Brianne29

I bought my husband a 55 gallon fish tank for Christmas. I have never been much of a fish fancier, but he has gotten intense about it. Kind of obsessed actually, but it's cute. I won't say that I've joined him in the obsession, but I've gotten so immersed (ha, ha, see what I did there?) in the fish world that I can't help but learn a lot. The whole process is really pretty cool.

We're still on our fishless cycle, so no fish 'til probably around Christmas (which is why I got it so early), but we're putting in live plants gradually.

Who else out there is into fish? What size(s) do you have? What fish? Salt or freshwater? Any planted aquariums? Substrate? Share pictures! I'll put some up later or tomorrow.

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monicaei

I have a 15T nano reef. It has a closed brain, zoas, lawnmower goby and mated pair of clownfish, and the normal clean up crew.

I love my lil tank. It's almost 3 years old. I had a 55 reef that was older, but it crashed after Katrina when we lost power for so long. I was so heartbroken it took years to get back into it, then downsized cuz restocking that behemoth was just overwhelming.

EmilyB

I was completely obsessed after my husband set up his first (with me) tank. I think it is something about learning all the science behind a successful setup.

I sort of took over his hobby, going through the planted tanks, cichlids, and eventually SW, through soft and then hard corals.

At one point we had 7 tanks running.

Needless to say, this cost us a HUGE amount of money, that I now wish I could get back, LOL.

We still have a 65g in-wall SW tank and a fish that is 14 years old.

Although I tried CO2, I really never did succeed with a really nice planted FW tank. I kill most land plants though, so I'm not surprised....

the_discowhore

Don't have one currently, but in the process of putting together a planted paludarium which stock freshwater fish and frogs (it will be a long build unfortunately)

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Meldrew79

My hubby's the same and he's dragged me in somewhat. We have a 75 gal tank in our basement that has a Florida Gar and a Redtail Catfish. Both are starting to grow too big for the tank though, so he'll probably switch it up soon. He used to have discus in it and it was beautiful, but he wanted something meaner.

Here's a link to his tank when it was pretty: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keChFRXATmo

I have a small 7 gal in our living room with some neons and a celebees (don't think I'm spelling that right). I'm thinking about putting a Betta in it eventually.

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monicaei

PICS OF THE BUILT IN!!!

Quick hijack-

What kinda hard corals do you have? I have really wanted to get a birds nest, but I don't know if the t-5 VHOs would be sufficient? Thoughts?

hijack over

EmilyB

I will try and get some pics tonight, need hubby to clean the glass....lol.

No hard coral anymore, the CA reactor and constant lighting issues, I gave up on them.

Plus I have coral eaters, a Trigger and a Butterfly....

I found pink birdsnest to be super sensitive and I don't think T5's would do it.

I had 400w MH lighting when I kept the hard corals and still had trouble with them browning out.

Here's what the big tank was like.

Canreef Tank of the Month

monicaei

I cant keep halides over the 15, it would be an evaporative nightmare and I don't know if they make a chiller that would effectively keep the temp down. . No birds nest for me.

Can't wait to see pics!


Edit: just looked at your 230. WOWZA!

NOX

I have a 90g FOWLR saltwater set up. Just has 1 fish in it since he eats everyone So therefore he has no friends

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Matt Vandart

Heres mine, I used to be a catfish nutball, seriously if anyone wants to know anything about catfish of south america I'm yer man, I even have one named after me, lolz

tank

monicaei

So who's the predator????

NOX

He's a porcupine puffer! He ate his friends.. I had a cute goby and a hawkish. The cleaning crew is history since they're his natural diet lol


Sent from my iPhone using Petguide.com Free App

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Matt Vandart

grokefish

monicaei

I have always wanted a predator tank! I love puffers. Do you live feed?

Cool cat, Matt

Jonesy'sMom

I think you fishy people need to post pictures of your tanks

I am a fish killer, so I stay away from them, but I do love to look at tanks That show Tanked on AP I just love!!!!

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Jynx

When individuals bring nothing but drama to the table... Know it's time to let them eat alone. - Unknown

RedFawnRising

Glad to see more fish nerds in the making

All I have now (time and money, oy) is a few heated/filtered Betta set-ups as I don't believe in flower-vase-cruelty-to-fish.

I've had big FW planted tanks (probably my fave), brackish tanks, reef tanks, FOWLR tanks, kept fancy large goldfish and Koi. My Koi were descended from wolves, so mostly lived outside, once past the puppy stages

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Brianne29

As you do. Never seen any big fancy $2,000 tank set-up with fish happier than ones that live outside, in the wild, where they belong.

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monicaei

So what's the plan for your new tank?

zorianak

Do some reading on a dry cycle - that's what I intend to do when I invest in another tank. Also, 55 is a great starting size - the bigger the better. If you want any plants, I have lots. Just do shipping + $1 and I can send then in an envelope - I recently pulled down my 80 gal since I just haven't been maintaining it.

I can also give you suggestions for species once your tank has stabilized.

Also, don't buy your fish from a petstore. Support local/US breeders via eBay and AquaBid.

Edit: Also wanted to add that you should do your fishless cycle with as many plants as possible, but DO NOT use stuff from the pet store. They are NOTORIOUS for carrying disease and other nasties.

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Abby

Right now we're working on a really interesting planted saltwater predator tank. There's not a huge amount of people who have done this, so it's a slow process! Right now, predator free while we're growing in our plants and getting everything stable.

Love to see everyones tank shots!

donnatoldu2

I have a 110 gallon tank with Discus...love it. Hind sight...I would not have gotten the tall tank but a longer shallower one instead. Very hard to work in. Love the look tho.

mfkelly66

I currently have 3 tanks. I have gone full circle back to keeping fancy goldfish and some bristlenosed pleco's which I am fairly obsessed about! Currently I have the 26 gal bow front and a 36 gal bow front up and running. My 72 gal bow front I am in the process of switching back to fresh for the goldies.
Mike Kelly

Brianne29

I love closed brains, I'd love to see photos of your coral! That is so sad about your older reef.

I completely agree! I think that I thought you could just pick yourself up a tank, gravel, some decorations and a few fish and be all set. I had no idea how much really went into it. Granted, that makes it the Christmas expense that just keeps on giving, but it's worth it to see him so engrossed in the project, and the process is very fascinating.

There are gonna need to be some pictures posted of this.

Oh my, I would looove to see photos of that when it's done!

Aw man, I love your tank. Pretty similar to what we're envisioning for ours someday - definitely not there yet. We really might want discus.

This made me LOL, is all. That'll do it!

Those are some biiiig fish. Cool set-up, with the driftwood.

I looooove Tanked!

That remains somewhat up in the air. The husband is doing lots and lots and lots and lots of fish research (*cough obsessing cough*). He's mentioned redtail black sharks, discus, cichlids, gouramis...not all of them of course, but I think that those are some of the ones he's really looking into. We both want a ton of live plants and driftwood.

Our tank is very much a work in progress. This endeavor started out with "Hey, let's find a pretty cheap starter tank on CL." He joined a fish forum (I've been teasing him about this, but I guess who am I to talk...) and found out how to safely clean and disinfect it while I did the research on how to cycle it and we ended up with this $75 POS.



As soon as we had it home I realized that the whole thing was a hot mess, icky looking with ugly gravel, some ugly rocks, gross looking glass, a peeling, ugly backdrop, and a stand that didn't match anything in our house. But, there it was in our bedroom, so we decided to see what could be done with it.




He decided to sand the finish off and paint it. Per the fish forum again, he discovered some elaborate way of taping off everything, painting the back of the tank black instead of using a backdrop, and painting the stand with this certain kind of paint.




Sanded down.




Being painted...in the freezing cold. The whole sanding/painting process took something like 5 days, one of which was Thanksgiving, while I was cooking.







He wanted new hardware for it, and he's a lion fanatic, so...guess when he got a yen to journey to Menard's for two hinges and a handle? Oh, that'd be during their Black Friday sale, when else? These things were not on sale. That's just when he decided to go, and drag me along, naturally.




His mother helped him clean out the inside of the tank (vinegar, rinse, vinegar, rinse, 9:1 bleach solution, rinse rinse rinse) while I helpfully took pictures. It was a long, long, stinky process, but it was so clean it squeaked when all was said and done.



More painting.




Now, we're gradually adding plants while we cycle with the API master test kit.







It's still looking quite naked in there, but we're getting there!

(And yes, I know the lights are two different shades. Whoops. That's changing soon.)

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Meldrew79

If you have any questions, let me know and I'll ask DH! He's always happy to talk fish.

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monicaei

My advice... With a 55, start with SW, you will end up there anyway. It always does . Get some live sand and live rock and go for it...