Fish...

[Rebel=UK=]

Anyone here keep fish? Ive just bought a fish tank (well my fatha did) from ebay (it is new) THIS one. Does it sound good to the people in the know?

[Belatucadrus]

What do you want to keep in it ? for small freshwater tropical community fish it should be fine.

Just remember, start off slow do not put all the fish in at one go, the filtration system takes weeks to mature and a heavy load at the beginning usually means a lot of dead fish.

Also do some research on the fish you choose before buying, baby Oscars look cute at 2" but by the time they're 6" they'll have eaten everything else in the tank and they haven't stopped growing yet.

Never buy glass fish with fluorescent dayglo stripes, they've been injected with dye and rarely last long.

The only thing I don't particularly like about the tank are the proportions, it's rather tall and thin. As the number of fish you can keep is set by the surface area, it's not going to sustain as many as a wider style.

Tetra set up booklet pdf

[Rebel=UK=]

ah thats what we wanted we dont want a massive one as we only have a small living room,and this would fit in the corner nicely...That booklet will coome in handy i was going to look for something like that later, thats saved me that cheers mate

[andsome]

Keep it shielded as far as possible from sunlight, or the glass will go VERY green. DO NOT over feed, the fish are healthier for being a little under rather than over fed. If in doubt, reduce the size of feeds, but increase the frequency. Keep artificial lighting on for only a few hours, as this can also cause green algae. I have found that live bearing fish are very colourful and active, but can tend to be short lived, and many prefer brackish water, as they came from water which is near to the sea, and can contain a small amount of salt. Keep a couple of 'Corydorous' species catfish as they enjoy feeding from the bottom of the tank, and will eat food that other fish may miss. Two or three clown loaches, although they can get to about four inches long, are very interesting and showy fish, do NOT keep one only, as they like the company of others of their own species. Some of the small tetras are very colourful, and most are not expensive, but they should be kept as a small shoal, at least half a dozen. Plain ghost fish are interesting, you can see through them. Dwarf gouramies are also very colourful. Best thing to do is to get a handbook.

[doug]

Is that how you treat women?

[andsome]

Is that how you treat women?

Good looking women should NOT be kept in a dark corner

[Rebel=UK=]

Question

When should i out the first fish in, ive been told 3 weeks, 2 days and 1 week....im confused. its been set up since about 2pm on Thursday

[andsome]

Question

When should i out the first fish in, ive been told 3 weeks, 2 days and 1 week....im confused. its been set up since about 2pm on Thursday

If you put a chlorine removing agent in the water, there is NO reason why you can't put the first few fish in within three or four days. Ensure that you take the advice of a reliable dealer and get one or two cheap hardy ones first. Some of the cheaper tetras and barbs would not come amiss. You may be advised not to buy Tiger barbs because they are fin nippers. As long as you keep about half a dozen, and do not stock fish with long flowing fins you can ignore this advice, as they will sport nicely with each other, and ignore the other fish. I have kept tropicals for over forty years now, and have always enjoyed the barbs and tetras. As I have already told you, after a day or two get two or three corydorus species of catfish. They are small and have no special requirements, and will eat up otherwise uneaten food off the bottom of the tank.

[deuces wild]

1. Set up the undergravel filter then place washed gravel over top of it.

2. Fill the aquarium half way, using a plate at the gravel level to displace the force of the water.

3. Add your plants.

4. Fill up the aquarium all the way with water.

5. Add your heater and rear filter.

6. Hook the filters up to the pump(s) and plug everything in.

7. Let it stand for at least 2 full days. You may want to add a couple of drops of dechlorinizer to the water to make sure.

8. When you get your fish home keep them in the bags and let them float in the water (in the unopened bags) for 20 minutes. This allows the water temperatures to equalize.

9. Open the bags and pour in a bit of the aquarium water. Wait 5 minutes and repeat. After a half hour or so the fish can be released.

If this is a freshwater tank DO NOT add things like saltwater coral.

You will need maintain the tank every 2 to 4 weeks:

---strain off debris off the gravel

---siphon off 30-50% of the water and replace it with water you left standing in a couple of milk jugs over several days

---replace the filter media every month or so also.

Make sure your fish are compatible. There are some beautiful fresh water fish that are also quite aggressive and territorial (jack dempseys, oscars [in the cichlid family] etc).

It is a great hobby. Fish are quite relaxing to watch. Have fun.

[Rebel=UK=]

right well il get some of them tetras and barbs the morra, and ill remember to float them in the bags aswell............cheers lads

[andsome]

This is one of those hobbies where there will always be some conflict in advice. I never replace more than about ten to 15% of the water at a time, and I do this every couple of weeks. I tried and abandoned under gravel filters, and instead use a fluval external filter. I don't replace the filter medium, I merely wash it well in several changes of water removed from the tank. This ensures that I do not kill the beneficial bacteria in the filter with chlorinated water. I do this about once every three months as my filter is larger than needed. I always replace the 10% of water as soon as I have it up to aquarium temperature, having first given it a good dose of Stress Coat, which removes chlorine almost immediately. I use a hard ceramic type filter medium, and have had it for several years, merely rinsing it as I said in aquarium water. The thing to remember is that fishes pee produces ammonia which is toxic, and their solid wast produces Nitrite which is also toxic. Some of the beneficial bacteria in the filter converts the ammonia into more nitrite, but this does not matter as the other bacteria convert the nitrite into NITRATE, which is not toxic to the fish. This is why I consider it bad to keep replacing filter medium, and prefer to wash sediment from it with aquarium water as I have already said. The filter in not really meant to remove much in the way of sediment, it is meant to remove the harmful nitrite and ammonia. Excess mulm can be syphoned off the bottom with a device from the aquatic shop. This is preferable to allowing an under gravel filter to suck it deep into the gravel.

[deuces wild]

I was aggressive with the 50% water replacement. About a third of the tank is recommended.

Undergravel filters are a must. Replacing the filter medium is a also a must (it becomes saturated with ammonia and excretions). Filter medium is cheap and I don't know why one would reuse it.

Your mileage may vary but I base my comments on keeping a 125 gallon, a 55 gallon and two 29 gallon tanks going at the same time over a period of 20 consecutive years. :)

BTW: Use the water you drain from the aquarium to water your plants...it is rich in nutrients.

edit:

Some good starter fish (freshwater) include neon tetras (in groups of 6 to 10), gouramis, swordtails, rainbows, barbs and angel fish. You will also need a couple of bottom feeders like pictus or white tip shark catfish.

A good link for you to read:

http://freshaquarium.about.com/od/aquarium...ankmistakes.htm

[Rebel=UK=]

A good link for you to read:

http://freshaquarium.about.com/od/aquarium...ankmistakes.htm

that was a good read......but i have another question...what do u do with your dead fish??

its good to know that you guys know what your talking about :)

[deuces wild]

Your fish will die. And that is why it is important that you start out with the cheap ones before you get the hang of how to care for the fish and aquarium.

What to do with those that die? Flush 'em. :D

[Rebel=UK=]

owell thats simple enough..... :D

[deuces wild]

If you get really attached to a particular fish and it dies you can always build a small coffin and bury it. :D :lol:

[Rebel=UK=]

If you get really attached to a particular fish and it dies you can always build a small coffin and bury it. :D  :lol:

ill bury it in my cats big fat belly im sure she will have it :D

[deuces wild]

Don't do that....the cat will get sick. But I think that would make andsome happy. :huh:

[Rebel=UK=]

Don't do that....the cat will get sick.  But I think that would make andsome happy. :huh:

nah i would never do that really................................... :unsure:

[Belatucadrus]

In a well planted community tank, you'd need to be fairly quick to spot dead tetra or barbs, they get eaten. More durable fish like corys need pulling out ASAP. I'd be wary about angels as starter fish, they can get quite big and adults are not averse to scoffing the odd tetra given a chance. Best starter cichlids would be Curviceps or Keyhole. Butterflys are pretty, but a bit fragile for starters unless you live in a soft water area. African Kribensis are interesting, but they will breed fairly easily and if they do pair off become aggressively territorial attacking anything that comes into 'their' space.

Definite DO NOT buys they'll either get too big or trash the other inhabitants.

Baby red tailed catfish

Oscars or any cichlids likely to get above 6"

Osphronemus Gourami (Available as babys, but they are also known as giant gourami and grow absolutely huge )

Silver or Black sharks ( Red tailed black and rainbow sharks are fine, silver and black get big )

Silver dollars

Pacu

Lungfish

Clarias Batrachus or walking catfish.

Normal sized plecostomus catfish ( Dwarf & pygmy varieties only )

Pantodon Buchholzi or african butterfly fish

and on and on.

[andsome]

I just knew that this thread would get a lot of different opinions. My reasons for not using under gravel filters are as follows. I tried them in several tanks many years ago. They suck all the mulm into the gravel and rapidly clog it up. If you think about it, sucking mulm into the gravel is most unnatural, and would NOT happen in nature. Mulm should be syphoned of the surface of the gravel as I have suggested. Any filtration of course is unnatural, but will enable you to keep more fish at a time, as the toxic chemicals are removed as I stated above, so my suggestion is definitely an external filter. Solid ceramic filter medium is certainly not cheap, but will last indefinitely. Wash it as I said in aquarium water to remove mulm, and then put it back. It will already have a good colony of beneficial bacteria, and you will not have a period of time waiting for the colony to re-establish itself. In nature of course there is usually a flow of fresh water , and even there, beneficial bacteria will form in still ponds. An aquarium is after all only an undersized pond, and as long as it is not over populated, and ten to fifteen % of the water is changed fortnightly, you will be OK. There is NO point in being like an over zealous housewife, and taking all the enjoyment out of the hobby. Regarding saturisation of filter medium with toxic chemicals, of course this is likely to happen with under gravel filters as they become clogged. That is why I suggest syphoning the mulm off the top of the gravel regularly, and use an external filter, which will run for several months, and do a good job because it is able to support a good colony of beneficial bacteria, due to the constant flow of fresh water.

Regarding fish, I would agree with the list of no no's given by Belatucadrus, he mentions that red tailed black sharks are OK as against the larger species. I agree with this, but in a small tank I would keep only one, as they get territorial as they get older. In my opinion angel fish are a definite no no for the beginner. They are more delicate that some other fish, and their long fins are a temptation to fin nipping fish. I would also avoid neon or cardinal tetras at first, as they are not the cheapest of fish, and although they are gorgeous they are NOT long lived. Two or three corydorus catfish will clear otherwise uneaten food from the bottom of the tank. You have to consider that availability and price of different fish will be different in the UK, to what they are in other country's. This why I have mentioned the fish that I have recommended. You will make mistakes and will learn by them.

[andsome]

Further to the above. The main reason that I change any water at all, is merely to get rid of excessive nitrate, which has been formed by the beneficial bacteria converting ammonia and nitrite into nitrate. As stated, this nitrate is NOT harmful to the fish, but will feed green algae. The discarded water is NOT bad in any way at all. Providing the tanks is not over crowded, and producing too much nitrate, there really is no need to change more that ten to fifteen % of the water.

[andsome]

Plants have also received a mention. there is nothing nicer that a well planted mature tank. When I lived in Birmingham I had three main show tanks and a dozen smaller tanks for growing on fish that I had bred. Birmingham water at that time was soft, with Nil nitrate content, and a small amount of dissolved iron, which is beneficial. I used to grow plants so well in all these tanks, that every two or three weeks I was able to take dozens of cuttings down to local shops and sell them, it was a nice little earner. Since living in Staffordshire for thirty eight years, I have spent a fortune on plants, they just do not do well. The water is harder than that in Birmingham, and has a permanent nitrate level of 25ppm. Since no product on the market can reduce nitrate below 25ppm, there is always between 25 and 35 ppm of nitrate in the water. Even a full 100% water change would still leave 25ppm. If the aquarium lights are on for sufficient time for the plants, they are also on for long enough to encourage excessive growths of algae. I have now given up trying to grow plants in Staffordshire water, and instead have decorated the tank with large pieces of bog wood. It actually looks quite effective. Success in growing plants can depend largely upon local tap water conditions.

[Rebel=UK=]

i got some male guppys and a few tetras to put in for now to test........

[andsome]

i got some male guppys and a few tetras to put in for now to test........

Enjoy them. Male guppies are very colourful live bearing fish, but unfortunately not very long lived. There are hardy and peaceful. What tetras did you buy? I am a fan of tetras myself and always keep a few. The brightest most colourful tetras are probably Cardinal Tetras with a fluorescent strip all the way down the side, followed by Neon tetras, with a strip part of the way down the side. They are extremely colourful and peaceful, but again are not long lived and they can be a little pricey.Leave it now for about a week, then get two or three Corydorous species catfish to grub around the bottom of the tank. They are pretty hardy and can live for several years, and will not grow big. Any of the species are ideal, probably the peppered, or aneous are the most common, and there is an albino which is usually not quite so long lived. A small shoal of Zebra Danios will inhabit the top layer of the water mainly, and are extremely energetic quick swimming small fish, only growing to a little over one inch.