Any fish tank recommendations?

WeAreGhosts

i am looking at getting a small fish tank for coldwater/temperate fish. Don't want anything big and high maintenance.

I was looking at the biOrb Flow 15 but it has some dodgy reviews where the filter is concerned.

can anyone recommend something similar?

lisawood78

How many fish were you hoping to keep?
15 litres is a seriously tiny tank

WeAreGhosts

not many with that one! half a dozen small fish ... but then i read that small ones get sucked into the filter.

but could have tanks that hold maybe 20 fish

lisawood78

We have the larger fluval edge (48l) with a shoal of tiny tetras, a plec and couple of platys, oh and some ramshorn snails.
My niece has the smaller fluval edge, not sure on litres for that one but she has 4 mollies and a large shrimp in that.
Both good looking tanks but I changed the filter in mine to a different one that was more effective. We also changed the lighting but that was more preference than anything else

WeAreGhosts

they look nice.
is your niece's the 23litre?

yours says it needs two plug sockets which i won't have if it is going on kitchen worktop. can't find whether the 23 litre one needs two sockets. do you know if tanks generally do need two sockets? i used to have a large tank but that only needed one socket

lisawood78

My nieces is the 23 yes.
One plug for light and one for the filter. Mine also use another one for heating but of course not an issue if you are using them as Coldwater.
Can't say I've seen any tanks where the filter and lights work off one plug. Wondering if there are any specialist coldwater fish forums that could advise you better? My tropical tank is more of an aside to my main tank which is a 5ft Marine (using 13 sockets ha ha)
Do your have a local independent aquatics store, perhaps they might have some suggestions if you tell them your requirements.

Buffythedebtslayer

hello,


there aren't really any coldwater fish that would be suitable for a 23 litre fish tank, you would need to heat the water a little for most fish, even temperate ones.


I would look on the practical fish keeping forum for advice and ideas, they might be able to advise on a small tropical fish depending on your water chemistry.


http://forum.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=50




Just my personal opinion but I would stay well away from Biorb, overpriced and gimmickey, more of a piece of furniture than a habitat for an animal.


Also if this is your first tank perhaps go for bigger? 40 or 60 litres at least.


good luck

WeAreGhosts

13 sockets? wow!

my local independent pet shop is rubbish. and i suppose pets at home will just flog me something to make a sale.

thanks for the link, will take a look

p.s it's not first tank, it's second - but we had the first one many years ago. don't know how many litres it held but was about 4ft long and 1.5 ft wide.

Shrike

I'd agree with Buffy that coldwater fish need much larger tanks. Also its easier to look after fish in a bigger tank than a small one as when things go wrong a small quantity of water will poison the fish when a larger one means you have time to spot there is a problem.
One fish that does like a small tank though is the Siamese Fighter - maybe get one of those and some sort of loach to live on the bottom.