The aquarium/fish thread

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

Does anyone keep fish or whatever the technical term is?

I've cleaned up an old fish tank and have been preparing it for fish for the last couple of months. I've been gradually adding some fish and so far they're all still alive

So far I've got some:


Guppies


The obligatory neons


Albino Cory Cats


Sterbas Cory Cats


Denison Barbs

Not decided what else to put in the tank yet.

If there are any fish keepers out there, suggestions and tips would be most welcome.

[Dujon]

Not me, AT, although I've often thought of it; but I've also thought about the trouble in maintaining them. However, before we left 'home' my brother kept tropical fish in his bedroom. The tank wasn't spectacularly big so he restrained himself when it came to stocking it.

At various times (and sometimes all together) he had: Guppies; tetra neons; angels; Siamese fighting fish; loach; zebras; oscar. There could have been more, but it was fifty odd years ago.

The guppies were great breeders but I'm not too sure how many grew to maturity - they seemed to have been eaten (no bodies as evidence for any other reason). The tetras were gorgeous and the angels rather stately. Oscar was a grumpy looking beast whilst the Siamese fighting fish ran solo for obvious reasons. The loach was the janitor and did a pretty good job of keeping clean the inside of the glass and the bottom stones and pebbles. Oh, yes, the guppies must have had the odd stoush or two as chewed tails were abundant.

He - or the fish did - met with disaster. The heater decided stop regulating the temperature. The poor fish were effectively boiled overnight. 'Twas rather sad. I can't recall whether he resurrected the little aquarium or not - not that it matters here. Other than that there's not much I can give you, AT, other than the basics: keep it clean; provide shelter for them; be careful that whatever species you stock are compatible; when changing water it is critical to keep the fish in temporary accommodation with the old water then allow the heater to bring the new water up to temperature and then dunk the the temporary accommodation into to the tank for a while to allow the two to equalise in temperature before netting the fish and transferring them to the tank proper. It seems that tropical fish are rather sensitive to sudden changes in temperature.

You have no doubt done your research and already know all that so please excuse my presumption should I be teaching my grandmother to suck eggs.

[thebish]

we only ever had cold-water fish...

bloody endless chore cleaning the buggers out!!

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

Thanks for the tips Dujon. We've got the heater off at the moment as the water is at the higher end of the scale. We might need it later in winter, but as we've always got the AC on, the house temperature is fairly well regulated. The cory cats are absolutely mental, so good fun to watch. The neons are just greedy little buggers and the male guppy prances around thinking he's a lady killer or something!

[malcd1]

I used to have goldfish for my kids when they were younger. One morning my wife must have left the door open when she was loading the car. When I got home from work a cat bolted out of the front door when I opened it (scared me half to death because we didn't have a cat).

When I got in the kitchen, I was curious to find a load of very small shiny flakes on the floor. It was only later I noticed we didn't have any goldfish left. The fecker had obviously flicked the fish on the floor, played with them a bit and then eaten them both.

I love fish and aquariums but like Bish said, they are just too much trouble.

[Bruce Rioja]

The only fish I've ever owned were won off of the Pikeys when the fair used to pitch up on Dawes Street Car Park (Now Morrison's) in town.

Life expectancy - One day!

[jaffka]

Feeder fish and also in water straight from the tap.

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

Apparently goldfish need a 200 litre sized tank each! Mine is 180l which is a lot bigger than the average goldfish bowl - might be partially to blame for early expiry? I've read that the bigger the tank the easier it is. I vacuum about 25% of the floor area each week and replace about 20% of the water. Apart from that, it's 2 feeds a day and replace the top filter weekly, so not much work so far. Whether the fish will live is another matter!

My cat shows no interest in the fish, so unless one jumps out when the lid is off they should be safe

[ChrisC]

I have had fish for many years until recently. Having a break at the moment since moving house.

I started out with tropical years back. Kept the usual boring guppies etc and soon jumped to marine fish.

A lot of people are terrified of keeping marine fish but its not as much of a challenge as people think. The end product is worth all the effort as well. Marine are stunning to look at and also have much more personality than tropical fish.

You also get to keep corals aswell Proper gardening

[Bruce Rioja]

How many of you have cunningly replaced a dead fish before the kids notice? My mate's done exactly that last week, lying to his children.

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

How many of you have cunningly replaced a dead fish before the kids notice? My mate's done exactly that last week, lying to his children.

I don't have kids, but do you think this might work on the wife when the inevitable happens?

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

I have had fish for many years until recently. Having a break at the moment since moving house.

I started out with tropical years back. Kept the usual boring guppies etc and soon jumped to marine fish.

A lot of people are terrified of keeping marine fish but its not as much of a challenge as people think. The end product is worth all the effort as well. Marine are stunning to look at and also have much more personality than tropical fish.

You also get to keep corals aswell Proper gardening

If I'm successful with the current tank then I might progress to marine fish. I've no idea how long we'll be here and could end up moving on with little notice, so would rather wait until we're settled somewhere long term so I can get a bigger tank. The tank I have got just isn't big enough for some of the more interesting fish, though I'm impressed by the Cory Cats. Mental little critters

[thebish]

How many of you have cunningly replaced a dead fish before the kids notice? My mate's done exactly that last week, lying to his children.

oh yes - I've certainly done that!

[thebish]

on a more serious and reflective note..

it was my middle son who had the fish... (though - it was me who looked after them!)

the fish were a turning point in life for him and me. I did replace one of them early on in his fish-keeping career - but later - when the first one died that he was aware of I can remember the moment as if it were yesterday...

I can remember sitting next to him on the bed as he sobbed and that being the very first time when daddy simply could not fix the thing that had gone wrong.. until then - broken toys, various child-sized disappointments - daddy could fix it - I was basically a hero - I could fix anything!

but this - a dead fish - I couldn't fix that.

I remember thinking - oh, what do I do now? - and making the realisation that there was a while lot more to being a dad than simply fixing stuff - I needed more in my locker! It was a good learning moment for him and certainly for me...

blokes are not (in my experience) generally very good at knowing what to do when they can't fix stuff... it's why when they visit people in hospital they feel so useless if they can't "DO" something - feed the cat, buy some magazines, fix something, do something practical to make stuff better..

cliched as it sounds - it is a big lesson to learn - sometimes you can't fix stuff and you simply need to learn how to be with someone and accompany them through the grief/pain of what has happened... nothing more (nothing less.)

[jimbo]

We had tropical fish when I was younger. Anyway, my mum was giving the tank a good cleanout one day so she filled another bowl with water to pop the fish in while she made their home all sparkly. Anyway, as we didn't have a spare heater to warm up the water in the temporary bowl as well, she just filled it from the hot tap using the theory that the fish like warm water. She popped the first fish in the 'warm' water, which immediately turned on it's side and floated to the top. Puzzled, she added a second fish to the bowl, which then did the same. As did the third. It was at that point I wandered into the kitchen to see a very confused mother looking at 3 boiled fish in the bowl.

[ChrisC]

I have had fish for many years until recently. Having a break at the moment since moving house.

I started out with tropical years back. Kept the usual boring guppies etc and soon jumped to marine fish.

A lot of people are terrified of keeping marine fish but its not as much of a challenge as people think. The end product is worth all the effort as well. Marine are stunning to look at and also have much more personality than tropical fish.

You also get to keep corals aswell Proper gardening

If I'm successful with the current tank then I might progress to marine fish. I've no idea how long we'll be here and could end up moving on with little notice, so would rather wait until we're settled somewhere long term so I can get a bigger tank. The tank I have got just isn't big enough for some of the more interesting fish, though I'm impressed by the Cory Cats. Mental little critters

If you do make the plunge into marine, just give me a shout for anything you need help with

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

I have had fish for many years until recently. Having a break at the moment since moving house.

I started out with tropical years back. Kept the usual boring guppies etc and soon jumped to marine fish.

A lot of people are terrified of keeping marine fish but its not as much of a challenge as people think. The end product is worth all the effort as well. Marine are stunning to look at and also have much more personality than tropical fish.

You also get to keep corals aswell Proper gardening

If I'm successful with the current tank then I might progress to marine fish. I've no idea how long we'll be here and could end up moving on with little notice, so would rather wait until we're settled somewhere long term so I can get a bigger tank. The tank I have got just isn't big enough for some of the more interesting fish, though I'm impressed by the Cory Cats. Mental little critters

If you do make the plunge into marine, just give me a shout for anything you need help with

Will do, thanks. Probably a few years away until we're back in Europe. At this stage I don't know if we'll end up heading east or west to get home!

[plymouth wanderer]

I've had various tanks over the years big and small! Just got rid of my 360 litre because I moved house...... I kept south American ciclids in there! The colours are stunning!

I've had marine and tropical! I've kept African and American cichlids. I've kept piranhas! Pacus! And my personal favourite oscars!

If I can ever be bothered again, I'd set up a tank for a snake head! Although I'm told there banned in this country as if they ever got realesed into our river system they'd decimate our native species.

The desions barbs you have ( more commonly know as torpedo barbs) are a good fish to keep( keep them in a shoal) there a very busy fish!! You want to look into rams mate, they have proper colours! They are also very peaceful!

Need any help just let me know! Any questions caring for your fish, compatibility, tank maintenance., Give is a shout

If you got the bug you'll soon move on from guppies

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

I've had various tanks over the years big and small! Just got rid of my 360 litre because I moved house...... I kept south American ciclids in there! The colours are stunning!

I've had marine and tropical! I've kept African and American cichlids. I've kept piranhas! Pacus! And my personal favourite oscars!

If I can ever be bothered again, I'd set up a tank for a snake head! Although I'm told there banned in this country as if they ever got realesed into our river system they'd decimate our native species.

The desions barbs you have ( more commonly know as torpedo barbs) are a good fish to keep( keep them in a shoal) there a very busy fish!! You want to look into rams mate, they have proper colours! They are also very peaceful!

Need any help just let me know! Any questions caring for your fish, compatibility, tank maintenance., Give is a shout

If you got the bug you'll soon move on from guppies

Thanks Plymouth, much appreciated. I'm taking it slowly to start and sticking to the easy species whilst I learn. I've 4 of the denison barbs. My tank is a little on the smaller side recommended for them, so wary of getting too many. So far they seem happy though.

At the moment I've got artificial plants in the tank. Did you try real plants? If so any tips as I fancy adding them later on once I've got not killing fish down!

[plymouth wanderer]

Yes mate. imo Real plants are better, they help add oxygen to the water and gives the tank a more natural look!

You need the light on more in your tank! 9 hours a day seems to be rule of thumb ( try to stick to a routine) whenever branches break off, take them out! Otherwise they'll go through a process of decay and will add ammonia to your water! Dangerous high amounts of ammonia will kill your fish! Ammonia levels should be zero at all times. Swords are the toughest and easier plants to keep

Ive never had a problem with doing Water change once every 2 weeks (everyone's different, some will tell you every 3 days) test the water weekly with a testing kit!

Once you get the hang of it bud it'll be second nature