Finally Ordered My First Aquarium =)

[MartyUTS]

Hello, I'm new the forum and my English gammar skills are rather poor so please excuse this.

I’ve been fascinated about fish for some time now and finally ordered my first ever aquarium yesterday despite the Mrs saying I can’t have one in the house! She’s got her cats, dogs, birds and rabbits so its about time I acquired some pets. Therefore I’ve purchased the aquarium in the link below to place in the bedroom, however because I’m new to the hobby I’d like to know what fish you’d recommend for me to put in the aquarium. I’m willing to spend anything up to £5000 on them.

http/www.seapets.co.uk/products/aquarium-supplies/aquariums/ferplast-star/ferplast-star-200-aquarium-and-stand.html

Another query I have is in regards to another aquarium in which I’d like to purchase... The Mrs said I can’t have one... Therefore I must purchase two surely? I’d like to buy an aquarium which is also a coffee table to be placed in my lounge area as I feel it will liven up the room and make it a nice peaceful area to chill out after a long hard days work. Does anybody know anywhere I can purchase this type of aquarium from as I cannot seem to find them anywhere?

Thanks in advance for your help, it’s much appreciated.

 

[snowflake311]

eBay might have the coffee table tank . But these tanks are not all that great. Seeing that you will need to plug in filters and stuff.

Your new tank looks awesome. Hope your mrs likes it. What kind of fish do you like? You have so many option for a tank that size. Do you want lots of little fish or a few big fish?

 

[MartyUTS]

eBay might have the coffee table tank . But these tanks are not all that great. Seeing that you will need to plug in filters and stuff.

Your new tank looks awesome. Hope your mrs likes it. What kind of fish do you like? You have so many option for a tank that size. Do you want lots of little fish or a few big fish?

I’d like bigger tropical fish which are rather colourful and not boring to be honest. Would you advice real plants or fake and are ornaments worth the money they cost or are a number of big rocks artistically built into caves, walls etc. better for them? I’m quite artistic; therefore I’d rather enjoy challenge of building these.

In regards to the coffee table, I’m planning to plan to put a plug socket under the floor boards meaning the wire is less noticeable.

Thanks for your reply snowflake311, it’s much appreciated.

 

[snowflake311]

Colorful fun fresh water would be south American cichlids or African cichlds. But you should pick one or the other. Live plants are best but it depends on what fish you want to keep. Some will eat your plants. Wood is always nice Decor in a tank good size rocks that make caves is great for all fish.

Start looking up the kind of fish you like and then just ask us question we will help you out.

Check out differant fish you might like here
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/forum/36-fish-species-index/

I also like this site for fish profiles
http/www.seriouslyfish.com/kb.php

 

[erk628]

That tank looks amazing! To get a jump start on this I would give this a read! http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/277264-beginners-resource-center/

You'll want to begin cycling your tank once you get it I would suggest a fishless cycle you can find information here!

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=113861

 

[ian]

wow, thats some tank to start with!

Lets hope you enjoy the hobby.

 

[didz04]

Thats really nice and i'm sure your really excited where you're heading, even the research finding what fish you want is exciting when you start.
Here are some links from ebay for a coffee table aquarium even though i think a plain tank would be more enjoyable but looks like you would be getting 2 types lol.

Here they are (this will be only useful if you're in the UK, are you?):

http/cgi.ebay.co.uk/STUNNING-AQUARIUM-COFFEE-TABLE-GLASS-FISH-TANK_W0QQitemZ250554992385QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Pet_Supplies_Fish?hash=item3a563dc701
This one is finishing in 9 hours so quickly take a look.

http/cgi.ebay.co.uk/STUNNING-AQUARIUM-COFFEE-TABLE-GLASS-FISH-TANK_W0QQitemZ250557768252QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Pet_Supplies_Fish?hash=item3a5668223c

A colourful fish that are active and really nice to look at would be African cichlids (and you can get bottom dwellers like an African Congo Tinanti Cichlid, I have one of those really entertaining fish and interesting to watch, but I need a pair to make his life span longer. He is already 4" long and got him at 3".
Clown loach and get a shoal of atleast 6 and you will see the difference, better to keep them when they are small (my opinion as they look cuter and more colour on them).

Can anyone answer this please- could you keep any type of cichlid with clown loaches?
As i would love to get some with my cichlids but thats once I have upgraded to a 55 gallon (4ft) as thats their minimum tank space needed right?
If i had to get them at 1" should they be fine, as my African cichlids are at around 3" big.

 

[arobinson1984]

The new tank looks great.

One thing I'd be very worried about is you mentioned you wanted it in the bedroom, I'm presuming you meant upstairs? If so the I'd seriously recommend you get a structural engineer to check that the floors can take it as that tank when full will be weighing in the region of about 1.3 - 1.5 tonnes.

Andy

 

[Bluetooth]

I have to say wow... thats one helluva baptism by fire with an aquarium that size lol.

I wish i had that amount of cash too.. thats a lot of cash for your first investment... I suppose if it isn't a lot of money for you to be parting with then it isnt a huge drama but i wouldnt advise such a large tank to a beginner.. im by no means experienced but i myself wouldnt pick such a large tank to be starting with, however, this is your choice and i dont want to put you off, simply playing devils advocate =-)

For a tank that size id look at some nice central american cichlids, your choices are obviously varied. If it was me with that tank, id look at something along the lines of an oscar playpen, some large slate rocks and a few nice peices of driftwood/mopani/bogwood. With oscars your stuck with not having plants if you purchase them fully grown, and even if you get babies and bring them up, chances are theyll rearrange your tank for you. I love oscars so that would be ideal for me.

Another option is a large community tank, something along the lines of angels, tetras, loaches and maybe a nice big pleco. You could even dabble with giant gourami's but these grow VERY large and would outgrow your tank after a while so maybe not something you should look at.

Another thing if your feeling daring is discus, some people see these as unkeepeable due to their requirements but im from the other side of the fence and would love to see more people keeping discus. The tank bred strains are a lot more forgiving with water parameters than some of the more.. "hardcore" discus keepers would allow you to beleive. With discus you can keep tetras, geophagus and any such species that originate from the soft & acidic waters of the amazon.

Africans have already been mentioned here so i wont go into a huge background on them but if you want plenty of acitivty, a nice rockey, and lots of stunning colours, africans are for you =-)

Can i make a quick query though, what is making you go for such an expensive aquarium? There are companies everywhere that would do a tank that size and the equipment youd want for a lot less than what you would be paying there. Dont mean to be nosy and by all means tell me to #29### off =-)

 

[onebto]

WOW what a great tank

My suggestion and anyone who has read my posts in the past will guess what I am going to suggest

CLOWN LOACHES there fantastic looking fish with an amazing character they are very friendly fish allowing you to add so many other species of tropical fish if you are looking at a community tank

I would definitely recommend reading the beginners resource centre in this forum especially studying fishless cycling good luck with your new hobby.

Regards onebto.

 

[FWFishLover]

I Would Reccomend Any Tank 100G+ And South American Cichlids. If Your Trying To Give The Room Some Pizzazz I'd Probably Recommend Fancy GoldFish.
So For The Cofee Table Do FANCY Goldfish And For The Main Aquarium Do South American Cichlids And One Or Two Matured Featherfin Catfishes.

 

[drobbyb]

If you decide to go planted, you might have trouble with cichlids rearranging your tank. Since you don't care for tiny fish, what about fish that grow to about 5 inches? Rainbowfish are very colorful and plant friendly and not too hard to care for. They aren't something that everyone has if you go for some of the rarer species. With a budget of 5000 pounds, you could get any species that are available in europe, including a good many species that we don't have access to yet here in the US.

To give you an idea, this link found here has all the known species and their care and breeding information.

Rainbowfish are considered community fish and can be kept with most other community type fishes allowing you great diversity and harmony (unless you want fish that will eat other fish this is a good thing

 

[VictorMeldrew]

If you have the cash, do loads of research and go marine

 

[Amberleaf]

Wow! That's certainly some tank! Some people were recommending rainbows, and rainbows ARE awesome, but how ABOUT a few small fish? How about a school of neon tetras? 50 of 'em? They're stunning.

 

[didz04]

Yeah to be honest with you all that cash you are willing to spend I would recommend marine as they are a whole lot difference compared to tropical, like goby's and puffers and you can get tangs. Of course they are more eye catching fish and you will enjoy them more. I have kept lots of different types of tropical fish but when I seen my relatives 7ft marine tank I find my tropical tank boring for a while lol. He is now doing a project of 8ft by 8ft by 5ft high marine tank, and maybe keep sharks in there or really nice for coral all over the floor tank and keeping a community tank of marine fish.
I would say you will need a lot of research than you think for marine, it would be probably best to start off with a 4ft tank or smaller for marine as being a beginner you will lose a lot of fish and they are expensive fish to buy. Not trying to put you off but if you do the research and you're likely to lose less fish than my relative lol as he didn't have that much knowledge at the start, but now he knows almost every common marine fish name.