# looking for info for a new fish keeper



## ozzalowes (Aug 23, 2014)

so i am about to dive into the world of fish and i am looking for a good site regarding tropical fish keeping and which fish can go with which that is the part im really struggling to find info on


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## Fargle (Aug 8, 2013)

Welcome to LiveAquaria.com: Quality aquatic life direct to your door

Although an American company that delivers fish, it has a "Beginners Section" that's actually quite good. There's also PracticalFishKeeping.co.uk, it's just a little harder to navigate and get to where you want to go. Full of info though.

Welcome to the world of fish keeping. You'll both love and hate it!!


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## ozzalowes (Aug 23, 2014)

Fargle said:


> Welcome to LiveAquaria.com: Quality aquatic life direct to your door
> 
> Although an American company that delivers fish, it has a "Beginners Section" that's actually quite good. There's also PracticalFishKeeping.co.uk, it's just a little harder to navigate and get to where you want to go. Full of info though.
> 
> Welcome to the world of fish keeping. You'll both love and hate it!!


thank you and i would like to ask 2 quick questions am i right in thinking puffers can only be kept on there own or is this wrong and second i have been looking at blue lobsters and it says they will catch small fish if given the chance so does that mean they are ok with bigger fish


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## Fargle (Aug 8, 2013)

Right on both counts. Puffers do better in a species on tank, they can be quite nippy. If you want to keep them in a community setting you have to be quite careful about what you put with them.

Blue lobsters are, without hyperbole, gits! They will have a go at nearly everything. Again, best kept on their own really. Anything that's fairly big, and doesn't spend too much time around the bottom has a better chance. 

Two species that I'd steer clear of as a first timer.


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## FishForLife2001 (Sep 23, 2014)

One key thing to research is fishless cycling. Your fish and wallet will thank you for it. 

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk


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## FishForLife2001 (Sep 23, 2014)

http://www.seriouslyfish.com/

This is a good resource too. It contains profiles of various fish species and has plenty of information.

Another thing I forgot to mention are test kits. The bare minimum tests you need are pH, GH, KH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. The liquid form of these are the best and paper strips are quite useless IME. 

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## ozzalowes (Aug 23, 2014)

ok thank you all for the info but im still finding it hard to find which fish go with others any easy sites for this and if not what would go well with Siamese fighters


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## Fargle (Aug 8, 2013)

There's a compatibility guide on the liveaquaria website, it's a little generalist but a good way to start.

My best advice would be to find what fish you want to keep in the end. What species do you want to be your show piece? Or what species would you like to see altogether? This is going to greatly influence what you get to start and what direction you take things.

Showing your newbie status a little there. Generally fighters don't do well together, even males with females tends to be more trouble than it's worth. A few females will go together but no-body really wants to keep females. 

Do you have a tank yet? If so what are the dimensions and equipment? If not, what sort of size and equipment level are you looking at?


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## ozzalowes (Aug 23, 2014)

Fargle said:


> There's a compatibility guide on the liveaquaria website, it's a little generalist but a good way to start.
> 
> My best advice would be to find what fish you want to keep in the end. What species do you want to be your show piece? Or what species would you like to see altogether? This is going to greatly influence what you get to start and what direction you take things.
> 
> ...


ohh i know you can only keep one fighter fish but can other fish go with them 

and my tank is 2ft7inc long 1ft5inc tall and 1ft4inc wide 

some fish i do ike the look of are fighter fish obviously and angels something like that for my showpiece but i would like it to be a fish which can be kept with its own or others


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## Fargle (Aug 8, 2013)

Alas, your tank is too small for angels, they get quite large. A fighter is always a slightly risky thing with other fish. Sometimes it's fine, sometimes they get relentlessly chased for their long flowing tails, sometimes they turn into dicks and go on a rampage themselves.

What you could try if you like like fighters enough is a heavily planted tank with a single male fighter.

The tank is quite small so you'll only really be able to get a few, smaller fish in there. Mostly look into tetras, guppies, mollies, platys or even shrimp. Again there's some compatibility issues but some research would help you.

Another piece of advice would be to take a sample of your tap water into a local aquatics shop and ask them to test it for pH and water hardness. Picking fish that match the water that comes out of your tap solves lots of issues in the long run.


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## ozzalowes (Aug 23, 2014)

Fargle said:


> Alas, your tank is too small for angels, they get quite large. A fighter is always a slightly risky thing with other fish. Sometimes it's fine, sometimes they get relentlessly chased for their long flowing tails, sometimes they turn into dicks and go on a rampage themselves.
> 
> What you could try if you like like fighters enough is a heavily planted tank with a single male fighter.
> 
> ...


ok thank you for the info


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## ozzalowes (Aug 23, 2014)

and one more thing could you point me in the right direction to good fish site that has a courier service


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## FishForLife2001 (Sep 23, 2014)

ozzalowes said:


> ok thank you all for the info but im still finding it hard to find which fish go with others any easy sites for this and if not what would go well with Siamese fighters


The best way to evaluate fish choices(IMO/ IME) is:

1)Determine the water pH and hardness.

2) Ensure a fishless cycle has been successful by doing a test week to see if ammonia is consumed quickly enough, and after 12 hours all ammonia has been converted to nitrite then nitrate.
3) Look at the tank size. A fish must be able to move 6x it's length along the length, 3x the depth and 3x the height of the tank as an absolute minium. Simply divide the three tank dimensions by the above numbers to determine the biggest fish size that can live in the tank. This lets you eliminate any fish that will be too large.


This should help to eliminate any unsuitable fish and make it easier to find any suitable fish.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk


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## ozzalowes (Aug 23, 2014)

FishForLife2001 said:


> The best way to evaluate fish choices(IMO/ IME) is:
> 
> 1)Determine the water pH and hardness.
> 
> ...


thank you i did know about cycling the tank etc but the info about fish size really has helped thank you for all the help and i think i have now narrowed down my choices of what i would like my showpiece to be which is a puffer of some kind or a fighter fish of some type not sure yet


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