Pretty little fishies...?

[Froggybaby]

I love my sister. She's been having a hard time with life lately, and as I was watching my koi swimming around their tank today, I remembered how much my sister loved her fish tank when we were both much younger. I decided I wanted to get her a tank as a present, sneak it over to her and set it all up while she was at work. Fish and everything. (NOTE: I realize that this will take some preparation at my place before it gets to hers.) My questions are all about ease of operation. We're both busy people, and while I know that all aquariums will require work to keep them clean and beautiful, I'm sure there are some that require comparatively less work than others, right?

What could I set up for her that would be pretty to look at and not too hard to take care of? I know that she loves Tetras, and has room for about a 10g tank. I'd really like to get her some fish that she can enjoy looking at without worrying about everything every ten minutes. Any suggestions?

 

[Vircomore]

So, you have an active aquarium already? If so, I would recommend the following steps that would allow you to do an "instant setup" at your sister's place.

1. Get the aquarium and all the supplies, including food, etc.

2. Set up the aquarium at your apartment and fill it with water and get the filter running on it (no need to put in gravel or decor)

3. Add some fish food to the tank and let it run for a day or two.

4. Open up the filter on YOUR aquarium, take out a filter sponge (still filled with all the brown gunk) and squeeze all that brown gunk into the new tank.

5. Keep feeding the new tank with food, until you get 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, and a high amount of nitrates. (You're cycling the filter for her)

6. Once the filter is cycled - you can throw the filter material in a bucket of clean tank water and haul everything over and set it up at her place.

That way - she won't have to go through the pain of cycling a tank - and she can have fish immediately without much hassle.

As for fish - I can personally recommend Danios if she wants some really active little fish, or maybe some Tetras or Rasboras if you don't want quite as much "zoom zoom".

 

[BigJim]

Is your sister prepared to care for a tank?

If she is, seed a filter on your tank for a month before taking it over to your sister's. It should take care of cycling for you. Then stock the tank lightly, maybe 5-6 small tetras and some ghost shrimp.

 

[Vircomore]

Ahh yes, that too.

I think my brain is wired to look for the most complicated solution to a simple problem. Feel free to completely ignore my suggestion if you have room on your tank to install the filter that her tank will use.

 

[andreahp]

Is your sister prepared to care for a tank?

If she is, seed a filter on your tank for a month before taking it over to your sister's. It should take care of cycling for you. Then stock the tank lightly, maybe 5-6 small tetras and some ghost shrimp.

Yes, I was thinking the same thing about care of the tank - while it may be a nice thought on your part, would she welcome the responsibility?