what kind?

[Gecko]

my sister and i thought about getting an aquarium but neither of us have had one before. what would be good to start out with? we thought we might get a little turtle....or some pretty fish...i really want some angelfish...what kinds of fish could you put with those?

also what it the differences in maintenance of saltwater and freshwater aquariums?

any suggestions are welcome...we dont know for sure whether we are even going to get one yet but i thought i'd look a bit into it so we would know more before we decided on anything.

[Chrisanne]

Salt water tanks are a bit higher maintenance only because the ph has to stay at a certain level. This requires some regular testing. Saltwater fish are also more expensive.

Freshwater tanks are a bit easier with good filtration. Ours were pretty low maintenance.

Angel fish are fairly aggressive, and can be territorial. If you want angel fish, i'd go with other semi aggressive fish.

[AmberC]

For a starter I'd go with fresh. For set up you want to get a nice filter for whatever size tank you want to get. I recommend Aquaclear.. i have one and its really good! A heater for whatever size tank, air line, tubing and air pump if you want air bubbles. (I dont use them) Your going to need a substrate, which would be gravel or sand. Decorations. Testing kit. and a gravel vacuum\syphone for cleaning. I use the one that hooks up to the sink so I dont have to suck the water into a bucket until the bucket fills and keep walking the bucket to the sink. For your test kit your going to want one that tests pH, ammonia, nitrites and nitrates AT LEAST. And dont buy strips because they are not accurate. I learned the hard way. And of course.. fish. But you want to get your tank up and running for at least a day before you stock it. Then your going to have to go thru cycling your tank. (Which isn't as hard as a lot of people make it.)