New To Fish Keeping Please Help

[pinchez]

Hi all

I'm about to buy first aquarium and i could really do with some help.

I've got about £200 spend on everything bar the fish and already have a sturdy attractive stand with a surface area of 32" x 16" and no height restrictions.

My LFS is Bardils garden centre in Nottingham, UK and they seem to stock a good range of products although the staff don't seem to be as clued up as the folk on here.

Any suggestions on a setup would be most welcome as i'm a total newbie. I've been looking at the Juwel record 96 aquarium which i've been told by my LFS is a good sytem and i would just need to add gravel and decoration. Is this a good aquarium or could i do better for my money? also will the filter system that comes with it be enough or should i look at an under gravel filter?

If you had £200 to spend on a tank that fits my stand what would you buy? Can someone please spec. me a setup including everything i would need including testing kit etc. Also is it better to have real or fake plants because i've heard fish just eat real ones.

I need to buy this in a few days as it's a surprise for my wife

Thanks everyone

 

[beany_bot]

Hi, and welcome to the world of fishkeeping!! (your going to enjoy it).

There is a forum and some stickys "new to fishkeeping" you should check out has all the info you need.
Just go back to "tropical fish" and you will see.

p.s. dont need an undergravel filter and Juwel are one of the best aquariums around.

Good luck!!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

hi there, welcome to the forum and to fishkeeping. nice to see someone here doing research before buying the fish so kudos to you. you're already on our good books.

The first thing I'm going to advise you to do is nothing to do with your questions, but it's basically the cornerstone of sucessfull fishkeeping so v important to research before you get going. It's the nitrogen cycle and fishless cycling. There's loads of pinned topics on the subject so have a read through them and make sure you're clued up with what to do before getting the fish.

If your wanting value for money look on ebay, there's always second hand tanks going for a good price.

 

[shroob]

Hi all

I'm about to buy first aquarium and i could really do with some help.

I've got about £200 spend on everything bar the fish and already have a sturdy attractive stand with a surface area of 32" x 16" and no height restrictions.

My LFS is Bardils garden centre in Nottingham, UK and they seem to stock a good range of products although the staff don't seem to be as clued up as the folk on here.

If your in nottingham, check out Wharf Aquatics, argueably one of the best in the UK (if not the best). Some real experts working there.

Any suggestions on a setup would be most welcome as i'm a total newbie. I've been looking at the Juwel record 96 aquarium which i've been told by my LFS is a good sytem and i would just need to add gravel and decoration. Is this a good aquarium or could i do better for my money? also will the filter system that comes with it be enough or should i look at an under gravel filter?

Juwel tanks are useful for beginners as they are an 'all-in-one' setup, meaning you don't have to look around for the individual bits like heaters, lights, filters etc. Though you could probably buy better quality equipment individually where you pick what you want. If money is tight look in local papers eg ad mag, theres some real bargins in there, for £75 I picked up a 330 litre tank (complete set up, lights, stand, filter everything, even the bogwood) so if you're prepared to look there can be some good deals. Though you only have 4 days so it might not be possible. The filter system depends on what fish you are planning on stocking, if you are just stocking light, little community fish like tetras then it should be fine. Undergravel filters (UGF) arn't really popular anymore, other filters have replaced them due to ease of maintinance mainly, though UGF still work, there are other options that do the job just aswell. Seeing as the Juwel tank comes with a filter though, probably a waste of money just to replace it (again depends on what you plan on stocking).

If you had £200 to spend on a tank that fits my stand what would you buy? Can someone please spec. me a setup including everything i would need including testing kit etc. Also is it better to have real or fake plants because i've heard fish just eat real ones.
Like I said previously, £200 in a local paper (or aquatic society) will get you a long way, you could probably pick up a tank twice the size with a stand that you are looking for with little trouble at all, though just depends on if you want a second hand tank, or have space limitations. I prefer real plants in my tanks just due to the fact I think they look nicer. Some fish will eat plants, but theres alot that won't and will leave them alone. With real plants though, some require more lighting, the bulbs that come with the Juwel units may not be sufficient for some species, if you do get a Juwel tank I would recommend buying easy to grow plants such as java fern, elodea, some floating plants maybe (I'm no plant expert so may be better posting in the planted tank section if you go down this route).

I need to buy this in a few days as it's a surprise for my wife
And I'm sure you'll both enjoy it, a quick note though, please don't expect to add fish as soon as you have bought the tank. I don't know if you're aware of a process called 'cycling' if not, I'm sure some people on here will explain it all to you, its fairly simple, its basically making sure your filter can deal with the fish waste when you add them. Alot of new people buy the tanks and fish on the same day, and give up on the hobby when their fish die suddenly.

Thanks everyone

EDIT: I see I was beaten in quickness

 

[pinchez]

Thanks everyone

I've heard of Wharf Aquatics, I did plan on visiting them when my tank is ready for stocking. I will be going for community fish as my wife really likes tetras and we both want a happy friendy aquarium with as few problems as possible. From what i've read i think i get the general gist of cycling and i'm going to be doing it properly even if it takes weeks!

So far i see no reason not to buy the juwel and it does fit my stand and include most of what i need. I'm off to work now but i'll be back tonight doing plenty of reading! I never thought there was so much to Fish keeping but i'm getting quite excited about it all

 

[Miss Wiggle]

there's nothing wrong with juwel tanks really. they look nice, they're a touch pricey but you do get everything included. filter's aren't brilliant and you may want to upgrade this later but they're good enough providing you don't stock too heavily.

generally they're regarded as fairly nice tanks, a lot of people just can't afford them so they look on places like ebay and pick up second hand ones.