Choosing a tank

[kdickin3]

I am looking for a 10 or 20 Gallon tank. I currently have 3 options at my local Petsmart and I am wondering which you guys would recommend and why.

I currently have a male Betta, and once I have the tank cycled I will be adding some rasboras and either ghost shrimp or cories (depending on the tank size).

Here are my 3 Options:
1. Tetra 20 Gallon Starter Kit- comes with hood, light, filter & heater (I can't post a link because they currently do not have it up on their website)

2. Marineland 10 or 20 Gallon kit: comes with everything that the Tetra includes . 10 Gallon Aquarium » Marineland Bio-Wheel LED 10 Gallon Aquarium Kit | PetSmart

3. Grreat Choice 10 Gallon kit: only comes with hood and light.
Grreat Choice™ 10 Gallon Aquarium Starter Kit - Starter Kits - Aquariums - PetSmart

 

[Mebbid]

I would go with the marineland pesonally. Although I am really not a fan of the hood on either of those tanks.

 

[Fishperson]

Marineland got slammed in the reviews. People said it leaked, and that the lights stopped working. I would go with the tetra. I would do 20 gallons not 10.

 

[Speed]

I would say 20 tetra starter & did just that myself. Still in use for my 2 goldfish. Haven't had any issues at all, & on the lower price end. Came with everything I needed ( even though I upgraded the light almost immediately to LEDs which made all the difference.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

I say skip the kits and buy everything separately. More expensive in the beginning but it will save you money in the long run. Kit filters and lights usually aren't that good IME and you will be looking to upgrade the equipment in no time. Also buy the biggest tank you can afford and fit into your house.

 

[KatieKontak]

I really like the PetSmart brand of stuff personally like the Topfin starter kits. I bought the 5.5 gallon and its been set up for a year and haven't had any problems with it. I do like the marine land filters better though.

 

[Convict2161]

I'm in late but... I wouldn't get a kit. Half the time the filter isn't up to par and everything else is just blah...

Build your own. Tank, filter, heater etc etc etc

 

[Buu]

I say skip the kits and buy everything separately. More expensive in the beginning but it will save you money in the long run. Kit filters and lights usually aren't that good IME and you will be looking to upgrade the equipment in no time. Also buy the biggest tank you can afford and fit into your house.

+1! I started out with a topfin kit. Which was nice but I got greedy and wanted bigger. As I became more educated (better filters, heaters lights ect) I realized its better to just build you own. Even though it was more expensive, in the end I would have spent the same amount upgrading things from a kit. I'm always snooping on Craigslist, so many good steals on tanks.

 

[Speed]

I'm in late but... I wouldn't get a kit. Half the time the filter isn't up to par and everything else is just blah...

Build your own. Tank, filter, heater etc etc etc

Dnt mean to thread jack here ?, I've been thinking about building a tank but I wldnt have a clue of where to start & never really excelled in construction lol. Top fin seems to be the cheapest & I've never had issues with them but the largest they have is 75g. I'd like a 100 -150g but then I'm looking at 1000's instead of a few hundred. The hobby gets expensive quick. Have to invest thousands for a $2 fish lol

 

[Mebbid]

Dnt mean to thread jack here ?, I've been thinking about building a tank but I wldnt have a clue of where to start & never really excelled in construction lol. Top fin seems to be the cheapest & I've never had issues with them but the largest they have is 75g. I'd like a 100 -150g but then I'm looking at 1000's instead of a few hundred. The hobby gets expensive quick. Have to invest thousands for a $2 fish lol

Have to invest thousands for 100 $2 dollar fish

 

[shellieca]

I have bettas & I started with the top fin 10g kits. Within a year I replaced the hoods with glass canopies, the filters are all now sponge filters & the light hoods I kept bit switched the bulbs to ones more appropriate for plants. I also have a tetra 10g that I put a glass canopy on but no light as I don't have any live plants in that tank. I have no other fish in my 10g tanks. If you want more fish go as big as you can & I would purchase all the other stuff separately. The kits are good to start but more likely than not you'll switch equipment out.