Newbie tank!

Degsy

Just purchased a 90 litre tank with heater etc.
Was wondering what would be the best fish to start off with(not bloody goldfish anyway).
I was thinking about something reasonably large with a bit of personality(if that makes sense) and that will eat insects,worms or other small fish.
Any ideas?

godtabh

Degsy wrote: »

Just purchased a 90 litre tank with heater etc.
Was wondering what would be the best fish to start off with(not bloody goldfish anyway).
I was thinking about something reasonably large with a bit of personality(if that makes sense) and that will eat insects,worms or other small fish.
Any ideas?

you wont get much large in a 90l tank. Maybe two convict cichlids. Dwarf cichlids might also work. A 90l tank is small

if you want colour you could go with things like neon tetras or tiger barbs

tallus

Maybe get One of these
They eat worms and other insects, and I think Ben in the reptile shop in Fishamble street can still obtain them.

I kept Salamanders myself a number of years back and they were facinating pets. Easy to maintain and feed.

Degsy

tallus wrote: »

Maybe get One of these
They eat worms and other insects, and I think Ben in the reptile shop in Fishamble street can still obtain them.

I kept Salamanders myself a number of years back and they were facinating pets. Easy to maintain and feed.

No thanks..repulsive looking creatures..i'm looking to keep fish.

WIZE

get some piranhas

Bookworm85

Hey OP,

You need to cycle your tank first before you put any fish in, there's a sticky at the top of the page that explains it all.

90l is a small enough tank, so i would recommend some pearl gourami. They're not brightly couloured, but have a 'mother of pearl' effect (hence the name). When the light catches them at the right angle they look pretty cool.

Or you could try a few tetra's. Tetra's come in all shapes and sizes and are a very active fish, I think they are a distant cousin of the piranha!

Another good guy would be a tiger barb, but these guys are 'nippers' and wouldn't go well with long finned fish like angels or gourami.

Degsy

Thanks for the replies guys..i just got another tank too..its 4' long and i need a stand for it if anybody has one.

tallus

Degsy: I have a black ash stand from an old tank.. you can have it gratis if you want it.

I'll post up a photo if you want to see what it looks like.

Degsy

tallus wrote: »

Degsy: I have a black ash stand from an old tank.. you can have it gratis if you want it.

I'll post up a photo if you want to see what it looks like.

Thats great..are you sure it would fit a 4' tank?

tallus

I'll post up a photo soon.. you can decide for yourself.

It's about 3ft tall and the top part is about 2ft long ? It's a tad dusty, been lying around for a while, I put the runners on top to give an idea of scale/size.

Degsy

tallus wrote: »

I'll post up a photo soon.. you can decide for yourself.

It's about 3ft tall and the top part is about 2ft long ? It's a tad dusty, been lying around for a while, I put the runners on top to give an idea of scale/size.

See i'm new to this game and i'd be afraid it wouldnt take a 4' tank which would then break in two or something:eek:

Can anybody advise me on this?

tallus

Can anybody advise me on this?

Not too sure myself.

WIZE

Do what I did

godtabh

WIZE wrote: »

get some piranhas

They wouldn't be suitable for a 90l tank

Degsy

godtabh wrote: »

They wouldn't be suitable for a 90l tank

Its much bigger than that..got rid of the 90 litres and got a 4ft instead

WIZE

What did you do with the 90 ltr tank

Degsy

WIZE wrote: »

What did you do with the 90 ltr tank

Smashed it

ctrl-alt-delete

Degsy wrote: »

Just purchased a 90 litre tank with heater etc.
Was wondering what would be the best fish to start off with(not bloody goldfish anyway).
I was thinking about something reasonably large with a bit of personality(if that makes sense) and that will eat insects,worms or other small fish.
Any ideas?

When you say that will eat insects, worms or other small fish, what other small fish did you have in mind?

Would you be happy with fish that eat bloodworm's and brine shrimp just?

Just for myself, I wouldn't like to keep fish where I would be feeding them other fish, just wouldn't have it in me.

If you would be happy with just feeding them other types of live food, then there are a variety of fish that would fit into what you are looking for.

Maybe some Angel fish, which will get quite large - and would eat anything that fits in its mouth. Adult size can be around 6 inches.



Dwary Gourami might be a bit on the small side for you? they only get to about 2-3 inches




Hard to find these ones, i had some of the dwarf variety for a while - until they took a liking for eating my fighter's tail, but I have seen the normal variety of Green puffer fish in a shop before, they look great to me - they are however difficult to keep, and will only eat live food, the likes of bloodworms, brine shrimp, snails and earthworms.

fred funk }{

If you want a fish with some personality defo get an Oscar fish. I had one years ago and it oozed personality. I used to feed it earth worms and it he grew into a big boy.

I used to put a ping pong ball on the surface of the tank and he used to love playing with it. I have kept all different types of fish over the years but he's the one I remember most fondly.

tallus

Nice recommendation fred, I have been looking on youtube and the Oscar fish look to be pretty cool.

Degsy

tallus wrote: »

Nice recommendation fred, I have been looking on youtube and the Oscar fish look to be pretty cool.

Was in ENwlands garden centre yesterday and they have various sized oscars as well as hundreds of other types of fish.

Apparantly you either keep Oscars bythemselves or in groups but not with any other fish?

godtabh

Oscars can grow very large.

Do plenty of research on the adult size of the fish as some can grow very large

fred funk }{

You can keep them with other large fish as they will literally eat anything that fits into their mouth, and they have huge mouths. I witness him attack and eat one of my beloved Clown loaches one day. The Clown was over 4" long too.

Another option would be a Texas Cichlid, an extremely aggressive fish but full of character and can be kept with other certain fish. Below is one I had.

Degsy

fred funk }{ wrote: »

You can keep them with other large fish as they will literally eat anything that fits into their mouth, and they have huge mouths. I witness him attack and eat one of my beloved Clown loaches one day. The Clown was over 4" long too.

Another option would be a Texas Cichlid, an extremely aggressive fish but full of character and can be kept with other certain fish. Below is one I had.

So a sample tank of chiclids and oscars.would it work? How many of each could i fit in a 250l tank do you think?

fred funk }{

A 250ltr isn't really that big of a tank if you want to keep multiple large fish. Oscars grow to about a foot long so they need a bit if space. I kept some Severums like the one below with the Oscar and they all lived happily together. Maybe an Oscar and two Sev's, that would be the maximum I'd put into your tank.

Try get a good external filter too because big fish make a big mess and change 25% of the water weekly to ensure good water quality.

I was going to set up a wormery to feed the boys but I never got around to it, maybe look into that if that's something that would interest you.

Degsy

fred funk }{ wrote: »

A 250ltr isn't really that big of a tank if you want to keep multiple large fish. Oscars grow to about a foot long so they need a bit if space. I kept some Severums like the one below with the Oscar and they all lived happily together. Maybe an Oscar and two Sev's, that would be the maximum I'd put into your tank.

Try get a good external filter too because big fish make a big mess and change 25% of the water weekly to ensure good water quality.

I was going to set up a wormery to feed the boys but I never got around to it, maybe look into that if that's something that would interest you.

Thanks for that..i might not get such large fish after all.
Its a moot point anyway as i cant fill the tank untill i get something to put it on..would something like a chest of drawers be suitable?

fred funk }{

Once it's a fairly robust one.
All the strength is in the vertical columns of a cabinet, so once the weight isn't on a cross section you'll be fine.
I remember setting up a 400ltr several years ago. The stand was very light a had a flimsy feel to it but when I looked at it in detail it was actually built quite well. All the weight was on vertical sections that were never going to give way.

Just remember. If the bottom of your tank isn't raised a little you'll need to put a little piece of foam board under the glass because even something as small as a trapped little bit of sand can cause the tank to crack when it's lying direct on the stand.

Degsy

fred funk }{ wrote: »

Once it's a fairly robust one.
All the strength is in the vertical columns of a cabinet, so once the weight isn't on a cross section you'll be fine.
I remember setting up a 400ltr several years ago. The stand was very light a had a flimsy feel to it but when I looked at it in detail it was actually built quite well. All the weight was on vertical sections that were never going to give way.

Just remember. If the bottom of your tank isn't raised a little you'll need to put a little piece of foam board under the glass because even something as small as a trapped little bit of sand can cause the tank to crack when it's lying direct on the stand.

Thanks for the info..i was given an ash stand for a 2' tank which seems to have strong vertical sections but i'm concerned it wont be adequate..what do you think?

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=71981216&postcount=10

fred funk }{

Once the tank fits on top and not too big it should be fine. If not maybe get some thick ply wood cut to the same size as the tank and screw it to the top of the stand. You could paint the ply black to blend in with the original stand.

Whatever you do don't use a tank that's too big for its stand. The seals on the tank will give way and you'll be left with 250ltrs of a mess.

Degsy

fred funk }{ wrote: »

Once the tank fits on top and not too big it should be fine. If not maybe get some thick ply wood cut to the same size as the tank and screw it to the top of the stand. You could paint the ply black to blend in with the original stand.

Whatever you do don't use a tank that's too big for its stand. The seals on the tank will give way and you'll be left with 250ltrs of a mess.

Got this in Ikea..it seems fairly sound,the supporting frame is nearly 3 inches thick.
The top is just over 3' across so i got some ply the same width to stick across the top.
Hopefully it'll work:o

fred funk }{

Looks grand Degsy.

Have you decided what fish you're putting in it?

If you need any advice setting it up let me know. I'll help if I can.