Aquarium help

[Hpisavage21]

I hear that fish tanks are very calming and look neat in a house :). I want to get one for my mom, something small since space is limited. I was looking at some Marineland aquariums that have Bio-Wheel filters already. I was wondering if youn could recoemdned the things i need to get it running and maintain it? Thanks.. If you can tell me a good brand of products that would be great like filters,liquids etc.... Thanks

can ya also lemme know whats a good fishie and a good cleaner fish?

[Hound]

How small is the true question. Lets say you go with a 12 gallon. My choice would be something like 3 panda corys and a schooling fish. Neon tetras being the most common it would seem, but something like harlequin raspbora are fairly cool. Either way about 6 of either along with the pandas should be fine for a tank. From what I can tell the raspbora are a bit less shy than neons. If you go with the Marineland tank I believe you'll still need a heater to go with the setup. Nothing too expensive. Say a 50 watt submersible (make sure you don't contact the gravel with it). Add some fake plants and you should be fairly set. I really don't have a favorite brand of chlorine remover or water conditioner, but both are important. Remember that you will need to do a partial water change once a month and change the filter once a month. Partial water change would be 25% so if you had a 12g tank you'd only be looking at 3g.

One other thing. With the fish I'm recommending you'll need to have some flake food, some algae wafers, and some shrimp meal wafers. Feeding wouldn't be much. One wafer a day should keep the corys happy (shrimp meal wafer every 4th day or so) and a smallish pinch of the flake food 2 or 3 times a day should be fine.

Oop, one last thing. Avoid direct sunlight. Algae growth is less fun to watch than fish.

[PumaWard]

You're going to want to cycle the tank before you put any fish in. Cycling can greatly reduce the amount of fish deaths which will save you a lot of headache and money. Here's a link that should help you out on how to cycle a tank:
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5927

Next, you are going to want to spend some time researching fish species that are of interest, here are some good places to start out

Right here on AC:
http://aquariacentral.com/species/fw-ae.shtml AC gives minimum tank sizes and is good for cross-referencing

Fish Profiles:
http://fishprofiles.com

And Aquaworld, the site creator has some more rarer fishes and may not have common ones, but the profiles are in-depth.
http://aquaworld.netfirms.com

And of course Fish base with the largest freshwater index
http://fishbase.org

I also recommend that you start out with a few live plants which are easy to maintain and very forgiving of the beginning aquarist,

Anubias barteri (sp?) varient "nana" being common
Java Fern
African Fern
Java moss

All of these can be attached to driftwood or other decor using fishing line or rubberbands, which after a while can be removed. The Anubias can be planted in the substrate as well.

Anyway, avoid impulse buying any fish... many people impulse buy and end up with something that will grow HUGE (and irredesant shark being a prime example) or they end up with some incompatible with the other fish in the tank.

HTH

[Hpisavage21]

After doing some reading and reasearch I have decided I will go w/ the following fish. Here are my city water results for 2001 http://www.cityofyonkers.com/docs/water.html

10 gallon tank

one Angelfish
one Dwarf Gouramis
one neon tetra
one cory cat
one plecostomun
one lake malawi cichilids

how doe sthat sound? Iwill cycle my tank using some plants that were in a tank at a petstore.

[often dignified]

:shake:

10 gallon tank

one Angelfish - no, they get too big and need at least 20 gallons
one Dwarf Gouramis - it would be ok with a group of tetras or any smaller community schooling fish
one neon tetra - no, they should be kept in groups of at least 4 or 5
one cory cat - would work with gourami and neons, but , again you should get at least 3 to keep them comfortable
one plecostomun - no, any pleco gets much too big for a 10 gallon. They are a huge waste producer. A new tank doesn't need an algae eater anyways... wait a few months and get some Otos
one lake malawi cichilids - no, not compatible with any other fish you mentioned

I'd go with a Dwarf Gourami and smaller tetras of your choice (5), and then pick up some Otos (3) once you have algae.

Make sure this tank is fishless cycled before adding any fish.

[PumaWard]

Well, the angelfish will outgrow a 10g in no time, under normal conditions, angels souldn't be kept in anything under 30g tanks. The same goes for plecos, they need around 55g of space as they can get 12''+.

The malawi cichlid is incompatible as far as size, water conditions, and temperment. Most get around 6'', are VERY aggressive, and require hard, alkaline water.

Neons need to be kept in shoals of 6 or more fish, cories should be kepts with other cories as well in a group of 3.

How about this?
1 dwarf gourami
6 neons
3 otos
3 cories

Also, cycling a tank takes a bit more than just adding things. You can start that way, but you must stock slowly, say starting out with 3 cories, in two weeks 3 otos.

Next, test kits are almost a must. Ammonia and nitrIte are toxic to fish, so if there are any readings of ammonia or nitrite, daily or every other day water changes need to be taken as counter measures. During this period, you shouldn't add any other fish either, as it will only compound the problem. You need to test your water dilligently and carefully during the stocking time frame to make sure the ammonia and nitrite levels stay at 0. If you get a reading, again, water changes must be done more often than normal until readings become zero.

As for general care, you will need to change 20-30% of the tank water out each week.

Remember to research heavily, all links provided have good info, good luck :) !

[Hpisavage21]

Thanks I will go w/ this
1 dwarf gourami
6 neons
3 otos
3 cories in a 10 gallon tank

what do you say for the filters pumps, cleaners etc.. how should I cycle my tank and wat do i need to start and maintain it?

[Hpisavage21]

light?heater?filter?pump?food?liquid treatments? slime coat? etc

[Aquarius0015]

light? Usually comes with tank. Get fluorescent, NOT incandescent

heater? Make sure it's submersible. The best brands aren't cheap, but worth it.

filter? Many options here. I suggest an AC Mini, but a Penguin Mini w/ bio wheel would be fine, too. I have had problems with Whisper filters. UGF unnecessary and difficult to maintain.

pump? Not necessary and noisy.

food? Fresh sliced veggies and algae tabs for the otos, sinking shrimp pellets for the cories, tropical flakes for the rest.

liquid treatment? Just something to neutralize chlorine/chloramine. Ammonia neutralizers are unnecessary.

slime coat? These are corporate moneymakers. In the wild, fish don't depend on bottled slim coat, why should fish in your tank? They don't really harm things, but they certainly don't help either.

For gravel, I'd select a fine-grained natural color. You could even have a few plants if you want (eg java fern, crypts, etc). Make sure you have a few hiding places.

[Hpisavage21]

Thanks. My city has poorly buffered acid water that is artificially raised in PH to avoid corroding the pipes.
what type of fishies should i get?

[Captain Hook]

I would leave out the ottos for now. There are fairly delicate fish and probably won't be needed, at least not right away. They will clean up brown algae so if you see some of that then you can make the decision to get them. Also 2 should be fine, you don't need 3 in such a small tank.

[Hound]

Something you may want to check is your waters ph level and hardness. Test kits are fairly inexpensive and will help determine what you may need to do or what fish will be happy the way it is.