Anyone here an aqurium afficianado? I just got a 29 gallon tank and am about to get some fish for it, wondering if anyone had any tips or just know of some cool fish.

3/25/2007 1:28:03 PM

I have a 29 with my two roommates.

If you want it to stay nice, it will take time and money.

3/25/2007 1:33:54 PM

make sure you get the nitrogen cycle going before you buy a bunch of fish or any expensive fish


^The most I spend on mine is around 10 bucks every couple months for water conditioning tablets or new charcoal filters and have had zero problems maintaining it in good conditioning. But it does indeed require time and patience to get it set up and running well.

good stuff here:
http://www.carolinafishtalk.com/forum/portal.php

[Edited on March 25, 2007 at 1:41 PM. Reason : ]

3/25/2007 1:39:55 PM

I got the water right, bout to go buy some cheap tetras just to make sure.

3/25/2007 1:42:35 PM

it will usually take about 3 weeks or so to get all the cycles right - especially the nitrate/nitrite.
get some cheap zebra danios to help with the cycling and get some plants. Java fern is usually pretty easy and will propagate quickly.

I have an ass load of chemicals i keep on hand and I also have a vaccuum to do water changes.
Fish pros usually has some good stuff and Petsmart is good for buying chemicals, filters, nets, vaccumes (I cannot spell this word, ever), hoses, airstones, charcoal, etc.

we currently have 5 fishtanks:
1 20 gal brackish tank with 3 figure eight puffers
2 tropical community (1 30 gal with tetras, guppies, barbs, an upside down catfish, a raphael catfish, and a pleco - the other is just some danios and a pleco, waiting on a certain fish)
and 2 half land/half water with guppies, danios, spotted floating frogs, and eastern carolina newts.

[Edited on March 25, 2007 at 1:49 PM. Reason : .]

[Edited on March 25, 2007 at 1:51 PM. Reason : ..]

3/25/2007 1:46:10 PM

are we talking saltwater or freshwater? i'm interested in getting a saltwater tank, even if they are harder to maintain. who on here knows a lot about saltwater tanks?

3/25/2007 2:26:15 PM

I have a 55 gallon freshwater that I've wanted to turn into saltwater (reef) for awhile now.

I'm actually really scared to. The lighting alone would cost me around $2,000+....not to mention the numerous $100 fish I kill due to inexperience

[Edited on March 25, 2007 at 3:27 PM. Reason : or the $500+ on live rock ]

3/25/2007 3:27:13 PM

I just got some x-ray Tetras. I really liked the upside down catfish. I am gonna wait a few days and make sure these dont die and get some hatchetfish and let em poo a bit then get a pleco.

3/25/2007 4:01:13 PM

Uhm...freshwater or salt? That makes a big difference on what advice you'll get. I have salt experience, you can pm me if needed.

[Edited on March 25, 2007 at 6:28 PM. Reason : merf]

3/25/2007 6:27:23 PM

^ well he mentioned tetras . . . .
and tetras are freshwater
1+1 = 2

3/25/2007 6:29:22 PM

owned

3/25/2007 6:48:01 PM

Definately freshwater, not that good to jump out and start up an ocean ya know?

3/25/2007 7:11:57 PM

Quote :

"The lighting alone would cost me around $2,000+....not to mention the numerous $100 fish I kill due to inexperience"

i could light my 125G tank for about $1000. Granted that is with retro kits and me building my own hood. still, $2000 is rediculous for a 55 gallon.

if you want to give me $1500, i'll set up your lighting for you

anyway, you can get plenty of fish for less than $100. clowns are around $20. chromies are like $5 each. plenty of fish out there for way under 50, especially for a 55 (more expensive fish will require large, established systems).

liverock is another matter. liverock is recomended at about 1.5lbs per gallon. at $7/lb that would get you $500. however you can get away with buying dead base rock for around $2/lb and seeding it with 10-25% live rock and come out much cheaper. You can also find friends or make friends that will loan you rocks to seed your tank.

check out http://www.reefcentral.com for great salt forums. check out some online vendors for some MUCH cheaper dry goods. your 55G tank would probably only cost you $2000 for everything.

3/25/2007 7:58:17 PM

I didn't notice the tetras were his posts. You can't expect me to read all the posts AND posters.

3/25/2007 8:46:56 PM

lol
i know - i was just giving you a hard time

3/25/2007 8:55:17 PM

Quote :

"I have a 55 gallon freshwater that I've wanted to turn into saltwater (reef) for awhile now. I'm actually really scared to. The lighting alone would cost me around $2,000+....not to mention the numerous $100 fish I kill due to inexperience"

The lighting shouldn't cost you any more than $500. The live rock... well, the more you can get the better, but you really only NEED about 10 lbs of it. (And get 50 lbs of dead rock, like scrager said) Hunt around for your rock though, and be really selective about it. Get pieces with lots of holes for critters to hide in. Try and pick colorful pieces. The best times to get live rock is when you see someone that sold their tank back to a store. They'll dump all of their live rock in the bins, and it will look a lot more alive than anything else in it.

Fish Pros is really good for live rock, since they'll sell you any piece they have in any of their tanks... (for anything else, Fish World has better prices).


[Edited on March 26, 2007 at 12:33 PM. Reason : .]

3/26/2007 12:30:12 PM

How hard is it to 'convert' over to saltwater (We're talking full fledged reef). I realize the monetary initial setup, but is it incredibly harder than freshwater? As of now, I have 4 fancy goldfish in my 55 gal allglass (And I've actually heard goldfish, contrary to popular belief, are one of the harder freshwater fish to keep due to their crazy amounts of sickness and filthiness). No plants or aftermarket lighting, and just your standard Hang-on-back power filter.

I guess I'm just scared I'll buy and rig up some kind of elaborate canister filter system, buy a skimmer, powerheads, lighting, liverock, etc. etc. and be so sick and tired of buying stuff and killing things it'll be all for naught.

I really don't have anyone I know that keeps saltwater...much less reef, so I'm hesitant to do it.... plus it's so expensive and time consuming. According to many I've talked to, freshwater is '2-D'-ish and going over to saltwater/reef is like adding an entire 3rd dimension to worry about. That's kind of intimidating.

I guess it's like anything else..... if you read up and try it, you should be okay

3/26/2007 8:09:36 PM

If you've ever put medicines into your freshwater tank, you cannot use it as a saltwater tank. As to other converting issues, I don't know. I've had freshwater, and saltwater, separately. Honestly, salt is not that crazy hard. It is a pain cycling, and buying everything. But once everything is set up and happy, it's not bad unless something goes wrong. And then it's hellish. Like a sudden algae outbreak, or a infestation of spiders or evil crabs or some other hitchhiker.

But it is a money pit, which is why I got out of reefs.

3/26/2007 8:13:17 PM

Well, luckily, I haven't had to medicate my tank yet.... if it comes to that I'll probably buy a quarantine to do that anyways (Heaven forbid my entire 55 gets flukes or something similarly as bad)

3/26/2007 8:15:00 PM

You'll need to get a new separate tank to have as a sump too.

3/26/2007 8:18:20 PM

dude



JACK DEMPSEY (wiki link)

i bought one and it lived from 96-01. and as much as i hate to admit it, i was a "bad owner" as far as cleaning and all that on the tank. but i did keep him fed well. just didnt change the water weekly or whatever the rule was (see, bad owner. have no idea)

they're awesome though, he ate EVERY other fish i tried to put in there with him and he was like thumb sized when i got him, got to be about 5 inches(cant really remember) long before he died i guess - all i know was he BLEW up. he was the coolest fish ever. peopel that say fish cant be entertaining pets must be retards... cause this dude chased my finger and did like triple flips and stuff

i totally say go with the JACK. it was like 4 bucks too and didnt need more than 10gal for quite some time... so with a 29 you might be able to get 2 and have some MASSIVE ONES!!!

[Edited on March 26, 2007 at 8:27 PM. Reason : /]

3/26/2007 8:24:26 PM

I have a tank that's been stable and awesome for ~1 year. Its a 20 gallon tall freshwater tank with live plants in dirt (with gravel over top) in the bottom. There's always been on major problem: the water has stayed a yellowish color. The tank is well-filtered and not cloudy at all. The water in the tank is just yellow. What can I do to remedy the situation?

3/26/2007 9:10:41 PM

Quote :

"i bought one and it lived from 96-01. and as much as i hate to admit it, i was a "bad owner" as far as cleaning and all that on the tank. but i did keep him fed well. just didnt change the water weekly or whatever the rule was (see, bad owner. have no idea) they're awesome though, he ate EVERY other fish i tried to put in there with him and he was like thumb sized when i got him, got to be about 5 inches(cant really remember) long before he died i guess - all i know was he BLEW up. he was the coolest fish ever. peopel that say fish cant be entertaining pets must be retards... cause this dude chased my finger and did like triple flips and stuff i totally say go with the JACK. it was like 4 bucks too and didnt need more than 10gal for quite some time... so with a 29 you might be able to get 2 and have some MASSIVE ONES!!! "

Yeah, Im pretty sure every fish owner knows Jack Dempseys. Aptly named.

Originally, I had planned of stocking my 55 with Dempseys, Convict Cichlids, or wishfully being able to squeeze a couple of Tiger Oscars into there. I bought some fancy's to cycle the tank (I know, I should have bought something else, but I knew nothing about aquarium keeping)....

Well, next thing you know my girlfriend is naming them....and, well...now I have pussy fish

Quote :

"The water in the tank is just yellow. What can I do to remedy the situation? "

Do you change it?

3/26/2007 9:16:04 PM

... not really. The tank's on loan from a friend who never changed the water, only added for evaporation. I guess the lack of changing water could be the problem - I was mainly concerned that there was a chemical issue here.

3/26/2007 9:19:52 PM

That's probably it.

You might have reached the 'point of no return' where the water is so bad (Ammonia, Nitrates, Nitrites, etc. so high) that if you ever do change the water the fish could die from being adapted to the super-shitty water

Either way, if you don't change it, you're slowly killing them.

3/26/2007 9:22:53 PM

The fish have been alive in the tank for almost a year - since i got it. The goldfish have been in there longer than that. Nobody seems sickly in there - but I could be way off base, as I can't just ask the fish if they are feeling well.

3/26/2007 9:25:22 PM

^ Well, nobody seems sickly except for that DEAD PLECKO.

3/26/2007 9:26:13 PM

yeah. NOBODY TOLD ME I HAD TO SUPPLEMENT HIS DIET!
The guy whose tank it is had a *very* hands-off approach. I'm just trying to figure out more about the hobby and troubleshoot the yellowness.

(I started supplementing his diet with wafers 3 days ago.)


[Edited on March 26, 2007 at 9:29 PM. Reason : a]

3/26/2007 9:27:09 PM

Quote :

"The fish have been alive in the tank for almost a year - since i got it. The goldfish have been in there longer than that. Nobody seems sickly in there - but I could be way off base, as I can't just ask the fish if they are feeling well."

What all do you have in there?

Reason I ask is that you say you have goldfish. Well, not too many fish mesh with Goldfish. Just wondering...I'm not gonna lecture you on animal rights crap if it's overstocked or whatever

(Goldfish are one of the pigs of the fish world btw, so your water is probably ultra shitty)

[Edited on March 26, 2007 at 9:30 PM. Reason : ]

3/26/2007 9:28:56 PM

I was thinking about setting one up a while back and started a thread about it, its loaded with some pretty good info

http://www.thewolfweb.com/message_topic.aspx?topic=430701

3/26/2007 9:30:42 PM

2 goldfish, 3 lemon tetras, 1 pleco, ~3 red rosies, a few guppy-like fish who hang at the top (adopted from a friend's tank - he was going to flush them), and 2 more very small algae eaters. There are also a shitload of snails hangin' out in the bottom.

also, 2 live Calamus plants as well as some other unknown thin string-like plants - I don't know what they are but something keeps eating them.

I've wanted to get rid of the goldfish for awhile, i noticed how much they shit in the tank - they are just way too large for the other fish, methinks.

3/26/2007 9:34:50 PM

^does your tank have driftwood in it? Driftwood tend to have "tannin", which stains the water into the brownish/yellow. The simple solution is to change the water more often until it becomes normal color. Make sure you use dechlorinator.

[Edited on March 26, 2007 at 9:37 PM. Reason : .]

3/26/2007 9:37:04 PM

Quote :

"does your tank have driftwood in it? Driftwood tend to have "tannin", which stains the water into the brownish/yellow"

well you just answered my question about my puffer tank - it has driftwood in it and I can't keep it from being a yellowy color no matter how well i vaccuum/change it.

3/26/2007 9:44:07 PM

No, no driftwood. But the guy used potting soil in the bottom to plant the live plants. That could be the problem.

3/26/2007 9:45:40 PM

um yeah, that's not really a good idea :/

although I dont know if I would worry about it now . . .

[Edited on March 26, 2007 at 9:47 PM. Reason : .]

3/26/2007 9:46:18 PM

^yea, it takes a long time to get rid of the stain color. I remember it took me a couple months to get rid all of the tannin in my driftwood.
^^potting soil is probably the problem. The solution is probably is to change the water too.

[Edited on March 26, 2007 at 9:48 PM. Reason : .]

3/26/2007 9:47:53 PM

^^^^^ Very true... I'm sure that has a lot to do with it, although that should go away after awhile (But would only be diluted if you changed the water) (Edit: And I see you don't have it anyways)

Quote :

"2 goldfish, 3 lemon tetras, 1 pleco, ~3 red rosies, a few guppy-like fish who hang at the top (adopted from a friend's tank - he was going to flush them), and 2 more very small algae eaters. There are also a shitload of snails hangin' out in the bottom. also, 2 live Calamus plants as well as some other unknown thin string-like plants - I don't know what they are but something keeps eating them. I've wanted to get rid of the goldfish for awhile, i noticed how much they shit in the tank - they are just way too large for the other fish, methinks. "

Just for information's sake... not a lecture. (Like I said, I could care less).

Fancy golds (double tailed) 'require' a minimum of 10 gals per fish.....comets and commons 20 gals per fish. In a 20 gal you're overstocked with anything else in there.

Pleco's and most other algae eaters also don't generally do well for goldies becuase they get a certain size, attach themselves to the goldfish, and eat off its' slime coat... opening it up to parasites and infection.

It may not be a bad idea for you to get rid of the goldfish considering you're wanting to anyways. Their nastiness coupled with the driftwood and all of the other fish might be why you're having water troubles. If you ever do change the water, I'd do it very slowly (For reasons I posted a few up). Maybe 20% or so per week for consecutive weeks to slowly re-acclimate them to 'healthy' water.

If you want them to grow (especially teh goldfish), you're gonna need to change the water as tehy release a chemical that stunts thier growth in high concentrations (And without being replaced through water changes.

[Edited on March 26, 2007 at 9:49 PM. Reason : arrows]

[Edited on March 26, 2007 at 9:51 PM. Reason : strikethrough]

3/26/2007 9:48:45 PM

Thanks for the heads-up - I'm giving all the goldfish away to hgtran. I do believe i'll start cycling the tank slowly - 3 gallons at a time?

3/26/2007 9:52:00 PM

^if it's a 20 gal tank, and haven't been changed in a long time, I would recommend doing 50% water change. After that, I think you can get away with 25% water change/week if you don't add anymore fish.

3/26/2007 9:53:36 PM

Its NEVER been changed. The dude didn't even have the equipment to do a water change when he gave me all the tank stuff.

I guess I've been fucking up this whole time not even realizing it.

3/26/2007 9:55:02 PM

^^ See, I would almost recommend he did it slower than that.

There actually becomes a point where fish are so adapted to high ammonia/nitrates/etc that if you change them to 'good' water too fast, they'll die of shock. Maybe more than 20%...which should be 'weekly maintenance' good.... but I think 50% might throw them overboard considering the water is over a year old. If they've made it this far, I don't think there's any huge rush on it


Anywho, if you want fish to thrive and display their colors (or fins), you're gonna wanna keep them in good water. I know Goldfish tend to clamp their fins badly when the water gets bad.... not to mention extremes when their fins frey and they get blood streaks in them


[Edited on March 26, 2007 at 9:59 PM. Reason : ]

3/26/2007 9:56:25 PM

^^if you want, I could bring my water change equipment and show you how to do a water change.

[Edited on March 26, 2007 at 9:56 PM. Reason : .]

3/26/2007 9:56:29 PM

That would be fucking awesome. Do I need to purchase chemicals or anything?

3/26/2007 10:00:27 PM

^^^good point, I forgot about that. I guess doing 25% WC three times a week, and then tone it down to once a week would work. From my experience, the more often the water change, the better. I keep discus, and I do 30% waterchange every day. The joke around the discus community is that we don't keep the fish, we keep the water.
^if your place is using tap water, you need dechlorinator solution. They're pretty cheap, just go to petsmart or fish world to get them. They're used to get the chlorine+chloramine out of tap water. I would recommend getting one that removes chloramine.

[Edited on March 26, 2007 at 10:02 PM. Reason : .]

3/26/2007 10:01:08 PM

Just dechlorinator and a gravel vaccum

I'd recommend Prime dechlorinator (A little more expensive, but you use less than other brands, so it evens out). A small bottle (maybe $10...I'd guess) should last you a year with a 20 gal and weekly water changes. I used to like API Stress Coat, but some research now says that becuase it contains Aloe, it can gather in the fish' gills after awhile and cause problems

Gravel vaccums are usually about ($15?)



[Edited on March 26, 2007 at 10:04 PM. Reason : ]

3/26/2007 10:01:50 PM

Okay, sounds like a plan. The only downside to going through all this is that the tank is moving to Charlotte in 7 weeks, so all the fish are going to fish pros before the move anyway.

At least they will survive going into decent water at the fish store after all this...

oh yeah, do i need any water testing equipment? like ph strips, other stuff?

[Edited on March 26, 2007 at 10:06 PM. Reason : a]

3/26/2007 10:05:54 PM

^nah, no need to test any chemical. If you want, I could bring my test kit, and do it for you right there.

3/26/2007 10:10:01 PM

sweet.

As another side note, I've got 2 42W Florescent bulbs on the tank like 18 hours a day. Could this be keeping the nitrate levels down because of the algae growth?

[Edited on March 26, 2007 at 10:12 PM. Reason : a]

3/26/2007 10:10:57 PM

i have a 125 gallon with 3 silver dollars, 2 jack dempseys, 6 cory catfish, 2 4 line pictus catfish, 1 marble catfish, 1 chocolate albino pleco, and 1 Chinese Algae eater. I did have 2 tiger oscars that I traded in today. only advice I have for you is to beware b/c this hobby will suck you in quickly and you need to have time to maintain your cleaning and water changes. As long as you keep up with them it will remain fairly easy to keep clean(i spend about an hour a week on vacuuming, cleaning and water changes)

I started with a 10 gallon last summer with fiddler crabs in it. Then a friend gave me a 30 gallon last december. By February I found a ridiculous deal on craigslist for my 125 gallon. I havent looked back since.

3/27/2007 2:29:17 AM

I got some hatchet fish and lemon tetras last night.

3/29/2007 8:25:08 PM