No, it's cool, Nemo likes freshwater!

[XCashier]

So now I have a nice 10g tank, which I will use when I decide to get fish...but I'm gonna research which would be best, easy to care for, and get something to keep the lid down because of the cats

Thank you for doing the research first! Go online, go to Petsmart/Petco/your local aquarium store and ask the fish experts there, talk to friends who have their own fish tanks. Oh yes, and clean the tank first; the research will help you there, too.

People like you, who take the sensible route, make me feel a bit of hope for the human species.

[Hyndis]

Hard to go wrong with goldfish. Guppies are also another good choice. Both are tough fish.

If you're going for goldfish, get feeder fish. They're perfectly fine for pets, and you save them from being eaten too.

[Seshat]

I've read many stories about people, mostly children, who are given kittens as Christmas & birthday presents, and immediately reject them. Or almost immediately.

The only time to give an animal as a present is when the recipient already wants an animal, wants that breed (or that shelter/rescue animal), and is ready for it.

Sorry, soapbox there!

There are ALWAYS exceptions to this but those are few and far between and they are doing this out of love for the dogs, not to be cruel, not everyone can care for a deaf dog, it can be dangerous and even with the most gentle dog there is always the risk of being bitten.

ElderlyCat is going deaf, and her sight is less good than it used to be. This means that we have to be especially careful when loving on her, and that she's very fussy about where she is. If we surprise her or startle her, she instinctively goes into defensive mode until she realises who it is - then she becomes her usual loving self.

WE know that startling her is our own damn fault, and if we need betadine and bandaids it's our own stupid mistake. And we're simply focussing on learning to adapt to her deafness.

But I can COMPLETELY understand why the breeders put the deaf puppies to sleep if they can't find totally reliable homes for them. We've had ElderlyCat almost all her life and are used to her quirks, and dealing with this change is .. not a simple adaptation for us.

I can only imagine how less-responsible people would handle a deaf animal.

(NB: yes, there is the final trip to the vet in ElderlyCat's future. But while she's enjoying life, we want to give her the best we can. So adapting to her deafness is simply the right thing to do, in our opinion.)

So now I have a nice 10g tank, which I will use when I decide to get fish...but I'm gonna research which would be best, easy to care for, and get something to keep the lid down because of the cats

Important note: never clean a fishtank with 'standard' detergents, multipurpose cleaners, etc. I always used to use salt. Just stick some salt on a wet cloth, use that to scrub off any algae or muck, rinse well with water (I had freshwater fish), and tadaa, clean tank.

My favourite tank had two shubunkin and two swallowtail catfish in it. Our specialist fish-store guy told us that in our climate, those fish would be fine without special heating or cooling - and they were.

I had to buy new greenery every couple of weeks, and cleaner snails every so often (I'm not sure what happened to the snails).
All four fish would LOOOOOOVE it if I made up a soda bottle of brine shrimp and gave them a live feed.

I recommend an undergravel filter, and a siphon cleaner (aka 'gravel vacuum').
Basically, the gravel vacuum is an open-bottomed 'bottle' about the size of a single-serve soda bottle, attached to a siphon hose. You start the siphon running (into a bucket!), and move the open-bottomed bottle around your gravel, having it pull the old food and fish shit out of the gravel and down the siphon.

Mark on your bucket where '1/3 of the tank capacity' is, and siphon-gravel-clean until that point is reached. Tip that liquid onto your garden - the plants will LOVE it (unless it's a saltwater tank, in which case make a salt-loving plant garden).

Then rinse the bucket, fill to that point with fresh water, dump in the appropriate amount of water conditioner, wait half an hour, then carefully pour the new water into the tank.

That, plus feeding (but not overfeeding) and keeping an eye on fish health, is pretty close to the necessary maintenance for a properly set up cold-water freshwater fish tank.

BUT! DO DO DO go and talk to a fish specialist.

NOT J random petshop. Someone who specialises in fishkeeping. Whether that be a person who happens to work at a chain pet store but is extremely knowledgeable, or someone who runs a fish-specialist small petstore.

It might cost you a little extra to get the tank kit from the specialist small petstore, but the difference will be worth it.

Oh: and if anyone tells you to go ahead and buy the fish the same day you buy the tank, go somewhere else. You should let a tank run for at least 24 hours before putting fish in - and you DON'T want to leave the fish sitting in their bags while you try to figure out how to put together your first fishtank, and undergravel filter, and, and, and....

[Hyndis]

A cold, fresh tank is easy to take care of. Put down some fish gravel, add in a simple filter and bubbler combo, and fill it with water. Allow the water to sit for about a week so everything can get settled in. Use the anti-chlorine drops in it.

Start off with a few feeder goldfish. They're cheap and hardy. Allow the fish to sit in the bag in the tank for about half an hour so the temperature evens out, then release the fish.

Don't add too many fish at a time unless they're small fish.

There are catfish that like cold and fresh water, they're good bottomfeeders that help keep the tank tidy.

Guppies are another good choice, and guppies readily reproduce, meaning if a guppy dies its no biggie. There will always be more guppies. Guppies can even be put in the same tank as goldfish, just make sure there are places for the guppies to hide. The goldfish shouldn't eat too many guppies...

Never overfeed fish, fish really don't eat that much. They should be able to eat all of the food in the tank within about 5 minutes. If there is still food there after 5 minutes you gave them too much. Give them less food next time. Flake food works fine.

A 10 gallon tank is a small tank, so in total you'll probably only have about 6 fish in that tank. I wouldn't put more than that in there unless they are very small fish, like guppies. 4-5 goldfish plus a catfish to clean up the bottom of the tank would work out nicely.

[Cat]

Thanks for the info

I was thinking of feeders, or Red Car Orandas (I love them,,...so cute)

I'll probably only get 3 fish,and I'm not getting any until after I get back from the hike in May.

[Tsiyeria]

The only time to give an animal as a present is when the recipient already wants an animal, wants that breed (or that shelter/rescue animal), and is ready for it.

Sorry, soapbox there!

This. I was recently in a show (cast of 20 people with 3 stage managers) and our director decided that because the set had a pool, goldfish would be a nifty opening night gift.

Yes. Twenty-three comet goldfish. Given to twenty-three people who had no idea it was coming. A lot of us didn't want the things, so a couple people ended up with multiple fish. Most of us gave it a try. I ran out to the Mart of Wal and grabbed the stuff I thought I needed.
I didn't know anything about fish though. I knew you could run water through a brita and they'd be able to breathe. I DIDN'T know that brita doesn't filter out chlorine. I DIDN'T know that the chlorine levels in our water are really high.

The fish lasted three days.

[SongsOfDragons]

It might not be fish, but for a while I have had an inkling that I liked tortoises. I read about Timothy, who was the oldest survivor of the Crimean, from a QI book, and he was a lovely old Mediterranean Spur-Thighed tortoise who died in 2004 I believe.

Then last weekend I went to a fish and lizard specialty store attached to a garden centre, and I met a tortoise - I held a Horsfield's Tortoise, and he was so active and loveable!! So I have begun doing research - I know I can't have one at the moment as I only have a small flat and no garden, but I've nosed around on t'Internets and have ordered a book on the subject from Amazon. I wouldn't dream of getting one soon as I know next to nothing about them, and I want my tortoise to have a chance of living as long as Timothy.

[Gaki]

My one problem with my ten gallon is that sometimes my guppies have TOO MANY babies and I end up with an over crowded ten gallon tank. I'm thinking of just setting it up with all the fish that are still with me (which is too much now that I don't have a betta to gobble up all the guppy babies) and after they all die I'm just gonna put in a betta in my ten gallon and let him have the run of the joint. People tend to get fish and then find out they don't actually want them and then just put an empty starbucks cup with a fish in it in my room when I'm not there. Like I'm the fish orphanage or something. They all have really great long lives as long as their with me so I don't fell too bad. My tank just has to have a lot more maintenance due to the overcrowding. It gets too dirty too quickly and I change filters more often.

The one thing I can't stress enough is READ UP ON FISH DISEASES. Fish are prone to tons of different kinds of fish diseases and you have to be ready for them or by the time you come back from the pet store your fishy buddy is going to be a floater!

Just noticed people were giving advice and there is my advice. And also note that there are some fish diseases that are contagious and some that are not but don't take any chances man...and there's fish TB too which you can never get out of your tank unless you bleach your tank out (WHICH IS A TOTAL NO NO BUT THERE ARE INSTRUCTIONS ONLINE FOR HOW TO DO IT SAFELY AND EFFECTIVELY).

The site www.bettatalk.com has great advice for such things but it's a little strict on certain practices that I don't worry about at all.

[Seshat]

<grumble>

Now I'm getting all tempted to set up a tiny guppy tank (just large enough for the smallest school of guppies that can be happy).

But I can't be sure I'll be healthy enough to do the water change every single week without fail.

[Hyndis]

You probably don't need to change it every week. I did it about every month or so and was fine. My fish lived about 10 years...and then the county mucked up the water supply, wiping out almost every pet fish in the entire county.

If the tank is large it means there's more water in it, so the water lasts longer before needing to be changed. Small tanks require more maintenance than large tanks just because there is less leeway on the maintenance.

[Enjis]

But I've come to the conclusion that the masses are uneducated when it comes to most animals and fish. It saddens me to no end...I could never work in a pet store because I'm pretty sure I'd be denying sales left, right, and center if I didn't think the potential owner had a clue.

Same here. It would break my heart, knowing that the bird/fish/hampster was gonna live a short, miserable life.

[Moirae]

Its been a really long time since I had a tank. At one time, there were three with one of them being pretty big. Then I moved out of the house and my mom decided she didn't want to take care of them anymore. Not sure what she did with the fish but I couldn't take it with me to my new place because I was only renting a room and the landlady didn't want it in there in case it caused problems.

As for the guy at the counter, he should have been written up over that. Putting a salt water fish in a freshwater tank is... cruel.