Fish for a beginner

I am not sure if there is a thread about this, but any recommendations of fish to keep for a beginner? I am interested in getting tetra neons, but have read that they are not recommended for beginners. How true that is, I am not sure. I have a 58 liter Nano. Is it possible to stock with two or more species? I am going the planted tank route as well.

 

Hi Bri,

58l is a reasonable small tank, but a very good starting point, and I believe you will have a lot of fun. Please make sure you read up on how to cycle your tank before buying your first fish. And don't overstock. Rather start with 4 fish (in that size tank) and add to it every weekend.

Good fish for you to start off with:
Danio's are very hardy, can by rather rewarding too.
Molly's are also easy to keep. (They are traditionally Tropical water fish, but I know of people keeping molley's in marine tanks!)
Get 2 Angels (also relatively easy)
Guppies/swordtails are also relatively easy, and becuase they give birth once a month to live fry, they can be very rewarding. (Make sure you have at least 2 females to 1 male).

In general if your water perameters are good and healthy, you can keep quite a large variety of fish. Go and find a thread on this forum called "fish to avoid as a newbie".... and then take the advice, and AVOID THOSE FISH!

Tell us more about your set up? Substrate, lighting, equipment. When have you set up? When do you plan on introducing fish?

 

http://www.tropicalaquarium.co.za/showthread.php?t=111

http://www.tropicalaquarium.co.za/showthread.php?t=245

 

As Zoom said, Danios are hardy fish as are guppies and swordtails. Just a few points to consider though: - Mollys are actually slightly brackish water fish rather than 'tropical freshwater' fish this being said though, they do okay in freshwater aquariums. I personally wouldn't recommend Angels in a tank that size as they get rather large. You get some stunning guppies and they are extremely easy to care for and to get breeding.

 

Thanks Zoom. I have a product called "Tetra Plant Complete Substrate". The tank was bought, because I wanted to do a marine tank, but I changed my mind about that and thought to go the tropical route. Being a marine tank, it comes with bio balls, ceramic rings, protein skimmer, filter and heating, which means I have to chuck most of those equipment out and get equipment more suitable for tropical fish keeping.

The lighting looks a bit too bright for me. There are four tubes with ratings of 10 000K on two of them. I am not sure if this is suitable for tropical. I am going to plant the tank as well. The lighting concerns me at the moment.

I plan too introduce fish in about 4-6 weeks. Thanks again for the advice.

 

That lights will be more than sufficient...don't downgrade. I've got about 42000K in my one 1.2m tank and I'm going to add one more tube to it.
Get yourself a CO2 kit as well; your plants will love it.
What type of plants are you planning on putting into the tank?

D

 

Good point Veegal... I forgot about the size they grow to.

Agree with Solex,

If you plan on doing a planted tank, don't change the lighting.

 

I am not sure. I have walked into a couple of aquatic pet shops and well the plant variety is not that great. Any ideas on a store in Cape Town and surrounds that stocks a nice variety? Or maybe members that sells plants. I am researching plants, but where to get them is the "challenge"

I am very interested in Danio's now.

 

Hartlands Aquatics (out there in the bundus) normally gets great plants & fish in...well worth the drive.
The other shop you can try is Panorama Pets...they also get in nice plants occasionally.

However, the best way to acquire aquatic plants is through networking with other members in the hobby. That's how I managed to get bulk of my plant collection I have.

I have loads of cuttings at the moment, but I need to send them to other members in the country. If there's left, I'll give to you as well. Then everyone has to wait until I prune again unfortunately

Cheers
Dale

 

A lesson that we all learnt the hard way but dont wont anybody else too, is research before you buy a fish. dosn't matter how small the fish looks, it can still sometimes out grow your tank. As i am sure you can see once you are hooked there is no turning back

Steve

 

I cannot agree with Steve more....

The more research and reading you do, the better. Keeping fish is a hobby, and you need to be enthusiastic about it. Just like any other hobby, when you start something new... you google, kalahari, amazon, search and keep reading. The fact that you have made a pit stop here BEFORE you have started is absolutely GREAT news.

Private Message me and I can email you some really good reading material for beginners!

 

Black widows, and many of the small shoaling Tetras are good beginers.
They also dont grow too big, 4 - 6cm average.