Freshwater Aquarium advice?

Alright, so the first thing you need to do is learn how to cycle an aquarium, you will need:

- An aquarium, the larger the better. Seeing as how you're a beginner, I would recommend a 30 gallon breeder. - $30-40 used, $50-70 new.

- A filter rated for the size of tank. For filters you have two options, a HOB (hang on back) or a canister filter. I used both in most of my aquariums, but it is not necessary. Canister filters are more for heavy duty, whereas HOB filters are just used for the average aquarium. I would recommend a 40-60 gallon HOB filter, it's best to over filter aquariums. - $40-60 HOB, $80-120 canister.

- A heater rated for the size of tank (5 watts per gallon). Almost all fish require a heater, to both heater the tank and keep the temperature stable. - $20-30.

- A light fixture. I would recommend planting your aquarium for four reasons, it will help it cycle faster (plants are kept in established aquariums, when you buy the plants they will have beneficial bacteria on them, it will transfer it to your new aquarium), they help filter out ammonia, nitrites and nitrates, they make the tank look better and they will give your fish some coverage. To keep plants healthy you will need 1-2 watts per gallon. - $40-70.

- Gravel and sand, sand is better if you're planting your aquarium, or course small gravel can be used too. I prefer sand since it looks nicer and it's easier to clean. You will need about 2-3", of sand or gavel, both cost about $0.5-1 per pound. I would recommend 40 pounds.

- A syphon hose w/ gravel vacuum, for water changes. You can also buy a python instead, with a python you can lead the hose outside or to a drain rather than carrying buckets and to fill you can just hook it up to the sink. - $5-15 gravel vacuum or $40-60 for python.

- A 5 gallon bucket, for water changes, use with gravel vacuum.

- A liquid drop test kit for ammonia, nitrate and nitrite, I do not recommend using strips, they do not give proper results. I recommend either API or Nutrafin. - $10-30.

- A thermometer for checking the temperature of the aquarium. - $2-5.

- Aquatic plants (optional, recommended for reasons above (I will include a list of easy to care for plants). Price will vary.

- Decor, fake plants, houses, ect. - Price will vary.

- Water conditioner, I recommend Prime. - $5-20.

- Air pump and bubbler (optional) - $10-20.

- Pure Ammonia (for cycling).

- Fish appropriate for size of aquarium. - Price will vary. (Do not buy until you've cycled!)

- Fish food. Flakes, frozen foods (bloodworms, brine shrimp, mysis shrimp, daphnia, ect), veggies.

**If you do not want to buy all new equipment you can go on a buy and sell website, often there will be setups for sale. I do not recommend getting on with fish, since that's something you might want to do your self.**

Easy to care for aquatic plants:

- Water Sprite

- Willow Leaf Hygrophilla

- Water Wisteria

- Small Leafed Hygrophilla

- Java Moss

- Anubias

- Common Sword Plant

- Ambulia

- Java Fern

- Valisneria

- Banana Plants

- Valisneria

- Cryptocoryne

- Hornwort

- Christmas Moss

- Frogbit

- Hairgrass

- Dwarf Hairgrass

- Moss Balls

Alright, so now that you have all your gear you will need to cycle your aquarium! The cycling process will take anywhere from 2-8 weeks. I will give you some links to help you lean what cycling is, how to do it and also some links on water changes, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, gH, pH, ect. You will find these links at the bottom.

I realize this is a lot of stuff to buy and much to read, but keeping fish can be a bit difficult, they require lots of time, dedication and motivation. It is said that caring for fish is much harder than caring for a dog or a cat.

I'm actually starting to run out of room here, so if you would like some help with stocking your aquarium please go to my Yahoo! Answers profile and click "Email Natural Born Chaos" and from there I will give you my personal email.

Have fun!

http://www.fishyou.com/water.php - Learn about ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, gH, water changes and more!

http://www.oscarfishlover.com/how-to-cycle-a-tank/... - Learn how to do a fishless cycle.

http://theaquariumwiki.com/The_Nitrogen_Cycle - Learn about what the Nitrogen Cycle is.

http://animal.discovery.com/pets/aquarium-setup.ht... - How to set up an aquarium.

http://www.wikihow.com/Set-up-a-Freshwater-Aquariu... - How to set up an aquarium.

@ the guy above me - Adding water and letting it sit for a few days is NOT cycling!

Algae eaters or snails are a great way to head to get rid of algae. Nevertheless, be mindful that plecos can develop to be almost 2 feet lengthy! Ensure you both have a giant sufficient tank or get smaller algae eaters similar to chinese algae eaters or Ottocinclus (Ottos). Another option to decrease algae is to restrict the quantity of sunshine. The blend of light and waste type algae, and on the grounds that you don't have any fish yet, it can be traditionally now not the waste. You would also get live plants, which use the same nutrients from light that algae does. They're going to "fritter away" the vitamins and minerals to develop so that the algae won't get any.

fish-wise, try this:

3-4 male guppies

4-6 cherry or ghost shrimp

2 kuhli loaches

This will look great with a well planted aquarium!!!!

Something I have found I prefer is life plants.

To which I only suggest the already living plants or topfin plant blubs found at petsmart or petco.

I'd also go with starry night rocks, or normal gravel look. Starry night is a black rock majority with a few random stones of a different color.

As for fish, I love, love, love the fact that I have Betta Females in my tank. Females as in plural! I don't know how many times people tell me Bettas don't mix, but it is possible with females to have several. They do really well with Danio's at least mine do which are super speedy fish when they want to be. To help keep algae down I also have an algae eater and ghost shrimp.

Though live plants are really awesome, just make sure you watch out for them. Water onions grow really fast, and have out grown the 5 gallon tank, onion sets are better set sideways rather then growing straight up from what i've experienced.

By the way I hope your desk is strong, 20-30 gallons plus gravel and equipement will easily get over 200-400 pounds. Make sure the desk has a good support system.

Basic items

Tank

Filter

Food

Gravel cleaner

bucket, maybe two

Gravel

Decor- live plants or plastic plants

over head light

Don't buy fish at wal mart, I have had an extremely high death toll from walmart over petsmart or petco.

Well first fill the tank with water treat with chlorine remover and bacteria treatment to start the tank off before you put fish in. (buy at pet store $10)

Next you need to let the tank sit for a few days to become cycled.

To keep the fish alive you will need a filter big enough for your tank size ($30 unless you buy a fish tank kit)

I would recommend cherry barbs they are I small but beautiful fish.

You can buy a used tank,filter,and lights all for $50 on craigslist normally.

New however will run normally $100.

Word of advice dont overstock the fish from the store will grow! Goodluck!