Good Fish For A Beginner?

[Ontheedge02]

Hey,

Been checkin out a few different fish forums and decided to stop here. I have recently become interested in freshwater fish. Mainly because of the cost factor.

I would like to get a tank started, preferably 30 or so gallons, not too much larger as i am a beginner. I am looking for suggestions on colorful, entertaining, active fish. What fish are compatable with eachother as i would like some variety. Also, looking for fish that arent going to be very costly. I'm looking around the 5-10 dollar range to start, but am open to all suggestions.

 

[daza]

Hi Ontheedge02,

Welcome to TFF. I think you'll find that you stopped at the right forum

When I first set up my tank I was looking for the exact same things that you were: colorful, entertaining, active.

I chose Zebra Danio's and White Cloud Mountain Minnows, and I still have them now:

Zebra Danio
White Cloud Mountain Minnow

I disagree with the zebra danio profile that says they can be kept in a 10 gallon. My 18 gallon is pushing it a bit because they are very active.

The white clouds are colourful (I would get some of the golden variety too) and very entertaining when they start flaring their fins at each other.

Both are hardy, require similar temperatures, food, etc.

I'm no expert on stocking levels, but you could fit a nice size school of each in your 30g (which would be 3ft long isn't it?), but get at least 6 of each as they are both schooling fish. I reckon that with, say about 8 of each, you could still get some bottom feeders (eg. corries, loaches), and smallish pleco (eg. rubbernose, bristlenose)

Do you know about cycling the tank ?

 

[randomguysmell]

neons are quite colourful as well, or you could go for cardinal tetras, which look like neons but have a red stripe all the way along their body, both school and are quite active

 

[debiasir]

white cloud mountain minnows are very pretty, hardy and entertaining fish in my opinion i have a group of 9 and they are great fun to sit and watch.

i would def consider a bristle nose plec forthe bottom of the tank, these are my favourite fish and mine does a good job munching on the algea.

you have stopped at the right forum, very friendly and knowledgeable place.it may be worth reading the pinned articles if you are new to fish keeping or even if not they still are a good read

neons are quite colourful as well, or you could go for cardinal tetras, which look like neons but have a red stripe all the way along their body, both school and are quite active

neons are very pretty and fun to watch but in my experience they are very sensitive to water params and do best when added to a mature tank 6 to 9 months down the line.

 

[admiral]

I'd say some danios or platties would be good.

 

[ccg]

Welcome to the forums!

I would suggest that you purchase the biggest tank you can afford. The bigger the tank the easier it is to look after. Although the initial cost will be more, in the long run it may save you money.

If you can afford it a 55 gallon is an excellent tank to start with. As for fish, you can get lots of different fish in the $5-10 range. In my experience many different barbs seem to be very hardy and can live through a lot (a lot of beginner mistakes that is).

Regardless of what size tank you get make sure that you cycle it, and throughly understand the reasons and importance of properly cycling your tank. Good luck with whatever you decide to do. Make sure you just ask if you have questions about anything, a lot of good memebers are more then willing to help.

 

[Ontheedge02]

"do you know about cycling the tank?"

No, I dont, Please inform.

Also, in a tank around 30 gal are their any larger fish i could have in the tank. It seems the fish suggested are all around 1-2.5 inches.

 

[sylvia]

Before you add ANY fish to a tank, you need to fishless cycle it. There's a link in my signature about this but please read through all of them as the others contain important info as well. Make sure you have a good filter, heater and lights in the tank and buy yourself some tap water conditioner (ask at your local fish store) and a gravel vacuum (again, ask the LFS). Also buy a liquid-based test kit that measures ammonia, nitrIte and nitrAte (you'll see what these are once you've read those links).

A warning - NEVER trust your pet store/fish store to advise you on how to start up or stock a tank and ALWAYS research every single fish you plan to add on the interent (the forum here is great for this) before you buy any.

If you have any questions on the process of cycling or fishless cycling, feel free, of course, to ask.

Oh and, yes, there are a few hardy larger fish that could work in a 30 gallon but you'll have plenty of time to research them and learn what they are in the couple of weeks during which you'll eb fishless cycling so don't worry about the stocking for the time being and look into how you're going to set up and cycle the tank instead.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi Ontheedge02

Welcome to the forum!

I'm glad you decided to do a little research before you actually set up your tank and get your first fish. The effort you put in now will pay off many times over.

If you are new to fishkeeping, I would recommend starting a "peaceful community" tank. This would include a mixture of fish that would give you a good start on the hobby. In time, as your knowledge and skills increase, you might later decide to specialize in a particular species or type of fish. Until then, there are a large variety of fish that are colorful, interesting and inexpensive enough that you can spend most of your money on good equipment and still have a nice selection of fish.

An attractive way to set up a peaceful community of small tropical fish is to think of the tank as having layers. You might want to get some corydoras catfish for the bottom (they are schooling, so you would want to have 4 to 6 to begin with) Then, a dwarf gourami or two (which are air breathing fish) for the top. In between there are a large variety of small tetras (that would also need to be kept in schools)for example, glow lights, cardinal tetras, neons, etc. You might want to pick one of these or others. Platys are very colorful livebearers that swim all over and brighten up a community.

Eventually you might want to increase the size of your schools or the variety of fish you keep, but these are good to start with. None of them will even cost $5 each, but will give you as much pleasure as any of the more expensive ones.

Before you begin stocking, please take the time to learn the principles of cycling. I will also say that I agree with ccg. There is no difference in the amount of effort required to care for a 55 gallon tank as opposed to a 30 gallon, and the difference in cost is small. The number and variety of fish you can keep are well worth getting the bigger one if you can.

 

[tttnjfttt]

Also, I wanted to point out that if you do a fishless cycle, and learn the basics of tank maintentce (ie adding dechlorinator), you can pick almost any fish you choose. "beginner" fish are called beginner fish because they can usually handle bad water conditions a little more successfully. With a fishless cycle, its the same thing as if you were to have a fully established tank, and you can get whatever fish you want (as long as their adult size is appropriate for the size of tank you have.

 

[shrimply]

My very first fish in my tank were Serpae tetras

Also I would get some kribensis cichlids just becuase I love my pair and they have just had babies.

Also a word of warning if you think at any time in the future you would like a planted tank get the right substrate and filtraton system now before you set-up. Sitting with an undergravel system and course gravel I have now made that desision and getting what I want done isn't going to be easy.

 

[Inchworm]

Before you add ANY fish to a tank, you need to fishless cycle it.

Absolutely wrong! Although many people prefer fishless cycling to the more traditional way of cycling with fish, it's certainly not required.

An even newer method of cycling is to use BioSpira, which is actual beneficial bacteria that can be bought and added to a tank. Do not confuse this with other products on the market which claim to do accelerate the cycling process. They usually do little or nothing.

Still another way is to add enough beneficial bacteria from the filter material of an established tank to effectively make a clone of it. If you have a friend who can help you do this, you would begin by adding just a few fish immediately, and then adding a few more each week until your tank is stocked. This allows the beneficial bacteria to reproduce to accommodate the new fish in between the additions.

Whichever method you choose, you will need to buy the testing kits for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate and monitor the levels of each.

 

[Bryan1957]

Hi Ontheedge02,



A 30 gallon is the smallest tank I would get if it was the only tank I had. Like many have said, if you have the space a 55 gallon is better. It won't be harder to keep and gives more stocking options than a 30 gallon tank.
If you are looking for a "natural" tank you should consider planting your tank and researching the needs of your plants. The substrate should be compatible with the plants and certain fish like cories and loaches.
I don't recommend starting with any pleco since they are heavy waste producers and there are other fish that will eat left over food from the substrate. Livebearers are heavy waste producers considering their size and will populate a tank quickly if there are male and females of the same species in the tank. I've got lots of livebearers and enjoy them, constantly moving around the tank and very colorful. They are peaceful and easy to care for.
Kudos for researching before you began stocking a tank. There are lots of very knowledgable folks on this forum so just ask and someone will help.
Bryan