Anyone else here into tropical fish? I have had fish since I was 10 (36 now). I have had everything from goldfish to discus.

My current fascination is with African cichlids. Frontosas especially! I got a 210 gallon in the garage just waiting to come in the house this spring that will house them. I have 23 of them now growing out and plan on a colony of say 8 -13.

I also have a 125 with mixed africans, a 30 with a gorgeous Jack Dempsey, a 10 with some baby Pseudotropheus Demasonis growing in it and a 55 gallon community.

I swear, if I had the room and the money I would have 1000's of gallons of fish. And talk about relaxing............

 

I have a 75 gallon with a few Bichirs, 2 Jack Dempseys, some raphael catfish..a pl*co, a black bullhead catfish, a pictus cat..and maybe one or two other smaller fish.

I have a 29 SW tank with corals and clowns and an anenome.

I have an empty 55 that will bea breeding tank for food for the 75, a 10 gallon that will be a mini reef tank, a 10 gallon that will be somehting..maybe puffers, and a 5 gallon for snails for the puffers i am thinking.

 

I've got a 125g with Central American cichlids, a 75g with a Madagascar cichlid and a couple of 55g's too. I also have some smaller tanks (33g-20g range). I'm cutting down to just the bigger tanks so we can redo our floors soon.

I've been keeping fish since '95.

 

Tropical as in 'saltwater'?.......

Never had one, BUT.......

Love the concept....Plan on one someday......

Do you guys know the name of a 'groundwalking' saltwater fish (for the aquarium, of course) which is yellow?......Actually looks like it has to armlike fins which pull it along the bottom?.......

Saw one at an aquarium shop one time....Thought it was cool as hell.....

 

that is a goby....a yellow watchman goby I think.

tropical fish normally refers to freshwater.
saltwater fish normally refers to saltwater fish :P

Most FW fish kept in tanks are from south america or africa, and india is a popular location as well, hence them being called tropical The SA fish tend to have the most color, with the exception of the lake cichilds from africa, which are extremely brightly colored.

 

Thanks......It was cool anyway......

 

I keep SW fish too man, imho, a SW tanks looks MUCH cooler than FW, BUT, they ARE harder to keep up and cost A TON more, aobut 3-5 times as much easy. but worth it if you can afford it

 

I have a 45~long mini reef and a 20~show nano reef. I have several others that are not set up, becasue I just don't have room!! But I don't have too many fish anymore,,, We lost power for a week last year ~12 degrees outside~ and I lost everything but one Rock Goby, a few snalis and copepods.

Once upon a time I had a Mandarin Goby, 3 Rock Gobys, 5 Percula Clowns with Pink and Purple Tipped Anemones, 5 Culry Q Anemones, a Purple Urchin, 2 Pencil Urchins, 5 Peppermint Shrimp, 2 Banded Coral Shrimp, a mated pair of Fire Gobys, Gorgonian Fans, 4 Neon Gobys, 2 Flame Scallops, 4 Cleaner Wrasse, a Horseshoe Crab, 5 Hawaiian Feather Dusters and various soft and leather corals between the two tanks. Had them estanlished for three years, and then, POOF!!!! All gone in less than one week!! Been kinda shy about replacing the investment,,,

 

not tropical, but I've got a 135g w/ a blue hippo tang, yellow tang, sailfin tang, porcupine puffer, dog face puffer, foxface, firetail goby, 6 line wrasse and a silver fish. Don't remember the name of it, got it from a friend who was thinning out his tank. It is a brackish but does great in salt. I've also got a 24g Aquapod w/ 2 false perc clowns, a goby, (name escapes me right now, brown body, red stripes, yellow head, starts w/ an 'h'???) 2 shrimp, serpent starfish, and a few emerald crabs.

 

I don't mean to hijack but since you guys are talking fish tanks I thought I could pick your brains.

I have a 20 gal fresh water tank I have had for 5yrs a community tank,A month ago I picked up some new fish and within three day I had started to lose two to three fish a day so the fish I got must have had something I checked the water and every thing was good but still losing fish,so it got to the point that I redid the whole tank ripped it down cleaned everything and started over,I still had a hand full of fish that I have had for a few yrs that made it after a few days I put them back in and my water started getting cloudy(like a new tank would).
After a few weeks went by the tank had never cleared up and I lost a few more fish,when I tested the water the PH and ammonia were off the chart but the nitrite was good I thought WTF,never had this problem before and I don't have but 7 small fish in the tank so I started water changes and it wasn't helping much so went and got some chemicals and now after about a month of messing with it The ammonia and PH are good but the water is still cloudy and I am still losing fish I don't no what to do at this point and am all most ready to pack it in as I never ever had such a problem like this that I couldn't fix within a couple of days,sorry for the long read but I am at wits end,anybody have any ideas.

 

Glenfordx4

I have some questions for you:

1. What type of fish do you have currently?
2. What type of fish did you add to the tank?
3. Where did you get the fish from?
4. How often did you change your water and did you condition it before you put it in the tank?

I had freshwater with African Cichlids, but I moved up to salt. I now have a 180 gallon salt tank with: Blue Hippo Tank, Naso Tang, Clown Fish, Humahumanukanukaahpuah (Picasso Trigger), Rectangular Trigger.

It is more work in the beginning, but once the tank is established I think it is easier than freshwater as long as you plan ahead for the water changes. Also using live rock as your filters is the way to go as you never have to worry about nitrate and nitrite spikes and they do not use power.

 

Aztrainer,I have red eyed tetras,zeberas,a small catfish(2yrs old) had neons and two goldfish(3yrs old until they died) a algae eater(3 1/2 yrs lost him) a small clown loach(2 yrs still have) and had a female bata(2 yrs died) I can't tell how many redtail sharks I have had but never had much luck with them,My tank is never overcrowded,I also had a couple of crabs and a crayfish but gave the crayfish away(he was killing fish).

I got my fish from a local pet store and have bought most of my fish there,but I had bought some neons and a small algeae eater and thats when the trouble started,I aways check and maintain my water and don't change it to much unless I am showing some kind of problems or twice a year and it is 5 gal at a time and my water is conditioned and sets until it is room temp(2 days) never had to much of a problem just some algae blooms in the past and have always turned it around in less then a week,thats what is bothering me now water is now testing good but it has something wrong.

I am running a good power filter and a under gravel filter also.

 

Well, you did have it too over stocked for one. Also goldfish and tropical’s are not compatible as the tropical’s like 79 degree water and gold fish like about 72 degree water. Also goldfish produce a lot ammonia and need to have their tanks cleaned more often than tropical’s. With the crayfish (Being totally predatory) you may have a decomposing fish in there somewhere. Again, crayfish are HUGH producers of waste. Rule of thumb is that you should give 1 to 1.5 gallons of water per inch of fish.

You are correctly changing the water in allowing it to eliminate the chlorine as well as getting to the tank temperature.

If your water is testing fine and you just have particulates in the water, it is not a bad thing. I had the same problem as you with one of my tanks. It took close to a month for it to finally clear up. You may want to try some of these products:

http://www.petsmart.com/product/inde...amily&keepsr=1

http://www.petsmart.com/product/inde...amily&keepsr=1

This is the one that I have used in the past and have got really good results.
http://www.petsmart.com/product/inde...amily&keepsr=1

Here is a link to a really good website for questions
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebI...ubwebindex.htm

 

My son is really the hobbyist. We built a 180 which house 2 big Oscars and 2 big Dempsey's. The 55 has a collection of African Cichlids. We had salt water for a while, but it was too much work.

 

I've been toying with the idea of getting a fish tank for awhile, but never really felt like dropping the money on the whole setup.