wrote:
Hi everyone,

In advance, thanks for your help. I've been through the internet and at
the pet store and all I've gotten is more confused. Ideally, i've been
looking to get pet fish for my girlfriends apt. I don't want betas
because you can only have one in a tank, or goldfish because ive had a
bad experience with them. I wanted something where she could have maybe
2 or three fish that would interact well and would be low maintenance.
I was thinking of getting a 5 gallon tank. If anyone can offer
suggestions? Also, i noticed alot of people talking about getting
snails that eat algae -- how expensive are these?

Overall, is this gift a bad idea, because I don't want it to be
something that is so difficult -- everyone keeps mentioning UGFs and
other acronyms, and diseases and tank shocks that i don't understand...
it's a bit overwhelming. If someone could just say get two of these
fish -- they look good and will be low maintenance and you'll need so
and so equipment and it should cost you X dollars I would go to the
store tomorrow and get it - I just don't want to get to the store and
be misled and ripped off because I honestly don't know what equipment
is better and how to get the best value for my money. I'm looking in
the range of less than $50.

Thanks again for any advice.

-Nik

I would really recommend at least a 10 gallon tank to start.
As for fish, I would recommend Zebra Danios, white clouds, cory catfish
(instead of snails), skirt tetras, maybe neon tetras, rosey barbs, just
to name a few.

I think the aquarium hobby is a great hobby, so I think an aquarium
makes a great gift.
Just make sure she has some time to invest in her aquarium upkeep.

Here is a site with alot of links to basic aquarium information:
http://aquarium-info.blogspot.com/

Carl