View Full Version : Tropical fish
Hey guys, I want to start up a tropical fish tank in my room.
I was thinking about 1 metre long and half a metre deep, I was just wondering about what kind of cost Im looking at including the pump, lighting, rocks etc.
Also what kind of maintainance is involved?
What kind of fish are best to get?
TIA:)
A 3 foot tank, pretty standard, that's what I had a long time ago.
The tank was given to me, can't remember if the rest of the kit was as well.
I think the heater setup was 2x 75W or 100W heaters (left & right rear) with the thermostat central.
I stronly recommend having a reserve heater kit - I had a failure of one of the two heaters, and the remaining one was flat out with the temperature too low, a reserve kit to throw in buys you time. or maybe use a 3 or 4 heater setup to start with - two independent thermostats are possible, as it ran that way when I just dumped the spare rig in, all I had time to do then.
6 watt diaphragm pump, much better ouput than the 4.5 watt rubber cup based ones, and no noisier (crucial, as you must NOT turn of the pump at night, especially if using subgravel filters - even ordinary filters can go sour).
Flourescent lamp, fitted over home made perspex cover.
If you have a balanced tank, it should not need excessive maintainance, but in general, you usually don't have enough plants to balance the fish, probably more fish than can be accomodated without aeration, and probably overfeed.
So you use a box filter as well and change the medium when dirty, unless runinng strictly biological, where you only unclog and always leave some "dirty" filter material in there.
Siphoning the visible dirt (particularly if you don't use a subgravel filter), and maybe partial changes of the water are another step, though you need to let it stand to dechlorinate, and if you have flouride, thats worse.
An essential starter fish, is the Guppy, not the most thrilling, but cheap and hardy, and a livebearer that you have to be a total klutz not to get to breed, though in a mixed tank, all the young are likely to be eaten.
You could choose to go with mostly livebearers, adding the Platy and Swordtail (close species, they can interbreed), and the Molly.
Tetra's (neon or other) are also a good standard in a mixed tank, though they need to be in numbers for best effect.
http://www.thefishworld.co.uk/id112.htm - I had one, in fact, with the remainder of frind's tank packed up, I had two!
Reasonable cleaners, but heed the warning, though it will take a long time before they outgrow the tank, they are most definitely territorial aggressive. Two, if they each have a good hiding place, can coexist peacefully, though any boundary crossing resulted in a brief skirmish, Also noticed some aggression to my large angelfish, which had a habit of slurping snails off the stones at the bottom.
http://www.corydorasworld.com/ - possibly a better bet for the obligatory bottom feeder, though if you have bottom feeders, you do need to ensure that some food does get to the bottom.
The Corydoras are capable of gulping air from the surface, and seeing them do this occasionally is not unusual - more oftem, especially if the other fish show distress, is a sign the the water is bad.
The majestic angelfish, said to be timid, but mine was a snail assasin that would stand ground if challenged - this particular variety had variable stripes - faded if frightened, and solid black when on snail attack.
You can have ONE Siamese fighting fish in a community tank, but you'll need to show it a mirror if you want it to display (don't leave the mirror there all the time, that's not fair!)
search is a wonderful feature you know? ;)
http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/showthread.php?t=7770
(post #5 by flubflow is most informative)
I think the posts above are very good indeed.
I'l just add that keeping tropical fish is reletively easy, there is hardly any mess, and you can get many different tropical fish living together quite happily. I love the way you can create this underwater universe by putting in plants, rocks, wood, etc, and making a lovely aquatic world.
Do remember to think about where you will position your tank as well.
Avoid direct sunlight, and make sure you have a firm stand. Its extroadinary how heavy even a small tank can become once filled with water.
Plus always remember to leave the water for a week before introducing fish and test the Ph of the water with a simple testing kit found in most pet stores.
There used to be some magazines in the shops on fishkeeping but I dont know if they still exist.
Good luck.
Flubflow
31-01-2005, 23:43
A 3 foot tank, pretty standard, that's what I had a long time ago.
The tank was given to me, can't remember if the rest of the kit was as well.
I think the heater setup was 2x 75W or 100W heaters (left & right rear) with the thermostat central.
I stronly recommend having a reserve heater kit - I had a failure of one of the two heaters, and the remaining one was flat out with the temperature too low, a reserve kit to throw in buys you time. or maybe use a 3 or 4 heater setup to start with - two independent thermostats are possible, as it ran that way when I just dumped the spare rig in, all I had time to do then.
6 watt diaphragm pump, much better ouput than the 4.5 watt rubber cup based ones, and no noisier (crucial, as you must NOT turn of the pump at night, especially if using subgravel filters - even ordinary filters can go sour).
Flourescent lamp, fitted over home made perspex cover.
If you have a balanced tank, it should not need excessive maintainance, but in general, you usually don't have enough plants to balance the fish, probably more fish than can be accomodated without aeration, and probably overfeed.
So you use a box filter as well and change the medium when dirty, unless runinng strictly biological, where you only unclog and always leave some "dirty" filter material in there.
Siphoning the visible dirt (particularly if you don't use a subgravel filter), and maybe partial changes of the water are another step, though you need to let it stand to dechlorinate, and if you have flouride, thats worse.
In my experience, good brand name heaterstats are extremely reliable and in your average centrally heated home it is not absolutely crucial to have a back up heater on standby. Healthy fish are not suddenly going to die if the temp drops gradually by 6 degrees until you can get to the shop to buy a new one the next day (just leave the central heating on overnight if the heater suddenly fails and the shops are shut). Most tropical fish are very happy at room temperature anyway. I think it would be more vital to have a reserve pump to keep the biological filter alive rather than having a reserve heater.
Regarding pumps for undergravel filters, don't bother with air pumps because they are very inefficient at moving water up the gravel filter riser tube and far too noisy (especially when worn). Use a water pump "powerhead". They aren't all that expensive, they run virtually silent and maintenance is very low. They use a linear motor with impellor and thus have no diaphragm to wear out. Most powerheads have a venturi control to allow the introduction of fine bubbles in the flow for additional aeriation or just for effect.
The only reason to have an airpump chugging in a 3ft tank would be to power those tacky novelty features.
You don't really need to let new water stand beforeyou put it in the tank. You simply buy a bottle of dechlorinator (sometimes called "water conditioner") which acts instantly.
There is more information in the other thread as has so kindly been pointed out by danielf.
For the novice starter it might be worth checking out some of the Juwel aquariums. They come with everything that you need, heater, filter, pump, light etc and the filter and the pump are compact and stored inside the tank.
I've got a Juwel aquarium and for someone who doesn't want to spend alot of money on external filters and water pumps they seem to do the job and have a good presentation about them.
Below is a link to a Juwel aquarium matching your size requirements:
http://www.theaquariumshop.co.uk/ishop/1029/shopscr46.html
Looks like it costs about £230.
The choice of fish is down to the individual. Go to an aquatics centre and check them out. In my tank I have a red tailed black shark which is very friendly but rules the roost and I also have 4 clown loaches which are very entertaining fish. The benefit of the clown loaches is that if you get an infestation of snails after putting in some live plants, the clown loaches will have it cleared of snails overnight :) I've also got 4 cat fish as well but I hate them as they only start to swim about once I turn the light off. I did have a female kribensis once and put in a male kribensis and in no time they had mated and I had 50 odd babies swimming about the tank which was exciting. Unfortunately the male ate most of them :mad:
If your setting up a tank don't forget to get some clown loaches and a few sharks, they set your tank off nice.
Wahey, just got the Juwel Rekord 120 from World of Water in Timperly, along with about 13 plants, a couple of rocks, some bogwood, a thermometer, and gravel for just over £140!!
In case anyone is near this place and considering tropical fish go! They are really helpful, really seemed to know what they were talking about, told me to come back in about 10 days and ask for the 6 starter fish to check the tank out for a bit.
Thanks to everyone for the advice :)
Don't forget to thoroughly clean the plants before putting them in the tank otherwise you might get an infestation of snails and once infested, it's difficult to get rid of them. Even though my clown loaches have done a good job, there are still a few snails in my tank.
How do you clean them? Wont they have been cleaned already at the shop?
Can I put regular stones in? Ones that I find and like?
Also the plants are wrapped in a kind of cotton wool around the roots, do I take this off??
How long does the light need to be on for per day?
For the few starter fish, what would you recommend? about 4-6 suppose they need to be hardy, I want something that will get the tank 'started up' for the rest of the fish.
The guy in the aquarium said to only change the white foam thing in the filter once a month, but the booklet says once a week, but he must have changed them in the tanks in there and all their fish looked fine. So which do I do?
How do you clean them? Wont they have been cleaned already at the shop?
Just give them a good rinse under water. Chances are you won't be able to completely rid them of snails but it will probably reduce them.
Can I put regular stones in? Ones that I find and like?
I usually stick with the natural stones that you can get from fish shops. I hate the bright coloured stones and think they look stupid in a fish tank. However, as long as you clean the stones first, I don't see why you can't put them in the tank.
Also the plants are wrapped in a kind of cotton wool around the roots, do I take this off??
If it's like cotton wool then don't put it in the tank. Sometimes they come in a mini bucket like container so they are easier to set in the tank and sometimes they have no container at all. Just make sure that you put down enough stones so that the roots can secure them in place. Also, be aware that some types of fish will eat and destroy the plants.
How long does the light need to be on for per day?
In theory, if you don't have any plants in your tank then you don't need a light at all because the light in the room should be enough. The only need for a light is to make the tank look prettier, allow you to see the fish better and also bring out the colours in the fish. I keep my light on for about 14 hours a day and if you have plants then 14 hours is a good target to go for. Don't forget, the light will cause a build up of algae and also some fish don't like bright lights.
For the few starter fish, what would you recommend? about 4-6 suppose they need to be hardy, I want something that will get the tank 'started up' for the rest of the fish.
I stuck in 6 neon tetras but most aqua shops should be able to point out the 'hardy' fish. In my experience, most fish are pretty hardy and this stuff about leaving it for a week and constantly checking the ph & nitrite of the water is a waste of time. I've got the ph & nitrite kits and in the beginning I would check the water but now they're just gathering dust.
The guy in the aquarium said to only change the white foam thing in the filter once a month, but the booklet says once a week, but he must have changed them in the tanks in there and all their fish looked fine. So which do I do?
If your tank is like mine then in the filter you have two blue sponges at the bottom then a black sponge then the white filter on top. The blue sponges need to be cleaned every six months but I can't remember if I have ever cleaned mine. The black sponge is to reduce the chemicals and they reckon replacing at every two months, I replace it when I feel like it and it's usually every four months. However, with the white filter element it does say replace weekly which I did do in the beginning but now it's usually every 2 or 3 weeks. It really depends on how much slime it is picking up and they are relatively inexpensive so once a week might be a good thing to begin with and then change it to once a fortnight.
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