Fish?

[JonT]

Anyone into fish? General freshwater, cichlids, africans, non-reef salts and reef fish... whatever you fancy...
Personally I am HUGE fan of reef fish mostly fairy wrasses and gobies... but I also dabble in some africans. I used to be a big fan of small polyped stony corals but now I am finding myself getting into leathers... I know a step back but the stonies were just boring me! Not too mention I like to see some growth.... almost as much fun as watching water boil...

Jon

[savannah_babe]

we have a salt water tank with two clowns, a goby, star fish, losts of snails, mushrooms, and other things.. :) coming home in the evening, you can spot my house from a mile away, the herp room glowing from the front, and the fish tank light glowing from the back..LOL

[Apython]

I have a 37g FOWLR With just one little arc eye hawkfish. I thought about trying corals at some point, but the lights and chillers and stuff are a little out of my price range.

[Schlyne]

I was very into african cichilids for a while about 5 years ago,b ut never got any. I didn't have the space at the time.

Not long after I got my first "real paying" job, I began looking seriously into salt water..since I could afford most of it.

The last fish I had were bettas, successfully kept them for several years, and after dealing with a streak of overnight mouth and tail rot, I gave up.

I'd have a saltwater tank now (I have a wishlist of exactly what fish species I want someplace), but the apartment cannot handle the weight of a 50 gall tank with water, living rock..fish etc. It's just not built the right way.

I still want a lionfish so bad...I don't care if it has to have a big tank dedicated to it and only it. Although the dwarf lionfish are cool. I also love the way triggerfish look, but I'm not sure I'm prepared to keep something with teeth like that and that will happily rearrange it's tank. Maybe in the future. I'd also like to get some of the black maroon clownfish and set them up in a nice reef tank.

I've got a long list..love the pom pom crab, and I have to have a cleaner shrimp of some kind in the reef tank. I wouldn't mind one of the um...trinidad? clams either..they can be very beautiful..but that's some advanced stuff.

I'd start out with a simple reef and some clownfish...maybe not the percula (sp?) clowns..I am so sick of hearing "look it's nemo" whenever I'm walking around in a petstore next to the clownfish :P

[huff747]

I had pirahna in college and then when I got my own place I got a couple more. Right now they're in a 55 gallon tank but if we can get our basement finished I'd like to get them into a 125 gallon tank.

I've always envied saltwater tanks but I have so much freshwater equipment that I can't see switching over. Besides upgrading the tank any other pet money would go towards the herps, not the fish.

Chris

[JonT]

C'mon Dennis...just splurge! Good lighting is actually fairly affordable these days... a top of the line set-up for your tank would only set you back about $350...it's when you get into something larger than a 58 that it starts to get a little costly! Chiller...not needed in most cases... heck I don't even use a heater...
Schlyne... sounds like you have some good thoughts...now just go ahead and start up a tank! Think little nano reef... I'm sure you could make a little space for a 15-20 tank... If you like lions then I think you would head over heels for Rhinopias and Ambon scorpions... I'll put some pics up later! The little percula clown are just too damn cute! I love a little maroon but they do get a little too aggressive and tend to be a problem with other fish... I prefer peace and serenity not chaos!

[Apython]

I'd have a saltwater tank now (I have a wishlist of exactly what fish species I want someplace), but the apartment cannot handle the weight of a 50 gall tank with water, living rock..fish etc. It's just not built the right way.

A 50g tank with water and rock only weighs about 500lbs., that's like 3 people. I'm sure your apartment can handle that. You could also just go a little smaller.

[Apython]

Someday I'll make the jump. I've only had this tank running for about 8 months. I'm still learning all this fish stuff, and the fish places around here are no help at all.

[JonT]

Understandable Dennis! Nice that you opted for live rock instead of the skeletons... they are so :smt011 A customer of mine has a nice reef that's been up for about 5 years now... some nice polyps growing, gorgonians, coralline algae everywhere...all under 2 flourescent (sp?) tubes.. sure it's dim and nothing compared to metal halides but it is also proof that you don't need fancy lights to make a reef. Just have to choose VERY low light corals.... Whatever you do...don't buy power compacts...they do nothing but grow algae!! If you can find Anthony Calfo's Book of Coral Propogation I would highly suggest it... Borne's Aquarium Corals is another good choice (it has nice pictures as Calfo's has none)....as is Sprung's Inverts and Corals (2part set)...
Let me know if there is anything I can help you out with!
Jon

[Crow]

Hey Jon, what was that set up in your room? Bobby and I thought that was really cool. :smt023

[Ian]

Im not a huge fish fan, but I was wanting to get some more Pirahnas!
Anyone know a decent place to buy online?

[BallPyFan]

I was always a freshwater person. I gave up my aquaria when I went into the army, but in AIT there was a nice 75g tank sitting empty...I got the DS's and the 1SG's permission to fix it up and set it up with two albino oscars, two jack dempseys, a good sized pleco, and two catfish. That was in 99, and I heard last year that tank was still going with the loss of only one oscar :) 1SG threw a fit when he got the receipt (only $160!) LOL but I told him back then that the tank should outlast his tenure and then some with the setup I provided. Nice to know I was right :)

For my own tanks, I used to run gouramis and freshwater angels, and had a trio of electric blue ahlis. Tried to breed gouramis and bettas, but the first husband kept peeling back the saran wrap at just the wrong time and kept killing all my fry. Looking back I just have to wonder if it was accidental or not...he's an ex for a reason LOL even though I must credit him with getting me into fish. I would still love to set up a couple tanks again.

[Schlyne]

Well, I'd had about 115$ of store credit sitting around that I hadn't claimed. No way was I getting a living animal, and as for supplies..I can get better stuff online. They had this nice 55 gallon saltwater tank set up on sale, so the tank is curently sitting unopened on my living room. I have no idea where I'm going to put the thing...and I didn't buy a stand, so it has to go on something sturdy enough. I think it comes with a biofilter wheel or something, which means I'll probably add some other filteration types to it. And I have a bag of bioballs lying around, since each gecko water dish has one iin it (so the crickets don't drown).

I'm not sure I want to open it up and start cycling it to get fish going on it. I plan on buying a house in roughly a year and a half. I will decide later. I just need to open it up and make sure everything that is supposed to be in it is there and it's intact.

[JonT]

Crow-
The tank in my bredroom is a no longer made unfortunately... 37 gallon reef ready cube. Just the right size for my home tank. I tried to get another one but I was informed from our Oceanic rep that they dis-continued the design... although it might have been a custom order only when it was offered. I bet Kev would be able to sell them hand over fist. I won't razzle dazzle you with all the specs on my equipment...unless of course you want them!
No way I would want something like this in the house... you know how much it cost to this maintained?? :smt017
http://webpages.charter.net/jtarutis/Dcp_2203.jpg

[Outback Bill]

Jon Justin told me you have been into leathers for a long time. He says he likes the chaps best. :smt005

[vipergecko]

AWSOME TANK JON!! very nice wish i had one

[dubs]

i keep arrowannas i have an aisan super red and a gold in 150gl just thought i would add i love these fish

[JonT]

Gary-
That's not mine...one of my customer's tanks...stocking a 290 is far too costly for me! Not to mention the maintenance!!!! I'll get some pics of my home tank up soon!
Jon

[crocadilekid]

always been into the freshwater fish not to much into salt water

[Misskiwi67]

Just curious how you got a hold of the asian red and gold... they're my dream fish (to be displayed in my future veterinary clinic) but I've never actually heard of anyone who had one of the "real" arrowanas.

[Thomas Jones]

A friend of mine built this awsome 320 gallon reef tank. It is made into his wall. I have a chance to get the tank but would like to build one a little bigger. The tank is made of 3/4 plywood and just has a piece of glass on the front. I was amazed to see it in person.
http://www.reefsanctuary.com/photopost/showphoto.php/photo/410/sort/1/cat/500/page/5

[RRusso70]

I'm into freshwater I got:

A Tiger ShovelNose catfish
Red Tail Catfish
Tiger Oscar
Jack Dempsey
Wolf Fish
Butterkoi
Bumblebee catfish
Sinadonis Catfish
2 Common plecos
Tiger Pleco
Parrot fish
Red Devil
Albino tiger oscar

[dubs]

i have two 3 ft asian red arrowannas. TRUE super reds in my 280 gal. i paid about $1500ea for babies