what's the most fun and interesting kind of aquarium to have for the family?

Question

I'm going to get a 10 gallon. I want something that will get everybody's interest. Money is not a problem. Saltwater or freshwater?

Answer 1

Well for beauty a saltwater tank allows you to have exotic and far more brightly colored fish and various other creatures. But a 10 gallon is very small for saltwater. They do require closer attention than a freshwater to keep everything at the proper levels to maintain healthy fish. On the other hand my personal experience with having many tanks over the last 35 years is that for a family setting, with kids a freshwater can be very enjoyable. Freshwater is easier to deal with and the cost is much lower although you did say money is not a problem. We enjoyed fresh water as a family because it gave us an opportunity to watch fish grow and become parents themselves. I always had tanks with fish in pairs so they could breed and we could experience watch the babies being born and growing up. Kids find it cool to pick out their own fish varieties and see if they will have babies. We started with live bearing fish. ( fish that have live babies )
the easiest type to breed and later moved on to egg laying fish which are harder to breed but it can be done with a little knowledge. This allows your children to learn something through research and reading books and gets them interested in something that can last a lifetime. Fish are very relaxing to watch and if you’re not careful you can spend a lot a time vegging out on them. They seem to have very individual personalities and over time you will see the differences between them especially from one variety to the next. I hope this helps.

Answer 2

Freshwater is a better choice if you're new to fishkeeping. As most others have said, a 10 gallon is really too small for a decent saltwater tank, and there are only about 3 types of fish that are suitable for a tank that small.

Saltwater really isn't that much harder, but it is more expensive, and you need more attention to deatails and keeping the water conditions stable. Because a 10 gallon has such a small volume, the temperature, salinity, and water quality are more likely to change quickly - and that's something marine organisms don't take to well.

Really as G said, a 10 gallon is small for any tank. The smaller freshwater species are schooling, so you should get 6 or more of a single type. That limits your choices of fish to 1-2 varieties. If you were to get a 20, 20 long, or 29, you increase your options by quite a bit.

If this is to be a "family" tank, why not sit down with them over a website or two, or go to a store and see what types of fish you might like, then find out their behaviors (Are they okay alone, or do they need to be in a group of their own kind? Are all these able to live together, or is one going to bully or eat another? Where in the tank will they stay? - you want a mix of bottom, top, and middle swimmers to spread the fish out). Also, pay attention to the adult sizes, minimum tank sizes, and temperature requirements. From there, see what size tank you'll need.

Here are some websites to get you started:
http://www.peteducation.com/category_summary.cfm?cat=1911
http://www.elmersaquarium.com/h701elmers_freshwater_handbook.htm
http://www.fishlore.com/
http://www.peteducation.com/category_summary.cfm?cat=1977
http://www.timstropicals.com/Compatibility/NameResults.asp

Answer 3

Freshwater. if your a beginner even if money is no object care for your fish is. To start off you need to get a freshwater aquarium with 4 tetras, 2 guppies and a platy or a sword tail look great!
Some live "hydro" plants, beautiful gravel and a high quality (I recommend tera min) food will be enough to keep these hardy fish alive. A marineland BIO WHEEL filter, and 50 watt heater are a must. Live plants are the way to go they provide oxygenation. Do a 25% water cahnge with a gravel siphon once a week then add 1 teapsoon of water conditioner. Once you've kept your freshwater tank (NO GOLDFISH) you should move onto maybe a larger freshwater tank or even saltwater!
Check out the library for a bit for info and ask your local fish store for a little more advice on this matter!

Answer 4

Saltwater is way harder and more expensive. I don't believe you can just run a saltwater tank thought any aquarium system. It requires a special system. I have a saltwater tank and a few freshwater tanks. Saltwater is pretty hard. You need a bunch of stuff that a normal aquarium will not have. I suggest buying like an aquapod or nanocube 12 gallon saltwater tank if you want saltwater. It has everything you need in it. Also, in my opinion... unless you have a bunch of fish, saltwater tanks look ugly with coral (I have coral) and so coral is sort of expensive.

I suggest freshwater because it is easier. If you are a beginner, I recommend not getting a saltwater tank! Get a freshwater. They are pretty too, and fun to have. Maybe get some livebearer fish and their babies will make it interesting =D (platies,. guppies, mollies, and swordtail!) livebearers are a fun type of fish and relatively easy. With more experience you can get into angelfish and more beautiful fish :D also make sure to have a filter in your 10 gallon tank, and let it run for like a month before putting in fish. I always hated waiting, so I learned the hard way. I used to buy fish in like a week> so, they all died until like 1-2 months after the tank has been maintained >< goodluck!

Answer 5

Avoid saltwater until you have some experience keeping fish, as it is much more complicated than keeping a freshwater tank.

If money is not an issue, I would strongly suggest getting a larger tank, as large as you can afford and have room for. If you get a 10 gallon tank you are limited to some small, schooling types of fish, or a couple of those and a betta. You can have a small school of white cloud minnows, neon or glowlight tetras, small mollies, etc. If you choose one of these species, make sure you keep at least 4 of them together, as they are all schooling fish that do not do well when not kept with others of their own kind. You can get a betta for that tank, but do NOT put more than one betta in a single tank; male bettas fight and kill any other betta they see, male or female (unless you are breeding the female and follow a complicated series of steps to acclimate them to one another). You can keep other fish with a betta, but only if they are not fin nippers. If you get a larger tank, you can get a group of cichlids which are very interesting. You can also keep goldfish, but make sure you provide them with 15-20 gallons of water each, as they can grow to over a foot in length. If you want a variety of tropical fish, you can have a nice selection of silver dollars, mollies, tetras, guppies, platys, plecos, etc. in a 55 gallon or larger tank. Again, I wouls strongly suggest increasing the size of the tank you get, as you will find it easier to fill it than you imagine, and fish need a LOT more room each than you would think. 1 gallon of water per inch of fish as ADULTS is the maximum, and you want to provide 3 gallons of water per inch of fat fish. Check out the sites below, and good luck.

Answer 6

Fresh water.
Killifish--1 male, 2-3 females. Depending on the type.
A school (6-8) of small tetras.
A school of small barbs.
Paradise fish--1 male, 2-3 females.
Dwarf gouramis--0ne male, 2 females. With a heater and water at about 80F.
With any of these you could add a couple corydoras catfish or a bristlenose plecostamus.
If money was no object I'd go for at least a 30 gallon tank.

Answer 7

Freshwater because if you try saltwater there are SOO many more things you have to learn and do. Start with freshwater then later you can do saltwater. Plus saltwater fish need big tanks since they get bigger. Def. Freshwater. if you need anything else you can email me. good luck :]

Answer 8

Salt water:
10 gallons will not support much in the way of fish. They are fairly more time intensive than a freshwater. So, you could get a few brightly colored fish and maybe a shrimp.

Fresh water:
10 gallons will hold a small community of schooling fish and one or two others. I had 4 neon tetras and a Betta in my ten gallon. (Bettas are only aggresive to fish with bigger fins)

Generally the rule of thumb is one inch of fish per gallon of water.

Answer 9

if money is not a problem i would go a lot bigger than 10 gallons. aquariums are like kids shoes -- they get outgrown fast.

the best way to keep fish is uncrowded. overcrowding leads to dead fish which are replaced and the cycle starts all over again. most tropical fish live at least 2 years and often up to 10 years -- not 2 months. so do yourself a favor and don't overcrowd.

i like keeping a freshwater planted tank. its like two hobbys in one -- you can fishkeep and garden.

saltwater is trickier than freshwater. and you would need more equipment.

by far the most pet-like of fish are goldfish. they are overly friendly and like to play with your hand. you need a minimum of 10 gallons per goldfish. for small kids goldfish would be the way to go i would think.

my personal favorite fish are bettas and rasboras -- i keep them in a tank with gouramis. the gouramis are very attracitve and the betta and rasboras are the entertainment.

one of the best answer people on here had a tank of angel fish and pearl gourmamis -- you would need at least 50 gallons to do it but they are generally considered the most attracitve of the easier fresh water fish to keep.

my best advice is keep your mix simple -- multiples of the same fish are more aesthetic than a big mix of fish.

Answer 10

freshwater

get 10 guppy 4males and 6 female

or get 1 female convict and 1 male

chose what you like