Fish

[Bullardbs]

I just got a fish tank for my sons room and what to know what type of fish are easy to care for. I have some cheep gold fish it there now but want something a little bigger and some bright colors would be nice too. I want something that is not going to have to have a lot of care to keep it alive and dont want to spend a lot of money. I also did not want to go out and buy some fish and end up with 1 eating the rest also so what can I put in together with out problems? So what is out there that would work well for me?

 

[awheelterd]

just get some minnows from the tackle shop, when he loses intrest in them yall can go catch some big fish.

 

[Ron]

in my experience
bright color = lots of work.

Generally you are going salt water to get bright fish and thats a PITA.

Oscars and gold fish sem to live forever as do freshwater sharks.

Ciclids are cool as hell but fairly aggressive

 

[Bullardbs]

in my experience
bright color = lots of work.

Generally you are going salt water to get bright fish and thats a PITA.

Oscars and gold fish sem to live forever as do freshwater sharks.

Ciclids are cool as hell but fairly aggressive

I have found some of these on ebay that are cool looking can you have more then 1 in a tank? There are several colors that a seller has listed and wanted to seeif it would work to get a few and put them in together

 

[Bullardbs]

Anyone know were to get some in the High Point area

 

[mbalbritton]

In Greensboro there used to be a REALLY good fish store called Aquamain, but I don't know if or where it is any more. a little more of a drive is Up on Reynolda Rd on the Northside of Winston, Kroft (Croft?) Pet and hobby. not as nice but the guy that runs the fish department is really good. other than that, Petsmart or the other box stores. but a good fish store is always going to be the smaller stores.

 

[mbalbritton]

Oh, as for types of fish:

Black Mollies
Sword tails
Angle fish
Guppy
Orange Tail Shark ( I don't recall their names)

Get a Pleco to help keep things clean.

Aquariums are a lot of fun if you get into them. I've had several and my most favorite was my Discus tank. Discus being the type of fish, but they are harder to keep alive. I also had a Salt tank, but like was said, a ton of work plus you don't reap the benefits of a pretty tank for a long time. It's a living organism and the pretty colors of the corral have to grow.

Stick with that first list to start. it'll determine if he really enjoys aquariums. How many gallons is it. You'll want to keep the amount of fish proportional to the size of the tank. 1" of fish per gallon of water is the typical ratio, depending on filtration. i.e. 10 gallon tank, you can have two 5" long fish. or ten 1" long fish. A good filter is an important part of the system. if you want more fish, get a bigger filter. but start him out with what you have and see how he does with it.


Plants, fake are good. One less living thing to care for, but do this, they have dried bulbs and plant food. Get some and plant them as per instructions and see what happens. I never had that much luck with the live plants, but I grew some huge plants from the bulbs. They are also a means of filtration.

 

[96tacolx]

Cichlids are a tropical fish. IIRC they are fairly aggressive. They require a heater and filter system. Also have to maintain proper ph level. How many fish you can have depends on tank size. Generally it`s 1" per gallon.



Edit. Looks like mbalbritton beat me to it.

 

[Bullardbs]

Oh, as for types of fish:

Black Mollies
Sword tails
Angle fish
Guppy
Orange Tail Shark ( I don't recall their names)

Get a Pleco to help keep things clean.

Aquariums are a lot of fun if you get into them. I've had several and my most favorite was my Discus tank. Discus being the type of fish, but they are harder to keep alive. I also had a Salt tank, but like was said, a ton of work plus you don't reap the benefits of a pretty tank for a long time. It's a living organism and the pretty colors of the corral have to grow.

Stick with that first list to start. it'll determine if he really enjoys aquariums. How many gallons is it. You'll want to keep the amount of fish proportional to the size of the tank. 1" of fish per gallon of water is the typical ratio, depending on filtration. i.e. 10 gallon tank, you can have two 5" long fish. or ten 1" long fish. A good filter is an important part of the system. if you want more fish, get a bigger filter. but start him out with what you have and see how he does with it.


Plants, fake are good. One less living thing to care for, but do this, they have dried bulbs and plant food. Get some and plant them as per instructions and see what happens. I never had that much luck with the live plants, but I grew some huge plants from the bulbs. They are also a means of filtration.

He is only 2 so I will be doing all the work with this

The tank is a 29 gal and I just bought a new filter system that is rated for a 40 gal and pumps 300 gal an hour. I just want some different looking fish with a little size then the typical gold fish

 

[96tacolx]

Before putting any fish in, give the water time to heat up and the filter running for a couple of days. Check your ph level and make sure the chlorine is neutralized.
It`s a good idea to start off small and cheap till you get the hang of it. Don`t feed more than what the fish will totally eat up in just a few minutes.

 

[Bullardbs]

We have had it about a week and have some cheep "feeder gold fish" in it now but just looking to see what everyone else has had good luck with and what you would recomend

 

[Ron]

Cichlids are a tropical fish. IIRC they are fairly aggressive. They require a heater and filter system. Also have to maintain proper ph level.

Cichlids are very aggressive.
Only African Cichlids require the ph adjustments.
Heater is recommended but with a 20+ gallon Id have one no matter what was in it.

Besides letting him watch his fish eat feeders once a month is a valuable lesson. And you will have to play around to get a group that likes each other start with about 4 2 or 3 should make it. if only 1 take him out he is a mean SOB and start again. always add in 3 they will single one out and torture it, the other 2 will adapt. More and the new fish will gang up on the existing...its really neat to watch.

 

[96tacolx]

Tiger barbs (fairly good color) and silver dollars is a couple of ones I started off with. Fairly cheap and non aggressive.
I bought a texas cichlid that did really well with the less aggressive fish until all the others died off. He was the only one remaining. After that I couldn`t put anything else in the tank with him. Daughter named him Bully. I even tried a couple of green sevrums. Believe it or not but Bully lived 7 yrs.

 

[blazeproc]

Hey brandon, the wife and I have always had Oscars. They get pretty big and I enjoy watching them eat feeder fish. One thing meat eating fish tend to be more of a cleaning hassle than others.

 

[Bullardbs]

Cichlids are very aggressive.
Only African Cichlids require the ph adjustments.
Heater is recommended but with a 20+ gallon Id have one no matter what was in it.
Besides letting him watch his fish eat feeders once a month is a valuable lesson. And you will have to play around to get a group that likes each other start with about 4 2 or 3 should make it. if only 1 take him out he is a mean SOB and start again. always add in 3 they will single one out and torture it, the other 2 will adapt. More and the new fish will gang up on the existing...its really neat to watch.

I have a heater on the tank now and keep it about 76

You only have to feed them once a month?

These are what I was looking at on ebay but I think I am going to go tomorrow and look at some local places to see what I can find. I like some of the colors of the Cichlids that I have found

 

[snappy]

In Greensboro there used to be a REALLY good fish store called Aquamain, but I don't know if or where it is any more.

That store is on Market st. It's worth the drive over there. I've got oscars. They are agressive yes. I always keep 2 or 3 and they are fun. When they get a little size on them we feed them feeder fish about once a month and food every other day or two.

 

[Reid]

Yeah, Oscars and Plecos. and you have both in one tank. lol, thats about all you can have with oscars. Learned that one the hard way. One day i have 13 fish in the tank.....came home and had 4.

HA...i've even had an oscar try to eat my stop moms cat! lol, he never sat on top of the fishtank again!!!!

 

[Eastern]

Do you have well water or city water?

I have had a tropical tank for around 6 years, I have 2 danias, 1 angel fish, 1 catfish, 1 pleco, 2 bala sharks. Yes these numbers are not exactly what they are supposed to be, but all of these live together with no problems. I keep the heater around 78 degrees, and change the filters once a month, and there is no problems. I have lost a couple fish but the danias, have been in there for 6 yrs and all of the rest over 2 yrs, and me moving twice. So what I am getting at is that a tropical tank is easy to maintain and the fish get along really well. Just don't add Oscars!! lol

 

[blazeproc]

Yeah, Oscars and Plecos. and you have both in one tank. lol, thats about all you can have with oscars. Learned that one the hard way. One day i have 13 fish in the tank.....came home and had 4.
HA...i've even had an oscar try to eat my stop moms cat! lol, he never sat on top of the fishtank again!!!!

I taught one of our Oscars to come out of the tank and get a peice of food from our hands. Also they seem to love kids. Children could get close to the tank and they look and swim close to them. He may have been trying to eat them. IDK

 

[Ron]

I have a heater on the tank now and keep it about 76
You only have to feed them once a month?
These are what I was looking at on ebay but I think I am going to go tomorrow and look at some local places to see what I can find. I like some of the colors of the Cichlids that I have found

feed a few times a week fish food and feeder fish once a month.

Most of the brighter colors are African Cichlids. They are cool but a PITA (higher water temp and extreme ph control)

 

[catfishblues]

Until you've done some reading, stay away from Cichlids. And remember, an Oscar IS a cichlid. They're cool to watch, but they're what's called a tankbuster. They will eventually outgrow that 29. And remember, cichlids are filthy and require more frequent water changes.Stick with barbs to start, although they can be aggressive, but usually aren't. Hell, I've seen aggressive goldfish. Any fish can be aggressive, but ones labeled "community" typically won't be. I think a group of about six green tiger barbs and six tinfoil barbs would look really good in that tank. Get a shelf decoration of some sort and throw in one or two upside-down catfish. They're a blast to watch. Plecos may help clean the tank, but they get huge too. As will some of the "sharks" that they sell. They're just catfish. Baby catfish.

Don't rush this. Let the goldfish cycle the tank and make sure everything is good. While that's going on, pick up a basic book on fishkeeping. Read it. It's worth it. Fish are fun. Losing a bunch of fish because of an improperly cycled tank is NOT fun. And it's pretty depressing for a 2-year old, too. Oh, and since this is in his room, you may want to look into some sort of cover to keep his hands, and whatever may be in them, out of the tank.

 

[madmonk]

I had a 75 gal tank for about 20 years , oscars & pleco's. the first set of fish 3 oscars & a pleco & a brim lived for almost 10 yrs then all 5 fish died the same day. the second set 2 oscars a pleco and a goldfish that survived a feeding frenzy lived for about 10 yrs, they all died the same day. I think the ph crashed. anyhoo cichlids are very aggressive but are very cool and have alot of personality. Plecos grow very big, mine were both about 18" long when they died. I wouldn't put oscars in a 29 gal tank, stick with smaller fish, no cichlids. something nobody has mentioned is that cichlids are very territorial and will rearrange the tank and gravel the way they want it. silver dollars are very harty fish that live a long time . we had a couple of them and red hook (red fin) variaty of silver dollars in a smaller tank for a while. Heres a couple of pics from my fishing trip on the rio branca brasil. 2 oscars I caught on a 5" yozuri lure. the first one weighed 4 lbs.

the second one finned the crap out of me

 

[96tacolx]

Yeah I forgot about my Texas cichlid rearranging the pebbles. I had the real small ones and he would suck up a mouthful and spit them out at the other end. Pretty much cleaned it down to the glass. I thought I would teach him. I took all the small ones out and bought several bags of the larger ones. He was only able to pick one up in his mouth each time but he still would move them.

 

[Green ford]

Start cheep and easy. Then in a few years go salt! Here's some pics of my old 125gal tank...

 

[Bullardbs]

Cichlids are very aggressive.
Only African Cichlids require the ph adjustments.
Heater is recommended but with a 20+ gallon Id have one no matter what was in it.
Besides letting him watch his fish eat feeders once a month is a valuable lesson. And you will have to play around to get a group that likes each other start with about 4 2 or 3 should make it. if only 1 take him out he is a mean SOB and start again. always add in 3 they will single one out and torture it, the other 2 will adapt. More and the new fish will gang up on the existing...its really neat to watch.

Well I went with the African Cichlids. I got 2 jewel cichlids and 2 yellow ones (cant remember the name) and one blue one only had one blue one in stock. So far they are doing well will keep up dated