fish tanks

alan · Mar 13, 2004

i know a few of you on here keep fish, does anyone have a marine tank, or experience of keeping marine fish?

i have a 4ft*18in*18in tank that i want to convert to marine fish, and was wondering how much hassle they are to maintain?

Ive spoken to the local shop, and he has told me that the filters and heaters i have at the moment will do to start with (keeping a few small fish, nothing fancy yet), i was told in the shop that the water only needs testing 2 weeks, but ive also heard that it needs testing every day.

any info will be appreciated.

Steve Andrews · Mar 13, 2004

I only keep tropical, but try this site:-
http://www.tropicalfishcentre.co.uk/

The have an excellent forum, including marine. I'm sure they will be able to answer all your questions.

alan · Mar 14, 2004

cheers Steve, loads of usefull info on the site, now to talk the wife into it.

chef · Mar 14, 2004

Try getting hold of richard hugget on this site he lent me a book about marine set ups (richard send address so i can post back)ask him very helpful guy

alan · Mar 14, 2004

cheers chef
have you got a marine tank then?

chef · Mar 14, 2004

no but i am seriously thinking about it
couple of tanks doing nothing not sure if i'll go big chiclids (oscars ,jaguars etc) or marine

alan · Mar 14, 2004

thats my problem, cant decide guppies, platties and lot of plants, bigger tropicals, or marine, ive got 5 tanks so i might go one of each.

chef · Mar 14, 2004

if one tank is about 3ft long have a single oscar they get about a foot or just over in lenght and are great fun .Iused to have one in my 6x2x2 tank with a selection of other big fish (snow plec got to 18ins long )came down one morning and all the heaters had been smashed turned off the power to tank and put arm in to remove the heaters(very nervous about electrics and water!) the oscar got into postion so as i touched the first broken heater he bit me nearly had to change trousers swear he was grinning as he swam off

alan strickland · Mar 15, 2004

Go with some nice rift lake chiclids you get all the colours of the marine fish without the hassle,marine setups are ok but they do need a hell of lot effort on your part to run smoothly.
I have a few tanks but my show tank is 6ftx3ftx3ft it was originally built as a marine reef tank and was fantastic to sit and watch after a days work,the soft and hard corals grew that well i ended up taking cutting`s and growing thwm on untill they were big enough to sell back to shops.problem is it took on average 1 hour a day to keep in top condition,so i converted after 3 years into a marine fishtank with a group of 5 lionfish,again really nice to look at but after a couple of years a house move had me loking for a new home for the lions(they eneded up at blackpool sealife center)
The tank is up and running again now with Blue Frontosa cichlids from lake tanganyika they grow to about 15" and have the personallty of oscars.
What im after next if i get room for another tank is a british fish species tank,a few small tench,carp and maybe a shoal of rudd

jason fisher · Mar 15, 2004

if you want a fish with charachter then try clown loaches, mine tend to lie in a pile one on top of the other just don't think they're dead because they're lying on their back with their fins in the air, they're probably just having a sleep.

Twainy · Mar 15, 2004

Apparently thats one of the characteristics of Clown Loach, they roll over and go to sleep and in some really strange places.

Does anyone know the courting colours of Tiger Barbs?
I have two, about 2 inches long and they have both developed a beautiful green sheen like you see on cooked beef or raw bacon.

The black stripes have faded a bit and the anal fins on one fish have black spots on them, Male or female I dont know.

Also I bought a pair of Silver Sailfin Mollies. They did fine for about 4 days then the female just swam up to the surface for a couple of hours then into the plants and the next time I looked, the next morning, she was dead, in fact she looked perfectly healthy, just dead!

Its a new juwel tank with treated tap water and a sponge direct from my old filter to kick start the bacteria in my new one. The Ph was neutral and the nitrate levels must have been low as the water was fresh.

Its so frustrating when new fish just die.
I follow all the rules for not stressing the fish, is this just the way it is?

jason fisher · Mar 15, 2004

there's nothing in baensch about tiger barbs changing colour before mating but there is a green variant of the tiger barb.

as for the sailfins it will either be internal parasites, gill problems or stress.

Richard Huggett 1 · Mar 15, 2004

Piranhas rule....OK ?

alan · Mar 15, 2004

my last fish died about 2 weeks ago, it was an upside down catfish, that i was givern by my dad when he closed his tank down 3 years ago, he had it 4 years and the block before him about 7 years, he was 12 inches long, strange watching it swim asit would just roll over whenever it felt like it.

at the moment a heavily planted tropical filled with guppies and platies seems to be winning, with marine a close second.

i managed to breed corydoras, i ended giving about 40 of them away.

Richard Huggett 1 · Mar 15, 2004

Chef...send that booklet on to Alan, it may help him.

Rich

chef · Mar 16, 2004

Richard, no problem if Alan e-mails me his address i will post it to him as it is very helpful

Twainy · Mar 16, 2004

Thanks Jason

alan · Mar 16, 2004

Thanks Richard, I'm due to move soon so i will wait until thats out of the way first so it doesn't get lost.

jason fisher · Mar 16, 2004

the other thing about clown loaches is you never get snail problems the loaches just get fatter as the snails disappear

Eric Hayes · Mar 16, 2004

If you are just interested in the fish I would suggest you eventually get a hand full of tangs one or two clowns (common or tomato) and a butterfly. (butterflys can be very demanding)

If you are just starting out I would leave the invertebrates alone especially the anenomy (not sure how you spell it) and corals The lighting alone will cost u a fortune, although one or two shrimps should be ok. Go for the biggest tank you can get your hands on (the bigger the tank the more stable they environment) and keep a check on PH and specific gravity. The best advice I was given was: take it slow when stocking and start off with a few damsels until your system is stable, keep your eye on the nitrate and nitrite. Read as much as you can... and for god sake don?t ask me about filtration.

hope all that crap helps

fish tanks

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