We have purchased a 28l tank kit today (no heater).
I have cleaned it with clean water (no detergents) and the filter is running with no fish in there. We have also put in half a small cap of Tapsafe (which didn't seem like much). I have also given the gravel a good clean before putting in but am a bit paranoid I didn't do it enough- the water isn't cloudy though.
We have been told we can put 3 tiny fish in next week. A week later I can take down a sample of water out of the tank which they will test for me. If it is ok we can have 3 more tiny fish (sorry I dont know what they were called).
I have a gravel vac which I am going to use once a week and change 1/3 of the water at the same time.
Should I get a real plant or a plastic one? Salesman put the fear of god in to me about getting a snail infestation!
Also is he right saying to just feed them goldfish food as they are not tropical?
Is there anything obvious I should know??
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Can someone help a newbie (I'm not sure whether I trust Pets at Home's advice)
PegPolkadot · 30/07/2012 21:09
The fish we were looking at are tiny - not goldfish - which is fine. We were told we would be able to have 6.
Shall we leave the tank longer than a week then? I certainly don't want any to die. We were told it would be ok as long as we put them in in 2 batches so to speak.
Out of interest we were told we could put 3 goldfish in there 'at a push' 
I may go elsewhere for fish.
Also, he said not to bother getting a water testing kit as they were £30
Should I get one?
Oh dear, please don't go back to that place, the advice you were given is so wrong.
Have a read through this especially the section about fishless cycling. You need to get a source of ammonia, you can get this at homebase or Nisa stores. You basically need to build up enough good bacteria to support your fish, otherwise they will most likely suffer often fatal ammonia and nitrite poisoning. The link will explain.
Test kits are an absolute MUST. Get it on Amazon for half the price. You should never have Ammonia or Nitrite over 0.25, hence you need to test, especially in the beginning because you need to react if it goes over, as in doing huge water changes.
If you know any fishkeeper close to you, you could ask for mature media. This is the foam in the filter. If you know someone, they can safely donate you up to 1/3 of theirs to put into your filter and you are basically cycled. If you are close to me (I'm in Staffordshire), I'm happy to donate some to you if you like. Some independent fish shops are also happy to give you some of their media, so you have a massive kick start.
One goldfish needs at least 140l, depends on what kind. Common ones need 180l for one single fish, so please don't put them in a bowl. If you want to keep that small tank, please consider getting a siamese fighter fish (betta). One male will be the perfect tank inhabitant and they are beautiful with so much personality. Mine always comes to the glass to say hello to me.
Real plants can be washed under tap water. Snail eggs are in a jelly substance, so just make sure there are none. If you ever have snails, get some assassin snails and they will eat them and assassins don't breed as much as pest snails.
It might all sound daunting now, but don't be put off. Fishkeeping is so rewarding. I started off like you and had no clue, put all the fish into a small tank as P@H advised, they all died and then I realized what was going on. Read up on cycling, learnt and made it all better. I started with one tiny tank more or less exactly a year ago. I know have eight! So beware, it's addictive 
Thanks for the help and advice.
We will be really happy with the tiny fish. I thought they were lovely. Am I to presume when I was told I could have 3 each of 2 different breeds that was wrong and I should get 6 the same?
I don't really want a massive tank until I know what I am doing (fish keeping is clearly 99% water/bacteria keeping). I wonder what sort of fish they would recommend you keep in those awful Spongebob/Scooby Doo tanks 
MammaPizza- I will order the test off Amazon thanks for the link. By coincidence I am in Stafford.
I am beginning to wonder how my poor goldfish in a bowl i had as a child ever survived poor thing.
Yes, shoaling fish should be kept in groups of 6 or more. They can get scrappy to sort out the pecking order so a larger group spreads out any aggression and prevents bullying. But shoaling fish do need lots more space than 28 litres, keeping them in cramped conditions can exacerbate aggression problems.
You could just about keep a bunch of tulips in one of those SpongeBob tanks. Sadly there are no restrictions on what can be sold as a fish tank so just because something is labelled as one, doesn't mean it is suitable for keeping fish in. Which pees me off no end because people get ripped off spending loads of money on something that is basically a fancy vase. 
Just discovered there is a specialist fish and acquarium shop in town. I will go there for further advice and fish when the time comes 
I will go and suss them out this week. They can't actually legitimately sell me anything other than a net as I have everything else and it is too early to put fish in 
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