I want to start a home aquarium?

Question

Hi, i've always wanting an aquarium and finially decided to get one. whats a decent price to pay for a tank (was thinking about 4 / 5 foot wide) where to get it from and what fish to put in it. oh and i'm thinking tropical

ok, its a fair point about the size maybe i was trying to run before i could crawl. What "smaller" options would you recommend. also I live in England so walmart unfortunately isn't an option

Answer 1

Since this will be your first lets start at the beginning.

When your at the store you will deed to get the following basic set up.

Tank - at least 10 gallons because the smaller tanks can actually be harder to maintain.

A FLORESCENT hood. incandescent lights can give off a lot of heat and overheat your tank. (not likely but it can happen)

I would suggest a hang on power filter, they are the easiest to maintain.

at least 15 pounds of gravel, (about 1.5 to 2 inches in the bottom of the tank.

an air pump, (not really necessary but if you like bubbles you can get one and an air stone.)

A heater, 50watt for a ten gallon tank.

water conditioner.

A tank stand if you don't have a piece of furniture that you want to use to hold the tank.

2 or 3 plants and a few small decorations, or 1 large one.

You do NOT want to buy any fish at this time because you have to set up the tank and get it running first.

That it for the shopping list. (for now lol)

Now that you have everything home lets set up the tank.

First put the tank on the stand (if you bought one) or on a level, stable, STURDY piece of furniture. ( a ten with deco gravel and water will weigh around 130 pounds.), and make sure it is near an electrical outlet so you don't have to use extension cords.

Rinse your gravel and decorations in clear water (NEVER USE SOAP ON ANYTHING IN ON OR AROUND THE TANK) and place them in the tank where you want them. Now place a small bowl on the gravel to pour water on so as not to disturb the deco, and fill the tank half way.

Now is the time to install the heater, filter, and air stone (according to manufacturers instructions) (Rinsed first of course), after they are in finish filling the tank (remove the bowl), and start the filter and heater. Just make sure to use your water conditioner to get the chlorine out of the water.

You want to let the tank run for at least a day before you try to add fish to make sure the temp is right, and that the filter is running properly.

Now you can get 2 or 3 small fish (no more right now) and put them in the tank.

YOUR WATER WILL GET CLOUDY BUT DONT WORRY THIS IS SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN. their are benificial bacteria that you need in your tank and the water getting cloudy indicates that they are starting to build up. They break down amonia and fish poo in the water and you want them there. It will take them about two weeks to get up and running and after that your tank will clear right up.

MAINTENENCE:

You will need to change 20 to 25% of your water each week. (3 to 4 inches for a ten gallon) this helps limit the amount of amonia and poo in the tank.

You need to change the filter cartridge about once a month, sooner if you get a fishy smell. A healthy tank will have an earthy smell but you will have to be right over the water to smell it. You will learn quickly the diference between a healthy earthy smell and the oh my god something died fishy smell of a dirty tank LMAO...

OK. these are just the basics and I suggest you get a few books on fish keeping, and make friends with the old guy at the local pet shop ( every pet store has at least 1 employee who will know the answers to any questions you may have).

Good luck.
E.

p.s. please forgive the lousy spelling.

Answer 2

OK, first if you want it tropical then you should try to both get plants the fish would like then fish.

"Place your aquarium in an area where the light and temperature of the tank won't be affected by external sources such as windows and heater vents. Sunlight that enters the room through an unshaded window could affect the temperature of your tank."

Be sure to wash the gravel thoroughly before adding it to your tank. An easy way to do this is to put some of the rocks in a pasta strainer and wash them out in your bath tub. Then place the clean gravel in a clean 5-gallon bucket for transport to the aquarium. After adding the gravel you can place your plants and decorations.

nstall your heater but don't plug it in until the thermostat in the heater has adjusted to the water temperature. This usually takes about 15 minutes or so. Hook up your filter and any other equipment you have, then top off the aquarium water to just under the hood lip.

Here is a shortened list of what you might like to have as far as fish.
Angelfish
Butterfly fish
Cardinal fish
Damselfish
Dottybacks
Goby
Hawk fish
Jaw fish

Answer 3

at your local pet store they should have a starter kit with aquarium, heater, fish net, filter combo. I would recomend reading alot on careing for the fish and cleaning and maintenace on the internet, order some books on tropical fish, a good tank size for beginers would be 10 or 20 gallon, but once you purchase the tank wait a while before adding fish cause you need to cycle your tank, theres alot of info available for you on the internet and in your pet stores, also when you decide to grab your tank figure out where to put it and depending on your size will your floor hold the weight, and if there is any questions that your concearn about, post them here. And with what fish to put in you want a good hearty fish like swordtails, just take a stroll into your petshop and check to see what available fish they have, not all petstored will cary the same fish so just see what is available and take it from there

Answer 4

I have not any concept what youre asking yet: if youre asking what form of aquarium i might desire to make then identity say do a cave themed aquarium. have virtually no floor water showing and have cool lighting fixtures consequences. ive tried a version of this besides the fact that it didnt prove so good. If youre asking in case you will possibly desire to start a aquarium company identity say decide for it! if its what you % to do then confident. yet once you reside in a small city like i do you wont get hardly any company and identity propose purely keeping it as a hobbie or small area time service.

Answer 5

try this it will give you an almost marine aquarium look ,but without all the add ons you need to keep the really colourful tropical sea[marine] fish .go for as big as you have room for.fill with coral sand but make sure you rinse thoroughly first.do it in a bucket with a hose.go to garden centre and buy enough tufa rock,its a poras type of rock .very easy to dig out wholes for the fish to swim IN and out of,i used a hammer and a screw driver.also you need to wash it as well b4 putting in tank place the rocks at the back of tank with a decent filter.the fish that look real good in this are a type of chiclid.from lake Tanganyika and malawi.but be careful as some dont get on.i never personally had any trouble though ask at garden centre.with the coral sand and tufa rock and a light above looks real good at night.the chiclids are really colourful.not quite as colurful as marine but easy to look after.good luck,lol dont fill with sand about a 3 or 4 inches is sufficent.

Answer 6

Since everybody else has covered the basics for supplies needed for setting up an aquarium, I'll throw my two small cents in. Buy a beginner's book. I would recommend The Complete Idiot's Guide to Freshwater Aquariums (if you go the freshwater route). Or The Simple Guide to Freshwater Aquariums (again, if you're going the freshwater route). You can easily find these books for sale somewhere on the web.

Answer 7

sounds like you want a 55 gallon(approx) 4 feet by 12 inch by 20 inch high. you can go to walmart and buy a complete setup and stand for a bout 230-250. (aquarium in a box-my first aquarium) or maybe look for a used one in the classifieds. for that size i wouldn't pay more than that.
hope this helps

Answer 8

congrats on choosing a reasonable size tank, the truth is that a bigger tank is much easier for a begginer to manage, because the water parameters have more play, its harder to kill fish in a big tank

that being said, craigslist has always worked for me to find cheap used tanks, and alot of the time you can get filters, heaters and lights for next to nothing

i think tropical is your best bet, my list of excellent begginers fish
-danios- cheap fun to watch and hard to kill
-mollies- very personable, will breed if you good to them
-silver dollars- get big and flashy but not aggressive
-rainbows- cheap (some of them) hard to kill very pretty
-red finned blue columbian tetras- great colorful easy to care for fish, like groups of five or more

good luck

Answer 9

I would start smaller. This is an expensive hobby and time consumming. If you find you don't like it, by starting off small, you won't loose much money.

Answer 10

why not start with something a little more modest???

make sure you know what you are doing before hitting the big time...