Coffee Table Fish Tank Aquarium

[Tommy123]

Hi,
I've been looking into getting a fish tank for ages, but with mum not letting me I couldn't, until yesterday. I was watching a program where they had one and mum really liked it. We've been looking into them, but have some questions:

How do you access the tank, like to feed?
There's one I've found which is in our price range, it's a 230 litre, 4' x 2' x 1' 9". I'd really like some tetra's, a nice shoal, also some WCM, and maybe some corydoras? Is there anything else I can add? This may be a silly question, but I'm all new to fish.

Thanks!

[9Red]

You need to do a lot of research into the species you are thinking of keeping - Neons look great in a shoal, but WCM minnows prefer cooler water temps so I don't believe they can be kept together. I also suggest you do a lot of reading up on how to 'cycle' a tank, which involves preparing the water and filter by allowing good bacteria to grow in it for several weeks before you even add the fish to the aquarium, and all about water chemistry - ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, phosphorate, hardness, pH are the main ones you need to know about.

If you're sure that a coffee - table type aquarium is the only type you can have then please take care to get expert advice from several aquarium experts before you hand over your money. They may look great, but sometimes these 'fashionable' looking tanks are not the best environments for keeping fish and you'll end up wasting a lot of money on fish that keep getting sick and die.

One final word of advice - Don't buy fish from Pets At Home. They're usually very poor quality and sickly. Find your nearest local aquatics shop (Have a look in the shops section of the Practical Fishkeeping Magazine website) and get them to help you.

[reptile_man_08]

I have full professional plans for building an aquarium coffee table...Would work out much cheaper!
As 9red says you need to research, everyone new thinks fish keeping is simple, but it's not.

[Tommy123]

Thanks very much for both your help. I will be doing ALOT of research as I won't be getting it until March 2010 or so. Thanks again.