# any info please?



## Nat (Jan 26, 2005)

Hi all...well my partner has decided to spoil me and allow me to get a small tropical fish tank. I hav found a full set-up and stand in pets @ home that is lovely, but I was wondering if anyone can give me any additional info....I mean do tropical fish need a heater etc???
I dont recall seeing this tank came with one, only a filter etc....


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## neil4842 (Jan 21, 2007)

yes they need a heater and before you put any fish in the tank set it all up get the filter and heater working properly and put some treatment in the water to make it safe I would personly leave it standing for a week before putting any fish into it.


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## Nat (Jan 26, 2005)

neil4842 said:


> yes they need a heater and before you put any fish in the tank set it all up get the filter and heater working properly and put some treatment in the water to make it safe I would personly leave it standing for a week before putting any fish into it.


yes on the box it says about leaving it to stand for a week, and also comes with the water treatments. So the heater will have to be bought seperately...how do u control temp on them? Are they ran via a stat or wat?
Nat xx


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## intravenous (Dec 20, 2006)

Tropical Fish Care


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## mike515 (Sep 12, 2006)

heaters are all built with an intergrated thermostat (except for the real fancy ones, which are for big tanks)

DO NOT take all the advice you get in [email protected], nothing wrong with them, but they have too many different animals in the same shop for them to know enough accurate info about the fish as well. Try and find a specialised shop nearby, the choice will be better, the quality of fish will be better (usually) and the staff are mostly more knowledgeable.

what size tank is it and what are you planning to keep in it?


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## Nat (Jan 26, 2005)

mike515 said:


> heaters are all built with an intergrated thermostat (except for the real fancy ones, which are for big tanks)
> 
> DO NOT take all the advice you get in [email protected], nothing wrong with them, but they have too many different animals in the same shop for them to know enough accurate info about the fish as well. Try and find a specialised shop nearby, the choice will be better, the quality of fish will be better (usually) and the staff are mostly more knowledgeable.
> 
> what size tank is it and what are you planning to keep in it?


we are only buying the tropical tank from them, not the fish, I wouldnt do it, Once the tank is ready to go and settled we are going to go to a garden and fish centre in dursley.

The tank is about 2ft wide and we are not 100% sure on wat we want to fill it with yet.

Nat xx


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## mike515 (Sep 12, 2006)

you're best off with small tetra, corydora catfish, things like guppies, platies would also be ok, but its a small tank, so keep the fish small, and don't have too many


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## Art_Gecko101 (May 6, 2006)

Awww i wish i still had my tanks... just a word of friendly advise, i found that if you try to go for the largest tank you can (in gallonage not length, you can get some that are taller which is nice!) its overall easier to keep. I found that in my small tank, that i had far more problems, even though i didnt over stock it, and i think it was just that the tank couldnt handle it. No real scientific fact but out of all my tanks, the bigger = easier to keep and more success. I got my mum a 4ft long on for her 50th and shes had NO probs what soever.

I just mention it because i wish i;d never bought my little one and gone straight for my Jewel.


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## mike515 (Sep 12, 2006)

yeah good point, obviously with a larger amount of water, if something goes wrong then you have more time to fix it, in a small tank it goes wrong quickly. big tank means problem takes longer to get serious.


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## Nat (Jan 26, 2005)

lol as much as we would love a larger tank, sadly a small living room leaves limited size, unless I suddenly had a nice cash fall and could get one of those TV's u hang on the wall so would have where my tv is now to fill with large tank lol....

and yea we were thinkin along the lines of guppies, tetras etc and of course a placostomus (sp)


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## DaveM (Oct 18, 2006)

also, get the largest heater you can, it helps keep the water temps stable, and I recomend the Eheim aquaball filters, again get te larger size as that will do a great job of keeping your water clean, and a 2 foot tamk, off the top of my head I think that is something like 60-70 litres, so that's something like 15 small fish, so tetras, guppies, pygmy corydoras if you can find them, any fish about that size should be fine


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## Nat (Jan 26, 2005)

DaveM said:


> also, get the largest heater you can, it helps keep the water temps stable, and I recomend the Eheim aquaball filters, again get te larger size as that will do a great job of keeping your water clean, and a 2 foot tamk, off the top of my head I think that is something like 60-70 litres, so that's something like 15 small fish, so tetras, guppies, pygmy corydoras if you can find them, any fish about that size should be fine


thanx huni, thats really helpful xx


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## mike515 (Sep 12, 2006)

you shouldn't be thinking of plecos in that size tank. Even with smaller species such as ancistrus you still don't have a big enough tank.


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## Nat (Jan 26, 2005)

strange concidering the 1's i saw were in smaller tanks than ours & my dad has same size & has kept em yrs?


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## intravenous (Dec 20, 2006)

She could probably get away with one smaller sized species, like a bristlenose? Definitely not a common pleco though.


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## DaveM (Oct 18, 2006)

Ancistrus can get to something like 6 inches (about 15cm) so that would be really pushing it IMO


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## intravenous (Dec 20, 2006)

If she didn't cover too much of the ground, didn't have any more bottom feeders and did regular water changes I think she'd be ok...just depends I guess.


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## mike515 (Sep 12, 2006)

personally i wouldn't. Just purely from the amount of waste they produce and the size of tank they need. I wouldn't keep any pleco in a tank smaller then 3 foot.

oh and intravenous, bristlenoses are ancistrus


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## Kenorsanc (Dec 10, 2006)

If you really wanted a pleco you could get bulldog plecs they stall more small.


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## mike515 (Sep 12, 2006)

yeah but still too big for a two foot tank.

also nat, were the ones you saw in a shop tank? if so, then thats because shop tanks are prematured, and aren't permanent


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## mutt (Jul 5, 2005)

and dont forget a nice siamese fighting fish as they are really hardy fish, either that my ones a bit retarded:smile: as for the plecs subject, its all a matter of personal choice and cost isnt it????


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## mike515 (Sep 12, 2006)

no its not. If the tank isn't suitable for the fish, you don't buy it. You wouldn't buy a reptile for a viv thats unsuitable would you? so why do pople do it with fish.

and it is NOT a case of 'ill just take it back when it gets too big' the number of plecos we get given back from ignorant customers is ridiculous, we currently have 12 adult plecos in, ranging from 11 to 18 inches, we can't shift them because not many people have big enough tanks, and those that do have already got plecos.

I've currently got 15 myself, all around 12-18 inches, and thats only because i've got room to do it.


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## mutt (Jul 5, 2005)

sorry i didnt see the bit about the tank size, have to admit i never get something which is going to grow up to be massive in a small tank, or if i do i just get a bigger tank, i heard that you can stunt a plecs growth by putting it into a smaller tank, not that i would do this as its cruel.....have to admit plecs do seem to be the i will just take it back when it gets too big fish which is a shame as they are really excellent fish to watch in a tank


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## Nat (Jan 26, 2005)

I would neva buy a fish that will grow to big for the tank...hence why I came on here and asked for info first.


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## DaveM (Oct 18, 2006)

I'm not to sure on the up keep myself, but if you feel you can keep it, a dwarf panaque would be a good fish to have, they only get to 8cm, but I'll have to do a bit of googling to find their care requirements


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## mike515 (Sep 12, 2006)

i wouldn't keep a panaque in a first tank, kinda sensitive really. But if you wanna try it go for it.


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## Myuu (Mar 26, 2007)

For a beginning fishkeeper, maybe some easy fish like a betta with 3-5 pygmy cories to start with. Don't forget to cycle your tank, fishless cycling would be best if you can do that.


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## mike515 (Sep 12, 2006)

Myuu, fishless cycling is pointless. it takes too long, and is not effective enough. You can do it with a few hardy fish and that works 10x better then fishless cycling.

Also betta (siamese fighters to those who don't know) aren't a great fish in a small tank. They will attack most long finned fish, and are known to eat small fish (rarely but it does happen).

Much better looking at small tetras, maybe a trio of platies, and 3 corydoras


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## Myuu (Mar 26, 2007)

Fishless cycling takes a lot less time that using fish, and you don't have to put a fish, no matter how hardy they may be, through the ammonia spike. I think typical fishless cycling time is around two weeks if you do it right. IF you know somebody around you that has a mature fish tank, ask them if you can run your filter on their tank for two weeks to get a nice colony of bacteria and then put your fish in.

As for the battas/siamese fighters; you're right, they will attack fish with flowing, colorful fins, and that is why you must be careful in chooing tankmates with a betta, and is why I suggested cories. Ususally bottom dwellers like corydoras and loaches do well. Infact, one of my betta shares his ten-gallon with a bamboo shrimp. What you should put in with a betta is really up to the betta's personality. My female betta is very food-vicious, so I ruled out any tank mate for her.

Good luck with your tank!

Edit: Here's a good website on fishless cycling: 
Tropical Fish Centre - Fishless Cycling Revisited


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## emski (Jan 13, 2007)

Art_Gecko101 said:


> Awww i wish i still had my tanks... just a word of friendly advise, i found that if you try to go for the largest tank you can (in gallonage not length, you can get some that are taller which is nice!) its overall easier to keep. I found that in my small tank, that i had far more problems, even though i didnt over stock it, and i think it was just that the tank couldnt handle it. No real scientific fact but out of all my tanks, the bigger = easier to keep and more success. I got my mum a 4ft long on for her 50th and shes had NO probs what soever.
> 
> I just mention it because i wish i;d never bought my little one and gone straight for my Jewel.


I have just emptied my tank out it was about 60 liters, i have a 180 litre tank and have no problems and only need to do my regular changes every month or so i like to have a clean out..Also i have a huge external fluval filter on it so that probly helps.. But the small tank was forever dirty, i dident have many fish in there, as some got a bit big so they got moved over to the large tank. I had about 6 fighter fish (females), 1 swordtail, 1 tiny pleco and 2 guppies. But i had to clean it out at least once a week and the filter also needed to be cleaned the same amount.. It allways puzzled me, i thought i was doing somthing wrong . I have now given the small fish to friends and use the tank for crickets .

At least i know someone else noticed that lol


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## bosshogg (Nov 19, 2006)

i have a two foot tank what i have just upgraded to a three foot due to everything breeding (well we have 48 fish tanks :lol2: ) but in this tank i housed guppies, trio of panda corydoras, trio of BN's and 6 white clouded minows, the minows were the first fish i put in to cycle the water as there are cheap and harder little things... i also planted it out well what helped with the water condition as plants take alot of the bad nitriates out of the water.

as for heating, in our house none of our tanks are heated basically because i house is warm enough, and most house are get a max and min thermo and put it were the tank will be going as long as it dosent go below 65F you dont need a heater 

heres the only pic i have of the old tank just to show how mine looked the three foot looks better now but havnt got any photos of that one at mo


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## mutt (Jul 5, 2005)

nice looking tank you had there:no1:


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## bosshogg (Nov 19, 2006)

mutt said:


> nice looking tank you had there:no1:


thanks i have a three foot and four foot now :no1:


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