New to Tropical fish

[The stealth hunter]

I have children aged 4-11 and would like some advise on colourful small fish for the aqarium. The tank is 36"15"12".

Questions

1.What quantity
2.What types
3.Top and middle tank swimmers? If they really exsist.
4.Plant types
5.We have basic gravel but what is better?
6.Types of food.

Have kept cold water fish for years and tried to look on the internet for some Ideas but just getting more confused........(not difficult )

Please help......I realise alot of Q's but want to get it right and therefore Happy Fish Happy Kids a very Happy DAD and a Proud Wife .

Yours Hopefully

Nick

 

[jimbooo]

has the tank "cycled" yet.

answer that and i'll help you with the rest.

not sure quite how new to this you are so if you dont know the answer just say so.

 

[The stealth hunter]

yes i have cycled the tank been running for over 2 weeks

 

[pica_nuttalli]

has the tank just been running empty or did you introduce some sort of bio-load (snails, a small fish, straight-up ammonia)? do you have any other tanks running?

the nitrogen cycle needs some sort of ammonia to be continually introduced to the system, or it stops working and the bacteria begin to die off. if this is your only tank currently and its empty, then you probably should read up on fishless cycling (see pinned topic). if you have another fishtank, add a couple of small fish, snails or ghost shrimp and use filter material from the old tank in the new one (cloning your tank). if you clone, you need to slowly increase your stocking levels. if you fishless cycle, you oughta add several fish at once or you'll just have a bacterial die-back.

sorry if you knew ALL of that... a lot of people have been informed that cycling just consists of running the tank, not that you need to grow bacteria!

 

[jimbooo]

ok firstly take a water sample to the LFS and get them to check the readings for

Ammonia
NitrIte

these are the most important.

while your there test for PH, KH, GH


if alls okay you can start with a few fish. no more than 4 small fish at first.

Zebra Danio's are cool fish but you need at least 6 when fully stocked so only buy them if you like them.

Cardinal Tetras are one of my fav's see below

they are middle/bottom swimmers.

stay away from Angelfish, your tank isnt tall enough and you'll have problems.

plain gravel isn't that great for plants but i learnt this WAY too late. both my tanks have plain old gravel base with root tabs to fertilise the roots. not ideal though.

if you already have a "filled" tanks then leave it as it is and go for plants like Java Fern, anubas, and other Low light, hardy plants.

as for food i cant stress this enough DONT OVER FEED!!! healthy fish can live for weeks without food. the big tank in my sig gets 1/2 pinches of flake twice a week and a frozen bloodworm cube in the middle of the flake feedings once a week.

if you have ever seen an algae infested minging tank that is the probable cause. although feeding fish is fun, trying to kill a ton of algae without killing your plants and fish isn't.

for more info on the Weekend read the Pinned topics on the board in beginners section and planted tanks. really good info here.

going home now as it's friday and i've had enough. no PC at home so will catch up on monday. let me know how you get on. hope this helps

 

[Blue Lobster]

How about some Rainbow fish? They are easy to keep, BRIGHT COLORS and don't get too big.

http/badmanstropicalfish.com/biotope/biotope6.html

 

[The stealth hunter]

I am running a fishless cycle and willread the pinned section again.

Thank you

NICK

 

[steelhealr]

HI Stealth...I hope this answers your question..I have two kids also and I'm thinking about what is in my tank that MY kids like. I think rainbows are nice....very active swimmers and really dart to the surface to eat. Germans rams are VERY colorful, but, I'd wait until you are comfortable and SURE about your water quality. Two very good top dwellers are some danios and classicly hatchetfish (but hatchets can be prone to ich). Just a few thoughts. SH

 

[pica_nuttalli]

colourful small fish for the aqarium.

Questions

1.What quantity
2.What types
3.Top and middle tank swimmers? If they really exsist.
4.Plant types
5.We have basic gravel but what is better?
6.Types of food.

that's great to hear you're fishless cycling! hope we didn't offend you by double checking.

anyways, my suggestions....

(1) according to this, you can have ~36 inches of fish. i wouldn't initially put in the maximum; as you well know, part of the fun is expanding! it's like taking an exotic vacation. pack fun stuff, but leave plenty of space for souvenirs!

(2) "Types" you say?

• some bottom dwellers: khulii loaches and cory cats are fun little fish that generally don't exceed 3". they both like to live in schools, so if you get a variety, you'll want 3-5 of the same type. (think "birds of a feather"). you'll probably want to get some sort of algae eater eventually; i recommend EITHER 3 otocinclus catfish or 1 bristlenose pleco (~6 inches of fish either way). Total Inches: 15~18
  
• midlevel dwellers: pretty much any variety of tetra. again, they like to school so get 4~6. i personally adore "Green Fire Tetras" but they're supposedly difficult to find. they're a bit bigger than neons, about the same size as cardinals; think green and pink instead of red and blue. I suggest you just have a look-see at what's available and then decide based on that. Aim to own in Total Inches: 10~15
  
• top dwellers: guppies! *ahem* now that i got that out of my system... dwarf gouramis are lovely fish that come in a variety of tones, but they tend to be aggressive at each other except in male-female pairs. hatchets are remarkably shaped but subtley colored. african butterflies never leave the top but will eat anything they can fit in their huge mouths. paradise fish are extremely hardy, but are closely related to both gouramis and bettas with similar requirements (only one species of the three can be kept at once generally). again, i suggest a look-see and then internet research. You'll probably want to wind up with Total Inches: 5~10

(3) see above

(4) i've had good luck with cryptacornes (sp?) in normal gravel, also with the little cheapie bulbs you can buy at the petstore. i got my apongetons that way and every few months they flower and cast of little plantlets. java fern on a bit of driftwood is very nice too.

(5) smaller sized gravel :shrug: it depends on what you want it for.

(6) again, the best type of food is pretty well dependent on your fish. the only two things i can for sure know will get eaten are TetraMin Tetra Crisps and Algae Wafers. every type of fish i own likes both of those (even my puffer likes in on a wafer, once in a while).

 

[GSD]

Dwarf gouramis are great
mickey mouseplatys are the best and hardy!!!!!
Corys are great bottom feeders
go with what you like!

 

[Mobern]

If you have a 10 gallon tank you could keep either 6 Ember Tetras or 6 Black Neon Tetras or 6 Neon Tetras plus 4 panda cories so you'd have 10 fish total.

Picture of Panda Cory:
http/www.corycats.com/c.%20panda%201.jpg

Picture of Ember Tetra:
http/allabout.co.jp/pet/aquarium/closeup...0040524B/01.jpg

Picture of Black Neon Tetra:
http/www.otsuka-nettaigyo.com/img/Data/i...ckNeonTetra.jpg

Picture of a Neon Tetra:
http/www.algonet.se/~gberg/akvarium/neon.jpg

Hope this helps.
Mobern