Any aquarium guys here?

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Fez Hammersticks

Fez Hammersticks

スーパーバッド Zero Cool
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At first I wanted to go all out and get a giant 250g aquarium and then I studied the filtration/lighting/chiller system and was blown away at the huge amount of time it'll take to maintain each system. Instead, I'm opting for a 50g rimless cube:

a6efe5c4c409c4e2248c6bb57bbbd01a.jpg


Along with going with a more modest tank, I'll likely start out with (saltwater) fish-only. Coral reefs aren't for beginners and are extremely delicate. I know they're impossible to find but I'm very interested in (Pygmy/Flamboyant) cuttlefish. One of the ugliest/neatest fish creatures you'll ever see.

This video shows the pulsating colors really well:

http://s841.photobucket.com/user/walnats/media/VIDEO0051.mp4.html
 
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Not an aquarium guy, I'm a Leo but I snorkel and love sashimi. Joking aside, that's a cool looking unit
 
I was a big aquarium guy for about 10 yrs and want another one in the future.

I find saltwater fish so much more interesting and have more personality, but are a lot more work than freshwater tanks. Seems like the modern trend are the reef type tanks in your picture. i hear they are less maintenance once you get them set up.

Having the right equipment will save on some of the maintenance. You can start simple with some hardy saltwater fish. I had a trigger fish that I loved and eels are very easy to care for. But once you get an aggressive fish it limits the other type of fish you can get. Had to get rid of the trigger to get butterfly and angel fish. It takes time but was a fun and satisfying hobby.

Loved my saltwater fish tank and can't wait for another one. Probably do a reef tank .
 
Triggerfish and Tangs are cool! Iirc, the Tang can leave a nasty sting. Lionfish look cool but any fish with venom/poison makes me nervous. The cowfish is known to explode if it dies violently and will kill everything in your tank from its poison.

[video=youtube;4pl82HUpUtU]

This will be my fist saltwater tank but I'm not a total newbie to tanks -- I grew up with cichlid aquariums.
 
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It's cheaper to maintain a colorful flower garden. You get the same aesthetic rewards in one less dimension, the movement one.
 
That's a bad ass looking tank!

I had a 55 gallon tank with various Cichlids for many years. I loved it. I hope to get a new tank some day soon. I'll probably go saltwater this time.

My favorite local fish shop is The Wet Spot off of Sandy.
 
I also had a Red Belly Piranha tank. But looking back I remember my Cichlids were much more aggressive. My Oscar was a straight up asshole. The Pacu grew like crazy. Scary big.
 
jlprk said:
It's cheaper to maintain a colorful flower garden. You get the same aesthetic rewards in one less dimension, the movement one.
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You often have these great ideas, but leave them incomplete. Birds could be attracted to add movement.
 
Well okay, but I was trying to make it cheap. Now you need a half-acre of overhanging nets to prevent escape, and you need to buy poop scrapes. But you save money on your dawn alarm clock.
 
Fez Hammersticks said:
I also had a Red Belly Piranha tank. But looking back I remember my Cichlids were much more aggressive. My Oscar was a straight up asshole. The Pacu grew like crazy. Scary big.
Click to expand...

I had a Piranha tank also. Had about 10 little ones in a 40 gallon tank. It was cool when they where little because I could buy one of those fat goldfish and they'd swarm it. But as they got bigger they'd eat things in almost one bite and they out grew the tank so I sold them to a buddy who put them in a bigger tank and he fed them mice. He eventually had to start getting rid of some also because they got so big.
 
Here's a good example of the temperament of some Cichlids -- The Wolf Cichlid:

[video=youtube;5INdyThTlWY]

What a dick! This wolf wants your flesh rather than the fish food.
 
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^ That's crazy! No way I'd want a fish like that. I like fish tanks because they are relaxing to look at. That SOB is crazy.
My tank was full of much smaller Cichlids like these:
electr10.jpg

Cichlids.jpg

auratus_male_120325a3_w0640.jpg

east-african-cichlid-fish-pseudotropheus-emmiltos-bg.jpg

images
 
I used to have a 55 gallon freshwater aquarium that I loved. I want to buy another one in the future.
 
Fez Hammersticks said:
Here's a good example of the temperament of some Cichlids -- The Wolf Cichlid:

What a dick! This wolf wants your flesh rather than the fish food.
Click to expand...

I'm guessing this fish is just sick of being alone and is lashing out violently. Contrary to Kurt Cobain, fish probably do have feelings.
 
Eastoff said:
I'm guessing this fish is just sick of being alone and is lashing out violently. Contrary to Kurt Cobain, fish probably do have feelings.
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Ha ha! But there was a female fish in the tank. It's hiding in the log.
 
Maybe it's just their species? The Wolf Cichlids are from the murky waters of Central America.

The Cichlids you posted are from Africa's tropical Lake Malawi:

lake-malawi-1.jpg
 
Here's a Malawi Cichlid setup with a reef-ready sump filtration system. This looks just as good as any (non-coral) saltwater tank:

[video=youtube;5jTvaliXbD0]
 
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I have owned tanks for about ten years. Had to get rid of them the last time I moved. It was purge time. I definitely miss it in most ways, but also don't miss the time I spent keeping them clean and safe. I always had South American cichlids. Started with Oscars and moved on to some really interesting fish, which were a breeding pair of Convict cichlids that had mated with Honduran Red Points. They were super aggressive, were beautiful, and ended up having 50 percent albino babies, even though neither of the fish were albino. They just had babies so often that I had to cull my tank and get rid of their offspring waaaay too often. And it always made me feel bad.
 
Any reason why you went with primarily South American species?

The price of cichlids today are night and day compared to the late 90's when I had mine.

The flowerhorn cichlid can reach into the thousands!

df66d71654b4a47d2701aa8b8aaa95db.jpg


If I had a cichlid tank today I'd definitely stock it with Peacock and Lake Victorians:

julian_090509_w0417.jpg


And Trout Cichlid:

Champsochromis%20caeruleus%20-%20Malawi%20Trout%20--%20Rob%20McManus.jpg
 
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As far as saltwater fish I definitely would love to have Angelfish if it weren't for the minimum size (200g) for most angels - particularly the Queen Angel and Emperor Angel. The Lookdown fish are awesome too.


At first I'm going to get fish for the novice, like the Firefish Goby:

8a1c96332e41347bf6791fd251e81a91.jpg


Deepwater Candy Basslet:

lgyKBRh.jpg


Bartlett's Anthias (semi-aggressive):

bartletts-anthias.jpg
 
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I've been out of the country and slammed with company meetings, but I just saw this. I have a 110-gallon saltwater tanks with seahorses, some tangs, and a few other fish. Most addictive hobby. So expensive, yet so fun. I've had tanks since I was 4, and started SW 15 years ago (I was motivated by the thought of seahorses). You get the tank up yet? Pics?
 
I'm definitely going to pick your brain when I get my cube.

Did you check the compatibility of your fish before you bought them? I've learned that Triggerfish will kill just about anything smaller than them. I had no idea they were that aggressive. Especially the undulated trigger.

Do you have any experience with basslets or gobies?
 
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I mean, at 17, when I started...... I had an idea about compatibility but I generally (and stupidly) through too many fish into the tank. I think everyone pretty much starts out that way. You go through a lot of trial-and-error.

Seahorses and tangs are why I started saltwater in the first place. Be prepared for store employees to talk to you like they know everything and they created the Bible of saltwater tanks. I shake my head and act like their opinion matters. I've been blasted for having seahorses and tangs together. But, in my current setup, I started with my blue and yellow tangs when they were small, and after I had established the seahorses. The seahorses and tangs now swim together, but I do have to target feed the horses (the yellow tang is a pig).

I have had several types of gobies over the year. Most are quite easy. If you want to be entertained, get a goby and pistol shrimp pair. Their relationship is quite neat, really. Are there any gobies in particular you're looking at? Even though they're not technically a goby, I am partial to the psychedelic goby. Most basslets are pretty easygoing, too. I've only had 2 or 3 over the years, but they were pretty hardy and add some nice color to the tank.

As for triggerfish...... yeah, they are pretty rough on all other fish that are smaller. If you want a community tank, I'd recommend against it. They will also snack on corals, especially softies. I know you were going without coral, but believe me, you'll slowly start adding soft corals, then adding hardy stony corals (it's addictive). So, I'd recommend planning accordingly.
 
I'll look into that. That actually sounds awesome. Maybe LiveAquaria will have the pair. The Goby that I really want is the Helfrich Firefish Goby. A Ruby Red Dragonet are on my wishlist but I understand they aren't for newbies like myself. They have to be fed in a particular way - turkey baster?

Tangs are awesome. The Achilles Tang is one of the coolest fish I've seen. It's like a work of art. Same goes for the Gem Tang.

p-73668-achilles-tang.jpg
 
The Achilles Tang is beautiful, but they do need a lot of space, high-quality work, and generally, you should have some solid experience and an established tank before even attempting to keep them (given their cost, you don't even want to bother risking it until you are positive you can meet their needs). Even the Blue Tangs, which are so readily available in the trade, can be rather difficult to get established (but if you do, you will be very happen with them in your tank). There are a few variations of the Blue Tang depending on the ocean/sea they're from, but all beautiful (though the more rare variations are more intriguing, naturally).

The issue with the Ruby Red Dragonet is its dietary needs. They need a tank with a well-established bed full of pods. When you set your tank up, buy some pods from an online aquaculture store. While you'll naturally seed your tank with live rock and other things, seeding your tank with pods can help establish your tank much quickly so that it can offer all of your fish some level of natural, live food. I had a RRD for 3 years. It did fine in my 110g. After 4-6 months with the RRD, it began eating the frozen mysis I was feeding my seahorses. This is a very nutritious food source, and the fish did quite well until I had to tear my tank down when we bought our current house a year ago.
 
BLAZINGGIANTS said:
The Achilles Tang is beautiful, but they do need a lot of space, high-quality work, and generally, you should have some solid experience and an established tank before even attempting to keep them (given their cost, you don't even want to bother risking it until you are positive you can meet their needs). Even the Blue Tangs, which are so readily available in the trade, can be rather difficult to get established (but if you do, you will be very happen with them in your tank). There are a few variations of the Blue Tang depending on the ocean/sea they're from, but all beautiful (though the more rare variations are more intriguing, naturally).

The issue with the Ruby Red Dragonet is its dietary needs. They need a tank with a well-established bed full of pods. When you set your tank up, buy some pods from an online aquaculture store. While you'll naturally seed your tank with live rock and other things, seeding your tank with pods can help establish your tank much quickly so that it can offer all of your fish some level of natural, live food. I had a RRD for 3 years. It did fine in my 110g. After 4-6 months with the RRD, it began eating the frozen mysis I was feeding my seahorses. This is a very nutritious food source, and the fish did quite well until I had to tear my tank down when we bought our current house a year ago.
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Definitely the reason why I want to start out with Gobies and certain Anthias. There's a learning curve that'll take time and experience.

When I graduate to a bigger tank the fish that tops my list is the Queen Angel.
 
Bump!

These orig. plans didn't come to fruition but now it's back on. Super glad I waited- I have a WAY better understanding of water chemistry (pH, hardness, etc.). Looking back I was leaning towards African cichlids - this time around Im opting for Discus with Altum angels. A school of diamomd head tetras as well - the hybrid neon tetra.

Filtration I'm definitely leaning towards RO water with a quality canister system.
 


What if someone released a bunch of these in the willamette?
 
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