Aquariums - what's in yours?

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panda_eyes
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Aquariums - what's in yours?

Post by panda_eyes » Tue Sep 09, 2008 2:38 pm

So I'm getting an aquarium for my birthday this year and am getting ridiculously excited about it. I've spent quite a few hours reading the ins and outs of tank sizes, water conditions, cycling, different species, diseases, diets, and so on. I've seen quite a few species I'm interested in and have tried to read as much as possible on them to make sure they would get along, but have also been thinking about how they're going to look and interact together.

A few of my favourites are cardinal tetras, penguin fish, glowlight tetras, leopard catfish and red tailed black sharks. My google images is exhausted ^^;

It got me wondering who on this lovely forum have got aquariums? And what kind of fish/'others' do you have? And has anyone had any trouble with specific species getting along? I think my boyfriend is getting pretty bored of me talking about it all the time so I thought I'd start a discussion on here ^__^

illithid

Re: Aquariums - what's in yours?

Post by illithid » Tue Sep 09, 2008 2:44 pm

I have 2 ten year old goldfish..and theyre bloody huge!

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Re: Aquariums - what's in yours?

Post by panda_eyes » Tue Sep 09, 2008 2:49 pm

It's crazy to think that something so small can grow so big and live so long! Are they staying in your tank or migrating to a pond? (Haha, that rhymed completely by accident)

I'm looking after some goldfish this week, keep finding myself talking to them. They're good listeners and they almost look like they're talking back xD

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Re: Aquariums - what's in yours?

Post by illithid » Tue Sep 09, 2008 2:59 pm

I know! Goldfish are totally underrated..when I was a kid I had a tame one, he used to rub against my finger. Im keeping them in their tank, theyre in my daughter's room and she loves them being there at night with her. They have a roomy tank tho with toys and plants :)

They ARE good listeners..and the best thing is theyll always keep a secret.. cuz they forget!

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Re: Aquariums - what's in yours?

Post by biowaste » Tue Sep 09, 2008 3:26 pm

i have a tropical tank... i set it up last year for my birthday :D

i dont have many fish as such because i used to fail at keeping the tank to the optimum living requirements :( but then i realised that the person who had my tank (i bought it second hand) didnt properly clean it out so something was causing fish to die except one sucking loach, he has been there from the start! :twisted: must be one hard fish! :lol:

i had a Siamese Fighter fish (it was a beautiful deep blue) once and it had no problem with getting along with my guppies and tetras i had at the time... unfortunately it died like 3 days after i bought it... some places really dont care about the condition of the fish they sell :roll:

but anyway recently i have started to get some more fish... currently i have 2 kinda leopard looking cat fish although they have long antennae (sp?) coming from their heads... i really cant remember the name of them lol

and i have an upside down catfish... which i love! it cost me a lot so no fish for a while especially as i am absolutely scared of overloading the tank because i dont want no more to die :cry:

i know a lady once who put a goldfish in a tropical tank... it grew to a mutant size, it was mahoosive! :lol:

anyway good luck with setting u your aquarium

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Re: Aquariums - what's in yours?

Post by panda_eyes » Tue Sep 09, 2008 3:40 pm

Ooo, that's wicked - I've been looking at upside-down catfish too, what strange little critters they are. My auntie used to have a siamese fighting fish, it used to puff up at its own reflection!

It's such a shame you lost so many due to a contaminated tank - I'm currently torn between getting a brand new one and getting one second hand, where I'd get more for my money (but there's always a risk of contamination, scratches, damage, etc).

I can't wait to get mine all set up, although it may take a bit of time due to funds. I keep getting my boyfriend to take me to various pet shops to get a good luck at all the different fish in the mean time :oops:

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Re: Aquariums - what's in yours?

Post by panda_eyes » Tue Sep 09, 2008 3:42 pm

illithid wrote:I know! Goldfish are totally underrated..when I was a kid I had a tame one, he used to rub against my finger. Im keeping them in their tank, theyre in my daughter's room and she loves them being there at night with her. They have a roomy tank tho with toys and plants :)

They ARE good listeners..and the best thing is theyll always keep a secret.. cuz they forget!
Very true! I get the feeling that by the time I finish telling them a story, they've forgotten the start ;)

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Re: Aquariums - what's in yours?

Post by biowaste » Tue Sep 09, 2008 4:11 pm

yup about £35 worth of fish just gone! :cry: ow well

upside down fish are so funny to watch :twisted:

i went for a second hand because i got quite a large one for cheap, a juwel rio 125 litre, the guy included the heater, pump, filter... everything with it... inc the stand and he also gave me some magazines, ornaments and other bits as well for just £70, so cant grumble but we think he may have used something while cleaning it out that may have caused the fish to die, although the actually tank itself is in pretty good nic... only scratches from having gravel at the bottom, i guess i was just unlucky in finding a good one

haha aww i wish my siamese fighter would have done something like that... he was really well tempered :lol:

tehe i love going to petshops to look at fish, there is something very calming about them and they are just plain great to watch at times :P

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Re: Aquariums - what's in yours?

Post by ~Azaezl~ » Tue Sep 09, 2008 4:53 pm

I have 4 tanks running at the moment but have had more in the past and plan to setup more in the future.My current setups are as follows;

Tank 1 - 130Litres
Lighting - 2 x 28 W T5 unit with built in reflectors, Lighting period 9 hours.
Filtration - Aqua pro 2, 800L/hr external
Dosing - Tropica plant nutrition +
CO2 - 2 x Nutrafin cannisters & Flourish Excel
Fish / inverts
5 Corydoras Melanotaenia(beautiful golden corys, highly recommend them)
7 Otocinclus
6 White cloud mountian minnows(+ 1 WCMM fry)
10 amano shrimp
Plenty of Malaysian trumpet snails

Tank 2 - approx 105Litres
Lighting - 2 x 20W built in lighting.
Filtration - Fluval 305 external filter
Dosing - Tropica plant nutrition +(half dose as the goldies are high waste producers)
CO2 - Just Flourish Excel
Fish / inverts
2 x fancy goldfish
Half a dozen Malaysian trumpet snails

Tank 3 - approx 60 Litres
Lighting - 1 x 18W arcadia 'freshwater' bulb.
Filtration - Tetratex Ex600 external filter
Dosing - Tropica plant nutrition +
CO2 - Just Flourish Excel
Fish / inverts
6 Corydoras Panda
2 dozen Malaysian trumpet snails
and I've lost track of the number of cherry shrimp, they are constantly breeding, if anyone wants any they'll be up for sale in a few weeks time.

Tank 4 - 25 litres
Lighting - 1 x 8W built in bulb.
Filtration - Stingray elite 5
Dosing - none I just have some moss balls in there
Fish / inverts
2 african dwarf frogs - the survivors of my breeding program that was wiped out by a very nasty bacterial infection
half a dozen malaysian trumpet snails

In the past I've also kept gouramis, bristlenose plecs, a geophagus, bichirs & other species of corydoras, I have many videos of my fish new and old on youtube http://uk.youtube.com/user/Azaezl

I'm so glad you've researched before getting it, so many people just buy the tank and stick the fish in which isn't good for them it's not there fault, most shops just don't give good /acurate advice.


All the fish you mentioned will get along, do you know exactly what the leopard catfish is? There are alot of fish that could fit that description some that need to be kept in groups others that can be aggressive. Only get 1 red tailed shark, they are territorial towards there own kind but will be fine with other fish. Tetras are best kept in groups of 6+ I'd suggest going with just 1 type of tetra and getting 1 larger shoal or 2 smaller shoals of 2 types of tetra rather then a few of 3 types. How big is the tank you want? What filtration are you having on it? I'm assuming your doing a fishless cycle right? I'd highly recommend looking at the following site;

http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk

they have a forum and a wealth of info, I don't really go on there anymore for personal reasons but would recommend it. I'd also suggest planting your tank, it helps use up the excess nutrients and provides shelter for the fish as well as looking awesome.
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Re: Aquariums - what's in yours?

Post by IKickShins » Tue Sep 09, 2008 7:31 pm

I used to have a 5 gallon tank with a betta in it (those poor little guys that they sell in cups). I had a couple black mollies in with him for a while, but they always nibbled at his fins so after they died I didn't replace them and let him live a life of spacious luxury ;P
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Re: Aquariums - what's in yours?

Post by Rhaeniel » Tue Sep 09, 2008 8:00 pm

I used to have a mix of neon tetras, guppies, mollies and an albino plec in my old tank.. the mollies had tons of babies!
Then I had Cichlids for a while, with a silver catfish.. but they didn't get along very well, so I took those back (perks of working in a pet fish shop!) and went for two little fancy goldfish instead :)
Those eventually died (as they do) and I didn't have any for a while...
I now have a pond with plain ol' goldfish (one white one, some black ones and a bunch of gold ones) and an empty fishtank in the garage!
I plan to keep fish again at some point in the future, but I think I'll wait now until our little'uns are old enough to pick them out for themselves :) (which'll be a while yet, as I currently have just the one little'un and it's still in ma belly!)

Oh, we had forggies for a while the other year - had to raise them in the tank indoors because the pond fish, newts and dragonfly larvae out there often manage to eat the spawn before they even hatch! but that's a bit OT.. ^_^;
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Re: Aquariums - what's in yours?

Post by panda_eyes » Wed Sep 10, 2008 10:54 am

Biowaste: You got a really great deal with everything included for £70! I had an offer last night from my boyfriend's auntie to have their fish tank for free. I'm going to have a look at it tonight but they already have about 9 fish in it, and half of the fun for me will be picking out my own fish! Plus it's a birthday present so I can't let my boyfriend off that easily :twisted: :lol:

~Azaezl~: You have a lot of fish! Just had a look at some of your videos, your panda corys (I think that's what they are!) are lovely, as are the white cloud mountain minnow fry. So squishable xD
I'm looking at getting a 95 litre or so tank (still looking around), potentially one that comes with the filter, heater, light, etc as I don't have anything yet. Getting everything seperately might work out more expensive, although I'm still looking into that. Definitely doing a fishless cycle, which is why I'm wanting it set up as soon as possible - then I can get the fish for my birthday (it's not until the end of November, so I have plenty of time yet!). Am also really wanting plants, although I'll need to do a lot more reading before I know which types to go for.

I'm leaning towards cardinal tetras at the moment, I love their colours. I've been working off a few recommendations I've found online on various aquarium/fish sites, looking at getting something that stays near the top (eg, platys or swordtails), something for the middle (eg, tetras) and something for the bottom (eg, catfish of some variety) - as long as they will get along and I can get hold of them! Will also be adding a few at a time to avoid a sudden increase in waste. Will definitely check out the site - thanks for the recommendation ^__^

Have you ever dabbled in saltwater? That'd be the far off dream for me, I think - once I have plenty of freshwater experience under my belt, that is!

ikickshins: Aww, bet he loved having the place to himself. That's one thing I'm a bit nervous of, having some fish that nibble others' fins (or just eat them for breakfast o_O) - it's not like you can give them a big hug, or put a bandage on them, or even a bit of savlon (especially if they've been eaten for breakfast, haha).

Rhaeniel: Did you find your baby mollies were eaten, or did you have to separate them while they were still small? That's brave, letting your kids pick them out for you - watch as they choose a tank full of pirhanas and a couple of seahorses for good measure ;) You'll have to take on a sort of "This one's cute, shall we get one of these?" stance and hope they don't have their hearts set on something completely impossible! ^^

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Re: Aquariums - what's in yours?

Post by Rhaeniel » Wed Sep 10, 2008 12:03 pm

panda_eyes wrote:Rhaeniel: Did you find your baby mollies were eaten, or did you have to separate them while they were still small? That's brave, letting your kids pick them out for you - watch as they choose a tank full of pirhanas and a couple of seahorses for good measure ;) You'll have to take on a sort of "This one's cute, shall we get one of these?" stance and hope they don't have their hearts set on something completely impossible! ^^

I separated the babies using one of those little plastic birthing tank thingies that floats at the top of the tank. Some of them got sucked into the filter before I spotted them tho :(

Heheh, well I'm always going to be totally honest with my little'uns, as far as I can be, so I'll just have to explain which fish can go with which and why we can't have marine fish in a tropical tank! :)
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Re: Aquariums - what's in yours?

Post by ~Azaezl~ » Wed Sep 10, 2008 2:05 pm

I love my panda corys(the black / white ones) I'm really pleased at the mo because they've finally laid eggs, I've been trying for years to breed pandas, although this latest group I've only had for about year.

If you need help with plants let me know(I'm a fish & plant geek), prob best if you go for low light easy plants until your used to your tank then think about upgrading lights, getting more difficult plants etc. You can't really go wrong with java fern, java moss, hygrophila polysperma and moss balls(although techincally they are algae not plants), vallis is a good plant to have as well, it spreads fast and will do well in most tanks.

Good choice with the cardinals they are more hardy then neon tetras and very eye catching, I never recommend platys, mollies ,swordtails etc unless you get males only as you can quickly become overun with fry. Even if you get all female the females can store sperm for months so if you want livebearer fish you'd be better off getting just males, unless you can re-home all the fry or provide a home for all of them but eventually that option becomes exhausted because they are such prolific breeders. For the bottom I would definately recommend corys they are such darling little things and come in a vast array of colours / patterns.

I haven't had a saltwater tank and I don't think I ever will, initially what stopped me was the cost of setting it up but now it's how I feel about where the stock would be coming from as most is wild caught and I try to avoid buying wild caught when possible.
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