FishProfiles.com Message Forums

After several months of reading books; magazines, & visiting aqua related sites, I am planning on starting my 1st FW tank. The plan is to purchase a kit (WaterHome- includes an aquaclear HOB) & keep the tank a little understocked until I get some experience. What would be a good starter size tank for a newbie? I understand the general rule of thumb is the bigger the better but there are some really good prices right now on 10 gallon kits, any comments would be appreciated. Thanks for taking the time to read my post and have a great Christmas.

Depending on where you shop, kits can be more expensive than buying the parts yourself.

Also, kits that pet stores put together can sometimes contain items you don't need.

So make sure you need what the kit contains and the quality is good.

Ten gallons is pretty good with which to start(the bigger, the better of course).

I'll do graffiti,
If you sing to me in French.

Kits are usually not the best way to go. It may seem simpler but the equipment is usually the cheapest possible and either breaks quickly or doesn't do a good job. Your better off purchasing at least the heater seperately since the ones in kits don't read the temperature. They put out a set amount of heat and you have to fiddle around with it to keep the tank the right temp. The more expensive heaters will turn on when the temp drops and off when it reaches the temp you have it set on. I prefer visitherm stealth heaters. A bit pricey but the darn things are practically indestructible. I'm quite abusive to my heaters and the only brand I haven't managed to kill are the stealth heaters. They just keep running and with an accurate temperature as well.

The cheap powerfilters(hob) in the kits tend to have impeller issues and I'd recommend just buying an aquaclear or Marineland filters. Marineland makes both penguins and the larger emperor powerfilters. It won't cost you but a few dollars more and can save your fish from death. I lost a tank of dwarf puffers using the cheap filter that came with a kit. Last if you ever plan on growing real plants you'll end up replacing the hood that comes in the kits with a glass top and light strip anyway unless your using a 10g which you can replace the bulbs with screw in compact fluorescents.

For tank size a 10g is usually only a good idea if you want to do a species tank with a couple small fish. A small group of all male livebearers(avoid the larger ones like mollies and probably swordtails) would work fine. They make poor community tanks though since there isn't enough room for multiple species of fish to live and they aren't the best choice for any schooling fish like tetras or cories. Some of the smaller cories can work but are more sensitive and not the best for beginners to start out with in a small tank. You'd be better off with a 20g or better yet a 29-30g minimum so you can choose 2-3 or possibly 4 species of fish to keep together. A 55g is probably the most highly recommended size for a first tank but I know alot of people just can't fit a 4' long tank without having to rearrange the whole house. Most fish either outgrow a 10g, prefer too large of groups to comfortably swim about, or aren't the best beginner fish.

I started off with a ten gallon kit, that had no heater included. The filter and hood were really cheep (with incadescent bulbs that fried some of my fish, when they got too hot). You would be better off buying each peice seperately, just like the others said. A twenty long or 29-30, would be good starter tanks, and not take up a lot of space - also give you a few more options on stocking, but I would keep them on the small size - three inches and under.
Good luck with you new project. It sounds like you have done your homework.

I personally would run a mile from any kit form. They are perfect for one thing only cheap quick sales. I have never bought one but have seen them from LFS to supermarkets and they are mosty filled with junk parts of brands never heard of.
Yes it is cheap at the moment and for your personal reasons this is what you are looking at. There are several things you must look at how long will the heater last is it one that will give me the correcty temperature, filtration will it work sufficiently. I will gurantee my small Eheim internal filter for my Betta tank would cost more than you complete kit. Lights type and quality possibly way down the cheap end also.
If it is a glass tank I would gaurantee it is made from recycled cheap glass and that will cause you big problems. If it a plastic type they can scratch very easy if you are not extremly carefull.
I am not trying to tell you what to do but to warn you what could/will happen.
Then you will have to start all over again total cost of a kit and a better quality set up will be more than a very good quality and sized tank in the first place.
If you look at my profile you will see I am speaking from 40+ years of experience

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info

Look here for my
Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
VOTE NOW VOTE NOW

Start with a 20 gallon long. 10 gallon is too small, and 29-30 gallon is too expensive. Later the 20 gallon will make a great hospital or nursery tank, and you can make a larger purchase for your main tank. Look around in the papers and online for a local used tank. You may find it cheaper or even free from someone local. I purchased my first two tanks (3 gal. and 29 gal.) then scored with a free 30gal and 10gal 6 months later. The 10 gallon is now my fry tank and the 30 gallon is my kids. Free from people who wanted them out of the garage.


"Talk is cheap. Action can be almost as affordable"

I definitely agree about not starting with a kit, i started with a twenty nine gal. kit and it worked well as a beginner. But as i went further into fishkeeping, i wasn't able to do some things i could with a custom tank. Live plants and other things that require certain equipment cant very well be done in a kit (the lighting isn't always very good). A 20 gal. would be a nice starter tank, and i plant to get a 20 gal. long. Depending on what you are capable of buying, i would go as big as you can, but remember that the cost of accessories can add up as well.

Just make sure that you will be satisfied.

Good luck!

†Aquapickle†

WHile I understand what everyone else has said and agree to an extent, I am a fan of the starter kit. Yes they are cheap and not filled with the best quality parts sometimes. I personally have three that were kits, A ten, a five and a 29g.
The 29gal, which was purchased from Petsmart two years ago is still going strong and on all the original equipment with no malfunctioned parts at all. Not true with the ten tho, I am surrently on my third filter in and have upgraded when the heater failed. The five is ok but also on the second filter. Kits allow you to get up and running without a huge investment and then upgrase as time and fundage allpws.
OK, all that being said I DO agree with everything else. The bigger the tank you can afford is the one to get. Smaller tanks tend to be unstable, water parameters spike very easily. Pleas take the time to read up on the getting started article in this room, it contains a lot of good info. I also applaud your intent to keep the stock light till you feel more comfortable with them, its easy to go overboard tho.
Aquapickle had several good points. accessories like gravel, plants, the little diver guy and all your treasure chests, do add up and are usually not included. ALso the lighting in the kits is usually not sufficient if you plan live plants. hmmphm more I think about it mebbe I don't like kits
Oh well, Merry Chritmas ya'll

IMO, there's nothing wrong to start with a kit. It all depends on what's your current need and your plan to upgrade or adding tanks.

If 10G tank is what you want to start with and you don't plan any upgrade in the future, the WaterHome 10 is a great value kit , with decent quality - that's my 10G tank, I have no complaints whatsoverever. It doesn't come with a heater though.

But then, I also agree with all others that you'd better start with a tank size of 20G or more, and keeping the future upgrades in mind. In such case, a standard size tank will give you the flexible to upgrade.

Be warned, this hobby is very addictive. I started with a 10G 6 months ago. Now I own a 10G, a 30G and a 75G. And I know someone who started 6 months ago and now running with more than 10 tanks !