I'm not sure what I need. What types of fish? preferably anything i can get from wal mart. what else do i need? what would be good things for it? would i have to drain the water out and clean the tank every now and then?
2006-08-10 20:45:36 · 7 answers · asked by Metal 4 in Pets ➔ Fish
what about the pumps and aerators? how do they work? what do i need? what do they do?
2006-08-11 17:06:50 · update #1
If you've never owned fish before, start out with a goldfish.
supplies:
1.) tank
2.) FISH pebbles
3.) goldfish food
4.) fake plants for decoration if you want
You'll need to drain the water every 3 weeks.
If you want to get other fish, you will need:
1.) a heater
2.) a thermometer to make sure the temperature in the tank is correct.
3.) chemicals tand test strips/ tubes to make sure the pH level in the tank is right
4.) other fish food
5.) live plants if needed.
You will need to clean the tank much more carefully. You'll want to buy a vacuum gravel cleaner that you drain poop/ water with. Every 2 weeks.
Some good fresh water fish to start with are:
-Guppies
-Platties
-Molly's
-Neons
* as you can see, anything beyond a goldfish is hard and time consuming, but rewarding because they're pretty. Careful though, they're much more fragile and likely to die.
2006-08-10 20:51:23 · answer #1 · answered by Christine4tw 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Start with a half dozen black skirt tetras at first. These guys will help you adjust your tank by where they are in the water. When the water is clean, they will be near the top and will engage in "frenzy" when you put food in the tank. Whenever the ammonia gets too high, they will be at the bottom and will not hav epassion for food. You must then add ACE (or any other ammonia eliminator) because that is your problem. Also, you want to get plants started asap, since they help in converting nitrites...which are also poisonous to your fish.... You have to as well have a concern about all the food that hits the bottom, unless you want to be faithful about getting the net every day. Many people would advise that a pleco is good for this, but they don't realise that this fish is a vegetarian and doesn't like eating other fish unless it's made to......instead, you should get yourself a crab.
2006-08-11 23:44:10 · answer #2 · answered by Scott H 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
don't get goldfish; they're dirty and you'll change the water almost every 5 days.
start out with tropicals; pair of guppies or mollies or tetras, angel fish, eels, 1 plecostomus, algae eater lyre tails, 1 beta fish. go ez on the cichlids, they're aggressive. don't go over 7 fish. i cleaned my tank out every 3 months.
get a simple back filter if you can find 1 small enough for the tank. other wise a corner filter will do. get medium coarse gravel. get a heater; keep the water @ 75 degrees. keep the ph @ neutral. get an airstone to aerate the tank. get 1 live plant & 1 nice rock.
don't place the tank where you get direct sunlight. get flake food and give them 1 pinch everyday. give them brine shrimp for a treat every 2 weeks
after that...sit back and enjoy
2006-08-11 03:59:18 · answer #3 · answered by csyniqal 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Community fish is good to start. Just go to the pet store and talk to someone knowledgeable about fish. Don't start with an Oscar or Cichlids unless they are beginner friendly. You can get a siphon to drain the water or use buckets. Fish are wonderful...I have a 55 gallon tank of community fish and a couple catfish. I mostly have Gourami's, Angel fish, Cory cat fish, and variety of tetras. I also have a few clown loaches. Have fun...they are my stress relief.
2006-08-11 03:52:48 · answer #4 · answered by Nikki 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You can get snails or bottom feeders that will eat the dirt of the tank. That will reduce the cleaning you need to do.
Get your fishies little places to hide out - plants (even plastic ones), castles, things that allow them to hide from each other and the light.
You can get a kit of chemicals that check the balance of chemicals and minerals and pH in the water, and adjust it according to the kind of fish you get.
Get goldfish. They're easy to take care of and beautiful to look at. You can also get guppies, but know that at one point they might over-populate your tank. So maybe get only males (they have the beautiful colorful tails, unlike the boring females).
Get goldfish food. It's marked as goldfish food, so it's easy to recognize.
2006-08-11 03:53:15 · answer #5 · answered by brand_new_monkey 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Water qualty is the key...I use botteled water... get a good filter system. Start with plants first (if your plants live - your doing good) as for fish, get ones that you like....enjoy!
2006-08-11 04:00:40 · answer #6 · answered by budlowsbro420 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A full set of instruction for seting up an aquarium is available here.
http://www.arts-aquatics-animals.co.uk/30140/info.php?p=12&pno=0
2006-08-11 05:27:36 · answer #7 · answered by stevehart53 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋