A New Fish Lover - Beginner

[Chazwick]

Hey there! I'm 14 and totally new to the whole fish pet thing - and tomorrow i am going down to get a nice, big-ish tank. I have sorted out the place i'll put the tank in and everythings all set and ready to go - but wait - the fish - that's the problem.
It'll be a freshwater tank and i'm completely unaware of what fish are suitable other than the common goldfish (i'll be getting a silver and a orange one though!) and would really like your views on what good freshwater fish are, please tell me your own experiances of these fish, their characters and attitudes with other fish. Like i said, i'm completely new! I want some nice, not too big, colourful fish preferably.. i would love a small group of fish that stay in "schools" i think that's how you'd phrase it. Now - anyone who can help?

 

[Fish Friend]

wow... do you know about all the complicated... nitrogen cycle... pH stuff Kh GH and all that crap ?? if not then well have to teach you...

 

[Chazwick]

LOL - No i don't know THAT much. Luckily i have a smart dad who will sort out all that for me (me.. lazy? never!) i know about the cleaning, etc, cause i used to do it for money for my aunt, who had a terrific aquarium, it was a pleasure to look at, She doesn't no longer have it i don't think.. which is a shame. So spill the beans on this PH stuff! lol... I still wanna know!

 

[Chazwick]

And of course about the freshwater fishes or fizzles as i call him I really need to know about the different suitable types by tomorrow!!

 

[OCCFan023]

well the first thing I can reccomend is reading up on the stickies on the freshwater forums and learn some stuff on cycling, and fish that go together.


How big is the tank? What kind of equipment are you going to put on it? When we know that stuff it will be easier to help on the fish and such.


Also if your buying the tank tommorow and setting it up, im begging you not to buy fish! I KNOW ITS TEMPTING BUT PLEASSSSSSSSSE DONT BUY THEM!!! After you get the tank together and everything you will know what you want and other things that will help in the long run. I would even suggest not buying decor tommorow, and instead just buy the equipment and tank and then design your decor around fish you want after you read up and look around the forums..


I know its tempting to buy those fish, but I guarantee you will be happier (as will the fish) if you give it some time. Patience (sp) is a MUST

 

[FroggyFox]

Welcome Chazwick... first thing we need to know to help you out is how many gallons is a "big-ish" tank? That means a lot of different sizes to different people.

The other thing is that I'm sorry to let you know that its not really good to keep goldfish with other tropical fish. They are a "coldwater" fish, and need completely different food and tank conditions than other tropical fish.

As far as fish that will work in your tank...let us know a size and we'd be happy to give you some ideas about our favorite fish that would fit in your tank?

The first thing you should do is read through this thread http://www.myfishtank.net/forum/showthread.php?t=19568 about how to set up a tank and make sure you're up to speed on some of the basics about cycling the tank. You'll need to set it up and while its cycling you can do research and decide which fish you want for your tank.

{edit Ditto on what OCC said )

 

[Chazwick]

I don't mind equipment... i want to make it realistic like the wild, not artifical, whichever equipment goes with the fishes, is fine with me. It wont be an enormous tank as i don't have the room in my... room, lol. Seeing as lots of my space is taken up by my two little hamsters! lol. But i have a fairly large spot, i would prefer smaller fishes though - if thats the case anyway. So any small freshwater fishes recommended?

PS: I love American Chopper too - it seriously rocks! *SUNSMILE*

 

[Chazwick]

I'm not sure on gallons at all - because in all honesty - i've no idea how much gallons the tank i've picked has.
And i wont be getting the fish until later in the afternoon, i'll be getting the tank in the morning, so i'll set it up - and if not ready i'll get the fish the following day.


{edit: At my local pet store you can "reserve" fish, so i'll find out about their surroundings in the wild and pck up everything. I wont take them home without having the tank completely finished.}

 

[Mushroomman]

Measure the tank and tell us what the dimensions are, that should help in finding gallonage.

Welcome to the fish world!

 

[Izz]

Goldfish are actually coldwater fish. They also get rather large - around a foot long, I hear - and poop a lot. So you might want to rethink them.

Before many fish can be suggested it's necessary to know exactly how big of a tank you're getting. But for schooling fish, neons and rummynose tetras are pretty good. For bottom feeders, corydoras catfish are great ( bronze corys - julii corys - panda corys - peppered corys - pygmy corys ). To take care of algae problems, a few otos are fine. All of them like to be in groups of at the very least 3 (and no, mixed species of corys doesn't count).

Check the freshwater fish profiles for more ideas and don't be afraid to ask for help.

 

[Fish Friend]

lol if we could sort it all out for you then we would !!!

 

[FroggyFox]

Yeah...it would be impossible to put a tank together and plan the fish without knowing how big it is. If you can "reserve" fish for a month...then they shouldn't have a problem with you just waiting until you've had a chance to research the ones you want. The store should know how many gallons it is if you call them or have your dad call them.

 

[LongTime]

My friend, I hate to be the one to tell you this...You should not for any reason bring home any fish the same day you get your aquarium. There is something called New Tank Syndrome (NTS) and if you come home with an aquarium and fish all in the same day your fish will most likely die. *thumbsdow

Before you spend your money measure the space you have and then decide what size aquarium will go there. After you have an idea of the size tank, it will be time to talk about all the rest.

Everyone wants your first aquarium to be a success, but you have to help us help you. *BOUNCINGS

 

[Fish Friend]

well said peeps.. so can you not put this idea on hold ?? or is it a 'get it tomorrow or dont then thats it!'

 

[discus4everGrl]

you need to get the tank, a master test kit, water conditioner, some substrate, a heater and a filter, and a python vacuum thing. You may be able to forgo the heater if your doing goldfish. How big of a tank is biggish? Goldfish are pooping machines.

Set up your tank with water. Don't buy fish the same day you set it up. Put the gravel in first, rinse it well, get your filter running and the next morning use your test kit to test the pH. Close to 7 is good.

The nitrogen cycle is this: In a closed water enviroment with fish, the ammonia they excrete will slowly build to toxic levels which will kill fish. Mother nature devised a remedy for this in the form of good bacteria. This bacteria consumes ammonia and converts it to less toxic nitrite. However, nitrite is still toxic to fish in high levels. Mother nature again has another bacteria that eats nitrite and converts it to nitrate. Nitrate is a whole lot less toxic than the other two and fish can tolerate it much better. However, too much still and you will have problems. Nitrate is easily removed through weekly water changes. These good bacteria take time to establish on your filter and usually grow in the filter floss and stuff so you should be careful to never remove them all at once or clean them in tap water. A HUGE rookie mistake is to add to many fish to a new tank at once and you end up with so much ammonia that you never get a big enough bacteria colony. This is referred to as NEW TANK SYNDROME. You may look that up to make sure you avoid it.

You will want to get a water conditioner. All fish will die from a variety of things that are in tap water, namely chlorine, chloramine, and heavy metals. Your tap water conditioner should say that it removes these three things on the bottle. Use it religiously cause if you don't your good bacteria will die and so will your fish.

 

[Chazwick]

Cheers for the advice people - i will try my best i promise. My aunt will probably come along with me and she's an expert.. so.. ya know.

Ps: Izz are they all freshwater types? I'm really intrigued (sp?) on the otocinelus vittatus (sp?) they sound interesting.

 

[Fish Friend]

uh oh.........

 

[FroggyFox]

ottos are great little fish...you only need about one per 10 gallons

If your aunt is an 'expert'...you need to be careful about not offending her, but also let her know that you've done some of your own research (which I'm assuming you're doing...) and make some suggestions about setting up the tank slowly and making sure not to overstock it.

Your little schooling fish...if the tank is under 15 gallons you'll be pretty limited and probably need to pick one type of schooling fish that you like. If its around 20 or 29 (which I think is a great size of tank, esp for a beginner) then you have a lot more options.

If you click on the tab at the top of the screen that says "Freshwater Fish Profiles" you'll see all of those listed are freshwater...and they have a suggestion of what size of tank they need to be in and whether they're a schooling fish, and if they need any special foods etc...or if they're a good beginner fish.

 

[Fish Friend]

neons school.. as well as cory cats..

 

[Chazwick]

I've heard when you get the fish, when they're in the plastic bags, you undo to the bags and slowly dip them into the water, then after five minutes or so, let them out of the bags. Is this true? It's on a few fish websites!