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I'm buying our sons' first fish tank for their combined birthdays (4 & 7yr olds) and am going crazy with too much info on net and too little in fish shops. The boys just want a few fancy goldfish. The tanks we like are the rounded glass variety such as Aqua One & Halia - just wanted to know if anyone has bought these and if they are good? I've read that you shouldn't start on a lesser size than 90ltrs/20gallons as may kill the fish learning the ropes. We were hoping for something smaller 28 - 45ltrs. Just want something simple. Thanks for your help.

you could possibly do a tropical tank with various tetras.they are small colorful, and will dart about in a school.schools of 6 fish are recommended and you could do them in a 10 G, or a 15G if you wanted.in a 15G you could have a school of 10 tetras. just remember to have your tank up and running for a few weeks with no fish to cycle the tank.Good Luck

well fancy gold fish need a large tank cuz they can get to sizes of 12 inches. just wat i have seen and been told. the feeders can get much larger. if u want a small tank id go with a 10-20 gal and get some tetras to start out with. remember u do have to cycle the tank for 2 to 4 weeks before u want to put fish in it or u can go with some hardyer fish and let them cycle it but if u go that way expect some deaths.

Unfortunately goldfish actually can get rather large, which makes keeping them in small containers not a good idea. A set-up containing many goldfish would have to be a couple hundred liters. Even a 45 L would be inappropriate for a goldfish for the long-term. As an aside, the wild-type goldfish is known to get almost two feet long. While the domesticated cousins do not get anywhere near that size, even the smaller fancy goldfish types can grow to 4-6" long. Keeping a number of fancy goldfish over the long-term would eventually require a large aquarium, despite how small they are when you first buy them.

To make it simple, I'm recommending a basic set-up for what you could do in a 45 liters. Mind you, it's a tropical aquarium, so you'll need a heater. A very simple 45 liter tropical aquarium would contain something like the following:
- Centerpiece: 1 dwarf gourami or a pair of livebearers (such as guppies or platies). The centerpiece(s) should stand out, at least a little.
- School: 6 of a small schooling species such as tetras, barbs, or rasboras. Be warned, some tetra and barb species can grow too large for a 45 liter aquarium, and some can be nippy and cause stress on other fish.
- Bottom-feeder: 3 small bottom fish such as Corydoras catfish or kuhli loaches; most other bottom feeders get too large or are predatory!

This way, you have one or two fish that "stands out", a nice little school of fish that will make an impact as a group, and a couple bottom feeders to help pick up extra food (although, bottom feeders should also be fed their own foods directly). There are hundreds of variations that can be played upon this simple theme of centerpiece, school, and bottom-feeders based on what species you pick.

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

One excellent decision you have made is to come here to start off with before you get dragged into a mess of misinformation and nothing but sales talk. Some shops can actually smell a newbie a mile away and will tell you any thing to get a sale and you to keep coming back to fix a problem and with Gold fish in a small tank like that.

It would be a good idea to give you general location and a member might know of a reliable shop to go to in your area. Some times it is better to travel a little further and get the right info first.

One thing you will have to remember it might be their tank but you will have to do a lot of supervision especially at feeding time. Also there will be the water change and cleaning time.

I would suggest some thing very easy to start off with once you get the tank cycled correctly. Which can be done with a few Zebra Danios other wise they will drive you mad when you try to explain to them they will have to WAIT and WAIT until the tank is ready.
I then would buy 2 male and 5 female guppies as they are extremely easy and will start to have babies and this will keep them interested with all the different colours.
I hope this helps you.

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info
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Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith

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Welcome to the site Mandy

There's lots of good info here in your thread already, don't want to overwhelm you too much till you've had a chance to ask a few more questions and digest what you've been given.


Just want to say, no goldfish, unless you're digging them a pond (in which case, can you adopt me!)

This is a photo I came across a few years ago. The fish is named Bruce the Oranada, and he's still happy and healthy last I heard. His owner had just picked him up for a photo, and as you can see, most fishnets would be a tad too small for him.



In any event, keep asking questions, we'll get you on the right track .


^_^