I really want to get a fish tank

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lindsayfawn

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 13, 2008
Messages
5,276
Location
Moncton, NB
So I have been wanting a fish tank again for a REALLY long time. I think once we move in I'm going to get one. But I want to do some research first before I do. I'm wondering for those of you who have fishtanks if you think that starting off with a 33 Gallon troplical tank would be easy to do? I used to have a 10 gallon tropical tank about 8 yrs ago and it was easy to take care of so I'm wondering if a bigger tank is just as easy?

I want to have live plants and for fish I'm not to sure yet. One of my favs are Clown Loaches so I'd like to plan around them.

Suggestions?
 
Whoa, they get big! Like the site says you'd need a very big tank with a great filtration system. Taking care of a big tank like that requires lots of time to keep it clean. That said, fish are awesome to have :) . My husband is obsessed with fish, this week he finally got our 15 gallon tank together and bought 2 cychlids. Very easy to take care of, but not a fish you'd want to put in with other fish as they can get aggressive. But they are cute and full of color.

Good luck, a fish tank is a wonderful addition to the decor as well :) .
 
That's cool. The more I have been reading on it all and the different fish I think I'm leaning towards Chilids though I would like to have a schooling fish. If I get Chilids I'm going to have to get a big tank lol from what I was reading most of them get large and need a minimum 55 gallon tank!

I'll have to make sure we're going to have the space for something that large lol

I really like the live planet idea too looks pretty and it's good for the fish!
 
A 33 gallon tank would be quite managable. I actually find smaller tanks more difficult to keep, since the ammonia builds up some much more quickly. Planted tanks are AWESOME! The only thing is you should find plants that require the same conditions as the other plants and the fish that will be in the tank together. Also, you may have to look into setting up a Co2 system, if the plants you have/want require regular doses of Co2. I would also recommend doing a fishless cycle to allow the plants time to establish and to get the kinks worked out of the system(s).

Some really pretty schooling fish are Rainbow fish. They all have varying levels of iridescence. Some are more colourful then others, but they are all quite beautiful in their own way. They should be kept in groups of at least six, but more is better so they should be kept in minimum 20-50 gallon tanks (depending on the type of Rainbow fish you get) They're also pretty hardy little fish. They can be kept in both fresh and brackish tanks.

Another good schooling bottom feeder fish are Corydora catfish. They aren't always the most exciting fish, colour-wise but they have a ton of personality. You can even get some nicely coloured cory cats. They are very peaceful and can get along with pretty much anything...I keep my group with a Betta fish (you just need to watch that any aggressive fish don't pick on them) They are happy to eat the stuff that falls to the bottom, but I drop a sinking algae wafer in every once in a while, just to make sure they are getting enough to eat. Depending on the size of the group, they can be kept in a minimum 20 gallon freshwater tank.
 
So would you cycle your tank first and then put the plants in and get them comfortable in the tank or would you put the plants in at the same time you're cycling it?

I'm going to go to the fish store here and see what they have to have some ideas. I guess he has massive swimming pools with tons of fish in them! Should be interesting. I kinda want a colourful tank but an interesting tank. Those little puffer fish are cute but it says they can get nippy with other fish. Chilids would probably be to aggresive for a puffer eh?

I'm really liking the chilids especialy how some of them live up to 18yrs!

Have you ever had a saltwater tank? I know they are very expensive to start but are they much harder then freshwater?
 
I've always put the plants in for the fishless cycle but there are lots of ways that people have done cycling. I haven't heard many good things about puffer fish in my many internet travels. I love the look of them to, but word on the street is that they're a bit of pain lol.

Cichlids, on the other hand, are great fish and there's so much variety I'm sure you can find the perfect one for what you want. But, as you already know, you just have to watch what you put in with them.

I've never had a saltwater tank before, but I've actually been looking into setting one up this year, as a summer project. Like you said, the initial set-up cost is about three times as much as setting up a freshwater tank. There's also the live rock issue. From what I understand, live rock is pretty much essential for a healthy, functional saltwater set-up. You can either get it un-cured for cheap(er) and spend approx. 3 months curing it or you can pay 2 or 3 times as much for pre-cured live rock. Also, it is recommended that you use live sand as substrate. The best way to do this is to get a handful from somebody else's established tank and add it to your substrate. Another thing to take into consideration is that, unfortunately, the majority of saltwater animals are wild-caught, so a quarantine tank is highly recommended especially if you don't know exactly where the animal came from.

However, once everything is paid for, set-up and established, I don't think saltwater tanks are that much more work then freshwater ones. Plus, you could look into doing a reef tank, and get some corals, cleaner shrimp and maybe even some crabs or something...you know, get a nice little community going. And, saltwater animals are some of the most beautiful in the world, so once everything gets going, it will all be worth all the trouble just to look at it :thumbup:
 
That's sad that the saltwater fish are mostly caught in the wild...that kinda reminds me of finding nemo.

I think I'll stick with freshwater lol

That's good to know about the plants and the cycling! I was reading up on that and most people say to do a fishless cycle as doing a fish one is quite cruel. Seeing how you're inflicting the amonia on them and using them as a guniepig kinda deal. poor fishies.

I'm going to have to measure out where I want to put the tank. I'm thinking I'm going to be min 55 and max maybe 75. They're some nice looking! I really want to have drift wood in there I think that looks really cool. I really like the lava rocks too.

We're going to go check out the fish place tomorrow this is their website. http://www.getfish.ca/

I want to see what they have and get prices on things too.

I might try and find a tank on kijiji 'cause they're way cheaper.
 
Yeah, it is sad that most of them are WC. That's another thing that sort of put me off of saltwater tanks for a long time...I just refuse to support the harvesting of animals from the wild on principle. However, if you can find a business that only sells captive bred animals I would highly recommend going to them. In fact, that's one reason why I've started looking into getting a saltwater tank going: I'm a member of a local fish forum and I saw an advert for a small business that sponsers the website. They're just a small, home run business but they are very ethically and enviromentally minded. Like they refuse to buy any animal that will readily breed in captivity from the wild, and since their so small they pretty much only have the CB animals that they've bought from local breeders. When I get my tank going, I plan to get the majority, if not all, of my animals (fish, inverts and corals) from them. That being said, I LOVE my freshwater tank. There's just something awesome about a nicely planted freshwater tank.

Yeah, I would never cycle a tank with the fish in it either...for one thing, you'd likely just kill them all and of course, that's not fair to them. About the driftwood, just remember that it releases tannins into the water, so you're going to have to compensate for that...it's not hard to do, but I'm just putting it out there lol. Lava rock is awesome too. If you're really gung-ho, you could get some silicon sealant from your local hardware store and make a bunch of lava rock caves, just to give the fish a couple nice, dark and secure hiding places. My cherry shrimp love them lol.

I would highly recommend looking on your local kijiji for a tank. Store tanks are REDICULOUSLY over priced. I've gotten all my tanks used for just a fraction of what you'd pay to get them new. (I haven't been able to get any recently, however, because for some reason everybody on my local kijiji have gotten really greedy in regards to fish tanks. I guess somebody got the idea that they were worth something and spread the word...which sucks! I saw somebody selling a 5 year old, 10 gallon tank with a crack in the top corner with original filter and heater for $120!! And they weren't taking offers!)

Just remember to ask what the person used the tank for. If it's been a dry use tank, especially for reptiles or amphibians, it will not be reliably watertight. When exposed to dry heat for any amount of time, the silicon sealant starts to dry out and shrink. It may hold water initially, but I wouldn't trust it. If it's a really good price or if you can't find anything else, this is easily fixed: Just get a tube of silicon sealant, take a jack knife or something similar and scrape the majority of the silicon out of the tank. Then just fill it in with the new silicon, and let it dry according to the package (usually 24hrs-ish)

Anyways, I'll shut up now lol. I'll never understand how people think that fish keeping is boring...I always say, if you're bored you're not doing it right lol.
 
ohhh I didn't know that about drift wood. THat's interested. That's a good idea to make caves out of the lava rock! I like that idea I'll probably do that. I'm for sure going to take my time for the set up before I buy my first fish.

When you cycle a tank with live plants is it still going to take a month for the cycle or does the plants help to speed it up a bit?

I'm excited about this!

We're going to look at the fish today! This way I can see what I like and kinda plan around them

lol Funny how at first I was thinking oh a 33 gallon would be good and now I'm thinking ohh a 70 gallon would be fine lol
 
Fish tanks are so beautiful to watch. Just seems to have a calming effect. I gave up on mine, it seems the only thing I was good at was killing the poor little things. I think you have to have a knack for caring for fish. Enjoy. :D
 
Tannins aren't really that hard to deal with. The main reason why people don't always like them, is because they can stain the water so it has a sort tea-ish tinge. However, with the right filter this shouldn't be a problem.

I would do the full month with the plants in. They may speed up the process a little, but cycling also allows the plants to slowly acclimate to the new enviroment and to give them time to get established.

lol it's funny how fish tanks seem to grow and multiply :wink:
 
So we know what we are getting and it's very different from what I thought I wanted lol

That fish guy knows his stuff wow!

So we're going to do a Brackish tank! I'm excited. We're going to get a type of Angle fish, figure eight puffers, scorpion fish and probably some molly's 'n what not.

He was really good at answering all my questions. I'm quite excited to start getting ready for this setup! it's going to be really neat.
 
"Easy to manage" is soooo subjective! lol ;)
In my personal opinion, a 30 gallon tank wouldn't be that much more difficult to manage than a 10 gallon tank. Its a little bigger, a little more, but that doesn't mean it is necessarily harder.

My personal preference too is a tank that is longer than it is tall. I really don't care for tall tanks, which so many seem to be. The longer tanks offer more surface area for oxygen exchange, and also gives more area for fish to swim (like birds, many fish are horizontal moving creatures, not so much vertical, they WILL move vertical, but many prefer horizontal. The advantage to taller tanks is that you can keep different "levels" of fish (top-water fish stay at the top, mid-water fish stay in the middle, and bottom-dwellers stay at the bottom, more variety, but also easier to over stock).

I currently have an aquarium with fish and plants. I started out the cycling with plants. The plants help remove some of the harmful chemicals (such as nitrogenous wastes), so can help speed up the cycling process and keep the cycle cleaner. My fish are a little "neglected" right now, they are housed at my dad's house while I am trying to get through the escrow process for the house I'm buying and get moved in. Once that's over I'll take my fish back. Despite that, they are VERY happy fish.... I have a pair of platies, a guppy, two botias, and an algae eater. Let's put it this way - after years of keeping platies, I've NEVER had babies. Always had babies with guppies and mollies, but never with the platies. Well... now, after my fish have been "neglected" a few months, they won't stop having babies! There are over a dozen babies in there now, and I don't mean newborn fry that are going to get eaten, I mean babies that are several months old and doing quite well, with new babies popping up every few weeks. I blame the plants... hehe
(Once I do get to moving the, I'm going to set up a second tank, move the adults first, make sure all the babies are big enough to actually catch, then move them over and break down the old tank. As it is now, I'm afraid the babies will hide in the gravel and get lost/injured/killed if I try to move everyone at once.)

I personally like livebearers. They are hardy, and relatively easy to care for. They are also very peaceful, and get along well with each other and other fish. I don't care for cichlids or barbs and many tetras (too aggressive), I do like the loaches but they get big (my botias are staying small). I also have a soft spot for goldfish and koi, but they shouldn't be kept with tropicals (prefer colder water) and really do best in a pond than a tank (my dad's aquarium has a feeder goldfish I "saved", started out at 1 inch and is now nearly 10 inches long, soon as I get moved I'm going to get a "bucket pond" and take him too).
 
hmm I had a fishtank, had to give it up when I moved though. I was wondering about live plants, I've noticed snail problems in some pet stores, and I *think* clown loaches eat them so if you are going to get a huge tank perhaps a clown loach isn't a bad idea after all? Or perhaps I'm way off and those snails aren't a big deal after all!
 
Chel said:
hmm I had a fishtank, had to give it up when I moved though. I was wondering about live plants, I've noticed snail problems in some pet stores, and I *think* clown loaches eat them so if you are going to get a huge tank perhaps a clown loach isn't a bad idea after all? Or perhaps I'm way off and those snails aren't a big deal after all!
Click to expand...

I've heard of people who had BIG problems with snails. When they grow unstopped, they can eat all the plants in your tank (if you have live plants). I don't know about clown loaches, but my botias LOVE snails. I've purposefully tried to get snails established in my aquarium so they have an extra food source, and every attempt has failed miserably. The snails don't even last a day before the botias eat them.
 
Where we are going to do a Brackish tank we can't have liveplants. A Brackish tank is part salt water and part freshwater. It's going to be really cool! We can have live rock and live crushed coral for the bottom or live sand.
It's going to be sweet! Plus the fish guy helps to set it up! Pretty awesome
 
Sorraia said:
Chel said:
hmm I had a fishtank, had to give it up when I moved though. I was wondering about live plants, I've noticed snail problems in some pet stores, and I *think* clown loaches eat them so if you are going to get a huge tank perhaps a clown loach isn't a bad idea after all? Or perhaps I'm way off and those snails aren't a big deal after all!
Click to expand...

I've heard of people who had BIG problems with snails. When they grow unstopped, they can eat all the plants in your tank (if you have live plants). I don't know about clown loaches, but my botias LOVE snails. I've purposefully tried to get snails established in my aquarium so they have an extra food source, and every attempt has failed miserably. The snails don't even last a day before the botias eat them.
Click to expand...
Yeah snails can be a huge problem. Has anybody seen those Assassin snails? I saw a tank of them in my LFS and I kinda laughed...I know it's mean, but I found them kind of intresting. Apparently they actively seek out and kill (and eat? I assume...) all snails, other then others of their own species. I just wonder how that happened in nature...I guess they would have come from somewhere where there are lots of other snail species and maybe they hunt them both because they would be an abundant (not to mention self-restoring) source of food, and to eliminate competition...I don't really know, I've never kept snails so I don't really know anything about them...I'm just thinking out loud lol. I know hermit crabs may kill snails, so they can take the shell.

Anyways, congrats and good luck with your tank! Brackish tanks are awesome...best of both worlds. I hope the puffers work out for you. :thumbup:
 
Thanks! It's going to be so much fun. The figure 8 puffers are so cute and they act like little dogs lol They'll great you when you come in and everything. Which is fun.

Can't wait to set it up !
 
Wheee you're going to love it! We have a 65 gallon freshwater Cichlid tank, with clown loaches as well, and we just adore them.
 

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