Suggest me some type of fishes to own as pet in an aquarium

[etherfast]

Hi,

I am planning to set up an aquarium in my house. I got all the equipment needed like tank, water filter, water heater, thermometer.

I will go to the library and read more on about fishes and before I go I was wondering which fishes you recommend to own that is easy to take care of, anything except for gold fish because I already have a small tank with bunch of gold fishes. I was thinking of tropical fish ...


thank you

[Rometiklan]

Before I can make suggestions, I need to know a few things about your set-up. What are the dimensions of your tank (L x H x D)? What kind of filtration are you planning on using? Are you keeping live or plastic plants? Are you a beginner, intermediate, or an advanced hobbyist?

[CSK'sMom]

Any why on earth do you have "small take with bunch of gold fishes" The general rule with goldfish is 10 gallons per fish. I have goldies that are just over 12 inches long now!

Now I'm off to do another water change as they've been spawning for 48 hrs now. >:(

[rfdrfd]

Neon tetras are cute and nice, but they never last long.

The only ones that live long enough are goldfishes. Actually I bought the FEEDER goldfishes for cheap cheap, 5 /10 are still alive and quite big now.

I felt happy that I was able to spare them from being "food" for other fishes haha.

[cchiu]

Mollies and platys are pretty easy to take care of but like the other poster said, make sure you have enough space for the adult fish. The general rule is 1 galloon per inch of fish.

Keep in mind Mollies and Platys reproduce relatively quickly so if you don't want babies, get all of one gender.

[etherfast]

Before I can make suggestions, I need to know a few things about your set-up. What are the dimensions of your tank (L x H x D)? What kind of filtration are you planning on using? Are you keeping live or plastic plants? Are you a beginner, intermediate, or an advanced hobbyist?

I have a 40 gallon tank and the dimensions are 32"x18"x16".
the water filter I bought this morning at big als fish store called "Marineland Penguin 350B Power Filter"

http://www.bigalsonline.com/BigAlsUS/ctl3684/cp19169/si1379661/cl0/marinelandpenguin350bpowerfilter

I will be keeping plastic for now, maybe will upgrade to live plants later on.

I am a beginner at this.

Any why on earth do you have "small take with bunch of gold fishes" The general rule with goldfish is 10 gallons per fish. I have goldies that are just over 12 inches long now!

Now I'm off to do another water change as they've been spawning for 48 hrs now. >:(


I meant to say small tank. I have 3 gold fish in a 12" fish bowl. The gold gish I have are the smaller ones, not the big ones

[nsx]

You may want to get a school of tetras (e.g., 6+ cardinal tetras) and a few zebra danios as a start. ;)

[CSK'sMom]

I meant to say small tank. I have 3 gold fish in a 12" fish bowl. The gold gish I have are the smaller ones, not the big ones

Get the goldies in a real tank or get rid of them. Three goldies in a 12 inch bowl is bad, really bad. They will grow quickly if given enough gallons. They are called pond pigs for a reason, they are actually quite dirty fish and require lots of filtration because of it.

rfdrfd, All my goldies were feeder fish as well. If you know what you're looking for it's actually quite easy to find comets, goldies and even longfin's. I also have wakins. :cheesygri

[ronny1980]

Puffer or pirahna.

[Chookman]

Mollies and platys are pretty easy to take care of but like the other poster said, make sure you have enough space for the adult fish. The general rule is 1 galloon per inch of fish.

Keep in mind Mollies and Platys reproduce relatively quickly so if you don't want babies, get all of one gender.

A word of advice. Don't get Mollies. They are a brackish fish and need salt for ideal conditions.

The easiest would be guppies. Otherwise, try something like Danios, Black Skirt tetras, Serpae tetras - most tetras except neon. Also try Gouramis but don't mix them with fin-nippers like the Serpae tetra.

[zoomzoom]

Puffer or pirahna.



+1 for the pirahna.... they are cool to watch when they are feeding.

[Takami]

You'll need to cycle the tank for 3 weeks with cheaper fish.

Zebra Danios and Tetras tend to last fairly long and are tough enough fish for a new tank. Once the bio content and PH are steady, you can intro other fishes that you'll like.

My personal favorites are the gouramis (light blue & kissers) and angelfish. They tend to be a bit smarter than other fishes. Get a golden (Chinese) algae eater as well to keep the tank clean.

You can also try some aquarium critters like African dwarf frogs and ghost shrimps. But so far, my experiences with them hasn't been good because they don't move much.

http://www.myfishtank.net/reviews/showcat.php/cat/20

http://www.fishbase.org/search.php

[aimfox]

for starters, go with goldfish than guppies

[TdotO]

Cichlids are a hardy bunch of fishes to own. They are aggresive fishes so don't mix them with other breeds. But, there's a bunch to choose from that are colorful and unique. Depending on the size you can probably get 5-8 cichlids.

[Bazooka Joe]

Danios, barbs, rainbowfish, and a pleco or clown loach. Should make a nice semi-active community in your 40 gallon.

Cichlids can be tricky as they are very aggressive and have specific water requirements. Some get very large. I've got a single Red Midas in a 75g tank and even that is pushing it a bit.

Stay away from anything with long fins as they'll kill anything else in the tank (siamese fighting fish, paradise fish, etc).

Kuhli loaches are kind of neat and get along well with everything.

If you need help finding fish that will work well together, here are a bunch of different combinations that MAY work (YMMV on any live creatures).

http://www.elmersaquarium.com/h701elmers_freshwater_handbook.htm

40 gallons is basically a perfect starter tank size. Good luck.

[thezone]

dwarf puffers but they are aggressive if you don't give them enough space or instead of fish get lots of cherry shrimp, bumble bee shrimp and tiger shrimp they are really neat.

[Rometiklan]

40 gallons is a great size for a beginner. The Marineland 350 is a great filter. I would definitely cycle your aquarium before introducing fish to your aquarium. There is a way of fishless cycling your tank. I recommend googling "fishless cycling aquariums" as there are lots of resource material on this topic.

For a 40, you can put together a really nice community set-up. A small school of corydoras and some otos would make a nice clean-up crew. There are many species of corys and they do a great job cleaning up leftover food on the aquarium floor.

I like tetras, but I would recommend having larger schools of 1 or 2 species of tetra rather than a mish-mash of 5 or 6 small schools of different types. In my tank, I have cardinal tetras and runny-nose tetras. Both these tetras are very colourful and they tend to school fairly tightly.

I would add a male betta. One of my favourite fish. Comes in many different colours and varieties. Despite its reputation for fighting, it's actually a very peaceful fish towards other species. It's only aggressive towards its own kind, especially other males.

I like gouramis. They grow to a nice size, and they are pretty hardy, and you have a lot of choices. My favourite is the pearl gourami...very peaceful, beautiful, and hardy. They can be your centerpiece fish. Some gouramis like blue and dwarf can get a little territorial, and pugnacious so be cautious when introducing them to your tank.

All these fish are suitable for beginners. Whatever you decide, it's best to research your choices before buying your fish, and make sure your tank is fully cycled before introducing your fish. I can't stress this enough. Join an online aquarium community like AquariaCentral. Lots of knowledgeable people always willing to help and answer your questions. Let us know which species you decide. Hope that helps.

[rock hard]

trout - good eatin when the mature :)

[etherfast]

HI,

Thanks for the suggestions. Yesterday I started to cycle my tank without the fishes inside, it is still running, so one more day be good enough?

I will be going to Big Als today on my lunch break and look at different types of tetras. Buying ~10 be too much?

Thank you

[smiloid]

Cycling will take weeks unless you do something to accelerate it (Filter media/Gravel from established tank, store bought cycle product, adding ammonia, buying some fish that will probably die, etc).

You will probably want to buy a test kit for ammonia,nitrites,nitrates, etc. If you go out and just add fish to a new tank like this, expect deaths.

[Bazooka Joe]

Cycling will take weeks unless you do something to accelerate it (Filter media/Gravel from established tank, store bought cycle product, adding ammonia, buying some fish that will probably die, etc).

You will probably want to buy a test kit for ammonia,nitrites,nitrates, etc. If you go out and just add fish to a new tank like this, expect deaths.

This person knows what they're talking about. It's a minimum 3-4 weeks to cycle a fresh tank with some fish (for a 40 gallon 3-4 small fish will work well - use hardy fish like danios or barbs). It can drag on to over 2 months depending on a bunch of circumstances that I have no idea about (it just happens sometimes). Only way to know for sure is a test kit (testing twice a day and graphing on excel is a good way to keep it all together to understand what's going on).

The way it works is: put a few small fish in, let the ammonia rise, then the ammonia goes down, then the nitrites rise, then the nitrites go down, then the nitrates start to rise. Once the nitrites are down you're good to go (add more fish). Nitrates constantly rise for ever (unless you've got plants to reduce them), so you will have to do water changes.

This really is a comprehensive subject, and if you want to avoid killing fish you should fully (or at least partially) understand what's at work before filling your tank with fish.

You may be confusing cycling the tank with letting the water sit to reduce chlorine/chloramine. There are additives (called water conditioner) that you can use to make this happen instantly.

[patriot]

My 2 cents.

I've been running aquariums for ~ 15 years. I have a Jewel Delta and a 40gal hex.

#1 - When looking for your initial fish, don't spend too much nor get attached to them odds are that they'll get the porcelin swirly.

#2 - Once the tank settles down, really decide how much maintenance you want to do (most people get systems because they're nice). More fish = more water changes etc.

From my experience I would recommend you setup small at first;

- 1/2 dozen neons (black), 2 otos, one or two corys. Find a small piece of wood for your system as well.

Or

- 1 "small" oscar ... they grow fast, a pleco (as big as the Oscar)

Remember a fish will eat anything it can fit in its mouth. Good to know when your at the fish store.