Starter aquarium

Question
My 3 1/2 year old wants a fish tank. I want to get a small 5 gallon or 6.6 gallon tank. Can you recommend a good low maintenance tank with filter and pump. Any recommendations on fish would be helpful.

Thanks

Answer
Hey John,

Sorry no one else answered this question, but I'll help you out.

Personally, I think that a 5 gallon tank is a bit small, and I use a 10 gallon as the smallest. However, any tank that holds water, plastic, glass, acrylic, whatever, will work fine. For filtration, Whisper filters by Tetra are cheap and effective. They're quiet and easy to take care of. WalMart sells replacement cartridges in economy packs for pretty cheap. WalMart also sells small 15 watt heaters for smaller tanks, but the 25 watt heaters work well in most tanks under 15 gallons. Other then that, allglass aquariums makes a 10 gallon kit that works well, but buying the parts separate is usually cheaper. There are themed tanks like pirates of the Caribbean, or spongebob at petco and petsmart as well.

After you pick a tank (and i still favor a 10 gallon because a full set up is often the same price as a 5 gallon tank). take it home and fill it with water before you buy fish. Cycling a tank is important to fish health. There are faster ways to cycle, such as adding stresszyme, or other bacteria supplements. Cycling a tank simply means allowing beneficial bacteria that removes ammonia to grow. To avoid long cycling times, i recommend stresszyme. a small 2 ounce bottle (if used right) will cycle a 10 gallon tank within a few days. Also, water conditioners are important in fish health and safety. AmQuel and NovAqua are a perfect combination as well, and a 2 ounce bottle of each will work well. After all that, it's simply a matter of what to add!

In a 5 gallon tank, you're really limited to danios, guppies, and non schooling fish. With a 10 gallon tank, you can get tetra (in sets of 5 or more) danios, cat fish, plecostomuses, and just about any community fish. Guppies are pretty, and easy to care for. Keep one male for every 2-3 females though. Neon tetra in a 10 gallon tank will school and hang out together. Pictus cats are fun to feed, as they get easily excited. My only note is to avoid larger fish like mollys, swordtails, and cichlids as a small tank will become too small real fast. Avoid aggressive fish like angles and barbs as well. They tend to fight and cause more problems then they're worth in a small tank like that.

Hope all that helps! good luck.