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Original poster

Keeping fish

24 replies

ThomCatsAreNotJustForXmas · 05/12/2004 22:38

Ohhhh, what have we done?
On the back of Nemo and the obsession Lottie has with it we bought an aquarium. It's got the light, a heater, filter etc. Comes with everything except the fish.

So, question, any of you kept/keep fish?

What sort should we get?

if I actually get a couple of clown fish how easy are they to keep?

OP posts:

sparklymieow · 05/12/2004 22:42

Clown fish are salt water fish, which are harder and more time consuming than tropical fish. I have tropical fish and you can get some lovely ones

Poo2 · 05/12/2004 22:44

Get plastic ones - they don't die. Was scarred for life as a child by coming home to find my father with my fish in a j-cloth, beating it against the wall. He had been swimming upside down in circles for days, I'll admit, but a little respect for the dead please. At least get normal looking ones so if they shuffle off their watery coil whilst your little girl is out, you can nip down the shop and get another.

carolHELSInger · 05/12/2004 22:46

I don't have anything like an aquarium but DH won two goldfish at the village fair in summer....ok one died over night so I went to the local garden centre that sells fish asnd asked them what I had done wrong. he said that putting goldfish into tap water is just as dangerous as putting them straight in bleach. I needed a filter, pump, water de-chlorifier, food and a book tellingme how to keep them - oh yes and of course the tank - whioch them needed a toy plant and gravel etc etc. One lousy fair goldfish that cost 50p to win ended up costing me £25.00!!
Anyway - DD called it Bob (get it?!!!) and it is still alive - the pump noise drove me made so it now just swims in de-chlorified tap water. the pump was poitless.

Sorry - haven't answered your question....I don't know about aquariums sorry - but am an expert of goldfish!!!!

Sorry to rant - been on the sherry this pm.

jingleballs · 05/12/2004 22:46

lol, get gold fish, just don't put them in warm water as they grow big!

OnZephyrstdayofXmas · 05/12/2004 22:47

clown fish are very very difficult to keep. There were an awful lot of pleas not to buy them when Nemo came out because people were killing them as soon as they got them home!! Saying that we've got (had) two goldfish and one killed the other - had a hard time explaining that to dd!!!
Go to your local pet shop and they'll give you good luck though!!!

Poo2 · 05/12/2004 22:48

Ignore any advice from Zephyr - she's allergic to apples. Wierdo.

maddiemo · 05/12/2004 22:49

TC My sister has had clown fish. You either need to buy just one or a mate pair as they are aggresive fish and will fight. I don't know much else about them but my sister said we would be better off having fantail goldfish(look a bit nemoish, at least the kids think so).
So far so good, we have had ours for about a month, currently have two but going up to four soon.
You need to allow the tank to be running for a week before you add fish.

carolHELSInger · 05/12/2004 22:49

I didn't know that JB - thought they would die in warm water. better not try it as had a few tipples tonight - might end up boiling them

Starofbethlibbhem · 05/12/2004 22:50

That was cheery Poo2! I think fish are a great idea, they are very mesmerising and once the tank is established they tend to take care of themselves apart from the odd cleanout - my sister and I took care of our tropical fish under supervision from Mum and Dad until we were about 10-11 years old and then we did it ourselves.

I am sure Lottie will love it! as I said, they are great to watch for hours . . . if you don't get clown fish then I recommend Kissing Geramis (sp?), ours were forever snogging and had us giggling for yonks xx

OnZephyrstdayofXmas · 05/12/2004 22:51

lol !!!!!

80sMum · 05/12/2004 22:51

If you're serious about it, then don't do anything till you've read a couple of books on the subject, like \link{http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1902389670/nerds/202-4745648-7347012\these}. Probably best to begin with the more robust species before moving on to delicate ones. Good luck.

TeriS · 05/12/2004 22:52

You could get some guppies, neons, mollies - they are quite easy to keep, and are fine to have together. They are also quite cheap, incase you have any mishaps in the begining!

We have had fish for about 3 years now, and DS loves helping to feed them, etc, although you do occasionally find cars/lego people/ toys floating in the tank!

jingleballs · 05/12/2004 22:53

carol, I had 3 lovely gold fish, they were my roomies when I first moved out of home (sad I know) but DH, (then DP) decided he wanted tropical fish.... but I had my beloved goldfish, so anywyas, the manged to kill two of them off :( (used lemonade, but that's anohter thread, the other one we put in with teh topical fish, it surived and was ding well, except it grew and grew, it did die in the end thou, if you get tropical fish, don't mix tiger barbs and neons (they dont' get on as we found out) the tiger ones kept attacking the other ones.

xmashampermunker · 05/12/2004 23:21

You can get clown loach which are tropical fish and look similar to saltwater clown fish, but easier to keep. They like to hide under rocks/logs upside down.

Guppies are very pretty but don't last long IME - however, they are cheap. Platys are great - sunset wag platys are my favourites, but you can get them in a huge variety of colours. Danio are good too - zebra or leopard (stripy or spotty - you'd never have guessed!) and tetra - neon, cardinal, etc. All easy to keep community fish IME - mollies can be a bit nippy of other fishes fins.

If you get a mixture of fish - bottom feeders, pretty ones, glass cleaners (sucky hoover-like fish that suck the algae off the glass of the tank!) that's best for the tank, but don't overfill it or they'll all die. There's some mathematical equation you can do to work out the ratio of tank space to fish, but you're better just going to a good aquarium and asking the most grizzled-looking shop assistant there! Hope Lottie enjoys her fish!

xmashampermunker · 05/12/2004 23:22

And I'm allergic to apples too, so don't take my advice either

carolHELSInger · 05/12/2004 23:22

All these strage names sound like something out of Lord of the Rings

Poo2 · 05/12/2004 23:23

God, there's 100's of them. We are none of us safe.

carolHELSInger · 05/12/2004 23:26

How can anyone be allegic to apples - never heard of that one - what happens to you - intriguing!!

Poo2 · 05/12/2004 23:34

Have a look on the 'fruit allergy' thread. Tee hee.

carolHELSInger · 05/12/2004 23:49

yackyyyyyy

Cinderellascarrieg · 05/12/2004 23:59

I'd echo what everyone else has said about tropical marine fish (eg. clown fish) - you'll be getting into 'sea mix', anti-corrosion filters...just don't go there, go for tropical freshwater instead.

DO NOT buy tiger barbs - v pretty but 'hound' everything else. Or Siamese Fighting Fish - our experience was that the tiger barbs we shouldn't've bought ate the poor thing alive!

Leopard danio seem to be reasonably indestructible, also tetras - we currently have the Black Widow Motorcycle Club (Black Widow tetras!) zooming about...

Oh & get a catfish or two to hoover up all the gunk that grows on the sides.

But - we've had our tank for over a year, & do sort of vaguely know what we're doing, & STILL I reckon 20% of new fish cark it within a week or two of being introduced. Great way to teach kids about death, but definite potential for upset as pathetic little corpse floats to the top!

KateandtheElves · 06/12/2004 01:03

Carrie, I was about to recommend siamese fighting fish (otherwise known as Bettas). You can't keep them with other fish though.

As a matter of fact we just bought two of them today (in separate bowls).

The one we were replacing only lasted for 3 months though, I'm sorry to say. So if you're worried about explaining death to the kids they might not be the way to go. (In my case, although of course I felt sorry for my girls when the fish died, I did think it was a useful way of them really appreciating what "dying" means. Does that make sense?)

misdee · 06/12/2004 08:02

I'd say go for tropical fish. Marine fish are very pretty but very pricey and hard to keep. dh wants marine fish, but he casnt untill my fish die, and my giant cat fish seems to be living forever.

Tiger barbs are pretty, but agressive. I had problems with black widow tetras attacking everything.

Original poster

ThomCatsAreNotJustForXmas · 06/12/2004 11:24

Wonderful, thanks so much girls.
Perhaps I'll just buy a gold fish and paint tipex on it and make it look like a clown fish.

Bloody Nemo, got a lot to answer for!

Great advice. Will print this off and take it with me to the fish shop so I have some indea of what I want when i go in.

Thank you.

OP posts:

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