i disagree with the 10 gallon not being a good begginer tank... my 2 first tanks were both 10 gallons (actually my very first was 1) but yea i have had them for quite some time and no problems!

My first tank was also a 10 gallon. Twice my fish died because I didn't know anything. I keep a betta in it now and it's pretty easy but that's with only 1 fish in it . I plan on getting a bigger tank if I get back to community tropical fish.

I do think that starting off big is better than with less than a 10Gal tanks, specially because, at least in my case, when you get into the hobbie the first thing you want to do is to get as many "pretty" fish you see at the store.

Even though I'm 23, I was lucky that the guy at the LPS told me to get as much info as possible before getting the fish I wanted, because I was about to get 15 little fish (including a niddle fish and 2 angels ) to an uncycled 10Gal tank.

I got 2 fish instead (but I've had gotten other 4 somewere else) and from those 6 only 2 made it through the terrible "New tank" syndrome.

So, I'm about to get a 55/75Gal tank now

Actually around me where a 120 is a 4ft tank the 120 was more money and a 100 was also within $5 of a 125.

As far as cost per gallon there is a drastic difference between a 125 and a 180 or 120(basically anything 24" wide.

Also though a 125 6' tends to be just about as reasonable as a 90G within $40.

After keeping fish for 40-odd years and manufacturing 1000,s of aquaria, I would definitely advise going as large as you can, with a personal preferance of being slightly wider than tall, for optical effect and also ease of maintenance.

I have a 10 gallon tropical tank but that was bought cause I didn't have a lot of money and wanted to start on tropicals and having 15 years of goldfish keeping and yes one of my first goldfish is still with us.

Basically I would sudgest 20 to 30 gallons to be a good starter tank i.e. the bigger the tank the easier to control the invisable stuff

I suggest you go with the other people... I have a 10 gallon because I'm planning to put in small fish in it like tetras and cories...But im still not sure they would fit...Well anyways the saying is not "the bigger the tank the more work" its actually "The smaller the tank the more work" one reason being that the water in a 5 gallon and 10 gallon can change pretty quickly. One mistake all the water in it goes bad. But if your an exprienced fish keeper than you would quickly know tricks to help all those problems for happening. Not saying that I have experience I get help from the experienced. ...

old post

This post has been edited by thecatdidit: May 17 2006, 04:26 PM

Mhm... I see both sides, having started with a 3g, but unless like me and many others you need housing for lots of bettas, anything under 5g is just a waste... I find with the 3g's, 100% water changes are needed and it is just too heavy to move in one go full of water. Also, anything under 10g is very hard to stock- there are plenty of options, but many are uncommon and rarely imported, and most really aren't things people who's first tank it is would pick.

Tank sizewise, go for the widest you can. I get very annoyed when I go out and all the tanks have 12" width- this is useless, really, unless you're only keeping very small community fish. More width definately makes aquascaping easier, I found it very hard to aquascape my 15g, which is 18"L x 12"Wx 15"H.

This post has been edited by OohFeeshy: Dec 31 2005, 02:08 PM

Is that because you have a 20g tall, and they are talking about a 20g long?

i started of with a 50 gallon tank and now want a bigger one i never had any problems with it. the size of tank also goes on what you want to put in it small shaoling fish or bigger the smaller the fish the more you can put in the bigger the less it all depends on what kind of fish that you want to keep in it. my tank is a mixed comunity tropical and has 35 different sized fish my 20 has 16 guppies that are swiming and breeding so it all depends on what you want to keep

Well since we are all giving opinions here... (everyones got one) I would say if you got the money you should start off with nothing less then a 5 X 2 X 2....
I personally would never go less then 2 foot deep again... it adds a lot of options. I also would not go with anything other then 2 foot deep for an aquarium tank. AS far as how wide... 5 foot is a good starting point so you have lots of running room for your fish but the wider the better..... I have a 7 foot tank...but a 12 foot tank would really look nice in my house if I had a bigger fish tank room and not 4 kids...

Actually, a smaller tank reuqires less maintenace then a huge tank. My 3 gallon is so easy to clean out, that i clean it out all the time! ive never had problems with it! Cant wait for my 11gallon tank though!

Some people simply dont have space and imo, you shouldnt have a tank unless you know what your doing.

I can just see my trying to fit a 7 foot wide tank in my 4x6 foot bedroom. not to mention my bed and everything else...

I think a lot of it depends on where you live, if you rent your home, own it, or still live with parents. (Alot of members I've met on this forum are still the middle school/high school age) just think, if you go to college, what can you fit in a dorm room? If you move out and have to rent a tiny appartment? my fiancee bought a 55 gallon, and I'm dreading moving out of his parents house with him... besides the obviousness of moving a tank that large, theres also the 'where are we going to put it' in the new place. Chances are, it will end up in the living room or common room, as that will probably be the only place where the stand and the tank and the sump pump will all fit without blocking off too much personal space.

It also depends on what fish you want to keep. I'm a Betta Gal myself, thus, my 30 gallon is a sorority tank, my 10 gallon is for my old guy right now, my 5.5 gallon is divided into two, and I have 2 one gallon critter tote things and a glass 'bowl' that I'm unsure of how much water it holds. (Only one of my fish is in the last three, the other one gallon and the bowl are currently used to letting water sit for days on end to de-chlorinize the water.)

My fiancee has an Oscar, and is already talking about 75 gallon tanks. *Sighs*

Sorry, but this is wrong. Like you said, you can clean your 3 gallon easily, but with a larger tank, you don't need to clean as often. I have a 55 that hasn't had a water change in over a year. In the summer there isn't much evaporation because of the humidity out, so I change 5 to 10 gallons a once a month, maybe a little more. In the winter with dry air it looses about 10 gallons a month so I just add about 5 gallons every other week without having to drain any. I use a siphon hose and vacuum the bottom when it gets bad, that's maybe every other month, sometimes less because if you have good filters and a bubbler in the right spot, you can have a current in the tank that keep stuff from settling then your filter grabs it all and you don't have to manually clean.

You claim you clean it out all the time. It sound like your tank is never cycled then. So your fish are probably stressed. You should never change all the water, rarely if ever clean the bottom (I mean don't take the sand/gravel out and clean that, it's where much of the good bacteria live).

Bigger is better! The smallest I would ever recommend would be a 20 gallon long, not high, but that's even tough to keep cycled properly.

This post has been edited by Bryan: Jun 5 2006, 02:02 AM

I know this is a really old post, but I completely disagree. A larger tank lets the aquarist react to problems a little slower. Remember "Dillution is the solution to pollution!". The Bigger the better, especially when you're dealing with water issues.

I had the same problem, however, I began holding the tube suking up the water at the bottom of my index finger. With that same finger (pointing straight out) I gently stir the sand in a mini circle the dirt and poo swirl up into the tube and tend to leave the heaver sand behind. Just dont stir too deep or too fast. I hope it works for you as it did for me.

hi new to this just looking for the right size tank to start off with.the one ive found is below will this be acceptable thanks and is that price alright for it



Rekord 120 Aquarium
Complete aquarium with built in filtration, heater and lighting 120 Litres £111.99





The Rekord range is simplicity in its own field, enabling fish keepers old and new to experience the best Juwel Aquarium facilities.

Volume: approx: 120 litres
Light System with 1 x 25 W tube JUWEL