STARTER FISH

[Jo and Gra]

Ok guys,

21 gals, and just starter a fishless cycle......

soooooo.......

i'm wondering what the best starter fish will be when i have my nitrates?

 

[OrkyBetta]

If you are looking for hardy, livebearers are tough little buggers. A community of female bettas are tough too, and colorful.

 

[-*-MicHAeL-*-]

definetly danios especially zebra danios - theyll suffer thru anything

 

[sylvia]

Platies or zebra/leopard danios. Either is exceptionaly hardy. Danios should be in groups of 5 minnimum in at least a 20 gallon. They get to just over 1". Platies are livebearers so watch that you are either keeping 2 females to every male or all one sex. They also only get to about 1.5", with females being a little larger than males.

White cloud mountain minnows are also hardy but they are only borderline tropical so acoid them unless you are planning a tank with slightly lower temps. They are schooling fish and, diealy, should be in a group of at least 5-6. They get to just over 1" with females being considerably fatter than males.

Not all livebearers are hardy fish BTW. Even the popular fancy guppies are no longer particularly hardy. Mollies, also, though hardy when compared to some species, are not all that great starter fish. They also get to 4" so are quite big. On the other hand, the mosquito fish (heterandria formosa), is a very hardy little fish but, because of its size (under 1"), it is often in danger of being eaten. It tolerates lower temps very well.

Bettas are quite hardy but must not be kept with gouramies or nippy fish and don't go well with guppies or anything that looks similar to them. If you get females, they must be in a gorup of at least 4 to minimize aggression. Males should be kept alone and much care should be taken in selecting his tankmates.

Another hardy species is the bronze and the peppered cory. I have found them to be incredibly adaptable. The only downside to them is that, because they don't have scales and are bottom-dwellers, toxins in the water can have a more serious effect on them than they do on the others mentioned. However, if the tank is already cycled, they are just as good a fish to start with as any.

The american-flag fish (a killi) is also very hardy and, like the danios and minnows, they can tolerate lower temperatures quite well as well. Be careful not to over-crowd them though. They get to 3". In character, they are much like gouramies but often seem to behave more like cichlids. Still, they are peaceful with other fish and will also munch algae.

Three-spot gouramies are also very hardy but you need to take care to know what you'r dealing with as, the males especialy, are quite aggressive, Realy, if you get a three-spot (which get to 6") you should stick to the one and don't get any other gouramies/bettas/related fish. Their fine with most other tankmates though . These are beautiful fish and come in several color morphs - amongst these, gold, opaline, blue, cosby, platinum and lavender. The opaline color must be my favourite.

With all these fish, you could actualy set up a very nicely balanced, fully-stocked tank.

 

[3fsh]

I would recommend Zebra Danios if...

a. You want them in the tank permanently.

b. You don't mind buying two very large nets and spending 2hrs getting wet up to your armpits in fish water chasing them around the tank in order to remove them.

The plus to Danios is that they are hard to breed... so you will only have as many as you put in there originally. With livebearers, unless you get all females who have not been impregnated, or all males, you will have millions of tiny fry before long. I personally prefer livebearers because IMO (---> note the IMO please), Danios are boring.

 

[hello kitty]

i put black neons in first, they hardier than the other neons

 

[leedham]

i think that you should stay clear of the loaches they can be really bossy but i think zebra danios are good fish for starting of with but they really are buggers to catch if you want to and you need at least 5 but they are really hard to keep out the net if you dont need to catch them.they really are little buggers but they live through anything

 

[mandi]

I would recommend Zebra Danios if...

a. You want them in the tank permanently.

b. You don't mind buying two very large nets and spending 2hrs getting wet up to your armpits in fish water chasing them around the tank in order to remove them.

:
Ok, maybe I only find it funny because I'm guilty! Had to tear every last stinkin' thing out of my tank to catch 5 zebra danios. Ughhhh NEVER AGAIN.

I think Sylvia had some wonderful suggestions! One that I would add would possibly be honey gouramis (if you like gouramis that is) -- they're very peaceful and stay small. I love mine.

 

[Jo and Gra]

thanks for the advice people!!!

so look at Danios ideally??

how long do "starter" fish need to be in before adding new ones??

 

[Bloo]

I would recommend Zebra Danios if...

a. You want them in the tank permanently.

b. You don't mind buying two very large nets and spending 2hrs getting wet up to your armpits in fish water chasing them around the tank in order to remove them.

:
Ok, maybe I only find it funny because I'm guilty! Had to tear every last stinkin' thing out of my tank to catch 5 zebra danios. Ughhhh NEVER AGAIN.

I think Sylvia had some wonderful suggestions! One that I would add would possibly be honey gouramis (if you like gouramis that is) -- they're very peaceful and stay small. I love mine.

Phah ! You guys are mere inexperienced fish catchers.
It took me all of 2 ticks to catch mine when i finally decided to rehome them from my 50 gallon

 

[Slyspy]

thanks for the advice people!!!

so look at Danios ideally??

how long do "starter" fish need to be in before adding new ones??

If I read correctly you are cycling the tank without fish? If so you can safely add a full stock of fish as soon as the cycle is complete. Just do a water change to lower the nitrates and add all your fish. No need to wait and no need to restrict yourself to danios (though they are tough enough to endure beginner's mistakes). I added neons, otos and panda cories to my tank when my fishless cycle was complete. All but three of the neons died of NTD when I added some more, but the otos and cories are still going. I replaced the neons with white cloud minnows and, to be honest, like them more. You needn't necessarily go for traditionally hardy fish, though they are more forgiving, but you must do your research to ensure your fish are compatible with each other and the environment inside your aquarium.

 

[Jo and Gra]

fancy leopard or zebra danios??

and then some iccle cory's........

 

[annka5]

Actually, I don't necessarily think that thats the best way to go about it.
If i were you, I'd test the tap water. When you know its PH and hardness, then you don't need to look only at fish that will go into a wide range of water types, but can look at ones which will be happy in what you have to offer as it is.
I'd also say you wnat to think about how much time you have to devote to looking after your fish.
Then you can think about what you want your tank to look like, size of fish, behaviour, etc, which will be limited by what you can offer the fish (water chemistry, tank size), hence the need for some research.
When you have a list of what you like, then you need to figure out what is compatible with what.
Sounds like a big process, but it itns't really, and will keep you interested whilst your tank is fishlessly cycling.

 

[Aylana]

I say go for some Harlequin Rasboras. They are hardy and much more attractive looking than most danios in my opinion. They are good schoolers and very active!!

 

[Jo and Gra]

seen the harlequins........nice fish......

didnt realise they were good starters?