Calling all you Fish smart people....

[Mayasmydobe]

So I am getting a small aquarium for christmas. YAY!
I thnk I have an aquarium picked out.... but want your input and ideas for fish to put in it!
I know I want two Guoir... ummmm... i cant spell it, but they are called "kissing fish" becuase they "kiss" every surface they come in contact with.
I also want 6 or 8 glofish (the red and the yellow colors)
I know I'll need one of those sucker fish too...
Also, I liked the Red Finned shark, and read that it is an easy fish to keep as long as you dont have more than ONE of that species....
(will these fish get along and be happy together???)

anyways, here is the aquarium I am looking at....

http://www.petco.com/product/2398/Marineland-Eclipse-System-Six.aspx

what do youguys think?

Im not even getting the aquarium or fish for another month so Please... educate me. I come to you eager to learn how to care for these fish!

On a side-note... ( a freakin hilarious one at that) Today, my mom and I were at lunch and we were discussing this aquarium, and she asked me if I wanted live plants r artificial onesfor the aquarium.... my response "artificial, i dont want to have to remember to water the plants" :yikes: .... and yes... I was totally serious when I asked that :yikes: .... it was definatly an "open mouth insert foot and wait for the brain to catch up" moment!

 

[Romy]

On a side-note... ( a freakin hilarious one at that) Today, my mom and I were at lunch and we were discussing this aquarium, and she asked me if I wanted live plants r artificial onesfor the aquarium.... my response "artificial, i dont want to have to remember to water the plants" :yikes: .... and yes... I was totally serious when I asked that :yikes: .... it was definatly an "open mouth insert foot and wait for the brain to catch up" moment!

:rofl1:

The red tailed shark isn't a great match for most of those. It could do all right with the kissing gouramis, and maybe the goldfish if they grew larger, but it would probably harass and possibly eat your glo fish. They grow pretty huge too, I've seen some top 6 or 7 inches. If you plan on getting a larger tank some day, you could get a baby now and as it grows move it into a larger system. The kissing gouramis can be bullyish too, and get almost a foot long so a huge tank is a requirement for them.

If you really want all those kinds, I'd recommend getting a large tank for large fish, and a small community tank. The glo fish would do wonderfully in a community tank with some other small fish like tetras, or guppies, or maybe some corydoras on the bottom.

Is that a 10 gallon system you're looking at? It looks a little small for all those guys. A good rule of thumb is an inch of fish per gallon of water. I'm down to a 10 gallon with just 1 guppy, two platys and two female bettas.

My favorite algae eaters are plecostomus. The sailfins are beautiful. Mine had an awesome personality and would eat algae wafers out of your hand. The only problem with them is they grow huge, but they are very peaceful. The Chinese algae eaters would be good too. Don't get snails! They'll take over everything! It's good to set up your tank and fish first, and then wait until it starts growing algae before adding an algae eater. Otherwise, you'll have to supplement them with wafers and if you start them out on wafers many of them will be lazy and not clean the tank, they just wait for you to drop their wafers in. If you wait, then they have to clean the tank, and once it's cleaned you can supplement with wafers.

Goldfish are pretty adaptable, but they prefer cold water and all of the other species you picked are tropical. They could probably adapt, but might be happier on their own in a cold tank.

Phew, sorry for the info dump.

 

[Romy]

What is it about goldfish that you like? The color? Personality?

When I put our tank together I almost got some goldfish, but the platys were prettier and fit in better community and habitat wise (they are tropical too). You might look into them. My male is a red orange:

And the female is a sunburst:

They can be really stunning little fish, and they're quite social.

 

[Gustav]

I have 3 aquariums.. But I am passionate about Goldfish.. LOL..

I have..

A Black Moor Goldfish like this..

A Crown Pearlscale like this..

Two Lionhead's, one silver and one orange and white..

Numerous Fantails.. Some Harlequin, some block coloured and some orange and white..

The best thing is, they are hardy, they don't need heating as long as the room you have them in has some form of ambiant heat.. They don't need specialist food and they aren't incredibly difficult to look after.. I just love the jigglyness of the fantails and lionheads.. they are so cute..

I do like my tropical fish, but they aren't nearly so hardy and for a first aquarium I think Goldfish are a good starting point!

 

[Romy]

Good points Gustav, glad a goldfish aficionado is here! They are really wonderful little guys, the only problem with the fancy ones where I live is it's hard to find healthy ones, as the pet stores don't take good care of them.

If you're really set on some glo fish, and I don't blame you cause they are cool, what might work out well is to get a little school of glo fish going, and have a couple small livebearers like the platys in there. When you're deciding who to put in your tank, it's helpful to look at what section each kind of fish is going to occupy. There are surface fish, mid level fish, and bottom fish. This helps to visually balance the tank, and that way the different species aren't competing for space. The glo fish are going to occupy the mid section of your tank, so you would want a couple of surface fish and some kind of bottom fish. The bottom fish are usually the cleaners, like algae eaters, plecostomus(es?), corydoras, cat fish, etc. Knife fish are pretty cool too, they are mildly electric. Live bearers like guppies and platys are fairly bombproof, and hang out at the top level on the surface. White cloud mountain minnows are another nice surface level fish. Other mid level community dwellers would be tetras and barbs, though a lot of barbs are bullies so be careful.

 

[Gustav]

Good points Gustav, glad a goldfish aficionado is here! They are really wonderful little guys, the only problem with the fancy ones where I live is it's hard to find healthy ones, as the pet stores don't take good care of them.

Hee hee.. I just love Goldfish..

The only thing I would say is, be careful if you decide to mix fancy types of goldfish with normal goldfish, the fancies are slower moving (they wriggle and they jiggle, it's what I find most charming about them) and therefore there is a risk that the normal everyday type of goldfish will scoot to the surface and eat all the food before the fancies get a chance to get there.. I have seen this happen, I know what I am talking about! LOL!

And do be prepared for them to grow!!! Goldfish can grow to the size of their aquarium, I had one fan tail that I had to move because he was getting too big for the aquarium and I put him in a pond outside with the Koi's and other too biggies, I saw him yesterday when I went out to feed, and he was over 10". long. :yikes:

It's a total myth that goldfish can live in little bowls and be happy, basically they are a form of carp, and everybody knows that carp can get monstrous in size.. I'm not saying that you'll end up with something that weighs 60lbs, but they will get big!!!

 

[Romy]

And do be prepared for them to grow!!! Goldfish can grow to the size of their aquarium, I had one fan tail that I had to move because he was getting too big for the aquarium and I put him in a pond outside with the Koi's and other too biggies, I saw him yesterday when I went out to feed, and he was over 10". long. :yikes:

:yikes: Okay, we need pics! lol. Ah, sorry to hijack the thread!

 

[Gustav]

:yikes: Okay, we need pics! lol. Ah, sorry to hijack the thread!

I know, I couldn't quite believe it myself.. I did have to have several looks.. Little Elwood is HUGE!! I dread to think what size the rather shy Koi's have gotten over the last year.. Whatever I am doing, I seem to be doing it right.. I treated myself to the Sliver Lionhead and the Pearlscale when I won some money on a scratch card, and they have more or less doubled in the last 3 months.. I think I am just a good fish grower!! LOL!

 

[ihartgonzo]

Oh, gosh... a 6 gallon tank?

I aim for a 5 gallon for each ONE of my Bettas. Ideally, I wouldn't put more than 3 small fish (Mollies, Platys, Guppies, Bettas, etc) in a 6 gallon, or you would be facing a huge overload of waste and not enough space for the fish. Out of your list, I would say 6 or less Glofish (are you talking about the glowing Zebra Danios? where do you buy those?) and a couple of Dwarf Corydoras Catfish (because they stay around 1", while Plecos can grow 12" plus!). That tank isn't large enough for one Red Finned Shark, they need more like 50 gallons.

Also... you might want to consider live plants! Many of them require VERY little upkeep, and I'm a live plant addict/killer, so I could let you in on all of the really easy ones. They really are pretty, fun to watch grow, and they provide tons of oxygen and absorb ammonia.

Make sure you post tons of pictures once you decide on what to get! It's best to buy the tank first, set it up, and get the tank all cycled before introducing fish.

 

[chanda]

My sister used to have small blue fish, they look great in groups specially when they swimming in one direction then changing their direction. I forgot the name.

 

[xpaeanx]

I currently have about 4 tanks just sitting around.... take it from expierence... buy a big tank to begin with!

you'll have a month or so before you can even add fish to your tank... so use that time to research fish and figure out what you want to put in your tank. I highly suggest looking up all the fish stores in your area and visiting every one of them starting now.

Look at the quality of their tanks and determine which one is "the best." If you see a lot of sick looking or dead fish, stay away! Also, most fish stores have their tanks on the same system... so if I see one fish in the store that looks like it has ich or something, I won't buy ANYTHING.

as for plants, live plants are GREAT to have, and their actually very easy to keep.

as for snails, I happen to disagree with them taking over the tank. I have 2 snails in my large tank and I get a kick out of watching them. I also have the small snails(that sometimes come on new plants) in my heavily planted tank, and they don't bother anyone. The fish in that tank are doing great, the plants are flurishing, and the little snails are kinda cute.

oh, I should also mention that I have the eclipse 12 in my office. My boss forbade me to get anything bigger than a 10 gallon.... ooops! LOL. I really like the tank, and since it's one solid piece of acrylic you are pretty much worry free about leaks.

 

[Gempress]

Oooh, an Eclipse 6! Those are fun little tanks. I had one awhile back, and I loved it.

There's nothing wrong with a little tank. It's great for people with less space and not a lot of time to spend on maintenance. But you do have to be a lot more careful about how you stock it and the way you take care of it. Smaller tanks make for a more delicate system: because they're smaller, they're less able to absorb mistakes. I think you made a good call in going for the fake plants. Live plants are gorgeous, but they can take a lot of care. I had a fully planted and aquascaped tank, and I spent more time tending plants than tending fish. And make one little mistake, and your beautiful tank turns into a mucky, algae-filled horror.

First off, goldfish---it's NOT true that they grow to the size of their tank. They will grow regardless how small their tank is. My Igor grew from 1/2 inch to 4 inches long in a 1.5 gallon tank. I'm sure he would've grown larger if somebody at my work hadn't dumped an entire container of food in his tank and killed him. Anyway, I think that 1 goldfish would do okay in that tank. It has good filtration system. But if you do that, be prepared for frequent tank cleanings as your goldfish gets larger. Goldfish are dirty fish. I did a 75% water change on my goldie's little tank every day. Depending on the size of your adult goldfish, you may want to do a 50% water change 3 times a week or so. If you do want a goldfish, I'd go for a celestial or a bubble-eye. Those tend to stay on the smaller side, with maybe a 4-6 inch adult length.

Big NO to the red sharks. They are very active fish and get too large for a 6 gallon. Same with the full-size gourami. But if you want, you can go for two or three dwarf gourami. They're easy to find and come in gorgous colors. The only downside is they tend to be a bit on the delicate side.

Although livebearers like platys and guppies are easy to care for and considered great beginner fish, they also have a problem: they breed so darned prolifically. If left to their own devices, they will crash the bioload in your tank before you can blink an eye. If you wanted to get them, I would go with three platy---two females and a male---and add a female beta to the tank as a natural population control. Betas love snacking on livebearer fry. opcorn:

When I had a 6-gallon Eclipse, I kept a school of 5 zebra danios. They're not the flashiest of fish in the store, but when you get them settled in an active school, they're absolutely gorgeous. Just silver streaks everywhere. They're also very lively fish and are a lot more fun to watch than slower fish like gourami, IMO.

Good luck on your fishkeeping!

 

[Pam111]

I had 6 goldfish in a 55 gallon tank. They really do need more room than people give them

 

[xpaeanx]

where did the goldfish thing come from? she said GLOfish

they're genetically engineered zebra danios....
which I've heard a bit more snarky than regualar zebras.




I still highly suggest you starting with a bigger tank. Once you get the hang of the tank, you'll want more fish!

 

[Gempress]

where did the goldfish thing come from? she said GLOfish

I mentioned my thoughts on them because others suggested them.

And I don't know anything about glofish. I was never interested in them, personally. I heard that they only glow under a blacklight, though.

 

[xpaeanx]

I wasn't saying you in specific... but it seems everyone who posted was telling her about goldfish... which she didn't mention she wanted....

and glofish are zebra danios... care is exactly the same. I've just heard they have a bit more attitude than normal zebras.

 

[Pam111]

where did the goldfish thing come from? she said GLOfish

they're genetically engineered zebra danios....
which I've heard a bit more snarky than regualar zebras.




I still highly suggest you starting with a bigger tank. Once you get the hang of the tank, you'll want more fish!

Sorry, I just misread it

 

[Suzzie]

no no no
you cannot have ONE kissing gourami, let alone TWO in that bitty tank! they get HUGE! I had a 10" one that lived for about 16 years (just died recently), she was roughly the size of a small bass.

one of the things new aquarium owners ALWAYS try to do is:
1) Overfill the tank's capacity
2) Get incompatible fish
3) Add fish BEFORE a cycle is complete

Do LOTS of research before Xmas.

 

[Punkygirl0101]

I would get a 10 gallon and put a betta, and 6 platys. I think its a good start.

I have two 10 gallons (1 has 1 male betta by himself, and the other has 1 female and 3 zebra danios (I will be getting 3-4 more zebra danios, they died due to heater malfunction..and possibly another female betta. A 20 gallon platy tank (I have about 10), and there are also two horse face loaches. I am working on getting a 55 gallon for the two horseface loaches, and getting a dwarf gourami and some bloodfin tetras.

If you do go with the eclipse 6, I honestly would only put a betta in that, POSSIBLY 4-5 zebra danios (or glofish)..but that might be pushing it. Zebra danios are fast swimmers, and really do require more swimming space.

 

[Laurelin]

You guys are making me miss my fish tank!