First Tank...lot of questions

Amuls

Just got my first tank,Its a 63 litre juwel tank. Decided to start small!

Was wondering about what fish to stock it with,could somebody give me suggestions?read lots about the oscar fishes,could i keep them with smaller fish?would also like to keep a male and female siamese fighting fish at some stage.
Could somebody give me a rough price range on what the most popular fish go for?

At the moment the tank has 2 fake plants in it.Are real plants of any major benifit?are the expensive?

Thanks.

LawlessBoy

Not long keeping fish myself. I started out with some livebearers ( Platies, Guppies, Swordtails and Mollies). They were recomended to me by the retailer.

But somethine inportant which i wasnt aware of when i first got my tank around 3 weeks ago. Is that you must let it cycle. Theres a few different ways of doing this you could read the sticky on it here. Basicly what it is, is you must let the filter get bacteria to grow in it which neutralizes the ammonia caused by fish waster and food. Ammonia is very harmful to the fish's health. I would also recommend investing in a water test kit i was recommended the API Master Test Kit. i think it was around 40 euro.

Hope that helps.:D

Oranage2

Amuls wrote: »

Just got my first tank,Its a 63 litre juwel tank. Decided to start small!

Was wondering about what fish to stock it with,could somebody give me suggestions?read lots about the oscar fishes,could i keep them with smaller fish?would also like to keep a male and female siamese fighting fish at some stage.
Could somebody give me a rough price range on what the most popular fish go for?

At the moment the tank has 2 fake plants in it.Are real plants of any major benifit?are the expensive?

Thanks.

You could try popular fish like neon tetras, guppies, mollies, platies, danios, cardinals, swordtails.

Also research any fish you get first - i use fishlore.com to find out sizes and compatibilty things like that.

Few things wrong with the highlighted part - the plural of fish is fish. Also Oscars would grow way to big for a 63 litre, they'd need about 60 gallons and they'll eat small fish.

Fish normally go between 3-6 euro - and a lot of the shops do 3 for the price of 2.

Also fighting fish dont really interact with other fish so a male female mix would likely to end in fighting as the tank would be too small for both of them.

Real plants dont really have any impact on a fish tank though they're harder to maintain.

Amuls

LawlessBoy wrote: »

Not long keeping fish myself. I started out with some livebearers ( Platies, Guppies, Swordtails and Mollies). They were recomended to me by the retailer.

But somethine inportant which i wasnt aware of when i first got my tank around 3 weeks ago. Is that you must let it cycle. Theres a few different ways of doing this you could read the sticky on it here. Basicly what it is, is you must let the filter get bacteria to grow in it which neutralizes the ammonia caused by fish waster and food. Ammonia is very harmful to the fish's health. I would also recommend investing in a water test kit i was recommended the API Master Test Kit. i think it was around 40 euro.

Hope that helps.:D

Ya i have been cycling the tank since i got it. What size tank did ya get and how many fish did you stock it with?:)

Oranage2 wrote: »

You could try popular fish like neon tetras, guppies, mollies, platies, danios, cardinals, swordtails.

Also research any fish you get first - i use fishlore.com to find out sizes and compatibilty things like that.

Few things wrong with the highlighted part - the plural of fish is fish. Also Oscars would grow way to big for a 63 litre, they'd need about 60 gallons and they'll eat small fish.

Fish normally go between 3-6 euro - and a lot of the shops do 3 for the price of 2.

Also fighting fish dont really interact with other fish so a male female mix would likely to end in fighting as the tank would be too small for both of them.

Real plants dont really have any impact on a fish tank though they're harder to maintain.

Posted this late last night in a tired state hence the spelling mistake,cheers for the advice I'll take a look at the website now!

LawlessBoy

Amuls wrote: »

Ya i have been cycling the tank since i got it. What size tank did ya get and how many fish did you stock it with?:)

I got a 100L, And i stocked it slowly, i currently have 4 platys and 3 guppies and a Pleco. Then once the pleco grows to big for the tank if i haven't gotten a bigger one by then ill send him over to a relative with a bigger tank.

Looking to get a few tetras soon enough.

diverdad

The Platy's, Guppys and Swordtails are generally over looked by more experienced fish keepers for various reasons but are a great source of colour and activity.
All are live breeders (give birth to live swimming young) and are prodigious breeders. You could find yourself the proud owner of additional fish. Top Swimmers and feeders.

The White Cloud Minnow, Zebra and the Tetras (take your pick from Neons, Cardinal, Glowlight, Serpae, Rummy Nose, Black Neon, etc) all make for excellent shoaling fish. Mid swimmers.

Angels & Tigers are common and nice but can be fin nippers.

Gourami fish are interesting (belong to the same family as Fighting Fish) and most speciments make good community fish and can add a little size variation. Three-Spot, Red Fire, Dwarf are usually good with other fish.

A couple of Corydora fish for the bottom. There are some colourful varieties and all are interesting, non agressive. There are nicer ones than the freaky albino type.
Sucking Loach, Pleco to clean around the rocks and stuff. Bottom Swimmers.

I always went for the real plants. Its like underwater gardening and the results can be as gratifying. Some weed type plant might afford some shelter to any babies dispersed into the water.

Got to remember - fish will eat other fish. If it can fit it into its mouth then the chances are it will try. Even its own - if there isn't enought space for the young to escape away.

Amuls

If they do breed and give birth would i have to seperate the adults from the babies so to stop them from eating their offspring?

Sleepy

Yep. You can get breeder boxes that hang at the top of your tank for placing pregnant fish into where they'll spawn. Once they've spawned you return the adult back to the main tank and the fry will swim around in that until they're large enough to be moved to their own tank.

Senor Willy

Your tank is way too small for Oscars. They require a minimum sized tank
of 5` long and 18" wide. A small community set up will look great and the
fish mentioned by the other members sound good.
Always research the fish you want before purchasing..

chris139ryan

as said above i definitely wouldnt get an oscar, they will eat all your small fish and they grow very big