Fish - Misdee or any other aquatic types - what is the name of those fish that are easier to keep than goldfish?

[Gingerbear]

I keep thinking of tetras or Orcandas (?)
There was a thread about best first fish for children, but I can't find it for the life of me

guppys are pretty easy

Do they poo less than goldfish? Are they cold water fish?

hi Bubblerock, how's the birdie?

Hi gb - charlie is fab, getting very bossy now and keeps following me around, he's my shadow!!

With the fish I think guppys & neon tetras are tropical, my dad used to have a big tank but I can't remember much except guppys breed like mad and are really easy to keep - think we had them at school too.

Fish are boring - get them a birdie

Tetras are pretty easy, but guppies are easier. They breed, so if some die, you don't care, iyswim.

Both are tropical.

Guppies are great - like a perpetual pet because they breed so much! Guppies are cold and fresh water though - no special equipment required (at least ours were just in a bog standard fish tank!)

They are fresh water, but I don't think they're cold water - you need a strong light, or a little heater. But that's not too fancy. Oh, and you need some sort of filter, I think.

Bettas - they're the ones. Kate and the Girls keeps them.
(Wonder how she is these days?)

We've got minnows which have been very easy. They are nice little things, sort of silvery with red tails and you can have quite a few in a small tank. Ours haven't got a light or heater, just a filter.

Our guppies were cold water... maybe that's why they bred so much, needed to keep warm!

at Soupies guppies in wolly coats gettin' it on.

it was bettas people were recomennding. hth.

Went to aquatic place this afternoon with DD - was shocked to see baby moray eels, Clown fish, tangs, butterfly and Angel fish - I thought that reef fish were meant to be on reefs?
Nemo has a lot to answer for.
Think I will stick with the guppies.

Hi Misdee. Are Bettas Siamese fighters? Don't they attack other fish or is that just the males attack each other (I need to go to the 'Tropical Fish forums' on the intermaweb I think)

We have a newish tropical fish tank. We have Neon Tetras, cardinal tetras, 1 male siamese and 3 female siamese fighting fish, coulie loaches, upside down cat-fish, corydoras catfish, a pictus cat-fish, Plucostamus (check what size it'll grow to before buying, whiptail cat-fish.

You can put 1 male siamese and as many females in the same tank as other fish but not 2 males together.

Good website is fishkeeper.co.uk

as galaxy says you can hasve one male and lots of females. i have had major problems with my tanlk lately, bit of a nitrate emergency the other night and had to empty and clean the whole thing as it has kept recurring. am hoping my fish arent in too much shock, but they seem ok, only one has a gone a bit loopy.

thanks galaxy. How big is your tank? I was looking at a 35 litre one today, but it seems very small. Would have thought the water chemistry would be easier to keep balanced in a larger tank.

i have a 180litre one i think it is. generally its ok and pretty self balenced, just i had problems and took a while to sort out.

misdee - my nephew had that - is it because all the bacteria die and can't convert the ammonia into nitrites? I need to get onto that website that galaxy recommended, I have some reading and learing to do.

since my big plec died it has been having problems, fingers crossed all sorted now. need to get another plec tho.

We've got the Juwel Vision 180 which is 180 litres capacity. We have only lost 2 fish in the weeks since we had it and they were both part of the same batch that we bought from an aquarium shop we'd not used before.

Best advice is to make sure you listen to the advice you're given by the shop on what fish to buy initially and try to go for less expensive fish as you may lose some in the early days as the water adjusts.

wrong linek - should be here