Fish Lovers 3.0 [new poll]

[Polly44]

I work in a pet shop which has a huge fish section as well. I've been there over a year now and ever since i started there, i have always wanted the one tank.

A Clearseal Oak Aquarium (90 x 50 x 40cm- 170 Litres)


And i finally convinced my parents to let me have it! (Though the fact that it went on sale this weekend helped, as i used the "Oh, but it's £514 now and afterwards it will go back up to £729 and it was the last one! PLEASE!")
Heh, anyway the picture is of it all kinda set up. Dad's just worried about the weight and the floor, so he wants to put some more wooden supports under it, which i don't mind. He freaks about this stuff all the time. And i am kinda worried as well- it should be fine, but we don't know for sure, it's a heavy tank.
Anyways, i got the tank, a Tetra heater, Fluval lighting system with all the fancy colours and settings, a betta external cannister filter and 30kgs of black sand gravel for the original price of the tank basically.
As you can see i need to put the gravel in, set the filter/heater and light up and then fill it up and decorate it all before cycling it!

I have so many ideas of decorations and stuff that my head might explode. I want it to look as natural as possible though. I've promised my mum/dad/brother that they can each pick one thing to put in the tank, be it a fish, plant or decoration.
Mum- Hasn't decided yet.
Dad- Wants a £45 sunken submarine that the fish can swim through. (Pretty awesome actually, but ow price. I have to buy it as it was part of the deal in having the tank.)
Brother- Wants a Silver Shark. (Fine, i want one too. I know they get very large, but i am thinking of buying a really small one and when it outgrows the tank i am sure my boss will have it back to sell and i can get a smaller one again.)

I already have an awesome Bonsai tree covered in moss in my small tank that will probably go in there, as it's shredding my Betta's fins i think. Then maybe some rocks- i love rose quartz. Java wood maybe.....i could go on to be honest. Oh and live plants everywhere!!!!!

And i saw Blue Phantom Plecs in the shop which i want, but they are £40 each. xD

Ideally i would like:
Silver Shark
Swordtails
Angel Fish (Pair)
A Plec or two
Some sort of schooling fish
Shrimp maybe
(I know not all can go together, hence the whole working on it to figure out the best combination that fits as many of those in really.)

(I'll stop now, before i start drawing pictures of what i want it to look like.)

[Hime]

Couple things to consider with silver sharks: -very active, though should not eat smaller fish they could do so
-actually shoaling/group fish, so having only one is not ideal
-endangered in the wild and apparently quite hard to breed in captivity without hormones
-as they grow quite big and are active, even if you were to rehome it after it out grows the tank, there aren't many people who can take care of adult ones.

Also the submarine is not that expensive if you think about how much a decent size school will cost you. ^^; Though I don't know UK prices, but here schooling fish are generally 2-4€ per fish and say you want 20 of them that means 40-80€ for the school. And non-living decoration can't die on you or get sick, so in sense your dad's pick is actually a good one. lol

[Polly44]

I do plan on doing more research on each fish before i actually commit to getting them, but as it's going to be a little while before the tank is ready, i haven't started yet.
Ah, i couldn't remember if the Silver Sharks preferred company or not, but yeah that rings a bell now. And i imagine there aren't that many people who can keep adult ones, but we have large 200+ litre tanks (i don't know exactly how big they are) at the shop so they would be fine for a time, while they are up for sale. That and we do get a fair amount of people with 300+ litre set ups at home coming into the shop, so there is the possible custom available.

And that is a very good point actually. After i read that, i told him he can have it, haha. And UK prices are around the same i think. Though i would get a handy discount, heh.

[Polly44]

Just a little update. Had to sort a few things out with the tank and filter system as the way both were made, made it impossible to fit the filter properly. xD But dad has sorted it all out now, so we have got to the next stage!!!


As you can see, it's filled with water (didn't completely fill it up, as i have a bit more i need to put in there) sand is in there for the bottom, the rose quartz i bought a few days ago is in there, as is my dads battleship (thought it was a submarine, but looked again and realised it was a ship, lol) Lighting system is in place, filter is up and running and the heater is in there heating it all up!

If it's up to/close to temperature by morning then i might buy some live plants at work tomorrow to start that ball rolling. And then just to cycle it without fish for a few days, then add a few swordtails i think and cycle it a bit more with them in there to get it off to a decent start. And just carry on from there.

Mum has seen the "Tuxedo Guppies" we have at the shop and decided she likes those as her thing to put in there. They are lovely, but £28 for a pair of guppies is insane. That and i am not sure if i could have them with the other fish i want in there.

Ideally i would like:
Silver Shark (Two or three perhaps)
Swordtails
Angel Fish (Pair)
A Plec or two
Some sort of schooling fish
Shrimp maybe
Tuxedo Guppies (For Mum)
A female Betta (There is a pretty purple one at the shop and i love her, but i don't know what the females can go in with.)

I know male Bettas and Guppies are a bad idea, but is it the same for the female Bettas?

[flyteck]

Guppies are pretty good in most community tanks, but I have no clue why yours are that expensive. Usually guppies are like $4 because they breed like crazy. Additionally, I'd get either males on or females only, and probably more than two since they like to shoal (unless you want a shitload of babies - the angels might eat them, but if not you'd have overpopulation fast).

They should be fine with anything that swords would be fine with, but just make sure whatever schooling fish you get isn't nippy if you get male guppies because they're slow and their big fins are an easy target.

[Polly44]

@flyteck

Our normal guppies are £1.99, but these ones are if memory serves a special and "rare" colouring. Hence the price. Which is stupid. They are still guppies and i doubt they are that rare or special.
I'd rather avoid the baby situation to be honest. Babies are lovely. But i'd feel mean leaving them to the Angels and i don't want a gazillion of them in there either. Or to deal with them too much in general.
If i were to have guppies, i'd probably have a bunch of males. Might make a good choice for my shoaling fish actually- nice colours and not a hugely nippy fish in general either.

[wilbursoot]

HELLO! I am here with tons of beta fish information!

I've had several fish over my life, mostly beta fish. DO NOT PUT YOUR BETA WITH OTHER FISH.

The other fish will kill the beta. I know that sounds suprizing since betas are supposed to be agressive, but other fish will eat their fins (since they are shiny) and the beta will die.

(for breeding betas)

only put a male and fem together if you plan on breeding. NEVER PUT 2 BETAS TOGETHER NO MATTER THE GENDER. THEY WILL KILL EACHOTHER!!!

Males will make bubble nests for the females. After the female lays eggs, REMOVE THE MALE. The male WILL eat the eggs.

[Polly44]

@Cell.
You can put Bettas with other fish. I have seen it many times before. One just has to be very careful with what other fish are in there. I think we have males with Endler Guppies in the shop at the moment and have had them with rasboras as well if i recall correctly.
Ah, i'd love to breed them one day. But i don't have the space for a load of small tanks. xD

[flyteck]

Maybe look elsewhere? I know I've gotten tuxedos like this for like 4 bucks |D IDK if they're just rarer where you like though.

Also, @Cell, bettas are usually fine with other fish. They're just not good with other bettas. Every one is different obviously, but females tend to be more docile so I imagine one would be just fine in a community tank. As long as their tank mates aren't nippy they'll also be fine with other fish. It's always good to have a back up plan if things don't work out though.

[Guest]

Sigh... my panda cories keep having babies. Started the year with 7 pandas, now I'm up to 16. I'm happy that they are happy but if they keep going at this speed we're running out of room soon