aquarium?
marvin g asked:
My roomates and I are deciding to buy an aquarium with a few small fishes...Would this be a lot to take care of on our heads...what all should we keep in mind..
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
February 13th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
No u just have to feed them every day.
and with a new tank u want to keep it running a few days without no fish and then put like a cheap fish in it like a goldfish and if it stays alive than your good to put the fish that u want in it.
February 13th, 2009 at 4:33 pm
If you buy exotic fish that often live in warm tropical waters, the tanks are much more difficult to maintain.
However, big supply shops often have state of the art tanks that have greatly reduced the burden.
The only other issue is where you get the water, cause it often must be treated to remove town added chlorine and flouride……there are products that work for that but you must follow the instructions EXACTLY….
If it’s for fish like goldfish…Hell, you can just drop em’ in there and fill the thing with toilet water and the fish will probably outlive you.
February 15th, 2009 at 5:38 am
Once the tank is set up all that has to be done each day is feed the fish and check the equipment is working, And yuou have to syphon the gravel whilst doing a 20% water change, And baring in mind that you would have 2-3 electical pices of equpiment on 24-7 so it would put your electicity up a little,
Some good sites to read on before you go ahead:
…
Good luck
~ GG
February 16th, 2009 at 3:40 pm
Fish are actually quite easy to look after as pets go! Keep it out of Sunlight or Algae will grow ‘very quickly’.. don’t overcrowd it with fish.. a 10g is OK for 10 fish and so on.. Fill it with water and add a chemical to get out the chlorine, but wait a few days to a week before you put any fish in. If you are just starting out, buy the cheap fish first..(goldfish, feeder fish and the like) so you dont spend a large amount, only to have them die on you. Also.. a couple of “Coby’s” (Catfish)are funny to watch.. and there ‘tough Lil guys.. mine have survived a few moves, water changes, etc.. and they still have outlived all of my expensive purchases over the years! Avoid Snails.. as they will multiply quickly.. and never put in ‘Live Plants’ from a pond or lake, as you will be inundated with snails quickly! I made that mistake, left the aqurium outside all winter.. and they came back again! Only when I scrubbed it with an SOS pad.. did I finally get rid of them! Once you have it established after a few months.. then try some of the more expensive fish! Six or 8 Tetra’s look very smart.. as they swim in a school and look more natural! Gud Luck and Have Fun!
February 19th, 2009 at 8:41 pm
owning an aqarium can be hard work. You will need to take care of it weekly
if you go with a small tank, the best way to go is with a 10 gallon.
go with only a few small fishes, neons are popular.
If aquariums are alittle more work than you woud like, try looking at bettas. They can be kept in smaller tnaks and require less care.
February 21st, 2009 at 3:40 pm
The main thing to keep in mind when you are setting up a tank with roomates is to designate a feeder. If every one feeds the fish, it will be getting fed 4-6 times a day. You will have all kinds of problems then. This is what you need to keep in mind: Bigger tanks are always better. Bigger filters are always better. More expensive fish are not always better. Lean about the nitrogen cycle. If you don’t understand the nitrogen cycle, you will have a very difficult time keeping fish, and you will become a regular on this board, asking quesitons like “why is my fish swimming funny?” and “why do my fish keep dying?”. Email me, and I’ll be happy to help you with the specifics.
February 23rd, 2009 at 3:25 pm
An aquarium is a great idea! All you’d have to do is feed the fish once a day and clean the tank every once in a while, so it wouldn’t be a lot to take care of. Just make sure that you put the right fish together and in the right climate of water; the fish could eat each other!
February 25th, 2009 at 7:57 am
Here are some main things for you to read and learn
1. cycling the tank: Set up your tank with declorinated water like “Aqua Safe”, a filter, a heater, gravel on the bottom, live plants and decorations as you wish and a couple of zebra danios ( they are very hardy fish), get yourself an ammonia, nitrite and nitrate test kit, as soon as your readings of ammonia and nitrite’s are at ‘0′, and your nitrates start to raise, you can start adding other fish,
Here is a site that explains it in detail
2. Do regular waterchanges after you have finished the cycle and you have more fish, the recommendation is a partial waterchange of 25% weekly with a gravelsiphon
3. Don’t overfeed your fish, only twice a day what they will eat in a period of 3-5 min at each feeding
4. Don’t put your tank near a window where sun gets to eat, that causes algae growth
5. Leave your light ONLY 10-12 hours on during the day and turn it off at night for 12-14 hours (a timer would certainly help)
6. when you buy fish, always check what you get, they are categorized into tropicals, semi-aggressive, aggressive, coldwater fish, always get fish from only one category
7. Good starter fish are for a 10 gallon tank:
6 neon tetras (they are schooling fish)
2 cory doras, like a pepper cory (bottom feeder)
1 male betta OR 3 female bettas (never put 2 males together or male&female)
8. these fish are all tropical and require a temperature of 76-82 degrees, so you will need a thermometer as well to check your temperature
9. A good thing to do is buying an complete aqarium kit, which comes with the tank itself, filter, heater, hood and light bulbs
10. Also after you added fish you have to replace your carbon cartridge every 4-6 weeks
Hope all that info helps
Good luck
w
February 28th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
Buy only the small fishes cuz trust me youll be amazed by the bigger ones like the arowana,oscar etc..and these fishes are very hard to maintain. There are some nice fishes in the market like Fighting fish,Gold fish, tetras etc..always keep in mind that filtration and good diet is key…for these fishes