Tropical Fish

[T_J_G]

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 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'  )
So show me your tanks/fish!

[bobbarley]

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?

[Guy]

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

[Dogbot]

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  

Chichlids are quite tricky for the beginner & some require brackish water conditions

[T_J_G]

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?

[shepgti]

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!

[Mr_Orange]

If you want pretty fish, go for a marine setup dude 

[T_J_G]

Shep, you've listed all the fish we want

MrO- would love to go marine but seems like a lot of hassle!

[stu646]

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..

[mcgee9t2]

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...