Thursday, July 30, 2009

i got a 10 gal. fish tank. I got a heater and a filter. What fish should i get. What should the Temp. be.?

I got a fish tank that can hold 10 gallons of water. I got a filter and a heater. I would like fish that can get along with each other and ones that can live long. How much should i get of them? What do they eat?
What do they like? What temp. do they need for Summer and Winter. Will a cleaning fish do well together with them? Thank you very much, sorry for asking so much. Im a beginner in this.
Answers:
This is a nice site which will tell you what size tank and water temp. various fish will need. There is also a compatibility chart to see which fish will get along.
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/categ.
http://www.liveaquaria.com/general/fwcom.
go to a pet store that has fish, they can tell you
I had a tank once. And if I could remember the temp it was a constant room temp or close to 80 but never over. However, the key word was had!
A word of advice. If you have kids or since you are new to the fish world. When teaching your child to clean the tank remember to teach them to turn off the heater when removed for cleaning. If replaced back in the new, fresh water when the heater is still very hot! The glass thermometer like heater broke and electrocuted my fish! Over $150 worth of fish literally down the drain!
Suprisingly I didn't get mad at my son. We had a good laugh. I never thought about turning it off, it was common sense for me, but not a 13 year old.

So, don't take my word on the tempreture it's been awhile. But, don't forget about the heater. LOL
best to try goldfish for a few months then you can change to other fish because the water will be acclimated
Guppies
If the fish will be tropical, the temp should be 74-82 degrees Fahrenheit.Goldfish need it about 65 degrees, and marine/saltwater needs about 84 degrees. I would suggest tropical fish as your first fish. Get 3 cories instead of catfish, because cories are small and adorable compared to big, ugly catfish and plecos. Plus they cost less and if you take care of them, they will live long. And a ten gallon won't hold a catfish.

Then I would get some guppies or mollies or platys. Maybe a gourami. Don't put more than 7 or 8 fish in there. KEEP IT CLEAN. Use a siphon and do water changes every two weeks. Oh, and if there isn't a lot of algae, get algae tablets or sinking wafers. It will take a while to get them to eat it. And it's okay if the other fish nip at it too.

Change all the water and scrub the tank once a month if you don't do siphon, and once every 4 months if you do siphon.

It really doesn't matter what food they eat. Just give them betta food. That's what I give mine and they don't care.

You don't need to get anything for the other fish, because the swim around and don't go in shells or caves. But for the cories, I'd recommend a few large shells they can fit into. My cory loves his shell. Too bad he keeps soiling it. Get some fake anemones or caves or bridges.

Any questions? Check my profile or ask another question. Oh, if you want a different variety of fish, try barbs or tetras. DON'T put goldfish in with them, that will be bad for the goldfish because they are coldwater fish and the others are tropicals. I hope this helped you.
NO, NO, NO! Don't ever change ALL the water! When a tank is first set up, it needs to go through a cycle called the nitrogen cycle. This is when the bacteria that help with converting the very toxic ammonia produced by decaying fish waste and uneaten food to nitrates and nitrites (also toxic). It takes about three weeks for the bacteria to build to the proper levels.

These toxic substances are removed when you do your regular (weekly) partial (25-30%) water changes from now on.

If you tear down the tank and scrub it, you have to start the cycle all over again. So, if you do it once a month, the fish have had one week of perfect water and then have to endure three more weeks of torture.

There is a name for what kills more fish than anything else in a new tank, it is called "new tank syndrome." The ammonia builds up so fast without the proper amount of bacteria, that it literally burns the gills of your fish and they suffocate. It is called an "ammonia spike."

During the cycling in of your tank, do partial (20%) water changes about every 3-4 days. The water will become cloudy during the first three weeks, but this is normal and will clear as the bacteria build up to the proper levels.
you can get tiger barbs or a lot of guppies and you can get snails or fish that sucks the nasty stuff t okeep the tanks clean.if they are tiger barbs and guppie feed them flakes.the temp should be aound 70 to 80 around there.get rocks with holes so they can play around and if you buy fish please buy at least 4 or 5 so they can play with each other.if you get guppies which are mostly the cheapest and easiest to take care of you can get like 10 and 2 weeks later you can have maybe 20 guppies because the breed fast and you only need to feed them daily like a pinch of flakes a day.clean them monthly but only half of the tank.
Get goldfish.They are cool.
my personal favorite is the Molly their fairly easy to take care of all they need if tropical fish food about 70degree water and one or two of the same kind of molly and they should have no problem with a cleaning fish like a sucker fish
go to a pet store pick the one u like
what jason said. get goldfish first

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