New Here, New To Tropical Fish

[steve2010]

Hi, my name's Steve. I have just invested in a 90 litre Aquael Econoline with filter and heater included. I've always wanted to keep fish, but something other than goldfish. I have kept goldfish before, in smaller tanks, maybe 45 litres. Having recently bought my first house, I thought I'd go the whole hog and get an aquarium that I wont want to upgrade for a long time!

However, I have no experience of having a heater, or this size tank. All I have at the moment is an empty tank. My supplier (Viscum of Doncaster) are waiting for delivery of the stand for the tank, so I cant even put anything in it yet. So I am reading up on the matter before I make any silly mistakes. Is simply having a filter (with built in aeration) enough? I always liked the under gravel filters, which draw water through the gravel with an airline in a tube. I had an acrylic hexagon-shape tank with one. But obviously these need cleaning. Are these a bad idea? What temperature should I have the heater at? Gravel or sand for a base? Plastic or real plants? I would like real plants.

I want some colourful fish. One of my friends has boring grey fish, which I dislike. What colourful fish are easy to keep in a freshwater tropical aquarium? And how many should I have? One of my female friends wants me to get an angel fish. Are there freshwater variants?

So many questions. Perhaps I should buy a book!!! Any tips on books?

 

[Westwood]

Hi welcome,

For a filter i would recommend getting a canister filter, the 05 series, these give excellent water quality, and from mine very reliable.

I have my heater set at about 24c

Next you have to decide what sort of tank you want, a species tank or community.

There are many variates of angel fish, but they do require a tall tank. what are the dimensions of your tank?

Again your substrate decision depends on fish you want and if you want planted. I would personally recommend a planted tank, as i think it looks better.

Thanks

Edit: if you look in my signature you will see a picture of my aquarium, and the larger fish on the left is a angel fish, i really like them great fish to keep

 

[fluttermoth]

Hi Steve, welcome to the forum

I would advise against an undergravel filter. They work fine as a biological filter, in that they can support a lot of the good filter bacteria, but they tend to suck all the detritus under the filter plates where it's very difficult to remove it.

I'd recommend a large (as large as you can) internal or external power filter; these are much more efficient.

Sand looks lovely but can be difficult to keep clean, so a fine gravel might be easier. Real plants are nicer and better for the fish than plastic and there are a lot of plants that aren't too difficult to grow.

The most important thing of all is to do a fish-less cycle. This gets the good bacteria growing in your filter before you add any fish. There is more information on it here; http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/277264-beginners-resource-center/
Unfortunately, it does take a few weeks, maybe even a month or two to cycle a tank, but it's time well spent; both in giving you experience in water changing and testing which will be invaluable when you get your fish, and making sure your fish stay healthy when the time comes for you to add them.

Most tropical fish need a temperature of around 76F (24C), but your cycle will go faster if you turn it up to 85F/30C.

90 litres = 19 gallons; a useful guide for beginners is one inch of fish per gallon of water (though this applys only to average, slim bodied fish) so that gives you some estimate.

There are so many kinds of colourful fish, it's hard to for me to recommend specific species, but you'll have plenty of time while cycling to have a good look around your local fish shops and see what you like. Freshwater angels are one of the loveliest of all tropical fish, in my eyes, but they're not very brightly coloured and can cause you problems as they aren't totally compatable with some of the other commonly kept fish.

Hope this is of help; best of luck, and remember there are always people here ready to help out with advice