# Tropical tank and fish care advice :)



## Ameliaxx (Apr 9, 2010)

Hi I think this the first time ive been in the fish sections so Hi : victory:

right, me and mum are looking for a tropical fish tank and we are after some advice on which tank is best we only want a little tank and are thinking of getting a few neon tetras guppies and maybe a siamese fighting fish (obviously only one) we were thinking along the lines of 30-50 maybe 60 Lt but please do say if that is too small as although we want a small tank we would rather wait until we have the space for a bigger tank. We would like stylish tank one that could be a feature of the room although a think fish will be too  I will probably be doing all the care so please can you link me too some websites that cover things eg feeding, cycling both fishless and fish(full?), Also sources as in wheres good places to buy ive mixed reviews on buying from pet shops although theres a very good aquatics near us, can you tell me about testing the waters e.g ammonia, also what type of live plants I need etc etc Im in no rush to get the fish but would like to set up a tank ideally I dont want to be spending more than £100+ on a tank but i can save up and buy something more expensive if its worth it.

sorry for the long post and thanks in advance for any info :flrt:


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## GlassWalker (Jun 15, 2011)

There's a sticky in this subforum on cycling.

Guppies are not recommended with a fighter, as the fighter may mistake the long fins of male guppies and attack them. Also you may want to consider your tap water characteristics. Generally if you're in a soft water area, that gives you more choice. If you're in hard water, the optimal choices can be more limiting.

To get a rough indication of what fish and quantity you can fit in any size tank, as well as compatibility, you can try AqAdvisor. That link I've based on a 68L tank of mine, and entered some neon tetra and a fighter for illustration. The tank is an Askoll Pure L only sold through Maidenhead Aquatics stores. Not cheap, but I can be a sucker for Italian design.

Testing isn't difficult. A popular choice is the API freshwater master test kit, around £20 if you shop around.

Plants, make sure you get true aquatic plants as aquarium shops often sell non-aquatic ones too, which will die after some time underwater. As to what, that depends on what you like.

One option to certainly consider - keep looking on ebay and set it to limit a short distance around you. You will often find people getting out of fishkeeping and complete systems can go for silly (low) money. I think it is because most of the time it is buyer collects only, so immediately you limit the sales potential. And fish tanks aren't really impulse buy items so there isn't too much competition when buying. My best deal so far was a 125L tank, with lights, filters, food, accessories and 30+ fish, for a sale price of £56! I really should stop looking as I'm on 6 active tanks now...


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## Ameliaxx (Apr 9, 2010)

GlassWalker said:


> There's a sticky in this subforum on cycling.
> 
> Guppies are not recommended with a fighter, as the fighter may mistake the long fins of male guppies and attack them. Also you may want to consider your tap water characteristics. Generally if you're in a soft water area, that gives you more choice. If you're in hard water, the optimal choices can be more limiting.
> 
> ...


Thank you very much, very much appreciated well try all the links and reconsider guppies  

I live in the midlands of which i believe is soft water but will look into that further.

ebay is a great note i will look on there now :2thumb:


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## cjd12345 (Nov 2, 2011)

For a tank you should also check out the aquatics classifieds on here, I picked up a tank for a bargain price last year. When it comes to a tank I'm of the view that a simple tank design is best - the fish inside it should be the feature .

Regarding tank size, a small tank is more difficult to keep stable because the smaller volume of water means the levels of ammonia, nitrates and nitrites can rise quicker.

The aqAdviser site is really good, follow the advice it gives on stocking levels. For your first tank you'll find it easier if you understock the tank, the most common reason that new fish keepers have problems is because they fill the tank with pretty fish and overcrowd it.

Read the sticky about fishless cycling, and please don't be tempted to do a fish-in cycle. My tip for fishless cycling though is to to get a bottle of ammonia (I'm sure I bought my bottle at Homebase) rather than using fish food as the ammonia source, measuring ammonia into the tank is just a more scientific approach.

Keep reading up and hopefully you'll have a nice tank full of fish setup in the next few months.


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