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Tropical Fish, anyone have a fish tank?

CoventryCat86

CoventryCat86

Corresponding authority
Joined
Jun 18, 2003
Messages
12,599
Yeah, yeah, I know this is a CIGAR board but is anyone here into tropical fish?

I used to have fish tanks when I was a kid and when I first got married, my wife and I used to have a 30 gallon set up. It was a nice hobby that we enjoyed doing together but after a while, we dismantled the tank and got rid of it. I'm thinking about getting back into this because a guy at work set up a ten gallon tank in the office and we're having lots of fun with it. :thumbs:

I bought him seven neon tetras (little fish) and he named them "The seven deadly sins." :laugh:
 
My daughter adores the fish. Hitting PetSmart is as good as a trip to the zoo. However, I've had a tank twice in the last 30 years. I remember how much work it is - and I have 2 cats. Uh-uh. They get along fine with my umbrella cockatoo since he kicked their asses.
 
My uncle has like 4000 tropical fish in his home aquarium / backyard breeding room. It's rather neat to see the fish, but a pain in the butt to keep them alive. :)
 
I have a 130 gallon salt water tank in my lounge.

Fortunately I can afford to have the tank serviced but as wanlail says, pain in the butt to
keep the fish alive.

Brian
 
After having a number of fish tanks, I've vowed "never again!" -- all of the work of maintaining a pool, none of the fun of being able to jump into it. :)

I find I get into it for a few months, then it just because a PITA. Fish die, I lose karma. Of course if I had a "fish tank boy" like Infinity, I'd be more sanguine about it. :)
 
moki said:
After having a number of fish tanks, I've vowed "never again!" -- all of the work of maintaining a pool, none of the fun of being able to jump into it. :)

I find I get into it for a few months, then it just because a PITA. Fish die, I lose karma. Of course if I had a "fish tank boy" like Infinity, I'd be more sanguine about it. :)
Click to expand...

Just got to reduce your smokes each month to +- 10 premium cigars rather than 10 super premium and you can be more sanguine about it. :laugh:

Brian
 
I've a 55 gallon tank (freshwater) with various fish in it. The star of the show is a gold angel that is about 3 years old, she is about 5 inches long and 6.5 to 7 inches tip to tip on the fins. The body is about 3 inches in diameter.

It is a she as she spawned several times with her mate (he died a few months ago), quite exciting for me!
Just having angels grow to maturity is exciting in my locale, we have hard alkaline water and they prefer soft slightly acidic water. To have them spawn indicates (to me) that I was doing something right.

Interestingly enough, I also have a number of neon (cardinal and black) tetras in the tank, the angel leaves them alone!

I have found that taking care of the tank is almost effortless. The only real maintenance I do is drain about 1/3 of the water every week and replace it with new. Oh and change the filter media when needed. I use a Python hose connected to the kitchen faucet to drain the tank, no muss, no fuss. It takes 10 minutes max.

I am considering converting the tank to a planted tank, ie no plastic plants. I suspect that will make the maintenance go up considerably... However the results, should I be successful will be worth it.

I really enjoy watching the fish, it is quite relaxing.

edit to add this:
One thing I have found, "bigger is better". A small tank will be require more frequent maintenance than a large tank.
 
I have a tank that I enjoy, it is a 37 Gal highline inhabited by 2 angelfish that are 3 years old. I have found that keeping a minimum # of fish keeps them living longer. At one time I had 5 30 gal tanks with various communities including African Ciclides, Discus, a salt water and Amphibians, now that was work!

Mark
 
My wife started a salt water tank a few years ago with the goal of establishing a haven for corals and live rock. Initially we had only the live rock and live sand from Fiji and a couple orange Recordia polyps. It is amazing what will develop from the live rock, five years later we have a wide variety of mushrooms, corals, crabs, snails and starfish. We only have three small reef fish in the tank including one clownfish (Nemo).

We keep the tank in the family room and get a lot of pleasure from it.

Salt water aquariums are a bit more of an investment than a similar sized fresh water tank. Initially the water balance takes a bit of work. The correct tank lighting is very important to the health of the plants and animals. But, if you spend a little time setting things up correctly, the maintenance is minimal. We do a 10% water change monthly and because of the corals we add liquid calcium.

Disclaimer: I am no expert on this topic, but my wife is very knowledgeable. :D

Doug
 
We have a 75gal mixed reef tank in our living room instead of a TV. I have a sump plumbed into our basement so all my water changes are done there and there is no mess in the living room. Have over 30 corals and 5 fish. A pair of mating gold strip maroon clowns, purple tang, fox face, and a royal gamma.

Once you get a system down for keeping it up, it isn't that bad. About 10 min a night for feedings, and about 30 min on the weekend for water changes.

A great site for saltwater is reefcentral. There are tons of amazing macro photos and more information than you could ever read!

Here are some junk cell phone pics of my tank. . .

Some corals: (hammer, torch, green star polyps, zoos, etc
download6-26-06008.jpg


Rose tip anemone: (since this pic, it is now the size of a 12" dinner plate and has split once!)
download6-26-06002b.jpg


Full tank pic: (different now, but you get the idea.)
download6-26-06001rc.jpg



Oh, if anyone is intersted in frags, I would be willing to do some trading for sticks!
 
I miss my 100gal salt water tank.... there was nothing better than coming home after a crappy day and sitting down to stare at it for awhile. So damn relaxing...

I'll get another one, and go bigger/better this time, but I'll probably wait until we build our house to retire in, so there's no move hassles.

But it's most definately on the 'must have' list!
 
I'd say go Saltwater! It is not as hard to keep stuff alive as people make it out to be! Just start basic, and progress as you feel more confident! IMHO!
I just wish I had the time and money to get my set up going again!!!

Beautiful tank Bahianut! :thumbs:
 
Thats a beautiful setup, Bahianut. I have two 75 gallon reef set-ups and a 280 gallon saltwater. My prize fishy is a batfish the size of a dinner plate that I rescued from some lady who had it in a 30 gallon tank! It also contains two cat-eye sharks and various tangs, angel fish, and an overactive lion fish. After five years of cleaning and learning, I hired a service to do it for me. It can be expensive and time consuming, but well worth it.
 
I remember reading a study once that claimed watching a fish tank decreased stress and lowered blood pressure.

Doc.
 
davidr2340 said:
I'd say go Saltwater! It is not as hard to keep stuff alive as people make it out to be! Just start basic, and progress as you feel more confident! IMHO!
I just wish I had the time and money to get my set up going again!!!

Beautiful tank Bahianut! :thumbs:
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nfulton said:
Thats a beautiful setup, Bahianut. I have two 75 gallon reef set-ups and a 280 gallon saltwater. My prize fishy is a batfish the size of a dinner plate that I rescued from some lady who had it in a 30 gallon tank! It also contains two cat-eye sharks and various tangs, angel fish, and an overactive lion fish. After five years of cleaning and learning, I hired a service to do it for me. It can be expensive and time consuming, but well worth it.
Click to expand...

Thanks! It was cheaper than therapy for my wife :)! We were missionaries in Jamaica and Belize so winters are EXTREMELY difficult. Swissy is right, I can get "lost" in the tank. I've had it up now for close to a year and I'm still finding stuff growing different places that I never seen before. Don't be afraid of saltwater tanks, it's a bit of a learning curve, but once you get the basics, I personally feel it's easier than freshwater.
 
WOW!! Thanks everyone for all of your input!! :thumbs:

bmd34202 PMd me and also suggested going marine (saltwater) as did quite a few of you here. So I found an awesome new fish store locally and told them what my deal was, I had some freshwater experience and he recommended a book to me called "The New Marine Aquarium" by Michael S. Paletta. A few other store patrons also highly recommended this book as it's perfect for beginners like me.

As a few of you mentioned, the initial set up is more expensive but once you have it done, it's really not so bad and the fish tend to live longer.

I'm going to do some more studying and will probably set one up in the near future. I REALLY ought to worry about my other irons in the fire like fixing the blown engine in the Jaguar.....
 
If you ever get to Anchorage, check out Pete's tobacco shop. The lounge in the back has several tanks from 50-200 gallons. Some pretty big fish and a couple piranha as well.
 
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