Newbie question: Help me pick my fish!

Hello all,

I apologize for the newbie question, but I'm having trouble finding
sites that will give me the information I want. I'm a college student
who's always been fascinated by aquriums. In fact, I find myself making
trips to our science facility so I can spend a few minutes making faces
at the fish there! I had a betta last year, but alas, I had to leave
for a few days and the friend who was looking after my apartment
overfed him and he didn't survive.

I'm ready to get another fish, but this time I'd like to have a small
aquarium of my own. I'd like to get some relatively easy-to-care-for
freshwater fish. I'd like to get one or two to start with and expand to
four or five in a few months. I'd like them to be sociable so I can
watch some interactions in the tank.

I would prefer to house the fish in a smaller tank (5 gallons or so) to
begin with, expanding to a 15-20 gallon or so tank when I decide to
move up to 4 or 5 fish. I've looked at the old standby, goldfish, and
am concerned that they take so much water to maintain. I'm only allowed
a 20 gallon tank and from what I can find, I could only comfortably
house three goldfish in such a tank.

So, what species of fish should I be looking into? Is my goal of 4-5
fish in 20 gallons a little too overzealous? Are there any web
resources you can recommend to help me either with a specific species
of recommended fish, or help me decide what species to adopt?

Thanks!

You could try some fantail guppies - I found that they were really
hardy - one time I forgot to put dechlorinator in my new water - all
the neons died but the guppies swam around merrily as if nothing was
wrong!

Anyway, guppies will swim all over the tank, but they are kind of dumb,
they don't really have any personality as far as I can tell, they just
follow your finger and beg you for food.

Maybe you could get some neons or some kind of schooling fish - neons
are pretty, and swim a lot as well. They can be a bit touchy though,
and you'll need a heater. They say guppies need a heater as well, but
I've kept them successfully without one, depends on your climate I
suppose.

wrote in message
oups.com...
Hello all,

I apologize for the newbie question, but I'm having trouble finding
sites that will give me the information I want. I'm a college student
who's always been fascinated by aquriums. In fact, I find myself making
trips to our science facility so I can spend a few minutes making faces
at the fish there! I had a betta last year, but alas, I had to leave
for a few days and the friend who was looking after my apartment
overfed him and he didn't survive.

I'm ready to get another fish, but this time I'd like to have a small
aquarium of my own. I'd like to get some relatively easy-to-care-for
freshwater fish. I'd like to get one or two to start with and expand to
four or five in a few months. I'd like them to be sociable so I can
watch some interactions in the tank.

I would prefer to house the fish in a smaller tank (5 gallons or so) to
begin with, expanding to a 15-20 gallon or so tank when I decide to
move up to 4 or 5 fish. I've looked at the old standby, goldfish, and
am concerned that they take so much water to maintain. I'm only allowed
a 20 gallon tank and from what I can find, I could only comfortably
house three goldfish in such a tank.

So, what species of fish should I be looking into? Is my goal of 4-5
fish in 20 gallons a little too overzealous? Are there any web
resources you can recommend to help me either with a specific species
of recommended fish, or help me decide what species to adopt?

Thanks!

I like the Eclipse 6 as a starter tank. It has a
light and filter system that's pretty reliable
(based on my experience). You can add an
air hose and small heater, if needed, but those
might not be necessary if stocking levels are
kept low. Once you upgrade, your Eclipse
6 becomes a quarantine/hospital tank. Local
pet stores as well as the big box stores carry
the Eclipse systems. It's a good idea to
price shop since prices can vary quite a bit.

I agree with Beano about fantail guppies, but I
stick with males unless you want a whole bunch
of fish! Guppies breed like rabbits. (Or maybe
it's that rabbits breed like guppies.) I would also
toss in a live plant or two, something easy like one
of the swords or Java Fern.

If you can find some of the smaller Corydoras,
two of those would be nice, so you'd have
fish at the middle and upper levels, and fish at
the bottom to watch. Cories tend to be rather
hardy fish (in my experience), always a good
thing for a beginner. Bronze cories are easist
to find but Panda cories are a bit smaller and
shouldn't be too hard to find.
http://www.scotcat.com/factsheets/corydoras_panda.htm

Once you move up to a larger tank, you can think
about adding other species. I prefer smaller fish so
can have more variety in my tanks than those who
prefer much larger fish. But that shouldn't limit
your choices. (Many of my fish like to hide so I
don't actually see them very often. Most hobbyists
wouldn't put up with that! g)

Be careful about taking any advice from pet
stores about fish that don't get very large (see
the thread "Biggest lies my LFS told me").

There are a couple beginner's guides out there
you might peruse. Here's one that looks
pretty comprehensive:
http://honors.montana.edu/~weif/firsttank/steps.phtml

And you can't go wrong with NetMax's site:
http://www.2cah.com/netmax/index.shtml

Gail

In article .com,
says...
I would prefer to house the fish in a smaller tank (5 gallons or so) to
begin with, expanding to a 15-20 gallon or so tank when I decide to
move up to 4 or 5 fish. I've looked at the old standby, goldfish, and
am concerned that they take so much water to maintain. I'm only allowed
a 20 gallon tank and from what I can find, I could only comfortably
house three goldfish in such a tank.

In a five gallon tank you could have half a dozen white clouds. Or
platys. Given good filtration and weekly 20%-25% water changes.

--
BNSF = Build Now, Seep Forever

wrote:
Hello all,

I apologize for the newbie question, but I'm having trouble finding
sites that will give me the information I want. I'm a college student
who's always been fascinated by aquriums. In fact, I find myself making
trips to our science facility so I can spend a few minutes making faces
at the fish there! I had a betta last year, but alas, I had to leave
for a few days and the friend who was looking after my apartment
overfed him and he didn't survive.

I'm ready to get another fish, but this time I'd like to have a small
aquarium of my own. I'd like to get some relatively easy-to-care-for
freshwater fish. I'd like to get one or two to start with and expand to
four or five in a few months. I'd like them to be sociable so I can
watch some interactions in the tank.

Consider some of the smaller African cichlids if you want interesting
interactions. A 20 long could house a pair of many of the smaller
Tanganyikan cichlids, and they would likely breed for you.

I would prefer to house the fish in a smaller tank (5 gallons or so) to
begin with, expanding to a 15-20 gallon or so tank when I decide to
move up to 4 or 5 fish. I've looked at the old standby, goldfish, and
am concerned that they take so much water to maintain. I'm only allowed
a 20 gallon tank and from what I can find, I could only comfortably
house three goldfish in such a tank.

A five gallon is quite hard to maintain. Things can go wrong very
quickly in such a small volume of water. I would strongly suggest that
you start with the 20 gallon tank. Cycle it with 3 or 4 small fish.
Agreed that goldfish take a lot of water - a 20 gallon is really enough
for only two fancies or one comet.

So, what species of fish should I be looking into? Is my goal of 4-5
fish in 20 gallons a little too overzealous? Are there any web
resources you can recommend to help me either with a specific species
of recommended fish, or help me decide what species to adopt?

Typical stocking levels for SMALL fish are 1" of adult fish body per
gallon of water. This formula works for small fish like tetras,
rasboras, barbs, corydoras catfish, guppies, platies, and danios. It
does not work for big, fat fish like Oscars or deep bodied fish like
angels. Many of the aforementioned fish tend to be 1-2" long as adults
so you can generally keep between 10 and 20 of them in 20 gallons of water.

It's common to have a mixture of sizes of fish, so a 20 gallon long tank
could comfortably hold the following twelve fish: one sunset gourami
(Colisa lalia, 2.5" adult size), four lemon tetras (2"), three Corydoras
julii (2"), and four neon tetras (1"). This is a total of 20.5" of
adult fish and would make a good community.

There are many, many fish that can live in a 20 gallon tank. You need
to decide what fish you like. Do you want active fish like danios, cute
fish like cories, colorful fish like platies or neons, or aggressive
fish like African cichlids? Go to your fish store and look at what they
have. Also go to the library or a bookstore and flip through some fish
books to see which fish catches your eye. Then come back with some
ideas and we can help you decide what fish can live together and how
many you can keep in your tank.

--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html '__
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com

wrote in message
oups.com...
Hello all,

I apologize for the newbie question, but I'm having trouble finding
sites that will give me the information I want. I'm a college student
who's always been fascinated by aquriums. In fact, I find myself making
trips to our science facility so I can spend a few minutes making faces
at the fish there! I had a betta last year, but alas, I had to leave
for a few days and the friend who was looking after my apartment
overfed him and he didn't survive.

I'm ready to get another fish, but this time I'd like to have a small
aquarium of my own. I'd like to get some relatively easy-to-care-for
freshwater fish. I'd like to get one or two to start with and expand to
four or five in a few months. I'd like them to be sociable so I can
watch some interactions in the tank.

I would prefer to house the fish in a smaller tank (5 gallons or so) to
begin with, expanding to a 15-20 gallon or so tank when I decide to
move up to 4 or 5 fish. I've looked at the old standby, goldfish, and
am concerned that they take so much water to maintain. I'm only allowed
a 20 gallon tank and from what I can find, I could only comfortably
house three goldfish in such a tank.

So, what species of fish should I be looking into? Is my goal of 4-5
fish in 20 gallons a little too overzealous? Are there any web
resources you can recommend to help me either with a specific species
of recommended fish, or help me decide what species to adopt?

Thanks!


Some ideas to choose from for a 3 to 6g tank (don't pick them all ! ;~).
Betta (1 male or 2 females)
Paradisefish (1)
African Dwarf frog (1 or 2)
White Cloud minnow (2 or 3)
Harlequin rasbora (2 or 3)
Apple snail (1)
Shrimp (varies)

Small tanks are difficult to maintain. The temperature in particular can
bounce around (colder at night with the lights off), so these critters
listed are a bit more tolerant of cooler temperatures.
--
www.NetMax.tk

I finally am going to speak up about water temperature.

This, like everything, is completely dependent on where you live.

In my environs, the interior temperature of the residence never falls below
78 nor above 82 for 8 months out of the year, then it (interior) falls to 65
at night and rises to 72 during the day...I have electronic heaters for that
small period.

Do all of your environs change drastically from day to night? Even when it
is 56 outside it is 78 inside here...without heating.

Thanks for your replies everyone. I'm going to look at the species
mentioned. It sounds like I really should just start with the larger
tank, so I'm going to put off my fish ownership for a few months until
I can get a really awesome setup with a 20 gallon tank. As for water
temperature, inside temperature will be pretty stable because I can't
tolerate massive temperature changes either! Again, thanks everyone...
you've given me some good starting points to help me research.

On Mon, 5 Sep 2005 11:11:09 -0500, lgb wrote
(in article ):

In article .com,
says...
I would prefer to house the fish in a smaller tank (5 gallons or so) to
begin with, expanding to a 15-20 gallon or so tank when I decide to
move up to 4 or 5 fish. I've looked at the old standby, goldfish, and
am concerned that they take so much water to maintain. I'm only allowed
a 20 gallon tank and from what I can find, I could only comfortably
house three goldfish in such a tank.

In a five gallon tank you could have half a dozen white clouds. Or
platys. Given good filtration and weekly 20%-25% water changes.

I second white clouds. I have two in a one gallon setup with a nano-filter.
It's an open top system so there's a lot of evaporation. Every three days or
so I take about a pint of water out and top it off with fresh water. The
mondo grass is growing is breaking the surface and heading for the light
fixture. My fish are as healthy as horses and have even spawned, though I
think the filter killed the babies.

-E

Oh yeah, it's not just the fish that make the tank either, put in some
nice coloured gravel, and some live plants if you can keep them alive,
but if not there are plenty of fake plants that look real. Some nice
rocks and a broken flower pot can look good in there too, just make
sure you was them with lots of water and even soak them for a few days
before you stick them in, but I dare say if you get guppies, they
probalby won't notice if you put them in dirty!!