Keeping Tropical Fish

Fader

Fader

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As I've been laid up with a dodgy back these last 3 days through no fault of my own. Been thinking about other things to keep me occupied whilst I'm at home when not working or playing golf.

Always liked the idea of tropical fish, so wondered if anyone on here has experience they could share with someone looking to start up. Any advice on good fish and which types of communities get along would be well received.

I've ordered a 125 litre tank complete with stand as a starter, if I'm able to flourish at it will upgrade accordingly. Lots of fish I like the look of Guppys, Harlequins, Angels, Plattys etc. just wondered if anyone with experience would know if these would be ok together in a communal tank. Also love the look of Siamese fighters but from what I've read they wouldn't do well in a tank with Guppys as they'd attack the Guppys mistakenly taking them for other male fighters.

Hopefully at least maybe one of you my learned forumers can assist me with this if not back to google an the t'interweb.
 
Used to keep a lot of tropical fish about 7-8yrs ago. Clown loaches are good. Try not to get tiger barbs they just chase and each other and upset the other fish. Bala sharks are good too but can get big. Angels can be ok as long as no other large cichlids.
The others you mention will be ok together with any of the above. You can try a Siamese Fighter. They get a bad wrap but with each other rather than other fish.

Do a water change of 25% 3 times a fortnight for best results. Fish release a hormone into the water to let them know when to stop growing. The more you change water the bigger they grow. Any more advice drop me a PM.
 
They smell, I got rid and that was with changing water regularly!
 
I like keeping tropicals, I did think about marines but they cost too much to keep whereas with a good tropical setup it's not that expensive at all. Here's a pic of my tank.
IMG_3508.jpg

It's not too big with a 1200L capacity in the display tank and 300L sump tank with the filter and heaters in it.
I would have to stear you away from clown loaches for two reasons. Firstly they grow a lot bigger than you expect and heed a 400L plus tank to keep a shoal happy and secondly they trash everything!
If your looking for something simple to keep, not too expensive to run and pretty to look at when your not wanting to think about golf then there are tropical fish that can be kept in a cooler water tank but won't mind if the temp goes up in the summer as long as you keep it at around 18C in the winter. HAve a look at this link. http://i633.photobucket.com/albums/uu56/808andy/IMG_3508.jpg
 
I keep a 60L tropical and a 60L cold water tank. Wish I could get bigger ones but planning to move house in the next year so will wait until then. Also have a small ornimental tank that I kept 2 puffer fish in but unfortunatly they died after I changed too much water. Easy to do in a small tank.

The tropical tank was a troublesome thing to get started and cycled took about 6 months before I got it right. Had been trying various cycling products but none seemed to work well until I tried King British safe water. The tank took about 2 weeks to settle after using it and has given no trouble since. I have live planting which helps keep nitrates down compared to articifical planting and usually only need to do a 25% water change now every few weeks. Although live planting can also lead to snail trouble if you don't quarantine the plants before adding them. The fish are lively and colourful the sign of a happy tank.

I keep a male fighter, with 2 neons tetra,a rummy nose, 5 hariquins, a clown loatch, a small cat fish can't remember spieces name, and a shoal of endlers. The endlers are great as they are very colourful little fish that have a very small impact on water quality due to the fact it takes quiet a few to produce the same waste as larger fish spieces. All these are easy cared for and relatively hardy fish types. Tetras seem to offer a hugh range of fish selection that are easily keep in community tanks. Guppies although beautiful can't be difficult.

Neons make great starting fish to get the tanks cycled as the are hardy and colour quickly indicats problem with water quality. If they go dull or pale then you have an issue but they can' survive it quite well. Other fish can be more sensative to changes and die if water quality goes outside quiet tight limits. The trick is to be prepare to have a tank for a few month with not much going on in it. Get the tank set up adding a cycling product like the king fisher one and let it settle and test the water before adding any fish. Then add one hardy spiece and a small number of them and regularly check water quality. If ammonia is rising rapidly and there is little or no ntirates/nitrites then it isn't cycling properly so add more bacteria.

Never clean the filter with fresh water. Only use waste water when changing. A sponge filter is in mine but you can get high quality external multistage filters. If you can afford those get them. They cycle better, filter better and require less maintance.
 
Last edited:
Phil, So much of what you have advised is what's wrong with this hobby at times as it is not only factually incorrect in some area's but can lead to people leaving the hobby due to following poor ill-informed advice and failing.

You mean well but advice needs to be correct, not what has just worked for you.

Clown Loach being a skin fish are very susceptible to white spot which is activated by stress. Not an ideal candidate for a novice and most definitely not in a new tank!

With 125 litres, less displacement I would only work to a stocking level of 36" of fish and that's accounting for their maximum growth.

Stocking levels in association with the aquarium, potential maximum growth of your fish and quality of local water will determine the minimum amount and frequency of water changes that have to made and also the kind of filtration being used will play a part also due to the amount of beneficial bacteria required to cope with the ammonia load excreted by the fish to maintain the nitrogen cycle, something you need to read up on as that is essential in becoming a successful fish-keeper as we keep water, not fish.

PM me if you need any help and guidance, I can email you some fact sheets that I have written.

My username Fish isn't because of my drinking habits, it's because I own retail aquatic stores and do guest speaking at clubs, universities etc!
 
Andy808 said:
I like keeping tropicals, I did think about marines but they cost too much to keep whereas with a good tropical setup it's not that expensive at all. Here's a pic of my tank.
It's not too big with a 1200L capacity in the display tank and 300L sump tank with the filter and heaters in it.
I would have to stear you away from clown loaches for two reasons. Firstly they grow a lot bigger than you expect and heed a 400L plus tank to keep a shoal happy and secondly they trash everything!
If your looking for something simple to keep, not too expensive to run and pretty to look at when your not wanting to think about golf then there are tropical fish that can be kept in a cooler water tank but won't mind if the temp goes up in the summer as long as you keep it at around 18C in the winter. HAve a look at this link. http://i633.photobucket.com/albums/uu56/808andy/IMG_3508.jpg
Click to expand...

Nice to see a large freshwater tank and especially it being sumped. Very clean :thup:
 
No worries Fish.

I can understand what successfully worked for me may not be perfect.
I only managed to breed from 3 different pairs of Discus in my time.

Would agree with Craw on the smell though. Nice to look at but more work than you'd think to keep a tank in good order.
 
Water only smells if you are overfeeding, overstocked or a combination of the two or not performing water changes correctly and enough in association with the bio-load of the tank/aquarium. Otherwise the water should always smell fresh.

My shop has over 100 display tanks, if smells were an issue, not only would the shop stink but it would discourage people from buying an aquarium and entering the hobby!

The fish do not smell, poor water quality does ;)
 
Kent is a hard water area so south American fish are pretty much out of the question unless your going to use RO water which would put you costs up even further. Malawi cichlids are fantastic looking fish and from a hard water lake plus there's no need for plants as Malawis will destroy them. Here's a link to some setup ideas for a lake Malawi cichlid tank.

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/lake_malawi_setup.php

Some stunning looking fish too.
 
Fish said:
Water only smells if you are overfeeding, overstocked or a combination of the two or not performing water changes correctly and enough in association with the bio-load of the tank/aquarium. Otherwise the water should always smell fresh.

My shop has over 100 display tanks, if smells were an issue, not only would the shop stink but it would discourage people from buying an aquarium and entering the hobby!

The fish do not smell, poor water quality does ;)
Click to expand...

Couldn't agree more. With a big tank I get no smell what so ever from it. Just the gentle trickling noise as the water returns to the filter like having my own indoor waterfall.
 
Malawi set ups are very good. A mate of mine had a great set up. Ni e colourful varieties.

Generally over here the keeping of Tropical fish is rare now. Not too many homes can fit a decent sized tank and people don't seem to want small tanks.

Quite a few shops have shut and the main one has had to diversify into reptiles and rare breeds.
 
Andy808 said:
Kent is a hard water area so south American fish are pretty much out of the question unless your going to use RO water which would put you costs up even further. Malawi cichlids are fantastic looking fish and from a hard water lake plus there's no need for plants as Malawis will destroy them. Here's a link to some setup ideas for a lake Malawi cichlid tank.

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/lake_malawi_setup.php

Some stunning looking fish too.
Click to expand...

I personally wouldn't get too hung up on water hardness because if your constantly buying from your own area, your local shop will have acclimatised your fish which will be, in the main, captive bred and will not be direct console. As such they have possibly never known their natural water parameters, after-all, the philosophy of matching water parameters would do away with the term "community fish" as most general community tanks will have fish from various parts of the globe in them!

I think 125 litres is too small for a Malawi set-up as once you placed all the rock in to create hides which they need your volume is reduced even more and as such would be looking at 4-5 fish only!

Build a relationship up with your LFS (local fish shop) and match as close to their water to remove all possibilities of stress and shock. Make sure their not adding copper though to their systems so never mix their water with yours.

I would only truly look to match a full water relationship to a specie if I was breeding, showing or really specialising in a specie tank like Discus.
 
Just woken up and some great response already. Really do appreciate all the advice on offer for this as I want to make sure I get it right so I can enjoy it in the long term.

Would be interested in reading up on what you have to say Fish so will drop you a pm. But all the advice from everyone is duly noted, and Andy that's a cracking looking tank will surely put my smaller offering to shame but hopefully if I can get this right and working nicely, regardless how long it takes I can then eventually upgrade to something bigger or add another tank to the house.
 
Fader, I started with a tiny 150L tank, after just 3 months I wanted something bigger. Ok I wasn't planning on going that big but it was on offer at a silly price so went for it. I love it now and it's so much easier looking after it, especially as it has auto topup, auto water changes and the only thing I have to do is keep it clean and feed the fish.
Have fun researching the hobby and have fun.
 
I'm a two year novice of a cold-water tank, so way behind some of the guys on here (1200l = little!?!? ;)).

I've got a couple of plecostomus, four leopard danios, some neon tetra, six catfish-types (two born in our tank :D) and two angel fishes. It's a very happy tank, apart from one angel bullying the other. Take note that the angels and plecs can grow large...

Probably took me about 6 months to get the tank right. It seems simple to start off, but it does take time and experience to understand what's the right balance.
 
Over 15 years in total keeping freshwater tropicals here. I've made every mistake in the book in that time. One thing I would look into is fishless cycling. This will mean you will have an empty tank for about a month but it will mature your filter and will help you avoid many of the problems associated with new tanks. Good article on it at this site http://www.tropical-fish-centre.com/tfc/
Stocking is also very important, always be sure to ask what size a fish will be when fully grown and whether they are a shoaling fish or do better as individuals. Bala sharks for example are widely available but totally unsuitable for most hobbyists aquariums as they can grow to over 12" in length like to shaol and need lots of swimming space.
 
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