Fish

Aug 16, 2005 11:59

Well, I broke down (after over a year) and bought an aquarium, finally.


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fish, tva

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gizzard August 16 2005, 16:39:21 UTC
I'm out of my depth here mate, I can make suggestions but heed them at your own risk, as I am not a good fishkeeper ;)

What I do know is:
Tiger barbs are vicious and will attack your other fish unless you have a shoal of about 6-8 of them. Other barbs are less aggressive, but like being in shoals, i think.

Bala sharks are fantastic, friendly, active, and easy to look after. they like being in pairs, but they grow BIG.

Angelfish also grow BIG and they shit a lot, so your water needs cleaning more often. But they're great fish to keep.

I keep my temperature at 27 degrees.

My best advice at this stage? Ask mokie! But you're going to need to start with something small, just one or two fish to start with, and set up your aquarium's life cycle over a month - get some guppies, cheap, fun, and you won't cry if they snuff it, which they might do as your first month is the most important. Don't buy tetras yet, they will probably die as they're delicate. Buy a book, always ask people selling fish for their advice, and ask if fish should be kept alone or in pairs / shoals, and find out if they will mingle with your other fish.

Good fish i've found that get along with everyone else, are blue gouramis, mollys, platys, guppies, tetras, swordtails, red fin sharks (but can be aggressive) and angel fish.

Have a look at http://www.aquahobby.com/e_gallery.php, that's my fave site.

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trogdor August 16 2005, 17:12:51 UTC
Thanks Merv. You're already being helpful =)

How about an upside-down catfish? lol
http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/catfish1/p/upsidedowncat.htm

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gizzard August 16 2005, 17:48:53 UTC
Catfish suck, IMO. I think you're supposed to have dedicated catfish aquariums and mix them up, but not with other species. I got a ghost catfish and he was dull dull dull, never left the bottom of the cage and rarely moved. I was supposed to have a pair, but read they still don't do much.

Plus that one grows big - and limits the amount of other fish you can have.

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trogdor August 16 2005, 18:08:55 UTC
It says you only need a ten gallon aquarium, and that they do well with other fish.

Oh well, who knows. Back to not working.

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gizzard August 16 2005, 18:28:31 UTC
Yup, but there's a fish size to water amount ratio you should be following - what it is I dunno, I generally ignore it, hence my fish die ;) But for healthy long term fish, you need to figure out how big your fish are likely to grow in total size, and plan your water:fish ratio around that.

You can have your catfish - but if it's huge, and not much fun, you'll be very pissed off as you won't be able to have many other fish that may be more entertaining to watch.

I like going for a bunch of small fish - guppies and tetras, and some medium sized, but very active, easy to look after, and friendly fish with some personality. Sharks are my fave - I would totally recommend a bala shark - but not until a month after you've been running your aquarium.

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gizzard August 16 2005, 18:48:03 UTC
What type of barbs? I've read that 8 tiger barbs are the best number if you want to stop them from being nasty. Yep, you should be able to have your sharks with them, but if you notice your sharks fins are beicoming ragged, it's cause the barbs are nipping at them.

Dunno anything about frogs i'm afraid!

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trogdor August 16 2005, 18:43:51 UTC
Can I have a Bala Shark with barbs? Can I have a bala shark at all? (Keep in mind I have a 10 gallon aquarium. PetCo said I could, but I don't trust them completely).

And can I have an african dwarf frog with them?

(My perfect choice would be 5-6 barbs, 2 bala sharks, and a dwarf frog).

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gizzard August 16 2005, 18:49:53 UTC
And for your fish : gallon ratio, I dunno. I can't remember what the ratio is, or how big the sharks or barbs grow. You can do the maths yourself ;p

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trogdor August 16 2005, 19:05:00 UTC
Its 1 inch to 1 gallon, I think. So, if I have 3 3 inch fish, I should have 9 gallons, right?

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gizzard August 16 2005, 19:06:03 UTC
I plead the fifth. I know nothing on this matter fella!

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trogdor August 16 2005, 20:11:05 UTC
Damn. You're my leading expert Merv!

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trogdor August 17 2005, 16:05:31 UTC
Ok. Here's a question you can answer. If I get cherry barbs, I can get red males, or gold female. Should I get both, or just one sex?

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gizzard August 17 2005, 16:24:56 UTC
One sex to begin with, or they'll breed and that's a whole new type of aquarium and a load of effort. I think. But deffo check this out on the web.

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trogdor October 7 2005, 20:43:31 UTC
One of my fish is pregnant, I think.

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