Tropical fish

[throbinson]

Just invested in A tropical aquarium set, anybody with any helpful tips

 

[johnnyrocketpants]

Takes at least 20 tropical fish to make a decent sandwich. Better off with a tin of sardines I reckon.

 

[seven stands]

dont have power cuts. seriously though get an alarm thing for too hot \ cold, change water at the required time and not straight out tap as needs to be room temp. get a good book on looking after fish and name one aston villa

 

[throbinson]

Takes at least 20 tropical fish to make a decent sandwich. Better off with a tin of sardines I reckon.

prefur tuna

 

[throbinson]

dont have power cuts. seriously though get an alarm thing for too hot \ cold, change water at the required time and not straight out tap as needs to be room temp. get a good book on looking after fish and name one aston villa

Why aston villa?

 

[gullshark]

If it's a fresh set up then leave the tank running with just water / plants / gravel in it for about a month to cycle - do NOT start adding fish until it has been up for a couple weeks.

 

[Barry Izbak]

I'd say its worth investing in a decent external filter and make sure you do your water changes regularly.

 

[seven stands]

Why aston villa?

just wanted to say their name.

Water: You don't want to chuck in raw tap water in, especially when starting an aquarium. Tap water is fine for me and you, but tropical fish and chlorine, chloramine don't mix very well. Also you can't just chuck the fish in all at once, ammonia levels may rocket and - dead fish swimming

Tropical Fish Centre - Basic Water Chemistry

 

[throbinson]

christ this good be more of a challange then first thought, the person at the shop said leave the tank set up for 48 hours before adding any fish

 

[throbinson]

just wanted to say their name.

Water: You don't want to chuck in raw tap water in, especially when starting an aquarium. Tap water is fine for me and you, but tropical fish and chlorine, chloramine don't mix very well. Also you can't just chuck the fish in all at once, ammonia levels may rocket and - dead fish swimming

Tropical Fish Centre - Basic Water Chemistry

Thanks for the web link very helpful

 

[Billy the Fish]

It's not easy. My mate had marine fish, and whilst it looked amazing it was alot of effort taking ph levels, adding stuff, changing water and keeping it all clean

 

[Barry Izbak]

christ this good be more of a challange then first thought, the person at the shop said leave the tank set up for 48 hours before adding any fish

That would be the person trying to sell you the fish then.....

Which shop? Recommend Maidenhead Aquatics at Hickstead (if you are local) or check their website for a local branch if not

 

[Superphil]

Invested? Why, are you planning on breeding the little scaley squirts and selling them?

Or get yourself and old telly, put it in a box and add a DVD

[yt]<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/bLYLIenbYLc&hl=en_GB&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/bLYLIenbYLc&hl=en_GB&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>[/yt]

 

[The Grockle]

christ this good be more of a challange then first thought, the person at the shop said leave the tank set up for 48 hours before adding any fish

The longer you can leave the water in the better but if you have decent filtration (At least 300 litres p/h) then 48 hours wouldn't be too bad.

My advise to you would be to set the tank up with gravel/sand, plants ect and not buy any fish for at least a month. This way you can really think about what fish you want and which are compatable with each other. It' easy to just bring home some impulse buy that might eat other fish that take your fancy at a later date.

I had a 500 litre West African biotope set up, sadly I had to move into a flat so ended up selling it, I got a lot of pleasure out of keeping fish though and would highly reccomend it.

 

[Bakesy]

Algie is an aquarium expert...send him a pm

 

[jevs]

Just invested in A tropical aquarium set, anybody with any helpful tips

Yeah....don't listen to any of the shit posted on here so far

1) Leave the tank for a month ? Why ? please explain
2) Make sure the new water is room temperature ? Room temp is approx 68 degrees F...too cold for most trops
3) A 300 lph filter is a decent one ? not if you've got a 5 litre tank its not....and it wouldn't be a lot of kop for my 450 litre.

What size tank do you have, what equipment have you got and what would you like to keep ?? we can go from there !!!

Good luck

 

[Jack Straw]

Yeah....don't listen to any of the shit posted on here so far

1) Leave the tank for a month ? Why ? please explain
2) Make sure the new water is room temperature ? Room temp is approx 68 degrees F...too cold for most trops
3) A 300 lph filter is a decent one ? not if you've got a 5 litre tank its not....and it wouldn't be a lot of kop for my 450 litre.

What size tank do you have, what equipment have you got and what would you like to keep ?? we can go from there !!!

Good luck

I've seen one of Jev's aquariums and it remains to this day, the best one I've ever seen.
I would listen to him.
He's been there and done it.
PS Where's my eight squid!!

 

[The Grockle]

Yeah....don't listen to any of the shit posted on here so far

1) Leave the tank for a month ? Why ? please explain

My point about leaving the tank for sometime before filling it with fish was so he can make an informed decision as to what fish he wants to and can keep.

My friend brought a 1.5 inch Red Oscar because it looked nice, along with some neon tetras, molly's. Needles to say the red oscar began growing and ate all the other fish, now she has a 12 inch red oscar that can only be kept with a similar sized fish.

Leaving the tank set-up for a while, without fish means you can add fish slowly after researching their needs and which fish can live together.

 

[Jello]

I have a tank with 7 fish (little plec, male kribensis, angel and 4x tetras (I think) that I want to get rid of. If anyone wants the fish for gratis send me a PM.

 

[jevs]

Leaving the tank set-up for a while, without fish means you can add fish slowly after researching their needs and which fish can live together.

It won't make the slightest bit of difference how long you leave the tank set up....a day, a year, a decade. The tank will need some kind of bacteria source to get the filters started and the nitrogen cycle kicked in. You then have two choices, follow the "fishless cycle" or add one or two small fish a build up slowly....but you must get the bacteria going.

The best way to do that is to get some old aquarium water from a friends tank....maybe a bit of sand or gravel too (only half a cupful) or even better....find someone whose cleaning their filter out and get them to save some of the crud from that (it'll need to go in your tank within a couple of hours)

I've seen one of Jev's aquariums and it remains to this day, the best one I've ever seen.
I would listen to him.
He's been there and done it.
PS Where's my eight squid!!

Thank you uncle Jack....you had the pleasure of seeing my 150 gallon tropical marine reef aquarium when i lived in Brighton and it was one of the best in the country at the time.

I haven't forgotten about your cash...i'll get it to you this week