Any aquarium owners?

joecoulson · January 7

Just curious. I have been into fish keeping for 15 years. I used to have 6 tanks running. Down to one now and it’s a very low maintenance community tank. 65g tall. All filtration piping and wires hidden in the 3D background. Live plants. And a hodgepodge of fish from over the years.

verb · January 7

I had a few aquariums back in the day. My Dad and I built a 55 gallon from some glass panels and aluminum angle. Memories. Looking good Joe!

gudnoyez · January 7

A 40 gallon but it dont hold fish. Littlefoot the spoiled bearded dragon resides in this one we need to move up to a 70 gallon but he spends most of his time hanging with us or the dogs.

I have had a few aquariums with fish but found it to much work. however I have one in the garage that holds crappie minnows for ice fishing. Nice looking tank you got there Joe.

mhardy6647 · January 7

Used to. Had quite a few going when I was in high school (all fresh water, but both tropical and "cold water"). We had a small fishpond, too, in those days. Koi, goldfish, frogs, waterlilies -- that kind of thing. Aquatic gardening requires no weeding.

Had fish for a number of years again when the kids were -- umm -- kids.
Haven't had one (or more) set up for many years, though. I don't think we even have any of the paraphernalia any more.

pitdogg2 · January 7

I had a fish room until 2yrs ago. I had 8 tanks running a 30,45 and the rest 75 and 90's. I kept large central and south American cichlids for many years. The last 10 I was keeping and breeding wild Discus and F2 discus. I never any pigeon blood types as I never really like the strain. My favorite cichlid's were Dovii and true Trimaculatus those are some fun fish right there.

Willow · January 7

Well when I was younger I had one. Ffw to 2 years ago. My wife's friend gives her a 2gal bowl. We then promised my son a fish. That bowl never made it because I knew it was too small. We bought him a 10 gal and a beta. He was in heaven. Named him bleuet.(another way of saying blueberry in French). Got him a snail to accompany the fish. They both died within a year. He got another beta and another snail, fish named bluejay and the snail named Lemon. Well the fish died a year later, Lemon survives. Got a 5 gal tank for his room. I'd love to get a big one again but there is currently no room.

joecoulson · January 7

pitdogg2 wrote: »

I had a fish room until 2yrs ago. I had 8 tanks running a 30,45 and the rest 75 and 90's. I kept large central and south American cichlids for many years. The last 10 I was keeping and breeding wild Discus and F2 discus. I never any pigeon blood types as I never really like the strain. My favorite cichlid's were Dovii and true Trimaculatus those are some fun fish right there.

I’ve had Malawi’s, Tanganykans and South American cichlids. My fav was a Midas (red devil). He was a brute. Got to be 13” and almost destroyed a 75gal

ZLTFUL · January 7

Had saltwater for years peaking at a 420 gallon Starfire glass cube housing reef corals and reef fish.
As much as I loved it, it was an exceedingly large amount of work.

joecoulson · January 7

Da dam. That’s killer.

motorstereo · January 8

I ran a 55 gal. freshwater tank for several years when I was a young apartment dweller. I also found out there's very few things in life that are more miserable to move than an aquarium. I gave up on it probably 20 years ago and I do not miss the constant work.

mlistens03 · January 8

We had two large salt tanks for a number of years; one 350 gallon and a 275, I think. The smaller had coral and fish that are friendly to coral, that tank was very pretty. The larger one had fish that were mean, or coral eaters. I remember what they all looked like, although I don’t remember what they were actually called. Other than our pufferfish, Phoebe. We gave her two cubes of fish food per day (frozen solid; she’d just chomp them down

).
I’ll ask my dad if he has any pictures of them later, although I don’t think he does.

joecoulson · January 8

Common theme with some here is they were a lot of work. That was goal in this tank, less work.
I have a filtration system that’s for triple the size tank. I have it stocked with less than half of what the tank will hold. And I have plants to help with the nitrogen cycle. I barely touch the tank.

indyhawg · January 8

I had aquariums since my teenage years. I finally got rid of my tank about 5 years ago when my last African Cichlid died. I actually celebrated because I was tired of all the maintenance that was required.

Dabutcher · January 8

It is amazing to me that Lake Malawi in Africa has over five hundred different species of fish? Mostly different Cichlids. Can you imagine taking your kids fishing there and having to figure out what specific fish they caught? Peace. D

pitdogg2 · January 8

I never thought that they were a lot of work. My Discus needed 80% water changes daily. There is a lot more to it than nitrogen cycle alone. I've kept aquariums from a pH of 4.0 to 9.0. Some wild Discus live in very very acidic water(black water) and that is the reason they evolved to feed their young from their slime coat as no small insects,micro invertebrates or water fleas (daphnia) could live in such acidic water.

scubalab · January 8

gudnoyez wrote: »

A 40 gallon but it dont hold fish. Littlefoot the spoiled bearded dragon resides in this one we need to move up to a 70 gallon but he spends most of his time hanging with us or the dogs.

I have had a few aquariums with fish but found it to much work. however I have one in the garage that holds crappie minnows for ice fishing. Nice looking tank you got there Joe.

Awesome pic Steve! We have a similar setup for my daughter's beardie. She's in a 50 gal aquarium now (the beardie... not my daughter). I'm actually working on building the aquarium into the steps for my daughter's loft bed. I'll post up pics when the 'construction' is complete.

@gudnoyez how do you like the sand for bedding? We've used terrarium liners and are now using a piece of indoor/outdoor carpet. I'd think the sand would be easier to clean, but worry about the beardie ingesting it?

Here's Winnie on a road trip...

joecoulson · January 8

pitdogg2 wrote: »

I never thought that they were a lot of work. My Discus needed 80% water changes daily. There is a lot more to it than nitrogen cycle alone. I've kept aquariums from a pH of 4.0 to 9.0. Some wild Discus live in very very acidic water(black water) and that is the reason they evolved to feed their young from their slime coat as no small insects,micro invertebrates or water fleas (daphnia) could live in such acidic water.

Was never brave enough to tackle Discus, they are by far the hardest (meaning you have to be the most educated on fishkeeping) to keep
stunning fish though

gudnoyez · January 8

scubalab wrote: »

gudnoyez wrote: »

A 40 gallon but it dont hold fish. Littlefoot the spoiled bearded dragon resides in this one we need to move up to a 70 gallon but he spends most of his time hanging with us or the dogs.

I have had a few aquariums with fish but found it to much work. however I have one in the garage that holds crappie minnows for ice fishing. Nice looking tank you got there Joe.

Awesome pic Steve! We have a similar setup for my daughter's beardie. She's in a 50 gal aquarium now (the beardie... not my daughter). I'm actually working on building the aquarium into the steps for my daughter's loft bed. I'll post up pics when the 'construction' is complete.

@gudnoyez how do you like the sand for bedding? We've used terrarium liners and are now using a piece of indoor/outdoor carpet. I'd think the sand would be easier to clean, but worry about the beardie ingesting it?

Here's Winnie on a road trip...

We use outdoor carpet, have 8 pieces cut to size also use newspaper. Paper towels
The little guy has won are hearts the little dude is babied. He watches movies with us. When I'm sitting in front of the 2 channel he hangs out on my shoulder. He harass es the dogs and gets away with it he lies with them and sleeps. Winnie looks like he or she is enjoying the ride. True story littlefoot jumped on lightman once and ate popcorn out of his beard. Thought about taking him to the vet to get checked out after that incident

incident kidding Russ he did mope around after that though.

jdjohn · January 8

Count me in. I've had at least one tank going at all times for the last 20 years, but my biggest tank was only 30 gallons. My focus has been on live plants and dwarf cichlids from both South America and Africa (or Old World vs New World as some say).

Here's a fairly recent pic with a couple of African dwarf cichlids called Shell Dwellers, or 'Shellies'.

Not a huge variety of plants in this incarnation. I use to maintain several different types of plants, but man, the constant pruning was a chore. Some plants grow really fast when you have the requisite extra bright lights, diffused CO2, and fertilizer.

pitdogg2 · January 8

jdjohn wrote: »

Count me in. I've had at least one tank going at all times for the last 20 years, but my biggest tank was only 30 gallons. My focus has been on live plants and dwarf cichlids from both South America and Africa (or Old World vs New World as some say).

Here's a fairly recent pic with a couple of African dwarf cichlids called Shell Dwellers, or 'Shellies'.

Not a huge variety of plants in this incarnation. I use to maintain several different types of plants, but man, the constant pruning was a chore. Some plants grow really fast when you have the requisite extra bright lights, diffused CO2, and fertilizer.

neolamprologus Brevis?

pitdogg2 · January 8

one thing I learned keeping very large Cichlids is that they are very very intelligent critters. My Dovii and Trimaculatus would know just who belonged in the fish room and who did not and would try and EAT them through the glass. A large bodied 16" to 20" fish hitting hitting the glass is FRIGHTENING to say the least. My Dovii's and Tri-Mac were like dogs I could reach in and pet them, play with them and all yet by god if you tried that I would be doing a massive water change to get rid of all the blood in the AQ. Yes they would bite the snot out of you. Just do a search on Parachromis Dovii and get a look at the teeth they have.

jdjohn · January 8

pitdogg2 wrote: »

jdjohn wrote: »

Count me in. I've had at least one tank going at all times for the last 20 years, but my biggest tank was only 30 gallons. My focus has been on live plants and dwarf cichlids from both South America and Africa (or Old World vs New World as some say).

Here's a fairly recent pic with a couple of African dwarf cichlids called Shell Dwellers, or 'Shellies'.

Not a huge variety of plants in this incarnation. I use to maintain several different types of plants, but man, the constant pruning was a chore. Some plants grow really fast when you have the requisite extra bright lights, diffused CO2, and fertilizer.

neolamprologus Brevis?

Winner, winner, Cap'n D's dinner!!! I used to have a mated pair of Julidochromis transcriptus, and they made LOTS of babies. It was kinda cool at first, but then became a nuisance. Also, they were diggers (the female, primarily), so were always digging out gravel from under rocks to make caves for breeding.

pitdogg2 · January 8

Yea I loved mine small lake Tanganyika cichlids. I also kept many Julidochromis species. The Neolamprologus leleupi and Julidochromis marlieri and others were a favorites

joecoulson · January 8

Nice tank!

This is one I had back in 2002

jdjohn · January 8

joecoulson wrote: »

Nice tank!

This is one I had back in 2002

Thanks, Joe! Wow, that's a beauty you had! I'm sure you can relate to the pruning. That guy on the left in your tank, and the one on the back right, were probably fast-growers for you. I used to know the names of most aquatic plants, but struggle to remember them now. Did any of you guys hang-out at thekrib.com? I used to spend an inordinate amount of time there and on other aquarium boards/forums, especially those involving aquatic plants.

pitdogg2 · January 8

For me my past was American Cichlid assoc. but they closed it due to too many going to facebook. I look at monsterfishkeepers.com once in awhile. I do still belong to Simplediscus.com under the name yep you guessed it same as here

2017 their north American discus association held their big dance in Chicago and i went there for 3 days great time. People came from all over the world met many many interesting people.

joecoulson · January 8

I used to go on MFK when I had the SA cichlids. And we have a local forum in the Atlanta area I used to go on.
That tank was CO2’d and had a metal halide on it. Those plants had to be pruned almost daily!!

I do miss my Tang tanks. I had multi’s, Julie’s and Neos. Great little fish and spawn like crazy!

I’ll dig up some pics of other tanks I had...

joecoulson · January 8

aprazer402 · January 8

Where the heck is @ken brydson ? This is his job.

jdjohn · January 8

This is a cool National Geographic film documentary about Lake Tanganyika: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xqy4p7 It's a little old and not exactly HD, but still a neat film.

joecoulson · January 9

Seen that. Great info.

Any aquarium owners?

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Any aquarium owners?

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