Hi I'm a total novice & i have severe chronic lllness which means i have extremely limited energy/strength (im mainly bedbound).

I had the idea that i might be able to keep a fish - i was thinking a goldfish in a round bowl but i realise after a quick google, that isnt safe for the fish. I tried to research online but there is just so much info, even in the articles here on FK that i'm overwhelmed, so I'm hoping some of you lovely people might be able to tell me if what i imagine is realistic or not/give me any ideas.

I would just like a small fish in a little tank to keep me company. My carer could clean it out once a week/fortnight as long as the tank wasnt too big.

But I have migraines during which i cant stand any sound at all, even a 'quiet' motor on a filter, so i read you can get sponge filters? is that right? if i have to have a motorised filter its a no-go.

So i wonder if you think this is achieveable for me, to have a small, silent tank with some kind of fish in it, just one (assuming that 2 fish require more water than one). I dont care on the kind of fish, i'm just very lonely & would like something living in the room with me when i'm bed bound.

Sorry its a long rambling post i struggle to focus. Thansk for your patience, any comments/thoughts very welcome

You could have a small (30/40 litres) tank with a solo male Betta splendens and run it on a sponge filter, but there could be potential for noise from the air pump required to run it. I would suggest you use an Eheim air pump as in my experience they are the only ones that are truly silent. You would also need a heater in the tank because the Betta is a tropical fish.

The tank would need to be fishless cycled before adding the fish - see the article here: https://www.fishkeeping.co.uk/articles ... hless-cycling-article.htm

If you have any questions do come back and ask.

Thanks for that @fishlady especially for the tip about the silent pump.

But would the heater not make sound also? At my worst even a person whispering will increase my pain, so even slight humming would be a problem.

Even if not, wouldnt a heated tank be more effort to keep? I need the absolute minimum parameters to have to monitor, and the easiest possible clean out regime. Because carers would have to do it, im not always well enough to give instructions & its not always the same person. Plus they are only here for a set time, during which i still need them to do their caring duties so important things would have to be sacrificed in order to clean out the tank. Even 5 -10 mins difference is important when they are only here for an hour.

I do appreciate being able to ask these things, thank you for your time

The heater would not make any noise, and it's no more difficult to keep a heated tank than a cold one. There are no cold-water fish that can live alone in a small tank. The small ones that would be suitable need to live in groups of their own kind so you would need a larger tank and that would mean more work cleaning.

Maintenance on a 30-litre tank for one Betta would be just changing one bucketful of water every week.

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Oh! that's happy news :)

Great I'll look into that a bit more. I'm not able to go out much so while i could probably manage to go to the store for the fish, the set up I'll need to buy online. Are there any web stores you recommend/would avoid?

As this is now a discussion about tropical fish should i start a fresh thread in the tropical section of the forum?

Thanks so much for your help

You might find a local store would deliver the set-up for you. That way you could choose in-store and see what you are getting. I can recommend Aquacadabra online, and Maidenhead Aquatics.

No need to start a new thread, I've moved this one to tropical for you.

Thanks for moving my thread :)

its not the delivery thats the issue, but that i'm too ill to manage a prolonged visit (ie more than a few mins) to the store while i peruse different tanks/options & make decisions. Its out of the question sadly.

so online is much better, i'll check out those sites thank you.

Sorry to be late to add to the conversation.

I thoroughly recommend www.pro-shrimp.co.uk for fishkeeping supplies (I've had consistently good service from them over the years), and they specialise in small set-ups eg https://www.pro-shrimp.co.uk/48-aquariums

When choosing a fish, don't be tempted by pet/aquarium shops that try to sell you more such as adding a few snails to the tank in addition to the betta, or a few additional fish, or alternatives to a betta. [The problems with doing so are the dilemmas that you might then face such as a fish becoming ill and requiring treatment. Snails can't tolerate many fish medications, and healthy fish are best not treated with fish medications, so, in each case, a quarantine/hospital tank would need to be set up in addition to the main tank - which would become too problematic and carers wouldn't have the time to deal with.]

I'd also recommend phoning the pet/aquarium shop in advance of your visit to check they do have several betta in stock for you to choose from (or minimise the likelihood of turning up to find one in stock that looks poorly but that you feel obliged to buy after the effort of a likely energy-sapping journey), to avoid an unnecessary or wasted journey.

Hope that helps.

very helpful, thank you.

am in a rough patch at the moment so it'll be a little while before i can proceed

I have read your posts with interest, I hate to say it, but I can see a real fish is not for you, I then thought about an artificial fish tank (Yes, they do exist, and the "fish" swim about, some have a changing background or coloured lights) I looked on line and the reviews were not good, even for the artificial jellyfish, then it hit me, why not a genuine lava lamp? you never know what patterns its going to do, it doesn't need feeding, and you can switch it off if you want? (It must be on for a while before it does its thing) and it makes no noise what so ever.

Only a suggestion, but you may want to look at Amazon Click me