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General => General discussion => Topic started by: T_J_G on 16 August 2012, 16:39
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Right,
The other half has decided she wants to have some tropical fish, we've done quite a bit of research and have probably decided on this tank (http://www.seapets.co.uk/products/aquarium-supplies/aquariums/fluval/elite-and-marina-fun-aquariums/marina-style-glass-aquarium-tropical-set-60-litre-and-cabinet-complete.html) it's effectively a 60 litre starter kit with everything we should need apart from gravel, decoration and fish.
Does anyone else keep tropical fish? Any advice on what fish to get? We are after community fish and eventually enough to fill the tank (don't want just one or two fish). I think she wants guppys, zebra danios and some form of tetra to start with. (basically anything that is 'pretty' :rolleyes:)
So show me your tanks/fish!
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Are you still suppsed to clean those types of tanks out, or is the whole point that they never get dirty because of the filter?
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less is more with tropical fish imo.. its very tempting to fill your tank with as many as possible but it can look cluttered
have you thought about chichlids? very varid in colour but still freshwater and something away from the norm
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I have a 400L tropical tank, weekly maintenance is a must, with a small tank it is vital that you do 10% changes weekly, a tank the size of mine & as mature as mine it can pretty much go for a few months before requiring any cleaning, bigger tanks are easier to keep as the water changes are much more gradual, www.thetropicaltank.co.uk is an amazing forum full of info, learned almost everything i know from there, fish keeping is not about the fish, its about the water, have good water & you can keep any fish you like :wink:
Chichlids are quite tricky for the beginner & some require brackish water conditions
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Nige-you have to do certain percent water changes over time. But it's all about keeping levels spot on. We won't go mad with fish but want some variation in colours/size.
Any comments about the tank we have chosen?
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its not massive so manke sure the fish you buy wont out grow the tank, avoid discus and oscars as they will get too big quick! stick with guppies,mollies, tetras, loaches, siamese fighters for a bit of colour but make sure you have no fin biters!
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If you want pretty fish, go for a marine setup dude :wink:
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Shep, you've listed all the fish we want :)
MrO- would love to go marine but seems like a lot of hassle!
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We had some for 2 years. Only had a 90l tank but we did weekly water changes, between 10/15% depending on the water condition.
One of our fish got whitespot though, which in turn killed all the other fish as it passes on to other fish pretty quick, despite us cleaning out the whole tank.
Would love to start up again, can get expensive as you always want more fish, bigger tank, more plants..
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I have a marine set up and agree with whats been said. bigger the tank the easier. mines very small about 40 letres so can only really have two fish in. and its a right pita to keep on top of. weekly maintenence is a must as said. i went on holiday for 13 days and when i came back my fish had died cause my sister didnt think the water needed cleaning case it didnt look dirty
Same principle in tropical tanks. so get as big as you can as a starter.
the fish you listed seem to be common starters. Look at the live aquaria website for a wide range of different fishes and info on them. also pop into your local marine/fish specialist ide find one that is purely a tropical or marine or both shop not a pet store cause the guys in the fish shops seem to be more helpfull and clued up. have a look. see what you like. Might find a nice tank and you might get a deal i.e buy all the stuff you need to start it up and when your tanks mmaatured he might give you discount on fish. or they might have a starter kit deal...
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Go onto facebook & search June Kemp - she keeps/sells tropical fish & she's really easy to get on with! Not just saying that because she's my mum in law. She is a genuinely good seller :)
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Go for danio's, tetra's, coreys, barbs and fish like that to start with, they will die and fight but they are cheap.
When you have the hang of it start looking at the more spectacular fish.
I have two big fat clown loaches which are about 6 years old, they follow my fingers and splash for food when they are hungry :grin:
I also have a big pleccy.
Sometimes I stick some tetras in for colour, but my loaches and plec are the mainstay.
I find changing the water lots and having a "clean" tank upsets my loaches, I use filtered water to top up and only do a 20% change every 3 months or so.
I clean the filter weekly and make sure it breaks the surface of the water and has good flow.
This seems to work for my fish.
That's the knack really, finding out a routine and set up which works without being a bringer of death :grin:
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My top tip would be to use a filter that is ment for a tank twice the size and turn the flow rate right down as smaller filters tend to suck.
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I would recommend adding a pleco to the tank. These fish tend to eat the algae from the tank. They do grow pretty quick though, so buy them young.
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Aint rain water preferable, even over filtered?
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My top tip would be to use a filter that is ment for a tank twice the size and turn the flow rate right down as smaller filters tend to suck.
+1
I would recommend adding a pleco to the tank. These fish tend to eat the algae from the tank. They do grow pretty quick though, so buy them young.
The Common plec's grow very quick and don't stop growing when the tank starts getting too small like other fish.
I suggest a Golden nugget plec if you dont want a monster in a few years, they are both very entertaining though :cool:
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I apreciate some people are not experts in fish keeping but some of the advice given here is very mis-leading.
I have kept tropical fish for 13yrs and can tell you the things you need to look into.
First you need to read up on fishless cycling, you cant just set the tank up and plop fish in as you will kill them by slowly poisoning them. You need to add a source of ammonia to start your cycle, this will take a while to explain so your best bet is to read the articles on practicalfishkeeping magazine website. A fishless cycle generally takes about 4 weeks before the water is safe for fish.
Zebra danio are too fast swimming for your size tank. Being a 60litre im guessing the tank is 24"x12"x12"?
In that case you can keep 24" of adult size fish this will be the tank fully stocked. For example you could have 4x male guppies = 12" 2x platys = 8" and 2x bristlenose pleco = 3" totalling 24".
You would have to stock slowly adding one group of fish a week over a few weeks. I would expect to do about a 25% water change weekly.
Suitable fish for this size tank are harlequins, glowlight tetra, guppies (only get males), platys and poosibly ruby barbs? I wouldnt get tiger barbs with guppies as they eat fins and definately DO NOT get clown loaches!! They get to 12" each and need to be in groups of 6 or more.
Need any help just ask or join the practical fishkeeping forum!
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I apreciate some people are not experts in fish keeping but some of the advice given here is very mis-leading.
I have kept tropical fish for 13yrs and can tell you the things you need to look into.
First you need to read up on fishless cycling, you cant just set the tank up and plop fish in as you will kill them by slowly poisoning them. You need to add a source of ammonia to start your cycle, this will take a while to explain so your best bet is to read the articles on practicalfishkeeping magazine website. A fishless cycle generally takes about 4 weeks before the water is safe for fish.
Zebra danio are too fast swimming for your size tank. Being a 60litre im guessing the tank is 24"x12"x12"?
In that case you can keep 24" of adult size fish this will be the tank fully stocked. For example you could have 4x male guppies = 12" 2x platys = 8" and 2x bristlenose pleco = 3" totalling 24".
You would have to stock slowly adding one group of fish a week over a few weeks. I would expect to do about a 25% water change weekly.
Suitable fish for this size tank are harlequins, glowlight tetra, guppies (only get males), platys and poosibly ruby barbs? I wouldnt get tiger barbs with guppies as they eat fins and definately DO NOT get clown loaches!! They get to 12" each and need to be in groups of 6 or more.
Need any help just ask or join the practical fishkeeping forum!
I'm trying to find the impractical fishkeeping forum myself...
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i dont clean my tank weekly and is small 35 cm squared in bedroom no direct light other is 60cm long in kitchen, does get some sun. I had the guppies from birth and are 16 months old. The levels ammonia etc usually fine, i had no deaths just odd one, got about 9 in one and 6 in other. Only problem i find leaving 3 weeks or more is algae, its a right effort get it off ornaments i had a few ruined by leaving to long. Maybe mine are healthy as not pet shop fish, i used have more deaths from pet shop ones coinsidence :undecided:
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You will get algae if the tank has sunlight on it.
35cm tank is too small for 6 guppies. Just because they are not dead doesnt mean its ok.
A puppy wont die if you put it in a rabbit hutch but does it make it ok?!
I dont know why people think its ok to keep fish in sub-standard conditions but not other animals, what makes them any less deserving of correct living conditions?
If you are going to keep a pet why wouldnt u research how to care for it and the correct way to keep it? Whats the point if u dont want to do this?
Cant remember who made the comment to stock with corys, barbs etc because they will die but they are cheap?!? Sorry but thats disgusting.
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Maybe a little cold hearted but 99% of people who start up a tank do something stupid and wipe out most of their stock.
It takes time to learn and patience which is seldom found these days, most folk will buy the biggest shiniest fish in the shop and sod the good advice folk give them.
From a financial point of view it makes sense, ethically we could argue all day, would I rather see someone learn on guppies and tetra's? Yes.
Not everyone takes to fish keeping especially tropical, and it pains me to see long lived fish sitting in a zombie tank until they all die or the owner gives them up to a river.
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Try African Milawies, excellent Fish and hardy :smiley:
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african malawis will not fit in a 60 litre tank!! you need to seriously overstock african malawis to disperse aggresion as they are very aggresive towards each other!
the only cichlids you could keep in this size tank is tanganyikan cichilds and even then you are only looking at a pair.
if you are a beginner i would suggest doing some serious research from decent sources and not going on advice from joe bloggs of your local fish shop who will undoubtedly sell you something unsuitable because they are there to make money at the end of the day.
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Yeah the tank size is approx 24 inches. We have now purchased the tank and stand as it was on special offer at Pets at Home.
We have done plenty of research into the cycling, can anyone recommend a test kit? The tank won't be set up for a while as its not ideal at the moment. But some quick cycle stuff came with the tank so should have it running nicely in about a week.
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http://www.charterhouse-aquatics.co.uk/catalog/api-freshwater-master-test-kit-p-1091.html
By far the best and most acurate.
I am guessing u got stress zyme with the tank and it tells you to add some then add some hardy fish?
If you google stress zyme reviews you will see its no good and doesnt cycle your tank.
If you are not planning on getting fish for a while could you not set it up and get it cycling? It will prob take 4 weeks for the tank to cycle. You need to add a source of ammonia, i use a prawn and put it in a fish net at the top of the tank, it will break down and start off the bacteria you need to keep your tank clean.
If you test everyday for Ammonia, And Nitrite you should see them peak then fall and when they are back to 0 you test for Nitrate, at this point it will be high but you do about 50% water change then test again.
You should then add a few fish, if you leave the water with no source of ammonia the bacteria will die and you need to start all over again.
As i say, you should allow 4 weeks.
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Nope can't have it up and running til we've moved house.
I'll have a look at what potions we've got and update this, we aren't going to rush in to this.
Edit: nutrafin cycle - says tank ready in 48 hours although will leave longer and test levels.
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It wasnt intentional I didnt end up selling the rest, I thought looked quite spacious for 6 the tank is acually 35 by 35 height and is 45 deep, unsure what the litre tha makes it. I thought was big enough, they are female and not very big fish. Everyone seams to say something different same on some forums.
I ment to quote the reply must picked wrong thing :undecided:
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There is a good site, aqadvisor that you put your tank dimensions in and the fish you have/want and it tells you of any potential problems and how stocked your tank is. Worth a look.
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(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v215/T_J_G/photo-116.jpg)
After a very long wait to get the house we've made some progress. Was going to set it up but haven't got any gravel.
Please ignore the 1980s curtains :sick:
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90 ltrs?
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60 I think
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I got my rod licence and the batter mix ready, let me know if its cool to pop round and have the deep fat fryer on :grin: :grin: :grin:
On a serious note, any tips with ponds, I got like 6/7 fish that live in the "swamp" and have been alive and living, only discovered them recently?
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There's not much meat on a neon tetra!
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There's not much meat on a neon tetra!
do em up like white bait and provide a chilli dip :grin:
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Water is in, just got to wait for the levels to settle then its fish time.
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if you know someone who aready has a tropical set up you could speed up the cycling of your tank if they would give you half of a filter sponge out of their filter (presuming they have a filter that uses multiple sponges so theirs won't be effected by the gift) as it will already have nitrifiing bacteria on it :afro:
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We've used some cycling stuff to get it going, have fed the tank as well.
Should be 'ready' in 24 hours, but want to get a test kit.
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The worst thing about cycling the tank is one day it'll look fine but the very next it can spike badly, likewise when you first introduce live stock to it.
I used to keep a topaz puffer along with some danios ect. Awesome little fella but damn he was messy.
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Update: we have the 60l up and running with some guppies, tetra and rummy noses. We're going to add some gourami (probably a pair) as we've just upgraded to this tank and stand
http://www.petplanet.co.uk/product.asp?dept_id=3365&pf_id=51037
We've also got a betta (male fighting fish) I'm a small tank. We ordered him off the net and the postman brought him :laugh:
Think someone has caught the fish keeping bug :whistle:
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Didn't even know this thread was around!
There is hope on this forum for fishy lovers! :smiley:
The fishyness cycle as it called is the nitrogen cycle and getting PH values right and constant is half the battle & fun.
I would look into plants and decent co2 set up for tropical. Plants really help with algae build up and removing the Ammonia nitrates. Removing 10% of old water and wash the filters out in it is the best course and then top up with DE-chlorinated water after. Api do a good testing kit for around £18 which has about 10 tests to work out the eco system.
I leave at least one week before sticking fishes into a tank and the last day I would transfer the old filter from the old tank to spread good bacteria into the new eco system to speed things up!
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Already do all that and have the API Master test kit.
Looking at live plants tomorrow and getting the cabinet made and fill the tank.
Relatively new to all of this, but the other half is loving it!
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Only just discovered this fishy thread too :smiley:
Anyone keeping pond fish?
I've been keeping keep koi, orfe, mirror carp, shubunkin (and a few goldfish) for last 11 years. Inherited 3 very badly maintained ponds when we moved into our house and was bitten by the fish keeping bug. Got 10,000L outdoor pond and use Oase biofilters, pumps and air stones. Also carry out regular water quality testing and partial water changes when necessary - same principles as tank fish - nitrogen cycle etc. Koi can be quite destructive and will eat most plants so I leave pond clear of vegetation.
It is an addictive hobby!