I am a complete beginner and want to keep fish! please help?

Question

now I'm looking for the cheapest option and i know everyone goes on about how you should get like a 20gallon tank but they seem to be expensive

the fish I'm looking for have to be colourful, easy to keep, and preferably cold water

Answer 1

its good to know that you are asking for advice instead of just going out and buying a setup.

this site has a free forum with lots of tips and advice for beginners good luck with your fish-keeping.

http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pf...

Answer 2

Goldfish are the answer, they are hard to kill and are very hardy. They do not need heaters but they tend to get the disease "Ick" which can be treated with a solution you put in the water. (ick can appear as white spots on their fins or missing fins) You can get any size aquarium you want but you should have a filter, goldfish can be messy and it is a pain to clean it by hand. Also, when first starting up an aquarium you should let the water sit with the filter on for a couple of days before adding fish. Do not sit the aquarium in front of a window and leave fish in their bag floating in the water until the water temp is the same, then slowly release them. They also have some med you can put in the water when add fish and are messing around in there it is called "Stress Coat" you should get this as well. Good Luck!  

Answer 3

Marcus is right, you are in a section where we hook fish and occasionally eat them. A handful of us will know about keeping fish as pets, but you will get the best answers in the pet fish section.

Good luck to you.

Answer 4

Keeping fish has two different meanings depending if you're in "Fish" or "Fishing"... (btw, a nice marinade.... rum, lime juice, and sea salt... let the fillets soak for at least half an hour... you could probably even make some nice chevice with it... mmmmm)

My favorite simple fish for aquariums have always been cardinal tetras... get a dozen or so, they school up real nice and they look like they've got lightbulbs in them when the light hits them. They look a lot like Neon Tetras, but they get bigger (remember, size is a relative thing) and have more red... http://www.somethingsphishy.com/images/C...

http://www3.telus.net/public/dneubau/00c...

Answer 5

Claire, babe, this is the fishing section, if you join us in fish under the pet section there's a chance of a sensible answer :0)

Colourful cold water fish means a species of goldfish and 20 UK gallon is the bare minimum. Tropical gives you far more choices, but to get a decent answer we in the "fish", section would need to know what size of tank you are getting as that greatly effects the replies.

Answer 6

Well, if you want to keep fish, I would make sure they were caught legally, are the legal size limit, and on a stringer or in a live well. Then fillet as soon as you can, wrap the fillets in butcher paper and freeze.

Answer 7

Try the Pets>Fish section...

The cheapest option is a single male betta, in a 3-5 gallon tank with a heater and filter. You can't put 2 male bettas in the same tank, they will kill each other.

These are good tanks...

http://www.marineland.com/sites/Marinela...

http://www.marineland.com/sites/Marinela...

Unless you can't afford more, forget the 3 gallon and go for the 6 or 12.

http://www.marineland.com/sites/Marinela...

Tetra makes a nice little one too...

http://www.tetra-fish.com/sites/tetrafis...

They are good for only one betta and not much else.

Here's a good little heater...

http://www.hydor.it/en/products/show/10

The 7.5 watt will be OK for the 3, you'll need the 15 watt for the 5-6.

This will work in the 3 gallon if your house is cool (below 68°F/20°C) or the 5-6 gallon tanks if the house is warm in the winter...

http://www.petmountain.com/product/heate...

Upgrade the lighting...

http://www.petmountain.com/product/fluor...

Answer 8

gold fish! There're orange! WOW!

Answer 9

The Fishing section doesn't deal with aquariums or pet fish, but fortunately I do both hobbies.

A 20 gallon tank is big enough for:

1 betta or

1 goldfish or

a handful of guppies.

If you want the easiest and cheapest fish to keep, I would recommend getting a 3 gallon plastic tank and a betta. Bettas are quite happy in small containers, and a 3 gallon tank is like the size of a football field to them. They are also very colorful and pretty, as well as more intelligent and personable than most fish. The only reason you can't have more than 1 betta in a tank is because they're so aggressive towards each other (especially the males). Goldfish are very dirty fish that produce a lot of waste, and need a lot of space to be healthy, so they're not a good choice for a beginner. A 3 gallon tank would also be good for a few guppies and they are pretty easy to take care of, but they're very small and not nearly as interesting to look at as bettas (in my opinion).