Tell me about your pet fish!

gp2.0

Thu, May 03 2012, 12:28 am

We're planning on getting fish and I would like to know everything there is to know first. Of course I'm doing extensive googling but I wouldn't mind some personal advice and tips as well.

Which highly promoted accessory is not good at all, which overlooked accessory is vital?
Live plants or artificial?
Gravel or sand?
Saltwater or freshwater?
Which filter?
Lighting?
Temperature?
Good beginner fish?
Anything else?

We just got a thirty gallon tank. (And stand. And some other accessories. Yay freecycle!)

I'm so excited!

red sea

Thu, May 03 2012, 7:28 am

if you go with saltwatere here is what I reccomend;

sand - no live plants - use copper in the water - keep the tank far away from outdoor light - a rock or two - the best filter; filter you'll need any plain old heater and decorate any further with fake stuff. Salt water is a bit more complex than freshwater, the filter is always a significant cost of having fish. And either get damselfish are a hardy choice, they are very active but quite aggressive to each other. For a tank with nicer middos - a clown fish, a yellow tang and maybe a gobie, be careful not to scare these fish by banging on tank at them or they might hide forever.

achayl

Thu, May 03 2012, 7:56 am

We have a 33 gallon tank - about 10 years now.

Freshwater
live plants (use fertilizer pills in gravel once a month)
fluorescent lights - a canopy over an open topped tank. (after much failure with the regular top that comes
with a tank-not enough light)

bio wheel filtration system
heater
small gravel
wood piece for frogs to hide under
we have: Mollies (keep having babies!)
algae eater
cardinal tetras
african dwarf frogs (they live like fish always under water)

We tried Angel fish but they're quite aggressive, we've also had a ruby shark before too.
Just make sure all the fish you get can live together properly.

Hatzlacha!

gp2.0

Fri, May 04 2012, 1:32 pm

Love the idea of clownfish, DD would love to see 'Nemo' in the fish tank. Not that she's ever seen the film, but she has a little wind-up bath toy of Nemo.

So maybe I'll base a fish tank around clownfish. Gives me something to work around. I just had no idea where to start. Too many options are overwhelming.

tikva18

Fri, May 04 2012, 2:32 pm

Fish costs can be considerably higher if you decide to do salt water. I have no experience in that arena, other than seeing what they cost when I'm in the store.

I have a 46gal bowed freshwater tank. We've been keeping fish for 17+ years and I grew up with a tank. Currently I have cichlids from Lake Malawi in Africa. I have no plants in my tank and tons of rocks.

You should read up on different types of fish and decide what kind of tank is right for you. Do you want a quiet tank where everyone gets along 'swimmingly'? do you want a tank that's slightly more exciting? do you want an all out aggressive tank where there's always action?

Once you decide how the tank behavior should be then you can begin to look at fish. If you decide you want a community tank (safe behavior) then you can think about types of fish. Some safe community tank fish are: swordtails, mollies, rasboras, most gouramis, danios, etc That was by no means conclusive - just a short starter list.
A semi aggressive tank - which imo, is more exciting - could have danios, barbs, rainbows (all of which could probably maybe go in the first category as well), pencilfish, leporinus, some cichlids, 'sharks' (not really sharks, just so called by the way they appear).
An aggressive tank - cichlids - it depends on where they are from and within that area what their behavior will be - so some are super aggressive and some aren't. There are other aggressive fish out there, but will be too big for your tank.

Another thing to consider is where the fish will be swimming in the tank. There are 3 areas: top , middle, and bottom. Catfish like the bottom as do loaches, rainbow fish like the top as do danios, others are happy in the middle.

Depending on the type of fish you get will help determine what temperature you need the tank to be. A good heater is probably necessary as well as a thermometer to measure the temp. You'll also need a filtration system - we have a biowheel.

Decorations can be the least important - or they could play an important role in the tank. For my tank the decorations are certainly not only that - my fish need lots of rocks in which to hide so that they will feel safe and be safe. Other fish need plants to feel safe. If I were to stock my tank with plants they'd be eaten.

The substrate - gravel or sand - could be a personal choice - I happen to have natural gravel in mine, but I've toyed with the idea of switching to sand.

Oh, last thing you'll need is a cleaning system - we have one where you hook one end to the faucet in the bathroom and flip a switch and it will remove the water from your tank - (never do more than a 50% water change in most cases).

Lastly, you'll need to make sure that the water is safe for the fish - a water testing kit will tell you that. You can't add fish in right away unless you add active bacteria to the tank - or you will need to buy a few fish that you don't mind dying so they can establish the biology first.

Our tank actually sat empty for a short while this winter due to a fish that became overly aggressive - and we had to add bacteria when we restarted. Bli ayin hara, so far so good.

Hatzlacha! and you can always ask me questions. If I don't know, then I'll try to direct you to a place to get the answers.

tikva18

Fri, May 04 2012, 2:34 pm

Oh! one more consideration is food. What they eat. I won't put in fish in my tank if they will only eat live foods. I want them eating pellets.

Another consideration is ph of the water - they need to be compatible fish - if the ph for one type is 5 and another is 8 - you won't be able to successfully keep them.

ra_mom

Fri, May 04 2012, 7:08 pm

you need to decide if you want freshwater fish, or saltwater fish.

once you choose a type, you need to choose an assortment of fish that live well together.

then comes all the equipment

Culturedpearls

Sat, May 05 2012, 11:14 am

We have several tanks. We keep tropical fish in one & cichlids in the other & a baby tank! The PH is very important & we test it regularly.
A good filter & also an underground one, heater, thermometer etc.
Water changes are a must.
Our kids do all this & it's tons of work .
They also breed them.

gp2.0

Sun, May 06 2012, 8:53 pm

Do I need a protein skimmer?

How do you do water changes? How often do I need to do a 30% water change? Every week or every two weeks?

Do any of you have anything other than fish - snails, crabs, sea stars, anemone, coral and what can you tell me abou them?

red sea

Tue, May 08 2012, 3:21 pm

the filter I linked has a built in skimmer. anemone are very high maintenance would not recommend you go there unless you become a very big fish nut dedicating tons of hours and cash to the hobby. Using copper in a salt water tank takes saltwater from very high skill level and much more time intensive down to the work of an average fish tank and the fish stopped dropping dead and getting sick all the time. Once you add copper you can never add anemone and such to the tank.

I just used a magnet to clean the glass and bottom feeders will work the floor. Did the water changes less often than was supposed to.

gp2.0

Wed, May 09 2012, 11:43 pm

How important is live rock?

red sea

Thu, May 10 2012, 10:47 am

You need it to get the live organisms going, but in a small tank that size two should work.

gp2.0

Thu, May 10 2012, 11:38 am

Right, originally I just planned on getting 2-3 pieces to cycle the aquarium. Then I started reading that they recommend one pound per gallon?! So 30lb of rock for a 30 gallon tank? Too expensive. Confused

I guess I can always add more rock later.

It's hard to sort out which information is really necessary when reading it online.

red sea

Thu, May 10 2012, 12:25 pm

just make sure to add the cheapest hardy fish first to make sure it is ready for the more expensive ones.

gp2.0

Thu, May 10 2012, 8:21 pm

I just realized what to do about the live rock - I can get one or two pieces 'live' and then a bunch of 'dead' rocks (which are a LOT cheaper) and then the dead rocks will turn into 'live' ones because of the bacteria present in the 'live' ones. Problem solved. Smile

gp2.0

Thu, May 10 2012, 8:50 pm

red sea wrote:

just make sure to add the cheapest hardy fish first to make sure it is ready for the more expensive ones.

Planning on starting with yellowtail damselfish. Smile

gp2.0

Tue, May 15 2012, 11:09 pm

Well, while I still love the idea of clownfish, now I'm worried that a saltwater tank is too expensive, as well as difficult to maintain for a beginner...basically I STILL haven't made up my mind...

gp2.0

Wed, Jul 18 2012, 10:34 pm

Was just thinking about this thread and wanted to thank you all for your detailed information. Still have no fish, but am leaning toward freshwater because of the lesser expense. When I finally get some fish I'll let you know which ones!

And I got a bio wheel filtration system, so thanks for that rec!

gp2.0

Tue, Aug 14 2012, 12:25 am

achayl wrote:

I'm now leaning more toward an arrangement like this, though I'm thinking guppies instead of mollies.

gp2.0

Mon, Sep 03 2012, 8:54 pm

Yay! We have fish! So I did a tropical freshwater setup, and we have 2 fancy guppies (there was another but there was an Unfortunate Incident), 5 black skirt tetras and 2 sunset platies.

I still want to add one or two mickey mouse platies and a bottom feeder/algae eater. And possibly a couple of frogs, though I'm undecided on those. And maybe a few tiny neon tetras. And then the tank will be full and I'll be wishing I got a 55 gallon instead. LOL

Fish are so low maintenance! Compared to what I've already had. With a bird or guinea pig, I had to constantly change bedding or it would smell. Food would always be flung all around the cage. They were noisy. They needed toys. With fish, all I need to do is feed them and change the water now and then...easiest pet ever.