hi everyone

[abdhalim2]

Since you said you don't even have an aquarium yet, then a saltwater tank is out of the question as those take older tanks.

Welcome to AA~~

anyway DreD, i dont understand what did u meant by that sentences..
i started SW then FW.....

 

[WendiDell]

Hi Kondoe,
First welcome to your dream and nightmare. If it's advice you want, it's advice you'll get and get and get, no just kidding. The people here are great about sharing their knowledge.
Just curious, but what kind of fish is that in your Avatar? It's to small to, I mean the picture is to small, to see what kind of fish it is.

 

[WendiDell]

Hello again,
I read some of the other responses and I have a little more to say.
First-TURKEY-WOW, that is a new one.
Also, you don't need to rely on your LFS for stock. There are some reputable online fish stores that you can order from. Most have a live delivery guarantee and given what you said about your other options, you may want to look into it.
There is a good one here in the US, www.liveaquaria.com . They have some great fish and a very helpful compatibility chart, along with some fish stats.
There is another one out of Scotland, it has a much larger selection, but not nearly as much information. But they both have beautiful stock.
You can find the one in Scotland at www.tropicalfish-scotland.com .
I of course have no idea what their shipping policy is to Turkey, but it's worth a try.
Plus by going through their list of stock it may help you decide what type of fish you want. There are things like, do you want schooling fish, where you'll need 5-6 of the same fish? Or do you want a community of individuals? Or like some of us, would you like to have a single breed tank? I have a 55g with African Cichlids. They can be aggressive, but they are extremely hardy, which is nice if your new. A hardy fish can tolerate mistakes better than some of the more fragile varieties.
That is another thing, a LFS will sell you just about anything. Whether your able keep it in your size tank or not. They will sell you all kinds of unnecessary chemicals too. It's not so much that they are unethical as it's their business to sell you stuff. It's best to ask here first, if you need it or not.
Also it's hard to say what you'll need given we have no idea what the water is like in turkey. I don't mean it's unsafe, it's just that water is really different from one city to the next or if it's well water, every well is different. And that's just here in the state of Oregon.
This will be a learning experience for both you and a lot of us on AA. But that is a good thing.
I think with the time difference, I'll say good night from here and have a great weekend there.

 

[Diana hua]

Thank you so much

 

[Kondoe]

Hi Kondoe,
First welcome to your dream and nightmare. If it's advice you want, it's advice you'll get and get and get, no just kidding. The people here are great about sharing their knowledge.
Just curious, but what kind of fish is that in your Avatar? It's to small to, I mean the picture is to small, to see what kind of fish it is.

It's a red-tail catish in my display pic (or Phractocephalus hemioliopterus.) Thankyou so much for the advice and the links to the online stores, as I am new to aquria it is realy great that I can get all the knowledge from one place (AA). I am however looking for a community of individuals, one will be the rainbow shark, and im also thinking about an apple snail.

 

[WendiDell]

It's a red-tail catish in my display pic (or Phractocephalus hemioliopterus.) Thankyou so much for the advice and the links to the online stores, as I am new to aquria it is realy great that I can get all the knowledge from one place (AA). I am however looking for a community of individuals, one will be the rainbow shark, and im also thinking about an apple snail.

That is an amazing fish, I was really glad to hear that it's catch and release.
Live Aquaria will have a compatibility chart, so you can pick the fish most likely to get along with each other and your Rainbow Shark. Even if you don't buy from them it's good info. for making the best choices.
Although it still depends on the fishes personality. They are as different as people.
But the planning can be really fun. Not just fish but what you what your tank to look like. You can make your tank as simple or as elaborate as you want.
My first 55g was used and it came with everything. I've made changes since then to accommodate my Cichlids, but it was never really just mine.
Now I have a second 55g in the living room that I'm putting together from
the tank up. It of course costs more but it's been fun going through all the Decor and gravel and plants. It's cycling now, when it's done I'm getting 2 Platinum Angels and 2 Black Veil Angels and a group of Purple Dragon Guppies and Neon Blue Tux Guppies. Although the Guppies may be difficult to get, they are fancy guppies and we don't have any around here.
When you get to the point of setting up the tank, try going to www.BigAlsonline.com they have the best prices on supplies, food, water conditioners, and Decor, filters.
Make this a joyous build, you'll enjoy your fish even more when you've finished it all.

 

[Kondoe]

Thanks WendiDell. I've emailed both stores in the US and in scotland asking about delivery to turkey. hopefully i will get a positive reply. I have also looked at the compatability chart and have made my self a list of fish that i like and all are compatible. Here is my list.

Rainbow Shark
Cherry Barbs
Tiger Barbs
Odessa Barbs
Kyathit Spotted Danio
White Cloud Mountain Minnow
Gourami Blue
Botia Lochata
Clown Loach
Rainbowfish Boesemani
Rainbowfish Blue
Plec (Zebra/Gold/Gold Seam/Scobby/Royal/Red Sailfin)
Blue Lobster
Stripped Apple Snail
Gold Apple Snail

I don't plan on getting all of them But any advice/tips or ideas on the list i've made would be very much appreciated. Also i noticed on the compatability chart that snails (and other intervertabrate) are marked 'C' for caution required. Has anyone got any experience or knowledge on apple snails and the fish i listed above and how they tend to get along? Thanks.

I will also be taking a look at the other new link you posted WendiDell thanks for all your help

 

[WendiDell]

Thanks WendiDell. I've emailed both stores in the US and in Scotland asking about delivery to turkey. hopefully i will get a positive reply. I have also looked at the compatibility chart and have made my self a list of fish that i like and all are compatible. Here is my list.

Rainbow Shark
Cherry Barbs
Tiger Barbs
Odessa Barbs
Kyathit Spotted Danio
White Cloud Mountain Minnow
Gourami Blue
Botia Lochata
Clown Loach
Rainbowfish Boesemani
Rainbowfish Blue
Pleco (Zebra/Gold/Gold Seam/Scobby/Royal/Red Sailfin)
Blue Lobster
Stripped Apple Snail
Gold Apple Snail

I don't plan on getting all of them But any advice/tips or ideas on the list I've made would be very much appreciated. Also i noticed on the compatibility chart that snails (and other invertebrates) are marked 'C' for caution required. Has anyone got any experience or knowledge on apple snails and the fish i listed above and how they tend to get along? Thanks.

I will also be taking a look at the other new link you posted WendiDell thanks for all your help

When I saw your list, I thought holy s:censor:, that's a lot of fish. Then I read below and big sigh of relief.
About the fish, Cherry Barbs are great, Barbs are a schooling fish so you'll need 5 or more. The Tigers, also a schooling fish, tend to be fragile and are very finicky about their water. Makes keeping them alive difficult. I don't know anything about the Odessa Barbs, Danio or Minnows. The Blue Gourami's are great, the Dwarf Gourami are more difficult than the 5-6" Gouramis.
Nothing again about the Botia Lochata or either Rainbow. The Clown Loach is another one that can be difficult when small, but get easier the bigger they get. Just like the Plecos, when they are small they die over just the transportation. But, if you can get one that's at least 3-5" it's hardier and will tolerate being shipped better.
I've only seen a Blue Lobster and other than amazing color, I don't know anything else about them. The same goes for either one of the snails.
I can do some research on the ones I don't know about and let you know, if you'd like? Or someone that knows about the fish I don't may answer.
I hope that the sites I gave you will ship to Turkey. It would really s:censor:k if you were stuck with your LFS.
Even I don't use my LFS, I go 3 towns over, a 40 min. drive, to get both better variety and better fish. It's a family owned store and they have all kinds of animals. But the oldest son (he's in his late 20's,early 30's) really into fish keeping. He has 2 100g tanks for his own fish at the store, plus a couple at home,.
The stores tank are as well maintained as his personal tanks, which are perfect. So I don't mind going a little farther to get a lot better service and knowledge. My little town has a Walmart and a Petco. I won't buy fish from either one of those stores.
Also the other site I mentioned has their own brand which I've found to be better and less expensive. When you start to get your fish you'll need a lot of stress coat, for several days after you add each new fish. The distance they will be shipped will be tough on them. But Big Al's water conditioner with Aloe is Awesome. I works better than any other stress coat I've tried. And with African Cichlids they some times really hurt each other. I'll show you a close up of a Cobalt Blue Cichlids face. A pic. is worth a 1000 words about the damage they can cause. That is why I need a product with a lot Aloe.
I don't have any idea what the price of things are in Turkey. I keep saying that, so lets just say I don't know anything at all about Turkey except it's a country and I'm not even sure where it is.
But I buy all my supplies from BA's, their prices are better than even Walmarts bulk pricing and they have a huge selection.
I recently tried a new food they carry. Some of my Cichlids were getting pushed out and not eating as well as the others. They weren't growing as well either, so I tried, New Life Spectrum Grow, and it's unbelievable. Every fish I have loves it they are like Piranhas at feeding time, even my Plecos come out to eat it, they still get Algae tablets. The small and younger Cichlids seem to get bigger over night (no hormones) and they are extremely healthy.
I've had 2 fish get Popeye, at different times, from an injury. But because of the food helping their immune system, both recovered in the hosp. tank, just using Epsom's Salt, PWC daily and Big Al's water conditioned with Aloe.
I didn't need any meds. at all. The first one was a male Cobalt Blue Cichlid and the second was an Opaline Gourami. From all I've read about Popeye, recovery is rare and recovery with just Epsom's Salt is even more unusual.
When you finally get to start to add fish to your tank, give the New Life Grow food a try. A healthy immune system no matter what kind of fish is essential. If a fish does get an infection or a parasite outbreak, they stand a much better chance of survival if they start with a good immune system.
A lot of foods and supplements claim to do the same thing, but Grow is the only one I've seen actually make a visible difference in my fishes health.
Check out the pic. below, some gruesome teeth he has
OK, I'm done rambling on & on. Have a good weekend.
Let me know if you would like the research on the other fish/snails.
One last thing, Please feel free to just call me Wendi, OK?

 

[Kondoe]

Thanks Wendi, i've already done a bit of research on the blue lobster. Alot of people have said to keep crayfish in seperate tanks. Apparently they are very vicious, and will try to eat almost everything. But on some occasions the blue lobtser is ok for a community tank. But i think i rather not take the risk the snails i've not looked into yet. i will be doing all my own research but any help would be great. It's good to get more points of view that way i can make better judgment of what i need to do my priority in choosing fish is to make sure they will all be safe, It's probably better for me to start of with hardy fish and as i get more experience i can introduce more fragile fish to my tank.

 

[siva]

My blue lobster is still a juvie and he spends his entire day trying to attack anyone that comes near his tank so I can't imagine having him in a community lol. I keep CPO's in a community tank and they are just adorable. Little dwarf crays that don't seem to bother anyone. I have an albino rainbow shark and what I can tell you about them is if you add new fish and they are getting aggressive re-arrange your tank plants and decor. This sort of levels the playing field and destroys old established territories. My shark started out as the first fish in a tank and was highly aggressive when more fish were added. I would re-arrange and he would be fine. He'd still chase a bit but never hurt anyone. Now I added him last to his new tank and he's as peaceful as could be. I haven't even seen him chase anyone out of his new spot. In my experience they are territorial but not violent. Some are more aggressive than others though, you never know what you're going to get!

 

[siva]

I haven't had apple snailes but I think nerite snails are just awesome, have you looked into them? They come in lots of cool paterns and with horns and they are plants safe and, best of all, they don't reproduce in freshwater MTS(Malaysian Trumpet Snails) are really cool too. They burrow in the substrate and help keep it clean. I keep both in all my tanks.

 

[WendiDell]

Thanks Wendi, i've already done a bit of research on the blue lobster. Alot of people have said to keep crayfish in seperate tanks. Apparently they are very vicious, and will try to eat almost everything. But on some occasions the blue lobtser is oik for a community tank. But i think i rather not take the risk the snails i've not looked into yet. i will be doing all my own research but any help would be great. It's good to get more points of view that way i can make better judgment of what i need to do my priority in choosing fish is to make sure they will all be safe, It's probably better for me to start of with hardy fish and as i get more experience i can introduce more fragile fish to my tank.

I've been keeping fish for 7 years and I still go for the hardy easy care fish.
This all got started for my grandson when he was 4. We had recently found out that he has Aspergers Syndrome. So I started a 10 g tank in his bedroom. Tanks can be so tranquil so we figured it would help him fall asleep and help keep the nightmares away. It did do all that, the only problem was, the first fish we had was given to me by a blood lab. They didn't know what it was and neither did I. It turned out to be a Common Pleco, OOPS, 10g would never be enough. So we bought a used 55g.
Turned out that we all love having fish around, so now we have 4 tanks. But I've done all the work and research so far.
We still have to stay with the hardier fish easy to care for fish. Casey doesn't handle it very well when a fish gets sick or dies. Neither do I, but his Aspergers causes him to have a very strong emotional reaction. So we try to avoid it by sticking with sturdier fish, it cuts down on the losses. There are some deaths you can't prevent. We just work through it with him. And we have our first fish, the Pleco we had named Eddie Fisher, buried in the back yard with a headstone.
I couldn't bring myself to just throw him away, so to help Casey, and me, we had a fish funeral.
Now that Casey is 10, he is helping me take care of them and I'm teaching him about caring for the fish and tank maintenance. He just learned about cycling a tank, the how's and whys of it all. Now I'm trying to teach him about the testing, but it's not going real well. He is having a hard time with good and bad bacteria and that the good is bad if it gets to high and what all the colors mean. As I write it I can understand his confusion. But he is only 10, we have time for it all.
I think the Snails with the Lobster would be a bad idea. But as long as all the fish you do get are very fast & active, it would work.
I was doing some reading and it was mentioned that the Odessa Barbs are hardier than the Tiger Barbs. But I'd need to read more before I'd recommend them. I'll let you know.
Talk at you later.

 

[WendiDell]

My blue lobster is still a juvie and he spends his entire day trying to attack anyone that comes near his tank so I can't imagine having him in a community lol. I keep CPO's in a community tank and they are just adorable. Little dwarf crays that don't seem to bother anyone. I have an albino rainbow shark and what I can tell you about them is if you add new fish and they are getting aggressive re-arrange your tank plants and decor. This sort of levels the playing field and destroys old established territories. My shark started out as the first fish in a tank and was highly aggressive when more fish were added. I would re-arrange and he would be fine. He'd still chase a bit but never hurt anyone. Now I added him last to his new tank and he's as peaceful as could be. I haven't even seen him chase anyone out of his new spot. In my experience they are territorial but not violent. Some are more aggressive than others though, you never know what you're going to get!

I periodically rearrange my African Cichlid tank. It really does cut down on the territorial battles.
Given what you say about your Blue Lobster I'd say a community would be a very bad idea, a disaster even.
It also sounds like Kondoe should get all the fish he want to put in first, then add his Rainbow Shark.
Thank you, I think this will be very helpful.

 

[Joyler]

Ya...I'm 24, and I'm a college graduate, and the cycling is STILL confusing I think it's great that you found something that helps him...and not only that but you found something that you all can enjoy together!!

 

[WendiDell]

Ya...I'm 24, and I'm a college graduate, and the cycling is STILL confusing I think it's great that you found something that helps him...and not only that but you found something that you all can enjoy together!![/QUOTE]
Hi Joyler,
Thanks, it's always nice to hear we may be doing something right by him. He's a great kid and really smart, and I love doing the fish stuff with him.
he gets the basics about cycling. but when it comes to the amount of the different chemicals he gets lost.
He'll be very happy to know that he's not alone in his confusion.

 

[Kondoe]

Okay lobster can be erased from the list and adding the rainbow shark last sounds like a good idea too. I will look into the nerite snails and MTS they sound great. my only concern is that if i have too many fish and snails at the bottom of the tank would it cause problems. I'm sure i read somewhere that rainbow shark tend to hang about the bottom of the tank as do plecs.

 

[WendiDell]

Okay lobster can be erased from the list and adding the rainbow shark last sounds like a good idea too. I will look into the nerite snails and MTS they sound great. my only concern is that if i have too many fish and snails at the bottom of the tank would it cause problems. I'm sure i read somewhere that rainbow shark tend to hang about the bottom of the tank as do plecs.

Me again,
I did some reading on Rainbow behavior. They are very active and don't get along with much. They will kill anyone smaller and harass the larger unless the larger are tougher. They only mentioned Plecos and non Dwarf Gouramis.
With the Plecos you have many to choose from. With the Gouramis, not so much. But there is some good news here. Plecos hang around the bottom, even when swimming. Gouramis are direct air breathers so they hang around the surface all the time. And your Rainbow Shark, it swims a lot in the mid ranges of the tank. Which means none of them share they same space. And your tank will have fish inhabiting all three levels of the tank. Something interesting to watch no matter where you look, it's a good thing.
As long as you have lots of shorter bushy plant around the bottom to cover the them, the Shark may not notice the Snails. He will leave the Pleco alone too, so no worries there.
And as long as the Gouramis stay in their territory, which they rarely swim very low, then the Rainbow will leave them alone .
As for all the others, I don't think they'll stand much of a chance with the Shark, I'm afraid.
But like I said, there are many beautiful Plecos to chose from. When the large ones reach their 18-24" they are fairly spectacular to watch glide around.
The Gouramis are also gliders when they swim. Now I've been able to find 5 different Gouramis that are hardy, easy care, good for beginners, and their water parameters are wide and similar. I'll post a pic. of each for you to see.
the only thing with Gouramis is you can only have 1 male each. If you have more than 1 of each male they will fight each other. But if you get 1 male from each of the 5 they'll be fine, or so all the literature says.
I found the Pearl Gourami at www.fishlore.com/profilepearlgourami.htm .
The Gold, Blue, Opaline, and Blue Paradise Gourami are at www.liveaquaria.com . I couldn't fit the Paradise Gourami but you can see him at liveaquaria.
Personally I love the Pearl Gourami, it's my favorite of all the Gourami.
Right to left, top to bottom, is the Pearl, Gold, Blue, Opaline Gourami.
I hope you like them, I did my best to find what would work.
Talk at you later.

 

[siva]

My rainbow shark is a gentle giant. Actually you have to be somewhat close to his size to even get on his radar. He won't give a second look to platy fry or baby shrimp. He's never hurt a soul. Even in his most territorial phases he would only chase. I don't know maybe I shouldn't say because I only have the one but, I think maybe they have been given a bad rep unfairly. They are mostly vegetarians so they don't desire to eat other fish. They'd rather have a nice slice of cucumber any day 8) The nerites will be all over your tank cleaning any bit of algea they can find...rarely on the bottom. The MTS burrow in so, depending on how many you have you may not see them much. My rainbow has no idea the snails exsist...lol

 

[Kondoe]

it sounds like it depends on what fish you get, you might get the bully you might get the geek

 

[Kondoe]

i've now ordered the tank and will take about 10 days to get here. its 107 gallon 1.5metres long 0.5 metres wide and 0.65 metres high. I feel like a five year old whos about to have a birthday party im so excited