| FISH! FISH! FISH! | |
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HoodieCrow Warmed up
Posts : 1116 Join date : 2009-10-24 Age : 112
| Subject: FISH! FISH! FISH! Wed 23 Mar 2011, 6:57 pm | |
| Ok, I know very little about fishkeeping in general, so anyone with expertise please weigh in.
I want to set up a little 5 gallon tank for my son. Probably guppies. Aside from that, I'm lost.
How many fish? Best 5 gallon? Filter? Lights?
Any other species suggestions? (I wan't to stay away from Bettas, because I'd like a schooling fish for him.)
Thanks! | |
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yorkiemom Moderator
Posts : 11982 Join date : 2009-10-21
| Subject: Re: FISH! FISH! FISH! Wed 23 Mar 2011, 10:41 pm | |
| Heres what I know is that you will start out with a few guppies and end up with more than you can count in a short time.
No matter what you do when you set up your fish tank you need to put some cheap fish in it to stablize it,they usually reccomend feeder gold fish,
do not clean your tank with soapy water | |
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mcpug Warmed up
Posts : 468 Join date : 2010-04-28 Location : London Ontario
| Subject: Re: FISH! FISH! FISH! Wed 23 Mar 2011, 10:47 pm | |
| Yes I have fish lol
You need to set up the tank, for a 5 gal you can probably use just a sponge filter (you can make your own with one of those bubble blower things and a plastic bottle, its all over youtube if you look it up).
You need to cycle the tank (get the good bacteria built up) google cycleing new fish tank, or you can do this with fish but they will probably die because its really hard on them.
Guppies would be fine, I have a bunch of babies you can have if you want (before my other fish eat them)
Real plants help but its a pain especially for only a 5 gallon...... whats really cool and you can keep a lot of them is cherry shrimp or even ghost shrimp (but the cherry shimp are smaller and more colorful). You could probably keep 10 or 20 in a 5 gallon.... I think I have 1... I bought a bunch for my A spenden tank and they ate most of them but there are a few hiding...... they are really neat to watch.
As far as other species with a 5 gal you are very limited so guppies is a good choice unless you wanted to go with shrimp or an african dwarf frog.
I keep 2 species of endangered/wild fish (A splendens and Montezume Swords), I would offer you some of there babies as well but 5 gal is not big enough.... | |
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yorkiemom Moderator
Posts : 11982 Join date : 2009-10-21
| Subject: Re: FISH! FISH! FISH! Wed 23 Mar 2011, 10:50 pm | |
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mcpug Warmed up
Posts : 468 Join date : 2010-04-28 Location : London Ontario
| Subject: Re: FISH! FISH! FISH! Wed 23 Mar 2011, 10:51 pm | |
| - yorkiemom wrote:
- Mcpug nice to see you
Nice to see you too, even though I do not post much I do read this forum almost daily Just to make sure eatamouse is behaving herself lol | |
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yorkiemom Moderator
Posts : 11982 Join date : 2009-10-21
| Subject: Re: FISH! FISH! FISH! Wed 23 Mar 2011, 10:52 pm | |
| didn't mean to hijack the thread,but just had to say "hi" | |
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kbullet Moderator
Posts : 2896 Join date : 2009-10-23 Age : 40 Location : Windsor, ON
| Subject: Re: FISH! FISH! FISH! Thu 24 Mar 2011, 9:51 am | |
| I miss you Mcpug.. you need to post more!
My vote is for the frog LOL | |
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HoodieCrow Warmed up
Posts : 1116 Join date : 2009-10-24 Age : 112
| Subject: Re: FISH! FISH! FISH! Thu 24 Mar 2011, 11:25 am | |
| - mcpug wrote:
- Yes I have fish lol
You need to set up the tank, for a 5 gal you can probably use just a sponge filter (you can make your own with one of those bubble blower things and a plastic bottle, its all over youtube if you look it up).
You need to cycle the tank (get the good bacteria built up) google cycleing new fish tank, or you can do this with fish but they will probably die because its really hard on them.
Guppies would be fine, I have a bunch of babies you can have if you want (before my other fish eat them)
Real plants help but its a pain especially for only a 5 gallon...... whats really cool and you can keep a lot of them is cherry shrimp or even ghost shrimp (but the cherry shimp are smaller and more colorful). You could probably keep 10 or 20 in a 5 gallon.... I think I have 1... I bought a bunch for my A spenden tank and they ate most of them but there are a few hiding...... they are really neat to watch.
As far as other species with a 5 gal you are very limited so guppies is a good choice unless you wanted to go with shrimp or an african dwarf frog.
I keep 2 species of endangered/wild fish (A splendens and Montezume Swords), I would offer you some of there babies as well but 5 gal is not big enough.... Thank you Mcpug! I never thought of shrimp. Would they do ok with the Guppies? I have the opportunity to buy a used Eclipse bowfront 5 gal with built in filter... the light is broken, which I'm kind of bummed about. Is this a good system? The asking price is $30. Is that fair in your opinion? Thank you for offering some fry! Not sure how I'd get them to me though. :/ | |
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mcpug Warmed up
Posts : 468 Join date : 2010-04-28 Location : London Ontario
| Subject: Re: FISH! FISH! FISH! Thu 24 Mar 2011, 12:45 pm | |
| Yes if you like it go for it!
I have a 30 gal and a 50 gal but if you want guppies and shrimp a 5 gal is fine (stick to male guppies only though because they are smaller and you wont get 30 fry a month from the females, they can actually store sperm so even if you buy only females chances are they are pregnant and will keep having babies....... and eventually they stop eating the babies lol)
You will need to add a sponge or something to the intake of the filter for the shrimp and the shrimp also have live babies (very cool to watch the babies attack to the leggs and then get kicked off lol) but if you mix with guppies the guppies will take care of the babies.
Its actually quite easy to ship fish if you want my guppies (I am not sure of their sex as they are in my ameca tank which is not heated, they grow quite slowly in cold water so they are quite small). | |
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mcpug Warmed up
Posts : 468 Join date : 2010-04-28 Location : London Ontario
| Subject: Re: FISH! FISH! FISH! Thu 24 Mar 2011, 5:53 pm | |
| - kbullet wrote:
- I miss you Mcpug.. you need to post more!
My vote is for the frog LOL They are kind of ugly lol | |
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kbullet Moderator
Posts : 2896 Join date : 2009-10-23 Age : 40 Location : Windsor, ON
| Subject: Re: FISH! FISH! FISH! Thu 24 Mar 2011, 8:22 pm | |
| - mcpug wrote:
- kbullet wrote:
- I miss you Mcpug.. you need to post more!
My vote is for the frog LOL They are kind of ugly lol
There is no such thing as an ugly frog! Except maybe the one on my butt in an other 50 years. :lol: | |
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Jerseyfivedogs Warmed up
Posts : 6583 Join date : 2010-04-28
| Subject: Re: FISH! FISH! FISH! Thu 24 Mar 2011, 8:43 pm | |
| You will need to post pics of that frog in 50 years bullet. :lol: | |
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yorkiemom Moderator
Posts : 11982 Join date : 2009-10-21
| Subject: Re: FISH! FISH! FISH! Thu 24 Mar 2011, 9:01 pm | |
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kbullet Moderator
Posts : 2896 Join date : 2009-10-23 Age : 40 Location : Windsor, ON
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Kewl Chick Moderator
Posts : 4833 Join date : 2010-01-26 Age : 48 Location : ON █ ♥ █
| Subject: Re: FISH! FISH! FISH! Thu 24 Mar 2011, 9:37 pm | |
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HoodieCrow Warmed up
Posts : 1116 Join date : 2009-10-24 Age : 112
| Subject: Re: FISH! FISH! FISH! Thu 24 Mar 2011, 10:13 pm | |
| - yorkiemom wrote:
- I want to see it NOW
I've seen it. In person. You can be jealous now. | |
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HoodieCrow Warmed up
Posts : 1116 Join date : 2009-10-24 Age : 112
| Subject: Re: FISH! FISH! FISH! Thu 24 Mar 2011, 10:13 pm | |
| - kbullet wrote:
- I miss you Mcpug.. you need to post more!
My vote is for the frog LOL I'm kind of into the fish idea. I figured you'd vote the frog though. | |
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kbullet Moderator
Posts : 2896 Join date : 2009-10-23 Age : 40 Location : Windsor, ON
| Subject: Re: FISH! FISH! FISH! Fri 25 Mar 2011, 6:18 am | |
| - HoodieCrow wrote:
- kbullet wrote:
- I miss you Mcpug.. you need to post more!
My vote is for the frog LOL I'm kind of into the fish idea. I figured you'd vote the frog though. You know me so well <3 | |
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yorkiemom Moderator
Posts : 11982 Join date : 2009-10-21
| Subject: Re: FISH! FISH! FISH! Fri 25 Mar 2011, 10:42 am | |
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HoodieCrow Warmed up
Posts : 1116 Join date : 2009-10-24 Age : 112
| Subject: Re: FISH! FISH! FISH! Wed 30 Mar 2011, 5:27 pm | |
| So, upon doing some reading I discover that:
a) Anything under 10 gallons is twice as much work and b) Guppies are almost as dirty as goldfish
so... I'm not in the market for a 10 gallon set up for a Betta, some shrimp and maybe a few neon tetras. :/
I really wanted a smaller set-up, but I also want to keep it clean and healthy without a ton of maintenance.
I've been perusing online ads, but haven't had any luck. There are a few entire set-ups including fish, but they aren't species I want.
Boo. | |
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mcpug Warmed up
Posts : 468 Join date : 2010-04-28 Location : London Ontario
| Subject: Re: FISH! FISH! FISH! Wed 30 Mar 2011, 6:54 pm | |
| - HoodieCrow wrote:
- So, upon doing some reading I discover that:
a) Anything under 10 gallons is twice as much work and b) Guppies are almost as dirty as goldfish
so... I'm not in the market for a 10 gallon set up for a Betta, some shrimp and maybe a few neon tetras. :/
I really wanted a smaller set-up, but I also want to keep it clean and healthy without a ton of maintenance.
I've been perusing online ads, but haven't had any luck. There are a few entire set-ups including fish, but they aren't species I want.
Boo. yup the larger the tank the easier it is to care for/set up. Have you looked at endler guppies? (they are about half if 1/4 the size of fancy guppies) They are smaller sometimes hard to find but they are the wild version of the fancy guppy you see in pet stores, if you really want to get exotic you can get them in all sorts of flavors but essentially they look like this... I don't find guppies dirty at all, in fact they are quite hardy and neat to watch. You can't mix betas with anything (safely) except shrimp or frogs (no other fish), but I don't keep betas so I really don't have experience with them | |
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yorkiemom Moderator
Posts : 11982 Join date : 2009-10-21
| Subject: Re: FISH! FISH! FISH! Wed 30 Mar 2011, 7:03 pm | |
| Yes Mcpug,you can mix 1 beta with other fish,you cannot mix male betas together they will fight,but get along quite well with other fish | |
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HoodieCrow Warmed up
Posts : 1116 Join date : 2009-10-24 Age : 112
| Subject: Re: FISH! FISH! FISH! Wed 30 Mar 2011, 9:07 pm | |
| - mcpug wrote:
- HoodieCrow wrote:
- So, upon doing some reading I discover that:
a) Anything under 10 gallons is twice as much work and b) Guppies are almost as dirty as goldfish
so... I'm not in the market for a 10 gallon set up for a Betta, some shrimp and maybe a few neon tetras. :/
I really wanted a smaller set-up, but I also want to keep it clean and healthy without a ton of maintenance.
I've been perusing online ads, but haven't had any luck. There are a few entire set-ups including fish, but they aren't species I want.
Boo. yup the larger the tank the easier it is to care for/set up.
Have you looked at endler guppies? (they are about half if 1/4 the size of fancy guppies) They are smaller sometimes hard to find but they are the wild version of the fancy guppy you see in pet stores, if you really want to get exotic you can get them in all sorts of flavors but essentially they look like this...
I don't find guppies dirty at all, in fact they are quite hardy and neat to watch.
You can't mix betas with anything (safely) except shrimp or frogs (no other fish), but I don't keep betas so I really don't have experience with them They are so pretty! I'll have to try and find some. How many of these Guppies to a 7 gallon? I read that Bettas can live peaceably with some small catfish (Corys, for example), Plecos and Neon Tetras? I'd like to stay away from the Corys and Plecos... I was thinking Tetras because they school. As for tank/algae maintenance I want to do some Ghost Shrimp and maybe snails too. We actually scored a nice bowfront 7 gallon with hood, light and filter for free. Now I'm looking into the right kind of heater and anything else we need. [/quote] Er... it's a 5 gallon. Not 7. If I can't find endlers, how does this sound for stocking the 5 gallon? -betta (maybe a female?) -4 neons -two ghost shrimp -one zebra snail I keep reading conflicting information. Would that be overstocking or within the perameters? | |
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HoodieCrow Warmed up
Posts : 1116 Join date : 2009-10-24 Age : 112
| Subject: Re: FISH! FISH! FISH! Mon 04 Apr 2011, 10:55 pm | |
| Looking all over for Endlers Livebearers and have come up empty handed. I e-mailed a few ads out near Toronto to see if they'd ship within Ontario but I don't have high hopes...
I'm pretty set on them after reading up on the species. *continues to look* | |
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mcpug Warmed up
Posts : 468 Join date : 2010-04-28 Location : London Ontario
| Subject: Re: FISH! FISH! FISH! Tue 05 Apr 2011, 12:09 pm | |
| hoodie its the perfect time of year to have fish shipped, trust me I had all my fish shipped in from across Canada, my swords came from Edmonton in the dead of winter and all survived.
Check aquabid.com, they usually have a wide variety of endlers, the shipping can be expensive but endlers will multiply quickly and you can probably sell them to local fish shops for a decent price.
Not sure where you are from but see if there is a local aquarium society, i am sure you could find endlers there as well, they are a very popular fish with "fish people" | |
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