New Tank; Just New, Period

[ellekay]

Hi,

I'm brand new here and brand new to the game. I have bencome completely mesmorized by the aquascapes I have seen recently and now am ready to get a tank and some fish. I want something that will be colorful, fairly easy to care for fish, I would like a schooling type maybe 2 or 3 groups. I am getting a 15g tall (I like the tall look) for my bedside table (my bedside table is quite large.

Anyway, I am looking for suggestions on where to go to purchase tanks, fish, suggestions on what to put in the tank, maybe even get some books. I have looked around on the net for the past 3 or 4 weeks searching for things I liked.

I was thinking like a mixture of
cory cats
yellow or blue shrimp
male guppies ( know sometimes not a fave but they are small and colorful!)
tetras
I have seen those round silver disc fish that intrigued me. But I am worried about fighting and the tank being too small for them.

I would love nothing more than to learn and take advice from people who are knowledgeable! Thank you!
~L

[TattedUpFishGuy]

Welcome to the box! Tetras are great when kept in groups. As far as livestock and equipment you can probably find all the equipment and some of the livestock right here on HFB

[mnemenoi]

Welcome aboard! Sounds like you have a great idea coming in for sure. My recommendation for reading would be Nano species by Rachel O'Leary its a great guide for species and nano tanks in general. 15 gallon is a great size, but to have the grouping you are interested in they really would need to all be nano stuff. Here are my thoughts on what you mentioned and my recommendations.
cory cats (easily doable, need warmer tanks and will definitely eat shrimplets. They are social so 6+ in a school. Stick with the dwarfs (C. habrosus, C. pygmaeus, C. hastatus, C. chochui, mast Aspidoras sp. would work as well. Aquarium Design Group and Houston Aquarium Warehouse bring these in regularly, just be picky and wait for the species you want or order them.)
yellow or blue shrimp (Great shrimp! A few local breeders, we even have yellows. They do well with some nano fish. Tank just needs to be densely planted to allow some shrimplets to survive to adulthood. They can be sensitive and tough for initial keepers. Might be a better 2nd tank once you have a lot of the basics down first. Aquarium Design Group, Fish Gallery, and Houston Aquarium Warehouse are great spots as well as local breeders for these)
male guppies ( know sometimes not a fave but they are small and colorful! I love these in tanks, especially the Endler's. Try ADG, or Fish Gallery or even try mail ordering, Aquabid has a great list once the temps drop a bit.)
tetras (Huge family with a LOT of options. Ruby tetra, Marbled Hatchetfish, Ember tetra, Jelly Bean Tetra are all great nano options. Also lots of Danios and Rasbora options. Celestial Pearl Danios, Emerald dwarf rasbora, Chili Rasbora and their relatives all do great in nano tanks. Asian Rummynose are great as well. ADG, HAW, FG, and That Aquarium Place are great spots for these.)
I have seen those round silver disc fish that intrigued me. But I am worried about fighting and the tank being too small for them. (Silver dollars get big, like REALLY big and need a school really. There are some dwarf species, but I rarely see these and mostly they are bycatch and accidentally sent so no real spot to find them regularly. Need a big tank for these)

The stores listed above are great shops to go to and they can help once you have the idea and can get you the stuff your looking for. Also give shouts out here, there is usually someone on here that can offer advice and help out. Meetings are another great spot to see tanks and pick folks brains about ideas and things that have worked and have failed.

[troy tucker]

Well you have a plan. but befor you start thinking livestock you need to think scape. What is going in the tank. Things like rocks wood and plants. Other scape like sponge bob, or leggo are out there too. Natural scape is my fav. but it takes a little more time to get natural wood to stay on the bottom.The live plants grow and change.
Ones you have your scape you will be ready to cycle your tank and filter. Cycling is most important.

[ellekay]

Welcome to the box! Tetras are great when kept in groups. As far as livestock and equipment you can probably find all the equipment and some of the livestock right here on HFB

Thank you!! I will def look into that for sure!
I want some kind of stuff you cant really find at places like the box pet stores. :)

[ellekay]

Welcome aboard! Sounds like you have a great idea coming in for sure. My recommendation for reading would be Nano species by Rachel O'Leary its a great guide for species and nano tanks in general. 15 gallon is a great size, but to have the grouping you are interested in they really would need to all be nano stuff. Here are my thoughts on what you mentioned and my recommendations.
cory cats (easily doable, need warmer tanks and will definitely eat shrimplets. They are social so 6+ in a school. Stick with the dwarfs (C. habrosus, C. pygmaeus, C. hastatus, C. chochui, mast Aspidoras sp. would work as well. Aquarium Design Group and Houston Aquarium Warehouse bring these in regularly, just be picky and wait for the species you want or order them.)
yellow or blue shrimp (Great shrimp! A few local breeders, we even have yellows. They do well with some nano fish. Tank just needs to be densely planted to allow some shrimplets to survive to adulthood. They can be sensitive and tough for initial keepers. Might be a better 2nd tank once you have a lot of the basics down first. Aquarium Design Group, Fish Gallery, and Houston Aquarium Warehouse are great spots as well as local breeders for these)
male guppies ( know sometimes not a fave but they are small and colorful! I love these in tanks, especially the Endler's. Try ADG, or Fish Gallery or even try mail ordering, Aquabid has a great list once the temps drop a bit.)
tetras (Huge family with a LOT of options. Ruby tetra, Marbled Hatchetfish, Ember tetra, Jelly Bean Tetra are all great nano options. Also lots of Danios and Rasbora options. Celestial Pearl Danios, Emerald dwarf rasbora, Chili Rasbora and their relatives all do great in nano tanks. Asian Rummynose are great as well. ADG, HAW, FG, and That Aquarium Place are great spots for these.)
I have seen those round silver disc fish that intrigued me. But I am worried about fighting and the tank being too small for them. (Silver dollars get big, like REALLY big and need a school really. There are some dwarf species, but I rarely see these and mostly they are bycatch and accidentally sent so no real spot to find them regularly. Need a big tank for these)

The stores listed above are great shops to go to and they can help once you have the idea and can get you the stuff your looking for. Also give shouts out here, there is usually someone on here that can offer advice and help out. Meetings are another great spot to see tanks and pick folks brains about ideas and things that have worked and have failed.

Thank you SO MUCH for the book! That will help so much! I would have never known that. I have been looking into getting some magazines and I have subscribed to blogs and stuff like that too.

[ellekay]

Well you have a plan. but befor you start thinking livestock you need to think scape. What is going in the tank. Things like rocks wood and plants. Other scape like sponge bob, or leggo are out there too. Natural scape is my fav. but it takes a little more time to get natural wood to stay on the bottom.The live plants grow and change.
Ones you have your scape you will be ready to cycle your tank and filter. Cycling is most important.

Def. the natural way! No spongebob or legos (although legos would be interesting! and I DO love the super mario tank I have seen!)
I like rocks, short moss and I have seen these tall plants that grow up and have little lily pads at the top of the aquarium but they look like skinny trees under water. I have NO IDEA what they are called LOL
I like the chiseled rock look, but dont really know how to get that. I like stacked bull rock as well.

[mnemenoi]

Most of the stores in Houston stock some hardscaping elements (Wood, Rock, and substrate) so its just a matter of looking and finding the stuff that matches your tank and style. Here is that book, forgot to link to its Amazon page. Rachel (MSJinx) is awesome and also writes for Amazonas, another great magazine. If she is ever down Houston way she promised to speak at a meeting so I'll be holding her to it. It covers Fish, Inverts, and plants so should give you a good general idea on species and also covers the basics for set up. Overall a great starters guide. Oh and the lily pads I am guessing you are talking about Bannana plants or Tiger (red) Lotus. Basically they are all Nymphaea sp.

[ellekay]

Most of the stores in Houston stock some hardscaping elements (Wood, Rock, and substrate) so its just a matter of looking and finding the stuff that matches your tank and style. Here is that book, forgot to link to its Amazon page. Rachel (MSJinx) is awesome and also writes for Amazonas, another great magazine. If she is ever down Houston way she promised to speak at a meeting so I'll be holding her to it. It covers Fish, Inverts, and plants so should give you a good general idea on species and also covers the basics for set up. Overall a great starters guide. Oh and the lily pads I am guessing you are talking about Bannana plants or Tiger (red) Lotus. Basically they are all Nymphaea sp.

AWESOME!! Thank you so much! I'm sure I will devour the book!

I have looked around town and found there is a FB group that has discounts for sponsors so I will def go there and buy if I can't find what I am looking for on here. I am an avid supporter of local grown, local business owners etc. :)

[mnemenoi]

Texas Aquatics (We work with them regularly and host monthly meetings together) and Greater Houston Aquarium Club have many sponsor stores with discounts for any members (really free and open to anyone). Just join up on the groups and I'm sure I'll see you over there, I am Roy Williams if your looking.

[JCrizz]

Welcome! No arguments from me! I love Guppies and that's what I started with. I recently got some Panda Cory's and will definitely be getting some more. You may want to check out Molly's and Platy's as well, they are all community fish and get along very well together. My community tank has Guppys, Mollys, Platys, Corys and Plecos. However, if you end up with females of the first three groups I mentioned, be prepared for babies... lots of them!

[ellekay]

Texas Aquatics (We work with them regularly and host monthly meetings together) and Greater Houston Aquarium Club have many sponsor stores with discounts for any members (really free and open to anyone). Just join up on the groups and I'm sure I'll see you over there, I am Roy Williams if your looking.

Awesome!! Thank you so much!
I did join a FB community called Texas Aquatics. I will look for GHAC on FB as well! :)

[ellekay]

Welcome! No arguments from me! I love Guppies and that's what I started with. I recently got some Panda Cory's and will definitely be getting some more. You may want to check out Molly's and Platy's as well, they are all community fish and get along very well together. My community tank has Guppys, Mollys, Platys, Corys and Plecos. However, if you end up with females of the first three groups I mentioned, be prepared for babies... lots of them!

As I have been looking around, It is kind of a goal of mine to find something different and perhaps new in the guppy world as far as coloring goes and maybe even see what other genetics I can come up with! This might be a little on the aspiring side of the equasion, however, I deal with genetics in flowers a considerable amount as I am a flower grower and enjoy the subject so me meddling in this sort of goes with the flow! Baby steps though!

I have been trolling the aquabid website for a bit now and I see there are some great colors that are just not available everywhere else I have looked. It is all so facinating to me!

~L

[NavyDan]

Texas Aquatics (We work with them regularly and host monthly meetings together) and Greater Houston Aquarium Club have many sponsor stores with discounts for any members (really free and open to anyone). Just join up on the groups and I'm sure I'll see you over there, I am Roy Williams if your looking.

I searched for Texas Aquatics... located in Dallas? Do you have links or additional information so we may participate in clubs?

[mnemenoi]

Indeed, there are quite a few of us on Facebook Groups
Greater Houston Aquarium Club (GHAC) (I'm the President)
Texas Aquatics
Houston Cichlid Club
Houston Livebearer Group
There were a few defunct and non-active groups like the Houston Planted club, TAKO (Texas Area Killifish Organization) which is still active, but only get a few odd posts and we share them via the other clubs. There are a few more SW and other stuff clubs, those are the ones I keep up with and stay active really