Best monster fish for a beginner

[MatteoTheEnder22]

I wouldn't consider them monsters but as a bigginer African haps or peacocks can give you a pretty good bang for your buck, they are relatively cheap and if your pond can maintain a steady temp around 78 to 82 degrees you can fit a lot on that size pond. They are colorful and a pretty interactive fish that are fun to watch. If you go that route a few syno cats will fill the catfish void.

Most Malawi cichlids are fairly hardy fish and you'll learn a lot before you invest big money and time into something like Pbass. Just make sure you understand the nitrogen cycle and how aggression works in African tanks, a 30gal is a perfect grow out as well. Sounds like you do your research so youl be fine.
Also on your pond I would highly recommend taking the time and putting a side window, a lot of good looking fish are camouflage from the top unlike goldfish so you won't be able to see much other than them feeding.
If your parents allow you to have a tank inside, you can pick up 125 gal or less on Craigslist and Facebook marketplace for cheep, I've gotten 100 gallon complete set ups for less than 150 dollars. I would start with a 120 gallon tank, you can touch into the big tank world without having to invest the time and money when something goes wrong.

Okay well thx i may consider african cichlids also its all being done at my grandparents house and they will allow it also thats a good idea on the tanks i may ask to see if they will let me get a 120 gallon

 

[Blakewater]

I would not even put anything over 4” in a 30 gallon no matter what the long term plans are. The first few inches of a fishes growth are critical and happen very fast. In a 30g you could unknowingly be stunting it in the long term so it can’t reach its full potential. The fact you did not want to fully disclose the 30g worries me as well

the one exception I can offer is a Senegal or delhezi bichir

 

[MatteoTheEnder22]

I would not even put anything over 4” in a 30 gallon no matter what the long term plans are. The first few inches of a fishes growth are critical and happen very fast. In a 30g you could unknowingly be stunting it in the long term so it can’t reach its full potential. The fact you did not want to fully disclose the 30g worries me as well

the one exception I can offer is a Senegal or delhezi bichir

No but the long term plan is literally going to be a month or two at the most for them then they will go directly to the pond which is going to be a fairly good size

 

[Chicxulub]

No but the long term plan is literally going to be a month or two at the most for them then they will go directly to the pond which is going to be a fairly good size

You'll have to forgive the scepticism you encounter here over such claims. Life, uh, finds a way to screw up even the best laid of plans. Until someone has a tank on a stand with water in it and a cycled filter, MFKers tend to not believe you.

Even I'm guilty of this. I've had a 550 in a dolly in the living room of my new house for almost a year now. Given everything going on right now, I really don't know when it's gonna be on the stand, let alone ready for fish.

Don't count your eggs before they're hatched is all we're trying to say ?‍

 

[MatteoTheEnder22]

You'll have to forgive the scepticism you encounter here over such claims. Life, uh, finds a way to screw up even the best laid of plans. Until someone has a tank on a stand with water in it and a cycled filter, MFKers tend to not believe you.

Even I'm guilty of this. I've had a 550 in a dolly in the living room of my new house for almost a year now. Given everything going on right now, I really don't know when it's gonna be on the stand, let alone ready for fish.

Don't count your eggs before they're hatched is all we're trying to say ?‍

Oh okay i guess that makes sense ?but ima try to get the pond going either way even if I dont have the pond ready by the time i get the fish i have a friend with a quite a lot of tanks and some of then are empty and a pond outside to take care of them for a while if they get to big or not doing the greatest

 

[MatteoTheEnder22]

Guys question which of these 2 ponds are better deal for fish

 

[Niki_up]

You'll have to forgive the scepticism you encounter here over such claims. Life, uh, finds a way to screw up even the best laid of plans. Until someone has a tank on a stand with water in it and a cycled filter, MFKers tend to not believe you.

Even I'm guilty of this. I've had a 550 in a dolly in the living room of my new house for almost a year now. Given everything going on right now, I really don't know when it's gonna be on the stand, let alone ready for fish.

Don't count your eggs before they're hatched is all we're trying to say ?‍

I can def agree with this....it has taken me about 3-4 years to get my over 100g tank going.

I purchased a 100g glass tank and stored it in my garage, it got stole from my garage. then I waited and saved money for another tank, then waited for a deal. Got my 135g tank, then waited to see what I was going to do about the stand. I ended up having the tank for several months before I got it started up.

so even though we don’t plan for things to go sideways them sometimes do.

I agree 100% about not counting your chickens before they hatch...until the tank is setup you just don’t know what troubles you may encounter while trying to get there.

 

[Kolton13]

I can def agree with this....it has taken me about 3-4 years to get my over 100g tank going.

I purchased a 100g glass tank and stored it in my garage, it got stole from my garage. then I waited and saved money for another tank, then waited for a deal. Got my 135g tank, then waited to see what I was going to do about the stand. I ended up having the tank for several months before I got it started up.

so even though we don’t plan for things to go sideways them sometimes do.

I agree 100% about not counting your chickens before they hatch...until the tank is setup you just don’t know what troubles you may encounter while trying to get there.

I agree with this 100% if I were u at such a young age(like me) I’d focus on a fish. For example in a thread a few days ago I talked to u about me and my catfish room, if I where u at a 30g right now gouramis, guppies, and I saw someone say something about killifish, killifish have awesome colors and are predatory and easy to breed. Just would need to be dark and have peat moss. Maybe you can breed them but try to find a fish YOU love I understand you like predators and so do I but you have to deal with what’s reasonable and what you have. If you do catfish like me you can get a gulper in a 55, 4 jag cats in a 75 and maybe Cory or a small kind of syno cat for the 30 it’s ur preference.

 

[Blakewater]

You'll have to forgive the scepticism you encounter here over such claims. Life, uh, finds a way to screw up even the best laid of plans. Until someone has a tank on a stand with water in it and a cycled filter, MFKers tend to not believe you.

Even I'm guilty of this. I've had a 550 in a dolly in the living room of my new house for almost a year now. Given everything going on right now, I really don't know when it's gonna be on the stand, let alone ready for fish.

Don't count your eggs before they're hatched is all we're trying to say ?‍

couldnt have said it better myself, or more politically correct aha

 

[Kolton13]

Also I wouldn’t jump from a 30 to a pond in a snap, go slowly learn as you go. It’s more fun anyway