Aquarium @ home

[san.W10]

I'm goin to get a aquarium soon, 30x12x18 (inches).

i wanted to kno the basics, like what fishes to get, on filtering systems, water level, lighting.

1. What fish to have in aquarium?

my cousin used to have "Morphs" yellow Cichlids (10) in his 4ftx2ftx3ft aquarium.

those fishes were so territorial :D, was fun to watch them fight :D

but i dont want that kind of fish, i mean not as aggressive as those.

i want something beautiful, not gold fish.

& not too small, they should be atleast 1inch in size.

2. Filtering system

i wont be using gravel/sand. i'll be using small stones. (avg diameter = 1cm)

what filtering system to use? will the "undergravel filter" work in for this type of bottom?

3. Water level

As the depth/height of tank is 18", should i fill it till 15/16"?

This is how the top will be like.

& the aquarium like this

4. Need some tips on Aquarium Lighitng

of course i'll use a aquarium spec tube light, but is there something else i should add?

btw, i refered these sites...

http://ecology.pnl.gov/Rivers/Aquarium/Aqua.html

http://home.howstuffworks.com/home-improve...-equipment7.htm

http://www.liveaquaria.com/

[John S. Veteran]

Visit your local pet store and check out the varieties they have. The most beautiful are salt water fish, but I've never tackled that. You'll want a few catfish and/or algae eaters, they really help keep the tank clean. Make sure you don't overcrowd them, about 1" of fish (fully grown) per gallon of water. You'll also need a heater, I've gotten most of my stuff here: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/shop.cfm?c=3578, but I've never ordered fish from them.

[san.W10]

ya, the salt water fish are really beautiful, but saltwater aquarium is too expensive.

now after reding few stuffs about "Cichlids", i wanna have them :D.

-----------

edit.

is there a standard sizes for aquariums?

i selected mine from here - http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/tipsandt.../bltanksize.htm - under "mid-size"

i want to go for 3ft (36") length & height of 18".

so, do i have to stick to std. sizes?

Edited April 6, 2009 by san.W10

[quadz0]

To start off with, you might want to get some guppies, some of them are pretty good looking and they're community fish. Also, you might want to look into tetras (neon, cardinal, bloodfin, etc.).

I've always avoided under-gravel filters, but I don't see why they won't work.

As for lighting, you're fine with any generic hood/light fixture unless you want light intensive plants, then you will need to find some higher watt/intensity lighting. If you are going with tetras as fish, they don't like light, so you need some plants in which they can hide...I think they can get used to more light if they have to.

[san.W10]

i wont be using live plants.

but is Undergravel filter really important?

btw, i'll be using this type of filter (see pic)

as these filters create a flow in water, i dont want to go for guppies.

i want ome freshwater fishes, which roam in groups...

i just learnt that "Cichlids" can live with ONLY other "Cichlids". lol

[_bobcat_ Veteran]

I have angelfish in my tank. I started off with three sorry looking things with nipped fins. They grew big, I got a bigger tank. Then two of them made babies :| I now have one overcrowded tank full of fish to sell.. So yeah, angels are my favourite at the moment and if I can manage them I think they must be fairly hardy.

I would recommend you start with something that is generally found to be easy to care for and don't buy too many to start with. Your supplier should be able to help with that. As a beginner, I made some stupid mistakes and it's awful when you lose fish, but a good local aquarium/fish store should be able to supply really handy advice.

You need to be careful about things like the temperature and water chemistry. Read up about the nitrogen cycle and things like that so you have an idea of what's going on in there and buy a testing kit that will do a range of things. It's a good idea to set your tank up and run it, adding a tiny bit of food, for a week or two before you add fish.

If your kit doesn't come with a heater, make sure you buy one that can cope with your size of tank. Also, it might be a good idea to buy a back up heater. I've had two fail on me in the last few years :/

I do not use an undergravel filter for the warm water aquarium. I tried it in the past with no success, although it seems to work well in my gold fish tank. The idea behind it is that bacteria grow in the gravel and break down the fish waste in the water. If you have other means to remove the waste you don't need one and I generally get the impression they are not favoured at all. I have two electric filters that sit underneath the water and pump water through instead. I also have plants in there now and I think they help keep the tank nicer as well as looking good and providing hidey holes for the fish.

Gravel is a pain to clean, especially the finer stuff, and I recently took it all out of the tank. Something like this and this* would be very useful equipment, as well as a net of course. Although when I have sold some of these fish I think I will take John's advice :)

I don't know too much about lighting. When I bought mine I just said that I have plants and angelfish and took what was recommended.

I don't know about standard sizes either, I think there are "common" sizes rather than standard ones. When you buy lighting be careful to buy a tube that will fit. If your tank is 30 inches, then buy the next size down. A lot of things are based on the volume of water your tank will hold, so a heater will say on the packet that it's for tanks "upto x gallons" for example.

Lastly, in the UK a lot of aquariums and fish food come with extra chemicals for .. removing chlorine or helping bacteria grow in your filter or other things. By all means experiment with these if you must, but research it first. I have never found them useful and they cause things like crazy amounts of algae to grow when I usually have hardly any. My sister accidentally put too much of something in hers and killed the poor fish. I generally prefer more natural approaches where possible. Bacteria will grow by itself and if you leave a bucket of water overnight the chlorine should take itself away.

* I've never bought from that site, I just wanted to show you examples.

Edited April 6, 2009 by Persephone

[Sophism]

I have a 36G tank at work.

I have live plants in mine. If this is your first fish tank I suggest you read the following about the Nitrogen Cycle.

http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm

Also this has some good details as well

http://www.fishlore.com/FirstTankSetup.htm

Its a lot of work but can be really relaxing.

Ohh and as for an undergravel filter. I have always been against them. THey work on the premise of bacteria being trapped along the bottom of your tank and the bacteria is what gets rid of decomposing food. Problem is the bottom of your tank can get really messy quick. I run 2x BioWheel filters in my tank at work and my 55G that I am speccing for home will use a Canister filter.

[+StevoFC MVC]

piranhas are fun to have, or red devils.

[quadz0]

Guppies do fine in flowing water, all filters create some sort of flow, that is a secondary purpose; put oxygen into the water. And as I said, I've stayed away from under-gravel filters, I would go for a bio-wheel...they are great for any tank.

If you want fish that stay in schools, go for tetras. Some tetras stay in better groups than other types of tetras..you'll have to research that.

[san.W10]

thanks for all the info guys :)

[_bobcat_ Veteran]

Good luck. Fish are ace :D

[Sophism]

I find with schooling fish you need a larger fish to get them to school.

I had 8 tetras and they schooled when I put them in the tank, but after a day or so they stopped schooling.

Here is a pic of my tank at work.

Edited April 6, 2009 by Sophism

[shakey_snake]

You'll want a few catfish and/or algae eaters, they really help keep the tank clean. Make sure you don't overcrowd them, about 1" of fish (fully grown) per gallon of water.

no and no. Most "Algae eaters" produce a lot of waste grow up to be too large (a common pleco grows up to be 20" when full grown) for most tanks, and get predatorial.

Plus, they can't actually "clean" (remove any of the toxic fish waste chemicals) the tank because they make their own waste, inside the tank. ;)

You should only get "Algae" eaters if you like looking at them and have the room.

I'm goin to get a aquarium soon, 30x12x18 (inches).

A 29 gallon tank is a fine size to start with, good choice. The larger a tank is, the easier and less maintenance it requires. Since I doubt you know if you want to spend $500 on a 50Gal tank yet, this is a good compromise.

1. What fish to have in aquarium?

my cousin used to have "Morphs" yellow Cichlids (10) in his 4ftx2ftx3ft aquarium.

those fishes were so territorial :D, was fun to watch them fight :D

but i dont want that kind of fish, i mean not as aggressive as those.

i want something beautiful, not gold fish.

& not too small, they should be atleast 1inch in size.

Keep in mind that all of the fish you find in pet stores are babies that grow. As they grow they need more swim space and produce more waste.

So, make sure you don't buy:

1. Too many fish, that grow up and are too crowded for the tank
   
2. fish that grow too big for your tank.
   

2. Filtering system

i wont be using gravel/sand. i'll be using small stones. (avg diameter = 1cm)

what filtering system to use? will the "undergravel filter" work in for this type of bottom?

Canister filters are the all around best filter money can buy, but also the most pricey. Hang-on the back filters (including the Marineland ones with the somewhat gimmicky wheels) come next in efficiency. Gravel filters are really ancient tech at this point and I wouldn't really recommend them to anyone. They really preform fairly poorly, are difficult to service when a problem happens and take up the most in-tank space.

But the all around best filter is frequent partial water changes! the best a mechanical filter can do is try to convert the nasty fish waste in your closed ecosystem into less, but still toxic chemicals. Because you are always adding new organic material to the tank (i.e. fish food) you also need to be removing it and you do this with a (daily?, weekly, monthly?) regimen of partial water changes. The more you change your fishes water, the happier they'll be. They live in their own toilet, remember.

Also, you should not expect to put (any, or many) fish in your tank for maybe a month after you have your tank running. See this article on fishless cycling. Cycling with a few hardy fish is similar, but kind of mean to those fish if you think about it.

Cycling is a process by which you grow the necessary bacteria in your tank that are needed to break fish waste (ammonia) down into the less toxic chemicals (nitrite and then nitrate) that you remove during water changes.

3. Water level

As the depth/height of tank is 18", should i fill it till 15/16"?

Fill the water all the way to the top! The more space you leave, the less water there is (duh!), and the less life your ecosystem can support!

[san.W10]

Fill the water all the way to the top! The more space you leave, the less water there is (duh!), and the less life your ecosystem can support!

me & my cousin had some bad times with his cichlids, they used to jump out a lot, especially when we put feeds :D

so in his tank, we left some room. 4" to be precise.

btw, as they eat, they spalsh some water too , & with a tube light inside the tank top, i think its too dangerous. thats why i was asking about water level.

i'll be using a tank top that'll cover 4" of the tank on top for safety as well as looks.

i'm sketching the aquarium stand & top, i'll post the details (pics) 2morow. :D

[shakey_snake]

Meh, I'm not sure why you'd want a canopy top that covers the top 20% of your tank, but maybe that's just preferences.

Most canopy top's I've seen sit above the highest possible water line, not down onto it.

I just use a recessed glass lid (versa-top, I think All-glass calls them) on my tanks. ;)

Plus, I'm not sure too many Hang-on-back filters will work well with the water level that low.

But the only fish I've ever really had jump on me were (relatively small) (silver and marbel) hatchets. :p I don't think it's something you'll need to really be worrying about with a standard community inhabitants.

But if you do decide to keep it 4" low, remember that your tank is only 22 gallons, not 29 anymore. ;)

Edited April 6, 2009 by shakey_snake

[san.W10]

Most canopy top's I've seen sit above the highest possible water line, not down onto it.

i dont want to see the water line. i want this aquarium to look as if its completely filled :D

i guess i've to go back to the drawing board

:D

(damn, missing CATIA v5)

[_bobcat_ Veteran]

me & my cousin had some bad times with his cichlids, they used to jump out a lot, especially when we put feeds :D

so in his tank, we left some room. 4" to be precise.

btw, as they eat, they spalsh some water too , & with a tube light inside the tank top, i think its too dangerous. thats why i was asking about water level.

i'll be using a tank top that'll cover 4" of the tank on top for safety as well as looks.

i'm sketching the aquarium stand & top, i'll post the details (pics) 2morow. :D

I had a group of female beta fish and two of them jumped out :/

I have a cheap plastic condensation tray for my tanks. One day I will get around to fitting something perspex perhaps. I should have mentioned that in my post :p I have the water level about 15mm below this condensation tray. So, it doesn't achieve the look you want but it's smart enough for me.

My light units have a phat grey box that has the fluorescent tube's starter and wires with sockets to connect to the actual tube. These are rubbery and I think fairly water tight, but of course you always need to be cautious when messing with electricity around water.

One thing that is recommended is a "drip loop" type thing, where you you ensure that part of the wire between the plug and the device dips down lower than both. This means that if any water drips down along the wire, it's lowest point where it settles isn't the socket (Google for a diagram). If you get an air pump, you will also want a non return valve. This stops any water that gets inside the air line getting into the pump.

Everyone seems to have their own ideas of what is and isn't a good approach. Do lots of research on various sites, and whenever someone says "do x" delve into why they recommend it.

[san.W10]

i designed this in CATIA & did rendering, but i couldnt take pic of it or save it as jpg. :(

anyways here's the rough sketch on paper :D

going tomorow to local aquarium.

btw, should i increase the breadth, its 12" right now.

[shakey_snake]

Looks nice, but...

I'd go with one inch of overhang, just enough to cover the plastic trim.

You should be doing water changes (I can't possibly stress how important they are) often enough not to lose any noticeable amount of water from evaporation. ;)

[san.W10]

how's this? :D

Top, still WIP :p

stand.pdf

[Fred Derf Veteran]

I am so bad at doing water changes. Plus, I cycled my tank with a live fish but he came through it.

However, in spite of all that, I still have my original Cherry Barb.

My big fish disaster happened while I was away on vacation and a power surge killed my filter (I left food in the form of vacation feeders). I came home to find only the Cherry Barbs left. Tough little fish.

[san.W10]

UPDATE: i'm settling for this dimension-

36" x 15" x 20", ordered it today :D, costs INR 900 (including making charge). in US Dollars its under 20 bucks :p

----------

i'm still confused about which fish to go for.

which fish need less maintanence-

1. cichlids yellow, blue...

or

2. Gold Fish, red cap....

or

3. Angel Fish?

Name some active , fast fishes :D

btw, if i go for cichlids, i'll be getting 14 or 16 fishes all 1 inch in size. (is it okay for my tank? - 36"x15"x20")

coz i read that, if good care is taken, they live for nearly 10 years :o

[Fred Derf Veteran]

Angelfish are cichlids. In the past they were often mixed into community tanks but they really should be considered a (new world) cichlid.

I have also heard it expressed that New World cichlids and African cichlids should not be mixed.

[shakey_snake]

I have also heard it expressed that New World cichlids and African cichlids should not be mixed.

Yeah, personality wise, New World World cichlids end up dominating the African ones. :/

But most arguments about mixing cichlids comes from the fact that water parameters need to be different between the two, which is true about their natural habitats. However, most fish you buy in a store have been captive bred for enough generations that they can survive and thrive in just about any pH or water hardness as long as water conditions are stable and they're introduced to any changes gradually.

Angels are typically kept in species specific tanks since their fins are nice targets for nipping. :D

They mix OK with some community fish (like danios) but not many.

The Goldfish will definitely be the hardiest of those three, but you could really only fit one or 2 full grown goldfish in a tank that size. They grow BIG.

Goldfish are really best kept in ponds, honestly.

I would go with a cichlid tank out of those 3 options, but that's just personal preference.

Don't get any fish if you don't want to have to take care of them. :)

Monthly, bi-weekly, or weekly water changes really aren't that big of a deal, honestly.

Edited April 8, 2009 by shakey_snake

[shakey_snake]

btw, if i go for cichlids, i'll be getting 14 or 16 fishes all 1 inch in size. (is it okay for my tank? - 36"x15"x20")

coz i read that, if good care is taken, they live for nearly 10 years :o

Depends on how big they'll grow as adults.

Also remember, the more fish you add, the more frequent you'll need to do water changes.

Also you can't add them all at once, obviously. Make sure you read about what I've said above about cycling your tank.