tropical fish tank

[stanbesida]

I have a second hand heater for the aquarium which I purchased for my wife. I was told that the heater was new but my wife is really impatient and tries to run before she can walk and she is dying to get fish into the tank. I have set the heater at just over 75 degrees but it drops to 74.5 degrees, is this o.k.? What is the lowest temperature where I should start to worry about the fish,
(I haven't put any fish in the tank as yet), and what are the best fish to start with? I used to have a tank around 24 years ago and have forgotten most of what I knew and things have changed since I had them. I noticed some green tiger barbs in my pet shop but have never heard of them before so I wondered whether they are the same as the ordinary tiger barbs. I want to put a couple of elephant nose with angel fish and tiger barbs

[wildwood]

74.5� is quite acceptable but don't let it drop much lower. It is better to turn it up 1 or 2 degrees in the winter as the ambient room temperature also effects the water temperature.

Pardon me for being a bit blunt stan, but you are a bit of a scrooge using a 2nd hand heater, a new one wouldn't have cost much more. It is also false economy - did you notice the price of fish nowadays?

An 2nd hand heater should only be used where 2 or 3 heaters are needed in a biggish tank. A heater has a limited lifespan which depends on how it is treated. The airstone should be placed near or under the heater, this will help to evenly distribute the warm water and helps to keep the heater cool thus prolonging it's life.

Welcome back to the land of tropical fish and long may you stay. It is always a good idea to keep a couple of small tanks handy in case you or/and your wife feel the urge to breed a few (fish).

[B00]

Hello welcome to the fishy world!

Can I also please request that you cycle your tank first before you merrily dump fish in there? If you don't you'll be extremely lucky if you dont get many, if not all of them being belly up within a few days.

More info here for you

http://www.fishlore.com/FirstTankSetup.htm

[spudo]

hi,
between 68F and 84F is acceptablei have my heater set to about 76F to 78F.
i agree, you should let your tank do a amonia/nitrate/nitrite/ cycle to ovoide your fish dying.
good fish to start with are hardy fish like mollys, platys and guppys. these fish are all live bearers which means they give birth to live fish and not eggs.this also meant that you could be recieving new fish every 24 days if you have active males and females. but once again these fish are verry 'hardy'