New to Keeping

Hello, I am new to the world of fish keeping. My decision to start was for my 4 and 3 yr olds who love their uncle's fish. So I apologize beforehand for my lack of knowledge and probably the abundance of questions as I lack the savvy in the new field of hobbying.

While looking for a few days online in regards to fish keeping I have determined to set my goals toward an active, community, landscaped tank that would be fun for my children to observe with relatively low maintenance. I love the idea of doing a glo fish tank with tiger bards, tetra and danios. I have read and been told with sufficient numbers they will do fine and render low to no aggression with proper tank size, decor and filtration. I was wondering what size tank would be most beneficial for 6 tiger barbs, 8 tetra and 10-12 danios. I would also like to include to 'cleaner' fish to help with upkeep and have been told cory are good choices and do well with the tiger barbs, tetra and danios. Does anyone have any advise on the tank size, bedding, décor and fish groupings I'm leaning towards? Since I am a beginner I am very open to the advise of others so please be as brutally honest in your opinions of what I should consider going forward.

 

Welcome to Fishlore!

It's so nice to hear someone planning everything out before they get the tank and fish. Your fish will thank you for it!

Read up on the nitrogen cycle (click the words, they're a link!). A fishless cycle is less stressful to the fish, but a fish-in cycle can be done.

Unless you want to go with a very large tank, I'd stick with two schools of fish instead of three (so pick two of the three - tiger barbs, danios, or tetras).

A 29 gal tank would be a great starting size. You can do 10 of each species in this tank quite easily, and still have room for bottom dwellers (I'd suggest a school of cories (all one species) or kuhlI loaches). So it could look like this:

10x Tiger barbs
10x Danios
10x Cories (all one species) or kuhlI loaches

Sand is a great substrate, as it's easier to clean than gravel (poop stays on top instead of settling to the bottom). You can get pool filter sand or blasting sand from pool stores or hardware stores for less than $10 for 50 lbs (much cheaper than aquarium sand, and just as good!). You'll want between 20-30 lbs for a 29 gal.

For a filter, you want one with 240-300 GPH. I like the Aquaclear filters - great filters!

Decor can be anything you want it to be. Just make sure there's enough hiding places! You can do live plants (not as hard as you might think!) or fake, driftwood, rocks, ornaments, etc.

Any other questions, just ask We'd be happy to help!

 

Welcome to the forum and glad you decided to join us. Your kids will enjoy it. Alison

 

Welcome to Fishlore!!! It is great that you came here for help before getting started.

If you've not yet bought your tank you might want to consider a 55 gallon if you have room for one. Now that I have one I would never consider going any smaller that 55.

If you don't have your heart set on tiger barbs you might want to consider long finned black skirt tetras. I have 6 of them. they are not only beautiful little fish but also get along great with all of my other fish. I love my little Pearl and zebra Danios. they stay mostly at the top part of the tank and the tetras stay mostly in the middle. I have 2 variety's of corys for the bottom along with a bristlenose pleco. They all do a great job of taking care of all the food that makes it to the bottom. .

 

Me and the kids are leaving in about an hour to go begin our hunt for a tank. I have limited space so size matters, but I'm not against being swayed into a medium sized tank. Of all the tanks I've researched out, this site seemed to give me a broader outlook for various desires within the hobby. I am partial to keeping with tiger barbs for what I have read about their active schooling as well as community leader skills in multi-communal tanks. Is it true they can become protective of smaller fish in the communal territory when adding fin nippers? And are small puffer species compatible for the tiger barb, tetra, danios and cories set up?

 

Me and the kids are leaving in about an hour to go begin our hunt for a tank. I have limited space so size matters, but I'm not against being swayed into a medium sized tank. Of all the tanks I've researched out, this site seemed to give me a broader outlook for various desires within the hobby. I am partial to keeping with tiger barbs for what I have read about their active schooling as well as community leader skills in multi-communal tanks. Is it true they can become protective of smaller fish in the communal territory when adding fin nippers? And are small puffer species compatible for the tiger barb, tetra, danios and cories set up?

I'm no expert on puffers, but most of the time, no puffers are community fish. Sorry to burst the bubble. I just got a 20 long. I'm doing tiger barbs, Corys, kribs, and a dwarf gourami, so I'm also interested in whether or not that protectiveness is true. Welcome to fish lore!

 

Puffers should generally be in a species only tank. What size tank are you thinking of? 29g? 40g?

 

So after discussing in PMs and thinking it over more carefully, I decided to go with a 20 gallon tank, and I will eventually get 6 tiger barbs and 3 panda cory. The fact of it being my first ever tank made me realize that I should start small then work up before I upgrade. That and the fact that this is for my kids and that a 20 gallon should suffice for the purpose it is being done.

That being said, I have my tank, with filter pump and an air pump both designed for a 20g. I also went with gravel bedding. I was told since it's my first tank and since I plan to look into a variety of different fish tank in the future, that the gravel would be most beneficial. So if I want I can change to sand in the future and then use the gravel between a 10G and two 5 gallon tanks to help with the nitrogen cycles on those. I also bought the decorations and played with the arrangement for hours it seems. I left about 1.5-2" of room between the glass and all 'hard' objects so hopefully I won't hurt the fish. I also put the pumps in the same general area so I could hide the cords, but was wondering if that is actually the best, I can run the air pump further across the tank away from the filter if that's really the best option, air hose extensions are cheap after all. I have the filter pump blocked by fake plants (unsure what they are called) so it hopefully won't hurt my fish. I also bought a small live plant that's attached to a lava rock, a decent sized fake coral cave and sculpture. I hope my tank isn't too crowded for 9 fish. I was told tiger barbs and panda cory love a 'playground' with lots to explore and hide. If any has any suggestions on tank arrangement or other tips please let me know, I'm excited to now be in the 2nd day of my cycle!!

 

So after discussing in PMs and thinking it over more carefully, I decided to go with a 20 gallon tank, and I will eventually get 6 tiger barbs and 3 panda cory. The fact of it being my first ever tank made me realize that I should start small then work up before I upgrade. That and the fact that this is for my kids and that a 20 gallon should suffice for the purpose it is being done.

That being said, I have my tank, with filter pump and an air pump both designed for a 20g. I also went with gravel bedding. I was told since it's my first tank and since I plan to look into a variety of different fish tank in the future, that the gravel would be most beneficial. So if I want I can change to sand in the future and then use the gravel between a 10G and two 5 gallon tanks to help with the nitrogen cycles on those. I also bought the decorations and played with the arrangement for hours it seems. I left about 1.5-2" of room between the glass and all 'hard' objects so hopefully I won't hurt the fish. I also put the pumps in the same general area so I could hide the cords, but was wondering if that is actually the best, I can run the air pump further across the tank away from the filter if that's really the best option, air hose extensions are cheap after all. I have the filter pump blocked by fake plants (unsure what they are called) so it hopefully won't hurt my fish. I also bought a small live plant that's attached to a lava rock, a decent sized fake coral cave and sculpture. I hope my tank isn't too crowded for 9 fish. I was told tiger barbs and panda cory love a 'playground' with lots to explore and hide. If any has any suggestions on tank arrangement or other tips please let me know, I'm excited to now be in the 2nd day of my cycle!!

Just a suggestion- cories should be kept in groups of 6+. I'm also not sure if pandas are temp compatible with tiger barbs. Coradee will know.

 

Pandas would be fine if the temp isn't over 24c, I'd also up their number, as a shoaling fish they do best in larger groups, with only 3 it's possible you wouldn't see much of them

 

Will that many fish be ok in a 20 gallon tank though? I will definitely get 6 if it can be supported. I don't want to overpopulate the tank, but if I can 'comfortably' add more then I would love to do so. The store mentioned 1 fish per gallon and it seemed a bit much to fit 20 fish into mine.

 

Will that many fish be ok in a 20 gallon tank though? I will definitely get 6 if it can be supported. I don't want to overpopulate the tank, but if I can 'comfortably' add more then I would love to do so. The store mentioned 1 fish per gallon and it seemed a bit much to fit 20 fish into mine.

1 fish per gallon and 1 inch per gallon are both totally inaccurate rules.