i need some advice...


im getting this fish tank set up, right ?


i need to know which fish are pretty easy to take care of, im no expert by any means... i do like it when the fish school.... its neat to see them zipping around all together like that.

i thought about goldfish, although they dont school, they are pretty and they look 'flowy' if thats a word plus, their bright color looks so pretty against that blue background....

i have folks giving me conflicting information here, i guess just like any other pet, everybody thinks theirs is the best


so, if you have an aquarium set up, and you find that your fish are especially easy/difficult... please let me know.... any help is appreciated

I'm pisces.....

abierman said:

do you want to live in my tank ?

I havent owned fish in years...I had goldfish. They got constipated and died.
I like the Nemos (clownfish)

Dont forget to get one of those big black things that stick to the side of the tank. They're gross,but they have a purpose

ThreadCula said:

i call those things 'scum suckers'

i dont want to do a saltwater tank, that seems like its pretty difficult to deal with, and the fish are pretty expensive

guppies are inexpensive, but damn, they breed fast
neon tetra's are nice... but they can die pretty quick
gold fish are nice.. but, those are some FILTHY fish and you have to change tank water often


i dont know what do to... maybe abierman is the logical choice.... hes pretty sturdy, healthy, fun to watch.... and i can feed him on beer

nakedpianoplayer said:

healthy?

abierman said:

yeah man, thats what you should focus on i just said i was gonna have ya live in my fish tank and feed you beer all day.... i'd be worried about that !!!!


wake up man

I'm pisces also

AndGodCreatedMe said:

GREAT


now abierman has a buddy


can i feed you on beer too ?

zebras are schoolers and hard to kill



neons are pretty easy to ... and school



tetras are okay too



i have found guppies to be easy

nakedpianoplayer said:

Your star sign is Twat

i have always had tanks since i was 10 or so ...

they need some care but also if you mess with them to much it screws thing up

a GOOD filter system is key cleaning when suggested and i replace my takn water 50 % each month adding fresh NON TAP ( city ) water back

dont over feed... it's better to underfeed if anything




any questions ?

nakedpianoplayer said:

hell yes!


oh and abt me and abierman...you can set me up with him anytime!

i have done goldfish tanks ... pretty but a little more work and amonia levels can be hard to cope with ( they poop alot )

i usually have 1 nice goldfish in my comunity tank ... with the zebras

Mach said:

ok, it seems that the information you are giving me, thank you btw matches up what i've heard and read about...

now, tricky question.. which of those fish can i mix in my tank, you know, with water temp and chemical differences ?

I'm tanked right now.

Illustrator said:

Fresh water is easier.

Mach said:

Not for me...FEED ME!

I'm with Mach ~ I was going to say neons and zebras. Loaches are really cool, tiny eelish bottom feeders with cute little seal faces, and seem to be unkillable (in my experience with them). We had them all in the same tank with never a problem. Kissing guamies (sp?) are awesome too (they seem to pair up )

I want a fish tank again dammit!! But we already have a zoo goin' on and another 'critter' on the way




edit
[Edited 3/2/06 13:34pm]

I have two fishtanks, one with 15 neons, three Siamese algae eaters and seven rubyred coral platys, and in the other tank I have a colony of neolamprologus multifasciatus (also known as multis or shelldwellers).

I used to have red mangrove crabs as well (sesarma bidens) but they only live three and a half years because they´re often already quite old when you buy them and they need some land or at least a floating island in the tank and the tank can only be half full but they are very fascinating animals.

I´d get coral platys if I were you because they are easy to breed, look more interesting than regular platys and I lke the way they swim...stay away from goldfish....the reasons are too many to mention here.

I change 25% of the water every ten days...

As Mach already said, overfeeding is worse than underfeeding.

Get a good and simple filter, the AquaClear series by Hagen ( a socalled powerfilter) should be OK for you , easy to maintain and doesn´t need a lot of cleaning.Keep in mind that rinsing the filter sponge too often can increase ammonia levels and kill all fish.


Neons can live up to ten years and are easy, so I don´t know why you think they die easily ?

Mach said:

Goldfish typically don't live very long in heated tanks. Goldfish thrive in colder water.

To answer your question if you buy a goodsize golfish tank and keep it clean with a little luck your goldfish could live 15 years or longer.
[Edited 3/2/06 16:28pm]

I can give you more specifics later, but when you're first starting your tank it's best to start with a few hearty fish. Tetras are good. How big is your tank? Your tank is going to get very, very cloudy at first. This is normal, and you're just going to have to deal with it for a week or two. You'll have to get a few fish at a time. You really shouldn't get them all at once. Somebody mentioned loaches - they're good and a lot of fun (they lie around on the bottom of the tank like they're dead ) but make sure that you get fish that are appropriate to the size of your tank.

Here is a good page on Golfish care:

http://wiki.ehow.com/Make...or-Decades

Remember to let your new fish float in their bags for at least a half
hour so their water temp (in the bag) adjusts to the tank's temp. You
don't want to shock them right away.

Oscars and Goldfish are dirty fish.

We once had an Oranda Goldfish (they are the ones with the big heads: Kinda
looks like their brains are on the outside of their heads). I named him
Dickhead, for apparent reasons.
He turned out to be a dunce too...I once had to rescue him because he got
his head caught between the tank wall and the filter pipe, upside down no less!

We have a 45 gallon tank that fits into a corner. We've been very happy with
it. The only problem we had, and this was just recently, is that the rubber
sealant that holds the walls together started to peel off and the tank was leaking. We thought we had lost the tank, but we re-sealed it ourselves and
were pleasantly surprised that it held.

My wife has a single Betta at work...purple, naturally.

Enjoy your new tank!

Illustrator said:

and more is that what u meant

Make sure you get at least one scavenger to help keep your tank clean. Sucker fish love to eat the algae that collects on the glass.



They pretty much live forever too.

thanks guys !!

my tank is a 20 gallon tank... not to big, but not to small... it gets noticed and for now thats all i need lol....


with everything thats going on around here right now, i've decided to just let the thing run for a bit on its own before i get the fish in there.... shits happening so fast around here for me, i need to take a few deep breaths so that i can enjoy them when i get them


as for the kinds of fish... you guys helped me decide i think im going with tetras still love the way the goldfish look... but maybe they are a little more work than i am ready to put into them. guppies would be good, but they mate so damn fast that just seems like an impossible thing to deal with ....

one last bit of advice...

be prepared to invest heavily of your time and energy learning about the fish and their behavior... getting to know them, in other words. reading up about the chosen species, doing all the necessary maintenance of their tank regularly, and looking after them when they're sick... and their psychology. how different species get along with each other. prepare to play referee with a stick or the like! and have a little plastic separator too, for ones who may get ill or beat up (so they have a little corner in which to recover... you might also invest in some pinchers, so you can feed them my hand if necessary, if and when they get sick).

until the fire, we had a healthy, lovely tank full of fish from Lakes Victoria, Malawi and Tangynika (sp?)... Trying not to cry again! But really, keep in mind that fish are like any other kind of animal... some species are very intelligent, and you get attached to them. There was one we had over five years... He was a beauty. I'll try to find a picture.

Heiress said:

please dont cry