Fish Stories

[staceyv]

noodle, there are a bunch of websites that have really good fishkeeping info, too. Clod's right- freshwater is the way to go for a beginner!
There's a really freaky thing that happens to new fish tanks, which is appropriately called "new tank syndrome". Anyway, the water will get cloudy and ammonia levels will rise and fish will die, all because you don't yet have the right amounts of natural bacterias in there yet.
I used to work in a pet store/ aquarium, and I had to sell fish tanks and explain to people how to set them up, so you're in good hands
Your best bet is to buy your tank, stand, decorations (made for fishtanks), water dechlorinator, a ph test kit (optional, in my book), a heater. a filter, gravel, and a thermometer, 2 buckets that you'll use only for cleaning your fish tank, fish food and cheap "feeder" fish (like guppies or goldfish). You'll need about 1 fish for every 2 gallons of water, something like that. Ex: 20 gallon tank=buy 10 feeder fish.
Next, bring it all home, set it up. Use your thermometer to get your tap water to about 78 degrees fahrehheit and fill up the tank. Add a dechlorinator, such as "stress coat" according to the package directions. As far as the ph? For some reason, when I use ph chemicals in my tank, it kills the fish. For years now, I haven't adjusted the ph at all and my fish thrive, so forget about that for now, unless you plan on keeping fish that need special conditions, like discus.
Anyway, you now have 78 degree water which has been dechlorinated. Throw in your feeder fish. Wait a week or two. The water will get all cloudy. Some of them might die. Wait until the water is clear again and the fish stop dying. Now you are ready for real fish. Bring those feeder fish back to the pet store and bring a separate water sample for them to test your water.
Water changes? I don't bother. If you have a lot of fish or you overfeed you might need to, though. I wait until the water evaporates about an inch and fill it back up with 78 degree dechlorinated water. Never ever ever overfeed your fish, because this will make your water dirty and your fish will die. They only need to be fed once or twice a day- and once is plenty unless they are aggressive. They should finish their food in 2 minutes or less- it shouldn't all be falling to the bottom.
Let the pet store help you pick out your fish so that they are compatible- you can't just throw anything together in there!
Yeah, I guess I'm done. With this info, you should be able to set up and maintain a tank with little to no casualties.

[melidasaur]

I had a goldfish named Flushdatoilet - he was free from a carnival. My sister overfed him, he got flushed.

In first grade, our class raised guppies. One of the guppies died, so the teacher took the dead guppie and put it in a cup of water so that we could watch it decay. Some dumb kid spilled the cup of water containing the dead guppy all over my desk.

I had a fish tank in college. I made my boyfriend, now husband, clean the tank. It was so gross. All of the fish died except for two over christmas break. Those extended time food bricks didn't work.