or if one more product to scratch off the requirement list. Oh i never do water changes either. HOB, automatic light, and i self feed.
Okay I'm getting API's Fin and Body Cure, and API General Cure. I've been trying to treat my Betta fish with a fungis thing on the side of his face near his gills. And now that I've thought about it, I believe he has Gill Flukes as well. And maybe... This weird skin condition going on with him is Skin Flukes. He also has cloudy eye setting in, so I hope this helps him! I've been using Kanaplex, MetroPlex, SulfaPlex, and Melafix, and NONE of these treatments have worked. I mean, his find are all looking healthy now that's all I can say, haha! As well as the fungal/bacterial infection being gone from that open-ish wound on his face where I think he has Skin Flukes. I will update in the chat weather or not API's Fin and Body Cure, or API General Cure has worked-!
10:45 - 12:00 a good alternative would be a cheap rubermade tote and keep extra filter media like a sponge filter in your current tank. That's a quick tank that can be set up in 10 minutes
👨👨👧👦 *Don't miss out on our bonus videos each week by becoming a member to the channel for $4.99* geni.us/KGTChannelMemberships
What kind of fish is the black & white spotted one on 12:31 ?
KGTropicals hey I’ve been raising a frontosa for the last year & he’s getting big. I got him at the size of a quarter. I Do not use any water conditioner’s .AT ALL. I buy my water & im hot roding my hang on filters & everything is fine. I’m doing water changes like I should. I’m in Washington,Dc & I’m a valued fan . Thanks for all the tips. You & your wife really helped me in the beginning
What about filter floss / filter pad and sponges
KGTropicals 🤩
By any chance do you know a site I can find API General Cure. Cause I can't find that stuff anywhere
After a 40 year hiatus from fish-keeping, I am now 74 and getting back into the hobby. Back in the day, I had a 25 gallon tank. Now I’m in the process of setting up a 75 gallon tank. I’m super excited and every day I’m studying EVERYTHING. So much more is now known and a lot has changed in fish keeping so there is a lot to learn. We are putting together the stand for the aquarium now. Before buying any fish we will have the water perfectly ready. In the past I had Discus, Angels, Neon Tetras and some Cory Cats, which we are planning for again. Your videos are absolutely excellent and exactly what I need now to be successful. Thank you!!
What heaters and lights do u recommend?
I hope your tank is going well
Loved reading this. After 20 years Im getting back into it. So happy to see the brands I always knew to still be available, to still be a force in the industry. I got a small Fluval Flex. Excellent little aquarium. The wealth of information today is so encouraging. Going to try having a planted tank. Excited (and nervous) to see how it all goes! Good luck to you in revisiting the hobby!
Hey buddy with a tank that size and being in a situation your in, past experience and the patience to research, can I suggest a cichlid tank, they have beautiful colours and a tank that size will suit them perfectly. I have a 55 gallon with 8 cichlids in it and if you didn't know any better you'd think it was some sort of marine reef aquarium, they're beautiful and they have a lot of character 😂 just be careful adding single fish they can be a bit territorial however I found adding groups of two to four at a time seems to do really well.
Take it with a grain of salt I'm what you'd call an amateur being into fish keeping for about a year but with 3 tanks the 55 gal cichlid tank is my pride and joy, it honestly brings me so much excitement and joy getting home from work in the morning turning the light on and watching them all come to life ready for breakfast. I've even had 2 different species successfully breed which is so rewarding to witness and learn about.
I’ve been out of the game for 15ish years. I’m glad the science of aquariums is still pretty much the same.
Here's the quick rundown:
1. Water conditioner (1:00)
2. Spare air pump/hose (2:19)
3. Python water change system (3:25)
4. Breeder boxes (4:48)
5. Spare heater (6:12)
6. General Cure (7:18)
7. Aquarium salt (8:16)
8. XTreme fish food (9:30)
9. An extra tank (10:46)
10. Test kits (12:06)
Thank you
thx
Useful! Thank U! (If I knew the existence of this comment, I wouldn't have seen the video a 2nd time in x1.5 speed...)
Thx
Not all heroes wear capes, thank you
Newbie to the tank world :) I had a situation where my tank had al leak and I had no idea what to do but knew I needed to take the tank down befoe all the water was in my carpet. I did not even have a bucket in my house to put my fish in. I am grateful to Dale at Fantastic Fins in LIvonia, MI for allowing me to put my beautiful fish into a spare tank in his shop. This happened on a Sunday night about an hour before they closed. Well now I have a spare tank and just about everything you listed here because stuff happens!!! So now I am prepared. Also you gave the names of a few things that I do not have so I will be shopping to get my list of spare items together and on stand bye. Thank you so much for the videos. I really appreciate them.
my fish room is my bedroom xD luckily im right across from the bathroom so 5 gal buckets are my friend for water changes haha
Same lol
yup plus i can controll my fishes lighting timings without a timer
@@shxb9194 eh I still have my larger tanks cuz they are so planted.
@@ItsSharkzInit me? I dont have access to water in my bed room :P so I need to use 5 gal buckets for water changes
I also keep my tanks in my room, but I use a hose (siphon hose) that I hook up to the tap in the bathroom to fill up my tanks. To empty my tanks, I just stick the end of my siphon out the window and water the bushes below. Works like a charm. I used to use buckets, but that was wet, messy, and heavy. The siphon was worth every penny.
Gotta have a fine mesh net! It makes removal of excess food, floating debris during water changes, and dead plant matter a million times easier (and countless gallons of water saved). I also love it for those unsightly canister filter restart debris. Of course, the fish transfer is a huge one, too. Finer, softer mesh means less risk of hurting our buddies, too.
I started keeping fish on my own a year ago since for 8 years I have had them as family pets, and my first fish were 2 oranda fish, I was really struggling and stressed with keeping them since I had the mindset that keeping fish was impossible and they would die after 2 days anyway. And the one thing that helped me learn how to keep care of my fish and helped me stay educated on keeping my fish was your videos! I now am completely confident and happy with my now 13 fish! I just got a new one today as well so thankyou for your help! 🌸🌸🌸🌸
3:25 This is so true. I never thought I would love doing maintenance on anything. Especially the type that requires cleaning. There is always that great feeling in the end where I sit down relax and watch my fish enjoy their clean tank. My wife even jokes and says "if only you were that good at maintaining your man cave clean". I feel that I got even more attached to my fish because I individually named them. I have 24 now.
Why are there thumbs down. You guys are so honest and also keep saying be aware of miss info about if you follow your advice than that is good.
I absolutely love how you cover basics in every field because no matter how much I think I know about fish you don't make me feel dumb ...just explain everything
Great list !
The ending was excellent. I’m glad you’ve retained the ability to laugh at one’s self. We all need that these days.
Jim
"You look in your tank, and see something that catches you entirely off guard" *looks to the left where my fish tank is*
My biggest female guppy: :D *starts dropping babies*
Oh no
@@kairunissahameed2943 what do you mean oh no?
I love this video and all of the "must haves." My number one would be water conditioner and two would be back up products. Both can be overnight fish-life changers.
Another tip, if you don't need the item right away, let it sit in your cart for days, weeks, months and check the price frequently. For example I don't always need tap water conditioner but I will eventually. I let aqueon and fluval sit for awhile and the prices on each dropped down to no joke $2 each, for like a 16oz bottle
Five gallon buckets, are helpful to have around for many reasons. Other than water changes they can be used as a holding tank to quarantine sick fish or babies, mixing conditioners or salt, cleaning out for aqua scapes, rinsing filters, soaking rocks or wood, etc..
Great tip!
Nice ...I have been a hobbyist some 55 years .....I could make self love by listing all my tanks-ponds.....but this video on what to have is 100%
I'm very new to this and looking forward to getting better. This was really helpful and I will be getting everything that I don't already have.
I started with a Betta in a 1 gallon. unpgraded when my parents Betta died, a month after getting mine, to their 2.5 gallon. I then bought a 10 gallon and put tetras in it. First set survied (4 lemon tetras) the rest (neon variety pack) died. Sad times at our house. I learned about the Nitrate cycle and ammonia throught this page and others.
I will note, my family had fish growing up and I loved them! I got our fish after a knee surgery and COVID-19 as a way to bond with my daughters.
We then upgraded to my parents 20 gallon tank when they got their first 75 (previous biggest for them was 55 fresh, then salt water). I now have their 20. I cycled for a few days with that tank and I think its good for my fish. We added our fish, and they're doing well.
I am now preparing my 10 gallon for new fish. I am getting it cycled, with bacteria from my cycled 20 tank and levels are smoothing out. My plan is to get Panda Cory's (4) and then add my male black orchid Betta after the Cory's settle in.
If the Cory's and Betta don't get along, the cory's will move to the 20 with 6 tetras and a pleco. I hope it works since my 11 year old is stoked about getting Guppies and possible breeding them.
I hate losing fish, and feel guilt every time, but this adventure so far has been an amazining teacher in life for my girls. I hope I'm learning enough to be succesful in making my 10 and 20 gallon succesfull! If I am successful, I will probably sneak a 55 in with or without the wifes approval. I know my 11 year old will have my back. LOL
PS: I will keep the 2.5 as a quarantine tank, and if I upgrade, the 10 will take its place. 2 tanks is all I think I can handle.
You should use the dirty tank water to water your plants. It will give nutrients to your plants. My plants were not doing good with normal clean water but when I started doing this they have started thriving.
It's probably easier to just throw the dirty tank water away, and just use normal houseplant fertilizer for your plants. That way you don't have to vaguely match dirty tank water to houseplant nutrient needs, they're just two separate systems.
Houseplant nutrient needs is fishwater. No sense wasting money on fertilizer when most fertilizer is made from fish waste.
Thanks for the bloopers, they gave me a good laugh!
Life is more fun when we're able to laugh at ourselves.
Catch me being humbly surprised that I already have all of these products! 😁
I really wish that I could show all of your Top 10 videos to everyone who wants to get started with fish.
I rarely do water changes. My tanks have a perfect balance of loads of live of plants (which are the main reason I dont need water changes), the right amount of wood, shells, and not too many fish. I add ferts for the plants and thats it. I top up my tanks with tank water. If you do the tanks a certain way you dont need water changes, or rarely. Think the last water change I did for any tanks was 2-3 years ago.
You two are great. Good aquarium care channels are hard to come by. Thanks so much, i literally bought almost everything on this list because you you
This probably falls under "water conditioners", but I really like having charcoal bags on hand. I do aquaponics, and once after adding a new plant, I noticed some shrimp dying off in my tank. I quickly put a charcoal bag in the tank near the filter, and was able to save the rest of the shrimp. It turns out, the retailer that I got the plant from used some kind of spray containing copper to protect the plant from pests, and that has a negative reaction with shrimp. Charcoal absorbs toxins, but has the unique ability to hold on to them, and not leach them back into the water.
Got a few spare heaters and I have an extra uv stabilizer sitting around also. The heater is a must cause most people’s tanks are not heated or cooled by the ac in the house. Comfortable room temp for us is not the same as comfort to the fish. The heater is for sure a must just in case.
I have two heaters set to the same temperature, my theory is , if one fails the other will take up the slack, I keep an eye on them to make sure they are both running and switch one or the other off for a day at weekends and watch the tank temp, if it starts to drop I know the one still running isn't working and can replace it asap.
This backdrop is the same exact backdrop in all of my grade school picture day photos.
same XD
I’m sorry but what is grade school?! IM SERIOUS BTW 😳
Yes sir. Gave everyone thier own little black comb and had to line up in the gym or activity room all day and us girls trying to sneak off to the bathroom mirror. Lol. And one year we got a little white podium to pose our arms on and a long white think we could lean our backs and sides against. Good ol days
Thanks for supporting local mom and pop fish stores!!!
I like the Hygger AC power aquarium vacuum/siphon. It has a super long hose and does not need batteries, just an electrical outlet. I open my window and siphon the water out of my tank, goes up and out the long hose, and straight into my flowerbed. To fill up, I just switch and put the hose in a bucket of treated water and pump it back into the tank. No muss, no fuss, and saves your back. Doubles as a gravel cleaner/siphon, so I do both for water changes. Easy peasy!
One does not consider 'fun' when they must buy more products for their fish, but this, does bring a smile to my face.
quarantining the fish just like we are quarantining ourselves!
I've been keeping fresh and saltwater fish for the better half of 20 years, and i worked at Petco for 9 and I never recommended anything other than prime and/or stress coat for conditioners. Even if people didnt wanna spend the money for them, I'd squirt a bit into a bag or vile for them to use. They really are my absolute favorites 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
They are 100% right...I have all these things as backup ....I have used it all at one time or another ....
Good video as always! 🔥🔥👍
Soon to be fishkeeper, and I’m very excited. As someone who’s only going to have one tank, I have a question about keeping an extra tank for quarantine: Would it make any sense to get a small nano tank, such as a 3 or 5 gallon, since it will only be a temporary home? Or would a fish have less success recovering from illness because they are stressed by the small space?
I purchased the conditioner using the affiliate link I hope this helps support you guys a little bit I really like what you do and would like to hear more my wife and I are brand-new to fish and you have been our go-to Channel
API sells replacement test tubes... if you want to test multiple tanks, it helps if you have 20+ test tubes (I have 4 tanks; 4 tanks x 4 kinds of tests = more than the 4 the kit comes with). Especially if you drop the test tubes and then step on them by accident... not that I have ever done this, mind you.
Melissa Jeswald I stepped on 3 of mine😂
The python syphon or the aqueon one like this is such a life changer. 100% worth the money
Prime is my go to water conditioner but I also really like Stress Coat. Been using python hoses for over 20 years. Worth their weight in gold!
Great stuff as usual. The comment about not telling your significant other about the spare tank had me in stitches! 🤣😂
If your filter goes out its not a dire situation at all unless your tank is heavily overcrowded. A lot of people dont have filters on purpose in fact. In youtube search bar type 'No filter aquarium' , amazing tanks! If your tank is set up properly (but one that needs a filter) you can safely wait several days or ever a week or two depending on how big the tank is, how many plants, fish, etc. An air stone would mean you could wait much much longer before getting a new filter. or if you have a spare water pump you can make your own filter. Google is your friend.
PYTHON! Yes. Buy it! Belieeeeve me, you'll be forever thankful for this tip!!!!
Bloopers are my favorite!
With all the tanks I have I use safe instead of prime. Most of this stuff you mentioned I always keep in hand. I just recently added the general Cure. Great video!!
Love the bloopers 😅❤️
Makes me want to suggest an inexpensive teleprompting tool! LOL
I love you guys. Learning so much, just started my first tank and now I already have a second😂😂😂one week later. You guys are hilarious!
Love it when Lisa made the faces at the end!😄
Dude those bloopers were amazing! Love y’all’s videos!
I’ve heard that another option instead of buying a quarantine tank is to get a big clear plastic tub and set it up. Never tried it but have seen other you tubers do it.
I've witnessed dozens of small tropicial fish (sword tails) live for literally weeks in a 8 litre bucket outside in a garden in the UK in winter without water changes or food. They'll be OK for a good while in a plastic tub in your home
He’s been keeping fish since before I’ve been alive lol. Glad I found this channel before getting some fish. Now to figure out what to get 🤔
Very good tips and advice also loved the bloopers it goes to show you making UA-cam videos isn’t always easy!
I like you 2.
Bloopers keep everything real, loved to see it at the end of the video.
I wanted to say thank you so much you made my life so much easier by introducing me to the python tank cleaner! It is so worth the money and I couldn't be happier with it!!! Would love to neet y'all one day and get some amazing tips.
I love the outtakes! Especially in these times, it’s nice to have a little laugh!
And if you see this comment, could y’all do a video on maintaining pH in aquariums or treating FUNGAL infections? (Or link me if I’m just dumb and can’t find it lol)
If you are talking about finrot, bump up your water changes(for example, I had to bump up mine from 10% a week to 30% a week for a 10 gallon betta tank) and treat with aquarium salt.
xXWolfyBloxXx I actually think I’ve got Cotton Wool Disease goin on, there’s like fluffy cloud-lookin stuff that’s prolly fungus is why I ask
@@jalakor I have never experienced that, so sorry I have no advice for that 😔
I buy Prime from my lfs, $26 and I have enough for about 2 years(although if I convince my wife to let me get another 40 it would almost cut the time in half). I run 2 AQQA medium filters on my 40, so if one goes out, I will be okay until I can get another one. My tank is in my basement so I just use a gravel vac right to the drain in the floor and I have a float that will autofill my tank and I have it running slowly, so it takes about 12 hours or so to completely finish. Although, I have never considered using a breeder box to isolate an injured fish, but I keep live bearers in order to give my kribs another source of food. I keep my house warm enough that even if the heater were to go out, the temp would only drop 2 degrees, so I would have time to get another heater.
kgtropicals is my new favorite youtube. thank you all so much for all the knowledge and help!!!
Hello, I’m wanting to change my 125 from guppy’s and shrimp and put them in my 75. I saw that u painted your 240 black all my tanks but the 125 or black and it look great what u did. Mine is blue and I’m going to paint black. Ok my question is I want to do cichlids and my substrate is eco complete would that be okay for cichlids? I really like that white substrate you guys have. What is it? I live in the desert and I have a Petco is all or I can buy it from who u recommend. Or should I keep it black on black like my truck lol thank you for all the videos you make and I would love that 360 or 340 I don’t even know where to find big tanks like that. Thank you for any advice you can help me with.
You folks are great! Love the bloopers too!
Here before I buy my next betta! Planning on getting a pretty expensive boy, trying to learn all I can
Water conditioner is a must have. And great comment on well water. So true. Wisconsin estimates 91% of wells are contaminated.
Nope. Its not. Ive never used it. We have a big water tank.
I have only tried 2 water conditioners and I have grown to love ammo lock. I have a 10 gallon tank and I have 2 air pumps hooked up to my tank running 2 airstones and 1 double sponge filters. I use a upto 40 gallon pump and a upto 10 gallon tank all hooked up to to the same air line. And I use 2 one way check valves to make sure air goes were I want it to go.
Just came to comment that, THAT IS A BEAUTIFUL THUMBNAIL AND PICTURE!!!
Great advice! I’ll be picking up an extra heater and some chemicals I hopefully will never need. But you never know right? I want to say that the outtakes at the end were hilarious. Every video should have those 😆
Bloopers were the best part!
You guys are a trip! Thanks for the great videos. I really loved the bloopers!
Lisa did excellent In this video even for #1 seriously
Including the bloopers at the end was a nice touch, don’t see that much on UA-cam; nice content
Nice video. Only thing i would add is extra parts for canister filters such as impellers and o rings. I love ur videos pls keep em coming. U guys are awesome 2gether, its nice when u can share ur favorite with ur favorite
Totally agree with that. I had to run my canister with a broken impeller. Praying that Amazon sent it fast. Now I keep the spare parts on hand.
A sponge filter is an awesome back up filter. Cheap and seeds w/ bacteria fairly quickly. I have a tank where I have two “extra sponge filters” running. I needed one during a routine maintenance job on a whisper 500 HOB filter. The thing was so old that the impeller blade broke on me. My son grabbed a sponge filter out of the other tank and all was safe until we found a fix. 👍🏽
@@HarrisonCountyStudio I keep one in my tank too. They can be a life saver. Can't go wrong with a sponge filter.
Great vid for all experience levels.
Thank you so much! All of your videos are very helpful and keep posting! For not only the beginner hobbyists but for everyone who loves their animals, keep it up brah!
this is great, and you are right. what I have trouble with is where best to source larger-end tanks themselves. ideas? 55 gallons is difficult to find. larger seem nearly impossible
Yet another great video, you guys have great advice as I’m a beginner! Also, I love the bloopers! Keep them coming!
Love the bloopers. Made me laugh out loud. Been watching your videos for almost a year now, even went to meet you guys at pvas meeting before pandemic started. Ty again for the selfies and extreme flakes. I was kinda star struck meeting you guys and completely forgot all my questions. From the vids I finally got your names, John Hudson and Lisa. ( my last name is Hutson with a t instead of a d) My question is what does K and G stand for in KG Tropicals? I hope I find the answer one day if your unable to answer, doesn’t matter, still love you guys. Hope to meet again someday when pandemic is over.
It stands for King George which is where we live:-)
What I've done is I buy a new sponge filter, hosing, and pump for any tank I get and every pump I get is rated for a larger tank than its on so if any one of my pumps breaks down I can just run some tubing to one of my other pumps in a pinch. I also kept the Hang on the back filter that came with my 10 gallon kit and have 4 airstones so if heaven forbid 2 of my pumps go down at the same time I have a backup plan for my backup plan. Always have a plan C.
As an alternative to extra tank, is big box or washing tub, saved my fish from leaking tank.
Yes i have one too. It's see trough so perfect for disease or quarantine. And it prevents multi-tank-syndrome 😂
I have an 18 gal clear tub I use for QT. I used to have a 10 gallon QT tank, but it's full of fish now! LOL
Magic erasers. Amazon yes. I get mine at local dollar store. 25c each. ORIGINAL nonscented. . Cleans, no scratches and does the silicon corners and tubing. A quarter a use. Besides the magnetic glass cleaners, magic erasers are perfect
I have a battery operated air pump with an air stone. I bought it for my minnow bucket while fishing. I will be digging it out and keeping it on standby now incase of a power failure
Spare Heater is definitely a must-have. My fish in a 60-gallon tank was recovering from ick when late at night my heater stopped working. Since it was 11pm at night, I couldn't go and buy another one. I had to wake up to half my fish dead. :/
In this situation. Depending on the temperature the fish need i would raise the room temp, safest option. Or heat lamp, incandescent light etc shining on it but this could also cook your fish if not careful. The former i have problems with in the summer, when i have the air conditioning on but my 115g and 150g remain at 80°f battling it out. In the winter it's nice though.
Love the bloopers!!! 😃
OXO Good Grips Deep Clean Brush Set, Phillips Avent Bottle Brush. Hose to Bucket Clip, the Blue Ones, make more secure with Wire Ties, and use the bucket handle, to lock it to the bucket. Bucket Handle Replacement Grip, the Six Color ones, you cut the old split handle off. Lab Wash Bottles, Plastic Lab Graduated Cylinders. Triangular Intake / Outtake Containers, get the ones with Imperial and Metric Markings. Battery Operated Air Pump, Tubing and Course Air-stones. For Saltwater, I have an extra Immersible, that’s smaller than my Return Pump, to get me through if the Return Pump Fails. I also use it to pump water back in the tank from my mixing barrel. ATO, and a make up water Vessel to put it in. Food Grade Citric Acid for cleaning filters and pumps. Vinegar will ruin your mag-drive pumps!
One of my favorite videos so far!
To me its all basic knowledge stuff but to the newcomer, its great info! Super funny at the end. I would have to say that the quarantine tank is probably the most important and underused item on the list.
I agree with every one of these. I'd just change #6 to meds in general and not limit it to only General Cure. Ick X and ParaCleanse are good to have on hand too.
Great advice even though I have kept and bread fish for years, you learn every day, thank you much appreciated , like the new food for extreme feeding, I will look for some here in the UK. Again thank you.
Hello. I bought Koi for my outside pond on eBay. They were a great buy and healthy; lived 5 years until I moved.
Aquarium salt is a very lovely soup honestly, I just finished a bowl of it.
Once again a very helpful vid for any fish hobbyist! I have all these items ready to go 😁 and by the way...you are sooo right about heaters 😆🌱💕🐟
Love these videos...big supporter here in the panhandle of florida...keep em coming!!!
Awesome! Thank you!
So glad I found you two!
Love your bloopers 😄😂🫶🏽🫶🏽
your list is spot on and the bloopers are to funny!
This was actually so helpful. I didn’t really think about getting a spare heater or air pump before this!
Love the video thanks for making it. You two have helped me so much with my fish care. Water changes have worked wonders for me.
Omg awesome adding the bloopers to your end of the video just added more watching value and you already have awesome watching value 😀 😊 😎
I haven't used water conditioner in over a yr. I have city hard water and there's chlorinate. I just put the hottest water from my tub into buckets, let it cool for for 24hrs and its ready to go. I have 3 tanks, planted non planted. but all mainstream fish, guppies, coli loach, snails, crayfish, algea eater, neon tetras. I've kept betta in there too. Not sure if im lucky or if one more product to scratch off the requirement list. Oh i never do water changes either. HOB, automatic light, and i self feed.
Okay I'm getting API's Fin and Body Cure, and API General Cure.
I've been trying to treat my Betta fish with a fungis thing on the side of his face near his gills. And now that I've thought about it, I believe he has Gill Flukes as well. And maybe... This weird skin condition going on with him is Skin Flukes. He also has cloudy eye setting in, so I hope this helps him!
I've been using Kanaplex, MetroPlex, SulfaPlex, and Melafix, and NONE of these treatments have worked. I mean, his find are all looking healthy now that's all I can say, haha! As well as the fungal/bacterial infection being gone from that open-ish wound on his face where I think he has Skin Flukes.
I will update in the chat weather or not API's Fin and Body Cure, or API General Cure has worked-!
YAY! I literally have all these products except a breeder box.
12:20 beautiful bleekeri love it 😍
10:45 - 12:00 a good alternative would be a cheap rubermade tote and keep extra filter media like a sponge filter in your current tank. That's a quick tank that can be set up in 10 minutes
Thank you guys! I’m a new fish keeper and your vids helped me a lot!
Super helpful video thanks guys
13:26-13:29 is likely most of us during this quarantine. Thanks for the excellent information.
Love your videos it's so dang wholesome.