Fresh water fish keeping

[jason]

Basicalyy my girlfriend is thinking of buying me a massive fish tank for christmas. Want to keep fresh water fish in it, find tropicals boring.

What fish could survive in a fish tank without outgroing it. Also which fish will thrive in a tank etc? How do you keep the water cool enough for them?

Thinking carp, roach, rud, perch. Or maybe just a shoal of perch

any help much appreciated! cheers jason

[doughnut]

hi Jason
I used to have a 6foot tank in the lounge with cold water set up, it had a small shoal of rudd , two golden tench, 4 goldfish and 4 FI carp in it ,

other fish you could put in whould be swap rudd for orffe , and F1s for two
gost koi , though thay whould prob out grow tank, but local garden centers that sell cold water fish in spring usually have some good alternatives,

I tried to keep perch in a tank and found thay did not keep well something to do with a perches swim bladder being very sensetive, so do not advise you
to keep them ,

your tank should be fine run at room temp keep cheak on temp if you think its getting to hot do a 10% water change, that will drop temp of tank, remember do not use water straight from tap , unless you get a decloronator,
to treat the water, i used to have a water butt that i would keep filled with water so i had a good supply of fresh water ,should i need to do a water change,
I have now changed to a tropical set up, because i found there to be a
larger choice of fish to keep, and some real intresting fish once, you look past the usual guppys ect,
good luck Doughnut

[Blue]

Be careful when putting plants in it and how much light is able to get at it. These are the main two factors to algae growth and clouding of the water I've found.

When I bought my fresh water tank I had natural plants in it because it looks nice etc, and we left the tank light on all day. But I was having terrible trouble with the algae and water clarity. After a bit of a chat with the guys at the aquatics shop, they recommended that I only use synthetic plants, as the filter and under gravel filters I have provides enough oxygen for the fish.

Also, they said only have the light on for a couple of hours in the evening, as the light encourages algae to grow a lot quicker than it normally would with the light off. The light is just for effect really, the fish don't need the tank light on, as the natural day light is enough for them to build up a routine so they know when it's night and day basically. Also, make sure the tank isn't placed in in direct sun light for to long in your room, as this will obviously effect algae growth to.

if u position your tank away from central heating/fires/windows/direct sunlight you will have a more stable water temperature...

to be honest tho...once your little carp outgrow the tank ...which they will.....youll wish you set up with tropicals or marine.....

nearly everyone i know who has kept inigenous species has.....

plus when the fish are rehomed they will have extremely low resistance to natural water borne dieseases etc and will struggle to establish themselves in there new home

carp make a seriuos amount of waste matter .most of which isnt the crap you can see !!!!...you will be needing to do 1/3 water changes at least weekly when the fish become of a reasonale size and even more frequently when they get big

[doughnut]

Another tip is to put some charcoal in your filter, do not know why but my
tank always seamed to do better and fish seemed happier when it was in the filter, perhaps it was just me, unless some one could tell us why,:confused , I may be wrong but i think it was to do with charcoal removing harmfull metal and nitrate build up that normal filtration does not remove ?

[Rainey]

My old filter had a charcoal filter built in...

[Blue]

Originally Posted by Phil highlander

you will be needing to do 1/3 water changes at least weekly when the fish become of a reasonale size and even more frequently when they get big

Yup, I was doing 20% water change every two weeks, I'm doing it at least once a week now just to keep the water clear. I got a cold water 'plek' (spelling?) a couple of months ago, he's doing a decent job of keeping the glass clear though as they eat the algae

[Blue]

Originally Posted by jason

How do you keep the water cool enough for them?

Wouldn't worry to much about keeping the water cold enough for them, normal room temp is fine, infact, thers'a only a few degrees difference between a cold water fish tank and a tropical fish tank. Ideal temp of Tropical is approx between 76 - 80 degrees F and cold water temp should be around 70 - 75 degrees F

[jason]

Cheers for the info so far! Need as much info as possible as i have no idea about fish keeping.

What size tank would you guys recommend?
What would i need? A tank, filter, Gravel? what else?
What native uk fish would not outgrow the tank?

I have a pond in garden with grass carp and tench in and dont really want to be introducing fish into my pond as they may have disease! is their anyway of checking fish for diseases before you release them?

cheers jason

read into charcoal !! be very carefull as when it gets to its absorbant capacity it has a tendency to release all that it has extracted !! causing sudden poisoning to fish and all microscopic aquatic life

[doughnut]

Originally Posted by Phil highlander

read into charcoal !! be very carefull as when it gets to its absorbant capacity it has a tendency to release all that it has extracted !! causing sudden poisoning to fish and all microscopic aquatic life

yes you are right Phill follow instuctions on the pack and change it every time you clean fillter for new charcoal, or you could run into trouble, in long term,