New Tank - Bright (preferably Pink) Tropical Fish List Needed

[simonmac2]

hi,

<history>
just to pad out the topic title, my daughter was promised a fishtank as she did really well at school, and after reading many many posts, i abandoned the biorb and 2 goldfish option, and went for a rio 180 (the mrs had a few "choice" words on that decision...) After my daughter picked out the most garish gravel selection, the floor of the tank now looks like a piece of Australian aboriginal art (strangely soothing) the tank has been settling down for a couple of days, and on Saturday I was going to get some tetra's and plants to stabilise everything.

<problem>
Dwarf Gourami's will probably be added to the mix in a couple of weeks as they are relatively straightforward and hardy (and pink). I have to find out and obtain more pink fish to fill it. i would like a fairly hardy, peaceful environment in the tank, and if it is primarily filled with small shoals of 1"ish pink fish, my daughter will be ecstatic. I have gone through the tff, but as i am very new to this, don't really know what fish will happily co-exist. The added complication of living on the Isle of Man, means there isn't much local choice, and i'll probably need to get a large order in to either tropicalfish.org.uk or aquaticlifedirect.co.uk as i have found a courier who will accept delivery to their Manchester office and then bring it over to the island.

Any list/recomendations gratefully recieved (and any recomendations of mail order fish suppliers)

Thanks

Simon

 

[Faythee]

Dwarf Gourami's are very sensitive.

You will need to "cycle" your tank first before adding fish. See the pinned topics at the top of this section.

Only fish I can think of off hand that are "pinkish" are Kissing Gourami's. Purple Passion Danios are very pretty if you can find them.

 

[Honeythorn]

Albino Cories are pinkish, and also blind cave fish, although the lack of eyes on the latter may be a little too freaky for her? Show her a picture and find out.

 

[locust267]

I was told that cherry barb's are quite good for new fish keepers - Although I agree you must cycle the tank first, this may take about 4 weeks if not more.

Cherry barbs will stay red if they are fed the correct food (esp males).

You can get some red harlequins too.

Dont think there are many pinkish fish out there that I can think of that will be happy in a community tank.

Buy a cheap book that your daughter can look through, picking out the fish she likes best as she will need something to work on whilst the tank is cycling

 

[Faythee]

Keep showing her how pretty the "blue" fish are

 

[humpy_the_humphead_wrasse]

a betta possibly? theyr quit stunning in pink! just gota find a pink one but many mass producers have most colours hope this helps

 

[simonmac2]

I tried to upload a picture of the tank so that you can see the colour scheme she has made with the gravel.... i had to attach it to my avatar in the end.

hopefully once the plants go in, it'll hide some of the "vibrancy"

The list is adding up nicely. I appreciate all the advice so far

Simon

 

[Faythee]

The pic is hard to tell. Go to photobucket.com and upload it. Then it will give you codes. Copy the image code and paste it here.

I do not recommend a Betta in a community tank.

 

[russ1979]

you can get her one of these its a pink parrot fish www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/pages/show...
there excellent fish

 

[simonmac2]

ok, here is another go...
...she's only 5 but she did it all herself (including washing the gravel) so don't be cruel

 

[Faythee]

Awww...how cute ! Well she certainly is creative . Unfortunately after the first gravel cleaning those pretty patterns will be gone. There are some really cute "girly" decorations available that will look nice with that gravel.

 

[OldMan47]

That's a very nice first attempt at a fish tank color scheme. Truly pink fish are a bit hard to come by but I see you have received a few suggestions. Another approach that might hold even a 5 year old's attention, is to get her help in picking out things to use as decor in the tank. If it can be done with weekly trips to the local fish store to get one more building or one more bridge, maybe you can hold her off long enough to get the tank cycled before you put fish in the tank without destroying her enthusiasm for the hobby. Little ones are always a problem for me when something requires patience but looking always forward to the next item might help there, no patience required.

 

[Tolak]

Pink Glo-light danios are about as pink as you can get. Danios are a hardy fish, great for beginners. They also come in other bright colors, green & yellow are standard.

They are not dyed, they are genetically modified fish, so no fear of the fish having been through any trauma.

 

[Faythee]

I have to agree....Danios for the first fish you add to the tank. I DO suggest fishless cycling, but if you must , choose Danios. If you do that, you need to test water daily and do frequent water changes (at some times every day) in order to keep them healthy and happy. If you have a friend with a fish tank that can offer you some mature media for the filter...that would be even better.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

definatley need to read up on cycling before adding fish, there's two links in my sig 'whats cycling' and 'fishless cycling' have a good old read of both of them and post back with any questions.

it takes a few weeks to fishless cycle a tank, which gives you plenty of time to decide on fish and sort out couriers etc, it also means when the cycle is finished you can completely stock the tank straight away so you can just go through the whole courier and ordering palava once and get all the fish delivered together.

how set on pink is she, would she accept purple fish? look up celestial pearl danio's, they are very very pretty and quite hardy, some of those along with some of the pink glowlight danio's would be nice easy fish to look after.

you can get male guppies in all sorts of fancy colourings, I imagine you'd be able to find some in a suitably pretty colour scheme for her. (make sure you just get males, they're the pretty ones and they breed like crazy if you get a mix, you'd e overrun with babies very quickly)

I'd then get something like some albino cories, again nice and hardy and easy to care for, not pink but they're white with a kind of pinkish tinge to them.