Poll: Do you have an aquarium?

[Scubaroo]

yknot once bubbled...
Question for salt water tank owners to ponder- where did your fish come from? Not to preach, but some feel improper hobby speciman collection methods are one of the bigger threats to shallow reefs, especially in poorer regions. Kind of conflicts with our interest as divers.

Was in a pet store the other day just having a look around, and was very pleased to see that at least SOME of the salt tanks had "bred in captivity" marked on them. It is hypocritical to on one hand, complain about divers destroying reef with bad techniques, and then on the other, go down to the local pet shop and buy reef fish that have been taken from the same or similar reefs.

 

[Soggy]

Pez de Diablo once bubbled...
My daughter wanted a pet,...

Fish aren't pets. The defining characteristic of being a pet is that one can pet them.



I don't have an aquarium. I did have two goldfish as a kid...Andy and Pandy. Andy lived upside down for almost two years after he developed an air bladder problem. We had to poke him to find out when he died, because he otherwise looked normal.

 

[ScubaTexan]

benncool once bubbled...
I don't have an aquaium but I dove in one once down at Epicot in Orlando FL

I'm supposed to begin training before long in aquarium diving. It looks and sounds like a lot of fun.

 

[Paco]

I no longer have an aquarium but I was just given one of those cylindrical lamps that blow bubbles from the botton so that the three little plastic fishies with their little hinged tails can swim around. Oh, and the color of the light changes every few seconds. Cool, huh?

 

[Jersey]

ScubaTexan once bubbled...


I'm supposed to begin training before long in aquarium diving. It looks and sounds like a lot of fun.

Does PADI offer aquarium diving as a new specialty? I too did Epcot - what a blast! Lots-o-fun playing with the people on the outside. I will be diving the NJ State Aquarium to work out some photo equip.

As for fish tanks - getting one. I want to put in African Chiclids. Anyone have any experience with them?

 

[Dee]

I've had aquariums since I was but a wee child of 5. In all the years since, the longest I've gone without an aquarium set up was about 2 weeks when we moved 20 years ago.

At the present time I have a 75 gal saltwater, 120 gal. and 58 gal. and 10 gal. freshwater tanks.

Scubaroo is right....the smaller tanks are much harder to maintain. My 120gal tank has African Cichlids in it and has been set up for about 15 yrs with only regular partial water changes done. It's lots easier than the 10gal tank I keep for a hospital tank.

The two fish stores I buy from only sell fish 'bred in captivity' or locally collected. The selection isn't as good as stores carrying stuff from the Pacific but I prefer Caribbean fish that I see myself, anyway. I will eventually revert back to all freshwater because of the expense of saltwater upkeep....it's not hard, just more expensive than I like.

edited to fix 175 gal. typo. noted so thread would make sense!

 

[Soggy]

How big is a 175 gal tank (dimensions)? That sounds like it's pretty enormous.

 

[Dee]

That's a typo.

It's a 120 gal....6ft. long, 2 ft wide and 28" deep.

 

[yknot]

AaronBBrown once bubbled...
How big is a 175 gal tank (dimensions)? That sounds like it's pretty enormous.

Just FYI- an industry std of 180 gal is 6'LX2'Wx2'H. Last time I got the bug to look into reef tanks, cost of about $500 per foot. Cheaper to visit the fish at home!

 

[PnL]

Started young and have had a variety of freshwater from tropical to cichlid tanks. Went to planted ecosystem setup for a while - it did remarkably well and was very self-sufficient providing good light, minor fertilization, and feeding - I can't remember but I think I had a Ctenopoma, datnoids, compressiceps, elephant nose, clown knives, etc. Then setup a brackish tank with scats, monos, puffers, gobies, etc. Finally went reef system in a custom tank with teak - boy that was expensive!! Most of this was on the east coast and I had to tear down the reef tank when I moved out to SoCal - I'd like to start it again but the cost is too high and having a routine maintanence schedule can be taxing at times. We just have a planted freshwater tank with Ctenopomas, african knives, indian dwarf puffers, elephant nose, black knife, etc. in a large custom tank. The only thing I'm doing different in this tank is I'm using a metal halide/actinic for the plants instead of good fluorescents - I'm thinking of going back to fluorescents because the plants don't seem to be thriving. Could he the hard water out here, even with drift wood in the tank. GH/KH measurements seem fine as are the other tests. Thought about setting up my RO system but thought it much to complicated for a freshwater tank! I think its enough for now until we buy our own house and I can build custom tanks into the walls