thinking of setting up another aquarium..anyone into the hobby?

i don't have much room here at my parents house but i can stuff a 75 gallon into my room. it would be a tight fit but i am thinking about doing it. we have a 75 gallon set up downstairs with some mbuna and some cheweres but it is basically my stepdads tank.
i am thinking of setting it up and just keeping one parachromis dovii till it gets too big and then starting over. they're very intelligent fish but very aggressive. to keep one of them in a tank that size it would have to be only them.

if i went with african cichlids i could keep a small colony of them but dammit, there is nothing like having a dovii

In my case, I plan on setting up a small freshwater tank myself sometime in the future. Or at least once my financial aspects get straightened out. It'll be my first. Probably about a 10-15 gallon setup. I also plan on getting a complete (everything except the water and the fish) inclusive setup for a first timer like me. My Father had both a Fresh water and a salt water setup but it's been so many years that I've forgotten 90% of what I knew.

So, I'll be going for Beginner skill level fish that will get along with each other. Luckly I have a friend who's very knowledgeable to help me out.

We got the kids set up with an aquarium two or three times and the fish kept dying. We treated the water before hand with chlorine neutraliser and they still all one by one died. I'm not sure what we did wrong. Just can't seem to get it together for some reason. Kept the temp right and everything. I don't know if there is something else in the water or what.

If you still have it setup you might want to take a sample of the water to a pet store for water analysis. I think Petsmart offers free water analysis. Maybe it was Animart, I'm not sure but I know that it was one of them.

most pet stores offer free water testing. i know the ones i worked at did. i was testing friggin water all day.
what kind of fish did you have? fish like goldies put out a lot of ammonia for example.

here is a short clip of a dovii so you can see what they look like

reply to post by Deson


I started with a small tank of fancy golds. I found that every time I partialed their tank that they would spawn.

I knew that they would eat the eggs so I took out all the vegetation and put it into another thank and voila a new tank of fish.

I did this enough that I had 10 50 gallon tanks and 6 breeder tanks.

The pet store used to buy them from me for trade in food and supplies but the local fish farms had a hissy fit and the store had to stop buying from me.

They preferred my fish because all of my fish were healthy and they never had any returns on mine; but the big boys always win.

Breeding is easy and fun but a lot; and I do mean a lot of work.

We just had some tiny bass and brim we scooped out of a pond. I never considered having the water checked somewhere.

Originally posted by thing fish
if i went with african cichlids i could keep a small colony of them but dammit, there is nothing like having a dovii

a dovii sounds like those big reds..can't think of the name but they're evil.my brother had one and they watch you walk up to the tank and stick your finger in.you can see what they're thinking as soon as you get the idea..like a playful dog you just look at em sideways lol

i been thinking of setting up a 3 footer with a convict,an electric yellow,a bunch of catfish and some barbs.more than 1 cichlid and they breed like crazy.i find it more satisfying to have a mini eco-system than 1 finger muncher..but they definitely have character the reds

parachromis dovii looks like an awesome fish to have around!!!

I keep a freshwater, myself... A bowed-front 38-or-so-gallon.

For the people with fish that die... Treating the water is not enough. You need to cycle the tank. Which means having all of the beneficial bacteria needed to sustain all of the occupants.... I hope this makes sense. There is much helpful info online.


As for my tank, I have a few schools. Freshwater, mostly peaceful fish. I keep, I think 6 danio (leopard longfin, leopard, zebra, and albino)... 5 Black skirt tetras. 4 White Clouds, 3 neon tetras. A baby clown loach, for a past snail problem...guess he can go, now. A single dwarf Gourami... 4 ghost shrimp, and 3 Oto's for the cleanup crew!


EDIT: Watching that video of the Dovii... WOW! They sure have a lot of personality.

[edit on 1-5-2009 by LostNemesis]

dovii are like pet dogs man.
they will come up to the front of the tank and wag for you..
awesome fish

Originally posted by thing fish
dovii are like pet dogs man.
they will come up to the front of the tank and wag for you..
awesome fish

Most fish will do this and will even eat out of your hand.

My friends used to get a kick out of watching my fish follow me around in their aquarium.

They looked like a small school of fish following along together as I moved around the aquarium and would huddle at the top waiting for their grub.

reply to post by NightSkyeB4Dawn


i don't know about most fish but there are definately some cichlids that will do it. i used to have a male midas that would knock food out of a spoon that i held over the water to get to his food. that is another reason why i like cichlids. they are very smart.

I had a small aquarium at one time and took quite an interest in it... for a while. One day I'd folded back the lid for some reason and sat back just enjoy seeing the fish swim around. Then for some unknown reason the only Japanese fighting fish in the tank decided to launch himself "over the wall". He was saved from a horrendous thud on the hardwood floor by the jaws of my alert German shepherd dog who had also been enjoying the show. Normally my dog left the tank alone and didn't even particularly like eating fish. But I suppose it's understandable that one day, when he was just minding his own business watching the tank in kind of a sleepy daze, and one of them decided to try flying... well I guess he just couldn't resist.

That's pretty much when I realized how much I loved my dog and didn't particularly get a lot of love from the fish. That more or less sealed the deal and I haven't had an aquarium since. But all humor aside, I really do enjoy a lively aquarium.

The only things I can remember and could advise you on is that you shouldn't feed them this

[edit on 3-5-2009 by Albertarocks]

Finally got my 10 gallon up and running again. Had a problem with my Bala's and ID's. The cat scared them to death, literally. What I have left are a Red Tail. Not that pretty yet but they had a bout of Ick. And a Channel Cat. Man that bugger is growing FAST. Have to get my 15 gallon long up soon.

at least ick is easy to treat...pretty common disease.

that channel cat is gonna need out of that tank soon man...

whats the update intrepid?

howz the tank(s) going for you?

a shot of one part of the 26 gallon reef. blue lights only at the time, thus the odd hue (and crappy cell phone pics to boot)
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/366611d1a352.jpg[/atsimg]

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/ea9a991cfddc.jpg[/atsimg]

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/a3d05765ae86.jpg[/atsimg]

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/2bf174fe4480.jpg[/atsimg]

full sized monster pics on my media page.

nice man.
while i have never kept a reef tank i have always liked em.
i have been tossing around the idea of setting up a nano tank and getting some live rock and polyps for it

reply to post by thing fish


I discussed this with intrepid a while back. a nano can be done on the cheap. the petland 10 gallon kit can be used to house live rock, some shroomms, polyps and other soft corals, along with some sponges and other critters. the only issue you run into with the small tanks is when you have one death, no matter how small, it can be catastrophic.

there's a site I used to hang out on, years ago, that has the most information around but the members have taken a turn for the childish worst so I don't post there anymore.

nano-reef.com

great info and some real knowledgeable folks there but, from what I've seen of late, lots of kids with attitude.