Anyone keep tropical fish?

[Lady Whistledown]

1) Is it an expensive business?
2) Is it complicated to set up?
3) How high maintenance are fish?

Just wondering, like.

 

[dougdeep]

1) Not really once you've bought the tank, heater and filter.
2) Not at all, get a cheap book or ask advice from any seller.
3) Feed them twice a day.

 

[The Laughing Bluebird]

You're off to a bad start, as you've posted a picture of some marine fish as opposed to tropicals. Anyway.....

1) Not really.

2) Provided you opt for a straightforward set-up it isn't too difficult. As a beginner, your most important purchase will be a good book on the subject. Buy one of these a good few weeks before you buy a tank, and decide upon what sort of system and fish you want to maintain. Don't rush into it - that's a common and often costly mistake.

3) That depends on the system and the fish you're keeping. Weekly partial water changes are a must, but generally an aquarium is otherwise fairly low maintenance. Don't feed your fish twice a day as dougdeep suggests. Feed them once a day. That's plenty. Overfeeding is unhealthy for the fish and bad for the water quality.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Neon tetras are GREAT

 

[jevs]

I have kept tropical freshwater fish for 30 years, tropical marine reef aquariums for 20 years and ponds and koi for 30 years. There's a lot more to it than i could ever answer on here but to answer your questions above....

1) yes and no depending on what you keep, how big your tank is, how high tech you want to go etc.....you can get a nice tropical tank for £50 second hand.

2) As above

3) Depends on what you keep.....changing 20% of the water every 2 weeks, daily feeding and a filter clean once a month is the bare minimum with tropicals...about an hour a month.

Decide what you want to keep and then ask the questions....go to a few shops.....i go to the fish tank in Rock st, Kemp town, Btn...been going there for years and the owner won't bullshit you.

If you're still serious and want to set a tank up....go from there. If you're ever passing Lewes, i'll happily go through everything with you.

BTW...the fish up the top are marine fish (tropical salt water). have a look through this recent topic on the west ham forum http://www.kumb.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=87616 .....on page three, there's a pic of my old reef tank and a link to it too.

 

[Questions]

Neon tetras are GREAT

Try filleting one................. nigh on impossible.

 

[dougdeep]

Don't feed your fish twice a day as dougdeep suggests. Feed them once a day. That's plenty. Overfeeding is unhealthy for the fish and bad for the water quality.

2x 50% =100%. It stops them getting bored and I find there is less waste.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

Cheers

 

[dougdeep]

Clown Loach are real characters.

 

[maffew]

Jevs who posts here knows his stuff

theres a good forum here
http://www.fishforums.net

 

[jevs]

2x 50% =100%. It stops them getting bored and I find there is less waste.

I do actually agree with that although i only feed mine once a day. I'm feeding my koi 6 or 7 times a day at the moment....and the bloody things get better fed than i do....prawns, bread with honey on, sweetcorn.

 

[dougdeep]

Clown loach. (DAMN THIS NON-EDITING MALARKEY)

 

[The Laughing Bluebird]

2x 50% =100%. It stops them getting bored and I find there is less waste.

Less waste? If there is any waste at all then you're feeding your fish too much!

 

[dougdeep]

Less waste? If there is any waste at all then you're feeding your fish too much!

We feed them the same then. Christ almighty.

 

[Jello]

I had a few of them for a while till they all got wiped out

Jevs, I'm impressed by your reef tank, I've wanted a marine tank for a while but think I'll wait till I move. Is it much more work than keeping tropical? I know it's more expensive which has also put me off

 

[clapham_gull]

Remember to bring them in when it rains.

 

[Easy 10]

Fish are a bit boring, and its a pain in the arse keeping the tank clean. I got rid.

Get a bird. Caspers poncing around on my front room floor at the moment, flirting with his millet and doing a little dance. And he was WELL excited earlier when he went outside in his cage for the first time.

 

[Gully]

...in their underpants.

I thought this was going to be another one of those lyrical threads, or a tribute to Alexi Sayle.

 

[Frutos]

Neon tetras are GREAT

They're what I used to (as a kid) call 'Aquafresh Fish' because the pattern on their side looks sort of like Aquafresh toothpaste.

 

[DC Rules]

We have a tropical tank, which I don't know too much about as it's my husbands, but I know he only feeds them once a day, does partial water changes about every 2 weeks (he bought a siphon thing to help with that)...i like looking at them though. We have a crab in there at the moment, he's very nice to watch. And also some angel fish. They are pretty,
You must set up the tank and leave it a week or so to let the water stabilise before you put any fish in...but just make sure you get a good book and read it thoroughly before you start.

I would like to get him a marine set up too, I think some of the marine fish are lovely.