Pet fish...or w/e you call them...

[cvec7]

Anyway, I was wondering what kind of fish you people had and like tanks and stuff. I'm kinda thinking of getting into fish again for the 3rd time (lol, i moved once, got rid of them, never got new ones, then I had a beta which I got lazy and forgot to feed, lol) Anyway, I'd probably get freshwater (even tho saltwater is sooo much cooler IMO, lol, it's the nitro of fish ) And, I need reccomendations on a tank. I'd like to have a tank w/ a hood and nice filtration system (possibly 3-stage) and a light and all that good stuff. But mainly I want one that you don't really need to clean, one that the filter does all the work, and all you have to do is feed the fish and keep track of little things like ph. I really don't want to spend much on getting into this, but I was thinking of maybe the Eclipse 12, and some tetras, a algae eater, maybe some little cat fish, and some Celebese rainbow fish if I can find them, and even a blue crayfish (lol, where the hell would I find one of those????), and of course maybe some gold fish. Anyone forsee a problem w/ those fish beein in the same tank?? Now of course I wouldn't have all those in a little 12-gallon tank, those are just some that I like.
And, if I were to get into this stuff, what all would I need besides a tank, filters, fish, rocks, plants, and food?

Thanks in Advance!

 

[4u2nv]

I just had my pirahna that I had for 3 years die. Now I just have a empty aquarium that I let my mom use to grow plants in last spring..lol.

 

[FastEddy]

I have a Jack Dempsey.
He eats everything else in the tank so hes alone, again.
I feed him once a month or so or whenever I remember.
I add some tap water to the tank when it gets around 1/2 empty.
can't get much easier then that.

 

[kwong2001]

I used to have a bass, but we ended up getting some algae or some poop in the tank and the little guy died. We also had a crawfish that we ended up letting go in some lake.

Anyhoo too bad you're not local, cvec, we've got a nice 25 gallon tank that needs to be gotten rid of.

 

[FastEddy]

DUDE!
A Bass in your house?
I would spend all my time fishing in the living room.
What a great way to test new lours and jigs.
I'm GETTING ONE

 

[kwong2001]

lol, i already tried, took out the hook on one of our lures and it wouldn't eat it.

Oh, and we actually had like 13 in our tank originally, brought a shitload home after fishing a local lake. But anyhoo, they all got some disease and died. Oh, and they were all babies, probably about 4" long...the bigger one that survived the longest about 6".

 

[Mr T-Maxx]

We have a goldfish named "Barney". He was one of those carnival goldfish...ya know the poor little guys in the tiny bowl that ya throw ping pong balls into. Anyway, my experience with carnival goldfish is that if they actually are still alive by the time you get home....their life expectancy is a week or two at best.

Little bastard will be three YEARS old in a couple months :shrug:

Mr T

 

[Plaidfish]

Cvec if you want a real sick deal on like 10k worth of saltwater tank and equipment, give me a holler....I just got everything out of the warehouse and I couldn't fit this easily in my new place.....125gal tank stand Metal halide fixtures that stage to simulate sunrise/set.....mini screw chiller and algae filter....all the stuff must go.....I was selling it to a local fish shop for 2500 but I'll let it go 1500 if you come get it.....oh the tank is glass face and acrylic sides bottom rear......

 

[beason]

dont get goldfish.. they are the dirtiest fish.. you will be cleaning that tank all the time.. just go to walmart and get there kit.. comes with everything.. exept fish.. set it up and let it be for a few weeks for the algae to build up.. then get a algae eater or two and start getting your ph right.. there tough so they should be ok.. the one trick i found was even though its a fresh water tank you still need to add a small amount of aquarium salt to it.. it helps them develope there slime coating so they dont get iche or any other desease.. tiger barbs are nice looking but they will nip so get a "school" of them (4 or more) so they mess with each other and not the other fish.. i got some big silver fish i think there danyos?? there big and shiny and fast.. i only got 1 sucker fish in a 30 gal but he has grown int the tank and he is HUGE!!! you may have to feed your sucker some algae waffers untill the tank gets good and slimy.. i dont clean mine at all.. just take half the water out and refill it with fresh ever so often.. to keep the ph down.. i personaly like ALOT of bubbles..i got a undergravel filter that has two stacks that put out bubbles and a 6in stick bubble bar in the front.. the danyos like to get in the bubbles and swim down.. its like one of those pools with the pumps so you can swim "laps" and not have a big pool.. i also have two fiber filters and a heater.. but the kit at walmart is nice.. has wood stand and i think up to 120 gal tanks.. with filters and gravel and everything..

 

[sweetdiesel]

I used to have oranda goldfish and black moors, the typical type you see in the Vietnamese restaurants with brain like masses coming out of theirs heads and bugged out eyes. They do eat and poop a lot so if you do go with these types of goldfish get a filter that is rated for at least 2-3 times the size of your tank. I never cleaned my tank only added water to it every other month. I also had a pleco to help keep the green stuff from getting out of hand.

I would still have my fish today but space was becoming an issue so it had to go.

 

[Plaidfish]

My stuff has been in storage for a year and before that I used it as a huge freshwater tank for 3 albino oscars....taped black aquarium paper around 3 sides, filled th bottom w/ black river rocks and put black lights in it.....the fish look like they were flying in the air if all th elights in the room were off........the tank hadn't been used for salt water in 10 years......you can get real cool freshwater stuff if you do a larger tank....irridescent sharks are pretty cool but teh oscars are just awsome.....feed em roaches when you find em....and yes everone has bugs and stuff living in their home so don't wanna hear any crap about "no bugs in my house".......

 

[nitrost]

we used to have a couple of sharks about 10 inches long but we had to get rid of them because they caused to much to feedy

 

[cvec7]

Ya, I should've realized that goldfish are kind of messy....
Plaid, sorry, not willing to spend $1500, but I'll let my dad know, he was a big salt water aquarium enthuiast once.
Hey ed, what happened to your beta? I did a search first to see if there wasn't already a thread like this, and I found some thread about you getting a beta and feeding him hamburger and everyone tellin you that the grease in the tank was bad, LOL.

 

[jetmechG550]

Hey Plaid, you want kind of MH fixtures are they?

Ah hell, I'll post some pics of my NaH2O when I get home in it's current state. It has matured so much since my last pics posted back in April. It might make you want NaH2O.

 

[FastEddy]

I had Oscars for years, Albinos. They got hole in the head and freaked out. I also had a Gold Arowana that I gave to a friend over 10 years ago. There was no room in my new house for a 200 gallon fish house. Hes still alive and swimming.

What is a (Na)? H20.

 

[.30savage]

i've got all kinds of fish in mine it's a 100 gallon tank,3 stage filters system,2 oscars,4 jack dempsey,2 tea cup sting rays,1 electric catfish,and 3 convicts.they all seem to get along,i had some pariahnas in there but the osc ars and ole jack got them,had some crazy kind of rope fish also,but he jumped to freedom found him behind the tank on the floor.

 

[cvec7]

How many tetras could I keep in a small 1-gallon tank? I'm thinking of getting this nice little 1-gallon tank w/ hood and stuff for only $10 at petsmart. Or other small fish like that? I have yet to check ebay for deals tho...

 

[Plaidfish]

go see what your local aquarium stores have for stuff...pet-mart aint pet smart....friggin clueless kids killing animals in record numbers...LOL...not that in itself is the problem, it's the desease your new fishy carries that will kill him just as you were liking him.....and then it's in th etank and all your aquarium stuff....spend an extra 10 and see what the specialty shops have for starter set ups....

and jetmech it's 2 250watts w/ a 400 in the center....I have a PCU controller I programmed to stage teh lights so it starts in the morning 7:30 on the east side of teh tank and at 10:30 the 400 comes on...11:30 the east side 250 turned off....at 1:30 the west 250w came on and at 5PM th e 400 shuts off then the west 250w stopped at 8PM...also monitored the water temp and if I had ever found some I could have monitored the PH levels and any chemical balancing you could think of......interested in one sick ass custom programmable tank controller?????

all 3 of the fixtures are horizontal mount GE ballasts w/ Sylvania mounts.....

 

[cvec7]

I jus looked for local places and the only one besides petsmart is some place that only does custom 100+ gallon tanks and stuff. I have yet to reach them via phone to see exactly what they have, but their website shows that they only do the custom stuff. I haven't been able to get ahold of them via phone yet tho...

And, does anyone know like how many little fish I could have per gallon?

 

[Mr T-Maxx]

go see what your local aquarium stores .....

Would that be your LAS?