Colorful beginner fish

[Gideyon]

Though it could be a few years down the road, I've already started contemplating and researching new fish, tank and filtration.  Currently I just have a 10g betta tank. 

I really like the color of the various cichlids. But the more I looked into it, I knew it wasn't for me.  I like to look at them, but the care for them seemed more than what I was capable of. 

Is there an alternative when you can get one type of fish (with color) in a community tank?   I already learned gouramies are too territorial to be amongst themselves.  And I'm not crazy about tiny schooling fish.

Am I thinking the impossible and just go for a mix of little fish of varying colors? 

As for tank size, I'm thinking 55g.   If depth were needed, maybe 75 or 40g breeder. 

[Colu]

A pair of peal gourami's do fine in 55 or could get some barbs lots of species to choose from such tiger barbs rosy barb Odessa barb 

Edited March 12, 2021 by Colu

[Pigeonduck]

Do you know how hard your water is? It might be possible to look it up on your water suppliers website. 

Water hardness can be very important for certain fish species and it's much easier to match the fish to your water than to change it.

There are definitely many easy to care for cichlid species. Are you only in certain ones? Depending on your water hardness you could do a community tank with a single Cryptoheros sajica, or a pair of kribensis or Apistogramma, for example.

 

 

 

 

 

[Gideyon]

4 minutes ago, Pigeonduck said:

Do you know how hard your water is? It might be possible to look it up on your water suppliers website. 

Water hardness can be very important for certain fish species and it's much easier to match the fish to your water than to change it.

There are definitely many easy to care for cichlid species. Are you only in certain ones? Depending on your water hardness you could do a community tank with a single Cryptoheros sajica, or a pair of kribensis or Apistogramma, for example.

 

 

 

 

 

Well, we're tentatively planning a move within the next few years or so.  I have no idea what the water will be because I don't know where exactly I'd be. 

My concern with the cichlid is the amount of food and waste. The former is a cost factor, the latter is a time factor.  But I guess the smaller ones like the kribensis wouldn't be as bad. I'd have to look into it. 

My original post wasn't clear.  When I said community, I mean I'd like a community of one type of fish (with different subspecies) - which is why I like cichlid tanks. 

[Gideyon]

19 minutes ago, Colu said:

A pair of peal gourami's do fine in 55 or could get some barbs lots of species to choose from such tiger barbs rosy barb Odessa barb 

 

If I had a pair of pearls, but also the smaller honey gourami pair, am I asking for trouble? 

[Colu]

Am not sure weather they would be okay together I have only keeped pearl gourami's maybe someone else who has keeped different species together can chip in

[Kirsten]

59 minutes ago, Gideyon said:

Is there an alternative when you can get one type of fish (with color) in a community tank?   I already learned gouramies are too territorial to be amongst themselves.  And I'm not crazy about tiny schooling fish.

Am I thinking the impossible and just go for a mix of little fish of varying colors? 

I vote for platies! Super plentiful and cheap, hardy and adaptable as all get-out, eat every kind of food, come in dozens of colors and patterns that you can mix and match, get to be a nice 2-3" so they're easy to see across a room and can fill up a 20 to 40 gallon very easily, they're wiggly and boisterous and fun to watch, and you'll get adorable little platy babies!

Added bonus, they'll play nice with most shrimp and snails and any larger fish if you decide to go that route.

[JettsPapa]

1 hour ago, Gideyon said:

. . . My original post wasn't clear.  When I said community, I mean I'd like a community of one type of fish (with different subspecies) - which is why I like cichlid tanks. 

Then you might want to consider tetras.  There's an extraordinary range of colors and patterns, and if you get adequate sized schools of each species there shouldn't be any aggression.  I know you said you weren't interested in very small fish, but didn't define that.

Serpae tetras, black neon tetras, and lemon tetras are some of my favorites, but there are many others.

Rainbowfish would be another good option.

[KaitieG]

I'd also recommend a tank of livebearers--pick your type! Swordtails, platies, mollies, guppies. You can get pretty much any color you can possibly imagine and they can basically all hang out together.  And then you can mix different colors together and get even more surprises!  They'll eat anything and are pretty low maintenance in general.

[CorydorasEthan]

All the options listed above are great examples of a single type fish aquarium. This single type aquarium allows you to have lots of variety between the fish, while still maintaining a uniformity of body shape, care, and behavior. Other single type fish aquariums that were not listed above would be a rainbowfish aquarium (perfect for a 55 or 75 gallon), a barb aquarium, or (even though it's not too colorful, it just has a bunch of cool patterns and body shapes) a Corydoras aquarium, with many different types of cories.

For a single species aquarium, pick one fish species you really like, and see if it has multiple different colors of its species. For example, if you wanted just female bettas, there is a wide range of different colors of them offered, so a betta sorority would be a good pick. Other species that work well for this type of aquarium would be different livebearer species, tiger barbs, zebra danios, cherry shrimp, Corydoras aeneus, and even though it's a bit bizzare, bristlenose plecos.

Lastly, a single strain tank is where you have one specific strain of one species of fish. This also goes for species of fish that don't have any different color varieties. It gives the tank a strong sense of uniformity, and also allows for a lot of breeding for profit. You could do a tank full of, for example, blue moscow guppy males (and females maybe if you wanted breeding). You can really choose anything you want for this one, as long as you just keep to one species.

Hope this helps to give some ideas. Which one are you looking into? Let us know so we can provide more suggestions. Anyway, good luck with your tank!

[Gideyon]

A lot of good feedback here. Thanks. 

If I didn't want to go planted, does that cross off any of these? 

 

I'm imagining sand substrate, driftwood, maybe a few tall fake plants for accents. 

Edited March 12, 2021 by Gideyon

[CorydorasEthan]

22 hours ago, Gideyon said:

A lot of good feedback here. Thanks. 

If I didn't want to go planted, does that cross off any of these? 

All of the options I listed are plant safe.

Edited March 13, 2021 by CorydorasEthan

[Gideyon]

After researching these (platy, barbs and rainbow), and also angel fish (I didn't know those were cichlids), I'm seeing there's no way around the planted tank.  I guess I can still go with silk if I had to 🤷‍♂️. 

I was really wanting a more open aquascape with a black background to bring out the colors.  

Now it's a matter of developing an interest in plants it seems.  My thumb isn't green by any means. 

I'll keep researching.  It's been a fascinating read.  I need to read more on Tetras.  

[CorydorasEthan]

6 minutes ago, Gideyon said:

After researching these (platy, barbs and rainbow), and also angel fish (I didn't know those were cichlids), I'm seeing there's no way around the planted tank.  I guess I can still go with silk if I had to 🤷‍♂️. 

I was really wanting a more open aquascape with a black background to bring out the colors.  

Now it's a matter of developing an interest in plants it seems.  My thumb isn't green by any means. 

I'll keep researching.  It's been a fascinating read.  I need to read more on Tetras.  

I would say that live plants bring out the colors of fish just as well or better than just a black backdrop. The cover of plants makes the fish feel more secure and creates a more natural habitat. This would allow them to display their natural colors at their best. Of course, the addition of black substrate and background also would make the colors pop. Fortunately, the black background and substrate are compatible with live plants as well.

[Gideyon]

19 minutes ago, CorydorasEthan said:

I would say that live plants bring out the colors of fish just as well or better than just a black backdrop. The cover of plants makes the fish feel more secure and creates a more natural habitat. This would allow them to display their natural colors at their best. Of course, the addition of black substrate and background also would make the colors pop. Fortunately, the black background and substrate are compatible with live plants as well.

I know.  I'm aware of all the advantages of live plants (as opposed to fake) as well.  But plant care is just not for me.

That's what I mean by needing to get myself interested. 

[Kirsten]

31 minutes ago, Gideyon said:

I know.  I'm aware of all the advantages of live plants (as opposed to fake) as well.  But plant care is just not for me.

That's what I mean by needing to get myself interested. 

Now, I'm a big time (outdoor) vegetable gardener, but I think I have a bit of a black thumb when it comes to house plants. Trying to get the sunlight and humidity just right, remembering to water it if it's different from 1/wk, not my forte.

But aquatic plants are super easy compared to a house plant. Just get some low-maintenace, low-light, inexpensive plants, from the co-op or from ebay, like java ferns, anubias, and hornwort, get a bottle of easy green, and you're good to go. Try as many plants as you like or have the budget for, see what works and what doesn't. You don't need to do anything other than dose a little fert at water change time.

Look at it as creating a full ecosystem for your fish. Nothing gets wasted, everyone's happy. The plants are your assistants at keeping the water clean and oxygenated. And you get to watch the whole process!

[CT_]

5 hours ago, Gideyon said:

Now it's a matter of developing an interest in plants it seems.  My thumb isn't green by any means. 

I think most of the beginner plants will just work without really doing anything different.  Anubias and javafern for sure don't need anything except a little light and fish poop and tap water (the extra easy green).

 

[Gideyon]

I'll need to ponder this.    I just have an aversion to this for some reason.  Maybe I should switch my readings and viewings from fish to plants. All I need is a little excitement about the possibilities.   Right now it's zero. Maybe even negative. 

I remember Irene mentioning in one of her videos about her first planted tank going all wrong.  I'd have to find that again. Maybe she didn't get the easy ones you mentioned. 

[OceanTruth]

13 minutes ago, Gideyon said:

I'll need to ponder this.    I just have an aversion to this for some reason.  Maybe I should switch my readings and viewings from fish to plants. All I need is a little excitement about the possibilities.   Right now it's zero. Maybe even negative. 

I wasn’t that interested in plants at first either. It definitely isn’t the end all be all. I’ve seen some absolute beautiful scapes made from just substrate, rocks, and driftwood. They were equally beautiful to planted tanks in my eyes.

In fact @Daniel has some pictures of his discus tank that I completely envy. It looks professionally aquascaped to me. Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but I didn’t see any plants in it. Maybe there are a few hidden, I don’t know.

[Gideyon]

9 hours ago, OceanTruth said:

I wasn’t that interested in plants at first either. It definitely isn’t the end all be all. I’ve seen some absolute beautiful scapes made from just substrate, rocks, and driftwood. They were equally beautiful to planted tanks in my eyes.

In fact @Daniel has some pictures of his discus tank that I completely envy. It looks professionally aquascaped to me. Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but I didn’t see any plants in it. Maybe there are a few hidden, I don’t know.

I've seen that tank. It is pretty amazing. Although I think that same tank later had angels, and he had more plants. 

The scape that I was amazed with was a cichlid tank.  Painted black background, sand substrate, a few plastic plants behind two big driftwood on both sides, and I think he had a middle driftwood as well (150g if I remember).   Before he even added fish it looked amazing.  So I've been imagining a smaller scale in a 55.   

But if the fish needed more plants, there's no way around it. 

Black substrate against a black background would make greenery look pretty awesome. But I'm also thinking budget.  Black substrate for plants isn't the cheapest out there. Not like pool filter sand.   Unless there's a cheaper alternative out there. 

[CorydorasEthan]

9 minutes ago, Gideyon said:

I've seen that tank. It is pretty amazing. Although I think that same tank later had angels, and he had more plants. 

The scape that I was amazed with was a cichlid tank.  Painted black background, sand substrate, a few plastic plants behind two big driftwood on both sides, and I think he had a middle driftwood as well (150g if I remember).   Before he even added fish it looked amazing.  So I've been imagining a smaller scale in a 55.   

But if the fish needed more plants, there's no way around it. 

Black substrate against a black background would make greenery look pretty awesome. But I'm also thinking budget.  Black substrate for plants isn't the cheapest out there. Not like pool filter sand.   Unless there's a cheaper alternative out there. 

I use pool filter sand for my planted tank. It can grow easy plants like water sprite, bronze crypt, and dwarf aquarium lily. It does require fertilizers to grow plants like swords or vallisneria I have found. So a good cheap black substrate could be black diamond blasting sand.

[Gideyon]

1 hour ago, CorydorasEthan said:

So a good cheap black substrate could be black diamond blasting sand.

Never heard of this before.  Did a quick reading on it.  Thanks for the tip.  

[Daniel]

Many people on this forum use Black Diamond Blasting Sand (which really is just coal slag, but don't worry it is safe and inert).

Here is a tank of mine with BDBS over garden soil.

 

[Gideyon]

1 hour ago, Daniel said:

Many people on this forum use Black Diamond Blasting Sand (which really is just coal slag, but don't worry it is safe and inert).

Here is a tank of mine with BDBS over garden soil.

 

Would the plants grow without the soil underneath? 

Out of curiosity, what size tank is this, and what do you have labeled on the upper right. 

[Daniel]

Yes,

Here is a tank with BDBS and no soil underneath that @Mmiller2001 posted earlier:

The label reads '2 Dirt 1 Nov 2021', meaning it is tank number 2, it is the dirted tank in a 3 tank experiment I am running, and it was setup on 1 Nov 2021.

Here are the 3 experimental aquariums on Nov 1:

December 1:

I need to update their thread to show what they look like now.