Aquarium set up ideas

manisinghb

manisinghb

manisinghb

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12 Apr 2009
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627
Hi guys
So I've had my fish tank empty for quite a while now finally decided to set it up again but doing something now I didn't do in the past - research!

I'm still debating on whether to get marine vs freshwater fish. I think the marine would be a nice setup but I know will be more costly and hardwork versus freshwater so for now I'm happy with the freshwater concept but I'm waiting to see if anyone can talk me around it yet?

So as for freshwater fish, firstly are there any ideas you guys can give in terms of a nice collection of fish to put in the tank? It is a medium sized tank. I'm looking for vibrant coloured fish that are easy to maintain and also some other creatures that can help keep the aquarium clean (eg snails etc).

And finally, I'm going for an ancient Roman/Atlantis theme, any good shops I can get decoration from? And any insight into covering the back glass pane with a black background?

Many thanks in advance :)
 
We have had 2 fish tanks, which hosted a variety of different species of fish.

Our local shop had everything we needed for the tank:

- Ornaments/decoration (I remember seeing pillars being common, so will fit your theme)
- Black background (We grabbed this for like £3?)
- Water treatment for the marine water fish we had.

We grabbed 2 syamese fighters, 2 angel fish, around 15 neons, 3 'sucker' fish (Are they actually named that I can't remember, they cleaned the place though), 2 previous gold fish & a couple frogs.

The marine fish are definitely a beauty to look at!
 
BYTEr said:
How big is your tank exactly?
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I can't tell you exactly will measure it up tonight. My guess though is 30-50L?

At the moment I've looked at neons, assorted platy, Siamese fighting, harlequin, leopard danio, black lace angelfish, endler's guppy, koi angel, mono Argentus, Betta, tiger barb, crown tail Betta and endler's live bearer.

I know it's a big list just looking at species at the moment!
 
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manisinghb said:
I can't tell you exactly will measure it up tonight. My guess though is 30-50L?

At the moment I've looked at neons, assorted platy, Siamese fighting, harlequin, leopard danio, black lace angelfish, endler's guppy, koi angel, mono Argentus, Betta, tiger barb, crown tail Betta and endler's live bearer.

I know it's a big list just looking at species at the moment!
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30-50L is quite small, even most tetra's need at least 65 litres, I'd really research the care requirements of any fish your looking at getting.

A tank that small I'd be looking at a single male betta, or some shrimp.
 
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I used to love fish tanks. Sadly, I no longer miss it. Maintaining 10, 30 and 40 gallon tanks for 8 years became tiresome.

They were such a joy to watch though. Truly. So lush having a planted aquarium and the lovely pea gravel. So cosy to watch at night and fall asleep to. The clown fish really loved the air bubble stones. They loved playing in them. Coco had his own castle and underground tubes. :D
 
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Remember Siamese fighting fish one male only and any kind of Barbs will destroy their fins. I used to even out where the fish liked swimming, Zebra Danio like to swim near the top, Clown Loach at the bottom, as may Neon Tetra as you can, a Red Tailed shark both for the middle.

If I were to do it again I would have a very heavily planted tank using C02, the water changes, the commitment and cost of Marine has always put me off. Go on holiday for two weeks and you can bet the neighbour will have done something wrong.

Tropical a lot more forgiving and I did read somewhere that if ever you have given your tropical fish a treatment that contains "copper" I think it was then it can reside in the silicon seals and is deadly to certain marines. Check that out first as it was something I read and it put me off buying a second hand tank once.
 
manisinghb said:
I can't tell you exactly will measure it up tonight. My guess though is 30-50L?

At the moment I've looked at neons, assorted platy, Siamese fighting, harlequin, leopard danio, black lace angelfish, endler's guppy, koi angel, mono Argentus, Betta, tiger barb, crown tail Betta and endler's live bearer.

I know it's a big list just looking at species at the moment!
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Relatively few fish species can live in a 54l 60x30x30cm for life, they are either far too active (danios; Harlequins; Platy), nippy (Tiger Barbs; Platy) or grow too large (Angelfish) for such tanks.

Schooling fish like Neon Tetras do far better in 10+ groups, a single group of which would almost fully stock such a tank, bar a singleton/pair of something else.
 
I have a marine tank and have kept coldwater and tropical.

You are going to struggle to keep and maintain anything marine in such a small tank. My first marine tank was 110l and it was such hard work, with marine the water specs are easier to maintain with a bigger tank, even then it can be a hassle and very expensive.

For a proper marine setup you are looking at well over £1k for decent lights, pumps live rock, live sand and various other stuff. Also you want a tank with a sump for Marine otherwise it is a weekly battle for water specs.

My advise, go tropical. But you are still limited to the amount of fish you can have in a 50l.
 
It's okay as a starter tank, you can always increase in size as the fish grow.

Have you thought about fancies? They have awesome personalities.
 
gillywibble said:
It's okay as a starter tank, you can always increase in size as the fish grow.

Have you thought about fancies? They have awesome personalities.
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As in "fancy goldfish?" Not even close to being suitable if the OP's guestimate is in the correct ballpark in terms of volume, 100l for a singleton and 50l per additional specimen, these fish have way more bioload than a large group of Neon Tetras.

Golden rule of fishkeeping: Get the tank that can house a species for life, then buy the fish. Stuff happens in life that prevents those theoretical future tank upgrades, resulting in poor stunted specimens with a low quality of life.
 
OP sounds like you are new to fishkeeping?
Start with tropical ,marine will be too much to start off with(no offence intended)
Dad did the whole marine thing a few years ago.Started out looking good,but cost wise:eek:(Many thousands)
Need quite large tanks,slat,lighting,heating,filtration
VERY EXPENSIVE to do and maintain properly and livestock is a lot more than tropical.you nearly cry when a prize £50 fish is found next morning on the floor(happened twice)
You can get marine starter kits but they are a bit meh:)
 
Good god, how is this possible? http://ugly-animals.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/pleco.html

I had two of these that wouldn't stop growing. Had them when they were only like 2 inches. At the end I was getting to the stage of getting scared to go into the tank. Not only were they easily spooked, they were so bloody fast!

I had to give them away to Deep Sea World. They were 15 inches and still growing when I gave them away.
 
Neons are always a good start. They live for ages and were Mainstays in our tank as long as we had it, while other species died out. I'd suggest avoiding Barb's (Ruby Barbs and Tiger Barbs) as they tend to be quite aggressive and aggravate all the fish in the tank (causing them to die faster).

Platies and Guppies are good starter fish but they multiply like anything!

(We had a tank a few years back, but the contents died out when we had to move them due to redecoration.)
 
Beautiful the colours on guppies and the way the tails shimmer. They're jumpy little things as well.

 
OP, have a look through here.
Already a thread on aquariums and ideas to help you.

For an aquarium your size and for ease as a novice, I'd probably stick with the colourful male guppies (no females to prevent population explosion) and a trio of corydoras cat fish. Maybe a several small algae eaters later on such as otocinclus.
 
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His tank is too small.. I really do think he is looking at a single male betta or shrimp, I wouldn't stick anything else in there.
 
V F said:
Good god, how is this possible? http://ugly-animals.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/pleco.html

I had two of these that wouldn't stop growing. Had them when they were only like 2 inches. At the end I was getting to the stage of getting scared to go into the tank. Not only were they easily spooked, they were so bloody fast!

I had to give them away to Deep Sea World. They were 15 inches and still growing when I gave them away.
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plecs are a great addition to any tank,

although vegetarian my backside, our plec used to eat other fish quite happily. ended up with just him and a couple of large angels eventually.
 
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