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While walking around the petstore tonight, I thought it might be nice to get a fish tank with some fish in it for my living room. Although I will be conducting my own research, I wanted to reach out and see what first-hand reccomnedations people have. If I do get a tank, I would prefer to keep it on the smaller side, so please drop your reccomendations down below! |
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The smaller the tank, the more work you have on your hands to keep the temperature stable and the water clean. Don't do the "2 inches of fish per gallon" calculations, because they aren't near right. The capacity of your tank really depends on water surface area, because that's where oxygen gets exchanged. Bubblers don't put oxygen into the water, they stir the water so that new water is always on top to get oxygen. So a 20 gallon long will hold more fishes than a 20 gallon tall. It also depends on the fishes' habits. Goldfish put out vast quantities of poop and ammonia, so they need a much larger tank than you would think for their size and very powerful filtration just to keep the water clean and prevent fin rot (think 2 full grown goldfish in a 55 gallon long tank). I think a 20 gallon long is a good starter size if you want to keep anything besides guppies or bettas. Species I recommend for beginners (peaceful, tolerant of fluctuating conditions and temperature): Danios (zebra, leopard, pearl, but not the longfinned varieties) White Cloud Mountain Minnows Guppies (Mollies and Swordtails aren't really beginner fishes) Kuhli loaches or Corydoras catfishes as bottom feeders ALL these fishes should be kept in groups of no less than 6 (4 for the Corydoras). Fishes you'll see labeled "beginner" that I don't think are: Tiger/cherry barbs (they tend to nip fins and be bad tankmates unless you keep mostly females and only that species of barb) Neon tetras (they need a large tank to keep the water temps in the right range and have to have really good soft clean water) Glass fishes (painted, neon or regular). They get fin rot if the conditions aren't right and need warm water to be healthy. Fish that will outgrow a 55 gallon tank that get sold as babies and recommended for 10 gallon tanks: Goldfishes Chinese Algae Eaters Tinfoil Barbs Plecos Go find a specialty aquarium store for your fishes, preferably one that's been in business a good while. Develop a good relationship with them. Listen to their advice. Aquaria can be beautiful, relaxing to watch and fairly straightforward to care for (incremental water changes and keeping the substrate intact so it stays healthy, so no dumping water and washing gravel, as much as you think that you need to). They can also be sources of stress if you get in over your head. There's a learning curve like anything else. Best of luck. |
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Oh man, fish tanks can be quite a bit of work, I recommend going with a simple setup, 10 gallons with a betta fish. Make sure you research the tank cycling process and water perimeters. Natural with driftwood and rocks is always a nice way to go, make sure the rocks you use are on the smooth side. Sand is a nice substrate make sure to bake and wash though. For bettas it good to have the space be filled. [places to hide and such] Bettas are carnivores, so blood worms, brime shrimp, insects etc |
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Show Time covered a lot of the important peripheral stuff I was afraid of timing out to include. Bettas are indeed the best choice for a 10 gallon tank. Water quality and initial cycling are very important. Slow and steady wins the race. Bettas don't need water bubblers as they can (and actually need to) breathe from the surface and the moving water can tear their fins. The best filters for them are probably either waterfall filters turned to low water flow or sponge filters with a really small air pump. Leave some space empty at the top of the tank for bettas so they can breathe from the surface without jumping out of an open tank or running into the hood if you have one. I would recommend against using wood or rocks you find in the outdoors. They can be porous and absorb pesticides, weed killers, etc that could harm your fish. Best to buy them from the aquarium dealers. Those are treated to be fish safe. Speaking of insecticides, don't use bug spray or set off bug bombs, etc without removing the fish tank from the house. That stuff is lethal to fishes as well as insects, can get sucked into the tank by the air pump if you have one and will get circulated through the house by furnace or air conditioner, so just closing the room door isn't enough to protect your fish. Oh, and use an aquarium stand even for the "small" 10 gallon ones. Water weighs 8 lb per gallon, so with the weight of the tank and the gravel/substrate that little tank is about 100 lbs in a small space. It might fit on a table, but the table might not stand the weight. And don't ever move a tank without draining it first. |
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This has all been super helpful! I will definetely consider a 10 gallon tank with a beta. I do also wonder if I could pull of a 20 gallon tank as well because when I look up the dimensions it doesn't seem as big as I thought it was. |
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A 20 tall won't really hold more fish than a 10 because the water surface area is pretty much the same. Tall tanks exist because some fish need deeper water (think discus and angelfishes, which are tall). You want the 20 gallon long for best fish health. Just looked it up and they are 30 x 12 x 12 inches and weigh about 200-225 lbs when filled. |
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Galaxy Rasboras aka celestial pearl danios, are stunning fish if you want to keep a micro tank. They are one of my favorites. There is also chili rasboras or ember tetras. I've kept all and all of them are great micro fish. |
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Cycling and stuff has been covered a little bit, but I want to drive in just how important a good water testing kit is. I use the API Freshwater Test Kit. It tests for ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, and pH with two different tests for low range and high range. I've had it for months, done many tests with it, and I have plenty of testing liquid left. Make sure to read the instructions carefully. Also the test tubes are a bit delicate, so be careful with them; they're glass. The nitrogen cycle is how ammonia is turned into nitrates by "good bacteria" in your tank over time. Here's an explanation: 1) Fish poop, leftover food, and other wastes decay into ammonia. Ammonia is toxic to your fish and will give them burns if there's too much, and can deprive them of oxygen. It will kill them eventually. If you have a large and sudden spike in an established (already cycled) tank, you can help by doing small (10%) water changes for a few days in a row to take down the amount of waste in the tank. I use a siphon with a gravel vaccum on it for this; sucking the fish crap out of the substrate helps keep ammonia spikes to a minimum. If it's really bad, do a 20% water change,. NEVER, under ANY circumstances, do a 100% water change. In fact, don't do changes of more than 25% at one time. This will crash your cycle. Spikes are caused by: overfeeding, not cleaning the tank enough, and overstocking. You want: a reading of 0 on your water tests. None. Nada. Zero. 2) Next, the good bacteria in your cycled tank will turn the ammonia into nitrites. This is also toxic to fish, but less so than ammonia. It deprives your fish of oxygen, and can cause damage if not dealt with. Spikes are caused by: Overstocking, using an uncycled tank, not doing water changes, and improper cleaning. You want: Also 0. None. A tiny bit (up to 2ppm) can be handled for a short amount of time, but you should use a water change to get rid of it right away. 3) Nitrites are turned into nitrates in this step. These are much less toxic to fish and a little bit of it showing on readings is a good thing, it means you have a functioning tank cycle. Too much will still cause damage though. Spikes are caused by: having no live plants in the tank, having a crashed cycle, and not doing water changes. You want: up to a maximum of 20ppm at any one time. Do a 10-15% water change at anything above 10ppm. This should never read 0. That means your tank is not cycled. Here's some extra reading about cycling. Also, talls aren't good for long-finned bettas. They need more horizontal than vertical space (they live in rice paddies in the wild; not the same as being kept in an aqarium but I digress). Their natural habitat is shallow-ish water that stretches for miles in any direction. My betta did really bad in my 45 gallon bowfront because it took him too much effort to swim all the way to the top for food. He's faring much better in my 5.5 gallon. A short-finned betta (a female or a "plakat" tail type) would be just fine in a tall though. I hugely reccomend getting some live plants. I don't have any myself, but the help with keeping nitrates and nitrites down. Bettas are insectivores, so they primarily eat insects. I recommend bloodworms, brine shrimp, and I've heard good things about daphnia too. My betta refuses to eat anything but flakes, so he's supplimented with bloodworms and freeze-dried brine shrimp. They need high protein (40%+) food. Hopefully this helps, if anyone notices a mistake please correct me! |
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I don't see a mistake, as a matter of fact I love that you did the whole cycle thing on a post and I also like that testing kit. The only thing I wanted to interject is that you should only have live plants if you feel you can handle them. A dying, decaying plant will muck up the water more than it will help. I've never been able to keep aquarium plants alive and healthy for some reason, though I have orchids and African violets that love me. |
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Many things have been said. My advise: learn as much and a LOT before you jump into this. Tanks are such a great hobby, but there is so much, you have to be aware off and there are so many things you can do wrong. And then your blooming tank micht turn into a grave within a few minutes. Most of the fish you can get in petshops get grown up in a quite sterile "fish-mill"-wise production and often get ill or even die within a short time after you take them home because they are used to a very different kind of water / light / food / medication. So it is really hard for a beginner to start without any knowledge. I had a tank for many many years, with living plants and never had problems. But they make a lot more work and need even more knowledge and a propper setup for sure. Anyways - good luck to you! |
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Afternoon Showers, Sleet Possible
