Aquarists unite: fish are friends, and food

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Siliconemelons

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Starting a thread for all the fish tank talk etc. that has come up in other threads.

enjoy :)
 
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Aazrael

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Starting a thread for all the fish tank talk etc. that has come up in other threads.

enjoy :)
Our 190 gallon with female Bettas and my home made rack for male Bettas. My girlfriend is the real nerd and breeds Betta Splendens Half Moon, but I like it as well, can be relaxing. :)

Got a few smaller ones as well in the house.

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Siliconemelons

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I always wanted to make a huge tank that could house 2 males and 4 or so females and try and be as rice patty-y as nature - shouldn't the males eventually section off etc? Always wondered how big that would have to get.
 
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lurker

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I've always had an aquarium for as long as I can remember, but I've reduced it down to this small 2 gallon tank where my last fish lives. He's a Black Skirt Tetra. When he goes, I'm done. I've always enjoyed keeping fish; it's just too much work for me now.

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Aazrael

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I always wanted to make a huge tank that could house 2 males and 4 or so females and try and be as rice patty-y as nature - shouldn't the males eventually section off etc? Always wondered how big that would have to get.

We found two males in the big tank after a few months that were kinda underdeveloped/camoed and looked like females (small fins). They were all from the same spawn. We have around 8 males all separated right now, a few of them are imported from Thailand, that we are going to try get a Koi/Halfmoon spawn going.
 
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a c i d.f l y

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Had this tank for about 5 years. Not quite as floral as this anymore, since I stopped pumping CO2 and glutaraldehyde into it. Down to a very withered cluster of amazon swords and a shit load of altlandsberg swords that covers the entire right side of the tank. Redline sharks, congo tetras, black tetras, SAE's, rafael cat, spotted cat, various corydoras. Similar to lurker, if I ever have to move, I will break this down and sell/donate the fish. I wish I had a dozen more congo tetras, those fuckers are pretty, but they're hella expensive and hard to find. You buy small ones for $12/each, and there's a chance they wont grow full size, or not be as colorful. I have a dozen, only 3 ended up large, and 1 of those isn't as colorful as the other two. Still, very neat fish.

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**not my tank, just a pic of some congos**
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Sludig

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Too bad i deleted many of my reef tank pics to not re grieve me after breaking it down in anticipation of sheriff job not leaving me time to care for it.

Maybe I'll find some later.

I thought i had a salt water thread elsewhere or maybe just in generic pets thread.
 
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lurkingdirk

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We've got a thirty gallon tank with two angel fish and two koi. They have been in the tank for four years. They are all huge - Next spring the koi are going in the pond I'm making by our deck. Not sure what to do with the angel fish, might keep the tank going.

These fish are jerks. They won't leave the plants alone. I have to bury the roots under large, heavy rocks, or they pull them out of the rocks. Wankers.
 
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Siliconemelons

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Yeall going to crucify me on the "tanks too small!" Cross... but why do they sell them!

These are in my office at work.

Little blue with plant is a baby male I bought a month or so ago.

Big blue female with plant,

Big red with plant male

Big blue buy is 3ish years old, I need to give him his plant I have...

And yes I need to clean out the dead plants that didn't make it.

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Aamry

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My son's tank, as mentioned in the jimmy rustlin thread. This is pre-pleco, and only about half those plants are live, obviously. Black mollies were a silly choice for him, since he wanted a whole blacklight setup, my ex-wife says it looks like an emo rave.

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a c i d.f l y

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Yeall going to crucify me on the "tanks too small!" Cross... but why do they sell them!

These are in my office at work.

Little blue with plant is a baby male I bought a month or so ago.

Big blue female with plant,

Big red with plant male

Big blue buy is 3ish years old, I need to give him his plant I have...

And yes I need to clean out the dead plants that didn't make it.

View attachment 179443View attachment 179444View attachment 179445

View attachment 179446
Nah, betta fish. You're good.
 
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Void

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I've had dozens of tanks in my life, and at one point my best friend and I lived together for several years after college, and between us we had three 55 gallon tanks and a couple misc smaller tanks all at the same time...in an upstairs apartment, without renter's insurance :p He also had a cockatiel that ate all the insulation off of speaker and DirectTV coax cables, and a cat.

This was during the 90s so we didn't have convenient cameras on our phones and I don't have any pics, but most of what we had were cichlids. I love how some community fish look, but multiple times over the years I've started with that and then I always end up with cichlids. They are just so bright and colorful and active. And assholes if you aren't another cichlid, and probably still even then.

Notable fish I had over the years, which ALL came from this shady store that I am now convinced was selling illegal fish, were a (not actually a fish, I know!) powder blue crayfish that ended up eating a bunch of community fish by cornering them against the glass, a baby shark for my salt water tank (I don't remember specifically what type it was, but it was a legit shark, just no visible teeth or anything), and since I had multiple gars and arrowana swimming around at the top at various times, they convinced me that this tiny little "alligator gar" would fit perfectly. If by "fit perfectly" you mean "eat everything in the tank and grow to massive size to the point where I was sort of afraid to actually stick my hand in the tank" then sure. I eventually took it in to the big fish store downtown that would buy back overgrown fish, and they wouldn't take it because it was a prohibited species. I convinced them to just take it for no money, because I didn't know what else to do with it and I didn't want to just blatantly kill the thing, but that's probably what they did with it. I'm pretty sure it was the same as those ones that they fucking hunt on TV shows that get to like 5 feet long or some shit. And they had like 20 of the babies when I bought mine, I wonder how many other people went through the same thing, thinking they were like other gars that only get 6-12 inches.

I had a problem with eventually buying a fish that would eat all my other fish :( I haven't had a tank in about 10 years now, and that's probably for the best because I know I'd dump a ton of money into it again if I did. All of which money would eventually end up in the stomach of yet another tank-killer, I'm sure.
 
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a c i d.f l y

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Gotta research your fish before you buy them, lol. Alligator gars get up to 3 feet, and if you fish one out of any of the local lakes or otherwise you basically smash its skull and throw it back in the water. They're invasive and eat all the other livestock. Also, they will definitely try to bite you if you stuck your hand in the tank.

As far as sharks for salt water, it was likely a spotted shark. They're the most docile, and smallest actual sharks, but are incredibly timid to the point that they basically dig themselves under any rocks in the tank if you have any other fish in the tank. They also have a very short life in captivity unless you hand feed them raw seafood that you put directly in front of them.

Have had several salt water tanks in the past with triggers and schools of tangs. Was a bitch trying to maintain coral growth with the triggers would chew off the rock to keep their chompers worn down properly. Damsels that would bully and stress out even the biggest fish, and stress kills just as much as if they were eating them. Found the vast majority of salt water fish, while absolutely beautiful, tended to be pretty manic, and would die from stress.

Fresh water community fish, especially the ones I have now, seem to mostly just not give a fuck about other tank mates. Even my large redline sharks (not actual sharks, just called that because of their shape and fins) don't even mess with the tiny ass black tetras. The only fish in my tank that is even slightly territorial is the spotted catfish, and he's harmless, only gets up to 3.5-4", but makes sure none of the other fish come into his corner of the bottom of the tank. Cory catfish stick to the planted side of the tank.

I'd go back to salt water, but maintaining water quality was such a pain in the ass. Fresh water I can swap out every six months with a massive filter and haven't had a single fish die in over 4 years. Salt water you have about 5-10g of evaporation and need to swap out 25% per week, which involves buying and mixing salt with RO water, and maintaining salinity and very controlled temperature range. Even with a 220g tank with a 100g sump and very few fish. Honestly a salt water tank with a bunch of rock and good lighting, having everything purple up, is still pretty satisfying. Even better with a bunch of soft corals. Hard corals are insane to try and maintain, especially in a mixed coral tank. These insanely slow moving, slow growing creatures tend to actively murder each other over space.

Which is why folks go fish only with live rock, or minimal coral friendly fish in a coral with live rock tank. But it's hard not to want to toss a bunch of beautiful fish into a tank when the serotonin hits aren't as fast with coral alone. Also, coral is balls out expensive as fuck. Not to mention the light bill that goes with running 900w of metal halide.
 
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a_skeleton_03

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I so desperately want to get back into a saltwater tank again but I know that I just don't have the time.
 
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Siliconemelons

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Random fish story.

Had a tank, got 7 or so zeta, tetra... whatever the heck little clear fish with a black horizontal line.

They all were fine, but one asshole ate ONE of the other fish's eyes, at night at least every other day- one day I must have interrupted his assholeness bc one fish was swimming around with one eye floating out on a string lol.

I eventually figured who it was by the one fish that ended up with both eyes.

All the others died over a year. Then just this asshole lived on for another 2 years, the last year and a half I didn't feed him and he lived in his green paradise till he evaporated, so I retroactively named him Enoch
 
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Sludig

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I so desperately want to get back into a saltwater tank again but I know that I just don't have the time.

Could sink as much money into it as your idea about buying a business. Acid is so right that expenses can get out of hand quick, especially with corals and any losses. (Actually made some decent money selling $100/per polyp stuff that had grown out some and that kind of thing but basically only offset utility costs not making a profit)

Entire reason I took down the tank was that it had become a second job and something when I'm going to be out of town and working nights etc for cop job can't really enjoy it.
 
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a_skeleton_03

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Could sink as much money into it as your idea about buying a business. Acid is so right that expenses can get out of hand quick, especially with corals and any losses. (Actually made some decent money selling $100/per polyp stuff that had grown out some and that kind of thing but basically only offset utility costs not making a profit)

Entire reason I took down the tank was that it had become a second job and something when I'm going to be out of town and working nights etc for cop job can't really enjoy it.
Oh for sure you can do that but I am not interested in reefing as a job :D
 
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my fishtank looks like ass. a megre 36 gallon i think. i had dojo loaches, kuli loaches, sail finned warbler, plescostomis, and my fine ass peacock eels, but over the years shit has died and now it's down to sail fin (the king of the tank) innumerable taliban kuli loaches i did not pay for, they breed like monsters, and a stray horse face loach.

I keep telling myself that after my next floor rennovation, i want a HUGE tank, fresh water. matte black enviroment and some kind of shiny mass schooling fish. the desired effect is in my gaming basement i turn out the lights and let the fish tank lights play off of the school and that's my light.
 
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