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Looking after Tropical Fish2007-11-24 23:38:04

Best of luck, Robin.

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I'm with Mr Peel above.

We recently had a tank bought for us by a relative. Having never kept fish of any kind before they advised us to get tropicals - we set up the tank just as Mr Peel suggests, waited a week or so for the water to settle, then went to our local retailer and bought just 4 (four) little tropicals - they are very happy little fish and have even had four babies (which they seemd keen on eating!) so we separated them and they're thriving.

I think they're really easy to keep.

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once you have read about setting up the tank and getting water quality correct, they are simple to take care of.

Read books, look on the internet and learn what species of fish get along with others. Try to avoid angel fish and other species which have vertical stripes as they tend to be a bit more aggresive to other species and if you keept things like guppies, they will bully them and bite their tails.

When you first set up the tank, let it all run for at least a week to get the heat up and condition the water. You can then test the water using a cheap kit you can get from most fish places, to test the levels of nitrates etc in it. Once the water is right and you have lots of plants to keep it healthy, go choose your fish.

I have always kept fish, mainly in communal tanks and have 2 tanks on the go now. Who needs the television when they have fish to watch?

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I kept Tropical Fish for about 3 years, and initially, I had no end of problems, and the biggest problem of all is getting the water right. If you go ahead with this project make sure you go to a proper Tropical Fish store, not just a local pet shop, as they don't know what they are talking about.