Starter Fish Tank

[Aldo]

Why, is he getting an aquarium for upstate fish?

Carp tanks require much less maintenance I'd imagine probably ideally suited for what sounds like a starter set here? Make sure there's room for an old tire.

[BmillsSkier]

Pirelli or Kelly?

[Aldo]

Uniroyal all the way

[Timberridge]

You could put a UC can in the tank to recreate a genuine upstate ecosystem.

[Marshall Tucker]

awesome. Bmills checkin off the list. BTW I recomend goldfish, easily replaced without junior knowin.

[Aldo]

how about building a whole series of canals with locks on a big piece of plywood in the basement. Anybody can have trains or a slot car set up...
Be the first kid on the block with a working upstate canal! Canal life!

[stealurface831]

how about building a whole series of canals with locks on a big piece of plywood in the basement. Anybody can have trains or a slot car set up...
Be the first kid on the block with a working upstate canal! Canal life!

this, bmills. give the kid what he needs, not what he wants.

[BmillsSkier]

how about building a whole series of canals with locks on a big piece of plywood in the basement. Anybody can have trains or a slot car set up...
Be the first kid on the block with a working upstate canal! Canal life!

this, bmills. give the kid what he needs, not what he wants.

This is the kind of advice you just can't get at a pet store.

Gold fellas, gold.

[riser4]

Starter doesn't make just jackets? I can get a matching aquarium?!?! Cool beans!

[Timberridge]

how about building a whole series of canals with locks on a big piece of plywood in the basement. Anybody can have trains or a slot car set up...
Be the first kid on the block with a working upstate canal! Canal life!

With miniature horses pulling the canal boats.

[ötzi]

Starter doesn't make just jackets? I can get a matching aquarium?!?! Cool beans!

ha. For the record I was considering a Starter jacket joke and decided to pass. And now we can see why.

[m2711c]

carp would feel right at home in a lock tank....

[warthog]

I didn't read everything, so maybe this was mentioned.
Buy a decent sized 20 or so gallon tank and fill it with feeders.
They are cheap and it will teach him about death and disposal.

If that all goes well, step up to an Oscar or other Cichlid. They are bulletproof and fun.
If some of those feeders happen to still be in there, and aren't named, all the better.

My starter tank was a 55 gallon with a Red Bellied Pirhana named Pedro.
I then moved on to Oscars, Snakeheads, and then Pacus.

After I lost my Pacus I went to Cichlids. They are tough, but boring.
I like my fish to be killers. Messy business though.

[Buster Highmen]

Will the fish be named Steve?

[riser4]

Steve who?

[stealurface831]

Steve who?

you steve?

[Timberridge]

Well? What didcha get?

[BmillsSkier]

20 gal simple starter tank with the upgraded Penguin filter and led lights that go from daylight to moonlight.

The location I went to which was farther out has a killer cichlid and Oscar selection. Taking the kid to pick out what he wants on Sunday. He’s gonna flip. Lucked out and got the Rain Man of small tank setups while there and he took care of me with what fish work well for our water the setup and longevity.

The canal/carp tank is next.

[stealurface831]

Lucked out and got the Rain Man of small tank setups

could he count cards too?

[MontuckyFried]

20 gal simple starter tank with the upgraded Penguin filter and led lights that go from daylight to moonlight.

The location I went to which was farther out has a killer cichlid and Oscar selection. Taking the kid to pick out what he wants on Sunday. He’s gonna flip. Lucked out and got the Rain Man of small tank setups while there and he took care of me with what fish work well for our water the setup and longevity.

Nice! Fantastic place to start. Make sure to post pics of what you end up doing with it!

It's been said in here already by Thalela, so revisit his post on the first page, but if you want to guarantee success, do NOT skip the cycling process. Biggest mistake SO many people make is getting the tank and the fish, and thinking they can just set it all up and good to go. Those are always the people whose fish die right away. Go ahead and get your tank set up right away. Fill 'er up, do your water treatments, etc., and toss some expendable livestock in there. I used to like using freshwater ghost shrimp. Hardy little guys and live fish food for later! Anyway, EVERY time a new tank is set up, the water is pure and fresh, right? So a total lack of nitrates/nitrites. When you add fish, their waste kicks off the nitrification cycle. There is always a HUGE spike, then it tapers off and with plants, your filtration media, etc., the water will reach an equilibrium of sorts and then it's safe. That initial spike is toxic to fish and is what kills them all too often. Anyway, let the shrimp or whatever you wanna toss in there kick off that cycle, and once it's over, you're good to go to introduce your other critters. You can get a pack of test strips and monitor the cycle. Fascinating to see if you're a water chemistry nerd like I was at the time.

[Jong Lafitte]

I had good luck with “safe start” yellow bottle to kick start the cycle with a light to medium livestock load. check the date.

Also I like Seachem Prime for water conditioner as it isn’t so diluted, you get a lot so there is no hesitance to change water.

Armed with Prime, safe start, a good ammonia test kit, OK nitrite test kit, and a good system for changing water, I’d probably be happy cycling with the main proposed livestock in the tank.

I say this I hate to see any level of ammonia but safe start and if it doesn’t quite take you can do 50% water changes daily and use prime until it does take. ime the prime does not lock the ammonia away from the bacteria, so it doesn’t seem to “starve” the cycle.

There’s only a million or so ways to do it. Not dissing the above method. I don’t like the guppy method but if you use prime and water changes, honestly the safe start is like 5 bucks.

Plants won’t uptake much of the baddies on their own unless there is a bunch of them , fast growing under pretty good light.

There’s also a bunch of kits out there now that come with the bacteria and ammonia so you can feed the bacteria and control your tests. Like add 5ppm ammonia, (with no livestock!) then watch how quickly your bacteria colony is working.

Back I. The day, it was hard to find pure ammonia. I actually pissed in a plant only tank a few times to test the cycle.


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[Thaleia]

Cycling with live stock is inhumane, no matter how you slice it. This hobby requires patience.

[Timberridge]

Cycling with live stock is inhumane, no matter how you slice it. This hobby requires patience.

If you wanted to be truly righteous, capturing fish in 3rd world countries and putting them in containers where the survival rate is 50/50 at best for the journey to the pet store...

[Thaleia]

Overall it is way less than 50/50. It's a brutal industry. Don't get me started on coral harvesting..

[JongDoe]

I've had both fresh and saltwater fish. If I was to set up another tank, for not much extra work than a fresh, you can maintain a tall 15 saltwater. It can go on top of any table. Put some rock in the base (no sand) and get a clownfish. They are mostly all captive raised now and eat flake--just ask the fish store. Buy an all in one mini filter with skimmer like this...
https://www.tunze.com/US/en/details/...fpack-100.html

Just don't be tempted to put more than a couple small fish in it.

Salt water tanks are so cool and fresh water so boring. I'd have a salt water tank, but I've heard they are a lot of work and difficult to maintain. The local pizza place has a great salt water tank with some neat creatures, many that i see when diving or snorkeling. It seems very relaxing.