hardy fish

[big mick]

I was wondering if anyone coul suggest any really hardy fish, its a very long story but Im setting up a tank for someone and I will be maintaining it for them.

I will be doing all the water changing etc but they live about an hours drive away and will go once or maybe twice a week to do whatever needs done but in any emergency will go straight round.....obviously I dont want to be in and out like a yo-yo so was wondering if anyone can suggest really hardy fish that will hopefully cut down on visits.

It will be a tropical tank, 200ltr or so (not set in stone yet) but it will be a community tank so things like danios and the like but I was hoping you guys might be able to suggest some others.

Any help is greatly apreciated and I thankyou all in advance.

 

[Clairel]

When i set mine up, they advised me to get some Zebra Danio's which i did (x6) i cycled my tank fish free for 2 weeks then added them, i can say they are still going strong

C x

 

[The-Wolf]

big mick
I hope that you are either doing a fishless cycle or a clone of your own tank.

as for the question
some hardy fish are
Zebra + Leopard danios, Harliquin rasbora, WCMM and dwarf golden barbs.
Don't forget that ZD's come in a golden form and both ZD's and LD's come in longfinned versions.

 

[big mick]

Yes I will be using bacteria from my big tank to set it up.

The zebra danio's are lovely and although I dont keep any in my tanks at home I got some for the tank at work and they are great.

Harliquins is a good idea, I like them aswell.

Cheers guys.....any other suggestions?, something a little bigger, I will have maybe a couple of angels because I love them and have kept them for years with very few problems.

Mollies and platy's are pretty hardy arent they?

 

[Clairel]

Yep i have 2 platys, and 6 small mollies, and they too are very hardy....and cute

Claire x

 

[big mick]

Im thinking...

Golden danios
Harlaquins
Corries
Angels (just a couple)
Platties
mollies
sword tails.

I dont want anything that will get too big like silver sharks because once the person gets attached them I dont want to have to take anything away, once the fish has a name its a member of the family heh heh heh......and god only knows what Id do with an adult silver shark.

 

[a1wonder]

Have you thought about barbs?
Odessa Barbs are colourful and fairly hardy I have never lost any of these buggers even in an over the weekend filter break down and they are not fin nippy.

 

[yvez9]

glolight tetras, black phantom tetras

might be able to keep a pair of jack dempsey's but that depends on the dimensions of the tank...

 

[Andyplec]

I agree with a1wonder, bards are a really hardy fish, but can be fin nipping such as tiger barbs, but your odessa's and golden barbs are great hardy fish

 

[boozybears]

Mollies and platy's are pretty hardy arent they?

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Yup they are! They survived through my tank's cycling (found out about fishless cycling too late ) Just remember if you get platies or mollies to get at least 2 females for every male. Also.. be prepared for lots of babies!

 

[big mick]

odessa barbs is a good idea cheers.

I love tiger barbs but they are too nippy.

 

[xxSarahxx]

This is a really useful thread for me as well as I am in the process of setting up a tank in the boarding school that I live in. The girls in the boarding house that I work in have said they want to help take care of it but how long that will last I am not sure!! I can see me being in charge of a new tank!!
I was wondering what to stock it with once I have fishless cycled!! I am going to take a group up to the aquatics shop I go to at the weekend but have told them that they can look, but we're not getting any yet and also that I have to approve the fish (that way I can make sure they won't grow to big and they are compatible, etc!)
Thanks guys and thanks Big Mick for the post!!

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Find out if the mollys you are buying were raised in brackish water and then quickly acclimatised to freshwater for sale or wether they are pure freshwater bred ones- this is important as mollys raised in brackish tanks usually don't fair well and grow skinny and get fungal infections alot and don't last long in general. Mollys are hardy fish yes but how they are bred and raised is very important to how successful you'll be with them too; if the mollys were initially raised in brackish water then it would be wise to keep them in a brackish tank, if only for their health and happyness.
You also have to remember with any common livebearer the huge amounts of fry they can produce on a monthly basis and due to this aern't always the best fish for a newb. Getting social and gender ratios is also very important as livebearers are very sociable fish and getting a bully fish can often lead to non stop harrassment and misery for the victum, somtimes even death.
I would personally recommend danios as the main starter fish because of their hardyness and ability to survive in a variety of water quality conditions. The chances of them breeding successfully and producing fry in a community tank are also slim.

Even if you do a fishless cycle i wouldn't stock the tank completely as your friend will probably want to choose some of their own fish once they have got to grips with fish keeping and are learning the right stuff, otherwise they may get bored with the selection quickly if they don't have space to buy some fish of their own for the tank.
Make sure the tank has a filter more powerful than what is needed to run the tank and the lighting is suitable for growing plants as nothing looks worse than a load of rotting plant leaves in your tank and having to fish out dead peices of plant everyday. I would also go for sand substrate as its easier to clean and traps less rotting waste than gravel does and thus keeps water quality better easier- if your friend wants to get corys or other bottom filter feeders in the future too sand is excellent for them and much better than gravel.

 

[big mick]

you're very welcome sarah.

I plan to understock the tank, the main reasonj being id Im very much into aquascaping and want to make it very pleasing to the eye with bogwood, slate and silk plants (Iuse live plants but they mean extra work)

Once its all set up with the rocks, bog wood and plants I dont want loads of fish in, just enough to keep it runninmg clean and healthy and like you say if my friend saw another fish they liked we could get it without worrying too much.

They will be coming with me to chose the fish anyway so it should all go well.

I was trying to post a picture of my 300ltr tank with a big natural tree trunk in ther middle but the picture is too big and I dont have an arts package to reduce the size.....Im not very technical with computers.

 

[aloaring]

I would say danios, golden barbs and keyhole cichlids from experinece i know that all these fish are very hardy and live through the most stupid of newbie mistakes!!