Thinking about getting myself some fish and starting to build up a nice little aquarium.

Im gonna chuck an advert up on Freecycle to see if anyone has any tanks going or indeed browsing the local paper/eBay to find something second hand (in an effort to save money).

Ive read that there can be dangers of disease/bacteria with used tanks so was wondering is it OK to thoroughly clean the tank out with something like Milton to sterilise it or will this end up causing harm to my little fishes?

Im guessing some little tropical fish will be the best to start off with? I really would love a marine tank with some coral but Im assuming that will result not only in increased cost but will need experience too?

Anyone know much about nano-aquariums? Are they a lot of work as well?

Thanks

Hi

If you are near Surrey I have the following I would like to get rid of due to a new larger tank. As long as you clean out a tank properly, set it up and leave it running for a weel or so to settle you’ll be fine.

The tank measures 30″*12″*15″ The lid had a light unit in it and it comes with an Eheim Classic external filter and all the pipework. Basically everything you need as a starter set up minus some gravel. £60

email is in profile if you want anything more

Cheers

Mike

I’ve never had trouble with second-hand tanks, but then I never found the cost of new tanks particularly prohibitive.

Having said that, cleanliness is a must – as you would expect.

As far as choice of fish goes, I would look at magazines or online at the sorts of things that interest you. Neon tetras are a staple, as are red-tail black sharks. Gouramis are nice, while I never had much luck with angels. I’d get started on a fresh water tropical tank to see if I liked it; then move on to salt with more experience.

Red Tailed sharks arent really an ideal community fish though.
As for Cleaning used tanks, just fill it with raw tapwater before adding any dechlorinator or the like, and it will kill any bugs in there. I also use a UV steriliser, but only to combat bloat in my tropheus.
Milton wouldnt be too bad, but you’d have to rinse thoroughly with water afterward, and there is enough chlorine/chloramine in that to kill anything you’d be bothered by.
As for Nano..remember youre not really keeping fish, your keeping water, and larger volumes have a better buffering capacity against everything, the bigger the better for newcomers.

Michael – thanks for the offer but Im too far away to be able to collect (based in Teesside).

Fish wise Im quite keen on Angel fish and the Siamese Fighting fish. Ive got a couple of books from my local aquarium about what fish are the best to get in a community tank. Slowly working my way through both books and theyre quite an eye opener.

Thanks for the info so far, its all really useful stuff (as I literally am a total newcomer to this)

Angelfish are fairly easy to keep, bearing in mind they are cichlids and active piscivores when given the chance.
Most Common Bettas, in fact most common labyrinthfish (paradise fish, gourami’s, fighters) are extremely hardy, and compared to many fish, can withstand a wide range of water conditions due to being able to (in fact needind to) breath atmospheric air also.
Wouldnt advise keeping angels with any thing with flowing fins however.

Hmm, tough choice then between the Bettas and the Angelfish as I really like both 😀

Are Plecs (random sucker thingys) a worth addition to a tank or are they pretty useless?

Thanks for your advice, I really appreciate it

Don’t get a Plec. The most common species that you find in aquarium shops grow absolutely massive. They are really not suitable for small tanks. If you want something to keep down green algae on glass and plants then Otocinclus are excellent.

I had the bug bad, real bad, only a wife and child cured it. At one time I had marine, brackish and tropical around the house. Here is my plant tank and my leader of 12 clown loaches. Had 200 cardinal tetra in there too. You can go very technical when dealing with planted tanks, substrates, CO2 tanks, shrimps to clean plants are key and RO water. A certain Mr Takashi Amano is king of this.
My single piece of advice is to have lots of the same small fish in a tank and avoid the temptation to fill it like the Ark, lots of two of this, two of that. Start with Guppies or mollies.

yep but it appears that I am not very successfull, even fish goldfish :'(