So I'm Thinking Of Getting My First Tank...

[emmajt]

I'm thinking of buying my first tank.... I am thinking around 60-90Ltr but have no idea about which equipment and fish to buy which is probably dependant on the type of fish... I would like some pretty tropicals that are relatively easy to keep and fed at a lesser rate if possible. I like the Arcadia arcs that are 60l? My budget for a tank is around £100. Any advice on a good starter tank and types of fish would be brilliant. Many thanks

 

[crazyforcordoras]

Yay! New tank! Tetras are quite simple to take care of.

 

[emmajt]

I would like a bit of a mix but not too many but have read that some dont get on with others...

 

[Bugdozer]

Don't get tiger barbs. Whether they nip fins or not, nobody here can ever suggest a good species to go in with them.

 

[tomtomtom1230]

First of all, I'd like to welcome you to TFF

Secondly, take a look at this... http/www.fishforum...esource-center/

It's our very own beginners start-up guide. The sooner you understand the nitrogen cycle to a certain degree, the easier you'll find fish keeping; you will know what to do in certain situations. Ideally, you want the biggest tank you can afford/have room for. The larger body of water you have, the easier and more stable the water conditions will be. Most freshwater fish available are relatively cheap, it's just the equipment that gets expensive. Try Ebay for your tank but get everything else relatively brand new in condition purely to ensure it's long life and so you have a warranty on the most important bits like the filter and heater.

Is the budget of £100 for a tank minus the equipment or a tank including the equipment?

Equipment:

Tank
Substrate (do you want real plants? Their benefits are unrivaled in the fresh water aquatics world in my opinion but requires some more research and a little extra money for basic fertilizers)
Decorations (natural or fluorescent styles are very common, which do you prefer?)
Heater (on TFF we tend to go by 1 watt per litre of water - you don't even need a heater if you don't want tropical fish)
Filter (I would personally recommend not even opting for an internal and spend the extra £25 if available on an external canister style filter - see Eheim, Fluval etc, it'll save you a lot of time on maintenance)



Where feeding is concerned, I feed all my fish on a tri-weekly basis (3 or 4 times a week, once every other day or there abouts) and regardless of the large 40% weekly water changes I do, all my utility bills are pretty much unchanged. The filter, heater and powerhead (a pump used to increase water flow) use up a minimal amount of electricity; they are on 24/7. I spend maybe £10 a month on fish food and £20 on top of that every other month for fertilizers for the plants. Healthy fish take care of themselves once fed and water conditions are maintained. Fish also live a lot longer than most people anticipate. Take the average goldfish - if it was properly looked after in a good size aquarium, it'd live as long as 10 years maybe!

Once we know what kind of equipment you're getting and what dimensions your aquarium has, we can suggest what fish you can facilitate. Tall tanks are generally not a great option to begin with as problems with oxygen in the water can arise but longer, more cuboid style tanks are considered a good starting point.

The most important thing to remember is: fish will die but let it be a learning curve, there is a fair amount of info to understand but once that bit's over and done with, it's plain sailing - don't let anybody put you off!

 

[emmajt]

First of all, I'd like to welcome you to TFF

Secondly, take a look at this... http/www.fishforum...esource-center/

It's our very own beginners start-up guide. The sooner you understand the nitrogen cycle to a certain degree, the easier you'll find fish keeping; you will know what to do in certain situations. Ideally, you want the biggest tank you can afford/have room for. The larger body of water you have, the easier and more stable the water conditions will be. Most freshwater fish available are relatively cheap, it's just the equipment that gets expensive. Try Ebay for your tank but get everything else relatively brand new in condition purely to ensure it's long life and so you have a warranty on the most important bits like the filter and heater.

Is the budget of £100 for a tank minus the equipment or a tank including the equipment?

Equipment:

Tank
Substrate (do you want real plants? Their benefits are unrivaled in the fresh water aquatics world in my opinion but requires some more research and a little extra money for basic fertilizers)
Decorations (natural or fluorescent styles are very common, which do you prefer?)
Heater (on TFF we tend to go by 1 watt per litre of water - you don't even need a heater if you don't want tropical fish)
Filter (I would personally recommend not even opting for an internal and spend the extra £25 if available on an external canister style filter - see Eheim, Fluval etc, it'll save you a lot of time on maintenance)



Where feeding is concerned, I feed all my fish on a tri-weekly basis (3 or 4 times a week, once every other day or there abouts) and regardless of the large 40% weekly water changes I do, all my utility bills are pretty much unchanged. The filter, heater and powerhead (a pump used to increase water flow) use up a minimal amount of electricity; they are on 24/7. I spend maybe £10 a month on fish food and £20 on top of that every other month for fertilizers for the plants. Healthy fish take care of themselves once fed and water conditions are maintained. Fish also live a lot longer than most people anticipate. Take the average goldfish - if it was properly looked after in a good size aquarium, it'd live as long as 10 years maybe!

Once we know what kind of equipment you're getting and what dimensions your aquarium has, we can suggest what fish you can facilitate. Tall tanks are generally not a great option to begin with as problems with oxygen in the water can arise but longer, more cuboid style tanks are considered a good starting point.

The most important thing to remember is: fish will die but let it be a learning curve, there is a fair amount of info to understand but once that bit's over and done with, it's plain sailing - don't let anybody put you off!

Wow thank you very much, great help I am starting reading now!
I am thinking £100 for the tank then £100 for any extras including fish, I have already bought some silk fake decorations as real plants are a future option for me. I have space for quite a large tank but do they require much more cleaning?
Also which equipment is the most silent as it is for a bedroom... I am willing to pay extra for the most quiet options.
I am going to be dedicated to my fish so a 10 year life span of my first fish would be amazing but im prepared for any issues!

 

[tomtomtom1230]

Where your cleaning question is concerned: Yes and no.

Real plants help keep algae at bay so will need to scrub the glass less often but as mentioned, they require a little extra maintenance in the way of dropping a few ml of ferts in every couple days.

Personally, I did a fish in cycle when I started and only lost one fish (gold Zebra Danio) bless him, to dropsy which is nearly untreatable. I am gonna miss Keith...

Most smaller tropical fish will live to be about 3-5 years, I used the goldfish as an example that they'll live for longer than most people expect I used to have a Fluval U3 filter for my tank which is an internal filter but it made the inside of the tank look smaller than it was and was fairly noisy so I moved to an external which is almost silent. I use the Fluval 206 (for a 120 litres) but the 106 would be good for anything smaller. I swear by Fluvals filters, it's all I'ved used and I've never had any issues with them. Temporarily, an internal might be more budget-conscious though. My tank is in my bedroom, too by the way

Any questions, just holla!

EDIT: Sorry, didn't really answer your question very well...

Yes and no because you will have more substrate to clean but you can do this whilst filling your bucket for a water change, cleaning fake plants is best done all at once to minimize time consumption in your maintenance. Although some will tell you that good bacteria lives on them (and although this is true), if you don't give a chance for the bacteria to multiply onto them, then it'll find a new home. that is, inside the filter (where they should be).

Also, opting for a sand substrate will help with the cleanliness of your tank greatly. With gravel, small particles will fall through the gaps but everything will stay on the top of the sand making it easy to suck up with a gravel-vac. Don't bother with aquarium specific sand either, it's very expensive with very little benefit over thoroughly cleaned play sand from somewhere like Argos.

 

[Fintastic!]

Definately get the biggest tank you can afford. The smaller the tank the quicker changes will affect it such as ammonia spikes and temperature changes. Water changes won't be a problem with bigger tanks.
The best advice I can give you is not to take advice from the lfs. Always check with the folks on here before you do anything and research everything.
Good luck and keep us posted!

 

[tomtomtom1230]

This looks like a good starter setup to me

http/www.seapets.c...uarium-kit.html

Everything will have a warranty as well which is nice

 

[Bugdozer]

I got my tank from Seapets, they are a reliable site.

 

[tomtomtom1230]

Yeah, comes with it's own heater and filter too which aerates the water apparently! all for £97! Wish I knew about Seapets when I started out!

 

[emmajt]

Thank you all for this info its helping me a lot! I think I have found the tank I like..... its the 60l Arcadia Arc II, I have realised I have a slight issue of going any bigger as I would have to reinforce my cabinet but this is quite rectangular and not high so it will have a bit of floor space.
Will I be able to add a fluval 105 external filter on this? Many thanks again

106 ***

Where your cleaning question is concerned: Yes and no.

Real plants help keep algae at bay so will need to scrub the glass less often but as mentioned, they require a little extra maintenance in the way of dropping a few ml of ferts in every couple days.

Personally, I did a fish in cycle when I started and only lost one fish (gold Zebra Danio) bless him, to dropsy which is nearly untreatable. I am gonna miss Keith...

Most smaller tropical fish will live to be about 3-5 years, I used the goldfish as an example that they'll live for longer than most people expect I used to have a Fluval U3 filter for my tank which is an internal filter but it made the inside of the tank look smaller than it was and was fairly noisy so I moved to an external which is almost silent. I use the Fluval 206 (for a 120 litres) but the 106 would be good for anything smaller. I swear by Fluvals filters, it's all I'ved used and I've never had any issues with them. Temporarily, an internal might be more budget-conscious though. My tank is in my bedroom, too by the way

Any questions, just holla!


I think I am going with the sand option and real plants but two fake plants. How much is fert for a few real plants and what type of sand would I need for a 60l tank?
I hope that my fish survive this ordeal I will try my best!
I am going to get a silent 106 filter once I have bought my arcadia arc II 60l for the cleaner quiet option
Thank you very much

 

[tomtomtom1230]

Both the 105 and the 106 will fit and do a perfectly good job. The only con to an external is that it must be BELOW the tank (not directly, mines off to the side but about 1.5ft below the bottom of the tank. There shouldn't be any mess that finds it way onto the floor though when disconnecting your filter for maintenance due to shut off valves etc. As I said, it might be good to look into a temporary internal filter placement for now if money is tight (trust me I've been there! I think we all have).

Have you read through the nitrogen cycle? Makes sense?

As far as sand goes, can you give us some dimensions (ie: length x width x height) of the tank it's self and I'll be able to help a bit more there! I reckon you'll need around 7.5kg of sand for a standard cuboid shape but you might need more. Aim for 2 inches of sand on the bottom.

If you go low tech like I have (in terms of plants) then all you'll need is a basic light - which I imagine is built into the lid of the tank - and some root tablets (maybe about £15? I use root tablets made by Seachem but there are lots out there that all do the same job). It might turn out you'll need to add some trace elements (basic plant food) every now and again but always try without first since it might save you the cost in the long run if your plants manage OK without!

In terms of looking forward to the fish you want to keep, look into fish like Neon Tetra, Glow Light Tetra, Harlequin Rasbora, Ember Tetra, various freshwater Shrimp, Peppered/Pygmy/Panda/Bronze Corydoras, Kuhli Loach, YoYo (sometimes called Pakistani) Loach, Guppy, Platy, Molly and most small Cichlid. Before you get a fish, always research what you want to keep with it, what temperature it lives and (and decide whether it'll be OK with it's tank mates at those temperatures) what it feeds.

Most importantly, buy yourself a water test kit, the ones you'll need at the start at Ammonia test kits and Nitrite test kits. Ideally the liquid form not the strips and the strips are very inaccurate. API make a usually reliably kit and is widely used by the members on this forum. After the initial stages in your cycle process (explained in the beginners section), you'll need a nitrate testing kit. I found the kits to be about £5 each and available on Amazon and Ebay. They last a very long time once cycling is over and done with.

Let us know when you get your tank and if you have any more questions! If you're viewing this on your computer and not on your phone, click the link in my signature and there's a step-by-step guide to how I set up my aquarium and although it looks a bit different now to in the photos, I still would've done everything in the same order.

Keep us posted!

 

[the_lock_man]

Yay! New tank! Tetras are quite simple to take care of.

That's one hell of a generalisation - it's like saying dogs are friendly (my nextdoor neighbour's dog frankly isn't in any way, shape or form, friendly)

And you ought to have read several threads recommending beignners not to put Neon Tetras in new tanks, as they seem to do better in more established tanks.

 

[tomtomtom1230]

Yay! New tank! Tetras are quite simple to take care of.

That's one hell of a generalisation - it's like saying dogs are friendly (my nextdoor neighbour's dog frankly isn't in any way, shape or form, friendly)

And you ought to have read several threads recommending beignners not to put Neon Tetras in new tanks, as they seem to do better in more established tanks.

I agree to some degree. Keeping an angry fish isn't like keeping an angry dog

The statement that 'Tetras are quite simple to take care of' isn't untrue but you are right that plopping them into an empty, unstocked tank isn't the right way to go. Neons especially have a big issue with new, unestablished tanks as you've already picked up on but the slightly larger variety of Cardinals are much hardier and don't suffer from the dreaded Neon Tetra Disease

In my experience, most Tetras will just about get by in a fairly new tank but yes, some are pretty temperamental.