fish tanks

[3rdGenMr2Girl]

i set up another tank last night with 4 dwarf puffers. so cute.

[Scapegoat]

nice! i saw those at the store and it was a really tough decision to get those and put together a well planted tank or go with the cichlids.

I'm glad i went with the cichlids though, i think those little puffers would have been lost in the 45 gallon tank. Though, i am tempted to maybe put together a small 10-15 gallon tank for them... there were some larger brackish puffers about the an inch or so long as well...

[3rdGenMr2Girl]

i set up a 10 gallon for them with live plants. i had the 10 gallon laying around so i figured why not. i can't get over how cute and tiny they are lol.

[Silverfc88]

I loved having African Cichlids. Had them in a 110 gallon tall tank for about 10 months and had to get rid of them to get ready for our move overseas. They would get aggressive between one another every once in a while. I think I only lost maybe 2 because of fights. After a while a couple of them where breeding like crazy.





Now I have a 70 gallon with 7 red belly Piranha. Defintly don't have character like the African's did, but there fun in there own way. I know the tank is a little small, but I've had them since April and the've been doing ok. Got them when they where around 2-3 inches and now they are around 6-8 inches.





I have a 30 gallon tank with gold fish in it and I want to convert that tank into a saltwater setup. Looking around now for what I need to do that.


I want to see pics with the new fish!

[mcperson2k]

I want to see pictures of the tiny blow fish. Can I buy one and put it in a fish bowel? Where do you guys get them.

[Scapegoat]

i've done a 1/4 water change and added some plants. i know cichlids are omnivores and known to destroy plants... but i'm hoping that since they're small the plants will have a chance to grow and take hold.

[grmreapr]

I would stay away from freshwater puffer fish (spotted, figure eights) since they are not freshwater but actually brackish water and I know people that have acclimated them to saltwater. For some reason every time I had a fresh tank it just went haywire on me and went kaput so il stick to salt it's not as hard as everyone makes it out to be just need patience and money at first.

I have to add that keeping puffers in reg freshwater is ok but from what I hear they just don't live as long or as healthy. I would love to do a small tank with those in it or those neon glofish they are sweet under actinic lighting.

[Scapegoat]

patience i have... time i do not.

i want a saltwater tank bad... but i'll cut my teeth on fresh. i'm enjoying it... 2 days in.

[piku]

Originally Posted by james_ls

Your lines are all oxidized, note the crazy amount of bubbles.

Check your PH levels.

I <3 salt-water and can help you with a badass and relatively inexpensive setup when the time comes Ken.

That's just oxygen from filling with warm water. Harmless.

[piku]

Originally Posted by Scapegoat

the pic was moments after i finished filling the tank with 45 gallons of tap water and turning on the system. Bubbles are considerably less today, more than 12 hours later.

pH this morning was 7.2
no2 was .05
nh3/nh4+ was .25

everything is within acceptable levels for a brand new tank w/o fish, from what i've read anyway.

heater is set to 78/79. but i don't have a thermostat yet, will get that and some test fish tomorrow during lunch if i can work from home... or right after work.

Read about cycling. Do a fishless cycle.

[piku]

Originally Posted by 3rdGenMr2Girl

^ oscars are very intelligent, you won't find a lot of fish like them. that's why i love them

Yeah I had an oscar. I loved that fish. He got to be like 9" long or so and then ate the catfish and died probably due to the barbs tearing up his insides

[piku]

I got 2 new female guppies today to go with my male guppies. In my community tank, the guppies are the friendliest so I'm hoping they'll breed. My grass has been growing for about 6 months now so I think some baby guppies could hide in there no problem.

[mcperson2k]

What do you guys do when you find a bunch of little fish swimming around that weren't there before? Keep them or sell them to a pet store or something?

[SvicksTc]

I use to have 3 African Chiclid Setups...Invested a TON TON of money into fish and supplies, lost a lot of fish due to fights but over the years i guess this can be expected....Ill post pics of my setups tomorrow

[Bizee]

Originally Posted by 95nracer

I loved having African Cichlids. Had them in a 110 gallon tall tank for about 10 months and had to get rid of them to get ready for our move overseas. They would get aggressive between one another every once in a while. I think I only lost maybe 2 because of fights. After a while a couple of them where breeding like crazy.





Now I have a 70 gallon with 7 red belly Piranha. Defintly don't have character like the African's did, but there fun in there own way. I know the tank is a little small, but I've had them since April and the've been doing ok. Got them when they where around 2-3 inches and now they are around 6-8 inches.





I have a 30 gallon tank with gold fish in it and I want to convert that tank into a saltwater setup. Looking around now for what I need to do that.


I want to see pics with the new fish!

nice setup.. the fixture your using is what im after for my new setup. im moving into a new place and the fish tank is constantly on the back of my mind (i wanna do something 70gallon+ freshwater planted, c02)

right now i have a 30 something gallon with not much going on, apisto gramma's, blue rams, bunch of rasboras and a few other guys..

[Scapegoat]

Originally Posted by piku

Read about cycling. Do a fishless cycle.

too late i'm patient to a point...

Originally Posted by mcperson2k

What do you guys do when you find a bunch of little fish swimming around that weren't there before? Keep them or sell them to a pet store or something?

eat them?

i figure if my fish breed (the two zebra's might if they survive to maturity) then its free food for the other fish

here's my tank after a 1/4 water change and some plants that i hope will prosper before the cichlids get too large to destroy them. java fern and some kinda Cryptocoryne. both are supposed to be hardy and require no co2 introduction. I want to get some java moss as well and try to get that to take over a large portion of the tank

does anyone know at what point i don't need an air pump to introduce oxygen into the water for the fish?



the java fern is a cool plant, it will affix itself to any odd surface... so i've got a few floating around on their own (bottom of the large drift wood) and attached via fishing line to other pieces of drift wood.

in the pic you can see the male and female zebra cichlids. the livingstoni likes to hide under the large driftwood. i'm tempted to buy some brine shrimp to toss in for some live food. but i think i'll give the tank some time to settle

[ASIAN JUL]

You don't necessarily need an airpump in the tank

[Scapegoat]

Originally Posted by ASIAN JUL

You don't necessarily need an airpump in the tank

thats not necessarily helpful :p

any links to appropriate, relevant and newer information? it seems a lot of the stuff I'm finding online is more than a few years old

[ASIAN JUL]

Does your water move without using the airpump? Like, does your filter move the surface of the water on its own? Air pumps themselves do not put oxygen directly into the water.. just keeps the water moving. As long as your tank isn't overpopulated and the water is otherwise maintained, they're not necessary. Unless you use those moving decorations, then you need one

[Scapegoat]

got ya. yeah, the pump moves the water. but the people at the fish store mentioned that i wouldn't need an air pump if i had plants in there... so the assumption was is that the air bar does in fact add air into the water (and thusly O2).

the female zebra likes playing in it though... she'll swim to the top of the tank (or close) and swim straight down through the bubbles and will do this over and over and over.