starting a freshwater pet fish aquarium

Question
hi chloe,
i want to keep freshwater pet fish at home. This is my 1st time & i've no experience at all.please guide me as to how to go about starting it,kinds of fish to keep(i love colorful fish),the daily maintenance ,feeding and other info that u think is necessary for a complete novice.
Thanks.
Rajan

Answer
Hi Rajan,
To start off you might want to think about the size of the tank you wish to keep. The bigger the tank the easier to maintain. There are lots of colourful hardy fish such as neon tetra's ,cories, Danios. There are lots of choices. You could go to your local fish store and have a look at some of the fish they have. Although, be careful as sometimes they will trick you into buying a fish that they say will only grow to 3" when really it grows to 12".
When you set up your aquarium you must cycle it to get rid of the harmful Ammonia levels which convert to nitrite and then to nitrate. To cycle your tank you must do daily water changes and testing of the water. Make sure you add water declorinator to the new water you put into your tank as this will get rid of all the harmful metal's in tap water that is toxic to fish. Please do not add any fish when your tank is cycling as they will suffer and death will follow due to the high ammonia levels. It will take about 4-6 weeks for your tank to fully cycle. If you need anymore help im always here.

Good luck!
Chloe.