anyone have a fish tank?

[Spawn-Inc]

just wondering how many of you have this hobby as well. here is a bunch of pics of my tank and 3 fish. i have 2 bala/tri-colour sharks and i just got a black ghost knife. i sure hope it doesn't eat my sharks though. i started out this hobby with 12 feeder goldfish to see what its like to have fish and moved then later up to proper goldfish.after 6 or 8 of them came and went i got some fantail goldfish and some plecos (alge eater). they lasted 6 months before dying of various diseases. then i got 4 bala/tri-colour sharks and 2 died in a month for some reason. it looked as though they didn't eat ever, there heads where bigger than there bodies. earlier today i got a black ghost knife


i have a 20 gallon tank, small but what i could afford at the time. i'm not much into fish anymore so i haven't upgraded to a 50 gallon also i don't have space for it in my room.

http://inlinethumb58.webshots.com/2681/2375201230100511463S600x600Q85.jpg

http://inlinethumb41.webshots.com/3176/2771257830100511463S600x600Q85.jpg

http://inlinethumb45.webshots.com/2348/2371068940100511463S600x600Q85.jpg

http://inlinethumb04.webshots.com/3267/2467028970100511463S600x600Q85.jpg

http://inlinethumb60.webshots.com/763/2873138470100511463S600x600Q85.jpg

http://inlinethumb07.webshots.com/1478/2257195790100511463S600x600Q85.jpg

http://inlinethumb61.webshots.com/3068/2903796960100511463S600x600Q85.jpg

sorry about picture quality my dads $60 tigerdirect dig camera sucks.
here is a clear picture of a bala shark
http://www.fishlore.com/Pictures/Profiles/bala_shark.jpg
and
black ghost knife
http://www.fieldmuseum.org/research_collections/ecp/ecp_sites/Parker_Gentry/images/blackghost_lg.jpg

[AJ@PR]

Looks cool! :)

I've got a non-working fish tank, at the moment.

It's big... not sure how many gallons... I'll have to measure it (Ok ok... and then convert to Liters... :p).

Your looks cool man!!! :)
Props!

Although, sorry for the honesty, but your success-to-failure ratio is... well... we should work on that one.

I'm going to post some pics of mine... to see if we do something with it.

Fish are super relaxing...
:santa:

[Spawn-Inc]

thx. ya but my excuse for the failure is that it was when i started and it was with goldfish which have like 100's of diseases. Those 12 feeder fish are even more likely to have diseases as they are not treated well (shipping, handling and breeding). My very first fish tank was a plastic outside pond setup i found at the back of a canadian tire, it came with a pump which was a plus. The way i set it up was by taking a tube from the pump and made a cut in the top of a brita filter and used that as my filter. I then "upgraded" to a jar with 2 holes in the lid and had some cheese cloth wraped around a tube going into it, it was 100% mcgiver'd. the tank in the pictures is my first real tank with a proper filter, air pump, heater, canopea etc. Since i've had that tank they have started to last longer that 2 months. The sharks have lasted the longest at about a year now. My concern now is that black ghost knife(BGK), i've heard a 6" one will eat the eyes and fins from a 5 " shark like mine. and my BGK is just about 6" now while my shark is only 3 or 4. But the stories i've heard are when people don't feed it everyday. So i plan to feed mine twice a day with an auto feeder.

[Ironcat]

I love my fishies...

1. Do NOT go with an autofeeder, it's gonna pollute your water. Ghosts will learn to eat from your hands, they are awesome fish. You can throw in a baby spoonfull of live brine and the ghost will snack on it but make sure you don't go overboard or the tank will foul.

2. Do NOT mix with goldfish with other fish, they poop a lot and they have really really strong ammonia in their piss and it will burn the gills out of most of other fish. Occasionally having one big lionhead or something as a show fish in with all your others is okay, but more than one goldie is asking for trouble.

3. You killed a pleco in 6 months? I mean in this with love but what the hell is wrong with you??? Plecos can live in a damn mud puddle for longer than that!

4. Lastly, yes, your ghost is gonna kill your sharks, he might not eat them, but he will try.

[xRyokenx]

Those are some sweet fish, but it appears as though Ironcat knows what he's talking about, and from what I've deduced from it, you might want to get another tank for your ghost, even if it's not that big...

[Spawn-Inc]

I love my fishies...

1. Do NOT go with an autofeeder, it's gonna pollute your water. Ghosts will learn to eat from your hands, they are awesome fish. You can throw in a baby spoonfull of live brine and the ghost will snack on it but make sure you don't go overboard or the tank will foul.

2. Do NOT mix with goldfish with other fish, they poop a lot and they have really really strong ammonia in their piss and it will burn the gills out of most of other fish. Occasionally having one big lionhead or something as a show fish in with all your others is okay, but more than one goldie is asking for trouble.

3. You killed a pleco in 6 months? I mean in this with love but what the hell is wrong with you??? Plecos can live in a damn mud puddle for longer than that!

4. Lastly, yes, your ghost is gonna kill your sharks, he might not eat them, but he will try.


1 ya i tried feeding it with my hand and it works sort of. for the auto feeder how is it different from me feeding it?

2. ya i know thats probably why my plecko died , also i didn't change my water enough and still don't. i do it once a month and only change half the water. i would change more of the water but i don't have another tank for the fish to go into and i tried taking my bigger shark out and he almost jumped out of the tank and behind the stand so i never try to catch him. my net is to small(you can see in one of the pictures). it was bigenough when i bought it... and for the fitlers i have sponge, charcoal, amonia, bio tech rock or pellets they are good for letting bacteria or w/e it is grow. and i rinse then out in water every month (each at different times.)

3. i think it was 2 or 3 that died (not all at once). i think i had 4 or 6 goldfish and 3 or 4 fantails plus the 1 pleco. but thisd was all within the first year of owning the new tank and i could never get the amonia levels and nitrate level proper. i never "cycled" my tank either. i still don't know exactly what it means. i take it to mean getting the bacteria that eat amonia alive and well.

4. dammit... even if i keep the ghost well fed it will still try to kill/mame/eat the sharks? if so what would be the smallest tank it could live in? or could i divide my tank. i read on a site that one person put 2 ghost in a 10 gallon tank and they attacked each other. so would 10 gal tank be enough for 1 ghost.

[Ironcat]

1: An autofeeder works by pumping out a set amount of food at set intervals. When handfeeding you can stop if the fish aren't eating everything you offer. You should also divide your fish food up by 2 or 3 feedings thru the day. You don't eat all your meals at 8:15am and neither should your fish.

2: Changing your water is good. Changing your water not enough is bad. Changing your water too much is bad. Charcoal doesn't get rinsed, it gets replaced. It absorbs crap and holds it inside so rinsing it is doing nothing. Remember when you rinse your gear in fresh water that it is untreated water, so it still has chlorine and all the other stuff that city water is treated with. Unless you are rinsing your gear with purified reverse osmosis bottled water... and you aren't... none of us are.

3: People talk about "cycling" their tanks but unless you are doing a marine tank, it isn't a biggie... temps and ammonia are the big killers in fresh. The proper way to cycle your small freshie would be get 1 comet, 1 pleco, and a couple snails... when the comet dies the snails will eat it, the pleco will eat their crap and your bacteria will come up on it's own. test your water weekly, if you dont know what you're doing bring it to a pet shop, they will test it for free, and happily sell you everything you need to make it right. Your rule of thumb for freshwater tanks is 1 inch of fish per gallon of water, rounded down for safety. those 3 fish you have are all you want in that 20 and when they grow (which they will) you will want to upgrade.

4: The problem is that black ghosts are not bred commercially. There are scattered stories about breeders in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Australia but noone over here has seen a newborn BGK. At least not that I know of...

If you bought a black ghost, there's a 99.9% chance it was caught wild... which means not only does it have it's predatory instincts but it also has practical experience at being a predator.
In the wild they live in rivers and streams where both they and the water have room to move... I would not keep one in less than a 20 long and would not keep 2 in less than a 35.

Just my 2 cents... Good luck.

[Spawn-Inc]

well if i can get some money then i want to upgrade to a 45, 50, 55, 60 gallon tank pref 55 gal. i am looking into prices and i went to craigslist and have found people selling basically everything but the fish. i think there was a 55 gallon for 300 or 400, does this sound fiar? is this a good deal http://toronto.craigslist.org/for/282826990.html? sounds good.

i am hoping you have a 50, 55, or 60 gallon tank, if so how much have you spent on it (everything accept the fish)

also +rep for the info so far

[Ironcat]

Thanks for the rep, and I hope you will not be offended by what I am going to say, but I am going to say it anyway...

If you are killing fish in a 20, then you're just not ready for a 90. You're gonna want to get your 20 running stable then go to a 40, then a 55 or 75, then maybe a 90. You will constantly be upgrading and updating, and as your knowledge grows, the aquarium will tell you when it is time to go bigger.

Go to your nearest aquarium specialty store if you have one nearby or even try Petsmart or Pet Supermarket. Talk to the people that work in the fish department, they will be happy to chat because if you know what you're doing you'll be spending a lot more money and staying a long term customer.

Aquaria is an expensive hobby and if that price was for everything he said, and it was in a stable aquarium, then yes it was fair. Hell, it was great.

You can't really use my costs as your own because I have had fish around the house since I was 10 or 12. Not counting fish, I have probably spent close to 1000 on fresh and easily double that since I went to marine.

[Spawn-Inc]

no i'm not offended in the least bit. but i haven't had anything die for almost ayear now minus 2 sharks that died for what looked like starvation. they might have been crappy fish to start with though i got them from pj's pet shop (not sure if that canadian only) on sale for 2.77 each. but i'm not sure if i should go to 40 or 50. i am an impulseive person and would like to have a big tank but not have to clean it or do much just buy food and water treatmeant. when i first joined this site i was set (still slightly am) on getting a water cooled 3000 computer. once i get my carear going i will probably end up doing both.

[Drew]

Big tanks are more chemically stable, but listen to Ironcat, he knows his ****.

I been keeping fish for years, and if you haven't got the time to maintain a small tank, you wont keep up with a biggun.

R.I.P. Billy, my vat grown fantail. Died at 15yrs old, and 9" long (had a dose of dropsy, killed 3 flishes and still dont know where it came from :().

He was a good flishy.

+rep to Ironcat, aquarist extrordinaire.

[Spawn-Inc]

well i just replaced my charcoal filter and changed most of the water. but dammit i forgot to unplug the heater and it started crackling and melted a bit of the suction cup it was attached too. the glass never cracked THANK GOD. anyway my next question is how much food should i give them? i went out and got some frozen blood worms and some freeze dried ones to mix with flakes. how many cube(s) should i feed my 2 sharks and one ghost knife. i figureed about 1 cube a day and one feeding of flakes with freeze dried blood worms.

[Ironcat]

1 cube for those 3 fish is WAY too much.

Remember that you don't eat Thanksgiving dinner everyday and neither should they. The more they eat, the more they poop, and the more water problems you will have.

Cut your cube into quarters and each quarter will more than enough for those 3 fish to eat per feeding.

Thaw it out in a small bowl of water from the tank and then use an eyedropper to suck up worms and drop a few in the tank at a time. You may want to get a long pipette for dropping food down to your BGK, this way he gets used to contact with you meaning food and he won't be as skittish.

If you don't have the time/energy/patience/whatever to thaw your cubes, then reach down about halfway into the tank and smush it onto the glass, hold it for a second and it should stick.

Bloodworms are mesy and yukky so make sure you don't overfeed as they will just gunk up every filter in sight. Some people claim that frozen bloodworms can even spring back to life if you leave them in a tank (I have never seen this but try freeze dried if you're worried).

Get baby baby feeder guppies and release them into your tank, they will take care of any spare bloodworms and they BGK will take care of them :) You'll go to sleep with a dozen guppies and wake up with 3.

[Ironcat]

From my brief prerusal online it looks like they only sell acrylic tanks.
Acrylic tanks are definitely lighter than the glass but they are acrylic. I will explain why that's a problem.
1. Glass is cheaper.
2. Glass tanks are sealed with silicone which can expand as needed fpr temps or water fills, etc.
3. Remember how easy it is to scratch your plexi when modding...
Now add gravel to your aquarium (usually count on a pound per gallon of water) and possibly rocks as well for decoration (how much is up to you), now factor in gravity trying to knock down your pretty rock piles, living creatures that like to dig in and around that substrate or move rocks looking for food. Acrylic tanks scratch fast and stay scratched forever. scratched sides mean you can't see what's inside.

On the other hand...
1. Acrylic can stand an occasional bump or thump (like from a new baby) without too much trouble.
2. Acrylic tanks can be made to almost any shape so you can fit it anywhere you want a tank.
3. Glass tanks are freakin heavy. Besides for the gravel and rocks, besides for the 8.8 pounds per gallon fresh, besides for your pump/stand/filter/fish/whatever, you need glass thick enough (and therefore heavy enough) to hold it all together.



*If you want a good brand, I like "All-Glass". They have been doing it forever and they make a good product.

P.S. How big is your mod gonna be? A 55 is like 1x2x4feet

[Spawn-Inc]

1 cube for those 3 fish is WAY too much.

Remember that you don't eat Thanksgiving dinner everyday and neither should they. The more they eat, the more they poop, and the more water problems you will have.

Cut your cube into quarters and each quarter will more than enough for those 3 fish to eat per feeding.

so should i feed each fish a quarter or 1 quarter per feeding for all. i just cut them up today and feed 1 quarter to them for supper. it seemed to be a good amount. the first time i did it i dropped in a whole cube let it float around and it was mess. half got sucked up the filter, 1 quarter got eaten, the rest flaoted around for a while until i cleaned it.




Thaw it out in a small bowl of water from the tank and then use an eyedropper to suck up worms and drop a few in the tank at a time. You may want to get a long pipette for dropping food down to your BGK, this way he gets used to contact with you meaning food and he won't be as skittish.
the first time i used the frozen blod worms i tossed a full cube inside the tubes i put in for him. i just found a 25ml pipette i borrowed from school but forgot about it and just found it. after cleaning it with soap and alcohol i used that and it did the job good. here are 2 pics of it. the hose is dirty but i don't suck any liquid up to that point. i marked a black line on the second pciture to how high it gets.

http://inlinethumb39.webshots.com/3238/2942551850100511463S600x600Q85.jpg

http://inlinethumb51.webshots.com/562/2195852980100511463S600x600Q85.jpg



If you don't have the time/energy/patience/whatever to thaw your cubes, then reach down about halfway into the tank and smush it onto the glass, hold it for a second and it should stick.
thats what i first did as i stated above but i put in in a pvc tube i put in the tank



Bloodworms are mesy and yukky so make sure you don't overfeed as they will just gunk up every filter in sight. Some people claim that frozen bloodworms can even spring back to life if you leave them in a tank (I have never seen this but try freeze dried if you're worried).
even if the blood worms came back to life would that be a problem? wouldn't it be more fun for the fish or would it start attacking the fih!?? the only blood worms i know about that attack things are the big ones with teeth. i saw it on dirty jobs.



Get baby baby feeder guppies and release them into your tank, they will take care of any spare bloodworms and they BGK will take care of them :) You'll go to sleep with a dozen guppies and wake up with 3.

how much are these fish? though i presume this is more so a joke.

[Ironcat]

Okay, where to start...

1: Just 1 quarter of 1 cube is enough for all 3 fish to eat. Remember to thaw it out (or rehydrate if freeze dried) and it will "blossom" so there's enough fro everybody. As you said, 1 quarter seemed to be a good amount, if it seems like too much, then cut it smaller next time. If food floats or sinks to the bottom and just sits there uneaten, it's too much.

2: No, they wouldn't start attacking your fish, but when they hatch into midges they might start attacking you.

3: They are about a dollar for a dozen and no it wasn't a joke. Remember you need various food groups and so do your fish, guppies have all the plant matter that they are eating, protein from their teeny guppy bodies, and even calcium from their teeny tiny guppy bones. Vary your diet, bloodworms one day, brine the next, flakes, pellets, etc... it makes for healthier happier fishies.

Oh and a P.S. about your sharks... A: they are schooling fish and prefer schools of 5 or more, and B: they will get as big as your BGK does when full grown. (that's about 12 - 18 inches each)

[xRyokenx]

This thread is getting me inspired into getting some fish, although I will never again get any from freakin' Walmart, the beta I got from there died the day after his "warranty" expired... freakin' Walmart... I'll have to find something easy to take care of and "theme" the tank to go good with the bonsai I'm hoping to "make" soon... now if I could only get all my pottery from school and have the teacher glaze it, as they don't really want to see my face there anymore. :( But yeah, I'll have to take a look into getting some fish... any suggestions? Oh, and sorry for hijacking the thread...

[Spawn-Inc]

Okay, where to start...

1: Just 1 quarter of 1 cube is enough for all 3 fish to eat. Remember to thaw it out (or rehydrate if freeze dried) and it will "blossom" so there's enough fro everybody. As you said, 1 quarter seemed to be a good amount, if it seems like too much, then cut it smaller next time. If food floats or sinks to the bottom and just sits there uneaten, it's too much.

2: No, they wouldn't start attacking your fish, but when they hatch into midges they might start attacking you.

3: They are about a dollar for a dozen and no it wasn't a joke. Remember you need various food groups and so do your fish, guppies have all the plant matter that they are eating, protein from their teeny guppy bodies, and even calcium from their teeny tiny guppy bones. Vary your diet, bloodworms one day, brine the next, flakes, pellets, etc... it makes for healthier happier fishies.

Oh and a P.S. about your sharks... A: they are schooling fish and prefer schools of 5 or more, and B: they will get as big as your BGK does when full grown. (that's about 12 - 18 inches each)

1. ya i did what you said and i have small bowl that i scoop up some water from the tank and drop in the 1/4 cube and let it separate. it works great with my pipe so now i have actually seen my smaller shark eat. but he has some troubles, its as if he just opens his mouth and doesn't suck in anything.

2. well thinking about that just freaks me out, but i will still use them.

3 if i go buy some guppies then do i have to get real plants? how hard is it to keep real plants? the only "plant" i have is algae.

also, i am planning to wait 6 months or until i get more money.i will probably go with a 40 or 50 gallon tank.





This thread is getting me inspired into getting some fish, although I will never again get any from freakin' Walmart, the beta I got from there died the day after his "warranty" expired... freakin' Walmart... I'll have to find something easy to take care of and "theme" the tank to go good with the bonsai I'm hoping to "make" soon... now if I could only get all my pottery from school and have the teacher glaze it, as they don't really want to see my face there anymore. :( But yeah, I'll have to take a look into getting some fish... any suggestions? Oh, and sorry for hijacking the thread...



well there’s your first mistake getting walamrt ****. I heard they **** around with their fish to change the colours and make the fish look better when you buy them but later own they start having problems because of the die. and i wouldn't call it hijacking since its about fish.

[xRyokenx]

Yeah, I learned from that... Walmart is evil, and their prices are only like 12 cents lower than other stores... but yeah, I'll see if I can't get a tank and a couple fish (recommendations on a good starter fish or two?) and see how it goes... any advice would be great...

[Spawn-Inc]

well after talking with iron cat i don't think i am in a postion to give advice. but here is my 2 cents. i started with the 20 gallon i have right now and i would say start with it too. i first got goldfish, which i think is what everyone does, and see how that goes. make sure you have a ammonia filter though if you start with goldfish, there piss and **** is poison pretty much. i had at most 12 fish in my tank i think, but i would now only put 8 max. thats all i can think of at the moment. on my setup i spent about 200 -250 i think.

i think ironcat can help you with more detailed info.

[Ironcat]

Okay let's see...
1. Lots of people paint fish (painted glass cats, and bubblegum parrot fish are a couple of examples)

2. Starting a fishtank

** I am not an expert ** This is friendly buddy advice only **

If I was going to start a brand new tank with a minimum of money and a maximum of bang for my buck, I would go with a 29 gallon tank. Why? They are longer and more impressive without costing much more than a 20, but they also have more surface area, so more room for adequate oxygen crossover. I would also go with cold water fish so I didn't have to worry about heaters and whatnot.

* Choose a fancy goldfish for the star of your tank. 1 won't kill you.
Spend the money on either a large calico fantail or a lion head oranda.

Now that you have a star, you're gonna need a supporting cast... Go with livebearers. They are cheap! They school so they don't mind hanging out with each other, they breed like crazy and even crossbreed, plus they bear live young which is cool because A: You get to see all the cool combinations they come up with and it's a never ending supply of fish... and B: if you don't take the babies out, it's a free supply of food. all these fish are 1-2 inches long maybe a little bigger, and they are hard to kill... well, as hard to kill as a 1" fish in a glass bowl can be.
* Swordtails. They come in white, black, green, red, yellow, and orange. The bottom lobe of their tail spikes much longer than the other part (like a sword).
* Lyretails. Pretty much like swords but a little thicker bodied and both lobes of their tail spike out and connect in a beautiful lyre shape. wide range of colors here too.
* Platies. Slightly stouter bodied than swords but shorter tails and fins. Colors? Yup, as many as you want. A platy is probably THE best starter fish.
* Mollies. A little bigger than the others but with beautiful tall sail shaped fins, not as many colors as the swords, but damn close. mollies can even live in brackish or marine tanks (they are cheaper and less thempermental than damselfish when your cycling a tank.)
* Guppies. Guppies come in every color you can imagine on a fish and some you can't. Buy a couple dozen feeder guppies and you're almost sure to get 1 or 2 nice fantails in the mix. or just buy the fancy guppies and get all fancy guppies.

Throw in a pleco for algae and cool factor (a royal pleco if you can afford it) and a couple of snails for debris removal and you're all set.

[xRyokenx]

Okay, now to print all that, make a list, and get shopping when I get more cash... and maybe even build a stand for them... how much do you think all that'd cost? +rep for knowing your fish... almost an ichthyologist, right?

EDIT: Nevermind, gotta spread some rep first... crap...

[Ironcat]

I better start doing this in PM or Paul will think I am trying to steal you all away from computers!

[xRyokenx]

Heh heh, just retaliate by saying that this is the "Chatterbox," for all OT threads, etc... so much for computer related stuff, heh heh...

[Spawn-Inc]

about the guppies. if i go to a fish store do i ask for feeder guppies or guppies? is this what they look like
http://aqualandpetsplus.com/Livebe76.jpg

[thatslife]

wow 29 gallon for starter and here I'm having enough trouble with a 2gallon and a betta lol mostly because it wasnt taken care of. I think the betta has tail rot and is depressed :neutral: Its getting better though Ive had it for a week and its my first pet.

[Spawn-Inc]

wow 29 gallon for starter and here I'm having enough trouble with a 2gallon and a betta lol mostly because it wasnt taken care of. I think the betta has tail rot and is depressed :neutral: Its getting better though Ive had it for a week and its my first pet.

well from what i understand the bigger the tank the easier it is to take care of. also since this topic is back up then i will also mention that so far my fish are doing good. the black ghost knife hasn't attacked my 2 sharks... yet *knocking on wood*

[gaz_the_chav]

This thread is getting me inspired into getting some fish, although I will never again get any from freakin' Walmart, the beta I got from there died the day after his "warranty" expired... freakin' Walmart... I'll have to find something easy to take care of and "theme" the tank to go good with the bonsai I'm hoping to "make" soon... now if I could only get all my pottery from school and have the teacher glaze it, as they don't really want to see my face there anymore. :( But yeah, I'll have to take a look into getting some fish... any suggestions? Oh, and sorry for hijacking the thread...


Me to lol.

Dear dear i want some ghost fish!

+rep x4 if I could IronCat I have been really interested for the last 30 mins reading through this thread.

-gaz