Newbie Looking For Advice.

[elvira44dd]

Good evening....

I am new to the world of fish! My 16 year old daughter is wantinga fish tank, and pretty fish!

I have my eye on a tank on ebay, and it's measurements are:
50cm in length
30cm in depth
25cm in width


We are looking at coldwater to start off with. I know roughly that this tank would be 8 gallons/35 litres?

How many fish could she have, and what types of fish could she be looking at?? We are not rushing into this, we are gathering as much information as possible, before purchasing any fish, and I have been reading up on fishless cycling.

Daughter has her eye on snails, shrimp and the following:

zebra danios, white cloud mountain minnows, paradise fish? Are these ok, or what else could you suggest?

Kind Regards,

Elvira

 

[Honeythorn]

At 8 gallons you can't have a lot at all to be honest. Zebra Danios are a very active fish and really need 20 gallons to have room to school in a group of 10 or so.

6 white clouds would be do-able as long as water quality was maintained via 50% water changes each week. A red ramshorn snail would make a colourful addition, as would Cherry shrimp for the bottom of the tank.

For an easier alternative to fishless cycling, if you happen to know of anyone with an established fishtank, or even a friendly fish store, ask them if you can park your filter in their tank for just over a month, then when it is cycled ( this does take at least one month ) you can simply unplug it, put it in a tub of tankwater to keep the media wet, and put it straight in your tank when you get home. You can add fish the same day that way. After a month or two you could then add a few shrimp or a snail. ( shrimp in particular will prefer a more mature tank instead of a newly cycled one so it's best to leave it just that little bit longer to mature )

Shrimp like mosses when it comes to plants. Java moss is an easy low light plant to grow. Just tie it onto bogwood or a rock and leave it. Moss balls are also incredibly easy and also do fine in low/ basic stock lighting . You just drop them in and leave them. Live plants are always better then false, as they will help to use up little of the Nitrates in your tank , and obviously look better. You can mix them with realistic false ones though if you want something easy to start with.

Java moss and Moss balls can both be found on Ebay. I bought 5 from a shop/dealer on there for £5 and they are all very good so I'd reccomend those.





Also, keeping tropical fish really isn't any harder than coldwater. The only major difference is temperature. If you do decide on Tropicals after coldwater, you only need to add a heater. In an 8 gallon you could have Ember tetras, or a group of male Endlers ( very bright pretty fish ) , a single male Siamese fighting fish ( also very pretty but best kept alone ) or some micro rasboros if you can get them.

You do get a wider choice with an 8 gallon tropical than with coldwater.


If you can stretch to getting a bigger tank, a 15-20 gallon for example, then that is even better. You will have an even wider choice still with either coldwater or tropical.

 

[elvira44dd]

At 8 gallons you can't have a lot at all to be honest. Zebra Danios are a very active fish and really need 20 gallons to have room to school in a group of 10 or so.

6 white clouds would be do-able as long as water quality was maintained via 50% water changes each week. A red ramshorn snail would make a colourful addition, as would Cherry shrimp for the bottom of the tank.

For an easier alternative to fishless cycling, if you happen to know of anyone with an established fishtank, or even a friendly fish store, ask them if you can park your filter in their tank for just over a month, then when it is cycled ( this does take at least one month ) you can simply unplug it, put it in a tub of tankwater to keep the media wet, and put it straight in your tank when you get home. You can add fish the same day that way. After a month or two you could then add a few shrimp or a snail. ( shrimp in particular will prefer a more mature tank instead of a newly cycled one so it's best to leave it just that little bit longer to mature )

Shrimp like mosses when it comes to plants. Java moss is an easy low light plant to grow. Just tie it onto bogwood or a rock and leave it. Moss balls are also incredibly easy and also do fine in low/ basic stock lighting . You just drop them in and leave them. Live plants are always better then false, as they will help to use up little of the Nitrates in your tank , and obviously look better. You can mix them with realistic false ones though if you want something easy to start with.

Java moss and Moss balls can both be found on Ebay. I bought 5 from a shop/dealer on there for £5 and they are all very good so I'd reccomend those.





Also, keeping tropical fish really isn't any harder than coldwater. The only major difference is temperature. If you do decide on Tropicals after coldwater, you only need to add a heater. In an 8 gallon you could have Ember tetras, or a group of male Endlers ( very bright pretty fish ) , a single male Siamese fighting fish ( also very pretty but best kept alone ) or some micro rasboros if you can get them.

You do get a wider choice with an 8 gallon tropical than with coldwater.


If you can stretch to getting a bigger tank, a 15-20 gallon for example, then that is even better. You will have an even wider choice still with either coldwater or tropical.

Thank you for your detailed reply Honeythorn, that has been most helpful. I think we will go for a larger tank that I saw in PAHome this week - Any + or - responses on the clearseal tanks? One I looked at on the net was 24" x 15" x 12". Would this be a better choice? I will take your advice on board and will look at moss for shrimp.

 

[Truck]

24,12,15 is roughly half the size of the one you were planning

 

[elvira44dd]

24,12,15 is roughly half the size of the one you were planning

Original measurements in OP was in cm, clearseal is in inches??? Is it really half the size?

 

[Truck]

One I looked at on the net was 24" x 15" x 12". Would this be a better choice? I will take your advice on board and will look at moss for shrimp.

24,12,15 is roughly half the size of the one you were planning

Original measurements in OP was in cm, clearseal is in inches??? Is it really half the size?

the measurements in bold are in inches

 

[silverrabbit]

The OP states a tank that is 50x30x25cm

Elvira's other post states a tank that is 24x15x12inches, which is approx. 60x38x30centimetres. So it's bigger =]

Anywho... good luck with finding the tank you want! My friend has White cloud minnows for her kids and they are great

 

[jonny_dw]

I had a 45 litre clearseal tank quite a number of yearrs ago, I had no problems so would recommend