Aquarium first timer. Advice please

[Grimspoon]

So I am thinking of getting a fish tank / aquarium. I'll be honest, I have no clue what I am doing. Last time I had a fish tank was probably 20 years ago. I have 2 koi ponds which I love but would like something inside.
I've heard of the boyu aquariums. Are they any good? What should consider for a first tank? How much am in for? What fish should I get?

 

[Drifter]

Size determines price. Start with a normal Tropical Aquarium. Do research, there is a wealth of information on the web. Warning though, its not cheap

 

[biometrics]

It's a lot of effort. My advice: don't.

 

[Pooky]

It's a lot of effort. My advice: don't.

This definitely.

 

[MyWorld]

There is a bit of a science behind all this, and there are so many decisions to make that will affect your long term goal.

I would very strongly suggest you speak to a reputable dealer and get advice straight from the horses mouth.
For starters, your tank needs to build up bacteria and whatnot, and to get this right is critical to the fish's survival, you have to clean it a certain manner to keep some of that bacteria alive, etc, etc.

Another thing that I learned the hard way, you should decide now what type of fish you want as well, apart from salt water fish (don't know to much about it), fresh water fish fall into two categories, "friendly" and "hostile".

We made the mistake years ago to go for the "friendlier" fish since they are much easier to raise and you have a much lower mortality rate. The down side is that these fish tend not to be so pretty and colourful as the more aggressive fish.
The aggressive fish are much prettier, but they tend to fight a lot with each other for dominance of the tank and you end up replacing fish a couple of times (because the other fish were killed or crippled) until your tank settles and everyone signs a peace treaty.

We mixed the two in the beginning and all that was left after two weeks (of 12 fish) was the algae eater and one of the more aggressive fish. For example, the fish that caused us the trouble was a Dwarf Gourami. It chased the more docile fish around the aquarium and at first we thought this lively and entertaining. But one after another the fish died and after chatting to the local expert he informed us that the Gourami was chasing the other fish to exhaustion and that is why they die. I had to put an end to it, most beautiful fish, but it killed of my entire tank, twice.
All in all we went through around +/- 30 fish until we had a stable aquarium.

After this we switched over to the more friendlier fish and our tank has been stable going 5 years now. I'm a bit disappointed we did not stick it out with the more aggressive more colourful fish, but it will cost too much to switch over now and I do not want to kill off the fish we have now.

Yes I know, they can coexist, but that takes trial and error, a lot of luck and know-how to get the balance right.
This is very broad and like I said, go talk to a dealer who knows his stuff.

 

[tjiPPi]

I've had 2 marine tanks and 2 tropical tanks. I only have 1 tropical at the moment.

The boyu tanks are fine.
To run a tropical tank you just need a good filter (I use a canister filter), a flow pump to create water currents in the tank and a heater. My tank now is about 155L.

Maintenance on the tank is about every 2 to 4 weeks. It includes topping up the tank with fresh water and trimming the plants.
Every 8 months or so I'll clean the filter.

The tank is the most expensive. You can buy one or build your own. Tanks are from about R500 upwards iirc. You get some cheap filters but the better ones are from R900 iirc. Heaters are about R150. But it all depends on the size of the tank obviously.

Most tropical plants and fish go for anything from R5 upwards.

A tank needs to go through a cycle to establish a good balance of all the right bacteria. To get it started you can put the gravel, plants and water in the tank and put a small amount of fish flakes every 2 or 3 days in the tank for about a month. You can then add 1 fish. Give it about 3 weeks before add 1 or 2 more. Then after about every 2 weeks you can add more fish.

This is what I did and it worked out great. Had no fish deaths for more that a year.

 

[ponder]

I would very strongly suggest you speak to a reputable dealer and get advice straight from the horses mouth.

No, no, no. He'll walk out the shop 10-50k poorer.

Put this idea to rest for now and read up on what you are interested in for the next 3 months on online forums, ask for advice, tips etc.

You don't mention, whether you wanna go tropical, marine, reef etc. It's a hobby than can become very expensive. I had a 800L reef setup at one stage that went to crap one winter when my heaters failed and all the livestock died. I sold the whole setup to some poor church minister and life has been a lot less complicated since

 

[MyWorld]

I strongly disagree. You can get only so much info on the net. I our case the municipal water needed to be treated not just for chlorine, but it was a struggle to get the PH and bacteria levels right. The suggestion from the dealer, leave the water in a tub out in the sun for a day or two to kill off all the unwanted organisms, only a little cholrine treatment and that was that. Local knowledge is best as they can suggest what you need and what to try and what to avoid.

If you do not trust one shop, make a trip to a couiple more and ask them the same questions. I agree that a lot can be learned on the internet, but do not throw away local knowledge as well.

 

[ponder]

I strongly disagree. You can get only so much info on the net. I our case the municipal water needed to be treated not just for chlorine, but it was a struggle to get the PH and bacteria levels right. The suggestion from the dealer, leave the water in a tub out in the sun for a day or two to kill off all the unwanted organisms, only a little cholrine treatment and that was that. Local knowledge is best as they can suggest what you need and what to try and what to avoid.

If you do not trust one shop, make a trip to a couiple more and ask them the same questions. I agree that a lot can be learned on the internet, but do not throw away local knowledge as well.

There are some very good local forums which i would trust over any dealer wanting to make a sale.

 

[rorz0r]

There are some very good local forums which i would trust over any dealer wanting to make a sale.

+1. Usually the biggest newbie mistake is to ask the dealer, buy a whole lot of stuff THEN post/register on a forum only to find out they will be buying twice. Especially with marine, spend at least 3 months doing research.

 

[Albereth]

Buy the biggest tank you can afford. A big tank is easier than a small one.

Don't expect to put fish in it for about two weeks after setup the first time. You need to get the nitrogen cycle going. Google it you don't know what am talking about. You may need a sacrificial guppy or two. They may even survive.

Do you like plants? If you do then don't do Malawi cichlids.

Some fish are a lot more sensitive to water hardness, ph etc. some are less fussy. Easy fish are the live bearing ones. Guppies, platys, mollies, and swords. But they tend to swim at the top of the tank.

Neons are easy too but you need lots of them.

Angel fish are odd. They can get on with most but can also eat a few smaller fish. And if they pair up will be very aggressive to one another.

A plecostomus can be fun but they get big.

If you want a Siamese fighter don't have fish that nip fins (barbs)

There are some fish that you can only have one of. Algae eater springs to mind. When they are small they are okay but they do a highlander. There can only be one.

 

[biometrics]

Also, remember fish grow and mature. So you may start with two Oscars. They mature and start attacking each other so you get a second tank. They end up outgrowing the tanks bouncing off the sides. You either get bigger tanks or donate them to the fish shop. I gave up after 8 years.

It's a lot of effort when you least feel like it especially when things go wrong, and it will.

On the plus side a fish like an Oscar develops a personality and they do interact with you, so that's quite special.

 

[gregmcc]

It's a lot of effort. My advice: don't.

No its not. I have 2 freshwater tanks. Takes about an hour every 2 weeks changing the water and cleaning the tank. A freshwater tank is easy.

Marine tank, now that's a different story. I would first advise to go freshwater until you know what you what you are doing.

OP join an aquarium forum. The best one IMO is aquatic community. Loads of useful FAQs there.

 

[Mars]

Buy the biggest tank you can afford. A big tank is easier than a small one.

Don't expect to put fish in it for about two weeks after setup the first time. You need to get the nitrogen cycle going. Google it you don't know what am talking about. You may need a sacrificial guppy or two. They may even survive.

Do you like plants? If you do then don't do Malawi cichlids.

Some fish are a lot more sensitive to water hardness, ph etc. some are less fussy. Easy fish are the live bearing ones. Guppies, platys, mollies, and swords. But they tend to swim at the top of the tank.

Neons are easy too but you need lots of them.

Angel fish are odd. They can get on with most but can also eat a few smaller fish. And if they pair up will be very aggressive to one another.

A plecostomus can be fun but they get big.

If you want a Siamese fighter don't have fish that nip fins (barbs)

There are some fish that you can only have one of. Algae eater springs to mind. When they are small they are okay but they do a highlander. There can only be one.

That x 10000.

Its much easier to control the water in a big tank over a small one.

At the end of the day keeping fish is all about managing water.

 

[Grimspoon]

Wow thanks for all the replies. I was thinking of going for a small tank as I was under the impression it would be easier to maintain.

But if bigger is easier then maybe that's the way yo go.

 

[ponder]

What do you intend keeping? I must say if you go freshwater some of those planted aquariums look very nice with a few fish.

 

[ghostbuster]

1) Bigger the tank the better
2) Nitrogen Cycle
3) Choose fish before hand e.g. (African cichlid tank, South American tank, live fish, Oscars etc) research compatibility
4)Some fish needs Hard water (alkaline) or soft water (Acidic)
5) Do not put too many fish in especially in the early days.
6) lighting is important as a tank can looking stunning at night
7) Hav fun fish keeping is awesome

Maintenance is every week or 2 you can change uptp 20% of the water. Filters dont really need to be cleaned for a few months and when you do its just a rinse not a handy andy clean.

Do not overfeed your fish. You can even skimp on feeding a day or two as theyll eat any left over matter on the tank.

Plants look good but can be a hassle, and frequently carry snail eggs.

 

[Happy Camper]

Wow thanks for all the replies. I was thinking of going for a small tank as I was under the impression it would be easier to maintain.

But if bigger is easier then maybe that's the way yo go.

If you want (I see you live in Northern suburbs) pm me, you're welcome to pop round, I have a heap of 2nd hand stuff you could maybe make use of, even a free 3 foot tank (no stand nor canopy). I can teach you how to set up the perfect tank

 

[AstroTurf]

Wow thanks for all the replies. I was thinking of going for a small tank as I was under the impression it would be easier to maintain.

But if bigger is easier then maybe that's the way yo go.

Biggest you can get.
Bigger it is, less effort you have.

 

[Keegan]

Join a forum you will learn tons... I have a marine tank and learnt alot from joining Marine Aquarium SA.

http://www.tropicalaquarium.co.za/

http://www.marineaquariumsa.com/ - Please don't post anything about fresh water aquariums here, they will kill you lol.