beginner with fish tank, help!?

Question

i just got a new 20 gallon fish tank and it came with 2 chocolate albino algea suckers and i was just wondering what would be some good fish to get that would all get along and some helpful "tips" on everything from feeding to cleaning. thanx!

Answer 1

First: read up on cycling your tank. You will kill fish if you don't cycle it. Read up on that by searching it on Google, or reading this article:

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/fishless_cycling.php

Next, it's all up to your taste about sticking your tank. Don't get something of everything; most fish prefer larger groups of their own species. Corydoras catfish are amusing and very active bottom-level fish. They help clean food that falls to the bottom, but should be fed sinking bottomfeeder pellets. They should be in groups of 3 or more. They are sensitive to nitrate buildup and salt in their water.

Tetras are also a common choice, as there are many colors and shapes to choose from and the shoal well. They are also very hardy fish that will tolerate a lot of conditions from temperature swings and ammonia spikes to different food. They are mostly mid-level to surface dwellers and prefer groups of 5 or more.

Feeding should be by level, fish and amount eaten. Higher level fish should be fed floating food, like common tropical flakes, so as to not compete with bottom dwellers, and bottom level fish should be fed sinking foods, like bottom dweller pellets for the same reason. It may take you a bit, but carefully monitor how much the fish eat in the span of 2 or 3 minutes and adjust the amount you give them accordingly. A group of 4 or 5 Cory catfish will need one sinking bottom dweller pellet a day, for example, but if they compete with other aquiarium denizens, like Apple snails, there may need to be one in the morning and another at night to feed everyone evenly.

Cleaning aquariums is actually easy if you keep a good 'cleanup crew' - usually snails. Three Apple snails will keep a 20 gallon tank fairly sparkling, with you only needing to do a 25% water change every week.

Don't overstock your tank is another vital tip. A rule of thumb is one inch of fish per gallon, and one gallon per snail. Make sure that you know a fish's environmental and social needs before you add it - some fish need live plants to use as hiding places, others will tear up live plants and harrass your other fish.

And, to top all this off, get a 5 gallon tank, fill it with cycled tank water. This is your hospital and quarrentine tank. ALWAYS quarrentine any new fish you get for at least 2 weeks in this tank. And, if one of your fish gets sick, you can move it to this smaller tank. It is a lot easier to treat a disease or parasite in a hospital tank than it is to treat all of your fish in your main tank.

Good luck and welcome to fishkeeping!

Answer 2

Well, goldfish are now out of the question. How about some nice guppies. They won't get the tank too dirty if you clean it well. Rule of thumb 1 fish=one gallon but with guppies you could probably do 2 fish= one gallon if they won't get too big. The only bad thing about guppies is your open to have too many too soon so maybe go with the one fish=one gallon in case you end up with a dillema.

Answer 3

For information about setting up, cycling and maintaining your tank, I would like to refer you to the link in my profile. There are several excellent articles there that will help a lot with getting you started. In addition, you can ask questions and get feed back from knowledgeable aquarium keepers.

To be honest, I would return the two algae eaters. They really make poor aquarium fish as they get large, don't eat algae well and get quite mean as they get larger.

Feel Free to email me if I can help.

MM

Answer 4

Goldfish are OK, Molly's are easy fish but when you go to the store to buy more look for the same aggression level. Some are community, semi- aggressive and aggressive you need to stay in the same grouping so the aggressive fish don't eat or beat up the more docile fish.

Answer 5

well i had a sucker and 2 gold fish in a 10 gallon before or maybe you could kinda have almost everything as long as they are a nice fish and are the same size as the suckers

Answer 6

i like ballon mollys they are easy to care for and some water frogs. well sents you got a 20 gallon i would clean it all the way out at least every 2 months and just do hafe a water change the month inn between that i have a ten gallon and the people were i got my take told me to clean it once a month and chang hafe the water every 2 weeks. keeps its nice and clean. good luck