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One of my old friends got me into fresh water aquariums and I have been hooked ever since. I dabbled in aquascaping (really it just ended up being a planted tank lol).
Here's my old tank. Unfortunately had to give it away and haven't had a chance to set up a new tank yet.
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Anyone else out there like aquariums?
I have two Goldfish in a relatively empty tank. I have tried to put plants in there but they eat them! They are 5-6 years old now. The only other fish that has been successful in our house is a bullhead that the kids brought home from a lake one day. That lasted 7 or 8 years.
Man those are some old gold fish! Yeah I used to have cichlids and they tore up my plants something terrible. I had a channel cat for a while, as well as a blue gill, crappie, & large mouth (not all at once). I like putting fish I catch in a tank for a little bit. I need some turtles now.Quote:
Originally Posted by 32t
From what I have read I wouldn't consider them old until they are 15 years of age.
I could never get goldfish to last, but now that I think about it I think most of them got eaten or partially eaten lol
I like aquariums I have a 15 gallon one in my shed that I hope to set up again one day. I emptied it in 2004 before I went to Afghanistan the when I returned in 2005 I had meet my wife. After a brief courtship we became engaged and when I moved in with her the tank went in the shed were it resides till this day. Maybe after this current deployment if I can build a new house when I get home, the tank might get set up again some day.
I used to have a55 gallon long tank in saltwater. Corals and fish...The whole nine yards. Then off course there was an unexplained mass death..two thousand dollars worth killed in a matter of two days.
I was wondering, did you notice that the most expensive fish die first? I have had fish tanks since I was 12, and two years ago my 90 gallon tank sprung a leak, I emptied it resealed it and it has been sitting ever since. I can't tell you how nice the break has been, but I'm probably going to torture myself again this summer when I reopen it as a salt tank, just a glutton for punishment I guess.Quote:
Originally Posted by aespo
I wish I could show a picture of my old tank but the "x" got custody of the pics and the tank. It was 100 gal. and fresh. Took me about a year to figure the whole system out but after I did the next 7 years was great. I used it as a room divider to set up an office/computer zone. The trick is balance. I used to vacuum it once a month with no more than 50% water change and clean the filters. Picasimus would keep the glass clean and I had a very cool Royal picasimus that got big. A few angles, 15 or so tetras, clown loaches, bala sharks, Pictus catfish, and more. Yes the real exotic cool things don't seem to last that long. I found some where actually salt water species that could live in brackish water but total fresh didn't always work. If I had a place for it I would have another for sure. It costs more but the ice cube food helps a lot for keeping things clean. Everybody over feeds the flake stuff and it clogs everything. Oh and there is no such thing as too much filtering. If it sayd good for 20 gallons and that is the size you have , get 2 of them or the next size up at least.
well, you got that right there is no such thing as over filtering, however after having a freshwater tank for so long. I've gone through everything could possibly imagine, from Angels to Arrowannas, and that one got the 2 feet long and I had to feed him mice, but I think when I set this one up I'm going back to saltwater, as I said I guess I'm just a glutton for punishment.one last thing, I found it cheaper to go to Costco and buy frozen shrimp and feed them that,better colours and less mess.Quote:
Originally Posted by 10Pups
I've recently gave away my silver arowana since it outgrew its 75 gallon tank rather quickly before I could find time to upgrade, but here's some pictures of my setup. My tank before some changes , and fish before sending him away to pet store over a foot long Attachment 119451Attachment 119452
Most fun I ever had with a bigger fish was a large mouth. He was only about 6" but he would let me know when he was hungry by slapping his tail against the heater. He went back to the lake after a couple of months, I was afraid he was going to crack the glass. I was given a salt tank once but after cleaning it up when I got it home I just couldn't go for the punishment. The fish or corral tanks are most beautiful but I didn't have the time for it then. LOL not sure I ever will have that much time. Plus the cost of heartbreak with that learning curve.
Thanks for postings pics! I like simplistic tanks like that one. I had a 20 gal w/ white sand, a couple rocks, and submerged drift wood. It was simple and clean just like yours.Quote:
Originally Posted by Marcelitegti
That's awesome you guys had arowanas. My favorite fish I ever had were a bichir, Chinese algae eater, and flying fox.
Has anyone had a shrimp tank? I've been wanting to start one up.
Glad you liked the arrowanas,however I dont think those poor mice were too fond of him....Quote:
Originally Posted by dfafs
I wish I had a picture of my first Black one....almost two and a half feet before I sold him.
I loved my salt tank I had, but I left it when I left the "x" wife. My old pier & beam house can't handle the load of a larger tank in the 100gal size, so I've just stayed away from the hobbie. Loved hand feeding the lionfish & puffer's. Great hobby though, especially after a bad day at work..
Haven't kept an Aquarium in near 15 years now..
My favorite was a a 55 gal, that I kept a Snakehead in, that was the meanest fish I have ever seen in a tank, I grew him (Nitro) from 10" to 22" before finally selling him..
Easiest fish to care for too, just had to watch the ammonia levels and clean it once a month and life was good..
My understanding is they are illegal to raise anymore, in many states
Snakehead (fish) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
We kept a couple of Oscars in that tank for awhile but finally sold the tank when we moved to Idaho
Funny..I have tried to reply three times to this thread and nothing but problems...anyway.
I was wondering, did you notice that the most expensive fish die first?
I had found out afterwards that something living in one of my live rocks...some kind of tube worm that I did not know was there died..it through the nitrate levels so far off in A matter of two days that it killed everything..
Man did I love that set up...
I used to keep fish... started off with a 30 litre tank (a BiOrb) then increased to 100 litre, then 240 then 400.
Kept Malawi cichlids and had some sucessful breeding going on. Spent an absolute fortune. Moved in with SWMBO and was told to get rid of the tanks... so off they went.
Im getting the urge to keep fish again... just need to talk SWMBO around.
Hi, I used to keep aquarium fish when I was young and my first tank grew and multiplied to about 15 tanks, so I got rid of them all when I realized that chasing girls was much more fun, 35 years on later and with a wife and 3 daughters, I decided it would be nice to have another large tank in the corner, got a 630 liter tank and put in some cichlids, which bred and so needed some more tanks to house them ended up with 8 large tanks. Spent a lot of time (too much) cleaning them, and looking after them, so again decided to sell them all off.
That was the last time I will get an aquarium, they are too addictive, I think most of us on this forum have Acquisition Disorders, whether it be razors, hones etc., must be our personality types!
Cheers
Ed.
Any of you guys ever had a golden pike? beautiful fish, but, as they get bigger they go into full bloom,with really nice colors,and then kill everything in the tank.
If any of you live near Denver you should check out "The Fresh Fish Co". It's off of east Hampden. Really good sea food and aquariums on almost every wall. They have a big aquarium right behind the bar (I think it's 250+).
Sounds like my ex-wife! Started out beautiful, got bigger/went into full bloom, started adding color to her already beautiful hair, then went nuts! Please tell me you didn't name the fish Kristen...Quote:
Originally Posted by Grizzley1
I'll have to google the fish though...
Edit: Not much info though, even if you look up: Crenicichla sp. 'xingu I'
Sit down, thats exactly what I called the fish!!Quote:
Originally Posted by shooter74743
wow..planted aquariums .. you can find everything here.. Ill post a photo of mine soon!
Where's the photo? I've been waiting!Quote:
Originally Posted by larrybob
A few weeks after i last posted on this thread i treated myself to a custom made nano tank. After spending a fair amount of time on it this is how it looks today...
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Beautiful! In my line of work I travel alot and used to have a reef tank, but it became unsustainable- now though, my new assignment allows me to be home a lot and I was considering starting up another nano. What is your setup? I thought about an aquapod 12G, but I would actually prefer something smaller, like less than 6G and put a hawkfish and a fire shrimp or banded coral shrimp in there...Quote:
Originally Posted by tbert33
Thanks @RMarsh. Its just short of 16G (72 litres). The tank is a 8mm thick 40cm length x 45cm width x 40cm depth custom made from a UK company called Ocean Displays.Quote:
Originally Posted by RMarsh
Its not sumped but has the added 4cm on the width to make up for 3 rear chambers. In the far right chamber im using filter floss, middle chamber im using Seachem Purigen and Seachem Seagel (also has my heater in there) and in the far left chamber is my return pump (a Siccie Silent 0.5).
For salt im using Red Sea Coral Pro. I was introduced to this by a friend and i can honestly say i wont use another brand of salt now... its really good salt.
In addition to my return pump im using a Vortech MP10W ES... an absoulte amazing piece of kit. The flow is fantastic, takes up very little space in the tank (as the actual motor sits on the outside of the glass) has loads more power (im using it on the lowest settings) and when i upgrade i can add another powerhead to the same controller.
For heating im using an STC1000 along with a 100w Visi Therm heater. Im just waiting for a fan to come so i can plug it into the STC1000 (If youre thinking of starting again an STC1000 is a must).
For my lighting im using 1 par38 bulb from MarinereefLED and gooseneck lamp holder and a Moonlight LED strip from Interpet.
Im not running a skimmer and im not having any bad effects from this.
Stand is a homemade... its not the best but it does its job... here is a picture of the stand... not the best but you get the idea...
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Due to the chair i purpously made it open from 2 sides so i have better access.
For aquarium inhabitants i have 1 Algae Blenny, 1Perc clownfish (was 2 but one jumped), 1 purple porcelain crab and x2 nassurus snails. I can fit more in and reaply i should get some more clean up crew but for now im happy.
As for corals as you can see ive got some zoas (10 different kinds) various mushrooms, xenia, a sun coral, a duncan, a blue gonipora, 2 different acans, a hammer, a torch, a challace and a small SPS frag (not sure of its name).
Im currently looking for an upgrade as i want to start keeping more SPS and would like some bigger fish.
Sorry if this post has gone on a little long and has become boaring lol.
I must admit i dont think i will ever be without a marine tank now. I really hope you do set up and id love to see your progress and help you in any way that i can... demending on shipping i could even post out some zoas to you if you would like.
Ps... i feed a mix of frozen (usally mysis, shrimp quartet and red plankton), flake 2 times per day and i also feed d & d reefpaste twice per week.
Finally i do a 20% water change once every week to keep everything stable.
Thats everything about my tank etc.
Thanks for the info TBert! so you don't supplement besides feeding the corals? I don't have much experience with corals, my last setup was mostly just live rock, mushrooms and an anemone. purple xenia is my all time favorite, it looks like you have a really healthy colony. I just bought a house, so I move in a couple weeks from now, once I get everything settled in I will be able to gauge my hobby money more accurately :) I was looking back into the aquapod, and I've determined it might be the best option because of the all-inclusive set up.
Oh, and your cat fits in well with the decor, and looks to be staring very intently at your tank!
