Snazy

Reason I ask is cos my mum seems increasingly interested in the fish when we visit the pet store, so was thinking I might get her a tank etc.

She had budgies but they played hell with her COPD, so they had to go.
Now that as things progress she will be at home more and more, I thought I might get her a tank and some fishy's.

She likes shubunkin and other such, so was looking for some advice on something like a 60-80 litre tank. How many fish, pumps required, other species to put in there etc....

Anyone?

Sonic'

I have shubunkin in a pond in the garden along with some golden orfe and ghost koi

Only difference really between non tropical and coldwater fish is the thermostat that is required for tropical and a better choice of fish

Snazy

I am slowly "warming" to trppicals etc. Given the variety, and communities you can get with tropicals.....

Hmm decisions decisions.

Sonic'

Apart from the ongoing electic running costs a thermostat is only about 18-120 quid on top of the other stuff you need

I would also say that coldwater tend to be more messy than tropical so maybe more maintenance or better filtration required with coldwater (although I could be wrong on that one)

gallois

yes, goldfish do eat a relative large amount and produce a lot of waste, so regular cleans will be needed, for a nice low maintenance tank, get a small tropical setup and get a few dozen neons.

Snazy

cheers guys, kinda info I want, thank you.
I think I might go tropical after all. With the limited reading I have done anyway.

Neon Tetra's ? Love them Any suggestions on some combinations please? Looking probably 60-70 litre tank for now.

Snazy

Also does anyone know a good place to buy the tank etc...
Was looking at this.. Ebay Item number: 360030848986

Found a 60 litre with stand for about £90 in a local shop though. Not sure if it comes with the accessories though.

97TURBO

U should go with the tropical. Mine thrive on neglect! the less faffing with water the better i say (u wont get that advice in the pet shop)
Plus the tropical have a bigger choice.
Most tanks come complete with heater/pump/filter.
Anything by Juwel is good.

Snazy

Cheers, have read Juwel are pretty good. Just hoping the 60 is a good enough tank to get a few in in comfort
The one listed on Ebay has most things with it. Just wondering if there is somewhere I can pick one up along with the other bits.

Would like to get it done this week if I can manage it. With her going to Guys in Wednesday it would be good to cheer her up

ulusaba1

Hi Snazy

I have a brand new 160 litre custom built tank for sale if you are interested.

I have put a photo on View my scooby if you are interested.

The tank is 500mm wide 500mm deep and 660mm tall.

In the shops it would retail for aroound £350.00. I would let you have it for a lot less than that.

Sonic'

Yep another vote for Jewel here too

I have a Jewel 180 in the front living room, and a Jewel 60 or 70 I think, also in the front room, and a Jewel 120 in the back living room, come with everything you need although I do have extra filtration in the 180 due to the fish I have in there

One thing I have found is that you should really buy the biggest tank you can, if you buy small maintenance is harder as the water can change in minutes not hours, so are in fact a lot harder to keep small tanks

Also after a while you might want to upgrade to a bigger tank once you realise you want more fish and cant due to the small surface area of water you have in a small tank

Snazy

sound info.
What do you have in the smaller tank out of interest. Remembering this is something to put a smile on a 70yr old womans face, not for me to be fanatical about. Of course I will look after them, but have my hands pretty full with the dog and other creatures lol.

Give me a rough idea of number of fish in large and small tanks lol. Sorry if that sounds lame. Open to getting a bigger tank, but nothing massive. Plenty of room, just a bit skint having not worked for coming on 4 months


ulusaba1 cheers for the offer, but sounds a bit out of my league at this time Not sure it would fit into my budget

Snazy

Doh !! Look at this,...... Item number: 270219983030

Bit far though

Sonic'

Bit far for me too

Thats the one I have in the back living room

In the small one in the front living room I only have 2 polka dot loaches (the battle dances they do are great fun to watch) a Synodontis and a small Galaxy Plec

However where it is situated it gets a lot of algae on the glass and requires a lot of attention to keep it clean

In the 180 I have a 12" Ghost Knife Fish, 6" Synodontis, 1 clown loach one torpedo fish and a large common plec but where that is situated in the 2 years I have had it i have never cleaned the glass once

Position a tank away from any outside windows wherever you will get a lot of sun shining other algae build up on the glass can be a right pain to have to constantly clean

In terms of how many fish you can keep in a given tank is that it is based on fish inches (supoosed to be the final size of the fish, not the size you buy them at)

and is based on IIRC on the surface area of the tank

You can try this for a rough estimate

Thinkfish.co.uk - the tropical fish keeping resource

Although that one is based upon volume, which isnt always the best method as thesedays we have very strange size & shape tanks

You can always add more fish than what the guidelines state but you will need to keep a closer eye on water levels using readily availble testing kits and upping the filtration, for example my Jewel 180 has the built in filtration plus I have a Fluval 4 and Fluval 2 filter plus an air wall to keep the water oxygenated and the fish all seem to be quite happy

Snazy

Cheers mate, sounds to me like you will be hearing a lot more from me over the coming days.

Gonna keep it real for a while and get the Rekord 60. Should be more than enough for now. Only going to be getting lil fishy, but know what you mean about final size.
Based on things Neon Tetra sized, any idea of numbers ?

Any pointers where is best to look up building a community, what to mix and numbers ? lol

Will be making sure they are looked after whatever happens. And not getting a load just to look pretty

Just seen the link, thanks
Stocking Level in cms: 54
Stocking Level in inches: 21.259842519685



NOTE: The figure suggested is based on correct maintenance, water quality monitoring, and feeding regimes and is based on small to medium sized fish. Unusual or large fish which may produce more waste will require more space. For instance an aquarium of around 150x45x45cm, which has a stocking level of between 300-600cm would house a pair of large oscars and a large catfish (about 120cm of stocking space) and no more. On the other hand, a shoal of 200 small Neons (stocking level 800cm) would have plenty of room in the same aquarium.
For more information please read our article on Stocking Levels

Sonic'

No worries

Was going to say about Neon's they dont grow more than about an inch at the most, so yes in the 60 you could have a smallish schoal of them

one of the main things about mixing breeds is that you dont want fish that have mouths neon size otherwise you could find a lot of fish mysteriously disappear

I used to go on a fishkeeping forum but for the life of me I cant remember the name but they are very helpful on there and have lots of advice and tips on keeping breeds together

Contrary to popular believe Plecs dont really keep your glass clean either my large common plec has a suck on the glass occaisonally but doesnt actualy clean it

Siamese Fighting fish arent too bad, look good but definatly cannot be mixed with other Siamese fighting fish other wise death will occur pretty quickly

Also try not to put too many fish in at once and try and get some bio enzyme stuff for helping to start the tank cycling

Also something else to bear in mind is that some fish really should be with multiples, like Clown loaches best having 4 or 5 of those, but then they grow to 12 inches so need a large tank

I would really recommend 2 or 3 Polka Dot loaches they look reasonable and are incredibly entertaining to watch, quite cheap and dont grow very big ( a few inches)

Movies of tropical fish

to see them in action

Snazy

Cheers mate, your a star. Yup would get groups anyway, not just one of each
Neons are a must as I have always loved them, then a few pairs of different suitable varieties too.

If you have any other thoughts, fire away, im all ears

Spec'c'57

iTrader: (1)

we have a juwel vision 450...

Snazy

Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet !
Jammy sod

Snazy

Definatly going for a Juwel Rekord 60 for now. Found one on Ebay for £89 plus £9 postage. Thats a 60, stand and accessories, for £98...
It seems a good price, any thoughts?

Oh and I have a £7.50 voucher for Ebay too so that makes it £91 delivered

Clarebabes

I've got a Juwel 125 litre and have a variety of fish in there.

The website you want is: Practical Fishkeeping magazine | the number one aquarium fish magazine in the UK

There is a very good forum on there which will be able to answer most of your questions.

Keeping tropical fish is a learning curve. I had some problems in the beginning with mine, but what with help from the guys on here and the guys on the other forum, I've got through and now really enjoy my fish.

Neons are great fish, but maybe have half neons and half zebra danios or something. They have different personalities I think.

Tam the bam

Snaz this is a fantastic wee bbs Tropical Fish Centre - Powered by vBulletin I've managed to get answers to loads of problems just by using the search facility which is free to all users

Juwel vision 260 owner

Clarebabes

This thread may help also:

https://www.scoobynet.com/non-scooby...ical-fish.html

53

iTrader: (41)

If your tank is in the living room quite often you can get away with neons and the like with no thermostat. I run a huge tropical tank set up in the garage and it never drops below 19 and the water is a couple of degrees above that. Unheated.

Snazy

Woohoo cheers guys.
Clare, I was thinking lots of neons and a few other varieties

I shall check out the links given asap, so thank you to all. In the meantime, in currently hoping that Ebay might come up trumps Lets see though lol.

Snazy

Yay, just won a Juwel Rio 180 Used but complete. Just got to see how it looks now
Bonus, won it for £94 but got £7.50 with Ebay vouchers so thats £86.50

For a 180 litre tank lol

Now just hope its actually in good working order.

Fishies here I come.

Tam the bam

Nice one, hope it's all in good order

Good luck

Sonic'

nice one Snazy

thats the one I have, does it have the base unit as well ?

Tam the bam

Here's a wee pic of my tank (sorry it's a bit crappy quality) it was taken a good few months ago, so now there is more fish different decoration/plants/background etc. but you get the idea.

Snazy

Sonic, yeah base unit as well

Nice pic Tam, what ya got in there?
I now have 180 litres volume to fill instead of 60 .....oops!
Time to recalculate to populate lol