Originally Posted by jrf23

Wow! Where to begin!

Right, I'd first say start off by getting around 100L tank, but the bigger the better! You can decide on what make of tank you want and stuff but I've use fluval and jewel and they are both great makes of tanks (you get good hoods with lights etc.) Plus, if you pick the up second hand (you may have to do a lot of cleaning!) you get a real bargain! I paid £30 for a Fluval Duo Deep 800 (Got everything, light bulbs including 2 spares, filter) Just that when I picked it up with was a solid mess of green and brown! Borrowed my dad's jet wash and it was beautiful in an afternoon! So that's your best bet really! Try Aquarist Classified Adverts. Buy, Sell and Swap Classified Advertisments: Tropical Fish, Marine, Inverts, Malawi and Tanganyikan Cichlids, Discus, Koi, Tanks & Equipment. as you can normally find most things on there!

Next, a good filter is essential! I'd say get an external filter as this'll save space in your tank and they are much better than internal filters for absolutely everything! So much easier to clean as well! Go for something like the tetratec EX series (here's a link to the best price I've found: Great Deals on Canister Filters at Zooplus: Tetratec EX Aquarium External Filter) They're great and very cheap compared to some other models! Get a filter that covers your tank comfortably! I always get the filter for the next size up so that I'm confident it can handle everything! Don't forget to leave it to cycle for a while or use a bacteria promotion fluid (easy cycle is a good one)

For tropical fish, you obviously need a heater! Any heater will do as they do the same job, but If you're leaving the tank in quite a cold room, make sure the wattage is high as it'll have to work quickly to maintain a good tank temp! Also, get yourself a good air pump (unless you want a fully planted tank then the plants should produce enough oxygen) and a big airstone so you have a large area to diffuse over. A plate or rod time stone is best as you can put them under the gravel and place something on top, like a piece of wood which looks really cool! You could always get an air stone that moves or opens which always looks funky!

Now the best two bits! Fish and decor! The fish are completely your choice! But if you're going for Neon's, get enough to make a shoal, over 6 and they should band together! You can get a few different types, and they'll shoal together which is always great. Also, have a look at Rasbora hengeli. They're one of the nicest mid - top dwelling fish and are always so active! If you have lots of little fish, I always think it's best to have a pair of something, to really fill out the tank. A pair of 'dwarf' gourami's (make sure they're dwarf!) blue Ram's or Kribs (be careful, as these things will breed like crazy!) always give the tank that little bit more fullness! These fish will stay between the mid and bottom of the tank. Then, for the bottom, get a couple of cory's (corydoras) possibly some otto's (ottocinclus - I think that's how it's spelt) and a plec. Be careful with the plec, and unless you get a massive tank, DO NOT buy a common plec! They can grow to ridiculous lengths over 12" (way over in fact!) and I would not advice unless you have somewhere where you can keep him/her when it gets older! But, I would say look at getting a clown plec/ bulldog plec/ etc. They can be quite expensive, but they're great. I hardly see my clown plec though as I gave him the best hiding place ever! But yeah, if you're going for a plec, check how big it will get! You can have a really full looking tank by considering where fish will stay. A good thing to remember is, is the mouth points up (guppies/mollies/platys) then they take food from the TOP, if the mouth faces down (cory's/plecs/otto's) then they take food from the BOTTOM and all the other fish are inbetween and this is roughly where they'll position themselves in the tank!

Finally the decor. I use all natural stuff in my tanks as I think it looks so nice. I'd suggest putting a layer of sand (about an inch think) below any gravel if you want to grow real plants! If you're using fake plants then it's not really useful to have sand and will probably make a mess. Other than that, fill it with whatever you want, but make sure your fish have somewhere to hide if they feel threatened by anything! A heavily planted area, or a nice big cave works a treat! If you buy natural wood, like mopani or something similar, remember to soak it for quite a while first (in boiling water if possible) otherwise it can turn the water a really dark brown colour! The colouration isn't bad (it's beneficial as it is mostly tannins which are great for fish) but it can look dirty and reduces the visibility a lot!

I think that's everything. Water wise, I use tap water and treat it with a water conditioner. I leave it to stand for a few days before it goes in my tanks. RO water is definitely a better option.

Also, when you get the fish, treat them with an anti fungus tonic as normally, fish can be kept in quite poor conditions, and arrive with diseases that can manifest later! Keep a close eye for any white spots (aptly named, white spot disease! :P) as this will quickly spread from one fish to the whole tank!

I hope that all helps! Any questions please ask, I'll be glad to help. I'll try and get some pictures of my tank on here (had to downsize from 4) but it looks a right mess as my kribs (kribensis) have just had babies and are tearing the place up!

I forgot to say, if your tank doesn't come with any lighting in the top then you'll have to buy your own starter unit and light tubes. Every fish shop has them so it isn't a problem. If you're growing plants, aim to have around 1W per gallon, if not, anything below this will be fine and not promote algae growth. If growing plants, try two bulbs, a plant growth bulb and a bulb to bring out the colours of your fish. If you don't really mind about plants, just get an all round bulb, or a bulb for highlighting your fishes colours. You don't need much light, just a good spectrum of light. Also, only have the lights on for around 10 hours a day to simulate a natural day cycle (this also stops the top water in the tank getting too hot as the light tubes will heat the water up quite a bit)

Good, now that should be all! :P

Originally Posted by Chelle230

I wouldn't be able to deliver I'm afraid, as I've only got a small car, looking to get no less than £80 really as it had brand new filter and heater less thana year ago. it's on equipment clssifieds if you want to look. no pics on here, but can email

Originally Posted by jrf23

No worries! I definitely wouldn't put it on top of your snake tank (It'll be very heavy and might drip all over the place), but the other way round would work quite nicely! Just depends how big the tank you get is!