All about aquariums. Looky here!

Monster2

Monster2

New member
Hi gang.
If I were to be considered an expert in anything, it would be in fishkeeping. I've kept fish for almost 20 years now, and I'd like to share some of this info with you guys, especially if anyone's interested. (ROFL) Some of this stuff will get a bit technical, and boring, but it's important! And it will be rewarding if you decide to make the big jump into aquarium keeping.

Step one: Have enough money to set up an aquarium.
How much does it cost? Be prepared to spend what you would pay to bring a dog home, including the vet bill. Even a small aquarium will require adequate filters. I would also recommend buying a book guide to keeping fish. Of course, I could probably write a book or two on the subject, but it's always good to get different ideas.
TIME: You'll need at least one hour each month to dedicate to aquarium maintence, which includes water changes and cleaning up your filter. You may need a bit more time to dedicate to water changes in the first 2 months of set up.
DON'T: be intimidated by water changes. There's some very simple tools that will help you change your water. Not only that, you'll need to change about 25% max. of your aquarium water.

DON'T listen to pet store employees! This is a general rule. Do your own homework. Don't trust me! (check your facts online) Feel free to question my methods here, I'm always game for discussing fishy-related subjects! You'll be making multiple trips to a pet store, so learn enough so you'll know who you can count on for good information.

NEXT: Pick your aquarium. SIZE DOES MATTER! For your first tank, I'd like to recommend a 20 gallon over a 10 gallon tank. This will keep chemical and temperature fluctuations to a minimum. Also, spend a bit of money on an aquarium stand, and be aware that an aquarium will weigh about 10lbs per gallon! That's 200 pounds for a 20 gallon aquarium, which includes water (8lbs per gallon) and rocks. You'll probably want gravel. Also, I don't recommend a TALL aquarium for your first tank, since you'll need extra water circulation for the bottom.
DON'T: put an aquarium on flimsy furniture.

OPTIONS: You COULD buy an all in one kit that really looks nice.
Here's one example:
These are a bit pricey but they work pretty well, and look nice. Make sure it has all of the nessecary components before you buy a full kit. These have advantages and disadvantages, I would NOT personally buy one, but that's really more of my personal preference.


Okay... I'll take questions before I continue! please ask away!
 
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DO: Visit specialty aquarium stores. These guys usually know what they're talking about, but it's still good to double check your info. Also, these stores tend to have a much larger variety of fish to pick from. Even if you don't have one nearby, I've always found it's worth a drive to look at fish that my local chain stores don't carry.
 
I'd like a small aquarium with a few fish. Nothing big, just a little starter one with a couple of guppy-fish or something similar. My main problem is - I've got 4 cats, two of them only 8 months. Is there the ultimate way of 'cat-proofing' an aquarium?
 
San said:
I'd like a small aquarium with a few fish. Nothing big, just a little starter one with a couple of guppy-fish or something similar. My main problem is - I've got 4 cats, two of them only 8 months. Is there the ultimate way of 'cat-proofing' an aquarium?
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I'd say go with a 10 gallon and get a standard lid. Your cats might bat at the glass, but they won't be able to get into the tank. IF your cats are really determined, spray that cat-a-way spray on a rag at the base of the aquarium. Cats HATE that smell. Be careful that you don't spray any chemicals around your tank. ESPECIALLY windex, which has ammonia. If you need to clean around your aquarium with spray cleaners spray a rag first, then clean the area.
When I would go to fish shows... yes, really.. LOL... (see Ohio Cichlid Association, based in Cleveland), people who brought fish would tape a sign on the outside of their hotel room that said "No Spray Cleaners"
 
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So.. why don't I discuss guppies. If you have hard, alkaline water (pH 7.5-8.0) they are a great starter fish that can, and often do multiply quickly. As a member of the livebear family, the female does not produce eggs, she carries the young until they swim on their own. To keep the young from being eaten (although some will no matter what you do) you must put a lot of plastic plants down at the bottom of your aquarium so they will hide. Although I don't think it's absolutely needed, you can also purchase plants specially designed for this purpose OR separation compartments that fit inside your aquarium for either the babies or adults.
After you see babies, you should keep the tank pretty well fed at this time, feeding twice per pay, and also crushing up some flake food for the babies to feed on. Pay particular attention to your water quality since you're adding extra food. During feeding times turn off your mechanical filters off so the crushed flake food won't get sucked up.
DO: Have a plan for the babies. Whether you allow them to get eaten or find homes for them, plan ahead! An aquarium with too many fish can quickly get polluted.

The entire livebearer family can use, and often needs a bit of aquarium salt added to the tank. You should use salt for saltwater aquariums and only add about 1 tablespoon for 10 gallons. Since you're using so little, the box of saltwater aquarium salt will last a very, very, very long time. This will not effect other types of fish in the aquarium.
Tankmates:
This is the one biggest issue with keeping small, peaceful fish. Your choice of tankmates is going to be pretty limited. Other small livebears like platys and swordtails are great companions, as are small cypranids (barbs) like the cherry barb, and harlequin rasbora. You can also introduce otocinclus catfishes into your tank, these stay very small, and will also eat algae off the sides of your tank. With the exception of the otocinclus, consider keeping guppies by themselves. Fancy tail guppies are very nice because they come in so many different colors, and you don't have to look to other species to add another color.
DO: Familiarize yourself with the difference between male and female guppies. While some pet stores only sell them in pairs, if you only have one sex you can obviously keep your fish population from changing. Also, males tend to have larger and more colorful tails.
OOPS: Almost forgot: Guppies really veggies! So.. buy spirulina flake food (it's a kind of algae) and feed it to them! In a livebearer only tank, it's actually best if you do half veggie flakes and half regular fish food. I would also like to emphasize that a surprisingly large number of fish enjoy veggie flake, so buy some and feed at least once a week, no matter what kind of fish you have. You'll be surprised. Also consider weighing down some dark green lettuce, spinach, or even dandelion leaves (work great, and cheapest of all!) at the bottom for your fish to graze on.
Questions?... ask away!!!!
 
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Okay.. since people are looking, I'll talk about aquarium heaters! Yup... very important, I'll keep it brief, since it is a dry subject.
First - NO goldfish NO "minnows". Don't put these guys into your tropical community aquarium. They are cold water fish, and won't do well in warm water. If a fish is somehow labeled minnow (Rosy Reds are minnows) make sure it isn't a coldwater minnow, as most of them are. If you want a minnow-like fish get DANIOs, they are small and pretty much do the same thing minnows do.
WHY? Since these are coldblooded animals, warm water will increase their metabolism, they'll breath harder, eat more, and poop more, this will add a lot of extra waste to your aquarium. (and unprocessed waste is the #1 killer of aquarium fish)
Also...... COLD WATER ABSORBS MORE OXYGEN. While tropical fish are used to warm water, it's really important that you don't allow ANY fish to live in water that is too warm for them, they won't be able to breath as well. The warmest any aquarium should ever be over 82 for certain specialty fish, 73-78 being a much better range.
2nd. SPEND MONEY on a good quality aquarium heater. I've had the thermostats go bad and the glass break on cheap heaters. Spend the money, and it will last you years, and save you money in the long run from not buying replacement heaters. Trust me on this. You can call a specialty aquarium store if you don't know which one to buy. Fosters and Smith is a fantastic online retailer of pet supplies.
3rd BUY A STICK ON THERMOMETER. Don't ever, ever, ever, trust the thermostat on an aquarium heater. Very often, they aren't 100% accurate, and even change slightly over time. These stick on thermometers are small and can be placed on the side out of the way of main viewing. Make sure to stick the thermometer in the middle height of the tank, since higher or lower could be slightly different.
MOST important: DON'T allow the heater out of the water while it is on. You'll ruin it. If you have to take the heater out, unplug it and let it sit for about 5 minutes before you take it out of the tank.
 
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Fish to SAY NO to!!!!!!!
1) Piranhas - These are boring stupid fish that just happen to have the ability to bit smaller fish in 1/2. Really. If you have more than one, you'll find chunks missing off each other. They'll kill feeder fish and not eat them. Really, you don't want pirahnas, you'll get bored silly of them. IF you want more aggresive fish or predatory fish, there's MUCH, MUCH better choices.
2) LARGE FISH!!! MAKE SURE you know the fish final size!!!! Here's some cute fish that you'll see a lot in small sizes that grow really big! Pacu, Tinfoil shark, Many types of catfish, Plecostomus (ugly sucker fish), Bala Shark, Irrendesciant Shark, Silver Shark, Clown Loach, Clown knife fish, Frontosa, Oscars...
OKAY, you get the picture!!! I HIGHLY recommend buying fish from a specialty aquarium store for this reason, don't trust the chain pet store employees! Don't buy fish that get huge. Got it? good!
3) Fish from very acidic and soft water. Here's where you have to consult the specialists, or just do some homework. Most of these types of fish come from (but only from) S.American rainforest. Yes, they are very pretty, but you can easily kill them! If you really want to get one, wait until you have a bit of experience keeping fish, do your reading, and make it a goal. Just like weight loss, you don't run a marathon if you weigh 350 lbs!
 
Expect the unexpected!
Learn from my mistakes:
Keep your lids closed.
Yes, fish may jump. I once had the world's coolest and RARE saltwater fish in my aquarium. Did he jump? YES>>>>. that bastard. But here's the strange thing. He was a bottom dweller. You don't normally expect bottom dwelling fish to jump. EVER. But it happens. And fast swimming fish, especially the ones that swim close to the surface will certainly jump from time to time. Keep them protected. Keep it covered. :smilielol5: That's actually how my goldfish died when I was a kid. But I didn't crap about fishkeeping back then, either.
........
Power outages: If you lose power for a long period of time, your fish WILL die due to lack of oxygen. Be prepared. Buy a battery powered air pump, and make sure you have tubing and an airstone to go with it.
 
Here's the fish that jumped. (not actually my fish) This fish was so cool because IT WALKED!!!!! Yes, it was actually a walking fish, it would walk around like a crab, since it's front pectoral rays are modified to allow it to walk... it's freaking crazy, but awesome... and it jumped... so sad.... oh well.. it happened years ago.
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Totally forgot about this one....so, where I live, we have very soft water, so I'm guessing guppies aren't really the fish of choice. Now, my question is there stuff that you can put into the water to change the acidity to accommodate the fish, or is it better to choose a fish who is used to soft water?

And in case of the latter, what kind of fish would be suitable. Looking for something small-ish which is not too complicated for a newbie. My parents used to have something they called 'Zebra-fish', but I'm not sure if that is what they are really called, or if that's just what they dubbed them. They seemed pretty easy to keep, and kept breeding as if there was no tomorrow....
 
I have 125 gallon tank with

Frontosas 1-2 inch
Yellow labs 2 inch
Leleupi 1 inch
Demasoni 1.5 inch
Petricola Synodontis 2 inch

Overall about 15 fish and I will shed some Fronts when I can determine the sex.
 
San said:
Totally forgot about this one....so, where I live, we have very soft water, so I'm guessing guppies aren't really the fish of choice. Now, my question is there stuff that you can put into the water to change the acidity to accommodate the fish, or is it better to choose a fish who is used to soft water?
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Going from Soft to Hard water is very, very, very easy. You have to add stuff, rather than take stuff out, the only real issue is how to do it consistently, and you'll need some testing supplies to make sure you're not drastically changing the water chemistry during your water changes. (small changes are okay)
HOWEVER, there are many fish that do very well in soft or neutral water. Most tetras or S. American cichlids (includes angelfish) do well. For a beginner, I'd suggest just sticking with fish that do well in your own water, before you start to mess with water chemistry. One big issue is to make sure that your fish are aggression-compatible, you don't want fish killing each other.
. Looking for something small-ish which is not too complicated for a newbie. My parents used to have something they called 'Zebra-fish', but I'm not sure if that is what they are really called, or if that's just what they dubbed them. They seemed pretty easy to keep, and kept breeding as if there was no tomorrow....
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Barbs, tetras, danios, and many other types of community fish are fine for you. If you're looking for fish that get to be around 3-4" Australian rainbowfish are available in a number of varieties.
As for Zebra fish, there's a LOT of striped fish out there that could go by that name. If you could give me more details, that would help a lot, like narrow or deep bellied fish, maximum size, egg layers or live bearers, etc. Zebra Danios are extremely easy to keep, and could be what you are referring to.
 
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dilbert said:
I have 125 gallon tank with
Frontosas 1-2 inch
Yellow labs 2 inch
Leleupi 1 inch
Demasoni 1.5 inch
Petricola Synodontis 2 inch
Overall about 15 fish and I will shed some Fronts when I can determine the sex.
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Very nice tank! My only concern might be the demasoni picking on the smaller frontosa or the leleupi, since these guys are just about the meanest fish you'll find from the rift lakes. My guess is that you'll be okay as long as you have enough hiding areas.
For everyone else reading this, these fish do best in very hard water.
 
Okay... one of the very best ways to get good reliable information on aquariums is from fish magazines. They carry them at many chain pet stores, and have information for the beginner to the advance aquarium keeper.
 
I don't have anything to contribute as I don't have fish, never have, and probably can't afford them, but I just thought I'd say that I'm really enjoying this thread :)
 
I have a Fluval FX5 on my 125 gallon and to increase the water hardness. I added a bag of crushed coral to the filter. My test kit usually shows a PH of 8.

As for aggressiveness by far the most aggressive is the Leleupi. That fish terrorizes the other Leleupi and a few other fish.
 
dilbert said:
I have a Fluval FX5 on my 125 gallon and to increase the water hardness. I added a bag of crushed coral to the filter. My test kit usually shows a PH of 8.
As for aggressiveness by far the most aggressive is the Leleupi. That fish terrorizes the other Leleupi and a few other fish.
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nice. You can also use crushed coral, dolomite, or crushed seashells as a substrate to keep your pH up if you get tired of keeping it in your filter.
 
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