How do you decide which type of fish is better for an aquarium, tropical or cold water?
Answers:
Coldwater fish are definately the easier route to take. However, that limits you to the different types of goldfish out on the market. I'm not saying that they are not attractive or entertaining, but you are somewhat limited to the different types of goldfish that are readily available on the market.
Tropical freshwater fish are a little trickier. However, there are so many types to choose from. If you start with something hardy & easier to maintain (let me recommend mollies or platy's which are live bearers & can withstand harsher water conditions) , then you wont have too much work on your hands. Just study up on aquarium requirements, then you can take your time setting it up. After a good week of running your tank, get yourself some fish. A lot of times the first round of fish have a hard time making it, since you cant get the proper nitrate cycle going without fish, but round #2 should work just fine with you.
I recommend tropical freshwater fish. They arent too much trouble & are beautiful to watch.
Good luck!
coldwater are easier to start off with for a novice, tropical take up abit more work and time
tropical tanks are much more difficult to take care of and the fish are very pricy but usually fresh water fish are not as bright and cool looking as salt water. if it is your first tank i would suggest fresh water.
huh?, I don't understand. Because there are tropical saltwater fish & there are tropical freshwater fish. So you have to decide if you want saltwater or freshwater. Saltwater is more work, harder to maintain & more expensive but the fish are more colorful. We just switched from salt to fresh & then are some neat fish too, like the grommes, fire bearded tetras & marble angelfish.
If you choose coldwater fish, your choices are pretty much goldfish or other goldfish.
Tropicals are more work, but not much. Do your partial water changes every week and that is about all you need to do. oh, and feed them.
Tropicals will need a heater to regulate the temp and keep it at about 72-76 degrees. They cost about $15 for a good one.
Both types of fish need a filter to keep the debris out of the water.
Goldfish are much dirtier per fish than tropicals.
the only difference between coldwater and tropical is a heater. If you put a heater in your tank then you can do tropical, and they are not anymore difficult to keep than coldwater. and you have a lot more choices to boot, and they are more colorful.
Size is a good indicator. If it's under 30 gallons, you have to have tropicals (without getting into things like river tanks with hillstream loaches and WCMM), betwwen 30 and 75g on the coldwater front you're limited to a couple of fancy goldfish, over 75g, again on the cold water front, you can just about fit in one or two common goldfish. Tropicalwise, you can start properly in anything over ten gallons, although obviously you're very limited, but goldfish require much larger filters and larger water changes than tropical fish.
I'd go for fresh water tropical fish.
salt water fish are for dedicated mad about fish carers, these marine fish are gorgeous but very hard to care for.
goldfish are great, you can get lots of fancy fish but don't mix regular goldfish with fancy ones because fancy fish are slower and wont get enough food.
tropical fish are lovely, again ask the seller what each fish can live with, some bigger tropicals eat the smaller ones!
also ask what they need to feed on. all fish need fresh food as well as dried flake food, like blood worms etc
make sure your water has been in the tank for a few weeks before you buy anything to grow needed bacteria and don't over stock your tank or you could lose your fish to high nitrate content in the water.
enjoy your fish, good luck with your decision x
cold water are easier, but stiill have to have filters, tropical are great, but you need to start with easy fish which any good shop will advise on, make sure they are all finn nippers or all not, that they are community fish, or else you need a different set up for more specialised or aggressive larger fish, that their needs are similar, as often they have different tolerances, the hardest tanks are marine, we have not ventured there yet. get a good book, find a good stockist ask advice, set tropical tank up at least two weeks before you put fish in, and add slowly..
Learn to walk before you run - cold water fish are the easies to learn with - tropical look better but are the easies to look after, un-less you know what your doing (cost more as well)
tropical are definitely harder to maintain but definitely worth the work they are more pleasing to the eye. but if you have not got the time or money then defiantly stick to the plain gold fish
if u use cold water in the tank, go for cold water fish. And vice versa!
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