Newby!

[puppyduck]

Hey!


Just bought a tank 24" by 12" by 18" (not sure what litreage that is )

Me and my boyfriend are looking to get some tropical fish for our new collection. We're absolute newbies and don't have much clue! We had a look round a pet supermarket place today and bought a book on the different types of fish.

We'd like to get 2 catfish; one is see through and I think is called a ghost catfish, another is a smallish grey catfish that we were told was good for beginners. Will two catfish fight or should they be ok?

We also want to get a small black shark, which we were also told would be non-aggressive unless put with another shark, but we are scared it might eat all the other fish!

We also saw a Siamese fighter fish which looked great and again we were told it would be fine unless put with another male fighter fish. But we are worried it will eat other little fish.

We want to get some neon tetras, a pencil fish and some checker barbs. Will all these fish be ok together or will they eat each other?

Will I need different food for them and stuff or will they all eat the same?

And my boyfriend wants to know especially how much more the electricity bill is having the heater and filter switched on all the time. Do you all pay alot more for your bills or is it not that noticeable?


Thanks and sorry for being a newby. Hope you guys can help.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Hey!


Just bought a tank 24" by 12" by 18" (not sure what litreage that is )

Me and my boyfriend are looking to get some tropical fish for our new collection. We're absolute newbies and don't have much clue! We had a look round a pet supermarket place today and bought a book on the different types of fish.

firstly hello and welcome, and well done for buying a book and researching before you buy some fish.

Your tank is about 20 US Gallons.

We'd like to get 2 catfish; one is see through and I think is called a ghost catfish, another is a smallish grey catfish that we were told was good for beginners. Will two catfish fight or should they be ok?

was the small catfish called a corydora? If so you need to have about 6 of them, there can be some agression between catfish's, it really depends on the exact species. Also a lot of catfish's would outgrow a 20g aquarium

We also want to get a small black shark, which we were also told would be non-aggressive unless put with another shark, but we are scared it might eat all the other fish!

Pretty much anything called 'shark' is gonna be too big for your tank. They're not actualyl a sort of shark like you'd get in the sea but just named shark as they look similar. But none the less a lot of them grow big and will eat smaller fish. But yes some of the sharks are only agressive to they're own kind.... but just cos it's not agressive to soemthing smaller doesn't mean it won't eat anything that'll fit in it's mouth given half a chance!

We also saw a Siamese fighter fish which looked great and again we were told it would be fine unless put with another male fighter fish. But we are worried it will eat other little fish.

Fighter fish also aren't a good idea for a community set up (sorry for so much bad news!) there are a few exceptions but the general consensus is you should only keep male betta's alone, or females alone or in a large sorority tank (i.e. just with other female fighters). However they don't need a very big tank so if you do want one someday you could get another tank, would only need to be 2/3g so less than a quarter of the size of the one you have now, and just have one on it's own in there.

We want to get some neon tetras, a pencil fish and some checker barbs. Will all these fish be ok together or will they eat each other?

I'm not 100% sure on checker barbs. Some barbs are fine for communities, other's can be a little agressive. Maybe have a look in the fish index on here and see if someone's done a profile on them that could help. The tetra's and pencilfish should be OK together.

On a general note when deciding on stocking, a good guideline for you to start with is the inch per gallon guideline. Find out the adult size of the fish you want to keep, add them all together and it should be near enough equal to the amount of US Gallons in your tank. So you'r lookign for about 20 inches of fish. You should bear in mind some fish like to be kept alone or in groups, also they may require more swimming space if they're very active so maybe count them as (e.g. 1.5 inches if they get to 1 inch). Your best bet is to have a look around, see if you can get your list to add up to about 20 and then post your list and we'll help advise if it's suitable or not.

Will I need different food for them and stuff or will they all eat the same?

An important part of fishkeeping is a varied diet. If you feed a mix of different sorts of flake, some vegetable, sinking pellets and meaty treats then they should be fine.

And my boyfriend wants to know especially how much more the electricity bill is having the heater and filter switched on all the time. Do you all pay alot more for your bills or is it not that noticeable?

The difference in my leccy bill only started being noticeable when I got up to 4 tanks running, and all of them quite a bit bigger than yours. I doubt if you'll see much difference just from one tank.

Thanks and sorry for being a newby. Hope you guys can help.

Hope that all helps a bit

 

[Richie Hell]

Hey, thanks for the help.

We'll make sure we do more research before getting the fish, and ask in the shop.

We're picking up the tank tomorrow evening. Very excited!

 

[discus dreamer]

That's great advice from miss wiggle about the various fish.
Do also read the threads about cycling the tank and even when it is cycled don't add the fish all at once, get them a few at a time and let them settle in and the filter build up enough good bacteria to more than cope with them before adding more fish.
it's worth the wait
DD

 

[Richie Hell]

Got our tank now! Just setting it up.

We're well happy. Got it secondhand so it was cheap and comes with nearly everything we need, and the filter is already mature so we don't need to wait for it to build up bacteria and whatnot!

 

[puppyduck]

Yay! Just bought our fish.

We got 3 glass catfish (I was worried about these with all the stories about them going white on the way home and dying but they were very calm and settled in really fast! They also seem very happy as a trio)

Also got 3 corydoras; one peppered, one albino and one bronze. All went crazy in the bag trying to jump out and stuff. Now they're in, our bronze cory is settled but the alby and the peppered is still going manic round the tank spending most time rushing up to the surface and crashing in to one side of the tank. Kinda worried but I hope after an hour or so they'll settle down.

 

[corykid]

Ya do not get a black shark a "BLACK shark" wil get HUGH and way to big! they need about a 70g, get a "redtail" black shark, or "rainbow" shark