I kept bettas on and off through high school and college, but only seriously got into keeping fish in the past year and a half, after graduating college. One of the things that really sparked my interest in the hobby was stumbling across Serpa Design on Youtube –*his work inspired me to make the leap to live plants and start doing more research to learn the basics of aquascaping. It's been so rewarding to learn about designing tanks and making environments that mimic nature and help keep the fish happy and healthy.
I have two tanks at the moment –*one is a 20-gallon with a betta and 10 neon tetras, and the other is a 5-gallon that I've had up for almost two years now, home to three guppies. Both tanks are planted (low-tech, as I don't have the space/budget for CO2), though the 20-gallon is a little sparse at the moment and I'd love to fill it out more. I plan on setting up a shrimp tank sometime in the near future, and I'd also love to have one or two larger tanks once I have a little more room, which will hopefully be in the next few months.
Any recommendations on good local fish stores would be highly appreciated! I've visited some of the stores in my area, but I'm new enough to the hobby that I'm sure I often don't know the right questions to ask.
You can try taking a look at Bob's Tropical Fish (in East LA). Nice selection.
I'm in W. Covina, so my go-to has been CK Fish World (W. Covina). They recently moved to a larger location, but a great LFS w/ a really nice selection.
I've been in and out of the hobby multiple times (where I've seen come fish keeping guidance come full circle). What I've concluded (as with most things), there are very few set rules, and lots of exceptions. It's often good to ask the same question to different people, cuz the answers are not always the same. Take the information and compare it to your specific conditions, cuz there are wayyyy to many variables (e.g., tap water has very different chemistry depending on your supplier and could be hard/soft and have differing nutrient compositions, some fishkeepers use RO water; lighting needs are often plant specific and can vary based on other factors such as available nutrients; water flow is another one... some species (fish/plants) like still waters, and others like flowing currents; even a few degrees temperature difference can have an impact depending on the circumstances..). Then, even with an arsenal of information, there's still gonna be some trial and error....
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