Fish Tanks and Fish - Costs, Tips

My kids have asked a couple of times for a pet, and managed to avoid it so far (I am not a fan of rodent pets, and don't think it's fair to have dogs and cats if you're out at work 10 hours a day).

So, fish tank seems an option. But, how easy are they - is it just a matter of getting a good tank, pump, filter etc. and chucking in the fish and monitoring the water now and then and chucking in some chemicals if needed? Or is it a nightmare job keeping it clean and finding fish that don't die or attack each other?

Any Fish Tank set up can enhance a room and can end up a lifelong hobby . research fish tank setups, and get advice from a reputable dealer go small at beginning, the biggest problem is overfeeding which is a killer , once the kids have the bug they will want a Marine Tank that is just another world , (very expensive)

Tropical fish are easy to keep and quite hardy if you get fish like guppies or mollies.

Like boss white says overfeeding is the killer , just give them enough food that they will consume in two mins.

Read up about getting the tank established before adding any fish , replace 20% of the water that has been standing for 24hrs (nearest bucketful) once a week , rinse the filter in the water you take out of the tank so you don't wash away the bacteria on it and get some test strips for the water quality

I've never needed to add chemicals unless the fish are ill and that's thankfully rare.

Oh don't overstock the tank and get different fish which live in the bottom , middle and top of the tank

Hatchets enjoy jumping out of the tank so get a tight fitting lid and albino frogs although they are quirky they love eating other fish and I found this out the hard way when my froggy munched his way through five neon tetras that I had only put in the tank a couple of hours before!

Forgot to mention, visit a few aquatic shops near you and take a look at the tanks the fish are housed in , if the tanks are dirty and/or you see dead fish that have been there for a while don't buy from them they clearly don't care about the fish they sell and are more likely to have diseases

I've been keeping fish since I won a goldfish at the fair in 1974. My second wife had never kept fish now she loves it. We don't bother with marine (salt water) tropical and just stick to freshwater tropical. The latter is less work involved. You should be able to obtain a decent tank secondhand, Juwel is a great make (German), then you will need a filter and heater. I've used Interpret filters and heaters for a long time and never had any problems. Good kit.

A decent tropical fish stockist will be able to advise you what to put together if you are going to have a mixed community tank. We like Gouramis, Danios, Neons etc. the usual fayre. All very easy to keep and nice to look at in the evenings. I've made mistakes in the past with putting the wrong fish in i.e. a pictus catfish that devoured half my stock. I'd recommend a Plec or two, depending on the size of your tank. They keep the glass lovely and clean, sucking the algae off it. As said above guppies and mollies are easy to keep and guppies particularly come in a variety of pretty colours.

I use JBL Biotopol to add to tapwater to make it safe for the fish, although there are so many similar products out there.

The kids will love it. Go for it.

As a keen fishkeeper for many years I thought I would chip in.

Always go for the largest tank you can get.

If you are aiming for a bowl or tank of less than 60 litres, then don't even think about goldfish.
Goldfish become stunted in small tanks and will have a limited lifespan. They require large tanks.

If you want a cold water setup, look at some Gold Cloud mountain or White mountain minnows. These are smaller fish and you can have a small shoal of them.
In a home environment they do not requite a heater.

If you are going for a tropical setup you will need a heater.

Whether coldwater or heated tank, you will need a filter. This needs to be on 24/7 and for a small tank you would be fine with an in-tank filter.
Eg. A Fluval U2 filter.

The key to filters is this is the main place where beneficial bacteria live. You dont want to clean it very often and when you do, you should only lightly clean your sponges in a bucket of syphoned off tank water.
Never use tap water or anything else. These will kill the beneficial bacteria.

So what is this beneficial bacteria you may ask?

Fish produce waste and along with food and other bits and pieces this all turns into ammonia. This is posonous to fish and will end up killing them.
The bacteria in the filter breaks down the ammonia and turns it into nitrites which are less harmful and then turn that into nitrates which are safer for fish.
Weekly water changes remove those nitrates from the tank.

Using a test kit from your local fish shop will help you to see how your water quality is and how your nitrates are building up.

Look up fish tank cycling to see the process of getting your tank ready. If you know anyone with fish already who can give you some of their filter media then this will mean your tank will be ready for fish a lot more quickly.

My final tip..... Dont use water from the tap.... Dechlorinate it first. Otherwise you will instantly kill your beneficial bacteria.
Some may say it is fine but imagine yourself having a bath in water containing bleach...it wont kill you but it wont be good for you.
Seachem Prime is the best value for money. You only need a few drops and it will remove harmful chemicals from your water before it enters the tank.

Finally, research the fish you want. Some may not be compatible and some may be too big.

Good luck.

Solid advice from Sonic007

I've kept coldwater, tropical and marine - I'd go for tropical if I had another tank.

There's a joke about marine tanks - it's a large glass box that you endlessly pour money into!

If you go for a kit setup then beware as often the filters supplied are rated 'up to' the size of tank they are supplied with when really you want a filter rated with your tank volume as a minimum - e.g. https://www.swelluk.com/fluval-roma-200-aquarium-set-and-cabinet-black/ the filter is rated for 800 lph which is 4x tank volume - 4x turnover is generally considered as a minimum - fine for small fish but not for a heavily stocked tank or messy eaters such as larger cichlids. Eheim filters are a solid choice but think about keeping the inside of the tank uncluttered in terms of equipment - my old cichlid tank had a surface skimmer for filter inlet at one end of the tank and the outlet was hidden behind a diagonal weir at the other end of the tank, behind the weir was also the heater.

I would aim for something about 200l if you can fit it in 240l (~125 x 45 x 45 cm) - failing that 120l is probably as small as you want to go.

Bear in mind if you go on holiday then you'll need an automatic feeder or have someone come in to check on it etc.

Look up videos on youtube:


Andy