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Anyone know anything about fish?
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My roommates and I are talking about getting an aquarium and some fish for our dorm room this next year. I can get a 10 or 15 gallon tank from my GF's family for free, so now I we have to decide on are fish. I want something pretty resilient that's not going to die with a +/- 2 degree temperature change or whatever. It would be kind of cool to get a little variety in fish choice, as long as they don't eat each other, and I'd prefer cheaper fish too. What do you guys suggest?
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I would go freshwater tropical and start out with some Clown Loaches, if you can find them. They're colorful, social (which makes them more interesting to watch), and my dad has a few that have lasted for over a decade.
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Zebra fish (not sure on proper name) are pretty nice. Don't die easily, fun to watch, and they don't multiply like mad (they eat their own eggs).
My personal favorite is oscars.. but you need a hell of a lot bigger than 15 gallons for them.
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Last edited by MacMan4000; Sep 1, 2015 at 12:17 PM.
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I've kept this goldfish in a 29 galllon tank for 5 years so far. I just feed it, clean the tank and exchange the water and it keeps going.
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Goldfish+beer+dorm=no goldfish
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I like my water with hops, malt, hops, yeast, and hops.
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Bristle Nose Pleco
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I like my water with hops, malt, hops, yeast, and hops.
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Originally Posted by Rumor
Goldfish+beer+dorm=no goldfish
Our dorm is dry, so that's not a problem 
Acutally, none of us are of-age yet, so it doesn't matter anyway. (although one roommate will be in October)
Thanks for the tips. I looked at Betas at Wal-Mart last night, do they get along with each other okay? Would I be safe getting 3 or 4?
My GF had a Beta in her room at home that she hadn't fed in years, it was living off whatever grew on the rocks. Her parents forgot about it when she moved back to college and all the water evaporated... 
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Betas don't do well with each other at all. Put two in the same tank and it will be safe to assume that pretty soon you will only have one of them.
People who get betas usually put them in small, individual tanks.
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Originally Posted by Turias
Betas don't do well with each other at all. Put two in the same tank and it will be safe to assume that pretty soon you will only have one of them.
People who get betas usually put them in small, individual tanks.
Okay, that's good to know. I'm looking at getting more than one, and I don't know if I just want the standard run of the mill goldfish, but I still don't want to spend a lot per fish or go to a specialty store to get it.
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My husband has beautiful freshwater and saltwater aquariums (we have a 200 gallon saltwater and 100 gallon saltwater tank and a 50 gallon freshwater tank.)
Get some neon tetras. They are beautiful to look at and surprisingly hardy. And an angel fish.
Don't get too many fish because your tank is very small and that will mean more ammonia build up and it will get dirty faster. Stay with small pretty fish.
Like the neon tetras:
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I used to be quite the freashwater aquarium enthusiast.
I'd start with goldfish as they are really resistant.
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Goldfish are okay...but so...pedestrian.
Get something a little more less ordinary.
But if you want easy, by all means, get a goldfish. They don't even need an aquarium - a bowl will do.
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Get an oscar. You can feed it goldfish once a week or so. They don't do much most of the time, but it's cool when they eat the goldfish!
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Originally Posted by Cody Dawg
My husband has beautiful freshwater and saltwater aquariums (we have a 200 gallon saltwater and 100 gallon saltwater tank and a 50 gallon freshwater tank.)
Get some neon tetras. They are beautiful to look at and surprisingly hardy. And an angel fish.
Don't get too many fish because your tank is very small and that will mean more ammonia build up and it will get dirty faster. Stay with small pretty fish.
Like the neon tetras:
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v495/Cody_Dawg/paracheirodon_innesi1.jpg[IMG]
Do the tetras play well together, like if I got two or three, they wouldn't eat each other, correct?
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Originally Posted by wallinbl
Get an oscar. You can feed it goldfish once a week or so. They don't do much most of the time, but it's cool when they eat the goldfish!
What? Oscars are VERY messy fish (they were the fish I had for years). You need a damn good filter for them.
They also grow to a foot in size so I had mine in an 86 galleon tank. They are not a fish for beginners or 15 gal aquariums.
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Yes, the tetras hang out together in a little school together. We have five of them. We also have a cute clown loach in that tank and a couple of exotic angelfish and he also has discus (discus are very hard to keep and need more room so not recommended.)
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get an aquarium screensaver... no water to change, no algae to scrape, no fish to "fish out" when they die, much harder for college students to swallow.
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Originally Posted by jckalen
get an aquarium screensaver... no water to change, no algae to scrape, no fish to "fish out" when they die, much harder for college students to swallow.
I've actually considered doing that with a couple of the 1400s I have lying around, but the real thing would be a lot more fun.
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Also consider some sort of small catfish. Probably just get and it'll just live off the ****. Or a pleco if you have a lot of sunlight for algae.
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-"I don't believe in God. "
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Get a crawdad (crayfish). They help keep the bottom of the tank clean. Watch out though, they like to rip up the fake plants and place them elsewhere.
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I like my water with hops, malt, hops, yeast, and hops.
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Originally Posted by Cody Dawg
Goldfish are okay...but so...pedestrian.
Gee, that reads as awfully elitist, what a surprise. Tetras are just as "pedestrian".
But if you want easy, by all means, get a goldfish. They don't even need an aquarium - a bowl will do.
Just because a Goldfish can live in a bowl doesn't mean that they should be put in one. It is unhealthy for them and it has to be cleaned very frequently which is hard on the fish.
A 10-15 gallon aquarium is great for goldfish and he won't need a heater.
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Goldfish actually need more space than tropical fish. The general rule of thumb is 1" of tropical fish for every gallon of water, or 1" of goldfish for every 2 gallons of water. Also, be careful of adding too many fish too quickly. Google "biological filter" for the reason why. The basics of it are: fish excrement is ammonia, which is bad for fish. Bacteria forms which eats the ammonia and turns it into nitrate, which is also bad. Then another bacteria colony forms and turns the nitrate in nitrites, which isn't as bad...and regular water changes take care of the nitrites.
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Sorry you think I'm elitist. I'm not - maybe I am and I don't know it? I don't think so, though.
I'm just saying that goldfish are okay, but I personally think they're boring. You can get those goldfish with mutations (some are horrible looking to be honest) but a goldfish is a goldfish.
I think that something with color would be a lot cooler, that's all. You could put some color in the tank, some marbles in the bottom of the tank (they sell them at places like Petco or Petsmart - flattened glass marbles that are luminescent) and put some cool figures in the bottom. We have a little castle in the bottom of the tank and the tetras swim in and out and the tank is a lot of fun and colorful. He could add a bubble strip at the bottom for a row of bubbles in the background...it could be really cool.
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oh cody you are, trust us on that.
anyways, back on topic.
i have the following in my 15 gal. freshwater tank, and they do VERY well together (and survive)
2 Spotted Cory Cat
1 striped rafael cat
4-6 zebra fish
1 (VERY big) Leopard Pleco (can out grow smaller tanks over a couple years, very docile and grow somewhat slowly, can live for a very long time, have had mine for over 2 years now) (GREAT for cleaning algae)
a few misc. Mollys (can takeover a tank rather quickly due to loving to make babies  )
and a mated pair of DOJOs very cool, they're eel like in appearance and will clean the bottom of the tank for ya
Have fun with you new tank
Alex
ps
be sure to check out the mollys, they come in many different colors, and all types play nicely with each other
*edited due to lack of remembering the right name of the dojos
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Last edited by brassplayersrock²; Aug 12, 2006 at 08:05 PM.
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