# Easiest creature for a beginner?



## KamHo (May 23, 2008)

What's the easiest thing a newbie can start keeping as a pet?
I have no tank or anything yet, so this is pretty open as far as topics go.


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## twoheadedfish (May 10, 2008)

a cactus or aloe vera plant would probably do.

pet rocks were big back in the day. 

aquaria-wise, the easiest way for newbies to get into the hobby is to get a medium sized tank (say, 20 gallons) since bigger tanks are easier to maintain water quality than smaller tanks and stock it with live bearers like platys and guppies. other relatively easy fish to keep include corydoras, rasboras, mollys, and bettas.


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## Harry Muscle (Mar 21, 2007)

Things that are NOT considered easy (ie: not recommended) in the aquarium world ... gold fish or bettas in small gold fish bowls.

Harry


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## twoheadedfish (May 10, 2008)

that's a good point.

lots of people mistake goldfish as easy beginner fish. they're virtually the exact opposite. they're extremely messy eaters and produce tonnnes of feces. and, of the top of my head, require 5-7 gallons per fish (can someone confirm?)

bettas, though easy to keep, require more than the simple bowl some provide. preferably, a betta has a 5gallon tank, though anywhere from 1-2.5 gallons is very common as well. it should be heated, filtered, and get water changes just like any other tank.


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## Shattered (Feb 13, 2008)

I would say that the easiest freshwater creature you can keep is : Algae


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## KhuliLoachFan (Mar 8, 2008)

Mollies are easy enough if you add that little dash of aquarium salt. Live bearers are also quite fun and are a great way to get hooked into the hobby. 

I find I like Mollies better than Guppies. Sure guppies have nice tails and bright colors. But it was the waggly fat black balloon mollies, with their lace-like fins, and their silly looking expressions that have kept my attention. Once I got my first molly, I can't imagine not having mollies.

Ditto for loaches, puffers, angels, goldfish, tetras, danios..... And I'm about to start a Malawi Mbuna tank. I've got it bad, folks. Heeellllp!

W


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## planter (Jun 9, 2008)

a pair of convict cichlids are good to start off with. Hardy, tough fish and easy to breed. Nice looking fish too.


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## wngt368 (Oct 4, 2008)

maybe snails or tiger barbs


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## Cory_Dad (Apr 18, 2008)

Well, my gravel is doing quite well. Still trying to get it to breed though with no luck.

Seriously, plain guppies are way easier than mollies. Mollies are more susceptible to ich for one. Guppies are smaller so fish for fish they require less food and tank space. Mollies want brackish water.

I agree with the 20 gallon suggestion but with guppies you can start with a 10 gallon. You won't even need a heater.

Zebra Danios are pretty easy too, and real cheap at Pet Smart.

Start off slowly, ask lots of questions and have fun.

Cheers.


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## KhuliLoachFan (Mar 8, 2008)

I feel guilty admitting this but before I took any serious interest in aquariums, several years back, I had guppies in a 0.5 gal tank with no heater and no filter, no lid, nothing but a bare mini-tank and air-pump. 100% water changes, without dechlorination, every three months whether they needed it or not.

Yeah you read that right. Sorry, fishies. I would never do that now, but the suckers were tough as nails. Just a tank, and an air bubbler and whatever bio-fioltration happened was courtesy of the in-tank biota and whatever water flow was caused in or near the gravel by the airstone. They survived insane nitrate levels, then chlorinated water, pH shifts, and osmotic stress galore.

W


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## KamHo (May 23, 2008)

folks, what are "Live bearers"? I'm unfamiliar with the term...thanks for all the suggestions...pretty much looking at what common creature I'm spotting in the posts and that'll probably be what I start with...


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## KhuliLoachFan (Mar 8, 2008)

Guppies appear to be hardest to kill and some people who start with mollies have them all die on them, and that discourages them and they exit the hobby, so you should probably take the advice and start with something you are likely to have good success with.

What does live-bearer mean? Most fish lay eggs ('oviparous'). There are some that are live-bearers ('viviparous'), meaning they (females, obviously) give birth to live young.

Examples: Mollies, Guppies, Platies, Swords.

There are some extremely hardy non-livebearing species too: Danios for example, are hardy cyclers, breed easily (they are egg layers), and are fast-moving peaceful and a slam-dunk as far as being easy to keep.

I'm sure you'll have someone tell you that Guppies output far too much waste, and that you should start with Danios. And someone else will say, "Danios are <blah> so you should get <blah-blah>". At some point you should say to yourself, "It's my hobby, it's my money, I'm going to pick something I like". But you should also resist the urge to go out and set up a new tank and cram it full of pretty colored fish, without learning anything about them, unless you don't mind that they die off and leave you with one grayish colored mystery fish that can survive in the murky depths of your neglected tank. Better to care for and learn about the critters you're hosting, so that you keep your wet pets healthy, happy and long-lived. Ultimately that's the most rewarding part of the hobby.

W


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## Shattered (Feb 13, 2008)

KhuliLoachFan said:


> ... "It's my hobby, it's my money, I'm going to pick something I like". But you should also resist the urge to go out and set up a new tank and cram it full of pretty colored fish, without learning anything about them, ... Better to care for and learn about the critters you're hosting, so that you keep your wet pets healthy,...


And that is the best advice you can be given. Take the time to research and read all about your fish and water chemistry. Your fish may not die immediately, but the effects of improper tank parameters could be just as devastating.

It would suck to see you quit in a few months because all the fish passed and you had too many problems that could have been avoided by reading up about it.


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## Tanked (Sep 9, 2008)

As a fellow Newbie myself(About 1 month addicted).. So far I have found my keyhole chiclids quite easy to care for and yet they still provided that chiclid characteristic.. I have a 20high and would personally recommend a 20long as you have more working space and it allows fish more room to swim and you more room too plant and w/e else you may have in mind  good luck


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## Gargoyle (Aug 21, 2008)

Here's what I'd suggest. Go to a pet store and look. Make a list of what you like the look of. Don't buy - list. Base it entirely on what appeals to you. The easiest pet to keep is one you truly want to care for.
Post the list here and I'm certain lots of people will be happy to evaluate what you want in terms of how easy it would be to care for. These things are easier if you ask focused questions.


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## KhuliLoachFan (Mar 8, 2008)

Exactly. And it is not only fish and tanks that require conditioning. Fish-keepers require some too. Time to learn, adapt, and get good maintenance habits in place.

My ceylon puffers are my most high-maintenance fish and yet I find them more rewarding than anything else I keep; they put out a LOT of waste, should eat only frozen and live foods, and require brackish water. Definitely not a beginner-fish.

And yet, the first thing I want to do when I get out of bed in the morning is feed my puffers. They "smile" at me and do their "feeds me I'm yours" dance. I find I look forward to that every morning more than my coffee. 

My girlfriend thinks I'm crazy, but it's the most fun hobby ever.

W


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## sawman88 (Sep 29, 2008)

OSCARS!!!! seriously.. they are liek impossible to kill it seems. the bigger ones anyway. toss them in a big ole tank and away you go. and my 2 cents is... beta +small bowl -heat - filtration - air = dead betta. i dont know why they sell betta's in small little bowls they are just death traps IMO. and they are super hard to keep liek that. i guess the pet stores want you to keep comming back every 2 months to buy a new betta :/


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## KhuliLoachFan (Mar 8, 2008)

My father could never keep Oscars alive and he tried everything.

My little nephew has had a betta in the same 8 ounce bowl of water, without water changes, for nearly a year, and the poor sad creature still lives. I think that's kind of sad and cruel.

I'm not trying to disagree just pointing out that your mileage may vary.

W


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## sawman88 (Sep 29, 2008)

hehe yeah some betta's are lucky. and survive but a year for a betta is pretty damn good i think !!. and for oscars thats strange that yoru uncle had issues with them did he feed them live food? i had oscars for a long long time and once they got big nothing really seemed to phase them.


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## Shattered (Feb 13, 2008)

Another quick tip: Once you get your test kits, test the water you'll be using for waterchanges, especially for PH and hardness. 

That will help determine what fish you can / should keep. To me there is nothing more annoying than trying to regulate PH.


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## Cory (May 2, 2008)

I'd recommend platies over guppies. Though guppies have more colour, they are also extremely susceptible to internal parasites which they often come carrying right from the store. Endler's are similar to guppies, but much hardier and a bit smaller, they also make a good choice. 

Various types of danio would also make good beginner fish. Tetras can work too but are a bit more finicky. 

Barbs are colourful fish that are also quite hardy. 

There's plenty to choose from though.


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## conix67 (Jul 27, 2008)

Let's not talk about what's difficult to kill! Let's talk about what's easy to keep again.

I second to that guppy is one of the easiest for them being very hardy fish.

I heard they can even live in complete salt water environment as well.


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## ameekplec. (May 1, 2008)

I wonder if the OP is still following this thread...


Follow Gargoyle's advice. No point in being told to keep something you don't like. You just won't care for it. Find something, and we can point you in the right direction.


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## Harry Muscle (Mar 21, 2007)

conix67 said:


> Let's not talk about what's difficult to kill! Let's talk about what's easy to keep again.
> 
> I second to that guppy is one of the easiest for them being very hardy fish.
> 
> I heard they can even live in complete salt water environment as well.


I'm thinking you might be thinking of the Molly ... I have never heard of guppys living in full salt water. If I'm wrong though, do you remember where you heard this ... curious to know more.

Harry


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## ameekplec. (May 1, 2008)

Wikipedia gives a salinity tolerance 1.5 times natural seawater. Fishbase says it has a wide salinity tolerance too. 

Maybe surprising that such a small fish can be acclimated to seawater, but many other fish can do it too, so why not the little guppy?


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## KhuliLoachFan (Mar 8, 2008)

Guppies and Mollies both benefit hugely from at least adding Aquarium Salt.

I have feeder Guppies in a brackish tank right now, they are doing yeoman's work for me, helping me maintain the tank's bio-filter for when the American Flagfish are finished their quarantine and acclimation-to-brackish-salinity period.

W


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## KhuliLoachFan (Mar 8, 2008)

Guppies and Mollies both benefit hugely from at least adding Aquarium Salt.

I have feeder Guppies in a brackish tank right now, they are doing yeoman's work for me, helping me maintain the tank's bio-filter for when my new American Flagfish are finished their quarantine and acclimation-to-brackish-salinity period.



W


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## Cory (May 2, 2008)

Guppies can go full saltwater if they are acclimated slowly but the general consensus is that it shortens their lifespan.


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## clock906 (Nov 22, 2007)

when people and especially beginner refer to "easy", they usually mean *"easy to set-up"*, not easy to keep.

a 20 gallon cycled tank with proper heater, filter..etc is a A LOT easier to keep than a 2 gallon betta bowl, but the latter is so much more popular because it is very easy to set up.

So to the OP, are you looking for something easy to set up or something easy to keep? 

In terms of livestock for small setup, I recommend guppies or cherry/amano shrimps. If you are only looking for one of those tiny betta kit or bow, I would recommend cherry or amano shrimp much more so than any other fish. They produce next to nothing bioload, and I found them much hardier than most people believe they are.


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## gunnerx (Mar 20, 2008)

I quite find the 3 spotted Gourami to be rather easy to keep. They're also quite hardy.


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