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Hi,I'm looking to start up my first tank, I've never kept fish before, however I know a little about general fishkeeping as my boyfriend has been keeping tropical fish for a while now.
I'm looking to start up a small tank, probably a Rekford 70 (as space is an issue for me), but I'm undecided as to what fish to have. I want fish with character, I'm not too fussy about colour (I know a lot of people with small tanks go for guppies, but they don't really do it for me, platties are quite cute though) but I want some fish with a certain charm to them. I know, I'm being kinda vague, but I was hoping someone may be able to help me out with a few ideas. I've been looking at some little puffers too, but if anyone has any other ideas I'd be happy to hear them
Thanks in advance!

Hello, welcome to FishProfiles!

What's that, about 15 US gallons?

Dwarf puffers (Carinotetraodon travancoricus) are quite appropriate, and they have lots of character. You won't be able to keep much else as they tend to be pretty nippy, but sounds like that's not going to be too much of an issue. Some of the other small puffer species are brackish, which means they require some salt in the water; IMO a beginner has enough to worry about without having to measure salinity.

If you don't know about cycling and the Nitrogen cycle yet, I'd recommend you research it, it's a good concept to understand if you keep fish.

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

khuli loaches,
corries,
male betta,
platties,
mollies,
etc

all good choices.
all good for a smaller tank.

\\\\\\\"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure\\\\\\\"

I've done several things with my ten g. Currently its home to a nice school of cardinals, with a pair of ottos as well. I've done a pair of dwarf gouramis, but I tink they are too unhardy to take the stresses of the spikes a ten can and will have. I tried a nice trio of dwarf puffers, but they were wild caught,I believe and wouldn't eat anything that wasn't alive. Perhaps six harleys and a pair of ottos, once the tank is cycled. Do read up on cycling the tank, and all about the nitrogen cycle.

Thanks for all the ideas, they're a great help ^^ I'm starting to research filter cycles at the moment, and I'm not getting the tank for a while yet so I have plenty of time to research.
Thanks divertran for telling me about the dwarf gouramis, I'm rather fond of gouramis but if they seem a little unhardy it's probably best I leave it ^^
Thanks again everyone Any more suggestions are welcome

Honey gouramis would be a good choice for a 70L.
http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/profiles/551.htm

As regards cycling, get a bottle of pure ammonia and test kits for ammonia, nitrIte and nitrAte. You can then do a fishless cycle and fully stock with the fish of your choice when that is over.

Mature, sensible signature required for responsible position. Good prospects for the right candidate. Apply within.

You could always try something that no one else would think of for a first aquarium - Killifishes.

Now some species are best avoided, because they're difficult, fussy, demanding in terms of water chemistry, and in some cases have other specialised requirements that make some (but I hasten to ad, not all) members of this group of fishes problematic.

Having issued the standard caveat to check your species with care, and make sure you don't accidentally pick up one of those that require expert care, there are a number of hardy Killies that will prove colourful, entertaining, and indeed may even possibly breed for you if you look after them sufficiently well!

I'm thinking here of Rivulus. These are South American Killies, mostly Amazonian, that like the same water conditions as many of the more familiar Tetras and Corys. The difference being, however, that some of the Rivulus have truly amazing colour schemes, and will be a conversation starter amongst everyone who sees them.

However, before you decide to go down this path, their "characterfulness" arises from a behaviour which is something you will have to watch like a hawk during tank maintenance. These fishes are rocket propelled jumpers, they're basically ICBMs with fins that will engage in aerobatics at the drop of a hat if you leave them uncovered. Which means that you have to exercise special care to keep them covered at all times, and this necessitates finding a covered receptacle to put them in temporarily during tank maintenance before readmitting them to the aquarium (watching them like a hawk in case they jump of course!).

However, if you can live with their aerobatics, and can keep them covered to mitigate the worst excesses, they provide some VERY interesting behaviours. Especially if you can provide them with floating plants to bask on. They'll actually heave themselves out of the water and bask on the floating leaves of plants such as Pistia stratiotes for several minutes at a time before re-entering the water, and will also entertain you with "velcro jumping" antics on the glass.

Best way to show this off would be to leave a 2 inch gap between the water surface and the cover glass, so you have room for the floating plants, pop in a couple of Pistia stratiotes or similar floating plants with sturdy leaves upon which the Rivulus can bask, which will also allow you to watch their "velcro jumping" against the glass. They'll sometimes stick themselves to the side glass or cover glass for a couple of minutes above the water line, which is most odd to behold if you're not expecting it, and they'll then drop back into the water.

There are a couple of touchy Rivulus species, but the majority are reasonably adaptable, and if you can find one of these, they'll make interesting pets because of their out-of-water antics. Incidentally, you can obtain a population of guaranteed males and females with ease in the case of several Rivulus species, because of the presence of an interesting diagnostic feature that a good number of these fishes possess. This is known as the "Rivulus spot", which is an ocellus or eye spot that is located in the upper half of the caudal peduncle (the part of the body to which the tail fin is attached), and which is only present on female fishes in a good number of Rivulus species. Not all of the Rivulus possess this, but enough do to make it worthy of note. This means that you can find yourself a nice population of males and females, say 2 males and 4-5 females, and let them strut their stuff velcro jumping and leaf basking.

This page will give you an idea how many species there are, and how colourful some of them can be in addition to being 'personality' fishes with some strange habits. Even when they remain in the water, they have a habit of adopting strange postures in the water, as if engaging in some act of philosophical contemplation, before deciding to move on.

Don't let their apparently slow movements in the water fool you though - like I said, they are rocket propelled jumpers and will launch themselves like Polaris missiles in an instant if you don't keep them covered!

[Edited for broken tags]

Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

When you say 'character', do you want it to interact with you or with other fish or something entirely different?

Dwarf cichlids could be an option, depending on the tank dimensions.

Have you considered crayfish, crabs or prawns? You'd eventually need to trade up but a young quad in that tank should be good fun.

Some of the more 'evil' livebearers can be interesting too, like mosquito fish, but if you aren't fussed on guppies then it probably wouldn't be your cup of tea.

What about sparkling (dwarf croaking) gouramis? They are quite pretty and interesting to watch, though I'm not certain they have the right kind of outgoing personality.

I think Cali is onto something with the killifish. They are amazing to watch and move like pieces of ribbon. Quite a big attitude for such a small fish.

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

Diver - darf puffers will on eat live or frozen food... they will not eat flake food. They can be kept in a community tank but some people feel strongly that one day they will turn and kill all other fish in the tank, by gill picking. They do like a planted tank, so they can hide from one another. They are a great fish, and would be perfect for a small tank. Five in a planted 10 gal tank with some otto's. IMO would be a nice little tank. These fish have charactor as will eat out of you hand with alittle training. They for sure will come up to the glass and say good morning to you, just say hi anytime you look in. I know they think your going to feed them, but they are would be a nice choice.

Diver you shouldn't be have any spikes in a properly maintain and setup tank. Not sure what you have and the number of each, but you may have over stocked. If that is not the problem than maybe you over clean the tank when you do a WC. You should not be getting spikes and if you are you should not be excepting of them. yes it harder to keep a small tank than a larger tank, but alot of us have samll and big tanks and have had to learn how to make them work. It a ever changing hobby and I seem to learn new ways and try different thing out all the time.
Maybe try dividing the gravel into 4 section and only vacuming one section during weekly water change and change the area each week so that in month (4 weeks) you vacumed the complete tank but leave a good bio colony. I almost sure you using a HOB filter, most like it has one filter cartriage in it. So let it get dirty, if you look at the design on any HOB filter you will see that it has a spill way in it, in other word when the cartriage can't allow as much water flow through it as the the pump (Impeller and motor) can create the water by pass the filter and goes back into the tank. This is when I cange my filters, I also in the single cart units I cut a strip of the old filterand palce it on the new filter. This seed the the bio colony. On My HOB with 2 filters I just replace one filter every 3 weeks. One new one dirty. The most imporant thing in a 10 to 20 percent water change weekly. So in a ten gal that would be one to two gals only. The ideal is you are creating a balance eco system, so the proper balnce is important to find. its not hard to find, just takes time to find.

Djrichie
"So Long, and Thanks For All The Fish" Douglas Adams

I would pick dwarf puffers with a couple ottos in a planted tank. As mentioned above, they will only eat frozen or live food, though.

Another option would be a planted shrimp tank, cherry shrimp or bumblebee shrimp are becoming easier to find. Good luck.

oooh... look at the 5.5g cherry shrimp tank log. you should replicate something similar to that!

get a handful of glass shrimp and cherries. then get some killifish after the shrimp have a chance to procreate in the tank.

good plants would be pelia(a must), java moss (or any moss really), fissdens, anubias (dwarf/petie would be best). glosso, riccia fluitans, and a few others.

this sounds like an awesome opportunity!

GOOD LUCK!

\\\\\\\"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure\\\\\\\"

puffers defenitly have a fun personality..notorious fin nippers, but that can be solved by putting the right fish in with them, if any! theyll be fun enough you might not feel the need to put much else in...a fish i recently got is a boesemani rainbow fish... they have a fun personality and the colour win win..thats all i got to say hope you find a fish you like

i like feesh

Platies are a colorful, hardy, readily available fish that have tons of character.
I have a group of 5 of them in my tank, and can sit for hours watching them. They eat like little piranhas and are always busy doing something.
And if you're worried about overpopulation you can just get all males.

I have two tanks, a 46 gallon bowfront, and a brand new (still cycling) 55 gallon. Yay! My 46 gallon has a wide variety of fish, and one of my absolute favorites is the clown loach. They are so cute, and they do funny things, like sit on their fins, pile up on top of each other, and lay on their side like they are dead. :-) I never get tired of watching them! My pleco is fun too, he hangs in his cave like a bat, and I only see him swimming around the bottom of the tank at night after I've turned the light off. (of course they ARE nocturnal) :-)

wouldnt be getting all male platys be horrible....the ratio your supposed to hav is 2 females to one male because the males fight alot

i know that applies to mollys it might not to platys


i like feesh

The fighting between male platies (and livebearers in general, such as mollies, swordtails, and guppies) is sexual aggression. They fight to claim females for their own. If there are no females to fight over, they don't fight.

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i see

i like feesh

Cories are always a lot of fun. In a fifteen you could probably keep a nice trio of cories along with a small school of some small tetra.
I love dwarf frogs meself. I have a small tank on my desk and my frogs will just come up to the glass and watch me do classwork. Sometimes they have that look on their face like "Ah, I could write a better paper than that..."

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"When push comes to shove, you gotta do what you love, even if it's not a good idea"

If it was my tank I would turn it into a female betta tank with about 6 to 8 of them in there. I like the females they have a lot of character and are just as colorful as the males. With the right gravel and plants it could be a really nice tank(I am a little biased though since I am a huge betta fanatic).

Justin

Colts Fan For Life
30g platy tank: 2 sunburst wag platys, 2 redtailed white calico platys, 2 red wag platys, 1 fry(not sure who it belongs to), 1 Golden CAE.
Bettas:1 VT male