Newbie Questions: Hi All

[christoc]

Hi All
 
I have been considering purchasing some fish for the first time.  I have some very newbie questions which i'd appreciate advice on!
 
1. How much does it cost to run a tank? i.e. electricity for the pump for a year/month.
2. How often do you need to clean the tank?
3. What costs are involved? tank, fish, food cleaning utensils?, electricity for pump, others..?
4. Im looking for a reasonably small tank to start, maybe something like in the link below:. How many fish would the below fit? is there a recommended no of fish per square cm?
http/www.rocketaquatics.co.uk/Fish-R-Fun-FRF-355-Black-7L-Hexagonal-Acrylic-Aquarium.html
5.  really keen on a tank which is impressive in the dark, any recommendations?
6. Any recommended tanks for beginners? i saw many 'fishrfun' tanks at range.
7. Can i mix up the fish as i want, or do some not get on well with others?
8. is there a useful newbie guide anyone can recommend to view?
 
 
Many thanks
 
Chris

 

[BerryAttack]

depends on the size of the tank, only thing that gets yea if the filter running 24/7 and the heater.
cleaning a tank - you clean the filter once a month, and do water changes every week.
biggest expense will be the tank itself with the filter, heater, light, decor etc. then depending on the fish you want it'll factor that in.
by looking at the tank you are interested in i wouldn't go for it. get the 10-20 gallon starter kits, you are able to be more flexible with the fish you can buy compared to the hex one. the hex you are only able IMO to get shrimp, beta, and nano fish. if you get a 20 gallon you can get different kinds of tetras, cories, and some show fish.
when you say impressive in the dark? is it the lighting that you want to show off whats in the tank? or the scape of the tank, if its the scape do a live planted tank.
for a beginner i would get a 20 gallon tank, start with fake plants with a sand substrate. then do a fishless cycle. then research and ask questions of what kind of fish you want to put in it and if thats ok. don't do any impulse buying. (until you know what you are doing )
mixing of the fish will depend on what you want. 
newbie guide is this site, just search what you are looking for and boom everything comes up

 

[fluttermoth]

Hi there, Chris, welcome to the forum
 
1, It's hard to say for certain; it depends on the size of the tank, the wattage of your filters and lights and how warm your house is, but it's really not expensive. Around a pound or two a week, I reckon, for a smallish tank.
 
2. You need to change water once a week; you don't ever need to strip the whole tank down; partial water changes, with a gravel clean, is the maintenance that's needed.
 
3. Once you've bought the tank, the costs are minimal, tbh.
 
4. There is no real, definitive rule as to how much you can stock; there are too many variables to be taken into consideration. The tank you've linked to, at only 7l, would not be suitable for any fish. Tanks that are longer, rather than tall, are better (as fish swim horizontally, not up and down!), and no tank under five gallons/22l is suitable for fish, although you can have shrimps or snails.
 
5. You can get lots of glow in the dark decorations, and you can have blue LED lights that great in the dark.
 
6. I would recommend you start off with a tank that's at least two feet long and around 60l in volume. Very small tanks are actually harder to look after than larger ones, as you have so little water to dilute any problems and things can go wrong very quickly in them.
 
7. No, you can just put any old fish together. Some fish might grow too big for your tank (the fish you see in shops are babies; they will grow!), some are either timid or aggressive and some prefer differing waters (some, like guppies, like hard water; most tetras like it soft, for instance).
 
8. Look around the forum, ask lots of questions and you'll soon get an idea of what you need to know. Start off by looking in the 'Cycle your Tank' sub forum, as that is the one essential piece of knowledge you need to keep fish successfully

 

[christoc]

Hi both
many thanks for your warm welcomes.
 
impressive in the dark? i guess it want it to be a focal point of the room, show off the fish.. so some glow in the dark fish would be good!  
 
good point on the direction that fish swim!
 
i will do some revision before making a decision.
thanks again

 

[brittgs]

Welcome.  This is a great site for newcomers to fish keeping.  I have gotten very helpful advice. The people on this site are a great resource. I started with a 29 gal tank and am enjoying it so much. I've gotten into regular routines for tank maintenance and it is easy now.

 

[sawickib]

You can always get an LED night light, so you can see your fish at night, instead of getting genetically engineered fish. And 

to TFF

 

[fluttermoth]

Glow in the dark fish are genetically modified, so aren't available in the UK.
 
There are two basic ways of deciding how to set up your tank; either pick the fish you want, then buy an appropriately sized tank and decorate it to suit them, or you can get the tank and decorations and then pick fish that will live happily in it; bearing in mind that five gallons is the lower limit, and even that would leave you very limited choice (five or six small fish, of one species).
 
And please don't listen to anything anyone in a fish shop tells you. Don't forget, they're ultimately out to make a profit and their 'advice' is very often, at best, 20 years out of date, and at worse an all out lie
 
Best to post here, before you lay out any cash, or you might find yourself stuck with an unsuitable tank and/or unsuitable fish. We see it here all too often, I'm afraid.