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Dec 29, 2008 18:07:59 GMT
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Fairly recent (three months or so) convert to fish keeping and really enjoyed it so far. My lad got me interested after he bought a cold water set up and got some nice fish so thought I'd have a bash at tropical. Started off with a two foot tank and few of the usual suspects including neons and now on a three foot tank with a nice community and the smaller tank as a sort of reserve/run over tank. Started with a bare tank, cycled it then added more fish as I went along plus live plants and ornaments etc which make it far more pleasing to the eye. Pictures are a bit rubbish sorry but will try and get some better ones...           Got quite a nice community in there now: neons, killifish, silver dollar, dalmation mollie, shark tail, blue gourami, silver shark, angel, Bolivian ram and a couple of other smaller fish. Plan is to put some into the smaller tank and have a slightly different lay out. It's a relatively inexpensive and very enjoyable hobby and I've only lost three or four fish so far, none of which were expensive. Find it very relaxing watching them and it's interesting (if this kind of thing isd your bag) going to various pet shops/aquatic centres and learning more about them and seeing different fish. The cats have long since realised they aren't going to catch any of them and now just stare at thm for a short while before retiring somewhere else to sleep. Like young Dave here who's taken a shine to the tumble drier...  ;D |
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Corsa Apology Champion 2014.
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Dec 29, 2008 20:52:51 GMT
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the cat's called dave, rofl harris. ;D "drier cat iz all fluffy" do you have any of those crazy little frogs? when jizzy gillespie had fish he had some, great to watch as they frog about.  |
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Dec 29, 2008 21:50:10 GMT
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I had a frog but it died after a couple of days unfortunately. Got a crab though which is a bit of a laugh: likes to hide then sort of dart out unexpectedly.
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Corsa Apology Champion 2014.
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Nice setup. Aren't those firemouth cichlids in the last two photos? You should add some catfish if you haven't already (plecostomus or bristlenose are popular.) Not only are they fascinating to watch, but they pick up algae and food scraps missed by the other fish.
I've just set up an African Cichlid tank (currently sans fish), with white sand and lots of shells and limestone. Unfortunately it'll more than likely remain fish-free, as I'm moving out of the parents house next month, and can't take it with me.
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With a bocephus sticker on his 442, he'd light 'em up just for fun
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Cheers. I think the last two are Bolivian Rams (or rather two pictures of the one fish). In one tank I bought I got a load of fish with it including one plec that was huge (12 inches long at least) but he was too big and I gave him to a bloke I know who rescues fish, though do fancy getting another smaller one and keeping it until it grows large before giving to same bloke.
I quite fancy trying to breed some fish in the future once I've got more experience at keeping them and would like to try with the killifish because they're fascinating little things and very pretty.
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Corsa Apology Champion 2014.
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Dec 30, 2008 18:15:04 GMT
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Cheers. I think the last two are Bolivian Rams (or rather two pictures of the one fish). In one tank I bought I got a load of fish with it including one plec that was huge (12 inches long at least) but he was too big and I gave him to a bloke I know who rescues fish, though do fancy getting another smaller one and keeping it until it grows large before giving to same bloke. I quite fancy trying to breed some fish in the future once I've got more experience at keeping them and would like to try with the killifish because they're fascinating little things and very pretty. nice clean looking tank. you have mollies so you soon have babies  . |
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1995 Toyota rav-4 1978 Kawasaki Z650B
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Dec 30, 2008 19:40:48 GMT
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the crabs are a pain... we had one till the fish started disappearing then it got rehomed... my fish had a tough time due to heater failure a few weeks back.. lost the lot bar two dihard silver dollars and a very moth eaten angel fish  dollars spend the whole tim e on my shoulder (tank is next to where I sit on my laptop typing this) or bashing the glass when its dinner time about 8ish ill get some pics on in a bit... |
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Dec 30, 2008 20:07:55 GMT
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Cheers. Had the mollies a while but assumed they haven't bred due to being a community tank, i.e other fish may have eaten the eggs/fry if they had any.
I'll keep an eye on the crab Rottie: we were told it would only try and nibble bottom feeders and slow, small fish. Big fan of the silver dollar, lovely looking and seem vey peaceful.
Got a few 'characters' in there now: the rumminose like to take it in turns chasing each other all over the place, the Bolivian rams appear to try and talk to us and the mollies and shark tail like to swim in formation together.
Look forward to seeing your tank Rottie (and anyone else who might have one).
*Oh, do your silver dollars destroy all the plant too? I was warned they might and it's actually quite funny watching them nibble away. We give them chopped up peas, green beans and broccoli which pretty much all the fish like and they go mad for it.
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Corsa Apology Champion 2014.
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BiAS
Club Retro Rides Member
Insert witty comment here
Posts: 2,231
Club RR Member Number: 147
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Dec 30, 2008 21:04:14 GMT
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Nice fishys My cat's called Dave too! Dave meet Dave  |
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(car+wheels)-rideheight=WIN
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madmartsmissus
Part of things
never drive faster than your guardien angel can fly
Posts: 70
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Dec 30, 2008 21:12:51 GMT
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your tank looks pretty cool mate. i agree watch out for mollies, had a community tank once, no matter what we tried they just kept breeding, in the end we had 4 x 2ft tanks in the back room full of mollies, tried selling them, only sold a few, in the end we gave them away  . big fan of plecs, beautiful fish. last time i went to add more fish i ended up with all the gear for reptiles, more precisly leopard geckos, spent about £300 in total on the reptile stuff then moved and never got my lizards.  |
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Dec 30, 2008 21:36:48 GMT
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I don't mind if they breed as I'm happy to give them away but didn't think they would as said due to other fish in the tank. Have had them (dalmation mollies) about 10 weeks or so now and not even sure if they're different sexes thb! The plec I had was awesome but too big for my tank really and kept knocking all the stuff in there over and it seemed a bit cruel on him really. I'd love a marine set up one day but apparantly hard to start off and keep going and very expensive if they crash and you have to start again. Bias: You're Dave rocks! Our Dave's sister is black but not as long haired as your cool character. We have four now (Dave, Marmite, Tiddles and Tom Tommy Thompson) all currently trying to eat us out of house and home |
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Corsa Apology Champion 2014.
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Darrel
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,167
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Dec 30, 2008 23:57:07 GMT
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Nice starter tank, but be warned it can get very addictive. At one point 10 years ago I had 18 tanks in my living room and was breeding a lot of fish. I supplied an aquatic shop with pretty much every chichlid he was selling. Ive done the Marine route and it isnt as hard, or as scary as you may think. If you can do tropical you can do marine, it only gets hard if you want to have corals etc but fish only systems are easy. As for Plecs, they are my favourite. Back in the height of it i was paying well over £100 each for some plecs 3-4 inches long. Had some very rare ones, but was never able to get any to breed |
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I know what you mean, the kids both have cold water tanks (with some really nice fish in them) and I keep seeing more and more fish I want to get. Planning on trying to find room somewhere to get at least one more tank and breeding something just for fun. As said earlier I'd love to breed the killifish and there's people selling starter kits on eBay. Hadn't realised plecs could be so expensive, was happy to give mine away! Nice to know the marines aren't too hard to set up though, something I would really like to do. Are the corals expensive do you know please? Thanks.
Oh if anyone else has a set up post up some pictures please!
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Corsa Apology Champion 2014.
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stealthstylz
Club Retro Rides Member
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Club RR Member Number: 174
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Dec 31, 2008 19:33:43 GMT
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Would it be possible to link 2 tanks together with tunnel, so that the fish could swim from one tank to the other. I've always thought it'd be mega cool on a new house build to create fish tanks randomly placed around the walls, with hidden tubes linking them so that the fish could swim from tank to tank.
Matt
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Dec 31, 2008 20:54:03 GMT
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er yeah to the dollars munching the plants...
got silk plants now and they leave them alone..
ill get some photos tonight.. they don't like the camera and flash very much (youll learn dollars are scaredy cats and go ballistic when you try an clean the tank out)
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Dec 31, 2008 21:13:23 GMT
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Would it be possible to link 2 tanks together with tunnel, so that the fish could swim from one tank to the other. I've always thought it'd be mega cool on a new house build to create fish tanks randomly placed around the walls, with hidden tubes linking them so that the fish could swim from tank to tank. Matt That'd be damned cool as it goes! I wonder if it's possible with a glass cutter and some sealant? Hmmm... |
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Corsa Apology Champion 2014.
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Dec 31, 2008 21:56:19 GMT
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hmm like rotastack for hamsters?? "Aquastack for your fish" lol anyhows heres Bill and Ben    |
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Dec 31, 2008 22:57:25 GMT
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Awesome! How big are they mucker? Was told they can grow up to 8 inches but don't know if this is correct. I have one about 3 inches and one 'baby' one about an inch long at the moment.
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Corsa Apology Champion 2014.
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Dec 31, 2008 23:20:09 GMT
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they started the size of 10p now approx 6 inches, bear in mind they in a 3 ft tank (saving up to build them a decent one) we lost the angel last night never was right after the heater incident.. but you live in hope eh.. did have a plecostamus who was HUGE who we also lost was getting on for 13" and so tame you could pick him out the tank when it was cleaning time and just sit him in the spare tank of water without so much as a flap |
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Darrel
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,167
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I know what you mean, the kids both have cold water tanks (with some really nice fish in them) and I keep seeing more and more fish I want to get. Planning on trying to find room somewhere to get at least one more tank and breeding something just for fun. As said earlier I'd love to breed the killifish and there's people selling starter kits on eBay. Hadn't realised plecs could be so expensive, was happy to give mine away! Nice to know the marines aren't too hard to set up though, something I would really like to do. Are the corals expensive do you know please? Thanks. Oh if anyone else has a set up post up some pictures please! Corals can get expensive. Depends if your going for soft (cheaper) or hard (pretty but expensive) Also the lighting requirements become very high. You normallyt need at least 800watts of Metal Halide lighting minimum for the corals to thrive which costs a fair bit on electricity As for the 2 tank and 1 tunnel idea its very difficult to achieve in the home. Ive seen it done, however if one tank sinks just a fraction the connecting tube splits and you get massive leaks. Some of the best installs are in a dividing wall where you get to see either side from 2 different rooms. You can set them up to look like 2 different tanks, just by planting them right. |
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. big fan of plecs, beautiful fish. last time i went to add more fish i ended up with all the gear for reptiles, more precisly leopard geckos, spent about £300 in total on the reptile stuff then moved and never got my lizards. 
