First Tropical Fish

[bobs_da_rocker]

Hi, this is my first post. I'm gonna get some tropicals and I don't know which species to get. I really like Gouramis (escpecially dwarf ) but have heard alot about their aggresion, I like cardinals but have read about them being hard to look after, I just cant find one that fits my criteria . I dont realy trust my lfs fully 'cos their in it 4 da money aren't they. I jus' want sumtin that looks kool, is hardy and can live happily in a 120 litre tank in quite hard water any suggestions welcome.
Thanks all!

 

[donna123]

cool you have a 120 ltrs to play with ,there is lots of options i live in a hard water area i will tell you what i have, 1 male dwarf gorami (ted) hes fine with all my other fish,platys hardy and colourful, neons which i have no problems with,glow lights which are tetras, killifish good community fish, a small pleco do find out about these some get rather large, im sure lots of people can add to the selection.hth donna

 

[JoanneH]

I'm a beginner too, and I started with platies. I live in a hard water area too and have the same size set up as you. Its great fun adding your fish and there's lots of good advice available on this forum

 

[bobs_da_rocker]

I'll keep thinking about cardinals. What sort of ratios (male:female) would I need for a small shoal of Dwarf Gouramis?

What are honey Gouramis like? I like them 2.

 

[hoppybunn]

I have 2 dwarf gouramis in my 55 gallon along with my silver dollars, pleco, bala sharks, bolivian rams, and african dwarf frogs. They all get along well, and the gouramis are fine towards each other. Regular gouramis (non-dwarf) show agression towards each other I think. If you like cardinal tetras you could try neons they are less expensive, though a bit smaller.

On another note, I don't know how well a shoal of gouramis would fare, as gouramis aren't a shoaling fish.

 

[bobs_da_rocker]

I thought that 'coz they're small that they would probably shoal

R angelfish OK 4 a 1st fish?

I've heard that Neons (&Cardinals) arent very hardy, is this true?

Can anyone suggest any good bottom feeders?

How hard to find are bristlenose plecos? How difficult are they to keep?

So many questions! I'm glad I started this topic!

 

[dwarfgourami]

An ideal ratio of gouramis is 1 male to 2 females- and not more than one male per tank as they are territorial. There are problems with dwarf gouramis atm, sadly, as they are quite inbred and disease-prone. You might find honey gouramis hardier- again same ratios apply.

The non-hardiness of neons and cardinals seems to be quite a problem, too. You might fare better with glowlights or black widows. Remember they are schooling fish, so a minimum of 6.

For bottom dwellers, you might want to look into either a bristlenose (usually very easy to get hold of, as they breed readily in hobbyists' tanks) or a school of corydoras. Corydoras are scavengers only and require a clean substrate with sand or rounded gravel- nothing sharp; they are usually quite hardy (avoid pandas) and great fun to watch. Bristlenoses eat algae too and do not need to be in schools, but grow a little bigger (up to 5.5. inches or so) and are heavy poopers. They are also generally considered hardy.

 

[jayjay]

dwarf you said cories were scavengers.... they need to be fed sinking food still, they can't live of scraps alone.

i find neons alot less hardy then cardinals.

and i would think angels as an ok first fish as along as they needs are met (tank height etc.) bear in mind angels have been known when fully grown to eat neons.

 

[bobs_da_rocker]

I was thinking that I wanted 2 get the tank, do a fishless cycle, then start off with 1 male:2 females dwarf gouramis, then after 1week+ (if all is well) I would start to gradually build up my community. This is just an idea so advice is aprecciated.

 

[hoppybunn]

If you do a fishless cycle you can add fish almost immediatley after your tank is fully cycled. From things I have read you can add a fully stocked tank if you cycled your tank without fish (by using ammonia). However I would not recommend this for you, as you are just starting out. So I would add the gouramis like you said, and do research on other fish before adding more. I think you have a good idea to slowly build up your community, but while your tank is cycling you should look up different species and compatibility for your tank, because if you buy fish without knowing anything, it leads to disaster. I am sure if you gradually add fish to the tank (though the bioload is high), your fish will be happier. Hope this helps.

 

[bobs_da_rocker]

Yeh thats wot I thought . I still need 2 do alot of research

Wot are pufferfish like? They look kinda kl.

 

[geezer]

Gourami's do really well if there is loads of plants and rocks. I heard they can get agressive if not. I wouldn't recommend getting two males of the same kind though.

I got 2 Dwarf gouramis, 1 golden gourami and a paradise gourami last week.

The Dwarf gouramis just swim leisurely around without a care in the world.

The golden gourami was really shy at first, isolating herself and scared when i went near the tank. now she feeds out my hand and also hangs out with the sailfin mollies

the paradise gourami likes to hide in the cave (he's a male) never shown any agression.

I'd read more on others opinions though as they differ

 

[nmonks]

Rather than tell you what fish to get, here's my opinion on what NOT to get:

• Neons or cardinals -- a lot of stock (especially the cheaper stuff) has 'neon tetra disease' given with the fish as a free gift. It's essentially incurable, and unless you have optimal water conditions and filtration, you will find it very difficult to keep a school of these fish alive for their full potential lifespan, which is anything up to 4 years.
• Dwarf gouramis -- again, the problem is disease. Most commercial stock (and I really mean virtually all commercial stock) is carrying a bacterial infection that is yet again virtually impossible to cure in a home aquarium. You will see dozens of posts here as well as on other aquarium web sites about dwarf gouramis developing mysterious blisters and sores. That's the bacterial infection killing the fish by inches. Other gouramis carry the disease but don't seem to succumb to it. Dwarf gouramis really need soft, acid water, and the thing that makes them vulnerable seems to be keeping them in the wrong water chemistry, among other things. Avoid.
• Any kind of shark -- red-tailed, black, or silver. For various reasons, but basically don't.
• Low-price, generic suckermouth cats -- these are species of Hypostomus, Liposarcus, and others and all get to at least 30 cm, some more. Go for things like Ancistrus (bristlenose plecs) that you can positively identify as species that get no bigger than 10 cm.
• Cheap algae eaters -- these are a large, nasty cyprinid called Gyrinocheilus aymonieri and not only is it big and mean spirited, it is also a fairly useless algae eater. Do beat algae, grow plants. A hundred times more effective.
• Blue/yellow gouramis -- males are surprisingly aggressive.
• Angelfish -- the quality of most commercial stuff is incredibly poor, and regardless of the quality, all angelfish eat smaller fish, including any livebearer fry, but even stuff as big as neons.
• Tiger barbs, black widows, serpae tetras -- fin-nippers.
• Cichlids -- some of the best fish around, but not for beginners. Read up on cichlid behaviour first, so you can manage their behaviour once you decide to procure some of these lovely little thugs.
• Novelty fish -- anything you haven't seen before. Stuff like puffers, elephantnoses, spiny eels, flatfish, etc. If it looks weird, it is probably what people call an "oddball". While there are lots of community tank friendly oddballs, some are quite demanding in one way or another.

For a hard water area, consider livebearers, rainbowfish, x-ray and blind cave tetras, gobies, and glassfish. These have usually evolved to live in hard water conditions and will positively thrive in you tanks without any need to fuss over pH or hardness. Rainbowfish in particular are a little more expensive than the average barb or tetra, and most only get their colours once mature, but they are invariably much hardier and far more long-lived that tetras and barbs.

Cheers,

Neale

 

[hoppybunn]

In my personal opinion, I wouldn't go for puffers, they are demanding and you can't really stock much with them as some can grow big (unless you're talking about the dwarf ones, but even still I would stick to "normal" fish).

 

[bobs_da_rocker]

Thanks nmonks.
That just about shot down every idea I had! Oh well, I'll keep lookin'. I wasn't sure about live bearers because I'm not really up to keeping all those fry. I do like the look of rainbowfish though, and alot of the other fish you reccomended. I'll do more research on them.