Beginner (Questions)

[J4M3S]

I have a 4ft long tank and originally wanted it to be cold water but with the temp of my room it has reached over 25C so i think i will buy a heater and go tropical. so I would like to know how easy neone Tetra's (and any other tetra's) are to look after and also some other fish that are friendly to others and easy to look after. am after some algae eaters and some regular fish like the barbs. cheers for any help, i have pics of my tank in the members tank pics thread.

 

[`Peter]

Good choice switching to tropical aquarium, much easier to maintain tbh.

You're saying you have a 4 foot long tank so that could be anywhere from 45-60 gallons depending on the height. Regardless you have many choices of fish and plants that you can add (if you choose to go with live plants). I have had neon tetras in the past and they are pretty good fish for temps that don't go over 76 degrees. If your tank is warmer than 76 degrees you should check out cardinal tetras. They are bigger, more colorful, and definitely more expensive. It's up to you whether you choose neons or cardinals. You can also get a pleco, which cleans algae from plants and walls which is pretty helpful. Other fish you can consider are platies, mollies or swordtails that work well in a community tank. Tiger barbs and clown loaches might be worth looking into as well. In my tank it is mostly tetras and 2 angelfish which are great. Never get tiger barbs and angels together in the same tank though because the barbs will nip the fins of the angels. At then end its all up to you. There are plenty of freshwater community guides out there that you can research. Good luck.

 

[GAB99]

Good choice switching to tropical aquarium, much easier to maintain tbh.

You're saying you have a 4 foot long tank so that could be anywhere from 45-60 gallons depending on the height. Regardless you have many choices of fish and plants that you can add (if you choose to go with live plants). I have had neon tetras in the past and they are pretty good fish for temps that don't go over 76 degrees. If your tank is warmer than 76 degrees you should check out cardinal tetras. They are bigger, more colorful, and definitely more expensive. It's up to you whether you choose neons or cardinals. You can also get a pleco, which cleans algae from plants and walls which is pretty helpful. Other fish you can consider are platies, mollies or swordtails that work well in a community tank. Tiger barbs and clown loaches might be worth looking into as well. In my tank it is mostly tetras and 2 angelfish which are great. Never get tiger barbs and angels together in the same tank though because the barbs will nip the fins of the angels. At then end its all up to you. There are plenty of freshwater community guides out there that you can research. Good luck.

errrg not clown loaches,they get 12" should be in 5-6ft tanks (100gal+)

 

[kniesh]

Try looking into a group of Corries, they would love it in a 4ft tank and are very active for bottom dwellers. There are lots of different kinds to choose from, just google them an decide which ones you like the look of best. Their behaviour and attitude changes very little between the different species'. A group of about 8+ Tiger Barbs would also be very nice for the middle section, and in this size group wouldn't cause any problems to other fish. For the top you could add some Hatchets, again a small group is probably best, but try to add some sort of floating plants for them (fake or real).

Instead of a plec look at Otto's instead. A group of 4+ are usually quite active and will keep algae away no problem. Just a few ideas for you.

 

[meguro]

his tank dimensions (taken from his thread in Member's Aquarium and Fish Pictures) is 120x40x40cm, 192L. he also mentioned in taht thread that his interests so far are tetras, barbs and red tailed black shark.

but there are a lot of fish u could put into that tank. i suggest visiting a few of the lfs's in ur area and taking note of the fish u find interesting.

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

Tetra's do best in established tanks, i would suggest leaving them alone till you have had a stable tank for around 6 months

 

[J4M3S]

cheers for the replies, it is not far under 200 ltr. I bought 12 rummy nose tetra's today and they seem to be doing great! gonna be looking for some slightly bigger fish to go in too as well as some plec's as peter said. saw what i think was plecs today, they where £40 each though so will save a bit and buy 2 of them! and deffo gonna put in some red cherry shrimp, fancy some bala shark but apparently my tank is to small for these? my tank is heavily planted so ideally would like some fish that prefer this.
cheers for the help fellas

 

[`Peter]

Good choice switching to tropical aquarium, much easier to maintain tbh.

You're saying you have a 4 foot long tank so that could be anywhere from 45-60 gallons depending on the height. Regardless you have many choices of fish and plants that you can add (if you choose to go with live plants). I have had neon tetras in the past and they are pretty good fish for temps that don't go over 76 degrees. If your tank is warmer than 76 degrees you should check out cardinal tetras. They are bigger, more colorful, and definitely more expensive. It's up to you whether you choose neons or cardinals. You can also get a pleco, which cleans algae from plants and walls which is pretty helpful. Other fish you can consider are platies, mollies or swordtails that work well in a community tank. Tiger barbs and clown loaches might be worth looking into as well. In my tank it is mostly tetras and 2 angelfish which are great. Never get tiger barbs and angels together in the same tank though because the barbs will nip the fins of the angels. At then end its all up to you. There are plenty of freshwater community guides out there that you can research. Good luck.

I have a small clown loach in my 24 gallon and he is just fine. J4M3S has a 50+ gallon so that is more than enough. Clown loaches are fish that do not show significant growth until you have them for 2-3 years so they are a great fish to have.

Glad you bought some rummy nose tetras I'm planning on getting some of those soon. Plecos are very not that expensive either. Pretty cheap tbh.


errrg not clown loaches,they get 12" should be in 5-6ft tanks (100gal+)