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Hello! I just joined this guild awhile ago and I am looking for some help. I recently got some money and I want to start back up with fish again. I say start back up because when I was like 7 or something my family had some fish in a little tank in our kitchen. I forget how we stopped the whole taking care of fish thing. But I mostly remember the fish would die within a few weeks or to the max a month(no rants please). Well, now I am older(oviously) and I want some fish again but want to do it right. I have lots of questions and I have been researching or websites and many books. Obviously books and websites dont give all the answers so I would like some people to help answer these many questions with about a 50 dollar budget in mind. I appreciate it!
Questions
-How many gallons is this tank I already own http://www.petco.com/product/12031/Aquatic-Gardens-Deluxe-Plastic-Aquarium-With-Lid.aspx
-Are three guppies good starter fish?
- Are bettas actually interesting? I had a betta once and he just seemed to sit in that little bowl. He was very boring.
-Buy fish from Walmart or Petco?
- Should I use the fish food I have had since my last fish(which was a while ago) or get a new bottle?
- Do I really need a light in my tank? Because, the hood of the tank I currently own does not have places to put a light.
-Those are most of my questions but I am bouind to think of more
What I currently own
-THe tank shown above
- A dechlorianator thing
- gravel
- filter
- air pump
- bottle of fish food from who knows when

Skittles pretty much covered the most important parts.
Personally I prefer a glass aquarium with a light built into the hood. It's not really better or worse then a plastic like you have, it just looks nicer. You can also get a plastic aquarium with a light built into the hood now a days though, which may be cheaper.

You can calculate the volume of the tank by multiplying the length with the hight and the depth. This will give you cubic centimeters, which you can convert to liters, which you can convert to gallons. here's a nice little tool http://www.hoptechno.com/nightcrew/sante7000/convert.cfm
I'm sorry I can't think of an easier way, but I've never measured anything in inches.

I think guppies are lovely starter fish, and having a lot of fry is often a sure sign you are doing something right. If you want to avoid having fry you can buy only males though.
As Skittles said bettas are wonderful fish too, they also are quite bright; I managed to teach mine to swim through hoops and jump on a plastic floater for food. No other fish managed that till now. It just takes a lot of patience.
Goldfish are really nice too but they need a lot of room and a good filter. Carp is an anagram for crap for a reason. But in my experience these are by far the most affectionate fish and since they have a long lifespan you can really create a bond.

If I were you I'd buy new fishfood and probably a new dechlorinator. Especially if the bottle is a few years old.
Also, depending on the temperature in your house you may need a heater if you want to keep guppies or bettas.

i have never had a betta just sit @_@ unless it was old or sick and about to die.

the thing im afraid of with the guppies is that with such a small it will be easier for the male to harass the females to death. they do that QUITE often and to stop this they need lots of hiding places and at least 4 females. OR dont get males and do all females (if you want make sure you pick some preggers fish) but you will end up with A LOT of fish eventually D: more than what 2 gallons can hold.

do you like neon tetra? they are easy to find and cheap
i have this book that i just LOVE. it talks about nano concepts as like a bonsai tree idea.
neon tetras dont get very big and i've never really seen the things swim a whole lot. you could do like 3 (the whole 1 inch of fish per gallon thing doesnt really work...you need to REALLY consider bio-load and theirs is pretty small) and some snails and plants
but you wanna keep the plants small...so it looks like a little snippet from nature...like a bonsai tree smile

like
my tank is 55 gallons but its based off the whole bonsai idea.

http://youbettabelieveit.blogspot.com/


i dunno if im making sense but if you wanna pm me you can :3

the male might kill the female in such a small space and only just a pair. he'll harass her to death D: i have ended up with a tank full of males because of that and it was a much bigger space.

and the neon tetras i have seen (in 55 gallon tanks even) never really swam. barbs move alot and danios do too but i cant say ive seen a neon tetra swim much unless it was for food

none of the books i have say to give lots of swmming room for neon tetras (for barbs it says LOTS of swimming space is important)
they say heavily planted meaning neons would like to hide more...not swim out as much...i can also say that from experience as well...they really dont swim too much...very boring in a large tank
my mother has some in the tank i gave her

or if you could find a pair of kilifish that would be good too
they dont really move much either

but try guppies if you want...i just hope they do well

you're welcome
i hope whatever you do it works out well heart let us know what you end up buying

Great to hear, I hope your tank will work out splendidly.
Which fish did you decide on?

glofish are danios and need lots more space because danios swim a lot

i'd say 2 female guppies would be a good idea and if you do want babies maybe keep a male in another little tank? so you can let him do his thing occasionally (one breeding can keep a femalwe having babies for weeks) and then move him again so he wont harass the girls :3

and if you wanted to do the betta that would work too