Can anybody give me advice on fishkeeping?

[dingbat63]

I have been given a relatively small fish tank - 60cm x 30cm x 40cm deep. It has a large filter unit which also houses a heater. Would I be better getting an under-gravel filter? Also, which fish would you advise for a beginner?

[funnywebsite]

Small looking fish would be happier in a small tank. Sea monkeys are easy to breed and free.

[itsallyellow]

I have a small tank myself and keep cold water fish in it. I have a black moor and an oranda and they are quite happy,I've had them for two years. Under gravel filters are ok but noisy,. Snails are also good for keeping the gravel clean though some varitiesgrow huge (golden apple snail) adn are no good if you want live plants. I had a snail for a short while. One morning it had disappeared and as it was far too big to be eaten I assumed it got board and braved my living room. Never did see it again. I dont know an awful lot about fish that like warmer waters though, sorry.

PS dont overfeed your fish what ever you get. Keep them hungry and feed them perhaps a tiny tiny pinch once day. This way they root around the bottom and eat debris and dirt that can build up.

[andyjevs]

Ok....before you take the step into keeping tropical fish, you're going to need to know how to look after them. You would really need to do this with any pet you kept just to make sure you were giving it the best care you can....and fish are no different.

You have a nice little tank (it's the size i started with some 30 years ago). The basic requirements for keeping the fish are
1) A mature filter to break down fish waste
2) A heater and thermostat (ideally set to around 75 deg F)
3) Lighting
4) Decor....bog wood, real or fake plants, gravel, sunken ship wrecks, rocks etc etc.

You will be better off getting a good book that will tell you how to keep the fish in more depth than i can.
You can go for an undergravel filter if you want or keep the large filter unit...it's really up to you but they will both need to be sufficiently "seeded" with good bacteria in order to support fish.

Once the tank has been set up and running for a week or two, you can sloooooowly start to add small fish.....some neons, zebra fish, small corydorus catfish, dwarf gouramies, harliquins etc etc.....take yourself off to a fish shop and see what's around then ask.

Good luck and hope this helps a bit

[dingbat63]

Thanks for the replies - Andyjevs, can you recommend a good book that I could start with? I take it that you have carried on keeping fish? I've wanted a fish tank for ages - there's nothing more relaxing than watching fish :-).

[andyjevs]

There are sooooo many books out there that i couldn't even begin to know where to start. Find a good tropical fish shop and see what books they have. Also subscribe to Practical fishkeeping....a monthly magazine.

If you keep a few fish such as guppies, platies, mollies and swordtails, you will get lots of babies (they are born alive as opposed to most fish which lay eggs).

Yes....i've carried on keeping fish. I still love tropicals but these days i have a superb coral reef aquarium (with coral reef fish, shrimps, crabs, starfish, urchins and live corals) and a 3,000 gallon koi carp pond.