P_is_for_Paul

Just set up my tank today. gonna let the water cycle for 6/7 days then ill put some fish in, but what fish?

This is the first time ive had tropical fish so not sure which ones to start with. I saw some silver sharks, would they be a good fish to start me off? They look cool

RichieST

iTrader: (2)

Slowly at first mate. Silver sharks can grow to 10" long, so unless your tank is at least 5ft in length then avoid them.

Get yourself some small tetras to start off with, neons are cool, cheap and very hardy. Leave them a couple of weeks before adding more.

Have a look on www.fishforums.net, loads of good info on there. Also go into your local aquatics store (a proper one, not pets at home etc) to get some good advice, a good shop will not sell you anything that your tank won't take!

orionmojo

iTrader: (1)

neons are well cool, just be careful putting a rainbow shark in with them, they might all dissapear

My uncle has a tank with just 5 white and black clownfish in it. they look mint. not sure if thats marine though .

wirralphil

Platy's of Molly's for a few 1st starter fish.

Steer clear of barbs if you want a friendly tank.

Big G

As a starter just get some hardy fish, neon's, platti's, barbs etc, and 2 or 3 small catfish to do abit of grafting,
Once you get used to and learnt abit on how to keep the water right (main thing) then try with some 'better' types of fish,
If you try runing before you can walk then you run the chance of wasting your money on dead fish

Big G

Barbs are shit on their own, 4 or 5 and they seemed to behave for me (tiger barbs)

CosworthGuy

I used to have some siamese ( Spelling ) fighting fish, they were cool

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siamese_fighting_fish

silky16v

iTrader: (1)

mollies, plattys, neons, dannios, cory catfish only put 2-3 fish in at a time for a fresh tank (how big is tank) you need to get the cycle going first

I found 2-3 mollies, plattys for the first 10 days, then test water and PH levels also add some small amound of SEA SALT (not table salt) as this acts as a tonic for the fish 1 table spoon full per 50 litres, everyday check for fish disease and don't over feed them, put some plants in as if they are hungry they'll have a nosh in those

i then added 3-4 small cory catfish these are great for cleaning the bottom of tank and will eat anything (make sure they got somewhere to hide too) waited another 15 days tested water & ph levels

and left it at that for 1 month if all fish ok after that and you got a good size tank and all your levels are spot on start adding more interesting fish 1-2 at a time on about 10 day intervals reguarly check levels and stick to none aggresive fish

i've go a juwel 180 with 3 large tinfoil barbs, 4 hoplo catfish 12+ cory catfish, 3 pleco, ruby shark, silver shark, and 6 congo tetras and alsorts of bogwood, plants and small snails the barbs are now 6"+ long and are ready to be moved to a larger tank

Red16

It all depends what kind of fish you actually like the look of to be honest, once you decide which ones you like people can advise which other species can be kept alongside them. As not all fish like the same water parameters or tank setup, eg pH, temperature, rocky/planted aquarium.

And 6/7 days is nowhere near long enough to cycle a newly setup tank! It'd be more like 6 weeks to have it cycled properly.

whosyadaddy

As red says please for the sake of the fish please ignore any advise given by the petshop at the end of the day they are there to make money and will happily tell you its ok to put fish in a two day old tank, as when the fish are dead you will return to buy more,

have a look at this link.

http://tropicalfish.site5.com/tfc/sh...ad.php?t=60022

RichieST

iTrader: (2)

But as I said, Pets at home etc will probably well you anything, but if you find an aquatics store that gives good advice and won't sell you anything that is unsuitable, then that is where your business should stay.

orionmojo

iTrader: (1)

i completly Agree. My cousin started a small tropical tank yers ago now but i remember the pet shop wouldn't sell him the fish for a week after he'd bought the heater/filter, gravel and food.

he was gutted, but it made sense.