Help with the Fish!

Kids have been begging for a pet for a while, so we relented somewhat and I recently started them off with one Betta each, in separate small tanks. Even though not the type of pet one can really interact with, so far they love it. It has also got me more interested than I had expected, and I think we're ready to step up to a decent size aquarium tank and fill with 7-10 fresh water fish (while still maintaining the Bettas separately).

I'm doing my own research before jumping in, but was wondering if any SBAF'ers have aquarium experience? Any tips on which fish are somewhat easy to maintain? Do I need live plants? Any specific fish or plants to avoid?

Only requirement so far is a Black & White Clownfish that we saw on the last trip to one of the local aquarium shops. And I'd like to stay away from Goldfish.

As I read up on all this, it seems I may need to keep one or more species that need like-type companionship (e.g. Guppies in groups of 3) if I'm looking to keep flexible (not strict/tight temperature) water conditions.

 

Growing up, my friend caught a wild fresh water bass. He brought it home, put it in a tank, and fed it bluegills from the same lake for months. Then winter came, and he had to start feeding it goldfish from the pet store. He added a ceramic castle, fake plants, and eventually a bigger tank. The bass' name was Earnest. He died the following year.

He was delicious.

I also don't know anything about aquariums.

Sorry.

 

I'd strongly recommend against getting clownfish for your kids' first tank. Many stores will actually refuse to sell clownfish to first-timers and their kids because so many people want their own Nemo without knowing what they're getting into.

Clownfish require a saltwater tank, which involves substantially more setup time, care and maintenance than a freshwater tank in terms of maintaining water temperature, salinity, cleaning the tank of algae and waste, etc. You'll have daily tasks to take care of, and you may be stuck doing all of the maintenance on your own when the novelty of a new pet wears off. Saltwater tanks also only last a maximum of 7-12 days unattended, and clownfish typically live for three to ten years, so it's no easy task.

Start with a freshwater tank with relatively hardy, easy to keep fish like platies, cories and guppies. If your kids end up losing interest (which happens quite often because of the lack of interaction), all that's required to maintain a freshwater tank is to change the water periodically, vacuum waste, and check the filtration system, pH, nitrate and ammonia levels every so often.

You don't need live plants; they're nice to have and can help with waste filtration somewhat, but they add another layer of complexity because they can wilt and negatively impact your water quality as a result.

 

Keep it as simple as possible! Fresh water, no plants. Kids can have a lot of fun watching guppies have their own families.

I had a 50 gallon planted tank with platties and a shrimp colony for a few years. It was fun to watch, but there was always something going out of balance. It's can be a full-time chemistry project!

 

Good advice here already, let me just add the most important thing I ever learned about aquarium keeping - that the smaller the tank, the harder it is to keep the chemistry within the bounds of survivability for your piscine companions. Changes happen very very fast in those starter tanks they sell, and before you know it - >dead fish. Literally hours sometimes.

As dubharmonic noted, even his 50gal required a lot of attention to stasis.

Would recommend guppies and no live plants in the largest tank you have room for and can afford. Bonus is guppies breed like...well...rabbits, so it's a great and interactive learning experience for the kids. You could even eventually get them breeding show guppies for eg. Not very difficult to start, hard to get good at.

These are good starter reading (apologies, on my phone so a screenshot is all you get, I can send the kindle store links later if you like) :

 

Matin Moe's book for saltwater aquariums is very good and makes keeping these tanks quite easy. I kept a saltwater and eventually a full reef tank for 15 years. If you like clownfish, then go with what you like.

 

Ya'll are making me want to keep a bunch of little fish in a tank, now!
I like this kinda stuff. Let the fish enjoy the music, too!

 

You ate a fish that died from some unknown ailment???

 

I had a South American Cichlid tank for many years which was fun. Even had a nice breeding pair of Jack Dempsey fish. I really wanted to do an African Cichlid tank but never got around to it.

I would recommend starting out with a freshwater tank with live bearers like Platys and Swordtails along with Cardinal Tetras, Zebra Danios, Cherry Barbs, and Dwarf Gouramis for variety.

 

Thanks all for the input. Yes, am definitely going to start with freshwater. Told my daughter that we'd investigate saltwater after gaining solid experience with freshwater. This will be one of our bigger summer projects.

 

Good plan @rott - I'd love to know how it goes!