Completely new to fish...Crazy (?) Aquarium idea

frankke18

Fish Forum,

Hi there! Im very very new to fish...love eating them (sorry!) but have never kept any.

Long story short is i am in possesion of a 30 gal. (i believe) aquarium/terrarium that is inside my greenhouse. I was pondering what to do with it and settled on a freshwater aquarium for an aquatic carnivorous plant (eats small-microscopic invertabrates).

I then got to daydreaming...fish! An "Amazon river window"! That scene right there in Nat'l Geographic! Yeah yeah, that catfish thing, archerfish, pirannah! Or maybe a southern bog type thing with walleys and sunfish and such! Hmm...

So, my imagination had me curious as to what fish would entail.

I havent a CLUE on what to do/where to start. The plant prefers a slightly acidic water enviroment (i would add peat moss to the water, i do this a lot on a smaller scale) and conditions similar to a bog. IE little to no water flow, slightly "dirty" water with lots of microfauna life, and companion plants like hyacinths are helpful as well.

Are there any fish that wouldnt die in this water haha? Im not dead set on the plant...if i could get some pirannah or similar "cool" fish for my carnivorous plant greenhouse that would be far cooler than the plant, but both would be my dream...

So please, throw out fish suggestions, filter/water/substrate/whatever suggestions...i'll get to reading!

Thanks so much!
Frankie

isimek

there are not very many "cool" fish that wont get too big for a 30gallon... i would think.

kitten_penang

esp piranha they get huge.

JohnnyD44

I agree with the others....

for starters, what are your parameters for the water going to be used? You can go to your LFS (local fish store) and have them give your a reading, primarily pH, gH and kH.

Knowing your water parameters will allow us and you to narrow down a range of fish which will be suitable for your tank.

kitten_penang

bettas will do well in peat water but pls at least make sure the water is clear and only tinted with the tanins and not murky.

frankke18

And theyre illegal in CA!

I'll do that, thanks for the tip.

It will be just like that actually, the debris eventually settles at the bottom regardless of what i want.

Thanks for the information guys!