Hello - new 110 litre tank

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LucyH

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Hi there
We've bought a 110 litre tank for our boys (obviously our responsibility as they are young) and are currently cycling.
We will stick gradually but they have both decided that they want orange fish. Any recommendations for good beginner freshwater tropical fish?
Also husband likes angel fish which are obviously not suitable for our tank. Any ideas of something smaller with a similar look? We have hard water
Thanks
 
Hi and welcome to the forum :)

What are the tank dimensions (Length x width x height)?

What is the pH and general hardness (GH) of your water?
If you are using mains water, your water supply company should have this information on their website or they might be able to tell you over the telephone. If that isn't possible, take a glass of tap water to the local pet shop and ask them to test the pH, GH & KH (KH is carbonate hardness) of the water. Write the results down in numbers. If the pet shop says "the water is fine", ask them what the results are in numbers. Also ask them what the GH and KH test is in (eg: ppm or dGH).

Once you have the information post the results here.

While you are at the pet shop, make a list of fish and plants you like and post that on here too. We can go through and suggest possible combinations.

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There aren't many tropical freshwater fish that are orange. There are a few cichlids from the African Rift Lakes but these are pretty aggressive and not suitable for peaceful community tanks.

Most orange coloured fish are goldfish and some of the smaller fantails would be ok in a tank that is 3 foot or longer, for a year or two until they get bigger.
 
Hi. If you are looking for community fish then some sunset wag platys or similar varieties are orange.

Perhaps some swordtails and / or mollies too.

If you are after something more challenging there are quite a few orangey golden cichlids but they are mean and not recommended for beginners.

I’d also steer clear of Clown Loach with that size tank even though their colour and behaviour is spectacular!
 
tank is 81cm x 36 x 45cm
Water is hard, around 14 to 15. Can't get pH til next week.
Definitely want community fish and ones which don't get too big. The boys are more keen on quality than size.
Also definitely don't want aggressive varieties. We've spent quite a bit of time explaining that some fish can be mean so we have to check with the people in the shop
 
Platies or swordtails would be ok in the tank with hard water. They have similar colour forms.
 
Agree on livebearers, with a caveat. Stay with all males or you will be over-run with fry and while this might sound exciting, having to get rid of dozens and eventually hundreds of fry monthly is not simple or easy, and they will not all get eaten by the adults.
 
I agree with the suggestion for swordtails or platys. They have worked well for us, and we originally started our tank because my 9 year old wanted fish. I had had fish in the past, though, and had some experience with keeping them.

I think it has been nice to have fry. My son loves the baby fish. :)

We haven't had so many survive that it is a problem, yet, but we have added 2 tanks, a 60 litre tank that is currently only occupied by an ornery swordtail, and 30 litre hospital / breeding tank that has some fry in it now.

Things I have learned with this venture:
-even with experience some fish are likely to die :(
-fish from pet shops are often treated pretty badly

If you can, try to get fish from members of a local club, a specialty fish/aquarium shop, or purchase privately.
 
Thank you. Tank now cycled and we have 2 Marigold platys and 2 black mollies. Lost 2 mollies as one of the males bullied the other two so had to get a female.
 
Thank you. Tank now cycled and we have 2 Marigold platys and 2 black mollies. Lost 2 mollies as one of the males bullied the other two so had to get a female.

This is going to cause problems. With livebearers, if male/female is present, you must have more females than males. Male livebearers drive the females hard, often literally killing them. Having say 3 females to one male spreads this out, usually.
 
We're adding fish slowly. Dont want to stress the filter
 
We're adding fish slowly. Dont want to stress the filter

The fish are being stressed which is far more serious. Adding fish to an established tank is not going to cause cycling issues, assuming you are within reason. And this would be here. Plants also eliminate any possibility of cycling issues if these are present.
 

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