First Fish Thoughts

[MarkInNC]

I may be jumping ahead but I have been thinking of the type of fish to start in my new tank. The tank is my first and has not begun a cycle yet, hopfully it will begin soon. We have a Petsmart and a Pets Plus in town and I have been to each to take a look at their fish and begin thinking. [BTW-the two stores are much differant, several floaters at one, none at the other, water clairity, fish activity all much differant at one.]

I believe I am going to try several varieties of "community" fish as they appear easier to be sucsessful with. I guess everyone enjoys the colorful ones and i have been looking at several. I had looked at Platies, Mollies, and Swordtails at the store. Then I looked on-line at several places and in particular a firm out in Utah that sounds good. They have several types of Mollies and several types each of Platies, Swordtails, and many others. Some of the fish I see on line are more interesting than those I have seen at the store.

I am thinking of 4 to 6 fish each of 3-4 types. This would mean I would have 12 to 24 1.5 adult fish after they mature. I have a 45 gallon tank.

Thoughts?

thanks,

Mark

[Rbishop]

I would get what appeals to you most. Also, watch your mix of males to females. It is also nice, IMO, to get one or two larger center piece fish along with some group of cory for activity on the bottom.

[Lupin]

There are hundreds of species available in the trade. In my opinion, what you are asking for, has me confused because to be honest, I am not sure where to start first. Many fish are very easy to keep. If I were you, look for the more interesting groups of fish, not just livebearers. Gouramis, bettas, minnows, barbs, danios, tetras, cichlids, plecos, synodontis and many others are quite fascinating and many of them are quite easy to begin with.

You could try a bristlenose pleco or Rineloricaria parva and a school of 8 corydoras along with 15-20 cardinal tetras, 2 pearl gouramis and over 15 golden pencilfish (Nannostomus beckfordi). All fish mentioned, in my experience, are very easy to keep.

[SMinNC]

...I had looked at Platies, Mollies, and Swordtails at the store...

I am thinking of 4 to 6 fish each of 3-4 types. This would mean I would have 12 to 24 1.5 adult fish after they mature. I have a 45 gallon tank.

Thoughts?



I think, you'll have another 40-60 of those fish(babies) roaming around the tank with in two weeks.

Those fish are the next best thing to guppys, for having fry.

I'm not real sure about the Platy and Molly males. But the Sword males can't stand each other.

You'll want to cover the tank real good. The Swords freak out on anything.
When the lights go out. They instantly go stright up, jumping out of the water. And end up on the floor.

[DeeSeven]

swordtails get around 2 inches

IMO platies/mollies and swords are fine its all personal preference.

I'd actually skip the mollies and do platies & swords maybe a few dwarf gouramis or Cherry Barbs or Danios of sort. Then finish that tank up with about 5 cory cats and a bushnose pleco.

Again IMO its up to you but thats my 2 cents

[fares]

i think you should get one betta fish and put them with angel fish or loaches or gourami or snails tigerbarb swordfish and panda catfish they are a good comination

[Lexi_D]

i think you should get one betta fish and put them with angel fish or loaches or gourami or snails tigerbarb swordfish and panda catfish they are a good comination

Bettas are NOT compatible with gouramies, angelfish, or tiger barbs, and IME, not swordtails either. You could get a single angelfish, gourami, or betta as a centerpiece with platies, tetras, or pencilfish, or any other schooling fish like cherry barbs.

[DeeSeven]

You could get a single angelfish, gourami, or betta as a centerpiece with platies, tetras, or pencilfish, or any other schooling fish like cherry barbs.

exactly my thoughts

[sushiray]

I suggest a pair of each just breed sample (mollys - sailfin, bubble bellys, lyretail, plain black), a platy pair (sunset, standard, etc.), swords (red, green, mix) & a nice pair of guppies with the larger flared/lyretail type tails (I prefer the old name snake skins - they look metallic colors).

[Flamfish]

I'm in the same situation Mark. I'm very new and cycling my first tanks (two because me and my gf have different ideas)
we both seem to like neon tetras and angelfish (angelfish seem to have a lot of different pattern typs and a salty looking body shape)
in a random search we've found that you can find colorful Plecos as well. though they don't seem to have any of the colorful ones at our Local Fish Stores so we might have to get them online.
We also seem to like blue german rams (I saw a post saying that they go well with tetra neons) but they always have close up pics and it's hard to tell but they always look like salt water tanks. maybe someone else caln gelp out with this?

[OldMan47]

Have a close look at your water Mark. If you want to keep common mollies, it is best to have hard water with a high pH. If you have soft water, you might want to go with fish like neons instead of typical livebearers. Another option that you will seldom see mentioned in an American forum is killies. They are delightful small fish related to the livebearers but often are more colorful. Some of them are good community fish while others are not, just like the rest of the fish that I have seen mentioned here.

[Flamfish]

I just pulled up some pics and the killies are pretty cool looking fish but I guess thats another one that would have to be bought over the net.

[bluekrissyspike]

i'm not really into live-bearing fish for the simple reason that they have too many babies and it's hard to find room or homes for all those fish. i found it so irritating that i finally just GAVE mine away, for free. i have a 50g tank that is a community, similar size to your tank. i have in there a school of each-neon tetras, cherry barbs, harlequin rasboras, white cloud minnows, green cories. i also have a few kuhli loaches in there left from when i first started fish keeping. the tank is always very active and the fish all seem quite happy. i would add a few less fish though, if i did not have so many live plants in there. it is all a matter of taste. also, when shopping for fish at the pet store many of them will look a lot duller than they will once you bring them home because they are stressed out in over-stocked tanks with no hiding places and not being well fed. they will normally colour up nicely once they are home and adjusted to your tank.

[OldMan47]

I have only ever seen one kind of killies in my local Petsmart and do not see them at all in other stores. I got some from a speaker at one of our club meetings and so far they are doing great in my ultra-hard water. They have not laid any eggs yet that I have noticed but the courtship seems to go on almost daily. Since the eggs take a couple of weeks to hatch in the particular ones that I have, it may be a while before I notice any fry at all.
A source that is often overlooked by new fish keepers is their local fish club. Fish clubs have actually become my favorite source of new fish. The other club members often have fish that I have never seen before and they are also aware of nearby clubs that are having fish auctions. It has allowed me to pick up over 6 species of goodeids in the last year along with Brachyrhaphis roseni, Heterandria formosa and 2 species of Limias. The Aphyosemion bivittatum Funge, a type of killie, is just the latest club fish score. My new avatar is the Brachyrhaphis roseni.

[DeeSeven]

blue german rams (I saw a post saying that they go well with tetra neons) but they always have close up pics and it's hard to tell but they always look like salt water tanks. maybe someone else caln gelp out with this?

blue rams are freshwater hailing from South America

great great GREAT fish cant really say enough good things about them

[Flamfish]

hey old man, how does one go about finding a local fish club? I'm from Philly but have recently moved to Mt Carmel PA (about 3 hrs north) I still travel to Philly alot for family and friends so that gives me more options. I'll try to google fish clubs.
Thanks for the info Dee. they are cool looking fish!

[OldMan47]

Fish clubs are something that I found with a google. There are also lists of local fish clubs that you can search in places like FAAS, http://www.faas.info/index.html They are a group that many local clubs belong to so they have a fairly robust list of the clubs in the US.

[Dr. Awkward]

For first fish I always recommend male guppies. They do well with just about any water and are hardy enough to be forgiving of newbie mistakes. If you get all males you don't have to worry about a population explosion. Guppies are colorful, active, social and go well with most peaceful community fish you may decide to add later on. Also, not to be morbid, they don't live very long so if you decide you don't like them you can just wait it out.