just aquired a fish tank and fish, total novice!

hi guys as the title says iv just bought a nice fish tank and stand, along with all the bits and some fish aswell, being a total newbie to this stuff i need help and advice where i can get, im gunna have a read around the web too but thought id do a thread on here to get your help. basically i need to know whats the best way to clean the tank, how to look after and anything else i need to know about the water or whatever, basically i know nothing at this point apart from the tank has a heater, filter, 2 florescent bulbs and an air pump. the tank needs a clean aswell thats why iv come here as i need to know all these basics before i even attempt to do anything with it, all fish look healthy iv took a couple of pics as i dont know what they are.

any help on anything in general so i dont kill them will be great, as far as im aware its a tropical tank.

please check out the pics and help me out guys

many thanks!

You don't want to chuck in raw tap water in when filling it up.i assume that water that is in it is what came with it.if so get some water conditioner form the pet shop and mix it in with new water before you put it in the tank,also roughly 72° to 95°in temperature.


last pic is an angel fish and thinkkkkkkkkkk over is a gourami

a gravel hoover would be good aswell.one that works of an air pump i find best as you can clean the shite of the gravel without it emptying your tank of water,,,,if you clean the filter do it with old water out of the tank,using clean to do it will kill of the friendly bacteria of the filter media

thanks mate, didnt wanna just fill it up with water as thats what 1 of my friends suggested i do, but wasnt sure about that, i thought they needed a certain water, right phlevels or something, ill have a look for some water conditioner, is there a certain make or brand you would recommend, it has come with a gravel vacuum, its 1 of those ya have to suck to get the crap off the bottom, so will be looking to upgrade that, you got any recomedations for that too!

Interpet Aquarium Treatment Tapsafe Bioactive 30ml something like that,put in water before it goes in tank...them gravel vacs are ok ish but i only use them to empty a quarter of water once a fortnight and replace with fresh,the one i got you attach it to an air pump so you can clean the fish shite of the gravel without it emptying the tank of any water.will try an find link of mine

PENN PLAX GRAVEL CLEANER AIR VAC mines similar to this,,,attach it to a £5 ish airpump ,magnetic glass cleaners are handy aswell for cleaning algae of the tank

thanks mate, guess i best get myself to my nearest pet store and get some things bought, thanks for the links ill look into them too, glad i waited and didnt just jump in and fill the tank, lol, theres another couple of fish in there too which look like little catfish from what i seen, they've scurried back into the log now only got a quick glimpse of them!

anyone else got any hints or tips to keeping a good fish tank and looking after them, i only bought it as it was very cheap and the lass wanted rid of them, but id like to get a nice setup sorted for them and maybe add a few more fish once i get the tank sorted!

Don't get too many fish and make sure sunlight doesn't shine on it. (the amount of trouble i've had with algae) lol


P.S. don't over feed (not easily judged) as excess food will cause problems.

well theres 7 in there at the moment, hoping to add maybe 5 more, will that be ok, also iv just spoke to the lass i got the fish tank off and she said she just fills it up with warm water then adds 5 tablespoons of salt once shes filled it up, whats the deal with that!

The fish you have are freshwater so you won't need any salt.



P.S. Be carefull when choosing fish, some don't get along and some are just plain abnoxious, i've had to give some back due to them constantly bullying the rest (should have flushed the damm things) lol

dar1437 said:

The fish you have are freshwater so you won't need any salt.

Click to expand...

or vinegar

So how can i go about filling it up then as at the moment its still got the water i got them in in. And what about this water conditioner is that needed or can i just fill if with buckets of warm water!

get bag put water from tank in catch fish put in bag fill to level you want with water then put bag with fish and water in ( floating on top ) leave for 10-20 mins let fish go done

I got into this about 5 weeks ago. It's a nightmare to properly 'cycle' a tank with fish in.

If you fill with tap water as others have said get a dechlorinator and add it to it. Also try to keep the water temp as close to the existing tank water as possible so as not to shock the fish.

The idea of cycling the tank is to build up bacteria in the tank to help it maintain itself.

Fish produce ammonia from their waste and over feeding, this is harmful to fish and will burn their gills and make them ill. A natural bacteria will be produced to combat this but will take a while to come through, this bacteria turns ammonia into nitrIte (NO2), this is even more harmful to fish as it can rise sharply. To keep both the ammonia and NO2 low daily water changes of around 50% are required to allow the bacterias time to establish without harming your fish too much.
The final bacteria will turn NO2 into NitrAte (NO3) which is much less harmful to fish.

To monitor these you should ideally use a chemical test kit. I got the API Master Test Kit.

I thought this was a load of crap tbh when I first heard about it but it is true. I learnt the hard way by losing two fish to ammonia poisoning. I lost two Danio, which are considered a very hardy fish, Angelfish are very delicate and will need the water to be very low in ammonia and NO2. Also consider the fishes stomach to only be as big as their eye, so they really only need a small amount of food each.

Don't just give them flakes either, give them a variety of foods.

Skinned peas
bloodworms
brine shrimp
water fleas

Something I only found out today was that normal tap water already contains NO3 NitrAtes. So if you start testing make sure you take a sample of your tap water so you have a base to work from.

Hope all goes well!

How you getting on any updates for us?

been keeping fish for a few years now,had a nice 100 gallon community tank but have now got a species tank with 2 Tiger Oscars....awesome.anyway...
don't fill tank with hot water from the tap.instead use cold water and hot water from the kettle.also add water conditioner to take away all the copper and impurities thats in the tap water.
The KEY to a healthy tank is regular weekly or fortnightly water changes and not overfeeding or overstocking.
As someone else quite rightly pointed out, research your fish before you buy them. make sure they are compatible and check their food requirements and also how big they may grow to. you don't wanna buy a lovely 2 inch long arowana then find out the wee bugger grows about 2 inches a month and reaches about 2 foot long.lol
also, when cleaning out your filter media, rinse them out in the old tank water when you've done a water change. this will keep the healthy bacteria in the sponges alive.
best of luck.