Rubyred...Fish Tanks

[Maevis]

So as not to sidetrack the thread in the SC section, I'm putting this here.

Rubyred said:

Are you going to be doing saltwater or fresh? Either way, don'y buy your fish from Petco or Petsmart. Find a LFS (Local Fish Store) that specializes in just aquariums. As a person who has been maitaining my own tanks and is seriuosly into the aquarium fish hobby, trust me when I say that half of the fish that come from most chain pet stores are very stressed, malnourished and infected with ich and they will wipe out your entire tank. Petco is especially notorious for this.

And please please please make sure that you research every fish you buy really carefully....impulse buys are not your friend!

This is our first fish tank. (Well if you don't count the fish we kept in bowls as kids).
We're doing a freshwater tank.

Our set up so far is this:

Oceanic 33 gal square tank. (We have [I]very[I] limited space)

Home built aquarium stand...didn't trust the flimsy nature of some of the stands we've seen.

Bio-wheel filtration system...rated for a 50 gal tank

Tank light

5 gal bucket strictly dedicated for use with the tank

about 2" of gravel for the bottom of the tank.

3 plants...not sure what they are called but "supposedly" goldfish won't eat them, but if they do, eh, we can try something else.

A bottle of AmQuel+ to condition the water.

We still need to pick up a gravel vacuum and misc. tank cleaning supplies.
Still trying to figure out if we need a bubbler or airstone. We keep getting conflictiong advice on this.

Oh, and we need a little tank just in case a fish gets sick and needs to be "hospitalized".

We've just started setting up the tank tonight, so it will be 4 or 5 days before we purchase the fish.

I wanted a comet goldfish...You know...'cause they can get to be a foot long! (plus I think they are the prettiest) but the tank is for my husband and he has his heart set on a Moore goldfish. Since Moores have poor eyesight and are slow swimmers, the additional tank mate will most likely be a telescope goldy or some other equally handicapped goldy.

As far as buying from an LFS, well I would love to do so, but haven't been able to find one. (Other than the little store in chinatown...but those fish didn't look any better cared for than the ones I've seen at the big pet stores).

When we are ready to buy the fish, we'll be going to Petco...but only because the employee who works there has her own tanks and the fish we've seen in that particular store have all looked well taken care of.

Is there anything else you would recommend?

[obod7x7]

I know I don't post here often, but I can offer some advice on fishkeeping. I absolutely love the hobby.

I would suggest against getting goldfish for a 33 gallon tank unless you absolutely have your heart set on it. Just be advised you will need to clean it very often because they are considered to be a very "dirty" fish.

Another reason I advise against goldfish is because you can have a lot more tropical fish in the same tank. Right now I have a 37-gallon tank with about 18-20 fish in it. I would definitely recommend getting a pair of Angelfish, as they definitely have personality. They always come to the top of the tank when I get near, begging me for food. They are very fun to watch and get a good size. Another fun fish is the betta. If you can find them, adding 5 or 6 FEMALE bettas to your tank can keep things interesting. They will establish their own territories and a pecking order. Make sure they are female though, males kill each other!

Everything you have looks good. Be careful when you add fish though, as most experts (I'm not one, trust me) advise "cycling" your tank to get the chemical composition up to par. I never had problems with that, however, and I only waited a few days after adding water. I did use a water conditioner though.

http://www.petfish.net/

This website has a ton of helpful articles and a forum that can answer any questions you may have.

[Maevis]

Well, it's a christmas gift for my hubby and his heart is decidedly set on the goldfish.

Knowing that they are "dirty fish" is why we got the 30 gal tank. We'll only have two fish...(the type we have our eye on tend to get to about 6-7" in size. so from what I've read the 30 gal should work just fine for them.

Frankly, fish tanks have always freaked me out a bit. Not sure I could handle having more than two fish swiming about. So...well...this will give me a chance to get used to having fish in the house. I'm kinda surprized at how excited I am about the project.

Once I get used to the tank...well, who knows...we may just end up having to rearrange the furniture to accomadate a second tank for some tropicals. ;)


p.s. thanks for the link!

[protege]

I never had good luck with angelfish. I'm not sure why--they always seemed to last a month or so :cry: Goldfish, zebras, and even those cheap "feeder" fish lived for years. If you want to keep things interesting...get a pair or two of swordtails. My dad surprised me with them when I was little. Of course they then surprised us by breeding :p

Minnows are also fun to watch...especially when bugs would land on the water! These minnows were caught with a homemade trap set in the stream running through one of my grandmother's fields.

I'd like to set my tank up again. I miss my fishies :cry:

[Cia]

My brothers had guppies, neon tetras and pecosomis (algae eater). The female guppies liked to commit suicide by jumping out of the tank. Wierd fish.

[Rahmota]

We have a small 10 gallon tank with about 4 goldfish and a algae eater in it and they are all doing fine. Goldfish havent been that bad for us, I mean all they are are shiny carp. And they've got a personality too. we've got one that likes to swim to the top and flip out of the water then back in. Nothign wrong with it just the wild one of the bunch I guess.

We used to have some minnows from the creek in there too but I ran out of bait one day when I wanted to go fishing and wellllll...........:o

[Phoenix79]

I have three freshwater fishtanks, and would be happy to answer any questions you may have.

I have discus in my 75 gallon tank, african cichilds in my 90 gallon tank, and a ton of guppies in my 30 gallon tank.

I've purchased fish from Petco several times before, and haven't had too much trouble with them.

One great way to figure out which fishies are best to choose is to ask the sales person to open the tank and act like they are going to feed the fish. The fish you want are the ones that immediatley go to the top of the tank looking for food. If a fish isn't hungy, he's probably sick, and I wouldn't buy it. Also, closely look at the fins of the fish to make sure there aren't too many nips on them. Not only do they not look as pretty, but I've found that those fish usually don't interact well with tankmates. When you bring the fishies home for the first time, please make sure you turn off the tank light for a few hours when (turn lights off before you leave to get fishies) you put them in the tank. This will help cut down on the stress a new environment will create for them.

As far as a bubble wall is concerned, the main purpose of the wall is for decoration. If you have a smaller tank that is crowded with fish, an air wall can also help with oxygen saturation, but it is not required to keep the fish healthy. I do have bubble walls in my tanks because the fish like to play in the bubbles, and I like the way they look.

I highly recommend getting a python to clean your tanks, if you have a sink that is close enough to where you are setting up your tank. Its basically a gravel vacuum that you hook one end up to your faucet, and the other end goes into your tank. It has a pressure valve you can use to reverse pressure to vacuum your tank right into the sink, and then you can switch it back to fill your tank up. No bucket needed, and its the best thing we ever purchased for our tanks!! It is rather expensive ($30), but well worth it because of the time it saves you. The one we have is about 20 feet long, and reaches all three of our tanks.

When you first set up your tank, try to make sure you do at least a 10% water change weekly for the first month or so (no more than 20%). This will help cycle your tank, and keep the fishies healthy. After a month or two, you can step back to every-other week if you like.

I've never had goldfish, but I hear they are easier to keep than most of the fish I have currenlty. I've had my discus for three years, and my cichilds for five years. Only a few deaths have occured, so I think I'm doing fairly well! Feel free to PM me if you have any questions at all!

Phoenix

[digilight]

You will also need a heater for the tank. Gold fish don't typically require the water to be as warm as tropical fish, but if the air temp drops to 50f or so the water temp will drop as well.

I would recomend at least 1 or 2 air stones in a tank that size. You do have the plants which will add oxygen to the water, but in a 30+ gallon tank that may not be sufficant. That and some fish like to play around the bubblers.

as far as vacumes and suction devices go Phoenix's sounds pretty good. If you don't have a faucet close enough, you can use a simple suction vacume. Ours has a fat tube that is about a foot long and connected to platic tubing. You create a vacume and use it to suction along the bottom sucking up the poop and stuff. It will drain out of the tank, down the hose, and into a plastic bucket. I use this on my tanks (a 35 gallon hex tank, and a 20 gallon regular tank).

Plants are always good, but can be difficult to grow without the right lights. You may need to replace the plants from time to time. But it gives a good environment for the fish as well.

I would definantly recommend at least 1 or 2 algea eaters.

Other fun fish include bali sharks, red fin sharks, silver dollars, thats all that I can remember thats in my 35 gallon tank, my 20 gallon is being recyled and will be restocked in a few weeks.

I don't know about all species of gold fish, but pet stores usually don't put rock in the tanks with gold fish because they tend to eat the rock.

Heres a couple of decent sites to get some good advice from.

http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/aquariumforum/

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/

I'd be surprised if you don't quickly want to add more to your aquariums and get a second, they are so peaceful and relaxing to watch.

And also, we have gotten all of our fish exclusivly at petco and petsmart around here, with no problems. The only Live Fish store here in town actually has a real bad rep for selling sick fish and fish with ick.

[Rubyred]

Sorry...I didn't see this thread until today.:D

Goldfish are probably the easiest fish in the world to keep and they will live FOREVER!!!

Comets can absolutely be kept with Moors and with telescope eyes. Just make sure that you don't put feeder fish or bubble eyes in with them. The feeder fish are way too aggressive and the bubble eyes are way to delicate. You can also add certain tropicals such as tetras and plecos to golfish tanks with no problems. Just make sure not to overstock the tank.

The neat thing about golfish is that most species will stop growing at a certain point to accomodate their tank size.

Instead of air stones you might want to try a flexible bubble wand that will create the aeration that you need but you can bend it all through your plants and make it look really neat. (That's what I use with my seahorses to make it look like an underwater garden)

As far as cycling goes it isn't really necessary with freshwater as long as you have a really good water conditioner (I highly reccomend AquaSafe tap water conditioner).

Gravel is great...comes in lots and lots of colors (but neons and really unnatural colors will sometimes stress your fish) and its very easy to clean.

Golfish tend not to want to eat live plants. they're usually very satisfied with plain old falke food sprinkled on the top twice a day.


PS...I know someone on this thread said that if you find a fish with nips or parts of their tail or fins missing that you shouldn't buy it ...but from my personal experience, they end up being just as happy and healthy as any other fish. (I rescued a feeder fish from an eel tank that had its entire tail fins ripped off by the eel and it lived for 5 years, grew its tail back all long and pretty and got to be about 6 inches long. I also have a silver dollar with no tail who does just fine.) So if you find a fish that you absolutely fall in love with don't let this stop you from taking it home.:)

Anywhoo..I hope I helped, even a little and if you have any questions feel free to ask either on here or on my myspace..which ever is easier. :)

Oh..btw.. I bash petco alot beacuse I'm more into saltwater fish and reptiles and I'm very big on animal rights.All the petcos in my area have no business selling these animals and are notorious for having their saltwater tanks infected with ich and kepping very sick animals. Certain Petcos are fine especially for freshwater fish.

[Maevis]

Got the fishies tonight!

TigerLilly (named after the Indian Princess from Peter Pan) A little calico fantail: Very sweet, when we walked past her tank at the store she swam right up to us. Very curious, and is busily exploring the tank and her mates.

Clementine (after...well...clemintines...the little oranges that you can buy at Christmas time) She/he is a bright bright orange color with telescope eyes and its tail fins are orange fading to white at the end and completely outlined in black.
Clem is the slowest of the three and we are keeping an eye on her...she may need for us to make adjustments to our tank decor so that she will have a nice quiet place to rest that's out of the current. She's pretty much hanging out by herself.

Black Bart (With tank mates named Lilly and Clementine thought he should have a western sort of name too) He's a Moore and velvety black with a silver belly.
I think he and Lilly are hitting it off quite well.

Here's hoping they stay with us for a long long time. *crosses fingers*

Thanks all for the advice!