Im a beginner

[Luke]

Im thinking about starting up an aquarium for the first time. I was just wandering want kind of fish would be good for a beginner......

 

[wetwetwet]

HiYa and welcome Luke, you stand the chance of opening up a hornets nest with that question

I'd say do loads of research first.........and then do some more lol

Get the biggest tank you can site/afford because you'll only want a bigger one after a while or more

Try and find out what your local water conditions are like and try to build your selection arround that, or find some fish that you really like the look offg and work arround their requirements

 

[William]

All livebearers and most tetras are ideal beginner fish in my opinion

 

[TAZZ]

hi luke =) im fairly new too. im also about to get an aquarium + accessories hehe. not too sure of the fish, but the tank im getting is a 33gallon i believe. im thinking of a few neon tetras to start off though. i have 1 betta fish swimming in a small table side tank - very nice fish, good for starting id say cause they breath surface air, they dont requre airated water due to poorly developed gills. basically all i have is a tank, light, a plant, and some stones in the bottom. as for chemicals i only add water treatment every time i do a water change. Although cause its getting colder here, i usually do water changes every 2 days to keep the temp up (could make it easier by buying a water heater... but as im looking into getting a bigger tank, im just holding off )

anyway welcome to the board, feel free to ask questions.. this lot r really smart when it comes to this topic =) im still learning myself

tazz

 

[Luke]

Alright, i got a question for you guys. I've heard a lot about this water cycling. I've heard that you need some good hardy fish during the cyle. WHat kind of fish are good for cycling??

 

[Luke]

Also, how long does this water cycle take? Is there anything i can do to speed up the cycle?

 

[Thomas A. Anderson]

Personally I wouldn't use fish for cycling no matter how hardy they may be, as it is not fair on the fish.

As regards to how long it takes, that all depends on your initial water quality, PH etc. But my tank took about 16 days, I also added a little bottled bacteria as well as a little food to the empty tank to cycle the tank slightly quicker.

There are plenty of links regarding cycling, but I'm sure William will be able to find the better ones.

 

[semper fi]

agree with ccl on the fish cycling. if you have any gravel, filter or sponges from an existing tank that will help to speed up the process. sometimes an lfs will be nice and let you have some of the water from their water changes. make sure that you check the tanks carefully. if there are any diseased or dead fish, don't bother to ask. invest in a good test kit. this will help to see how your tanks is getting along. the hardest thing with fish is that to properly cycle a tank with no available bacteria is having patience. fortunately for me, i had a great teacher that showed me the rewards of patience. yes, another compliment for cichlidmaster!

cycling is basically creating a bacteria environment to help remove the harmful toxins for fish. one of the first things that you should do is get a test kit and test your tap water. certain fish needs vary and you may have to adjust the tap water accordingly. to creat this bacteria you want to spike your ammonia levels. high levels of ammonia can lead to fish death which is why i do the fishless cycle. the ammonia is then converted to nitrites and finally to nitrites. the bacteria in the gravel bed will help to eliminate the nitrites. there is nothing like old fashioned water changes. you should do atlest weekly water changes of about 10%. this will also help you to find the best time in your schedule to do water changes which are very important when you have the fish housed in their new tank.

maggie

 

[William]

Alright, i got a question for you guys. I've heard a lot about this water cycling. I've heard that you need some good hardy fish during the cyle. WHat kind of fish are good for cycling??

I use fish unlike CCL and semper obviously fishless has its benefits but it is kind of dull having an empty tank for 2 weeks.

First off what are your tank dimentions?
The fish I most highly recommend are zebra danios, platies are also good but being livebearers don't know if you want lots of babies....

Cycling takes 2-4 weeks in normal conditions, can be speeded up by:

1)Using gravel/water/filter squeezings from an established tank
2)adding "cycle" (debatable)

What fish do you want to keep in the tank once it is cycled anyway?

 

[Luke]

Im thinkking about just a 29 gallon tank. Some fish i was thinking at were some kind of tetras, coreys, or some danios.

 

[William]

ok get 6 danios to cycle buy test kits for "Ammonia and NitrIte". Test the water every couple of days or so and post the results here and we'll let you know how its cycling.

Once its cycled you can add a whole bunch of tetras and some cories too plus many other cool community fish!!

 

[Luke]

Will do.....im not sure how long it might be.....dont get too anxious. THanks for the help.

 

[icefins]

you should really do alote of studying for sure this is very importata because most begginers kill there frist batches of fish and usaly because they are not educated you cant just go out buy any fich you want and put in the tank the fish have to compatible but yea start out with guppies and live bears mollys sword tails ect. good luck