Aquariums

Hey J.Grande,

I love african cichlids. I'm in an apartment so I can't have anything too big... right now I've got a 29G with a stand and hood I built. I'm keeping South American fish right now and I'm probably going to fully stock the tank with live plants after New Years (I'll be out of town for a few weeks and don't want to have the tank lights going on while I'm gone for that long). I've got angelfish, 2 species of hatchets, a few cories and a few otos at the moment. Once the tank is planted, I may see about getting a few more things.. maybe a pair of small apistogrammas and a school of cardinals. I'd love to see your pics.

Brad

 

I love my aquariums, I've had tanks for 20 years. My top 3 favorites pets?

1.Blue Ribbon EEL
2.Blue Ring Octopus
3.Harliqiun Shrimp

I LIKE THE BRIGHT COLORS.

 

WOW,

Blue ring... brave man Mark. That's a nice pic... I've wanted to start a reef tank for a while now... maybe when I get a little more time. I'll have to search my computer for pics of mine... I'll definetly post some once I get it planted.

Brad

 

Ive had a saltwater aquarium tank for around 5 years now. If you need questions about maintaining one or whatever, please feel free to ask.

 

I seem to have Ferrari taste when it comes to my undersea pets. All my favorites are hard to keep and don't play well with others.

The blue ribbon eel is breath-taking in color and at 3 feet long, when it swims its like a ribbon in the water, very cool to watch! Only problem....it won't eat! It only likes to eat baby sea horses. So I keep it in tank with many pairs of breeding sea horses.
Most people don't have a chance with blue ribbon eels. Getting them to eat in the tank is very rare (I only know one other guy that has a eating adult). Its a shame that so many die in the aqarium trade. I wish they wouldn't sell them. After a while you learn that 40% of the fish are easy to keep and the other 60% all-most never live long. But the pet industry still imports all of them. Keeps sales turning over. Its a shame really.

The Blue Ring octopus must live alone, of you can keep a few Blue Rings together in the same tank. I've tried a lot of things but what works best for me is to get three 110's and keep very few animals in each tank. I like lots of water and lots of room for my animals. keeps them healthy and acting as they would in the wild. You don't need as much technology when you have lots of gallons for just a small animal. I've always kept the filters simple and my money is spent on more large tanks. I know guys that have 15 animals in a 110 and they just laugh when they see my tanks empty. LOL

The blue ring octopus will kill you if it bites you. But the animal is very easy to care for.... just feed it well. The danger is that they can get out from all most any top... so you have to really have them trapped into a big tank with lots of places to explore. ...that way they have so much fun they don't try to escape.

I've never had luck keeping live coarls. I feel its a losing battle. I don't like buying things that are just going to die no matter what you do.

I'd like to get a banded arm octopus next. But I think they are too rare and bringing them into the pet industry might put too much pressure on the natural population. (here's a photo for fun) They are suppose to be amazingly smart and have many multiple personality behaviors.

 

Live corals really are a pain and I've never tried them. I had a lion fish for a while, but he was a picky eater and eventually croaked. Now I have many wrasses, with some other colorful but inexpensive other fish. I love the pics posted here - thanks for them.

 

Funny.... no matter how advanced you get.

I had just as much fun with my first tank- 75 gallons, 3 clown fish, a sail fin tang, a pair of banded coarl shrimp, a rock beauty, and a flame angel. This was a very easy group of fish to care for. Great personalities and very pretty.

I don't want to leave the impression you have to make this too complex. Its a great hobby.

 

The Apt. Bldg. I dwell in has Rules & Regs which forbid any aquatic-critter-world larger than 5 (five) gallons. I live on the edge, though - so when I downsized, I went from a 50 Gallon Tank to a 10, and told the Mgr. it was 5.
*Cagney/ Come and get me, Coppers! /Cagney*

The 20-yr.-old kept a Ball Python in the large tank, but it went to the great snake pit in the sky recently. R.I.P. "Trip." *weeps*

In the meantime, the 10 Gal. has:
Guppies
Kuhli Loaches
Plecostomus
Live Plants

I'm interested in what types of systems have proved to be the best for Marine, though.

 

I had a freshwater tank with an Oscar in it then one day I came home and the top of the water was covered in this foamy water and the fish was dead. I've been told the Ph was off. When I have some time I would like to learn about salt water and try to set up a tank. I would really like to have a queen angel but have heard that it is delicate.

 

Saltwater has one simple rule- Big tank with just a few perfect fish.
- 1 fish per 25 gallons and you never have to take care of the tank.
- Most guys try 1 fish per 10 gallons and the tank is a big chore.

I don't have any fancy filters. No wet/dry chemical filters. Pain in the a$$

I still use a undergravel filter with power heads on top, thats all !
(20 year old technology)

I"ve seen guys with salt water tanks that are more complex then the computer systems that keeps Ebay running. LOL You don't need all that crap. Unless you like that stuff, the pet store loves selling it.

 

Hey, I've got that book to Mark! At least, one with the same pictures. The name escapes me right now.

I'd love to have a saltwater Aq. but I know I don't have time/money for it right now. The Ferrari is enough.

 

The other thing that I found was that the saltwater tank really needed about 3 years or so before it finally settled and was ready for some nice new fish. Until then, it was just sorting out the ph levels and salinity and everything. Now it's totally stable.

 

Yea, that's true... you can get by with no technology as long as you don't overstock. I'll have to plead guilty to liking the tech though, it's my second fav. part of keeping fish.

It's alittle more difficult to get away with when you have a saltwater tank...especially if the tank is on the small side. The best advice for aquarium newbies is to get the largest tank you have room for and can afford. You're less likely to get large and quick swings in pH, salinity, etc.

I've actually quit using the underground filters because they're a pain and can be messy. Do you keep live rock or sand Mark or just use the UGF and water changes? Also, have you tried protein skimmers? I've found those to be helpful... you can pretty much build one yourself too for almost no $.

Brad

 

See how carefully I wrote my techy statement. I know there are guys like Brad, that have as much fun with all the filter technology as the fish. Happens that way in every hobby.

I should have a protein skimmer and then I could go (1 fish for 20 gallons) but I'm not using one.

I use UGF with crushed gravel, no sand, no live rock.
I like sand but it doesn't work with UG filter.
I always watch the Live Rock at the pet store in the big display tanks. Every week it dies and looks more sick. I figure if the guys at the pet store can't keep the live rock.... i'm not going to try.

If you have a working reef tank, you must be a biological ace.

I just like to find the most interesting animals and put a few in a big tank. I'm "old school" low tech. Change %10 of water every 3 months and that's it. I never touch the gravel bed....doesn't need to be cleaned as long as you don't over feed.

When they stop making Undergravel filters I'll be forced to go Hi-tech....but not yet.

 

My father in law is really into Saltwater fish and has an awesome set up in a 200plus gallon with a faux reef that looks incredible. He has this dialysis system from a place in Fla. called SeaVisions which is like you said, does everything. It does constant water changes and monitors everything and adds salt. He can phone in and check/change levels of anything. Pretty cool and it works perfectly. I am toying with the idea of a 500 gallon 10ft long tank in my home office that will be built through the wall to be viewable from both sides. I have kind of been waiting to see how well that dialysis machine really works before I decide and it looks pretty good. If I get it in I will post pics!

 

Well... I'm not sure you have to be a bio ace to keep one up but a reef is pretty tough if you don't know what you're doing. I think the biggest problems for people unsuccessful with reefs are chemical balance and lighting. You've really got to do some research on what each species needs and whether they will work with what you've got (true for freshwater too but it's usually more forgiving).

I actually worked in an aquaculture facility while I was an undergrad in college. It was really pretty cool... mostly filter design on HUGE salt tanks that were used for breeding red fish (about 5000 gallons). We also bred some koi which was interesting too.

Right now I'm actually running VERY low tech and everything thing is going well. As soon as it gets fully stocked though, I'll add some more equipment to keep everything healthy and looking great.

I'd love to see some of the fellow F-Chatters' aquarium pics.

 

I just have one fluval and one in-line heater I built myself for filtration (to keep the heater out of the viz line in the tank.) Kinda small, considering one of my hobby buisnesses is building custom aquariums.

Mark has the key, give anything enough water and nature will do the work for you. Off-site resivors also help, but aren't as nice to give the fish the ability to roam.

I'm big on 'hands off' management.

Best!
Ben.

 

I love saltwater tanks... it's too bad that in the last 2-3 years, the amount of traveling I do doesn't allow me to keep a tank up anymore...

Here are some of the interesting marine fish/animals I've had:
* nurse shark
* smoothound sharks
* leopard sharks
* snowflake eels
* pilot fish (yellow jack)
* frogfish
* puffers
* yellow/blue tangs
* pink anthias
* flame angel
* golden sleeperhead gobies
* anemonies
* cleaner shrimps
* flounder
* blue-spotted stingray
* octopus
* jellyfish

... just to name a few!!

I would LOVE to start another tank soon... definitely marine - not ready for a reef shark, but will probably get some more pilot fish...those guys are neat!!

Btw, guys... I recommend all saltwater tanks to have adequate mechanical and biological filtration. Protein Skimmers are a must if you plan to have a fish-only tank. You'd be surprised how much live rock and live sand can provide natural biological filtration. I used good 'ol fashioned wet-dry with an external pump....that worked very well.

oooh...all this talk is getting me psyched up to start another tank!!!