Fish Noob

[LaserStratos]

Im completely new to keeping fish and am looking for a bit of advice. I've been reading round these forums a bit but I've been getting a bit confused. I have a small 15L tank with built in filter and lighting that I got off a friend, and I'm not sure what to put in it. I also have a heater and am currently planning to make it a tropical tank but would prefer to be able to make a marine tank (because marine fish are awesome!).

If I was to convert it to a marine fish tank (if such a thing is possible) what would I need to do? I'm aware that marine tanks are an expensive project but for a tank of this size would it be better/cheaper to buy the equipment or to just buy a small marine tank? (If I bought a new tank it would also have to be small due to our landlords restrictions). And presuming I achieved some sort of marine tank, what kind of fish would be able to go in it?

Any advice would be helpful

 

[KCB]

15 litres is tiny, I'm not sure you can have any marine fish in there. Also, marine tanks are difficult to maintain so I wouldn't advise a newbie to start one. You might be able to keep some micro tropical fish in there, but again your tank is very small and many fish prefer to be in shoals so I'm not sure if you could go down that road either! So the long and short of it is, you'd need a bigger tank and most people would probably recommend a 10 gallon as a starter tropical tank (sorry not sure how many litres that is).

 

[LaserStratos]

Thanks for your advice, you're right the tank it a bit small. The problem is we re restriced as to how big a tank we re allowed in the flat, so maybe 7 gallons-ish would be our maximum. What micro tropical kind of fish do you have in mind that may work?

 

[DrSlackBladder]

Hi. I had a 20 litre coldwater tank for a year, for my young son. We had 6 small white skirt tetras in it. They all survived, and I thought they were "happy". But I enjoyed watching them (not that they had much room to do anything!), and decided to upgrade. Now I have a 100 litre which has been fishless cycled (make sure you do research that before adding any fish, will take you 4-8 weeks and is worth the wait) and the tetras have been re-homed. I've since added other fish, but the tetras have grown more in the last 8 wks than in the last year, and are much more active, clearly happier with more room. From what I've read in recent months, the small tropicals are generally shoaling fish, which you don't have room for. I think only a single beta (fighting fish) or shrimp (which are great to watch, I have two amanos) is best for your small tank. But if you're anything like me, you'll soon want to upgrade. Im already eyeing up a 250 litre......! Hope that helps.

 

[KCB]

Thanks for your advice, you're right the tank it a bit small. The problem is we re restriced as to how big a tank we re allowed in the flat, so maybe 7 gallons-ish would be our maximum. What micro tropical kind of fish do you have in mind that may work?

The only ones I can think of off the top of my head are galaxy rasboras, Pygmy corydorus and endler guppies, but if you make a new post asking for names of micro fish, I'm sure you'll get a much more extensive list . But as already said, even these guys will be too big for 15 litres. I'd strive for a bigger tank, the fish will thank you for it .

 

[LaserStratos]

OK I gave in and got a 60 litre tank, much better Thanks for all your advice

 

[techen]

Good call, So much more choice the bigger the tank

 

[Zikofski]

yes 60L is a good starting point you can get some corys' neon tetra and some other amazing fish in there

 

[KCB]

OK I gave in and got a 60 litre tank, much better

Thanks for all your advice

Great choice! Remember to cycle your filter properly . Here's a link to this forums beginners resources, they can help a lot: http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/277264-beginners-resource-center/

 

[the_lock_man]

Keep the 15l tank, and set it up as a shrimp tank.