Finding Nemo

[Kwenbee]

Okay, after all the stuff I've been through with our little 10 gallon freshwater setup (remember...started with 2 "free" goldfish, switched to tropical)...and just YESTERDAY getting a 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite level (WOOHOO...two days of NO water changes!!), we visited a different live fish store with clownfish and damsels. My daughter is a HUGE Finding Nemo fan and now wants to set up a saltwater tank so she can have a Nemo and Dory.

Although, I agree that the saltwater fish are very colorful, I just checked out that forum and WOW! the startup costs for saltwater are way out of our league.

As I've posted, we are looking at getting a 55 gallon tank in the next few months. I want to have angel fish...my question is, are there freshwater species that resemble clownfish and damselfish that are compatible with angels? I KNOW what not to do when starting up a new freshwater tank now, but would be at ground zero with a saltwater, and the fish are so much more expensive.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

 

[robertmarda]

I have never seen a freshwater fish that looks like a clownfish nor like the fish named Dory in Finding nema. You can find orange mollies. I have seen photos of a blue ram but donut know if the ram and angelfish can live together.

 

[webmoose]

I am sure that you can lead your enthusiasm towards fresh water fish and you daughter might follow.. You would be suprised how easy it is... An orange swordtail can be a nemo in a childs eyes.. I know every kid is different but I have Nemo themed catfish / cardinals / neons and guppys in my tank from my kids prospective and my hillstream loach (flat fish) is called "Mr. Ray"

The guppy's were added at the request of my child.. I took the perspective of "the guppy experiment" all of them are named Dory...

 

[Fruitbat]

There aren't any freshwater fish that resemble clownfish...unfortunately. There ARE a number of them that are every bit as brilliant in color. (By the way...my daughter has the same illness as yours does....the 'IwantatankwithNemoinit' syndrome.) The closest you can get to the overall vividness of color that saltwater fish exhibit are the African Rift Lake cichlids...but these require hard, alkaline water and are, for the most part, extremely aggressive and territorial. Certainly NOT good tank-mates for angelfish.

There are many nicely-colored South American tetras that will be compatible with your angelfish plans....as long as they're not small enough to disappear down the angel's gullet. Many people keep Neon Tetras with Angels....but the neons will probably mysteriously vanish as the angels grow. Angels are also often kept with Discus (another South American cichlid like the angelfish), though the angels can be a bit too aggressive for the discus' liking.

 

[snapcrackler]

Check into clown loaches.... 3 at minimum because they like to school, but they really do play and act goofy. They can also sleep on their sides and on the gravel like SW clownfish do sometimes.

I have 4 clown loaches and they are a riot.

 

[Allivymar]

There was a great discussion about FW Nemo/Dory substitutes over at WWM a while back; thought you might find it interesting

http://wetwebfotos.com/talk/thread.jsp?forum=3&thread=13475&tstart=120&trange=15

 

[William]

Kwenbee, I'm glad you did your research.


It makes me shudder to think how many people went out and bought clownfish after seeing little nemo and stuck them into a freshwater goldfish bowl.

 

[QTOFFER]

I think it's a great idea to find Nemo-substitutes that a beginner can handle.

I feel bad for all the clownfish, anemones, and tangs that lost their lives to SW newbie mistakes after the movie was released. If I'm not mistaken, nearly all SW fish are caught in the wild. This (and the cost of SW setups) is why I am not even thinking about doing SW until I get pretty darn good at FW.

If I were to do something dumb and lose a dozen tetras as a result, surely I would feel bad; but at least those tetras would have been raised on a fish farm somewhere in Florida. I'd learn from my mistake and then buy a dozen more without worrying that doing so would endanger the species or its environment. However, I would feel absolutely awful if my inexperience led to the death of a reef creature which can only be replaced by taking another out of its natural habitat.

 

[Kwenbee]

QTOffer...I think you may have just solved my problem. Since the entire premise of the movie is that Nemo is caught and sent to a fish tank where he and the other fish attempt dangerous escapes to get back to the wild, I can just tell her that the clownfish and damsels we see in the tanks might be looking for their moms and dads and that maybe, if they aren't sold, the fish store will release them back in the water and they can go back where they lived before (hey..she's seven so she won't have a clue these fish will never see the wild again).

I think we'll definitely stick with FW since I actually seem to know what I'm doing!

 

[Catalina]

haha, that's a great story about the SW fish looking for their moms and dads. i think it should definitely work.

i was going to suggest clown loaches also, as i have 3 and they are my favorite fish ever. they're obviously a different shape then nemo, but the coloring is strikingly similar. they should also do well in a 55 gal. and get along well with angelfish. of course, they are all wild caught so technically they would be looking for their moms and dads too...

 

[QTOFFER]

Clown loaches are wild caught?!?! 8O 8O 8O

Could anybody tell me what other FW fish are wild caught?
I really want to avoid these guys until my fishkeeping skills are honed.

 

[Catalina]

Yes, as far as I know they don't breed in captivity, so they are caught in rivers in Southeast Asia. (I think there's been only one documented case of them breeding in captivity, in the UK.) They do get to over a foot long, and the only ones that are caught for the aquarium industry are 2 inches or less, so their population is not as endangered as some saltwater fish as the sexually mature ones are considered too big. However, it was a very hard decision for me to buy them because of this, but I caved because I love them so much.

As for other FW fish that are wild caught, I'm not too sure. There are several other species though. Usually, when you look at profiles of a particular type of fish they will give you breeding information, and you can find out through there. I'm sure other people can jump in and tell you some other species that are wild caught though.

 

[Kwenbee]

Well, I gave her the story about Nemo...and she bought it....hook, line and sinker (sorry, pun intended). Now she's absolutely adamant about not buying any saltwater fish and I'm afraid to take her to the fish store because I think she'll demand that they let all the clown fish go find their mom and dad!

We're sticking with freshwater, and are just looking for colorful guys to go with our angels. Since we still don't have the tank, I'm not in a real rush.

We want to add a couple more to our 10 gallon. I'm glad I read about the tetra fin-nipping problems and about the neons being yummy snacks for angels...now I know our neons are in their permanent home in the 10 gallon.

I'm almost leaning toward getting a 55 and a 20...using the 10 as a quarantine tank and moving our guys now into the 20...of course...I'll probably have to sell my daughter to afford it