OK Now for Fish

[andyhill99]

My well planted and water conditioned tank (according to the book plus plenty of lfs & aa advise is ready to accept it's first inhabitants. As this will be my teenage boys first experience of fish keeping (tropical freshwater community tank) Please feel free to advise on a selection of very hardy starter fish to help and survive the the initial cycle. I would hate to see them name them and bury them in the same week and lose interest in a new world of experience. Lok forward to your suggestions !!

 

[Todd2]

Zebra Danios, I have some cycling my tank and they are very hardy and fun to watch.

 

[andyhill99]

Thanks todd2, they are interesting fish \ unusual enough to keep teen's interested.

 

[myriam]

I'm a big fan of my livebearers--platies and mollies. Having fry around and watching them grow would probably keep teens interested. There is a huge variety in colors and types, and they apparently can all interbreed, so that's also pretty cool. So far they seem to be pretty hardy, too.

 

[Capt.Gorilla]

Cory cats are hardy and enjoy well planted tanks and they will help keep the bottom clean!

 

[Allivymar]

The krib faq has some nice suggestion for starter fish: http://faq.thekrib.com/fish-popular.html

Do note it says to add fish SLOWLY. Make sure you do not stock the tank completely from the word go if you are cycling it with fish; even hardy fish can be killed by high levels of ammonia and nitrites.

 

[oscarbreeder]

I would have to agree with myriam,
I have several mollies and they are cool.
I have a black, dalmation 2 balloon molies and several new fry.

 

[stew]

Definetly go with mollies. I have one 2 gold dust mollies and they have a lot of charicter, are fun to watch, great for cycling your tank and incredably hardy. They also have live fry which are a lot of fun. My bigges molly has 6 babbies of 3 differant breeds only 2 weeks after I got her. I will likely add more mollies and some other live bearers (guppies and platies) They are all really colorful and tuff and nails for a new aquarium owner.

 

[LondonGman]

Do note it says to add fish SLOWLY.

I must stress this point. As you add fishes, to the tank, the amount of waste created increases. It takes time for the natural bacteria in the tank to increase to match the waste produced.

Too many fishes at a time and waste/ammonia increase in the water can stress the fishes, which can cause diseases like ick or worse.