Hello, Newbie Here!

[Hammer Man]

Hello all, I've been wanting to keep fish for some time but have never 'got round to it'. I bought a tank second hand 12 months ago and it has been sat in the garage since..

The tank is
L - 4ft
H - Just over 15"
W- 15"

The tank is complete with the Hood, Light, Heater, Fluval 4 Filter and additional pump (with bubble stone), gravel, a selection of natural slate and a metal frame stand. None of this means anything to me, its just what the guy told me all the bits were when I collected it. He used to have a Pirhana in the tank but it died and he sold it all to me for £20. I would have liked to have got a couple of motoro rays but having read up on them I decided against the idea as I don't know that I will be able to provide a big enough tank for them in the future, hence the tank has sat in the garage for a year.

So, I am looking for ideas as to what fish I could succesfully, and easily keep in this set up. I prefer a few big fish to lots of little fish if that makes sense.. Don't worry, I won't be dashing out and buying fish without learning about them first. It won't be straight away in anycase as we may be moving house in a month or so, so I'm just getting ideas and trying to learn a bit before we possibly move into a new house and get the tank set up.

Also, we produce huge quantities of Demineralised water at work and I wondered if this would be ok to fill the tank with? The guy in the shop said something about RO water and I wonder if it's the same??

Sorry for the long post! Thanks for reading!

This is the tank before I picked it up...

 

[drobbyb]

Rainbows, barbs, tetras, afican cichlids, south american cichlids, etc. With a tank that size your options are more open.

 

[Davo86]

Very nice tank setup,

looking at it I would go for something like a pair of Sajica or Rainbow Cichlids or T.Ellioti as the centrepiece, and then add a group of dithers and a few catfish

with regards to the water, I would simply use tap water with added dechlorinator

Just to add, I would have put the tank on the top shelf personally,

 

[Hammer Man]

Thanks for the replies guys, I appreciate your time. I don't know what any of these fish are so I am off no in search of pictures before I look for information about each fish...

Davo86, that picture was taken a year ago the week before I collected the tank, it is empty in the garage at the moment. I do intend to put it on the top shelf so that I can see it more easily. I was considering attaching the metal frame to the wall to prevent it toppling over as it will be top heavy. This will be my first tank though so if you think that will not be needed please say, it may well be stable with a tank on top but I have no experience..

Thanks again guys..

Jimmy.

 

[Davo86]

Thanks for the replies guys, I appreciate your time. I don't know what any of these fish are so I am off no in search of pictures before I look for information about each fish...

Davo86, that picture was taken a year ago the week before I collected the tank, it is empty in the garage at the moment. I do intend to put it on the top shelf so that I can see it more easily. I was considering attaching the metal frame to the wall to prevent it toppling over as it will be top heavy. This will be my first tank though so if you think that will not be needed please say, it may well be stable with a tank on top but I have no experience..

Thanks again guys..

Jimmy.

Lol sorry, tend to scan through without reading most of the time,

You'll find that as long as you place the tank perfectly onto the stand (i.e. no overhangin on any side) it will be fine. once its full of water it won't budge.

 

[Hammer Man]

Thanks for the replies guys, I appreciate your time. I don't know what any of these fish are so I am off no in search of pictures before I look for information about each fish...

Davo86, that picture was taken a year ago the week before I collected the tank, it is empty in the garage at the moment. I do intend to put it on the top shelf so that I can see it more easily. I was considering attaching the metal frame to the wall to prevent it toppling over as it will be top heavy. This will be my first tank though so if you think that will not be needed please say, it may well be stable with a tank on top but I have no experience..

Thanks again guys..

Jimmy.

Lol sorry, tend to scan through without reading most of the time,

You'll find that as long as you place the tank perfectly onto the stand (i.e. no overhangin on any side) it will be fine. once its full of water it won't budge.

Great stuff, thanks. Out of the fish you and drobbyb have suggested, which are the biggest? I have had a quick look on google image search just now and they are all pretty fish but I have nothing to compare their size to in the pictures. I know some people may be upset by the fact that I 'only want a big fish', but I don't just want big fish, I just find them more amazing to look at from a personal point of view...

Thanks again for your help.

 

[Davo86]

The three cichlid species i stated will all get to around 5 inches,
Rainbows should get to around 4 inches
african cichlids get to around 5-6 inches

If your happy with just one big fish with a small number of dithers then you could look at species like Jack Dempsey (9") Green terror (8inches), Blue Acara (8 inches) Kissing Gourami (usually around 8") threespot Gourami 4-6"

 

[OldMan47]

Rainbow cichlids, Herotilapia multispinosa, get to about 5 inches. Mine look like this in a small group.

 

[Hammer Man]

Thanks Davo86 and oldman47. Nice looking fish oldman, thanks for sharing. What about Pirhana? How big do they get? Trouble with that though I guess is that you can't put any other fish in with Pirhana?

When I do come to set the tank back up, will I need to clean everything thoroughly as its been sat for a year or will it be ok once it starts geting water back through the filter?

 

[bae1994]

snakheads birchirs mayb be ok not sure

snakhead

birchirs

 

[Princesscoral]

i love the tank i might nick a few ideas for my tank

i think you shoud get fancy guppys
the link is to a picher of a lueone
http/www.ifga.org/guppy_pictures/GBuadier%20HBAOC.jpg

princesscoral
age 9

 

[Hammer Man]

Wow bae1994, that snakehead looks the business! Mean looking fish isn't it! Will a 4ft tank be big enough? How many can you have together and can you put other fish with them?

 

[hensonc4098]

I personally wouldn't recommend getting a pirhana as your first fish. They require quite a lot of fish know-how.
Things like the afore mentioned cichlids etc. are a much better place to start if you want to skip the tetra and barb stage.
Also if you like bigger fish, silver dollars are nice and easy to keep, although they can be a bit mad and eat any kind of living plant We have 3 in our tank. They can grow to be the size of dinner plates but you need to keep them in groups otherwise they get stressed. They actually are related to the pirhana, but aren't carniverous. You can also keep other fish with them without worrying about them being eaten!
When you get round to setting up your tank, probably give it a scrub with just warm water and a sponge or something similar that isn't too abrasive in case it scratches the glass. Then put your gravel in and fill it up. Get the heater and the filter going and leave them running without any fish for a couple of weeks as the good bacteria in the filter will have died with being left for a while. Leaving your tank like this is called fishless cycling and you will be able to find lots of information on this forum about it. I think there s maybe a pinned topic somewhere but I'm not sure where. Have a look around and I'm sure you will find it.
Hope that helps!

Claire

 

[hensonc4098]

Link to a pic of a silver dollar

http/www.tropicalfishforums.co.uk/galler...lver_dollar.jpg

 

[Davo86]

Wow bae1994, that snakehead looks the business! Mean looking fish isn't it! Will a 4ft tank be big enough? How many can you have together and can you put other fish with them?

The tank is not suitable for Piranhas, although it is ideal for a few channa dwarf snakeheads,

Have a read through some of Nellys posts regarding Channa for more info