Closest to best aquarium setup for my needs?
While I’m not going to jump on this right now, I want to start collecting information. I am a “water” person, and being near water has good effects on my mood — except, well, I live in a desert now. :/ SO, I’ve been considering looking to have an aquarium of some sort – this is primarily to help my mood at home.
- I already have other animals, including dogs and cats. Fish are not exactly my cup of tea (I used to do a lot of catfishing as a kid and they’d always cut me or bite me…lol), but I like the looks and sounds of aquariums. To this end, I need something as low maintenance or self-sustaining as possible.
- I work very long nights and end up sleeping throughout the day. This makes me a night creature. Nocturnal things are cool.
- I’m not rich. 
I also move semi-frequently, and do not have a huge amount of room. I am working with an apartment that will either always been a 1-bedroom or studio, so enormous wall-sized aquariums won’t work well.
- I’m a beginner, and fish care seems to be one of those few things I can’t just rely on my common sense for.
- I like “pretty” things (okay, I know that’s a stupid statement, but I have weird reactions to various kinds of fish). Prefer sleek things (think shark morphology) rather than things that look like they’ll cut my hand off (spiny fish or exaggerated features). Glowing colors are nice (remember, I like the night), but poisonous colors are not (“dangerous” uses of colors and markings — yes, I’m just like a predator and these unnerve me).
- I like life and diversity. Live plants and self-contained ecosystems… I have always been a sucker for biology, and studying this stuff intrigues me.
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From what ive read you want something pretty colorful and low maintenance.
I would go with a 20 gallon tank, its just big enough to support many types of fish and its not gonna take a lot of space.
Fish wise: you can choose to have a lot of small but colorful fish like neon tetras(with the right lighting they have amazing colors) and a school of these are amazing.
Flame tetra,whiteskirt tetra,glowlight tetra,lemon tetra,bleeding heart tetra are also colorful and pretty and look amazing in shoals.( you can have all of these in the same tank as long as u dont overstock)
Betta splendors are beautiful colorful fish that have distinct personalities.
Gold gouramis are very distinct and come in many color variations like yellow and blue and can live in a 20 gallon tank.
Guppies are amazing especially the males are very colorful.
Mollies are very colorful and active fish.
I would advise not getting any cichlids since you can only keep one fish in a tank(if ur gonna get a 20 gallon)
Corrys, ottos are very fun fish meaning they move around a lot and eat algae.
If you want something bigger like a 55 gallon your options increase significantly and u can get fish like the albino rainbow shark, clown loach, senegal bichir(very primitive looking fish, its nicknamed dragonfish), there are a million possibilities of fish selection i gave you a few
Live plants should be “Low light plants” meaning they dont require much light such as java fern, java moss, water wisteria (these plants are very undemanding and should be fine with regular fluorescent lights), google low light plants to see your options.
Before adding fish to an aquarium there should be a process called cycling!! very important for the survival of your fish heres a link:
Water should be dechlorinated with a dechlorinator which u can buy at any pet store
I came up with two possibilities
First:
- 2 feet x 1 foot x 1 foot tank gives you roughly 10 gallons, and 2 feet x 1 feet stands are very easy to find.
- Make the bottom a mixture of fertilizer and sand.
- Stick some plants in there – real ones. If real plants are too expensive for you, ditch the fertilizer in the earlier step and resolve to plastic plants.
- Get about 10 glowlight tetras, or any other small glow in the dark fish (10 of them). Don’t get them all at once. Let the tank run for a days, and stick in 2 per week till you reach 10.
Second:
- 5 gallon tank (so half of what I posted before)
- Again bottom sand + fertilizer (actually, gravel will do also…)
- Stick 1 tall leafy plant in there – for this fish you need a real plant – plastic plants can result in his fins getting caught in them –
- Get 1 male Siamese fighter fish. Commonly called a Betta. This is a good set up for him.
Of course you will need a few extra things, like filters, heaters, a net to catch your fish, and real plants will need some lighting. You also need water conditioner, blah blah.
The learning curve is slightly steep and that’s why I just posted the setup and not everything else. You need some research before you get started. But make sure you google these:
- Setting up a tank
- Cycling a tank / Nitrogen cycle
- The basics of the fish you choose
Also, whatever fish you choose, remember the bio load of the fish. For small fish, a 1 inch fish needs 1 gallon of water. Don’t overstock the tank – no matter how tempted you are or no matter what the pet shop guys tell you. They just want to sell their fish. You’ll end up killing more fish if you overstock.
Good luck!
Ok, if you move a lot, maybe an aquarium isn’t for you. Water is surprisingly heavy – about a kilo a litre. Mine weighs the same as I do and it’s not very big so it would need to be emptied to move it. This aside, if you’re not moving for a while, an aquarium is a great idea. You can get colorful gravel and special lights that bring out the colors of fish. Because you’re new to fishkeeping I’d suggest tropical fish because they’re generally easier to look after and they’re cheaper. Some examples of colorful small tropical fish are: cardinal tetras and neon tetras (which need to be kept on groups of at least 6), Siamese fighting fish (which need to be kept only with other siamese fighting fish), dwarf gourami, and certain types of platy (they come in many colours).
If you know a good fish supplier, they will be able to recommend some more that are suitable for whichever aquarium you decide to buy.
Also, plants are good in aquariums. You can get very realistic artificial ones as well if plant growing isn’t your thing, but you can get many pretty colors. A really good background will also improve the look of your aquarium. You can buy them or make one of your own, if you’re artistic. Some are even 3D that go inside the aquarium.
Hope this is helpful, good luck.