Anyone Keep Marine Aquariums

[Bangbang]

I took mine down to make room for this hobby.

[ibobunot]

I had 100 freshwater tanks on a central filtration system at one time..

Never had any interest in saltwater aquariums...

[Frank_Kimball]

I've had a few set-ups in my time, most ambitious being a 37 gallon setup with live rock, a few fish and some "easy" inverts like mushroom and star corals. Loved the experience but guess what - the maintenance got away from me and the tank went south after being really strong for like 3 yrs.

Like I said, I loved the experience! Learned so much about water parameters, livestock, acquired a nice library of marine biology texts, and the tank was a joy and a great conversation piece. I ended up converting the marine to fresh but hope to return to the salt hobby in the near future.

You need a good, reliable local fish store and a large budget for books!

There are funny anecdotes around about new hobbyists installing like 600 watts of metal halide lights in a new reef tank and having their power bills double, only to get a knock on the door from the DEA asking if they're growing any unusual plants in the house!

[Mark Davis]

Ive had both freshwater and saltwater tanks.

Had a 55 gallon salt tank that was really nice.

Used to breed Convict Cichlids.

Went to the fish store one day got 6 convict Cichlids 2 of them paired off laid eggs and in a few days I had around 200-250 fish. Sold them back to the fish store to fund my hobby was lots of fun.

[fenderguy]

Dabbled in saltwater but always go back to freshwater.. Have a 75 gallon piranha tank now.. Kept piranhas most of my life... Son has 65 gallon freshwater with balas and a huge pleco..

[Bangbang]

Originally Posted by Frank_Kimball

I've had a few set-ups in my time, most ambitious being a 37 gallon setup with live rock, a few fish and some "easy" inverts like mushroom and star corals. Loved the experience but guess what - the maintenance got away from me and the tank went south after being really strong for like 3 yrs.

Like I said, I loved the experience! Learned so much about water parameters, livestock, acquired a nice library of marine biology texts, and the tank was a joy and a great conversation piece. I ended up converting the marine to fresh but hope to return to the salt hobby in the near future.

You need a good, reliable local fish store and a large budget for books!

There are funny anecdotes around about new hobbyists installing like 600 watts of metal halide lights in a new reef tank and having their power bills double, only to get a knock on the door from the DEA asking if they're growing any unusual plants in the house!

I had 2 tanks...a 100...and a 50. I started with inverts and then went to fish only....my Triggers ate my inverts. Before the guitar forums I was at Reefs.org under the same user name. I almost got banned there for gettin into arguements. Learned the hard way. No more of that crap This is a very tame forum compared to others.

[marshman]

I had about 75 tanks at one point, but never much into saltwater. Kept a single SW tank in the living room for SWMBO-- good-sized Lionfish , big Tomato clown and a hippo tang were the primary, long-term residents. a Clown trigger only lasted a year or so (as opposed to the lion, which I had for almost 6 years). A few others came and went, but that was the main population.

Mostly raised FW--mostly SA cichlids, a few Africans, and occasionally larger tetras. Did a Killie phase, Bettas, then angels, then discus, then back to small SA cichlids and such. Never quite made enough to pay for all the food, much less the electricity, but I loved it all the same.

After living in Hong Kong for a year, I now want to get a 60-ish gallon tank and a real nice pair of orandas or similar. Once you see a real nice couple of those crazy goldfish, you start to understand the fuss. Gorgeous.

[Preacher]

We have had freshwater tanks for a while, but fish are kind of scarce...
we buy some that eat the ones we had, and then we buy some more that kill the ones we had and about all we can do is grow great big Plecostomus (sucker fishes) last one was like 15" long and probably weighed a pound.

The tank is still set up with no fish in it, alas during the last power outage of 5 days the Pleco did not make it...

[ramblinmike]

I've always wanted a nice fish tank. I feel I would quickly fall behind on the mainteance though. But there isn't much nicer to look at than a really well kept aquarium.

[aznrambo481]

My marine science teacher has a pretty big saltwater tank (about 5'x3'x3') that is filled with many critters that we found on tidepooling expeditions. This includes 3 sea cucumbers, 5 sea urchins, 2 octopi(surprisingly still alive together, but often fight), several opalai, 2 giant sea urchins, a sea hare, some worms, a bat star, and a great amount of crabs and hermit crabs to feed the octopus (which will also eat squid when we run low). The tank is low-maintennance, since the animals are somewhat resilient to change (they live in the littoral zone). It's pretty cool... every year we send the animals free, empty the tank, and start all over again.

[stxrus]

we had a few "local" marine tanks. alga was a real problem. free salt water, free fish, free problems. the last one had a nice pair of juvenile spotted drums and several smooth puffers. within a week all had disappeared. no evidence they ever existed. it turns out that we had "imported" a small octopus and a mantis shrimp during a water change. between the both they cleard the tank.

it's much easier to keep tropicals insted of marines. and yes, Cichlids RULE!!!!

steve

[Flat357]

I don't have one , and never had one either , but I sure like looking at them .
There's few things more relaxing in my opinion .

[ibobunot]

Was anybody into fish clubs?
I was a member of the Dallas Aquarium Society, Denver Aquarium Society, Colorado Springs Aquarium Society.


American Killifish Association
Aquatic Gardeners Association
Australia New Guinea Fishes Association

[Bangbang]

Originally Posted by Flat357

I don't have one , and never had one either , but I sure like looking at them .
There's few things more relaxing in my opinion .

I could sit for hours watching the critters in my tank. The TV would be on and I would just sit staring at the tank.

[claudel]

http://www.serenescreen.com/

[Nick JD]

I was living on an island off the coast of Mindanao, Philippines a couple of years ago. The reef there has been completely decimated. It's gone. Dead. Acres and acres of dead reef.

The locals could get US$50 for a single rare fish. They used cyanide to stun the fish and then they are shipped to western countries. It's worth a billion dollars a year. Most of the fish go to the USA.

Make sure you know where the fish come from, and that they were taken legally otherwise you are funding an environmental catastrophe.

Cheers!

[ramblinmike]

Originally Posted by Nick JD

I was living on an island off the coast of Mindanao, Philippines a couple of years ago. The reef there has been completely decimated. It's gone. Dead. Acres and acres of dead reef.

The locals could get US$50 for a single rare fish. They used cyanide to stun the fish and then they are shipped to western countries. It's worth a billion dollars a year. Most of the fish go to the USA.

Make sure you know where the fish come from, and that they were taken legally otherwise you are funding an environmental catastrophe.

Cheers!

+1. been hearing alot about this. if its exotic, be sure you know where it's coming from. the other day I saw sting rays in the pet store! Not sure their origin, but c'mon now.

[ibobunot]

Originally Posted by Nick JD

Make sure you know where the fish come from, and that they were taken legally otherwise you are funding an environmental catastrophe.

Thats why I never got into saltwater fish I own a pet store and
I couldn't find out where the fish came from...

The wholesalers didn't appreciate me asking, I became persona non grata
where ever the "business suit" scumbag types gathered...

[Nick JD]

Originally Posted by ibobunot

Thats why I never got into saltwater fish I own a pet store and
I couldn't find out where the fish came from...

The wholesalers didn't appreciate me asking, I became persona non grata
where ever the "business suit" scumbag types gathered...

The locals I was hanging out with in Siargao island off Mindanao showed me some small patches of the reef where there was a single clown fish and a freaky electric blue fish (I've no idea of the sp.). When we got back to the pumpboat, my friend said to me that the little blue fish was worth $50 - and that's a LOT of money to someone there. You can hardly blame them. I wouldn't have been surprised if he went back and got it.

The rest of the reef was like a graveyard.

...but if there was no market for it, like ivory...

[ibobunot]

Originally Posted by Nick JD

...but if there was no market for it, like ivory...

I didn't sell saltwater fish in my store...

I don't even sell fresh water fish anymore I found out 99% of the fish I sold were dead within a week to two weeks...

People don't maintain their tanks they just buy new fish every two weeks..

Goldfish can live for 75 years or more with proper care most of them die within 24 hours in the sewer water thats in most home aquariums.

[Bangbang]

My salties were 5 years old when I sold them...the new keeper killed them all in a week.

[ibobunot]

Originally Posted by Bangbang

My salties were 5 years old when I sold them...the new keeper killed them all in a week.

I ordered a 24 inch Koi for a customer and I had it in a 10 gal partition of my 1000 gal system. All day people wanted to buy it for their 10 gal aquariums.

I tried to explain to them that the fish was in a 1000 gal's of water not 10 but they couldn't grasp the concept....

[hotgoalie11565]

Had a 20 gallon freshwater tank back in the day, but I had it thrown out by a former clueless a-hole landlord.

Funny thing, though. A few years ago I was helping another former landlord clean out a guy's apartment and he asked me if I wanted an aquarium. He had a 55 and a 20 gallon long so I took them both. I wound up giving the 55 gallon away and I still have the 20 gallon long. I just need to build a stand for it and buy a house and I can set it up.