First Aquarium

[dorikin]

Hi!

Looking to get my first tropical tank, got a few questions!

1) I have limited space, so can only have a small aquarium. I have room for a 40cm square tank, what fish can i keep in a tank this small? I've been reading up and Danio's, Barbs and Tetra's seem like ideal fish. (Due to being hardy and smaller in size).

2) I've been looking for aquariums, are the ready-built ones like This, This, or This ok? Or am I best off building my own up?

Thanks for your help in advance

 

[dcarmor927]

Hello and welcome to TFF!

Im glad you came to the site to get help before you got fish (something i didnt do lol)
At any rate...i wouldnt do the built in filter set up just incase you have problems with the filter or if you want to upgrade...but if you like the ones you posted links to i would go with the last one...
if you only have room for a 40 cm tank (15 inches or so) i think a ten gallon (40 ltrs about ) is all you can manage, unless you can find a cube of some sort (which i have never seen in a store, maybe search online...?...)

All the fish you listed prefer to be in groups so it might be tough to fit them in this small of a tank...
Here is a link that lists a bunch of stuff that can go into a 10 gallon tank
[URL="http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=268308"]http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=268308[/URL]

also before you get fish i would look here to learn about fishless cycling
[URL="http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=113861"]http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=113861[/URL]

Hope this helps and good luck!

 

[dorikin]

Those two threads you have linked too are perfect!
I've been looking carefully at cycling, and i'll make sure its done before i add fish

Thanks very much

 

[dorikin]

What are the Biorb aquariums like?

 

[Truck]

not good, for coldwater, filtration is rubbish, maintenance is difficult, gaseos exchange is limited, and you cant choose your substrate without mods, go with a regular tank.

 

[dorikin]

not good, for coldwater, filtration is rubbish, maintenance is difficult, gaseos exchange is limited, and you cant choose your substrate without mods, go with a regular tank.

Thats that one out the window!

Thanks

 

[BobbyBray]

I agree with dcarmor, be sure to read through those two threads, they're perfect for your situation. Also of course browse through some of your LFS's (local fish store) to see what they sell and is available. Be a little cautious as to what they may tell you at times. No offense to them, but some LFS employs are simply trying to make a sale, and don't give you the full information.

The Biorb looks pretty cool! Its definitely an eye catcher design, and would be a shame to have it tucked in a corner where people may not see it easily. From what I looked like it also seems to have some sort of filtration system setup, but I didn't specifically see how or what they used. At any rate that's a plus since from the picture I didn't notice anything. The last thing I noticed was the price... they aren't terribly cheap. The 16 gallon version was 180 bucks! Guess you pay a premium for designer fish bowls, haha.

 

[waterdrop]

I agree with BobbyBray up there. Because you have lucked on to this forum, you can now be quite cautious with any info from the LFS and double-check it with the members here. There are many knowledgeable and dedicated long-time fish enthusiasts who own fish stores, but they are the exception and even with them the advice may not be as good for you as what you can glean here, given some time and care. The knowledge and subsequent skills you build up will be your most valuable things for the hobby.

Be sure to think long and hard about whether there is any way to push your tank size even a little bigger. While a 10g is going to be ok if that's all you can do, every 5 gallons more that you can manage pushes you closer to the "sweet spot" of 25g, 30g or so that is much more ideal for a "beginner small tank." The not-so-obvious thing is that a larger volume of water is more forgiving of mistakes because it respresents a greater dilution of problems and a slower "change time" for things happening to the water. Makes sense if you think about it a bit. But the hobby is great and I don't mean to worry you if you can't make that happen.

The only thing I'll say about your first thoughts on what fish you want is that maybe the Barbs would be better as a thing to wait for after you graduate to a larger tank and to focus more on the schools of small tetras and danios and perhaps cories. Stocking is a good thing to be thinking about and working on all through your fishless cycling period.

Now, about that cycling! Be sure to search out the pinned articles (and the ones you'll find as links in the signature areas of experienced posters/members) that have to do with the Nitrogen Cycle and cycling. Its quite fascinating. What you want to do is saturate yourself with all the aspects of it you can find, regardless of whether you'll use it all. Its all a good core thing that helps you with the hobby from now on. The actual working document we usually use for beginners to get started is the one by rdd1952 and the Add & Wait method is the one used. The document works well as a starting guideline, but you'll want to start your own fishless cycling thread and post what you are doing, what's going on and what questions you have because there are any number of other aspects that come up that aren't necessarily in the guideline.

Good Luck and we'll see ya round! Oh, and welcome to TFF!

~~waterdrop~~