Any aquarists around here?
- Thread starter Deuce
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I've got a 55 gallon freshwater tank with assorted cichlids in it and a 29 gallon with some community fish. Half a dozen neon tetras and black-skirt tetras.
The cichlids are cool, but you can't really set the tank up with alot of plants. They'll attempt to dig up anything in the tank, so it's mostly just driftwood and a few rocks.
I've always wanted a large salt water tank, but never been willing to pull the trigger on the high start up cost of it. One of my friends has a 110 gallon salt that's amazing. Water is matured to the point he's got living coral and verts in it.
The cichlids are cool, but you can't really set the tank up with alot of plants. They'll attempt to dig up anything in the tank, so it's mostly just driftwood and a few rocks.
I've always wanted a large salt water tank, but never been willing to pull the trigger on the high start up cost of it. One of my friends has a 110 gallon salt that's amazing. Water is matured to the point he's got living coral and verts in it.
Nice. We've got a few tanks scattered around the house. A 55 gallon community tank with a bunch of various types. Glass cats (my personal favorite), about 20 neon tetras, glowlight tetras, assorted platys, a few mollies (including a male sailfin that constantly harrasses the ladies), some African dwarf frogs, four cories, one rubber-lip pleco, some zebra danios, etc. My stepdaughter has a 20gal with two figure-8 pufferfish, while my stepson has a 10gal with three goldfish (including one huge bubble-cheek one). And there's a stray betta.
Salt water tanks are really cool, but yeah, the cost is prohibitive. And if you lose a fish, then you're suddenly out a lot of money if you can't return it (which you usually can't). I'd like to set up a semi-aggressive freshwater tank, though. I'd get some bigger stuff, like clown loaches and one of those black knifefish. Maybe a peacock eel. You know, some of the unusual stuff that's more likely to draw attention than just be a moving decoration.
We have six cats, actually. The best thing to do is to get a tank that sits on its own stand, so the cat won't be tempted to sit and harass the fish. The best thing you can do, and I'm being perfectly serious here, is to get your tank set up with the gravel, decorations, air pump and whatever else you want to use, and start off with something hardy, like a few zebra danios. Keep them for around six to eight weeks and do not add any more fish until this time has elapsed, lest you wind up with what's called "New Tank Syndrome." Zebras are generally pretty tough and can deal with a decent range of water conditions.
This initial period will establish what's referred to as the biological filter, which is the colony of helpful bacteria that breaks down the ammonia and other waste products produced by fish, which build up in an enclosed environment. Once this is complete (a.k.a. the tank has "fully cycled"), then you can start adding in more fish, without undue fear of them dying from the unstable conditions of the water. There are products that treat the water to reduce the waste products in it, but you'll wind up in a back-and-forth routine that's likely to wind up killing the animals you're trying to keep alive.
Trust me; my wife and I learned the hard way about the biological filter and NTS, and we lost a bunch of fish to it. A little patience goes a very long way and will save you a lot of money, not just on fish, but on water treatment products and gas from trips to the pet supply store.
This initial period will establish what's referred to as the biological filter, which is the colony of helpful bacteria that breaks down the ammonia and other waste products produced by fish, which build up in an enclosed environment. Once this is complete (a.k.a. the tank has "fully cycled"), then you can start adding in more fish, without undue fear of them dying from the unstable conditions of the water. There are products that treat the water to reduce the waste products in it, but you'll wind up in a back-and-forth routine that's likely to wind up killing the animals you're trying to keep alive.
Trust me; my wife and I learned the hard way about the biological filter and NTS, and we lost a bunch of fish to it. A little patience goes a very long way and will save you a lot of money, not just on fish, but on water treatment products and gas from trips to the pet supply store.
I had a coral reef tank many years ago, it was a 55gal tank.
Contrary to popular believe reef tanks are very easy to care for, the cost to start one is more expensive then fresh but you can recoup some costs if you wanted to start selling off live rock or corals which grow out of control.
I want to start a new tank so bad but my one bedroom shack is stuffed with crap right now.
I could never go back to fresh water, the colors of the coral have spoiled me.
Been thinking of selling my candy cab and tron cab...maybe then I will get another tank.
Contrary to popular believe reef tanks are very easy to care for, the cost to start one is more expensive then fresh but you can recoup some costs if you wanted to start selling off live rock or corals which grow out of control.
I want to start a new tank so bad but my one bedroom shack is stuffed with crap right now.
I could never go back to fresh water, the colors of the coral have spoiled me.
Been thinking of selling my candy cab and tron cab...maybe then I will get another tank.
Tango
Tung's Hair Stylist
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I actually do not have any tanks anymore but while my brother and I owned a house back east we had quite a few of them.
As mentioned by someone earlier, African Cichlids are really great fish... there is a lot of variety to choose from and they are relatively easy on the upkeep/maintenance side.
We had an amazing salt water tank that took us a really long time to get up and rolling... we lost a couple of fish in the process but fortunately held off on anything really expensive until the levels and bacteria were all good. As you said, I have never seen a fish store that will offer refunds on salt water fish... too many people get into the idea of having a salt water tank impulsively without knowing how much work and time goes into setting up a tank, buy some expensive fish and kill them immediately. I have always felt that despite how beautiful salt water fish are... a nice tank with some really cool live rocks, live corals and anemones looks fantastic. A couple fish, sure... but I just dont like some salt tanks that are just packed with as many fish as they can fit and have little to nothing else in there.
My personal favorite tank we had was an 80 gallon fresh water tank that we rotated various fish into over the years. We had some catfish, freshwater flounder, arawana and other various fish including some young bass we caught in a cast net... of course the tank had to be empty when we added those because of introduced bacteria from the lake we got them out of (they were really boring too). But hands down the favorites and final occupants of that thank were a pair of red snakeheads. When we started that tank we had 2 snakeheads, an Oscar and a small Blue Catfish... after some time only 1 snakehead and the Oscar remained, though the poor Oscar had some nicks on his fins to show for it. The snakeheads were some of the most aggressive fish I have ever seen and it is no wonder so many people hate them and, I believe they are illegal in quite a few states. We would feed them every couple of days and they would eat every feeder fish in the tank... they're bellies would be enormous and you could see the outlines of the whole fish in they're stomachs. They were amazing fish to watch.
Been thinking about getting myself another tank however at this time in my life I probably dont have the time or money necessarily to invest too much into it. If I do, it will probably just be a smallish tank with nothing but Black Moor's in it, which looks pretty badass.
As mentioned by someone earlier, African Cichlids are really great fish... there is a lot of variety to choose from and they are relatively easy on the upkeep/maintenance side.
We had an amazing salt water tank that took us a really long time to get up and rolling... we lost a couple of fish in the process but fortunately held off on anything really expensive until the levels and bacteria were all good. As you said, I have never seen a fish store that will offer refunds on salt water fish... too many people get into the idea of having a salt water tank impulsively without knowing how much work and time goes into setting up a tank, buy some expensive fish and kill them immediately. I have always felt that despite how beautiful salt water fish are... a nice tank with some really cool live rocks, live corals and anemones looks fantastic. A couple fish, sure... but I just dont like some salt tanks that are just packed with as many fish as they can fit and have little to nothing else in there.
My personal favorite tank we had was an 80 gallon fresh water tank that we rotated various fish into over the years. We had some catfish, freshwater flounder, arawana and other various fish including some young bass we caught in a cast net... of course the tank had to be empty when we added those because of introduced bacteria from the lake we got them out of (they were really boring too). But hands down the favorites and final occupants of that thank were a pair of red snakeheads. When we started that tank we had 2 snakeheads, an Oscar and a small Blue Catfish... after some time only 1 snakehead and the Oscar remained, though the poor Oscar had some nicks on his fins to show for it. The snakeheads were some of the most aggressive fish I have ever seen and it is no wonder so many people hate them and, I believe they are illegal in quite a few states. We would feed them every couple of days and they would eat every feeder fish in the tank... they're bellies would be enormous and you could see the outlines of the whole fish in they're stomachs. They were amazing fish to watch.
Been thinking about getting myself another tank however at this time in my life I probably dont have the time or money necessarily to invest too much into it. If I do, it will probably just be a smallish tank with nothing but Black Moor's in it, which looks pretty badass.
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Yeah, some of the salt water fish are major money. I remember during a major ice storm here my buddy lost his power for about 3 days. He ran out and bought a power generator purely for the purpose of keeping his tank up and running. Said the cost of replacing all the fish would have been triple what the generator + gas cost.
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I hope to bring my plan of maintaining a nice aquarium to fruition this Summer. I sincerly appreciate your advice, Deuce. Thank you.
HeartlessNinny
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I thought about getting some fish tanks recently, but that's on the back burner for now.
This thread makes me wonder if I should reconsider, though.
This thread makes me wonder if I should reconsider, though.
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I have a 40 Gallon tank with 2 aquatic turtles,
Red ear slider "Kame"
Red eye Map "Kappa"
I have had em for about 9 years, I bought them as infants, now they each measure about 10 inches head to tail.
Here is a recent picture.
Red ear slider "Kame"
Red eye Map "Kappa"
I have had em for about 9 years, I bought them as infants, now they each measure about 10 inches head to tail.
Here is a recent picture.
^
Ha! Thats funny I have a red-ear slider too. I figured I would be the only person in this thread with a turtle habitat.
It lives in a 75-gallon saltwater tank I converted to a turquarium. Its an old school Oceanic Systems tank with a built in trickle filter, pump, and bio-balls. Ive got it set up on a 3.5 foot cabinet with the filter down underneath.
Its pretty sweet. I made a habitat with river rocks for the big slab ramp up to the basking area (magnetic turtle dock you can buy on the internet that didnt hold well enough to the thick glass so now the flat river rocks support it and he/she has a cave area underneath) and then all the gravel looks like a gypsy threw up everywhere in my tank (quartz terminations, random non-crystal mineral specimens, cool looking shooter marbles, etc.)
I really owe this dude for my tank. It was fucking disgusting, and taking up space in someones basement who needed it out. The thing got dropped off on my porch, cabinet stand and all. All I had to do was clean it, paint the stand, and viola, saved myself hundreds of dollars.
What do you feed yours? Mine eats all kinds of shit.
Ha! Thats funny I have a red-ear slider too. I figured I would be the only person in this thread with a turtle habitat.
It lives in a 75-gallon saltwater tank I converted to a turquarium. Its an old school Oceanic Systems tank with a built in trickle filter, pump, and bio-balls. Ive got it set up on a 3.5 foot cabinet with the filter down underneath.
Its pretty sweet. I made a habitat with river rocks for the big slab ramp up to the basking area (magnetic turtle dock you can buy on the internet that didnt hold well enough to the thick glass so now the flat river rocks support it and he/she has a cave area underneath) and then all the gravel looks like a gypsy threw up everywhere in my tank (quartz terminations, random non-crystal mineral specimens, cool looking shooter marbles, etc.)
I really owe this dude for my tank. It was fucking disgusting, and taking up space in someones basement who needed it out. The thing got dropped off on my porch, cabinet stand and all. All I had to do was clean it, paint the stand, and viola, saved myself hundreds of dollars.
What do you feed yours? Mine eats all kinds of shit.
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Glad to help, but don't just take my word for it. Do some research, too. I know I'm missing some details.
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Been in and out of this hobby.
My brothers and sister also went all in with saltwater and eventually quit.
It's just a money sink with potentially a ton of maintenance. Just get a cool ass screensaver and avoid the real thing.
My brothers and sister also went all in with saltwater and eventually quit.
It's just a money sink with potentially a ton of maintenance. Just get a cool ass screensaver and avoid the real thing.
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Stop being so banal, they are living beings, awesome pieces of raw nature in your keep.
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Tetra is the green sticks? Around where I live Tetra sells a 4-way container with dried shrimp, krill, and then two sections of green sticks. I like to have them around to feed it in a hurry but otherwise I prefer to forage a free meal for it.
My slider eats dandelion greens, collard greens, occasionally broccoli, and a SHITLOAD of earthworms (if you keep a compost pile its like an unlimited supply of free turkle food). I would say earthworms are his primary staple at the moment. I read they like diversity since terrapins evolved eating whatever was floating in the water (terrapins require water to swallow for those of you who down know) which is a bunch of this and that. For instance I read on the internet that they love wild strawberries and just so happened to have a fat patch of them right outside my door. The little fucker goes crazy on those things haha. It reminds me of pac-man.
Also I now capture all cave crickets and moths I find in my apartment and feed them to the reptile. Its fun.
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I've got a 30 gallon fresh water that has had about two dozen+ platies peacefully pass away in the last three years. I put a small Roman column decoration in there and nicknamed it "The Mausoleum" since they usually go there to die.
All I have left over is a plecostomus and one platy. Haven't refilled the population and am kind of tired of the maintenance experience. Had several life births occur and they were fun to experience, but the short lifespan of the fish is depressing. I am thinking of gifting it to a neighboring family that has young kids who would probably have more energy for the upkeep. The plecostomus is the only reason I still haven't because he's been there since the beginning and is fun to show off.
All I have left over is a plecostomus and one platy. Haven't refilled the population and am kind of tired of the maintenance experience. Had several life births occur and they were fun to experience, but the short lifespan of the fish is depressing. I am thinking of gifting it to a neighboring family that has young kids who would probably have more energy for the upkeep. The plecostomus is the only reason I still haven't because he's been there since the beginning and is fun to show off.