First tank

[Dean Wil]

Okay so i study animal management at college, and we had our first "aquatics" lesson today, i loved it!

Ive now decided to set up a fish tank, just to see if i enjoy fish keeping as much as i think i will. Ive decided to go for freshwater because it seems to be the easyest to maintain. And i deffinetly want to keep goldfish. They question is, what other fish can be kept with them without problems, if any?

Edit- Also, i dont want to spend a huge ammount on a tank, but i want to be able to keep at least 3 or 4 fish, what size do you reccomend?

[_simon_]

I think you're very confused.

Marine is the hardest to keep. That's a saltwater tank.

I'm not sure whether you think goldfish are marine or just saying you want to keep goldfish as well? Goldfish are freshwater fish, most definitely not marine.

Most people either start off with cold water freshwater fish or a freshwater tropical tank.

[Dean Wil]

Originally Posted by _simon_

I think you're very confused.

Marine is the hardest to keep. That's a saltwater tank.

I'm not sure whether you think goldfish are marine or just saying you want to keep goldfish as well? Goldfish are freshwater fish, most definitely not marine.

Most people either start off with cold water freshwater fish or a freshwater tropical tank.

I ment to put freshwater marine lol, i was taught today that there were two types, fresh and salt water marine, freshwater is easyer to keep and includes fish like goldfish ect.

But yeah, i totaly understand goldfish dont live in salt water

[mike515]

freshwater marine? they are the exact opposite of each other lol.


Marine is not hard as such but there is more to go wrong so unless you are prepared to learn a lot very quickly maybe go freshwater first.


As for tropical versus coldwater, neither is any harder. The care is nearly identical with the only major difference being the need for a heater in a tropical tank.




As for the two types. There are 3 types. Saltwater (marine), Freshwater or brackish. Saltwater is animals from the sea. Freshwater is fish from lakes and rivers etc. Brackish is a combination, where rivers meet the sea, so the water is slightly salty. All 3 'types' have their own groups of temperatures. Tropical is what it says, warm water. Coldwater again is self explanitory. But you get temperatures all the way from just above freezing up to nearly 35 degrees (and warmer in very small pools).


within fishkeeping the norm, is that marine is generally tropical saltwater, so warm sea fish (eg clown fish). Tropical is generally the name for fresh, warm water fish (eg your tetras etc) and inverts. Coldwater is normally cold, fresh water (eg goldfish, koi).


If you've been told at college that there is freshwater marine I'd be a bit dubious as to the quality of the lecturer. What I found when I did animal management was that aquatics was pretty much an afterthought in the syllabus and the lecturers didn't have much of a clue. I took a few lessons with my group because I knew more than the lecturer.

[_simon_]

take the word marine out the equation as you're already confused. Perhaps you need a few more aquatics lessons

There's:

Freshwater cold (Goldfish, Sturgeon, Koi, etc) - often just referred to as coldwater
Freshwater tropical (Neons, Angel Fish, Oscars, etc etc etc)
Brackish (Some puffers, Scats, etc)
Saltwater (Goby's, tangs, fire fish etc etc)

Only difference between cold water and tropical freshwater is tropical need a heater. You'd have much more choice of fish if you go with tropical.

[Dean Wil]

Okay lol my bad, i may have gotten the wrong message in class today, as i said im very new to fish. I think ill go for freshwater.

So 3-4 fish, what can i keep along side goldfish and what size tank will i need (providing i dont wanna pay a huge ammount)? Thanks

[mike515]

Originally Posted by Dean Wil

Okay lol my bad, i may have gotten the wrong message in class today, as i said im very new to fish. I think ill go for freshwater.

So 3-4 fish, what can i keep along side goldfish and what size tank will i need (providing i dont wanna pay a huge ammount)? Thanks

most goldfish get big. Even the smaller 'fancy' goldfish can hit over 6" and produce alot of waste. So need fairly large tanks to be healthy. Better off with small coldwater fish, danios, mountain minnows etc.

Tropical is no harder, and the choice of fish for small tanks is much better, plus they tend to be better looking

[Dean Wil]

Originally Posted by mike515

most goldfish get big. Even the smaller 'fancy' goldfish can hit over 6" and produce alot of waste. So need fairly large tanks to be healthy. Better off with small coldwater fish, danios, mountain minnows etc.

Tropical is no harder, and the choice of fish for small tanks is much better, plus they tend to be better looking

I dont really fancy having to large a tank for starting, so ill go for tropical then thanks.

So, for 3-4 fish that wont be too big, what size tank would i need? Id like to keep more than one speacies if possible.

[mike515]

Originally Posted by Dean Wil

I dont really fancy having to large a tank for starting, so ill go for tropical then thanks.

So, for 3-4 fish that wont be too big, what size tank would i need? Id like to keep more than one speacies if possible.

something around 30 litres would be a nice small starter. You could have around 10 small fish in there (small tetras etc). You could have a small mix, most small fish tend to be shoaling fish so need the company of their own species. The good thing about tetras though is that they often happily mix with similar species. So you can have 3/4 species and 2 of each. That way you could have a nice mix of happy, colourful fish.

Something like:
2x Neon Tetras (blue and red
2x rummy nose tetras (red nose with silver bodies and polka dot tails)
2x glowlight tetras (silver with bright orange stripe)
2x black neon tetras (black with silver and greenish stripe)

and then say 2 ottocinclus which will help keep algae down and give something different to look at

That would be a nice mix of blue, red, silver, black and orange.

Make sure there are plenty of hiding places and plants and it will look good.

[Dean Wil]

Originally Posted by mike515

something around 30 litres would be a nice small starter. You could have around 10 small fish in there (small tetras etc). You could have a small mix, most small fish tend to be shoaling fish so need the company of their own species. The good thing about tetras though is that they often happily mix with similar species. So you can have 3/4 species and 2 of each. That way you could have a nice mix of happy, colourful fish.

Something like:
2x Neon Tetras (blue and red
2x rummy nose tetras (red nose with silver bodies and polka dot tails)
2x glowlight tetras (silver with bright orange stripe)
2x black neon tetras (black with silver and greenish stripe)

and then say 2 ottocinclus which will help keep algae down and give something different to look at

That would be a nice mix of blue, red, silver, black and orange.

Make sure there are plenty of hiding places and plants and it will look good.

I love the sound of that! Thanks alot!

Any other tips ect?