Members groutt Posted January 22, 2006 Members Posted January 22, 2006 Kids wanted fish. So we bought a tank today and it's bubbling, gurgling, filtering, and heating itself. Got the fake alligator thing that opens it's mouth and belches air. Black gravel and background. I'll have to do some serious shopping for a good classic pirate chest skeleton kind of bubble thing. But it's got no fish. Any suggestions for starter fish? *Any spelling errors I blame on cheap beer.
Members Trento54 Posted January 22, 2006 Members Posted January 22, 2006 mm get some sort of walking fish , they are so goddam cool!
Members Tag Posted January 22, 2006 Members Posted January 22, 2006 I'm assuming it's freshwater, so here are some good starters in no particular order: Platties, Guppies, Neon Tetras, Black Skirt Tetras, Mollies, etc. Just go to an aquarium shop and tell them your situation. If that's not an option, just grab any of the fish I listed above. I STILL have Black Skirt Tetra's from the dark ages that just refuse to die.
Members fretless Posted January 22, 2006 Members Posted January 22, 2006 I think you should use "starter fish" for a few weeks , they get the water ready for the other fish , bacteria and whatnot .
Members rikshaw Posted January 22, 2006 Members Posted January 22, 2006 you might need to wait for a bit before putting in the fish. take a cup of your tanks water to the fish store so that they can test it for you. otherwise you will just have some floaters. kids lose interest real quick when all of the fish die. i just set my second tank up last wednesday.
Moderators isaac42 Posted January 22, 2006 Moderators Posted January 22, 2006 Start slow. Did you treat the water? Does your local water use chlorine, or chloramines? Find out, because chlorine treatment won't remove chloramines. When I lived in San Diego, I found out they use chlorine eleven months of the year, then chloramines one month. I lost almost all of my fish that month. Next, stay slow. Don't add many fish to start. Reason is this: fish produce ammonia, and ammonia is toxic. It takes a while for a colony of bacteria to build up to break the ammonia down. Continue slow. The ammonia breaks down into nitrites, which are also toxic. Another type of bacteria has to build up to break down the nitrates into nitrates, which, finally, are not toxic. All this takes several weeks, and is called the nitrogen cycle. It's worst when setting up a new tank, but can bite you whenever new fish are added, especially if you add too many at once.
Members 82Daion Posted January 22, 2006 Members Posted January 22, 2006 Good luck. Somehow, we have 2 corydoras that have to be 4 or 5 years old. They're amazing little things:eek: I think we need a plecostomus; our algae problem is terrible.
Members rikshaw Posted January 22, 2006 Members Posted January 22, 2006 Originally posted by 82Daion I think we need a plecostomus; our algae problem is terrible. get the small kind (chinese i think). i got a regular one a few years ago and he is way too big for our tank now
Members Rippin' Robin Posted January 22, 2006 Members Posted January 22, 2006 Mackerel is an excellent suggestion, equally well suited from oven or grill. And they look purdy. But just to get things in perspective, have you though of putting BASS in there?
Members 82Daion Posted January 22, 2006 Members Posted January 22, 2006 Originally posted by rikshaw get the small kind (chinese i think). i got a regular one a few years ago and he is way too big for our tank now What size is your tank? We have a 20-gallon, but knowing plecostomus, it could still outgrow it.
Members rikshaw Posted January 22, 2006 Members Posted January 22, 2006 that tank is only 10 gallons.
Members groutt Posted January 22, 2006 Author Members Posted January 22, 2006 Thanks everyone for the tips. We planned to let it sit for a few days before adding a few fish.And we were going to start slow, but now we'll start even slower.Had never heard of a chloramine before, but the water conditioner stuff says it neutralizes it.I'm thinking about adding some white LEDs (not in the water) for "moonlight" for when the main light is off.
Members tylytle Posted January 22, 2006 Members Posted January 22, 2006 I had some Bala Sharks that looked cool and lived a long time.
Members FreestyleIntruder Posted January 22, 2006 Members Posted January 22, 2006 You should definitely get one of these
Members Onkel Bob Posted January 23, 2006 Members Posted January 23, 2006 I had a fish tank when I was a kid. It had guppies. Every once in a while we'd try to add some other fish and then they would die in two weeks. Then we drained it and I seem to remember that we missed a guppy that survived in the tiniest puddle of water for a week. Those things refuse to die... Edit: That blue thing looks delicious, can you eat it? How big is it?
Members Zeromus-X Posted January 24, 2006 Members Posted January 24, 2006 Aquariums are awesome but if I knew how much I'd eventually end up spending on one, I'd have taken it back and bought a few plasma TVs, a couple bass rigs...! Here's a few pictures of my 36 gallon bowfront corner tank I've got set up in the living room. It's got about two years into it, and a stupid amount of money I don't have.
Members jrkirkish Posted January 24, 2006 Members Posted January 24, 2006 I looked into getting a pet lobster. Real simple, I thought, just get a lobster from the grocery store, and put him in a tank. But then you've got to cool the water. And have the right salinity. It gets to the point where I don't see how the grocery store could keep all these things right for the week or two the lobster is in purgatory. Then I went to the fish hachery near my house. The've got small mouth bass. thousands of them, living in a little concrete pool attached to a local stream. I thought about getting one of those. Just scooping him up with a net and bringing him home. I would probably name that fish Rickenbacker. Or T-40. Rickenbacker, the small mouthed bass. I'd highly suggest not getting a crayfish. When I was 10, we put one in the little 10 gallon aquarium we had. Ate all the fish. Then I ate the crayfish. Those things are for eating, not for pets. If you wanna talk about turtles, I'm your guy. I had turtles for a good 5 years until family situations forced me to get rid of them. I had two red-ear sliders, and a tiny little silver dollar sized Mississippi Map turtle. I should not have been able to buy a turtle that small at a pet shop. It's illegal here. Turtles are fun, but it's a lot of work. They got some shell rot, which we fixed with some goo from the pet shop. Turtles are fun to race, too.
Members oldivor Posted January 24, 2006 Members Posted January 24, 2006 Originally posted by FreestyleIntruder You should definitely get one of these :D
Members ToeJamFootball Posted January 24, 2006 Members Posted January 24, 2006 is that what i think it is???
Members oldivor Posted January 24, 2006 Members Posted January 24, 2006 Originally posted by ToeJamFootball is that what i think it is??? The mighty blue lobster of death.
Members ToeJamFootball Posted January 24, 2006 Members Posted January 24, 2006 hhahaha yeah thats it, man that was funny.
Members anothertxn Posted January 24, 2006 Members Posted January 24, 2006 Originally posted by FreestyleIntruder You should definitely get one of these Damn you, you beat me to it! :D
Members oldivor Posted January 24, 2006 Members Posted January 24, 2006 Originally posted by Zeromus-X you guys are assholes yeah, so?
Members mounds Posted January 25, 2006 Members Posted January 25, 2006 Originally posted by FreestyleIntruder You should definitely get one of these HAHAHAHAHA! oh man.. lol i've got an oscar and a pleco in a 70 gallon tank and i've got a betta in a 5 gallon tank.. happy fish. pleco is huge-- 10" long
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