what all do need to care for fish?

[Kyle Curtis]

I would like to get a 10 to 20 gallon fishtank with freshwater fish. I dont even know were to begin. do i need a filter, pump, rocks,plant? also what kind of fish i know nothing please help keep the cost very low.

[Mokey41]

The best deal for a beginner is to purchase a kit with all the accessories in it. It makes it much easier and usually cheaper than trying to gather all the parts yourself. The larger your tank is the easier it will be to care for. It sounds crazy but having a large volume of water allows for variances that can be critical in a small tank.

Most kits don't include a heater which most fish need so you would have to purchase that separately along with any decor that you want. The tank will need to be cycled before fish are added and that takes about 4 to 6 weeks. http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm A lot of people try to skip this step because they want to get going and then they wonder why their tank is cloudy and their fish died.

You'll want to start with some easy fish. Any of the livebearers are pretty easy to keep (guppies, mollies, platies, swords) or zebra danio's or glofish.

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[GuppyGuy]

I specialize in Livebearers.
You will need
1.a tank with a light
2.a filter for your tank (the filter should be exactly made for your tank ex. 10 gallon tank with a 10 gallon filter, or it should be 5 gallons bigger).
3.a heater
4.some little fake plants
5. a thermometer
6. and any color enhancing flake food or specialty livebearer food.

I did this in about $50 including fish

If you want livebearers which are Platies, Guppies, Variatus, sword tails, and mollies.
I suggest that you DO NOT get mollies because they will need special conditions to be met. These exceptions are extra salt, a slightly raised temperature, and a mix of food that include various types of small worms (ex. bloodworms, microworms).
If you DO NOT want to breed fish then get male guppies, they are already separated. Do not get variatus or platies because unless you know how to check for their gonopodium (Adult male fish organ) which is really easy to identify once you learn what to look for. Or you could also get the male sword tails because those are easy to tell apart ( the males have a "swordlike" elongation)

If you DO want to breed them then get one male fish to every two female fish.

E-mail me at [Registered users can see links. ] if you want pictures or more information on livebearers.

I breed fish and went from 7 to 178 fish 171 of these are little ittie babies.

There are stuff you should know about guppies. There are light and grey guppies.
Grey guppies are Turqouise guppies, Snakeskin guppies, tuxedo, mickey mouse, Black velvet, Cobra, Red velvet, Royal, and Zebra guppies.
Light colored guppies are Blonde delta, Purple velvet, lyretail, pastel, albino, neon, and Swordtail guppies.
The difference is that grey guppies are very hardy and come from a strain of domesticated wild guppies; they also give birth to between 20(first birth) and 150(atleast 3 years old) with a record of 218 babies.
Light guppies are purely domesticated and are very beautiful, but they are much less hardy and are more susceptible to diseases, temperature changes and filter changes. when they give birth they for the first year or two give birth to about 5-30 and if they live past that about 5-100 with a record of 158.

Yes I am insane and I love guppies...