Does anyone here keep aquariums and or ponds? If so, post pictures or information and share your setup with ZooMania.

Curently, I have 3 tanks and a pond - the tanks are 125g, 29g, and 55g, and the pond is probably between 750 and 1500 gallons.

I've got a 10 gallon, and a 2.5 gallon which I don't use. But I have 2 fish.

cool! :D Do you know what kind they are?

I have a 2 ponds, a small one (about 1 meter in diameter and a foot deep) with a waterfall connected by a stream to a bigger one (3 by 1 meters and no idea how deep it is probably about 3 foot in the middle).

We used to have gold fish in them both but we had to remove the netting that was over the water (we have cats and if they fell in they'd get tangled up in it and drown) and so the fish were eaten by herons and cats and strangly a blackbird that also eats newts.

that stinks (that you lost all your fish, not that you have a pond)

I live in a neighborhood, so there are not very many things to eat my fish, although last year a turtle ate like 15 of our goldfish.

I have a 20 gallon long freshwater tank :D we got it like 2 months ago. In this pic you can see the 2 honey gouramis, angelfish and there's a baby white molly. It also has a couple cory's and a pleco, and a snail.

Photo Here

What's in your tanks? :P

cool setup, PM, but the angelfish may get a bit too big - one of mine is like 7 inches tall, and she isnt even full grown

anyway, here is what i have:

125 Gallon
-10 Harlquin Rasboras
-5 Angelfish
-3 Tiger Barbs
-4 Cherry Barbs
-1 Kuhli Loach
-3 Brichardi Cichlids
-2 rainbow Cichlids
-1 Zebra Danio
-1 Upside Down Catfish
-5 Congo Tetras
-4 Lemon Tetras
-3 Julii Corydoras Catfish
-1 Rubber Lipped Plecostomus
-1 Candy Striped Plecostomus
-2 Boesmani Rainbowfish
-Ghost Shrimp
-Pond Snails

29 Gallon (All of these go to the pond in the Summer)
-2 Convict Cichlids
-2 Adult Orange Zebra Cihlids
-12+ baby Zebra Cichlids (they bred a lot this summer, lol)

55 Gallon (many of the fish are babies)
-4 Yellow Lab Cichlids (2 are babies)
-10+ Orange Zebra Cichlids (only 4 adults)
-2 Auratus Cichlids (1 baby)
-2 (7") plecostomuses
-1 (8") Bumblebee Cichlid (Does anyone know how big these guys get?)

Pond
8 Goldfish
hundreds of shrimp and snails
(cichlids from the 29 gallon go out here in the summer)

Yeah, i have a lot of fish :D My angelfish spawn pretty regularly, but the eggs always get eaten. Here are some pictures:

55 - Yes, that is a bearded dragon on top

Big Auratus

125 - Rainbow Cichlids

Pond pt. 1



pt 2

pt 3

pt 4

Wow! That's quite a set-up :P Eventually I wanna get a variety of tanks, but won't be for a long time lol.
I really like all the rocks in your 50 gallon tank :D
And yeah, the angelfish will probably get about 6 inches (says the people we got it from) and should be ok since it's the only one in the tank, but if not then we can give it away so it should be fine.

Thanks!

Also, If you only have one angel, it would probably be fine - i thought you had 2 or 3 :D

And i have redone the rocks in my 55 since then, lol, but i am glad you like it :D

And about having a variety of tanks - good luck! My parents have had the 29 and 55 since i was like 1 or sumthing, so i kinda got a jump start :D Then i got the 125 about 2 years ago.

PS if anyone is thinking about getting a tank bigger than about 50 gallons, i would seriously recommend an acrylic tank over a glass one, b/c glass tanks weight literally a ton

2 55 galloners. :grin: and a pond.
10 bumblebee fish-thngs
9 tetras
One REALLY old beta that's too old too fight
2 Angelfish
This pufferfish thing named Pikachu
1 school of 4 of these cool bluish-purple fishes with yellow stripes
Dragon Goby
Cleaner Shrimp
Tadpoles
Puny koi
This dory looking thing
Yellow fishes
Starfish
25 goldfish
One newt

Ain't really fish savy... Sorry.
No, these are not mixed up. One tank saltwater and one tank fresh.
We have a pirate tank and a spongbob tank.
We put babies in anoter tank that's Fairy oddparents.

Soory I am not fish smart. *Made self look like a newb*
:sweat: :smack:

In the room I'm currently sitting in, we've only got three of our tanks, two 90gal's and a 180. These one's have Africans, I think most are Peacocks... my mom isn't a big fan of Lab's but I think we've got some downstairs.

Downstairs, we've got about... okay, after a count...

33 gallon - 13
29 gallon - 5
2.5 gallon - 5
10 gallon - 7
5 gallon - 3
230 gallon - 1 (used for discus show tank)
50 gallon - 9

uhm... yeah, that's all of 'em ._. if you haven't guessed, my mom breeds fish. I think all told, including all the babies and show fish, I think we've got like... 700 fish or something. :O_o: either way, it's a lot. You should try to help on water change day. :P

thats alot of fish! and alot of water! that sounds really cool jade - do you have any pictures?

Bleh, sorry bout the long time -_- , I was sick and at a friend's place. But, here are the pics.


Little 2.5 gallon with a Apistogramma


the discus main tank


one side of the downstairs


the other side

WOW! nice tanks and fish! Honestly, i think i like the apistos the most, lol, even though they have the smallest tank :D The discus look great as well

Here is a video of my 29 Gallon - it is 2 1/2 months old, but nothing much has changed, cept for the baby fish grew. I also added the three tiger barbs from the 125 to this tank, and added four little tiger barbs to the 125 :D

Badis, mind if I ask a couple questions?

1) how often do you do water changes
2) do you use live or fake plants
3) what kind of lighting do you use
4) what do you feed

._. I had to take my personal tank apart... baad things happening.

1) weekly on the 125 and 29, bi - weekly on the 55, and i dont make them on the pond

2)live! :D Only fake things in any of my tanks are a rock in the 125 that looks real, and a log in the 55 that is covered in algae, and of course a few bricks and a flower pot in the 29, b/c it is kinda just a temporary tank for the winter

3)29 has a standard tube, i dunno the wattage, 55 has a 30 watt, 36 inch, and the 125 has 2x 36 inch 96 watt bulbs - the 125 is the only one with plants

4) 125 gets tetra tropical flakes and crisps, with occasional frozen brine shrimp and daphnia, and the catfish get sinking wafers about once a week.

the 55 gets cichlid pellets, with occasional vegetables and brine shrimp.

and the 29 gets pretty much a combination of the 125 and 55's food

finally, the pond gets tetra goldfish flakes about 1 a week, but there is a ton of plant growth and stuff, so they eat that too. They also get cucumbers and lettuce on ocasion.

wow - that was a long post, lol :D

What do you feed yours, jade?

Also, about the above, i would like to do more frequent water changes, but it is kinda difficult with school and stuff. Also, i want to add more plants to the 125, which i am working on, and finally i would like to raise some brine shrimp, so my fish actually get live food, but i havent started yet

BTW, what are the specs of the discus tanks, ie, the same things that your asked me, and filter, lighting, and fish. I really like discus, but dont really know if they are too difficult or not - do you have any suggestions, recommendations, etc?

thanks! :D

If you can't do water changes often, don't get Discus. We change their water about 50% every 3 days; theyneed acidic water for breeding (6.5) but we've just got them in tap water (7.6). We've got two T5 Double's for lighting, as well as a Coralife 50/50 (live plants).

In the big tank we've got a self filtering system on Bioballs, so we don't have to do water changes that often; it's only about a 60% every week or so, but it's still a lot of water.

If you're looking for just keeping discus, you can either feed Bloodworms and Whiteworms along with s sinking pellet and a bit of flake, or you can make your own fish food like we do; I can get you the recepie if you want, but they even out to the same price. We use NLS (New Life Spectrum) for all of our fish, as well as Cyclop-eez, Mircoworms and some custom made powder for the little guys.

Also, could you give me some tips on live plants? I'm going to set up another tank (33 long) without my mom's knowledge and just practice doing water changes and plant growing... kinda had issues with massive Ammonia and Nitrate spikes in my last tank, so I took it down. I'm in a room with one tiny window facing west; downstairs in the basement, so I don't know if live is worth the trouble.

Also, about water changes, you can probably do a weekly change on the 29 and 55, but shift the 125 to bi-weekly; the smaller the tank the more you have to change water. It also depends on your filters; we've got a bioball filtering system on all our bigger tanks, so that might change.

Note: Bioball Custom System = big Tupperware container with pot scrubbers :D

Edit: oops, forgot my comment on the brine shrimp. Brine Shrimp are a pain in the ass, don't bother with them; I would recommend White Worms instead; a bit grosser but much easier to take care of and feed. Ask if you want to know what we use as a Whiteworm setup; it's easy and cheap.

about the discus, if i did get them, i would probably have 3 - 5 with a few tetras and corydoras in a 55 - 100 gallon tank. But honestly, my parents dont want a new tank, so i will probably have to wait til after college for discus. My pH here is about 7.6 - 7.8, do you think that is too high to simply maintain them?

Also, about whiteworms, where did you get your starting cultures? I cannot find any where i live (Houston).

About brine shrimp: This summer, i would like to set up a small wading pool outside and fill it with seawater, then add the brine shrimp eggs. I have heard that if you grow them outside in saltwater, they do relatively well and will form a self - sustaining population, so i was going to try it just for the heck of it

About water changes: When you say bi - weekly, do you mean once ever 2 weeks or 2x a week?

Plants:

For a 33, i would aim for about 60 watts of light. I know i have less on all my tanks, but my plants grow extremely SLOW. If you decide to inject CO2, then a little more light, probably about 75 watts. I do not use CO2, but if you want fast growth on the plants, then it is probably a good idea. In my 125, i have a lot of fish, so they get a pretty good supply of nutrients, but i do fertilize about once every 1 - 2 weeks. Also, in planted tanks, gravel - vacuuming isn't a good idea in my opinion - all it does is uproot the plants. My tank has 1 year of fish waste, etc at the bottom, but i have 0 ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate because of the plants. To avoid ammonia spikes, fill the tank with water from one of your mom's cleanest tanks(discus, i would guess), and take some of her filter media. Then add about 1/3 of your plants, and a few small fish, preferably small algae eaters (like otocinclus) or corydoras. These will keep algae and leftover food down. After a few weeks, add another 1/3 of the plants, and probably 5 - 8 tetras, barbs, or rasboras. Finally, after another few weeks, add the rest of the plants. After the tank has been running for a few months, finish stocking the fish. As for water chagnes, i would shoot for about 1/3 tank volume twice a week for the first six months, and then about 1/2 tank volume once a week from then on

2 more questions for you:

1) what do you plan on putting in the 33, fish wise

2) why dont you use gravel? Is it for making cleaning easier, or is there another reason

I have a couple of questions for you both... How would I go about getting into fish keeping? What would you suggest I start with? Eg, species, tank size... ect

Do you know the pH of your water where you live? That would be a good starting point. I would also visit a local fish store, and look at what you like, etc. Also, ask what the pH of the water is there. Another thing is how much are you willing to spend?

If i know the pH and how much you want to spend, i can give you all the advice you will ever need, lol :D

But trust me, its a fun hobby, relatively easy, but very rewarding :D

Here is some general info:

If you want to be successful, a 29 - 55 gallon tank is an ideal tank size. This will cost around 300 dollars with filter and lights ans stand. The good news it it will last pretty much forever :D And in that size tank, you can keep virtually whatever you want(within reason, of course)

Well, I earn around 350 pound a month (bearing in mind pounds are worth more than dollars at the moment) and at least 150 of that I have no problem spending.

that is probably enough :D The next thing you need to figure out is if you have enough room for a tank. a 29 will need about a 3x2 foot area, and a 55 with need 4 1/2 x 2 foot area. Also, do you live in an apartment?

Nope, I live in a regular house, but I would have to have it in my room...
The 29 would be the option for me, definitely.
Plus I'll be moving in 3-4 years, and would like to take it with me.

okay, cool. :D

If you like, browse through this site, and find some fish you like. That is a good starting point, lol :=B

EDIT: i forgot the link

Link

Thanks!
Is there any ideal 'starter' fish? And what kind of numbers is it advisable to buy in?

It depends on what you want to do with the tank. There are four basic things you could do with a 29:

Community Tank:

These are generally what people start with. They have a variety of small peaceful fish. In a 29, you could have about 5 species of fish, for a total of 15 - 20 fish. The decorations for this kind of tank are generally plants and a few pieces of driftwood or rocks

Cichlid Tank:

"Cichlid" refers to a huge group of fish. In a 29, you could keep either african or central american cichlids. In a 29 for africans, you could probably have 10 fish of 3 or four species. These fish generally get to be 3- 5 inches long, and have personalitites. They are easy to keep and breed, and very interesting to watch. In a central american tank, you could probably have around 6 fish of 2 or 3 species. These fish have even larger personalites than the africans, generally get a bit bigger, and are slightly more difficult to breed, but not much. A tank for cichlids generally has rocks and fake plants

Species tank:

A species tank is home to one species of fish, generally one that you want to breed. In a 29, you could have a pair or small group of a lot of different kinds of fish, depending on what you like


Biotope tanks:

These tanks are filled with fish and plants that could actually be found together in nature. They are similar to community tanks, but only contain fish and plants from that one region.


Of the above four, i would reccomend either a community tank or a cichlid tank. Both of these contain fish that are easy to find in stores, and relatively easy to keep. The deciding factor is probably whether you want a lot of smaller fish or a few larger ones.

I don't really know exactly, but I would like to breed. (I love breeding animals, it keeps me really interested!) I was thinking this fish, the Thick-Lipped Gourami looked quite nice, and seems easier to care for. I'll also have to see what there is near me, though!

I have never kept them personally, but i beleive they are pretty easy to care for :D However, breeding gouramis can be difficult because the fry are very small, and therefore difficult to feed. You could probably keep these, but breeding might be difficult. If you really want to breed fish, i would advise you look in the cichlid section of the website i gave you, and see if you like any of those fish.

If you truly wanted to breed those gouramis, it might be better to either have a slightly smaller tank( 10 - 20) gallons, or just fill a larger tank half full, and have what some people call a paludarium, with terrestrial plants above the water.

Another option would be to keep gouramis with some peaceful cichlids, and then you can breed fish AND keep the thick lipped gourami :D

But whatever you choose, feel free to ask me questions, etc. I will be glad to help you!(and i am sure Jade will too :D )

Oh, thanks for that! All the sites I looked on said they were easy to breed, but I guess they must be difficult to maintain fry, I guess.

Anyways, (God, I must sound annoying) which cichlids do you find breed easiest and which are the least aggressive?
I saw some I like the look of, but I find it easier to ask specific questions about it, lol... I'm going to drop in at my local pet shop tomorrow after college, and I'll go to the big one farther away on Saturday...
Edit: And do you have any experience of Killifish? :ohnoes:

i have never kept killifish, simply because i have never seen them for sale.

Here are some species i reccomend:


If you only have cichlids in the tank:

Convict Cichid - I have a pair which have yet to spawn, but they are supposed to be easy to breed. The other day i saw a 1 inch pair in a pet shop tank with a few dozen eggs, lol, so they would probably breed for you.

Yellow Lab Cichlid - I have a pair, and they breed constantly. Unlike the above fish, which lay their eggs in a clutch on rocks, these fish (as well as the one below) lay eggs in the females mouth, who keeps the eggs their until the fry are large enough to fend for themselves( about 1/4 to 1/3 inches long)

Red Zebra Cichlid - I started with 3 of these, and now i have about 25 or 30. They breed like rabbits, and are quite colorful. They breed like the Yellow Lab Cichlid, by laying eggs in the females mouth


With other fish (gouramis, tetras, barbs, catfish, etc)

Rainbow Cichlid - Very pretty fish and relatively peaceful. There is a picture of one of mine on the first page. I have yet to breed them, but they have come close. I think that they would be easy to breed with a little effort

Angelfish - Great fish overall. I have 5, and have bred them many times, but they ate the eggs every time. If you get a good pair, they should raise the fry. They come in hundreds of varieties. They may eat little (under one inch) fish once they are full grown, but otherwise very peaceful.

Kribensis - Very cool little fish. very peaceful, and easy to breed. Mine raised their fry to adulthood in my 125 with a bunch of other fish that could have eaten the fry


Those are just 6 species of cichlids that i have kept and found easy to breed. They are all easy to keep and will thrive on fish flakes or pellets. The top 3 are all compatible with one another, as are the bottom 3 (but the top three arent compatible with the bottom 3).

You could easily make a tank out of the bottom 3 species, which would be similar to my 29(minus the labs, which i have in my 55)

The top 3 could be kept together, along with a few small catfish, the thick lipped gouramis you liked, and some tetras or rasboras, which would make a pretty good tank
:D

Wow, thanks! I changed my mind about the Killifish, lol.
I'm certainly going to look for the Convicts or the Kribensis, what price range are they likely to be in? (Tried looking on the net, but no real answers...)
And, finally, what kind of environment do you recommend? I'd prefer live plants, are they better?

Pretty much all the fish i mentioned sell for less than 10 dollars, with the connvicts and kribensis being around 5. (I think 10 bucks translates to around 5 or 6 pounds)

As for enviroments, angelfish and kribensis do best in planted tanks, the rainbow cichlids sometimes dig up plants, and the last 3 will dig up plants and eat them, so they are best kept with rocks, wood, or plastic plants. Personally, i like live plants, and in theory they are better. How much better, i honestly do not know.

The biggest decision you will have to make is between kribs(short for kribensis) and convicts, because the convicts would probably beat up the kribs in a 29.

It appears that you like plants, so i would think it would be best for you to get the kribs, and then you could probably have the gouramis you originally wanted, along with a few other fish in a planted tank :D

Cool, that seems like a decent solution! I know of 3 places near me where I can get fish, so that'll be fairly easy with a wide selection! Thanks so much for this help, and that site looks so good!
I'll probably get back to you when I've looked at all three shops, and am making more decisions...

Oh, and Jade, if you had any thing to add to what Badisbadis said, it's welcome! :D

No problem! :D The only thing i ask is if you do set up a tank, then after you are done, post some pics :P

and yes jade, feel free to correct me/add your experiences/give recomendations, etc :D

Don't worry! The minute I get it, even if I don't have the fish yet, I'll put pics up! XD

Oh, and what kind of a breeding cycle do the Kribensis have?
Also, how many species/individuals am I likely to get in a 29 tank?
(Bearing in mind I don't want vast amounts to begin with... lol)

kribs generally take a few months to get used to the tank, etc. Starting with a pair in the beginning should be fine. They should breed after about 6 months or so, depending on numerous factors. I would be that the longest they would take would be a year.

In a 29, you could probably get:

2 kribs
2 or 3 gouramis(the first fish you liked)
3 corydoras(little catfish that eat off the bottom
3 otocinclus(little catfish that eat algae
a small school (about 5) of some small schooling fish

The fish that would be most likely to breed would be the kribs, and maybe the catfish. More that likely, you could get about 3 to five to survive from each batch of fry if you just leave the babies with the parents in the tank(for the kribs). If the catfish spawn, more than likely the eggs would be eaten. If the gouramis spawn, the eggs might hatch, but the fry would probably be eaten or starve to death.

So, if you put in what i said above, you could probably have an additional 3 or four adult kribensis without any trouble (fry that have grown up). The good(kind of anyway) news is that kribensis generally only live about 3 years, so after a few spawns, the first pair would more than likely die, and then the fry can reproduce. If this begins to happen, it might be a good idea to occasionally introduce a new bloodline in the form of a single adult fish mated with one of the grown up fry, but that would not be until at least 3 years down the road from here, lol :D

Thanks for that! (I was under the impression the kribs had looooaaads of babies...!

Hmmm, I only want about 3 species to start with... I've heard a lot about algae eaters being good in a live planted tanks, is this true?
Also, what plants do you recommend, and what snails are best? If at all?
(Random last question, I know :D )

Your welcome.

If you only want 3 species, do you still want the gouramis? I think they would do perfectly fine with the other inhabitants, if you want them. The 2 catfish species are all small (under 2 inches), and are generally good for the tank in general. If you only want three, i would suggest the kribs and the 2 caffish species, but maybe with 5 of each catfish. The only problem there is that the top 1/2 of the tank would be empty. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it will look empty. If you wanted a top level species, the gouramis swim at the top most of the time. There are also a kind of tetra that gets to be about an inch long, called hatchetfish, that you may want, as they spend 100% of their time in the top 3 inches of the tank, and will not bother any fry(baby fish) you might have

Common Hachetfish

Marbled hachetfish

About algae eaters in planted thanks, yes, they are a good thing. But you have to be careful, and make sure you get otocinclus and not anything else, as most other algae eating catfish get to be 6" to 2 feet long, and will often times eat your plants as well.

As for plants, it depends on how much lighting you have. If you get 1.5 to 2 watts per gallon (45 - 60 total watts) then you will be able to grow pretty much whatever you want. :D

I would not suggest you put in snails, as they can eat fish eggs, and sometimes your plants. Howevr, occasionally small snails will get in on plants, which is generally fine, as long as they do not get out of control.

Right, so the Kribs are default because I want them most, the 2 catfish species are advisable for the tank... I think I'll start off with that, and introduce a top-level fish later on... Hmm, this is tricky! :D
So: 2 Krib,
4-5 Otocinclus,
4-5 Corydoras
2-3 Gourami/Hatchetfish (Maybe later on)

This is, of course, banking on me finding them in a shop and talking ym mum around to letting me buy a tank... :ohnoes: