Fishy Tank

thanks! I am not really into guppies. I like bigger exotic fish...like the kind you would imagine seeing while your going diving in hawaii, ya know?

Hmm.. I have kept African cichlids before; I always thought of them as the closest thing to saltwater in terms of color and fish size/appearance.. I had them for years, but auctioned them off a few years ago to switch over to a goldfish tank.. Lake Malawi cichlids are awesome. Yellow Labs are ok, but they are more timid and generally not OK to mix with other types.. your blue zebras and rusties, are good.. it is fun to buy them as tiny babies and watch them grow!
There is a special gravel that should be bought for these; you need hard water for them, they actually thrive from it. This was great for our house, since our well water is harder than rocks, heh.

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Originally Posted by Ginevive

Hmm.. I have kept African cichlids before;

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LOL I read that at first glance as "African Chitlits" :8:
Cichlids are pretty, though. I haven't owned any.

it sounds like you are more interested in a salt water tank. a nice salt water size is no less than 55 gallons... and the bigger the better as you need a lot of live rock in order to keep it healthy and honestly in a nano tank (a small tank) the rock tends to overwhelm the tank and because of the smaller size... it doesn't thrive as well as a larger tank.

salt water is really expensive. especially if you go for really good lighting. regardless if you have lots of money to spend... i'm sure you'll enjoy the tank.

you could make a nice cichlid tank in a 55 gallon...

of course there's australian rainbow fish which have great colour and you can get some really interesting fish if you are willing to pay a little more for them. i picked up a really nice orange and chocolate brown bicher today for my 210 gallon tank. a really nice addition.

the most important aspect of keeping a tank is to buy fish for all the different levels of your tank. a tank is boring if all your fish are sitting on the bottom. ;)

my advice... go to the local fish store... write down the names of the fish you like and do a search for them on the internet. get to know their water parameters, their food requirements and what type of a tank they like (planted, fast moving water, slow moving, rocky etc), the pH they require... and then choose what you want. you can't put fish together who require different pH values... they'll die.

and... have fun!