Any aquarium enthusiasts?

[Doomguy]

I've been out of the hobby for many years, but when I was a kid I always had a tank. One of the things I learned was that water PH and hardness compatibility was essential for the fish to thrive. Trying to mix species who do best in water with a lower PH with those who thrive in higher PH water will not end well. Same is true for relative water hardness or softness. Choose your fish species based on at least those factors. There are some other factors which include temperature, lighting and substrate which I found to be of relatively less significance, but are important considerations none the less.

This isn't really true for farm raised fish/locally bred that are generations removed from the wild. Generally, farm raised fish and locally bred fish tend to thrive in the conditions that they were born and brought up in (with some exceptions). If you purchase fish from a place nearby you with the same pH, hardness, etc. as your water and they are thriving in it, they'll likely be fine. Of course you have to properly acclimate still.

Temperature has always been the most important thing to match IMO, as well as feeding habits. Food competition can be disastrous if you're not prepared to target feed less aggressive feeders.

 

[Toto'sDad]

We had an aquarium for many, many years. I knew nothing about it, my wife took care of it, but I used to put on some music back soft and low back when I drank and just watch the fish. She had all manner of fish in there, and they seemed to dance with the music. She had little scenes and decorations in the tank, and they fish would swim through them. It was a hoot to watch. When we sold out, and were going to move out of state, we got rid of the aquarium and never got another.

 

[catdaddy]

This isn't really true for farm raised fish/locally bred that are generations removed from the wild. Generally, farm raised fish and locally bred fish tend to thrive in the conditions that they were born and brought up in (with some exceptions). If you purchase fish from a place nearby you with the same pH, hardness, etc. as your water and they are thriving in it, they'll likely be fine. Of course you have to properly acclimate still.

Temperature has always been the most important thing to match IMO, as well as feeding habits. Food competition can be disastrous if you're not prepared to target feed less aggressive feeders.

Interesting. As I mentioned, it's been many years (like 50) since I was involved in the tropical fish hobby. At that time, other than live bearers such as guppies, swordtails and platys there were very few species that were tank raised. Obviously, if you can verify the provenance of the fish you purchase and the water conditions under which they have been raised that eliminates the requirements that I mentioned.

 

[rcole_sooner]

I had one inside and one outside. A lot of maintenance. Out of the business now.

I don't guess I have any pics of the African Cichlid tank I had, but here is the Koi Pond.

 

[1 21 gigawatts]

Our tap water is hard with neutral pH, which is perfect for the livebearers (guppies, platies) that we've been discussing.

 

[FuzzWatt]

My 7 year old son loves fish. He has had a small 6 gallon aquarium in his room for a year and a half. Someone in my neighborhood was throwing out a nice metal aquarium stand a couple of weeks ago, so I grabbed it and bought a 29 gallon tank that fits it.

I'm currently cycling it with live plants and the three rasboras from his old tank. I obtained bacteria from my local fish store to seed the tank and also transferred the filter media and gravel from the established tank. It is pretty well cycled after only a week, but we are going to wait another week before starting to raise the bio-load.

Looking for some stocking ideas. We will definitely add more rasboras (4 or 5 more) to build up their school. Thinking about doing guppies since he will get a kick out of baby fish. We also have hard tap water which is perfect for guppies. Maybe a pleco to keep the algae in check. Ideas/opinions?

Wife and I have had many aquariums, big and small.

My favs were guppies, corys, and Danios. Also shrimp. Shrimp are so fun to watch. They're like tiny combine harvesters.

FYI guppies breed like rabbits.

 

[1 21 gigawatts]

Wife and I have had many aquariums, big and small.

My favs were guppies, corys, and Danios. Also shrimp. Shrimp are so fun to watch. They're like tiny combine harvesters.

FYI guppies breed like rabbits.

I am strongly considering shrimp. They look like they would do a good job cleaning uneaten food out of the course gravel and algae off of the plants. They look to be more fun than other algae eaters.

 

[uriah1]

Some friends msg had big salt water aquarium years ago. Cool but seemed pricey.

 

[FuzzWatt]

I am strongly considering shrimp. They look like they would do a good job cleaning uneaten food out of the course gravel and algae off of the plants. They look to be more fun than other algae eaters.

They're great at keeping the aquarium clean. Corys are pretty good too.

One thing I would advise against is live plants. After years trying different fish my wife and I got into live plants, always buying them from reputable breeders and stores. Without fail they always introduced a snail problem to our tanks. And snails breed like mad. Once you have them, there's no going back. Their eggs can live on live plants for quite awhile.

 

[Doomguy]

I advise live plants but I wouldn't purchase them from a community tank set up in a chain store. They sell individually packaged ones that are fine. You can also purchase them online from hundreds of plant people.

If snails ever start to be a problem, pop in some assassin snails and they should have it cleaned up relatively quickly. They prey on other snails and will eat detritus after the other snails have been exterminated.

 

[1 21 gigawatts]

I have 5 live plants in the tank now. One was transplanted from the old tank and the others were purchased from my local Fish Store (grown in a snail-free tank).

In the previous tank, I did end up with worms from a moss ball purchased from Petco, but the rasboras made quick work of them.

 

[BorderRadio]

I’ve always had a tank since I was a kid. I’ve had nothing for the past 12 year though. I got more into planted tanks with C02 and lots of lighting/shrimp in the end, which I’m feeling the call for lately.

They're great at keeping the aquarium clean. Corys are pretty good too.

One thing I would advise against is live plants. After years trying different fish my wife and I got into live plants, always buying them from reputable breeders and stores. Without fail they always introduced a snail problem to our tanks. And snails breed like mad. Once you have them, there's no going back. Their eggs can live on live plants for quite awhile.

I always bleach washed my plants before putting them in the main tank to kill snails and snail eggs. Never had a problem, but I’m sure luck was a part of it.

 

[1 21 gigawatts]

Ironically, I just did a small water change to see if my mini gravel vac would work in the big tank. There was a tiny creature (about the size of an ant) running around the bottom of the bucket that I drained the water into. I'm guessing that it is a baby shrimp that must have come on one of the plants. I was going to throw him back in, but he didn't want to be caught. Wonder if there will be more?

 

[Milspec]

Back before I closed my business, I had the pleasure of cleaning the giant aquarium tanks at the Zoo. Suit up and go to work, it was like diving the barrier reef without the murkiness.

It motivated me to set up a tank at home and I got some help from the Zoo staff in doing so. It was pretty cool until the day came when I saw 2 things:

First, I was doing a job at the Zoo and noticed that the tank holding 5 giant crabs was down to just 3. On closer inspection, I saw that they had eaten the others. Staff told me that they had likely done so because one died or was very ill as a way to keep their habitat clean, but all I saw was a morbid scene.

Second, that same night, I came home to find that my $3 fish ate my $30 fish. That was it for me, I was out of the aquarium hobby for good.

I would love to own some Puffins though, but that is a whole different thing.