Aquariums

[Capt. Lazarus Gage]

I was woundering if anyone else has aquariums, me and the wench have taken up a new hobby and started a tank. We have a 30 gallon tank with three fancy goldfish (a Black Moor named Captain Moorgan, Black and red oranda named John Waters, a Pearl scale named Dharma, and a rubber nose pleco named long john silver).

[Red Cat Jenny]

Aye, but it's salt water fer me. In me old place I had a 150, a 90 a 65 and 4 - 30's. It was like an aquarium ! But I learned a lot. Now I'm planning to start again with one maybe 65 gal.

I've had shrinp, snails, crabs, a small lobster, porcupine fish (in the 150 which begged like a dog when there was food on the table next to the tank) many many corals, anemone, all manner of fish and featherdusters and a spiny black urchin which I still miss. You could feed the softball sized guy by hand! As long as you stayed free of the spines. Just a touch an you see stars!----

I had fresh earlier, but surprisingly they are much more maintenance than salt once you get it started. Also salt has no icky smell.

Good luck with your fish and post pics!

Oh I love Plecos! Beautiful fish. I had a few. Be wary of Chiclids (Oscars etc) the larger Pleco can hold ots own, but Chiclids will take chunks out of your other fish if not eat them all together. The stress to the other fish is tough on them.

[Rumba Rue]

I use to have a 10 gallon aquarium, but the water here is so full of nitrates that no water conditioning stuff would clear it up. Plus the algae was constant (again, nothing would work to end it), so I finally got rid of it.

I do like saltwater aquariums much better and yes I do believe they are far superior in cleanliness and the marine life is much more beautiful. However that marine life is very expensive.

[Capt. Lazarus Gage]

I have been thinking about setting up a salt water tank now that our fresh water tank is cycled, how hard is the maintenance on a salt water versus a fresh water?

[Sir Eric]

I've had freshwater tanks for years. Right now I've only got 4 tanks running (75,30,20,10) but durring some spawns I've gotten up to as many as 8.

I'm not a salt water guy, but from what I've read, the thing about saltwater isn't really the maintainance of the tank so much... with all the available equipment your only real job is monitor, adjust, clean. It's just that you have smaller parameters to work within than in freshwater.

I will say that salt tanks are very pretty, with a much larger variety of really cool fish.

[Red Cat Jenny]

The main difference is a fresh tank needs a filter, water changes, and a lot of maintenence.

Salt tanks are a living eco system, they can't survive any other way. there are organisms and bottom feeders and such which take care of all the algae and muck you get in a fresh tank.

Rumba is correct. The fish and other marine life ARE expensive. A good supplier will guarantee his stock for at least a week. Many times I've bought direct from Fla and they FedEx em up, its amazing how this works. They come packed like Omaha steaks in styrofoam. They are double bagged with dark bags to simulate night and reduce stress on the trip.

You need real rock which is called "live rock" (only comes from 3 places in the wrld) because it contains all sorts of organisms and surprise guests you may not see for months if ever. Hopefully no Mantis shrimp which are fascinatingly evil and dangerous for their size. I knw a guy who rented out his Porcupine fish just to hunt n kil these things. Also you need a quarantine tank for new arrivals. Once you get a parasite in the tank, it's very hard to kill it. Lower salinity done over a measured period of time will kill the varmints with little stress to the fish who are re-salinated slowly after.

Corals, shrimp, snails and fish that are rated by compatability. (There is a book which rates each one by survival, compatability and tank size as well and beginner to advanced in ability to be cared for.)

If you start start small. It's an expensive hoby. But incredibly rewarding.

You will need to learn to measure salinity Theres a neat tool for this. (and buy large pails of salt) and how to mix new salt water to replace evaportion.

You will need to learn to age (cycle) a tank before any live fish go in.

You need an algae bloom which is a fascinating thing. It's like Christmas morning. One night nothing..The next morning Whoa! where did all that come from.

There is nothing more fascinating than a salt tank which is a little/or large world you watch and take part in. It's essentially part of a living coral reef you build and maintain.

There are easy ways to feed and you'll learn to feed some by hand to guarantee they get food when there are more agressive competitors in the tank. Much of it comes frozen or freeze dried making it easier.

I found wooden bbq skewers make nice feeding tools. You can make a little trident to feed with.

It's about as addicting as reenactment. lol

It can also be heartbreaking when something goes wrong. Not to mention expensive. Also I had Computer power packs (UPS-uninterruptable back up power) for the heaters. Even in summer if you have a blackout the water will cool quickly and you'll have no water currents.

Skip anemones and Tangs unless you have lots of money to buy new fish. Eels live to escape and will be dried to the carpet in no time.

Do coral tho. Coral will try to kill each other, you need to plan its placement. Some take more light, some less so they need to either be high or low in the tank. You also need constant water current. Salt creatures can't survive without it. You need to adjust it so its stronger in some places and less in others, with shelter for the creatures (including corals) who like less or live deeper. There are also special lamps to provide the correct type of light. I believe they are metal halide if I remember correctly. A mud filter is way preferable to a mechanical one. I'll try to find the info on it and post back here. Damn. Now I want a tank again

It's not as complex as you may think, just START SMALL.

Read a lot first. There are many forums on the subject.

Red Cat

[Lady Alyx]

Hi, I have had fresh water for years, but have not had an aquarium up in some time. I think I have gone through all the fresh water fish..if you have a question ask us. I bet someone here will know it. In fact was at my g/f's house over the weekend and she kept insisting that these small things in her tank where from the brine shrimp...I said nooooo those are baby snails...she kept insisting it was amoeba from the brine shrimp...LMAO

I used to like the big Apple snails...they are so droll..lol! Catfish are as well reall characters. I always liked how they roll their eyes like they are winking at ya! (Well at least that's what I used to think).

I have had Oscars and they can get huge and are very hungry, so you can only have them with their types. I used to love the little African frogs, they looked like little divers.

All I have now...sigh since me beautiful baby girl (Jackie - Jack Russel) is gone from me now...is my one little toad. Japanese Red Belly Toad.

I will always love my Jackie

[Rogue Mermaid]

Balloon Mollies.

I am plagued with balloon mollies.

Actually, I shouldn't say that. They really have grown on me. The problem is that they poop too much and they reproduce too much. They are livebears and once a female has been inseminated she stores it. They go at it once and she is good as pregnant for life. Every yearmore mollies are born. Weird thing is some of them don't even look like balloon mollies and the only available fathers are balloon mollies!

I actually changed the gravel in my tank from large river rocks to small gravel. The molly fry thrive in the river rocks, and well...in the gravel the circle of life occurs. As a result I have only one balloon molly fry right now...and about seven adults. At one point I was up to four adults and twelve fry.

My current favorite fish is my long finned blue ram.

[Morgan Dreadlocke]

Koi. Went from a 15 to a 30, to a 50, then to the porch with a 6'stiffwall pool. Moved out of the city an went to a 14" pool. Gave up on the pools about 10 years ago an dug a 1500 gal pond. Still not big enough Come the rainy season we gets choursus 'o singin' toads and year long we be the waterin' hole fer deer , javalina and bobcat. The koi are purty too.

[Lady Alyx]

Morgan..oooh lucky you Koi are so beautiful, do you just have the one bigun?

I love toads/frogs...I love their song...frogs and toads are the bringers of rain and good luck in many asian countries.

[Morgan Dreadlocke]

do you just have the one bigun?

Yes lass, just the one biggun Now as ta the fish, iffins ye can stop at one you've got no soul. Ye must have one of each color an pattern. Between overcrowdin', power failures, varmits and the water company pisnin' the water, it be a task ta keep more than a few at a time. It be worth it though ta watch livin' jewels

[Lady Alyx]

Ah! I see he he...when I saw the word Koi I don't know why I thought just one...the plural for Koi probably is Koi as well...lol. Great you have a whole crew o fishy's...they are so beautiful and relaxin' ta watch!

[Capt. Lazarus Gage]

Our poor little pleco long john silver died this morning. We couldn't get him to eat any food and I guess he just wasn't getting enough off of the tank. Very sad.

[Red Cat Jenny]

Oh, Im sosorry. They are such beautiful fish. Try again.

Try TETRA PLECOMIN TABS any aquarium store will sell them.

Tetra PlecoMin is a vegetable enriched sinking tablet food, for all herbivorous tropical fish. Containing spirulina algae, it also enhances colour and vitality.

How it Works. Certain tropical fish naturally include a lot of algae and plant matter in their diet. Tetra PlecoMin is specifically directed at Plecos "suckermouth catfish". Plecos are designed to feed from the base of the tank, and therefore benefit from a tablet food. They are also quite shy and often only feed after dark. PlecoMin incorporates their requirment for vegetable ingredients into a tablet format, which is easy for them to eat

It took a while to learn this. They are shy eaters and most tanks dont provide enough algae on their own. If you have larger fish like Oscars they will eat these on the way down so you might have to drop a few to make sure some get to the bottom. Good luck. I love Plecos.

[Lady Alyx]

Capt was he an old fishey? Usually those are the last to go in an aquarium even when the water has fouled.

[Red Cat Jenny]

If anyone is interested in trying out salt water..

You can look into "nano reefs" they can be maintained in as small as a 1 gallon tank. Great fer the little swabbies..but grownups still need to help.

Building a nano reef

[Maried]

Nicole Kidman Blowjob!

http://Nicole-Kidman-Blowjob.org/WindowsMe...hp?movie=407094

[Red Cat Jenny]

Dances around "Cowfish Cowfish Cowfish!

[CaptainSatan]

I use to have several aquariums. Sure they'll hold ten gallons of rhum, but I always got the front of me tricorn wet when I tried to drink from one.

[Lady Alyx]

Cappy...I hope yea cleaned those old aquariums out first.......or yea be picking barnacles outta yer teeth....

[Patrick Hand]

Dang.... another one that I read totaly wrong.......

" Nicole Kidman BlowFISH" is what I read........ Before I read it again... I wondered how Kicole Kidman got a fish named after her.........

Dang... a nasty Pyrate like me-self.... making such a stupid mistake.... an' I haven't even been drinking too much yet.........