Fish Tank Experts Apply Within

**BuddyLee.** · 01-21-12, 07:45 PM

My daughter is 2 now and loves fish. I haven't had any success with fish in the past. Would like maybe 10 fish. I have nothing as of right now.

BL

**Bunni** · 01-21-12, 08:04 PM

What advice are you looking for? Advice on: type of tank, size, or type of fish? Or even 'all of the above'?

IMO, alot goes to what kind of maintenance you are willing to put in. Some set-ups can be relatively maintenance free, while others require bi-weekly or even weekly attention.

With fish if you want multiple types, you'll have to do a lot of research on what types of fish can cohabitate. Some species can live together fine, but if your looking to have an investment that will last a while, you'll want to enable the fish to have offspring and you will have to ensure none of the inhabitants will try and eat the eggs and / or offspring.

The research goes a LOOONNNGGG way though and there has to be websites out there which make it easy to lookup and check if certain species are compatible...

**BuddyLee.** · 01-21-12, 08:41 PM

All of the above advice. I don't want a massive tank I can't move myself. I would prefer bi-weekly cleaning. What size tank for 10 fish? What type of filtration? What types of fresh water fish? Food? Lighting? Plants, fake or real?

BL

**CivilWars** · 01-21-12, 08:53 PM

Go to Petco or Petsmart. When I had my tank up and running I talked to their employees quite a bit. They can give you advice on fresh vs salt, what fish play well together, how to setup your tank, etc. then once you know about what you wind look for it on craigslist for about half price.

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**huh?** · 01-21-12, 09:18 PM

Some basic thoughts... It's about 1 inch of fish per gallon. If you get 10 neons, about 1" each, you can get a 10 gallon tank. If you are getting bigger fishes or known to grow up much bigger, you want bigger tank. My wife went from a fish bowl to 5 gallon to 10 gallon to now 70 gallon. Don't be fooled by the picture on the box cover, 15-20 fishes in a 10 gallon tank. Also, I would strongly vote against gold fish. We have 3, and they have grown from 3 inches to now 6 inches. All they do is eat and shit. They don't stop eating and they continue shitting. They make the tank/water dirty really quick, so you need to constantly changing water, like bi-weekly.

Oh and another note, you need get the water ready before you put fishes into your tank. So, don't buy tank and fishes in the same day. Buy your tank couple weeks ahead, put some bacterial in the water, and have it running for couple weeks. Then you can check the ph of the water. Once it's ready, you can then buy fishes to put them in. We made that mistake early on, and quite a few fishes died because the water was not ready.

**HeavyG** · 01-21-12, 09:35 PM

I currently have a 55 gal with about 15 African Chiclids in it. I started with 20, but some were killed off. I have had good luck with Africans, but the tank requires a good cleaning every week.

Guppies are good for kids. They are cheap, colorful, and small.

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**deathgodusmc** · 01-21-12, 09:36 PM

First you have to decide fresh or salt water. Fresh water is less maintance but less enjoyable because the fish are for the most part plain. Fresh water is also cheaper in every aspect. Then you have to decide what size fish are you trying to put in it. Seeing as you have an idea of how many fish you want you need to decide on what their size will be to determine the size tank needed.

Most fresh water doesnt have an issue being in the same tank but there are a few exceptions to that. No one here needs to break that down for you. The place where your buyin them will be able to tell you if its an aggresive fish or not. Agressive fish eat other fish in worst case scenarios or bite the fins off of other fish is best cases.

If you plans are to have fish that stay fairly small a 10 gallon wil be just fine. Around a 20 gallon is a safe bet for them to have plenty of air per fish but make sure you buy the right size pump for the tank or they could soficate. The lights for the specific tank size will do just fine.

All tanks have to be cleaned. So some food for thought is the more fish you have the more it has to be cleaned. Most fish will eat about any food you drop in their but some are picky. All the foods sold at petsmart will list what the food is meant for. Of course you can always watch when feeding to get an idea which food certain fish prefer.

As for fresh water doing well together i never had issues with any type of fresh water sharks and bumble bee puffers but as i said earlier non aggresive ussually have no issues.

Salt water is a whole new game. It requires monitoring of the waters ph, salt, calcium levels at least weekly. Not to mention there really is no way to say what will live together peacefully. I've had plenty of "non aggresive" fish spend their entire day tormenting other fish. Damsels are about the only suggestion i could give you in good faith that they would not fuck with each other.

Plus with salt water its not just buying a tank. You have to buy an airrator, skimmer, and good light unless you buy something similar to an eclipse or oceanic sytem.

Oceanic Systems

Salt water tanks always look good and the fish are a much better color but its more work. Plus with salt water you can have snails and crabs to eat the algea that gets into the tanks where fresh water your pretty much stuck with a plecostomus. I always like them but they arent the prettiest thing to look at.

**deathgodusmc** · 01-21-12, 09:43 PM

I'll also warn you once you get into salt water the shits addictive and expensive. I started with a 14 gallon eclipse tank. Then started a 90 gallon tank. Then added 4 55 gallons. Then a 451 gallon pond. By the time i was done setting up tanks i had probably 3 grand in tanks and equipment and 10 grand inside them. Then the economy went south and its all history for now. I already have plans on building a 1500 gallon pond with a canal. All i have to do is figure how to keep these damn hawks away from it without building a damn enclosure for it and what type shark to put in it.