what tank ?

LauraJane

Oh & I have decided to get some fish, but are clueless where to start Laughing

We dont want anything to massive - tropical fish... any advice ?

nahatalie

Hmm...I've always kept cold water fish, they are much easier and can be just be just as pretty!

I don't much about tropical fish, but here's some of the stuff you will need to look into. I'm sure someone with more experience will help soon and correct me!

You obviously need the tank, gravel, plants etc. I've always used plastic plants, I don't know if tropical fish need the real thing though...

You will need a filter, some kind of heater (I think some tanks have a hood with a speacial tropical fish light which does the job), a termometer. Oh, and an aerator unless the filter does this too, but if you have real plants they might provide enough oxygen?

The chemical balance of the water is tricky to get right in tropical fish, so you might need a chemical testing kit. I think it tests for nitrate and ammonia level etc which if too high can kill the fish. You will also need dechlorinator to remove the chlorine in the water before you can out the fish in. You also need to research which fish can live with with fish. I'm sure the pet shop will know! I know a few people who have had lots of trouble with tropical fish, sometimes with the water balance killing them and sometimes by mixing the wrong species and some of them getting eaten by the others!

Once you've got everything you need, it's usually best to let the tank run for a few days before adding the fish to let everything settle down.

Although you will have a filter, the tank does need to be cleaned every so often. With my fish, I can get away with cleaning them once every two or three months or so. They require next to no looking after, just feeding every day, but when it comes to cleaning them out its a major pain in the bum! Takes me over an hour to do, poor fishies don't like it one bit!

I hope someone specific to tropical fish comes along soon, good luck!

Poser_Doll

Hi, with tropical fish depending what type your wanting you will need to decide what fish and study their care.
certain tropicals need certain salts, certain tropicals need this or that! this temp that temp.

So best thing is choose a type of fish you like, and want! and then research the care it needs Very Happy

poppydog83

Well where i work i have taken on the role of looking after the fish. All the other staff will feed them,but im the one who has to sort out the filter,clean the tank when needed. So im learning the hard way when it comes to keeping tropical fish. in the tank we have mollys,neons (2 types) and a sucker fish and another fish,of which i cant spell the name. The tank was bought for my client,but he had to buy the fish. And at the time chose some nice fish,one of which was a silver shark (victor) most of the fish have names. It was great until after xmas it started growing like anything,he was big for the size of tank we have,must have been at least 1 1/2 - 2 inches. Well at the time of him growing alot of the neons(although we didnt have many) started to disappear. I got some advice off a lady in p@h ( im sorry i know people dont like p@h,but i didnt know what else to do at the time). She said that victor was probably eating the neons. Anyway they said he shouldnt have been in a community with smaller fish.he isnt suited to be in with them. So he was given to my local p@h and they were going to get him rehomed into a bigger tank

Poser_Doll

wow..p@h isnt toooo bad! but for fishie advice i swear by it there bad.

Anyway, like i say. Choose what fish you like adn would like to have and just look up their care Very Happy

Josh

My fish died the day after i bought it at p@h Sad

never been there since Smile