anandat

Dear members.
At last I have decided to build my first fresh water fish tank (approximate 15 gallon in size).
frankly speaking I don't have much idea about fish, maintaining fish tank etc but I am getting knowledge through fishlore a lot.

I don't have much idea about much specises of fish. I would let you know my requirement please guide me to select fish.

1) I like colorful & aggresive nataure fish. But size should not be more than 3 -4 inch....plz suggest ime in this catagory.
2) I like fish which behaves very uncommon & have great swim styles.
3) I know it's not good to full your tank with aggresive fish so I would like to have calm fish also which also which can be stay with aggresive nature fish....plz suggest me fish in this category.
4) can I put "black ghost" fish & orange perrot fish together ?
5) How often I should change the water ?
6) which fish initially I should put in tank & which I should put after tank settled say after 15-20 days ?
7) It's good to grow live plant in the tank ? it's really benefitial or should I stick with plastic plant ?
8) I can get live food (black worm) here easiliy then it's advisable to feed this food or pacakged food ?

Thanks in advance for the help.

jeremyhusband936

Hmm...ill try to help u as much as i can...


1.) Angelfish are a really neat species, they get about 5-6" though

2.) Angelfish fit this perfectly...they get a swim style and personality of their own.

3.)Silver Dollars go good with angelfish...along with mollies....

4.)

5.)After your tank is fullly cycled, test your water about every 7-10 days for nitrate. When it starts getting high, do a 25% water change.

6.) I would start with the more aggressive fish you buy first then put they least in (i think thats how it goes)

7.) Live plants are beneficial to your aquarium because they use nitrate, increasing the time between water changes. Most fish like live food...i dont know about black worm though.

Hope this helped.

not4you

anandat, read up on the Nitrogen cycle, (http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm) before you add any fish to your future tank. I highly recommend the fishless cycling process.

Unfortunately due to your tank size I don't think there will be many aggressive fish available for you to chose from. You could go with a Betta, as they are aggressive toward other Bettas and other long finned fish, but you don't want them to be.

The "black ghost" or Black Knife fish can grow to over 20 inches so that would not be a good choice for you tank.

I think a Betta, with 3 cory catfish would provide you with an interesting tank. Or maybe a school of danios or neons would be good. IMO, a planted tank with neons looks greats (blue, red and green, very colorful).

JMatt1983

you could go with tiger barbs, they are a fast aggressive fish, and they get along with more species than what a betta would, my betta had a problem with platies and cherry barbs, which are two of the most calmest fish around, which ever you choose, put your most aggressive fish in last, if you put the most aggressive in first, the fish you add after will not know what that fish has for a territory, better for the aggressive one to establish a territory with other fish in the tank, a nice fish to have if you can find them are diamond tetras, they're small, yet very fast and glimmer under the lights

anandat

Hi guys,
Thanks a lot for your replies & suggestion.

After a littlebit of reserach now I decided to go with clam & active nature fish instead of aggresive nature fish.

It's always a good to see schooling of small fish group instead of fights of 2 aggresive fish.

As this is the starting point I would like to start with following till the first nytrogen cycle gets complete & and my tank gets settled.

1) 4-6 - zebra danios
2) 10 - neon tetras
3) 2 - cory catfish

Please let me know above is OK or not for starting ?

Any one can recommend any extraordinary fish for later stage ? I mean something unusual so if any of my freind see them & they just say WOW !! WHAT A FISH THAT IS !!... I am sure you guys have known to many fish.

I also wanted to know that zebra danios & neon tetra will breed in my tank ? can I expect few new babies from them ?

Thanks once again for your help guys