O yeah... Fish.

Well, I haven't really kept up with the story, have I? Oh, you don't mind? Ok. Better to compress 4 weeks into 2 or 3 paragraphs?
Well, alright.

If I learned one thing in putting the tank to rights, it's to read, and plan. Ok, that's two things.



But really only one - wait. There are a lot of questions than need answering before filling up the tank. From the most basic (saltwater or fresh?) to stuff that requires some more thought (which fish?).

Like, if I were to ask what you should do with gravel before putting it down... you might say, "I guess you'd basically just rinse it off." ..... Well, ok, smart guy - you win this round.

Some things I learned:
Rinse your gravel off before putting it in.

Decide whether you want live plants - from what I read it's not that tough, but now I can't just dump a bunch of substrate in on the fish's heads.

Make sure the area is ok, so you're not worrying 3 weeks about stress fractures.

Barely believe anything you read or hear about fish, from even the most reliable source. Almost everyone is misinformed, lying, thinking of the wrong fish, or had a really atypical experience. And there's no way to tell the honest, helpful people from these freaks. (No links, because this is universal. I'll get into specifics next time.)

I'll probably write on this later, but I've learned a lot about aggression and compatibility - after I decided on all the cool fish I wanted.

After reading up, I'm shooting for some discuseses (left), and the coolest fish that won't stress them to death.

So, although I can't get gouramis, most loaches, or probably one of those awesome $40 angel cats Fish Mart just got in - I think it's gonna work out just fine...