Newbie Tropical Fish Keeper - Tank Advice?

[coolguydudeman]

I am interested in purchasing a tank to keep some tropical fish, Ideally i would like to keep salt-water fish but after researching this subject it seems to be more advanced and pricey for me at this moment, However, I would like to have the ability to possibly upgrade my tank in the future with a protein skimmer as I am particulary interested in keeping some Banggai Cardinal Fish, and a Clown fish.

My ideal fish-tank would contain some colourful fish such angel fish and i would also like to include a pool of smaller fish but I have read neons/small fish under 1.5 do not mix well with angel fish unless introduced at a very young age. I also plan on adding wood/rocks and live plants to the aquarium.

So far the tank I am looking at buying is this one - This falls under my maximum budget and is probably the largest I have space for. The tank can easily be converted to house marine fish by adding a protein skimmer according to the description. The tank is 135 litres (29 gallons) and includes a heater lighting and filtration system. Does anyone have any experience with this tank?

Much appreciated,
Anthony.

 

[Aqua Tom]

Hi & welcome to the forum, i am glad to see that you are starting with a decent size tank (that one is 154 litres) A lot of newbies, myself incuded, make the mistake of buying small first then realising how hard it is to keep a small tank.

Most of us here buy our tanks second hand as the manufactureres charge waaaaaaaaay to much. Here is a quick search i did on ebay, just refine it to nearset first & there you go.

E-bay second hand fish tanks

One thing I realy do recomend is that you read up on cycling a tank & about the nitrogen cycle. Its not as easy as putting the tank in, filling it with water & then waiting a while.

The Begineers Resource Centre has all the information you need & there is a handy link in my signature to it.

Once again, welcome to the fascinating world of the subsurface

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome to our forum CoolGuyDudeMan.
If you are considering going over to the dark side and keeping salt water fish, why not start out with fish that can be kept in fresh or salt water? Common every day pet shop mollies fit that bill. They can be kept in straight freshwater that contains higher than average minerals and will thrive but they have been used by our saltwater brothers in the past as ideal fish to cycle reef tanks. Being adaptable to all waters from pure fresh water to pure salt water, euryhaline, they are seen in both kinds of tanks and are hardy in both settings. That way, when you decide to move in the salt water direction, you can simply start adding some sea salt once a week to gradually convert your tank from fresh to salt. You will of course want a way to measure the salinity of the resulting water so that you can get the 1.2 SG that many salt water people use for their tanks.
In the short term, you will want to cycle your new tank as a freshwater tank before adding the mollies. Any of the color variations or fin variations of mollies that you find in the LFS should work well for you so feel free to choose your favorites among them. They should be quite happy to live in a reef tank or a FOWLR with things like tangs and clown fish.