Fish!

[Bill]

Well, there have been several slight thread-hijackings over the past few months involving fishkeeping... I thought I\'d start a thread about it. There seem to be quite a few aquarists or former aquarists on here.

Here is a picture of my tank:

And a page of photos of the fish.

PYFT!

 

[Sand Rat]

Well, since mine are either in storage or dry in the living room floor at the moment, would do no good to post pictures of my tanks.

Good looking setup you\'ve got there Bill. Looks like primarily South American fishes, and they all look in good shape, even after your issues earlier this year.

 

[Bill]

Yup, SAs are the focus even though my PH is 7.6. The rasboras are from South Asia and the livebearers aren\'t wild-type at all, I don\'t even know where they originated from lol

A Queen Arabesque should be going in some time in the new year. I\'m apprehensive, though - they cost £27.50 and are wild caught

 

[Gilvan Blight]

Wow looking at that just gave me a really cool idea, that I will never do as I don\'t have or plan on getting a Tank.

I will share though as maybe someone else will do it and I would like to see it.

What I think would be very cool would be to do a Diorama with minis on the bottom of a Fishtank. People already put in sunken treasure, divers and other things in their tank, why not minis? I\'m not sure exactly what I would do, maybe Sea-Elves fighting Shaughun (sp?) or even your typical Space Marines (have to assume that armour is made to go under water). I think that could look so cool and be very unique for a tank.

 

[Bill]

It would probably have to be a fishless tank, though. They are very intolerant of chemicals, and would probably eat any paint that flaked off or get injured on the spiky minis. Is paint generally toxic? It would look seriously cool... especially with some funky lighting.

*edit*
Check this out - I just went to check on the tank and one of my bamboo shrimp is out filter-feeding.

Never seen him that red before!

 

[Infidel Castro]

That Whale Shark is very well disguised, Jobling!

 

[Jazz is for losers]

Awesome tank Bill, I see you\'ve gone for Brackish (which is what I did too. I was tempted by salt water tropical style, but it would have worked out more pricey in currency and upkeep).

I decided to populate mine exclusively with Scats and Plecs (it was modelled after a tank owned by the father of one of my mates, a tank that I\'d admired for a few years, only mine was on a far smaller scale).

I see you\'ve gone for more of a varied eco-system though, looking good. Maybe add some crabs if you can get a species that won\'t end up as food for the fish. Keep it up!

 

[airhead]

125 gallon, started out as a Florida Native tank. I dipped all the minnows from ponds around the neighborhood. After they all grew up, all that was left were these Jack Dempseys.

The back of the tank was my first attempt at painting in reverse. Highlights and shading have to go on before you put down the base coat. Makes your brain work overtime.

I built the cabinet myself after I got the tank - except the store-bought doors.
My wife says that if we have a tornado, she\'s getting under the tank.

 

[JakeSh]

That\'s a beauty of a tank, Bill. Great aquascaping.

I\'m a big African cichlid guy myself, so my tanks never have much room for plants.

 

[Bill]

Those are some nice Dempseys, airhead I like the background too.

Jazz is for losers: It\'s not brackish, those are freshwater shrimp I don\'t know if scats and plecs would work very well. Scats need brackish water, and plecs don\'t like salt at all.

Cheers

 

[squidders]

That\'s a seriously nice looking setup there Bill... how many litres is the tank?

I would love a nice aquarium at home but don\'t have the room for it, nor am I at home enough to really look after them as they would require. Shame because I always found them really soothing.

 

[Bill]

lol Mine is the opposite of soothing a lot of the time... I\'m always worrying about the fish. The volume is 160L.

 

[Jazz is for losers]

Originally posted by Bill
Those are some nice Dempseys, airhead I like the background too.

Jazz is for losers: It\'s not brackish, those are freshwater shrimp I don\'t know if scats and plecs would work very well. Scats need brackish water, and plecs don\'t like salt at all.

Cheers

You might be right Bill, one of the scats did die. I didn\'t put that down to an improper type of water, though that may have been the reason. In fact I didn\'t do much research at all to be honest, I am pretty impulsive that way (though as I say, it was based upon another successful set-up that I had admired for some years). The plecs definately weren\'t the same type as young Yuri there, maybe that was it? ???

 

[Bill]

There are thousands of Loricariid species (armoured catfish that are similar to plecs - although only a handful are actually plecostomus), they all come from South American freshwater and like a low pH. None of them like salt. Yuri is a bristlenose (Ancistrus sp.), they only get to about 4 or 5\", there are lots of similar-looking species that can grow much larger, but only Ancistrus species have bristles. Yours might have been common or sailfin plecs?

Scats prefer a higher pH, and live in brackish estuarine waters and mangroves (although they are thought to breed on coral reefs); they are quite adaptable, so they can survive in freshwater, but long-term they won\'t do very well without salt.

 

[Sand Rat]

And now my desire to set up tanks and aquire Oscars is growing again.

Damn.lol

Ah well after the first of the year perhaps.