Really A Begginer

[podiumdave]

Hi everyone,

I have always wanted a big fish tank, and having just bought my own house I've decided that now is the time to get one. Im thinking about buying a two metre Rena tank. Are these any good? I've seen one on aquariums delivered for £995, which seems pretty cheap to me, but was wondering if anyone knew of anywhere cheaper I might be able to pick one up ?
Secondly, I was really hoping to keep Marine fish, but I've heard it might be a lot of work, especially with a tank of this size. What do people think about that ? Would it be worth it or would a biting off more than I can chew for my first tank ?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

 

[catxx]

marine IS a lot of hardwork, especially with someone with little fish knowledge, theres a lot of water care involved before you even get to livestock! and a set up in a 2 metre tank is going to take you into the thousands of pounds. not to say it's impossible for a beginner of course! you just have to be ready to get rid of a lot of cash, and if you've just bought your own home, i would guess that cash isn't as readily flowing as usual!

tropical can be just as exciting as marine, and with a large tank you can keep a vast array of fish, whether it be a regular community, species, biotope or oddball!

have a good scout around for cheap tanks, places like pets at home can come up trumps sometimes for cheap tanks (wouldn't trust the fishstock though), or you can try Freecycle, friends, neighbours and Loot for second hand tanks, make sure they're water tight of course before you hand over cash

 

[Fillet 'O' Fish]

I dont know if you have a Maidenhead Aquatics store near you, but they sell very reasonable priced RENA tanks. I picked up a 1.2m long one from there with all equipement , heater filter etc, and a cabinet stand etc far cheaper than anywhere else.

As far as marine goes, I would stick to fresh water tropical to begin with if I were you.

 

[Boxa]

Seapets in Colchester seem ok, but if your willing to travel to pick one up then why not have a look about on Ebay, someone was selling a 6.5ft, 3ft tall 2ft deep tank in Woolwich South London last week on there for VERY SILLY money... As in peanuts, it all seemed good too, but thats depending on travel and how much of a bargain you want. There are loads of garden centres and other such places round this way which seem to sell MASSIVE tanks for again silly money "Peanuts"

 

[Fwapp]

I would definately learn about fish keeping by keeping tropical first. The amount i've learnt over the last 10 months has been staggering, and I dread to think how much the mistakes I've made (and everybody makes them) would have cost if I'd been keeping marine.

The beauty of marine is very alluring, but I think it can be matched by some of the planted tanks that can be seen in the planted section. Have a look, you may be surprised. I know I was!

If you do get the hang of keeping tropical, then it shouldn't be to much bother to convert to marine in the future. Use these forums, and you'll get almost any question answered that you can come up with.

 

[Bullrock74]

Anyone else think this post might have been nothing more than an advertisement? I could be wrong, but...

 

[BigIan]

god knows wether it was an add or not but i`m pretty sure i could find tanks cheaper than that at windsor aquatics who also happen to be one of our sponsers (i`m a brown nose arent i)

 

[postmanpaul]

hi

My advice and you will hear this alot is start with tropical fish i know they are less colourful (not counting fish from the african lakes) but they are easier to keep and less expensive if you have a tank disaster Marine fish can cost on average between 30-40 pounds each big bucks if you lose a few secondly you may well not like keeping fish after a while please think of the little fellas cause they will rely on you and if you do start with tropical please dont be to hasty and let your tank mature slowly and also add stock at long intervals to allow your filtration time to adjust.


GOOD LUCK