anyone here into fish keeping?

just curious.
i don't have any more tanks set up but i used to have 4 going.
had a 90, a 75, a 38, and a 29 tall.

i have a serious love for cichlids. african and new world.

if you are into them, cichlids or any other, what kinds of fish did you have?

i have had quite a lot. my last ones i had was a parachromis dovii and a parachromis managuense.(wolf cichlid and jaguar cichlid)...
bad mofo's.
i've kept midas, red devils, frontosa, and all sorts of kinda rare africans...

i worked at a privately owned fish store and was responsible for the fish tanks and ordering fish......

if you are really into fish you will know what i am talking about when i say this....people used to come in and they always wanted a 'tough' or a 'mean' fish.....almost always, they would walk out with some red belly's pirannah's or oscars....
2 big ole wussy type fish.
people mistake a larger fish eating smaller fish for meaning it's tough....not the case.
i never did keep my fish to fight and my tanks were in great condition...

any other fish lovers

the dovii is about the baddest boy you can get(save for snakeheads but they are illegal...they are all over the potomic though...you can fish them out yourself....fon't get cought though...those fish can actually 'walk' short distances on land...).
anyway, the dovii
www.aquamojo.com...


the dovii sister fish, the managuense, aka, 'jaguar'
the next baddest boy
www.aquamojo.com...

a couple notches down we have the midas
animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu...

we also have th trimaculatus, or, 'trimac'
www.lindersson.se...

if you are wondering why snakeheads are illegal, it's cause they destroy the ecosystem of where they are at....
ALL the snakeheads in the US are traced back to one asian dude....he bought some at a china town or something to make his sister a soup cause she was sick. she got better so he dumped the fish into a huge pond....they migrated and now they are all over th epotomic, tearing up all the native fish.

fish and game actually wants you to if you catch a snakehead, to cut it's neck to bleed it out, THEN call fish and game so they can pick up the carcass.

if you want to see what these things can do, go to youtube and search snakehead....these things are absolute monsters and if you are going to keep one, you need about 500 gallons for one of them

here is a small one
www.cqj.dk...

I have a 26 gallon reef in my apartment. I used to have a 150 gallon reef in the office but we scrapped it when we moved and never got around to replacing it.

couple of clowns, couple of yellow tangs, a green clown goby, yellow goby, rainbow wrasse and a variety of corals, shrooms, etc.

I used to have a few fishtanks. They were all 100 gal tanks, and each one had different stock in it. I had a couple that were nothing but those novelty japanese goldfish. I had a few with the bubble eyes, a few fantails, and a few that looked like they had the brain on top of their head.

Then I had another tank that was mini-reef, no fish in it, although I tried numerous times to get Sea Horses to take to the tank, they always died within a week or two. My favs were the Hydnophoroa, Millepora, Euphyllia ancora, and Euphyllia paradivisa.

Ultimately, I ended up scrapping my reef tank first just becaue of the hastle. I stayed with my goldfish for a while, finding out just how long I could keep a tank clean without changing a single filter, that was fun.

Originally posted by Crakeur
I have a 26 gallon reef in my apartment. I used to have a 150 gallon reef in the office but we scrapped it when we moved and never got around to replacing it.

couple of clowns, couple of yellow tangs, a green clown goby, yellow goby, rainbow wrasse and a variety of corals, shrooms, etc.

thats nice man...i like th nano reef's.
i never dabbled in salt at home but i messed with it at the store. the lady i was working with was like a saltwater genious. couple of 30 gallon reef tanks at her house.
i had to break mine down cause my back.

i know fish have several common names and with salt i am not up like i am with cichlids. is th rainbow wrasse the same as the bananna wrasse?
always like th little goby's and i like the bottom dwellers like blenny's and mandarins. they're real cool.

ever see a frog fish? i'm sure you have but if not, check it out. we had one of these dudes that was about $300. they will eat damn near anything in the tank though.

check this dude out...they can 'walk' around the bottom and up the sides of the tank

www.grandpoohbah.net...

^^^^let it load..it's normal size^^^^^

hey crake, once you got your nano tank dialed in, is it pretty self sustaining? just check your levels every day or what?

rainbow wrasse - I'm sure it has other names that might ring a bell




my tank is pretty easy to maintain. I toss a couple of dissolving blocks into the tank to maintain calcium and other chemicals and I have a small hang on filter and a few powerheads for water movement.

biggest problem is evaporation. I add a gallon of water every couple of days. water changes are a snap because the tank is so small but I have a client who maintains tanks for a living so he does my tank for free - maintenance free at this point.

I used to have 3 tanks. A 55 gallon predator with a few morays, a grouper a shark and a few other nasties, a 10 gallon that was meant for keeping smaller predators until they got large enough for the 55 but it turned into nano-reef and then I had a 60 gallon reef.

then I moved in with my girlfriend and the tanks went the way of the dodo.

Nice post!
Yes, I am a huge aquarium enthusiast. I have a 150 gal reef tank. Almost 200 lbs of beautiful live rock. It is the home of almost 20 species of corals, plus shrimps, clams, stars, as well as several fish - 1 Yellow Tang, firehawk, royal gramma....etc...........
My filtration is custom, including my protein skimmer, and lights.
Ever want to compare notes - I'm here!

Originally posted by lombozo

My filtration is custom, including my protein skimmer, and lights.
Ever want to compare notes - I'm here!

If you don't mind, I'd be interested in hearing about your setup.

reply to post by lombozo


bozo, next time you're in NYC, I'll arrange a nice steak lunch with SO (and djarums if he's around) and you'll bring some frags from the tank.

Originally posted by Crakeur
reply to post by lombozo

 

bozo, next time you're in NYC, I'll arrange a nice steak lunch with SO (and djarums if he's around) and you'll bring some frags from the tank.

I'm in town almost every day next week. Steak lunch - you're singing my song. Let me know when/where, and I'll be there.
Frags - I have a couple of leathers, and a couple softs. Mostly hards tough. Anything in particular you're looking for?

[edit on 17-8-2007 by lombozo]

Originally posted by phoenixhasrisin

Originally posted by lombozo

My filtration is custom, including my protein skimmer, and lights.
Ever want to compare notes - I'm here!

If you don't mind, I'd be interested in hearing about your setup.

Do I mind? Heck, you're going to have trouble shutting me up!
I have the classic wet/dry - and yes, I DO use the bio balls. Alot of folks these days are against them, however I subscribe to the theory - 'if it aint broke, don't fix it'. She's been up and running for 9 years now. I also have 2 Mugnum canisters. They are awesome! I change the filter cartridges in each a minimum of once a week. Here's a tip. The filter cartridges are a pain in the tooshie to clean. Here's what I do. I went to the local store and bought a couple of those 'Sun Iced Tea' jars. You know, they look like big Pickle jars. Anyway, fill them with bleach and put the filter cartridges in for at least 2 days. Then take them out rinse them THOROUGHLY, and let them dry out for at least a day. Good as new! Don't skimp on your protein skimmer. This piece is mandatory! I had a nice one, but needed more due to my bio-load. I ended up building my own. I just copied the design of the one I had. I bought some PVC pipe and built it. It's about 2X the size of the one i had. The technology is pretty basic, and I spent 20 bucks on something that would have cost 300 bucks. Make sure you keep on top of your pumps. They are easy to disassemble and clean.
I have a wavemaker, with three powerheads attached. I also have 2 other powerheads which are not attached - they run 24/7. Circulation my good man/lady is the key.
My lighting is all VHO. One quarter Actinic, and three quarter 50/50's.
Here's another tip. I went to the hardware store and bought a canister made for filtering water in your home - 15 bucks. You have to buy the disposable cartridges for about 3 bucks ever time you use it. Get several feet of plastic tubing which fits the in/out valves. Start a siphon with the outlet hose in your wet/dry. Use the inlet hose to 'vacuum' up all the detritus. I use .005 micron cartridges, and the difference after vacuuming is amazing.
I have my lighting on a timer - just a typical 5 dollar light timer. It comes on at 7:00 am, and turns off at 9:30 pm. I use a 2 part calcium supplement. It's called B-IONIC. Awesome stuff. 1st part is alkalinity, second part is calcium - add it every day AT THE SAME TIME EVERY DAY!!!!!
I generally use Kent products for salt, iodine, strontium, essential elements.
Test at least once a week for phosphates, nitrates, nitrites, alkalinity, salinity, PH

OK, now that I've probably bored the heck out of you......If you have any questions, you know where to find me!

i used bio balls in mine too but man, i would never rinse my cartridges out with bleach.....way too on the edge for me....

i used hang on's for mine...all of mine...
i used emperors always....never used the under gravel filter for various reasons. all it really does is trap waste and the fish i kept are diggers so it didn't matter.


i'll tell ya man, there are few things that look as rad as a nice, clean, well stocked tank weather it be tropical or marine....too many people i see have these awesome tanks themselves but they look terrible.
so many people over stock their tanks too.

putting 2 oscars, 2 jacks and a handful of convicts in a 55.
then they wonder why the oscars get HITH and such.

we finally bought a house and i have been tossing around the idea of setting up another tank.....IF i do it though, i am going to get a 150 gallon and only have one or two fish.

i have already kept dovii, trimacs, and jags so i am thinking of going through jeff rapps and getting a nandopsis hatiensis(aka 'odo', aka 'black nasty')



^^^odo

Originally posted by Boondock78
i used bio balls in mine too but man, i would never rinse my cartridges out with bleach.....way too on the edge for me....

i used hang on's for mine...all of mine...

my bio balls are hang ons and I rinse em daily or the wife would proibably toss me out. not that she cares for them much anymore anyway.

(I'm guessing nobody else is reading this so I'm pushing the limits of good taste here)

Originally posted by Crakeur
my bio balls are hang ons and I rinse em daily or the wife would proibably toss me out. not that she cares for them much anymore anyway.

(I'm guessing nobody else is reading this so I'm pushing the limits of good taste here)

Gotta rinse 'em daily. Goodness knows that bat wings are no good at all.

I had a 10-gallon aquarium as a teenager, talk about a money pit... I'm not going down that road again. I'll download a fish screensaver, at least I know the water will stay clear without needing an army of algae eaters, special water, additives and constant maintenence.