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OKay I'm getting my little sister (a) fish for christmas and I want to do something that's relatively easy to care for and attractive to the eye that she can keep in her room. I'de also prefer if it wasn't super expensive... looking around on the internet it seems that some fish with Lucky Bamboo would be a good idea but I don't know much about it.

Anyone who has suggestions or could point me in the direction of exactly what I'de need to purchase would pretty much be my Christmas Present hero

I am not a lover of artificial plants but in your situation I think that would be the safest and certainly the best. Quality artificial plants can be taken out washed under the tap and returned nice and clean.

The best plants are naturally fresh live plants but this takes a little more work and could be difficult for a little sisters first tank.

I have read here on FP and other forums that that plant is not a suitable plant for a fish tank.

Keith

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Hi Pez,
I'm not sure if you are talking about an aquarium or a
goldfish bowl. I'd recommend a 10 gallon aquarium as a
starter. "Lucky Bamboo" is not a true aquatic plant. If
you put it into a aquatic setting, then you need to leave
the top off of the tank so that it can grow into a small
tree sticking out above the surface.

If neither of you are familiar with aquariums and fishkeeping
you really should pick up a booklet such as one that TFH
puts out on basic aquariums.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Steer clear of 'lucky bamboo'. Like Frank mentioned it's not a true aquatic plant, just one that can grow a bit in full water. What that means for you is that you buy something that looks nice, but then ends up dying in a few months time. Not something that works as a gift.

There are very VERY few fish that do well in small containers. Goldfish are NOT one of them so don't even let me catch you thinking of goldfish .

Without some knowledge of fish, giving a fish to someone who also has no knowledge of fish is asking for trouble. However, there are some hardy fish out there that may work for your situation. The one that springs to mind of course is a betta if you don't have the budget for a 10 or 20 gallon tank.

Bettas actually need a fair amount of water, and a good surface area (but also need to be kept covered as they are jumpers!) If you're short on cash this year, my suggestion is to go to Goodwill, or a similar second hand store. Look in where all the kitchen stuff is and find the biggest glass vase you can. It should hold at least one gallon of water. This is very important. While yes, you'll see bettas kept in tiny jars, or cups at the store, they can't stay like that! The biggest container you can find would be best. Bettas will need a small heater, pellet food and twice weekly water changes with dechlorinated water. For the most part they're pretty easy fish to care for, and rather undemanding. So long as their water is changed regularly and they are fed well they can last a few years.

If you do have the cash to spring for a small tank I'd suggest getting the largest you can afford. The smaller the tank the harder it is to maintain the water quality, so bigger is better!

Let us know which way to point you better Let me warn you though, bettas can be a gateway fish, I started out with just a betta at the office, now I have a 5 foot tank and a few "smaller" 4 foot ones, as well as a few other tanks. And a betta


^_^

It is probably betta vasess with the lucky bamboo that you are seeing. They are similar to to old peace lily vases though I'd suggest they are marginally better because a very big stick of lucky bamboo (dracenea) allows for a larger container and therefore a larger body of water. That being said, while some fish can be kept in these setups, it is not ideal. You have compromises all over the place, and moreso if you want to stay within a certain budget.

Were you thinking of a tank or a vase?

What level of care is your sister able to commit to?

What sort of budget are we looking at?


I'm not a big fan of animals as gifts, but if she has expressed interest in this and has the time and means to care for the animals, then it can be done We just need some more information




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

I did the attached setup,... hope you like it

BUT i dont have any luck with the fish I checked the ph, ammonia, nitrate/nitrite and it was all fine but the fish is dying every time. I have a small airpump and now i bought a small filter but the goldfish died before installing the filter.

What fish should i use? some said betta... do you think that the problem is with the lucky bamboo?

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No actually I don't like it, not at all what you posted is a torture chamber for fish. Remember fish are living things. You wouldn't give your sister a puppy stuffed inside a little glass box would you?

Read this link all of it. It explains why your set up is wrong.

First you stocked goldfish in a vase. That's even worse than a dog in a shoebox, that's more like trying to give her a baby elephant stuffed in a drinking glass! In case you didn't get my point earlier Goldfish do not belong in a small container. They belong in a Pond
This is a goldfish

It's happy, it's healthy, it's being moved to an even larger pond than the one it had been living in the past 20 years.

Secondly it's a tall vase, fish need the tank to be long and have plenty of surface area for the water and the air to exchange gasses.


Thirdly as was already mentioned in our earlier posts bamboo is not an aquatic plant. It will rot in water. Basically what you gave your sister is a little tiny puppy in a vase full of something that will decompose and kill it.

Fourth, though I could go on because you did a lot wrong here, you did not supply any filtration an air stone is not enough. You need something that removes the waste not just move it around. Aquariums are a delicate and complex environment. This is an article about the Nitrogen Cycle which you need to fully understand before attempting to keep fish.

I think you are better off getting her a necklace or a gift card until you read and do more research on buying living animals.

Once you have done some more reading and understand what you did wrong.

Now I'm not sure if you're just having fun trolling, or if you're too young to understand, but I've tried to put this the nicest way possible. Read and get more information before you ever attempt to keep a living animal again. You were giving a lot of information and chose to ignore it. To me that's just rude.


^_^

The problem is the gas exchange. There is not enough surface area for the amount of water/fish so there is not enough oxygen, so the fish suffocate. An air pump won't fix this.

A single betta would work if you are determined to do fish in there, but I would really only have the one. That is a long vertical swim and there is not much to separate territory. It is far from an ideal setup for a fish, and a very hard setup for a beginner.

If you are going to have a betta, back the vase into a corner so that there is not visual movement on all sides, and make sure there are minimal vibrations (not near speakers or walkways). I wouldn't recommend it, but it is better than multiple goldfish.

I'm tempted to suggest shrimp as an alternative, but they need a lot of oxygen too, so I'm not sure they'd work in something so very tall. Tall is rarely a good thing with any type of fish, long is almost always better.

From what I can tell about the lucky bamboo, after it has settled in to a container/area for a while it is pretty safe and works well as a nitrate sump, so I doubt that is your problem. I'd still be giving it time to settle in regardless as sometimes the roots do rot a bit from damage in transit and need cleaning up.


To be honest, I'd keep the vase as a separate thing and do the fish in somethiing more traditional. There are some lovely newer style "designer" tanks around that might be worth looking at.

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

UGH... Listen, the bamboo plant can survive for a long time in just water IF it is held securely with rocks, the roots need to anchor or the plant will die, and IF it is heavily fertilized. I have such a plant and at 3 years old it is a tad yellow on one leaf but doing nicely. I give it 5 drops of liquid fertilizer once a week. This is NOT a good plant for fish as it can be highly toxic if it begins to rot which is highly likely.

Now, while common goldfish can grow to over a foot long there are some species that have been bred specifically not to grow that big... some will maximize at four inches... those are the ones to get. A fish will not ever outgrow its tank; how big the fish can grow is determined by its living space, however, if it isn't able to grow enough to reach maturity it will die. Make sure the fishes are very small but also mature. It is easy to tell if a goldfish is mature - there is a small tuck in the bottom of the body before the tail in a mature fish that the immature fish lacks.

The original beta fish peace Lilly setup royally stinks... although I love the design - you cannot deny that it looks cool. I designed my own variation which I gave to my younger sister for her birthday two and a half years ago. The fish were quite happy and active for a while but died very recently... Apparently one got larger than the other two and started eating all the food in one bite while originally they all had to nibble at the pellets until they dissolved... the other two starved, and then when they were gone the remaining fish seemingly got depressed... Make sure your fish are roughly the same size! We got different but similar species because we didn't want babies... apparently a bad idea. They had a good two years, though.

Anyways, this is my variation on the beta fish vase. It is the same shape, however I got this vase from the craft department at Wal-Mart. It cost ten dollars and holds a little over a gallon of water! More than twice the size of the beta fish vase things. Much more room than those silly tiny vases. Take a standard peace lilly plant and wrap the rhizome (the place where the leaves and roots meet) with floral moss. Be sure to put a cut out piece of a plastic straw in through the moss at one or two locations. Not the flimsy desposeable kind, the kind that you can put through the dishwasher. If you can't find one get some small plumbing tubing at home depot or somewhere like that. The moss is penetrable to air and this does not add to the aeration of the water - it simply allows you to feed the fish without the removal of the plant. Only add one goldfish, but keep in mind they are social creatures and will want a friend. About a month after the plant has been put into the water with the fish the roots of the plant will turn greenish. This means that the roots have changed their composition due to exposure to light and are now undergoing photosynthesis and are releasing oxygen into the water. Feel the roots - if they are slick and sort of slimy, the necessary bacteria colonies for the water have taken up residence on the oxygen-producing roots, and often in much greater quantities than normal for a fish bowl! It is now safe to add the second fish as the plant is now oxygenating the water and the bacteria are present. Don't add the second fish unless the plant roots are nice and slick - without those bacteria colonizing on the roots the vase will get toxic rather quickly.

Peace Lillies are a plant from the floor of the rain forest and commonly grow in marshes, they can grow in almost nothing but water as long as it is nutrient-rich and the nutrient they need the most is Nitrogen - they cannot get enough of it, and fish poop is mostly ammonia which the water's natural bacterial process (read the beginner section) will convert to nitrogen. After the fish poops, the solid waste will sink to the bottom of the vase and get stuck in the rocks/gems. It will slowly dissolve and be converted by the bacteria and then absorbed by the plant. If you have too many fish the amount of poop will outrun the plant's ability to absorb it and you will have to clean the vase much, much more often. Also keep in mind that even freshwater fish often need a small amount of salt in their water depending on species. When changing the water of small goldfish in this kind of vase, it is a good idea to add a pinch of either aquarium salt or non-iodized sea salt (they are the same thing) and keep in mind that I do literally mean a pinch. Never use tap water, only pure spring water purchased in gallon bottles from a grocery store, and if you use tap water find a way to dechlorinate it, though using the same brand of spring water over and over will ensure PH etc. are always the same. Keep an eye on the vase and if the water starts to get foggy, change it. Tip the vase sideways and hold the plant in place so the water comes out through the floral moss (the fish cant fall out that way) until 1/2 of the water is out, and then add fresh, also through the mesh of floral moss. The floral moss will keep the water from going in too fast and shocking the fish. make sure both vase and bottle of water are the same temperature. NEVER change more than half at once, it might have effects on the natural healthy bacteria etc. Add a pinch of the aquarium salt after changing.

IF THE FISH DIE. The plant will have to either be put in soil or the fish replaced. The plant cannot live in JUST water - it needs the fish poop or soil.

IF THE PLANT DIES. Replace it. The plant IS the filter for this setup and you kind of need it.

This is a diagram. I hope it is helpful. MAKE SURE THE VASE CAN HOLD A GALLON! Make sure the fish are mature, smaller than 2 inches, and don't ever put in more than 3, though that may be stretching it. ^_^

This post may seem odd to those of you who advocate fish all needing a lot of space, etc., but these fish were very lively and not aggressive towards each other, showing very few signs of stress... well, until one guy started eating all the food. oh well.

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