First Fish Thoughts

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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
Flamfish said:
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?
Click to expand...

blue rams are freshwater hailing from South America

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