Friends... Let me tell you. I don't know why the fuck I waited so long to get a tank... In the short (relative) time it's been here, I've gotten more enjoyment out of it than all my video games combined. The notion that you command an entire ecosystem of living things... you get to play God, in essence. My original concerns about maintenence - GONE. Hell, I might even do a saltwater tank next. Here's the breakdown: 20 Ga. tank 1 - Male Betta 3 - Kuhli Loach 3 - Glass Catfish 1 - Albino Cory 1 - Dwarf African Frog 1 - Glass Fish 3 - Plecos (2 common, 1 'chocolate') 1 - Dragon Goby (Commonly mistaken as 'Dragonfish') 3 - Mollies (2 female, 1 male) I bought one Banded Leporinus Fasciatus (an impulse buy, I'll admit), but after a bit of research and study of his behavior (went straight for the loaches, violating rule # 1: "Don't fuck with my Loaches") - he went back to the store the next day.
is that a freshwater tank? well they are low maintenance anyway.. marine tanks are very high maintenance... if you go for one read up as much as you can, ask the store guys advice.. and follow the sequences of introductions and treatments EXACTLY... marine fish are a lot more expensive and can die very easily if their conditions aren't right
I've wanted to setup another tank for a while. I really enjoyed my African Cichlids. Once a Cichlid tank is setup its extremely stable and easy to maintain. One trick to keeping the ultra high 8.8 ph that Cichlids like is to use crushed coral for your rock filter media if you can still find it. (Harvesting of coral commercially really became a problem I think after the coral calcium diet fad) I believe harvesting of coral commercially for tank use has been severely restricted which is probably a good thing. Beta fish really cool to look at glad you do not have yours in some tiny display tank but instead in an actual aquarium. Aren’t they really temperamental with other fish? Or is that just with other Beta fish?
Stay away from saltwater tanks. We had a 250 gallon aquarium, with two angelfish and a snowflake eel. It was alot of tank for just the three things, but everytime we'd buy a new fish the eel would kill it so we gave up. Eventually it cost us $200+ a month for upkeep and just became too much of a hassle. It was beautiful, but it was a big pain in the ass. We downgraded to a 50 gallon freshwater and are quite happy with it.
Back in my youth I loved Aquariums. I had a big 100 gallon tank in my room. Joe mentioned African Cichlids. Are you talking about Rift Lake Cichlids? Those were what I raised. They were so colorful and easy to keep. They ate algae, so the nastier the tank, they better they liked it. Barry
Honestly, I see those little fucking 'tanks' (if you can even call them that - it's more like living in a glass Foster's can) - and I'm fucking disgusted. Admittedly, they're better than the fucking cups you see them floating around in at the store, but really - if there wasn't a market for these damn tiny tanks, would there really be a need to stock the store shelves with all these fish in their lonely containers? At any rate, yes, I have my male Betta in a community tank - he gets along with everyone there (had a bit of a quarrel with two of the mollies when I first introduced them, but since then no problems) - They only seem to get pissed off when there's another male Betta in the tank with them. The interesting thing about either my Betta, or all of 'em (his name is Neptune, for those interested) - he fucking LOVES the bubbles in the tank. I have an 18 inch strip buried below the rocks in the back corner of the tank that spews bubbles 24/7 - and he fucking LOVES to swim up and down through them... It's very amusing to watch, honestly.
Yes, freshwater - I didn't want to get started with anything that complicated... At least this way, I won't lose $80 everytime I realize that I can't keep a 1-inch fish alive But for fuck's sake - I will have a saltwater soon... Meanwhile, I'm considering a 100+ Ga for the new 'living room'...
Try having it happen 5 times, each time the "fish lady" telling you it shouldn't kill this one. We'd drop the bag into the water Razel (the eel) would attack the bag, the fish would make a dive for it and it'd be dead within 10 minutes.
Here's an alterantive http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0007XB590/002-5324296-4688862?v=glance&n=130 Get an aquarium DVD and relax in the soothing tranquility of high-definition tanks. Or go to the "Special Features" section of the "Finding Nemo" DVD for a similar experience. Low maintenance. Gotta love that.
There were three major lakes in Africa that the Cichlids generally came from apparently the Cichlid is a very large fish family I believe the Bluegill and Sunfish here in the states are from the same family. But afaik the Africans came from those three lakes which were very brackish due to the high concentration of limestone there. Hence the reason for the 8.8 ph requirement. I found that that same high ph works great for Crawfish and I had caught an pinkish white cave crawfish in a Tennessee cave and released it in the tank (60 gal) it apparently adjusted to light for the first time and turned a combination of cooked lobster red with black bands.
That's fucking beautiful, man... If I had a saltwater tank set up, I could have yet another 'souvenir' to bring back from the Keys. I'm going to regret this in the near future, I can see it already. Hell, maybe I just need to move to a coastal area so I can just steal buckets of water from the sea to fill an aquarium.
Tonight's update - Well, I'm going to segregate my Betta because he's losing his color, and the fins aren't in the best of shape anymore. Looks more like a Rasta wig that he's dragging behind him than the vibrant curtains he once boasted. He's also acting a bit different lately - hiding behind decorations, less active in general, and a sudden disinterest in the bubbles. I've set up the 2.5 gallon tank with filter and accessories about an hour ago, still waiting for the water temperature to sync up with the large tank, then I plan to treat him to a secluded stay with a diet of his favorite foods and a steady supply of Melafix to help mend his torn fins. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Got him in - applied medicine - will feed in as soon as he gets used to his surroundings. I can tell that he's not quite as bummed-out as he was in the larger tank, but still confused. Quite active, mind you, and that's encouraging.
One disturbing thing, though, and it's something I noticed a while back. He seems to stare at the larger tank from within the confines of his smaller tank. Granted, the tanks are a few feet apart, I think he can still see it and identify with it. I noticed this before, when I did a water change of the original 2.5 gallon tank that I started off with - made the mistake of leaving him next to the tank in a clear container - that fish made every effort to get back to the aquarium he'd gotten used to but was just barely out of reach.
There has been a tragedy. One of my 10 yr old goldfish died yesterday. Debbie. We won her at a fair and she's been an inspiration to all of us. Rest in peace Debbie.
