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If you have a fish pond, fish tank or are seeking advice about keeping tropical fish, you can find advice on our Fish forum.

Fishnet

New to fish keeping.

13 replies

Lezprechaun · 08/08/2014 20:38

I am planning on getting a fishtank set up and was hoping for advice as I know nothing!

We were looking at some in pets at home today (who tried to sell me a 12 litre my first aquarium) but knowing what they are like selling too small cages for guinea pigs I thought I would seek advice first.

I'm wanting a fairly low maintenance tank, temperate fish as opposed to tropical and only 2 or 3 fish in the tank. Ideally one that won't need constant cleaning if that's possible.

What's the smallest tank that's suitable and what small fish would be a good choice for a new fish owner? Is a low maintenance tank possible or will I be cleaning constantly?

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baddyfreckleface · 08/08/2014 20:53

Hi. Well firstly you have good instincts about PatH. They recently sold me a 19l tank for six fish. I then came on here and found out I needed a way bigger tank.

I now have a 90L one. The smaller the tank, the more maintenance as far as I know (now).

I currently know very little. But don't do anything until the proper fishy people have advised you on here. I could have saved myself a lot of money if I had asked all the questions you are asking BEFORE going to PatH who basically gave me shitty advice.

We have three Danios and they are really lovely but do need to be in groups of at least 6/7 (we have to buy some more once the tank settles).

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Lezprechaun · 08/08/2014 21:58

The one they tried to sell me was 15 litres so even smaller! I never buy pets from them after they sold me a cage only suitable for a single hamster to hold a pair of Guinea pigs but while picking food up today DD fell in love with the fish so was debating it.

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Lezprechaun · 08/08/2014 22:00

12 litres not 15. They said it would be suitable for a single goldfish (which I know to be pond fish from my childhood) or 2 of these little orange and black ones, forgot the name now.

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baddyfreckleface · 08/08/2014 22:04

It seems to be pretty definite that goldfish are definitely not for tanks so they are pretty bad to be recommending them for any tank, let alone 12L!

Apparently the RSPCA says no smaller than 45L for anything

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DikTrom · 08/08/2014 22:15

I used to have five goldfish in a 150l tank. Never had any problems. But goldfish (probably applies to all fish) need clean water with good oxygen levels, so I had a powerful pump, filters and tested the water once a week and more often during warm weather. Fish are lovely, but you need to clean tank often and it is lots of work. Don't overfeed them as it will kill them.

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Valsoldknickers · 08/08/2014 22:35

Hi OP, there are lots of fishy forums online with extremely knowledgeable and passionate posters who are only too happy to share their knowledge and experience (good points of information include //www.fishlore.com, //www.liveaquaria.com)

Tank wise it's best to get as big as you can. Mine isn't big enough any more to accommodate the fish I would now like to keep but hindsight is a wonderful thing as they say.

I set up mine by kitting it out with some plants and stones, a heater, light and filter and let it run for around 2 weeks (to cycle) and then populated it with Cherry Barbs which are peaceful and very cool little fish (and easy to keep).

It is worth checking out which types of fish can co-exist in a tank (unless you want a massacre on your hands! !) and how many should be together so they can school properly (which affects their behaviour and alleviates stress (big fish killer)).

Finally besides food it is also a good idea to get a few testers for the water to check for nitrates, ammonia and pH.

Once your tank is fully cycled and your tests show the water is good you can get away with a treated water change (only some, not the whole lot as the cycled water contains good bacteria) every two weeks or so.

There are loads of helpful YouTube videos on everything to do with keeping fish from set up onwards.

Hope you have lots of fun!

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Valsoldknickers · 08/08/2014 22:43

Goldfish and mollies are dirty buggers btw. Lots of shitting and cleaning. Barbs (would love Tiger Barbs) are great, honestly

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EauRouge · 08/08/2014 23:01

Goldfish are messy and need massive tanks. They also live a really long time (20 years is within the realms of possibility) so they're a big commitment.

You could have a 60 litre tank with 8 white cloud mountain minnows (or more if you got a bigger tank), that would be really low maintenance. You'd only need to do a water change and a bit of tidying once a week. The lighter the tank is stocked, the less work you'll have to do, but shoaling fish need to be in a group of 6+.

You could either go for a plain aquarium and choose your own filter, or you could get one with a built-in filter (Juwel Rios are popular).

You will need to do a fishless cycle first, this takes about 4-6 weeks usually. You can either use fish food or household ammonia to kick things off. Don't worry, it's mostly explained in the link but if you need any more help then just ask, there are a few of us fish geeks lurking around in here

Good thing you didn't listen to Pets at Home, eh? I would say they are shocking, but I'm not remotely shocked by their crappy advice any more.

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Valsoldknickers · 08/08/2014 23:36

Sorry, new to this thread. I didn't know this section existed and here I was recommending other sites when in fact there are already people here with expertise in fish keeping! Apologies

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EauRouge · 09/08/2014 08:38

That's OK, don't feel bad! There are a handful of us fish geeks here. Nice to have another

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Lezprechaun · 09/08/2014 09:35

Thanks everyone. Do you think it's best to get a heater and go with tropical then? I was thinking keeping the tank at room temperature would be easier for a beginner?

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EauRouge · 09/08/2014 10:00

Tropical fish aren't necessarily harder, but there's more choice and some species are really tricky to keep. It used to be that people would just turn up at the aquatic store and say "I'll have one of those, and one of those, and one of those...", which would nearly always end in disaster. So tropical fish got a reputation for being loads harder, but there are plenty of species available that are not hard to keep and as long as you know what you're choosing then you should be fine.

For the coldwater/temperate tank, there's loads more choice than there used to be. Minnows are always a good choice, they are really easy to care for, but there's also a few barb species, some corydoras, and danios that will be very happy in an unheated tank providing it's not somewhere that gets drafty and cold in the winter. It will also save your leccy bill because you won't need a heater. This article has some really good ideas.