I Might Get An Aquarium

whoa... he looks a little like Bieber. Or Bieber looks like him. Whichever.

 

I'm actually now very tempted to throw everything I have away and start again. new setup and all.

 

I used to love the fish tank they had at the doctor's office when I was little. I thought it was a thing, but I've never seen another office with a fish tank in it. Those poor fish though. Kids must have constantly been tapping on the glass. It was when I was young enough to go to a pediatrician.

 

Wife says after house painting lol.
Next year then.

 

German Blue Ram. I really like these.

 

Are they tropical or salt water?

 

Tropical. I'm too chicken to try salt water...plus salt water fish are expensive as hell.

 

Can I give you a tip?

When I first tried tropical it was a disaster. What I learned was, buy your setup and wait for it to cycle. It took me two weeks. I bought the setup, I added the chemicals and stuff then I left it for two week. Finally I added my fighting fish, Rottenreich into the tank. He was so funny this tiny beautiful fish all red in this huge tank he didn't know what to do with.

Then we added fish after two weeks..

If you try and add fish straight away they might not work with the new chemicals and water.

Now a lot of people will tell you that tropical tanks are a pain to regulate. Not true. Once you cycle it for two weeks your fine, never ever empty the tank of water I only do half water changes maximum. You need the fish to have their water. Also lots of fish they'll tell you are not compatible with certain PH levels, I find this also untrue. They'll get used to whatever you have them in.

But as a priority, let your tank cycle for two weeks. Or else it'll just be cloudy and not good for the fish. You want it to be cloudy and settle itself before adding the fishies.

In my experience.

 

Thank you for the advise, will do!

 

Tbh the only things I add are

Some PH down, AquaClear, a touch of this green stuff that helps with fin rot and some bioclear. Other than that I let my fish regulate their own water.

 

I kept South American cichlids for a while. I got tired of cleaning the tank and aggression. Big fish and big shits even with good filtration. They are pretty but they always fight and you have to accept someone's fins will be ripped. It's just a matter of finding the right tank mates who only sometimes pick at each other. Many times one fish would just die overnight.

It made me feel bad. Like I am trapping them in a glass box and they have no territory to escape to when the alpha fish is pissed.

I was also really into plecostomus. Most people buy the kind that gets over a foot long to clean the algae on their tank. They have a small tank not fit for such a large fish and also find it does not eat the algae. This is the "common pleco".

That is part of the diet of some species but they are technically a kind of catfish so they need meat. I would feed mine the same shrimp the cichlids ate and they loved it. There are 100's of types of them and most have pretty coloring and stay smaller. You just have to pay for them. A common pleco is a few dollars a more exotic one anywhere from 100 to thousands.

 

I cleaned my tank first time in months, with the loaches and catfish they seem to keep it all clean for me I was really surprised with the lack of yuck I sucked through my sucker hose so having 2 poached and 2 catfish have really helped.

 

The fish are not the only important component of an aquarium. The decorations are important too since they are the ones that atttacts the attention, they create the first impression and after that the people get closer to watch the fish. A bad designed aquarium cannot be fixed with beautiful fish. A saw a lot of aquarium owners that keep the aquarium just as a piece of furniture, a place where to keep the fish. A beautiful aquarium adds style and improves the design of the room. So think about it, use the aquarium to it's full potential. Take a look at the live rocks (a review about them on https://arcreef.com/live-rock/live-rock-guide/), corals, some wood pieces. Don't use too much of them, keep it simple.

 

(This site has kept me entertained all day)

I thought I’d join to dispel a few myths.
Please don’t think I’m all rant!

I keep fish.
Have done for almost 15 years.

The aquarium should be designed around the needs of the fish. Not to get oohs from visitors.

They see in colour.
(My first tank had bright blue stones which I thought were cool!)
From my experience a natural setting looks best.

A densely planted tank will not suit a fish that prefers open water for example.
Or a fish used to slow/no water flow would equally become stressed in a tank with a flow that is too high.
The size of the tank should account for the activity of the fish too, highly active fish need space, some fish, certain puffers or box/soap fish really do not move unless food passes close enough to be consumed. Also the amount of waste produced should be a factor in overall volume.

For a reef you should use a lot of live rock.
Unless it’s fish only, but even then.......

A plec will not forage as much for food if it is in abundance, and food in abundance can cause certain forms of algae.

As for all catfish needing meat......
Loricariidae (the sucker mouth cat family) or plec, is so diverse that you cannot state, all catfish need meat, fatty deposits on the liver will surely do the fish no good long term. Actually the digestive tract of most within the family is evolved to deal with vegetable matter.
Fish within the genus panaque/panaquolus are obligate wood eaters and only appear to consume algae Accidentally, the wood fibres they must have to survive.
The amount of waste even small suckers make is phenomenal! However, certain types of fish (mainly ancistrus) common bristlenose, do a good job of algae management, better than we humans could ever manage! Providing of course that food is not overly abundant!

Cycling tanks....
Two weeks is another sweeping statement.
A 1000 litre tank may take a few months to stabilise. Something in the order of 120-180 litres is usually 4-6 weeks, but in some cases longer.

All you need to cycle, add water add fish food or ammonia, and wait. See nitrogenous cycle. Water Test strips are ok here.

Some cichlids just fight, probably wasn’t your fault at all. Stop feeling guilty! Cichlids are worth the time of education before purchase! Most common community fish need less insight.

Loaches will do infinitely better in a larger group. Pretty much all botiids are the same.
(See cobitoidea)

pH adjustment products are a waste of time.
And money! Buy fish to suit your water or start with reconstituted RO. Most will adjust a bit. Some will simply die after an undisclosed amount of time far short of typical life expectancy. But yes, fish can regulate the water to a point.
That’s very well informed to be fair.
It’s all about osmoregulation.
Co2 would do a far better job of regulating pH than any off the shelf product, these only work for, in some cases, hours, before the water returns to how it was previously with the exception of an increased TDS.
Its all to do with karbonate hardness.
See pH/kh/CO2 triangle.
Rams are beautiful but typically do not fare well in alkaline/hard water, neither does L128 or L030.

Hope that helps!

 

My beautiful red tail shark passed away last month. she would have been easy 10+yrs old.

 

I feel your pain!
When a long-standing fish passes it is sad.
However I look at it like this.....
Did it live a long and healthy life?
(In-line with typical life expectancy for the species concerned) also bear in mind age of fish at purchase, you probably didn’t buy week old fry!

If yes then you did good and it’s only natural.
Further to that, it most likely outlived it’s wild cousins....and probably lived a better existence in your care. Free from disease and predation.

That’s why I don’t believe fish keeping is bad.

I find individual or easily identified fish seem to hurt more than one from a large shoal.

Having to off sick/injured fish stays with you for longer as far as I’m concerned! Not much fun in diagnosing sudden deaths in any case but if you’ve worked to try to medicate a fish and it all fails despite your best effort, well that’s a sad day indeed, the day you must euthanise sticks.

 

Oh I know she had a good life. We had her for at least 10 years and she was already sizeable before that so it could have been 13-15 years which is pretty decent for a fish.

The saddest part was I never got to say goodbye. One afternoon I noticed a skeleton and I couldn't find her. The catfish had eaten her before I noticed.

 

I had a sick fish once, and I dropped a stack of records on it. It was over quick for Vice President Moses Blah.

 

Some fish only live 3-5 years.
Some live for 30-50 years.
Depends on species.
(I checked for you)
To 10 years is common, anything beyond that means you did good.

Unless the situation is acute with multiple deaths, that is the circle of life with fish I’m afraid. And to be fair, it’s better for the tank if the fish doesn’t decay, the ammonia spike could cause a total wipeout.
Which is not an understatement!

 

That works, better than cold/ice water.
Less messy is off with the head but that involves too much handling for me personally.
Clove oil is a pretty humane way.
Except for betta (and similar labyrinth fish)

I used to wrap smaller fish in damp tissue and squash them underfoot. Until I found a way that didn’t involve crunching bones. Some smaller characins are ok this way but more bony armoured fish.....it is not nice for me.
That crunchy sound sticks with you.

Personally I would not risk damaging my vinyl!