fish

[Dadie]

hi
since we visited the blue planet aquarium in chester and Lauren was facinated with all the fish we are thinking about getting an aquarium and stand for the living room im thinking about getting guppies as they are brightly coloured but could do with advice on EVERYTHING from tanks to gravel and filters even water now the clorine is different and leaving water to stand is no longer an option..
thank you

[neepnipper]

If you'd like to pop in to Pets at Home we can give you all the help and advice you need about setting up your aquarium, we also have free leaflets you can take home to read.

[Dadie]

thanks but it is not easy getting the advice when you have a 1 year old wanting to be somewhere else ! did think about asking on sunday when we were through but i thought by the time i ask i would have a full blown temper with me and i wouldnt be able to hear the advice anyway with a small person screaming in my ear!

[Billy Boy]

you should get some useful info here http://www.firsttankguide.net/

[neepnipper]

Try www.petsathome.co.uk.

[nicola hooker]

guppies are easy to look after i breed them i started with 3 i now have 100 that is in 12 weeks i am selling some if you are interested

[hotrod4]

I would definitely recommend visting forums that specialise in guppies, there are loads of them. At least then you will get an unbiased opinion on what to do and not to do,rather than going to PAH where the basis is on a sale rather than an opinion.Thats not to say that you wont get good advice from them its just when i went they didnt have a clue what they were on about!!! I knew more than they did.

[justine]

Always remember to work ot how many fish you would like, if you are just going for guppies, or wether you want something that will use the bottom of the tank as guppies are top to middle dwellers. You would do better in my opinion of getting an external filter that does more litres per hour than you have in your tank.eg. i have a 180l and a filter that does 1000lph,

water temp should be about 26 - 27 degrees, ph parameters for guppies should be 7 - 7.2ph no more. Nitite, Nitrate and Amonia should be 0.

Live plants are the best. although you will probably get snails as this is a common problem with havaing live plants. If you want to keep artificial plants then make sure you have an air stone with to oxygenate the water, as this is one of the things live plants do.

I would cycle the tank without fish first, putting in filter start to increase the bacterium in the filter, let this happen over a 2 weeks period and then slowly add your guppies maybe 5 at a time over a period of about 2 months and you will end up with a healthy thriving fish tank.

Am no professional, just a fish keeper and know what im am talking about. This is not a biased opinion as i have nothing to sell you, just friendly advise from a fishkeeper.I have 2 tanks, 146l cichlid and 180l tropical. Oh has a 150l tropical aswell.

Try this forum, it has a capacity converter, and loads of helpful chaps online to help.
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/fo...archid=3029493

or this one which is a fantasic site. great lads and lasses and plenty of info.

http://www.fishkeepingforum.co.uk/forum/forum.asp

[hotrod4]

Always remember to work ot how many fish you would like, if you are just going for guppies, or wether you want something that will use the bottom of the tank as guppies are top to middle dwellers. You would do better in my opinion of getting an external filter that does more litres per hour than you have in your tank.eg. i have a 180l and a filter that does 1000lph,

water temp should be about 26 - 27 degrees, ph parameters for guppies should be 7 - 7.2ph no more. Nitite, Nitrate and Amonia should be 0.

Live plants are the best. although you will probably get snails as this is a common problem with havaing live plants. If you want to keep artificial plants then make sure you have an air stone with to oxygenate the water, as this is one of the things live plants do.

I would cycle the tank without fish first, putting in filter start to increase the bacterium in the filter, let this happen over a 2 weeks period and then slowly add your guppies maybe 5 at a time over a period of about 2 months and you will end up with a healthy thriving fish tank.

Am no professional, just a fish keeper and know what im am talking about. This is not a biased opinion as i have nothing to sell you, just friendly advise from a fishkeeper.I have 2 tanks, 146l cichlid and 180l tropical. Oh has a 150l tropical aswell.

good advice but i wouldnt wait 2 weeks for fish!!! i used a tablet called bactozym which makes the tank ready in 24 hours.I used ph strips and the water was ideal,even PAH said so!!! But there is good advice there.
I used to keep cichlids and guppies and found the guppies really easy to look after BUT beware they can breed like wildfire!!

[justine]

good advice but i wouldnt wait 2 weeks for fish!!! i used a tablet called bactozym which makes the tank ready in 24 hours.I used ph strips and the water was ideal,even PAH said so!!! But there is good advice there.
I used to keep cichlids and guppies and found the guppies really easy to look after BUT beware they can breed like wildfire!!

so can i


Thanks. Its all down to the way you want to cycle a tank. It can be cycled with fish for a week and then a water change. Or without fish and over a period of 2 weeks. I personaly think its better to wait the time, but if it works, good on you.

I would not touch guppies at all. I dont find them appealing myself neither do i find mollies platties nice, but thats just me.

this is my cichlid tank. this has an external LAC filter, that does 1200lph as you can see by the crystal clear water.

[Dadie]

We ended up with a mixed community tank with different tetras, 2 dwarf gouramis, a gibbiceps, a catfish, 2 leopard danios, 3 small peaceful chilids and 2 female fighter fish!

Iona likes watching the fish too now!

[justine]

just curious, what size tank is it as that Gibiceps will grow to 50 cm. and if the chilids is meant to be cichlids then you cant keep then with your community fish, they need higher ph at about 8 - 8.2 and the will eat your other fish.just a suggestion to rehouse them if you meant cichlids.

[Dadie]

arrghh help!
Come and have a look if necerrary (sp)
def more complicatated than it looked!