# Ideas for my neighbors tank



## fishboy (Feb 26, 2005)

My neighbors are getting their kids(ages 7 and 4) a fish tank. Most likely they will get a 10-20 gallon starter kit from walmart and fish from petsmart or a LFS(i'll cycle w/ bio spira). They've asked me to help w/ just about everything. I was wondering about some ideas. At first i thought a coldwater aquarium(no goldfish) but now i'm open to just about any idea. Thet're little kids and i want to a commonunity of colorful and interesting fish. Any ideas????


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## janderson (Aug 1, 2005)

*same situation here...*

I've got the same situation: two kids, almost 9 and 4 and a 20G to be filled. Keep in mind that some kids aren't particularly interested in shoaling fish, they seem "anonymous". In my particular case, snails seem to be very interesting while shrimp have been labeled "creepy". 

We came up with the following stocking list:
1 dwarf gourami as a centerpiece (a betta would work, too, or some male fancy guppies)
7 neon (or other small) tetras for the shoaling effect
3 otos for algae
3 cories for bottom-clean-up-duty
1 applesnail because the kids love the one in our other tank. 

Just my $0.02...


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## maxpayne_lhp (Jan 19, 2005)

The list sounds fine, but personally, I won't place neons in. Black tetras (though they look dull but very hard) and other types of tetras can be good addition. And some livebearers to add more activities.
Watch out and tell them the most basic do's and dont's I think you will also need to run maintaince for them (for some bucks) and check for everything.


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## MyraVan (Jan 19, 2005)

My daughter (age 2 years, 4 months) really likes our apple snails as well. She found the hillstream loaches a bit scary when we put them in, but now she's got used to them (we call them the "funny fish" instead of "scary fish" and when they are pasted to the glass we tickle their tummies, from the outside of the glass of course). She likes the other fish (rosy barbs, danios) but other than helping to feed them doesn't pay that much attention to them.

I think the coldwater idea is a good one, as it's just slightly less complicated, however most of the tough coldwater fish that I know of aren't compatible with apple snails (the rosy barbs and danios are in a different tank from the apple snails) so I think a heater will be required.

I think that for maximum color, 1 apple snail, a few male guppies, and 1 betta would be good. Those fish can sometimes be nippy with apple snails, but many people have kept them succesfully together without problems.

Oh, the apple snail needs a pH of at least 7, so if you have soft water, nix the apple snail.


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## fishboy (Feb 26, 2005)

i was thinking something simple and hardy like white clouds, maybe a snail(where we live room temp isn't that cold), and a hilstream loach(although the 7 year old was a little freaked by these so they may get otos). Can danios live at rome temp (high 60's, low 70's F)? If so long finned leopord danios would be cool if it was a 20 gallon... how much does a 20 gallon starter kit cost???


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## Lydia (Feb 6, 2005)

zebra danios are definately a good fish. I am not sure about at those temperatures, but they are definately hardy. I personally would not put a betta in a community tank like that. IMO a dwarf gourami would be better because you can never tell if the betta would nip or not. Corys would be good to help keep it cleaner and so would otos. I am not sure about any of these fish temperature-wise but they are good beginner fish in my opinion.


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## MyraVan (Jan 19, 2005)

Danios are definitely happy at room temperature, but from all I have heard they are not at all compatible with apple snails -- they like to nip at the antennae. (I have danios & apple snails, but not in the same tank.)

White cloud mountain minnows -- yes, of course! They are hardy, like room temps, and are very compatible with apple snails (I have had them together). They would be perfect.

Hillstream loaches are cool fish, but as noted they seem to be a bit scary for kids at first. Also, they have some specialized requirements, like they need water with much more oxygen than usual, and they do best when kept in a tank with a nice crop of algae onthe rocks/wood for them to graze on. (Plants also help by bringing with them a variety of tiny organisms that live in the algae and help provide natural food for them.) So I don't think they would be good for a family that's not really into fish.

Otos have a min temp of about 21C (70F) so could live in an unheated tank if the room is fairly warm. There's anther oto-like thing called "niger oto", see
http://www.planetcatfish.com/cotm/2004_12.php
which can definitely live at room temp, but I can't find it over here.

Some corys can live at room temp, definitely the peppered cory, and possibly the bronze cory. 

So I'd vote for a unheated tank with white clouds, an apple snail or two, and peppered cories.


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## Pac-Man (Mar 18, 2005)

I think a nice school of cardinal tetras would look good, they're generally tougher than the neons, and are pretty colorful. If they bought a twenty a nice display would be to have two small schools of different tetras. And as myra stated before, they could have a school of small cories for the cleanup crew. Thatd be a nice setup.


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## sthamericansrul (Mar 22, 2007)

A lot of good ideas. The only thing I might add is, be careful with a betta if you have small colorful fish ie: male guppies, neons, or cardinals. Some male bettas will get excited and attack these fish. And I promise the little guys won't win.


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## manda (Feb 9, 2006)

IF the betta can catch them


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## lashalove (Dec 19, 2006)

fishboy said:


> ... how much does a 20 gallon starter kit cost???



I bought one in January at Walmart, cost was 79.99 w/ the flourescent hood and 59.99 w/ the incandecent hood and no heater.


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## TigerBarb12 (Jan 7, 2007)

cant go wrong with some tiger barbs, neon tetras and danios. Maybe not barbs, but neons and danios for little kids.


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## Guest (Mar 23, 2007)

This thread is from 2005.


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