Never had an aquarium can someone give me tips before i buy

nuchumYussel · Joined: 16 Aug 2007 Posts: 12

Hi, I have never had an aquarium before but I am now looking to get
one. I am currently looking at a 20 Gallon tank. I have all the oher
necesseties. Can some one PLEASE give me tips or name of non
aggressive fish for a starter. Thanks in advance.

~~~Evan Davis

Archived from group: rec>aquaria>freshwater>misc

Tedd · Joined: 16 Aug 2007 Posts: 9

"nuchumYussel" wrote in message@posting.google.com...
> Hi, I have never had an aquarium before but I am now looking to get
> one. I am currently looking at a 20 Gallon tank. I have all the oher
> necesseties. Can some one PLEASE give me tips or name of non
> aggressive fish for a starter. Thanks in advance.
>
> ~~~Evan Davis

first try checking out thekrib, most of the basic fundamental stuff to know
is all there.

http://faq.thekrib.com/

enjoy and welcome to the hobby. Smile

Stan · Joined: 16 Aug 2007 Posts: 40

Get a trio of guppies or feeder guppies.

"nuchumYussel" wrote in message@posting.google.com...
> Hi, I have never had an aquarium before but I am now looking to get
> one. I am currently looking at a 20 Gallon tank. I have all the oher
> necesseties. Can some one PLEASE give me tips or name of non
> aggressive fish for a starter. Thanks in advance.
>
> ~~~Evan Davis

nuchumYussel · Joined: 16 Aug 2007 Posts: 12

Thank you all very much

Flash Wilson · Joined: 16 Aug 2007 Posts: 84

On Tue, 8 Jul 2003 22:04:29 -0600, Tedd wrote:
>first try checking out thekrib, most of the basic fundamental stuff to know
>is all there.

And dont let your LFS persuade you to cycle the tank with barbs
if you want non aggressive, because it dictates pretty much every
fish you can have thereafter....

Smile

--
Flash Wilson - http://www.gorge.org

Comments in my journal or guestbook are welcome!

Geezer From The Freezer · Joined: 16 Aug 2007 Posts: 496

Good advice from Flash there.

Also get advice from your LFS and then double check their advice from either
books, the internet, or this newsgroup. This way you'll find out if you're
LFS are really interested in your hobby and the welfare of the fish or
making a quick buck.

NetMax · Joined: 16 Aug 2007 Posts: 56

"nuchumYussel" wrote in message@posting.google.com...
> Thank you all very much

Non aggressive community fish suitable for a 20g tank would be most any
tetras which do not exceed 3", corydorous catfish, kuhli loaches, any of
the 4 main livebearers (though the Molly would prefer salt in their
water), small algae eaters such as Oto cats & SAEs, many barbs (ie:
cherry barbs), many of the gouramis (ie: dwarfs, pygmy, croaking, pearl),
various rainbows (if your water is a bit harder), various danios (zebra,
leopard, pearl). Then there are shrimps, frogs, snails etc. Siamese
fighting fish often make good community fish (though not always with male
guppies or with very small fish). A Rainbow shark might be fine as well,
as would many of the smaller cichlids. The list is extensive, and it
depends on your recipe. Angelfish can be very good community fish, but
like tall tanks, would eat very small fish and might be tormented by fast
danios (it's all in the recipe you choose).

I suggest you start by determining your water parameters, to see if you
have an extreme condition (very hard or very soft) which would be more
suitable to certain fishes (tetras and livebearers come from opposite
water conditions). Then look into your options for cycling the tank (ie:
6 zebra danios or fishless cycling
http://www.tomgriffin.com/aquamag/cycle2.html ).

NetMax

NetMax · Joined: 16 Aug 2007 Posts: 56

"Victor M. Martinez" wrote in message$lc5$1@geraldo.cc.utexas.edu...
> NetMax wrote:
> >Non aggressive community fish suitable for a 20g tank would be most
any
> >tetras which do not exceed 3", corydorous catfish, kuhli loaches, any
of
> >the 4 main livebearers (though the Molly would prefer salt in their
> >water), small algae eaters such as Oto cats & SAEs, many barbs (ie:
>
> Ahem... SAEs will very quickly get too large for a 20g. Mine grew from
<1"
> to 4" in less than 4 months.

With all the foods you use, I don't doubt that you could get these guys
to their maximum 5.5" ;o) ... but
http://www.fishindex.com/phpinfo//4/2//145 does list a 10g as their
minimum tank size, and I rarely see them over 4". They are so peaceful
that I figured a 20g would be ok (though a 33g would be much better).
This leaves Otos which sometimes have trouble staying alive, so SAEs
become the next obvious choice.

NetMax

> Cheers.
>
> --
> Victor M. Martinez
> martiv@FAKE.che.utexas.edu
> http://www.che.utexas.edu/~martiv
>

Victor M. Martinez · Joined: 16 Aug 2007 Posts: 36

NetMax wrote:
>Non aggressive community fish suitable for a 20g tank would be most any
>tetras which do not exceed 3", corydorous catfish, kuhli loaches, any of
>the 4 main livebearers (though the Molly would prefer salt in their
>water), small algae eaters such as Oto cats & SAEs, many barbs (ie:

Ahem... SAEs will very quickly get too large for a 20g. Mine grew from <1"
to 4" in less than 4 months.

Cheers.

--
Victor M. Martinez
martiv@FAKE.che.utexas.edu
http://www.che.utexas.edu/~martiv

Spindoctor · Joined: 16 Aug 2007 Posts: 17

On 8 Jul 2003 20:33:37 -0700, evnachum@cox.net (nuchumYussel) wrote:

>Hi, I have never had an aquarium before but I am now looking to get
>one. I am currently looking at a 20 Gallon tank. I have all the oher
>necesseties. Can some one PLEASE give me tips or name of non
>aggressive fish for a starter. Thanks in advance.
>
>~~~Evan Davis

neon/cardinal tetras
x-ray tetras
harlequins
platies
mollies

as a relative newbie (started 3 months) ago I would recommend you buy
a good beginners book and take it from there

Brian

Robert Flory · Joined: 16 Aug 2007 Posts: 29

A "small" pleco such as a rubber nose would be nice. No common plecos,
they'd outgrow the tank in a couple of months if fed well.

Bob
"Spindoctor" wrote in message@4ax.com...
> On 8 Jul 2003 20:33:37 -0700, evnachum@cox.net (nuchumYussel) wrote:
>
> >Hi, I have never had an aquarium before but I am now looking to get
> >one. I am currently looking at a 20 Gallon tank. I have all the oher
> >necesseties. Can some one PLEASE give me tips or name of non
> >aggressive fish for a starter. Thanks in advance.
> >
> >~~~Evan Davis
>
>
> neon/cardinal tetras
> x-ray tetras
> harlequins
> platies
> mollies
>
> as a relative newbie (started 3 months) ago I would recommend you buy
> a good beginners book and take it from there
>
> Brian
>

Neil Law · Joined: 16 Aug 2007 Posts: 4

On Wed, 9 Jul 2003 08:20:21 +0000 (UTC), flash@gorge.org (Flash Wilson) wrote:

>On Tue, 8 Jul 2003 22:04:29 -0600, Tedd wrote:
>>first try checking out thekrib, most of the basic fundamental stuff to know
>>is all there.
>
>And dont let your LFS persuade you to cycle the tank with barbs
>if you want non aggressive, because it dictates pretty much every
>fish you can have thereafter....
>
Agree with that one. I wanted to add fish to my tank and being a novice I asked
the LFS about some barbs they had (all male). They said no problem, they'll get
along with everything.

Lost my 2 cory cats (bought at the same time) and a couple of Danios before I
figured out the Barbs where the culprits.

~Vicki ~ · Joined: 16 Aug 2007 Posts: 172

I have been keeping gouramis now for over 20 years and they have got to
be one of the best fish for the first time fish keeper. They do not
require much special care by way water quality and will not bother any
other fish (they will chaise each other tho, but will not hurt each
other) you may wish to add later on. Start off with two three-spot
gouramis and once your tank has cycled for a few weeks start adding a
fish a week till you have what you want.

I am not a fan of pre-cycling a tank tho. I have never had any trouble
with starting a tank in this way. The helpful bacteria will cycle with
the low fish load and will multiply with the addition of fish. So as
long as you don't over load the tank at first you should do just fine.
There are those who do pre-cycle a tank and I am sure they are on top of
their game but for just starting out the method I mentioned should be
just fine for you.

Gouramis will get along with other semi aggressive fish and general fish
without much bother. I have a 55 gallon tank with various gouramis,
angels, danios, corys, loaches, kribs, severums, a rainbow shark, a
pleco and a algae eater. They do great together and seem very happy in
their tank.

Good luck with your new tank and I would like to add that all of the
suggestions from the other posts are good. Whatever you choose will be
a great hobby for you and you will enjoy learning about keeping pet
fish.

Vicki

nuchumYussel · Joined: 16 Aug 2007 Posts: 12

Does anyone think i could get a Red tailed Black Shark

--Evan

NetMax · Joined: 16 Aug 2007 Posts: 56

"nuchumYussel" wrote in message@posting.google.com...
> Does anyone think i could get a Red tailed Black Shark
>
> --Evan

The Red Tailed Black Shark, although smaller than the Rainbow Shark, has
a meaner streak, but the answer could still be yes, but only one, and it
will exhibit a more forceful presence in the tank. Sometimes this means
that it establishes itself as the boss with a tank of non-territorial
fish, and then becomes a benevolent ruler ;~) With territorial fish, the
squabbles might be more persistent. It's really a case of ymmv, and it's
all just opinions anyways. Fish sometimes have very unique personalities
(not entirely predictable), and their order of introduction can be a
strong determining factor. It's usually a good idea to stock a tank with
the smallest and least territorial first, moving to larger fish as you go
along, ending with what you would expect to be the most territorial.
This tends to level the playing field a bit.

NetMax