Fish

[stephend]

I went to a fish store with a friend of mine and decided that I realy liked a salt water tank they had setup there. I was wondering if anyone could point me to a good site to research what it will take to set that up.

I did search for one, but nearly everything that came up was just trying to sell equipment and/or fish, and I am in no way ready to start buying fish stuff.

 

[lexx510]

From what I hear, salt water tanks are a lot more difficult to maintain. Have you ever owned fish before? If not, you may want to consider starting with fresh water first. I wish I had more info for you, but I only have experience with keeping fresh water fish.

 

[roxynoodle]

427HISS has them and might be able to help.

 

[luvmytooo]

All I can tell is they are work , and beautiful. The bigger the tank , the easier it is to maintain . My brother has a 75 gallon salt water tank. Last time I saw it (years ago)
he had a living reef which was gorgeous. The tiny sea creatures that live in the corals are amazing. Good filter system is a must . Those fish are expensive too !
When you find a floater in the tank its like throwing out $100+ dollars !!!
I bought him a Trigger fish every year for his Anniversary , those are some awesome fish...They look like they are swimming around whistling ,lololol.
If your willing to deal with the expense , have fun I think the first type if fish to start out with is a clown fish , like "Nemo" , lolol. I think they are one of the hardier salt water species.....This is going back years though , so dont hold me to it

 

[MickeysMom]

I have a 240 gal reef tank..... They are a bit more involved than freshwater, but once established are relatively easy to maintain. They are however both addictive and expensive! I started with a 29 gal tank and worked my way up...sometimes having multiple tanks at once.

This photo is from 2010, everything is huge now...I will try to get a new pic up.

My advice would be research research research, ask questions and then research some more. It is easiest if you start off correctly, rather than trying to correct mistakes later. The most informative sites I have found are reefcentral and wetwebmedia.

 

[luvmytooo]

Holy **** That tank is unbelievable ! So beautiful !
Where , if I may ask , is this tank in your house ?
How I would love to sit in front of that tank for a couple of hours , days....... lol.
I wouldnt get any chores done if I had that tank in my house , lol. I might actually be in it , Diver Down You must be a scuba diver , are you ?

 

[MickeysMom]

The tank is in the living room on the wall opposite the couch.....Mickey actually gets to enjoy it all day, and seems to be most in love with the Blue Tang....

I am not a scuba diver....lol I just love all the life in a reef tank, and decided in 2005 "why not" and dove in with a pair of seahorses in a 29....

Well that became the 29 plus a 55 (because I couldn't keep fish and corals with the seahorses) then a 55 and a 75...then the 240....then I added a 120, but it was too much so I consolidated and pared down to what is in the 240.

I can spend hours just watching it, but then I notice a smudge on the glass....then that the powerhead is crooked....then I find myself elbow deep in the tank....lol...

 

[roxynoodle]

Mickeysmom, that tank is incredible! I think I'd rather watch that than TV. It was something I always wanted to do when I was younger. But, between work, horses, goats, pigs, dogs, cats, birds, etc and a house and property to care for, I never got around to it.

 

[luvmytooo]

The tank is in the living room on the wall opposite the couch.....Mickey actually gets to enjoy it all day, and seems to be most in love with the Blue Tang....

I am not a scuba diver....lol I just love all the life in a reef tank, and decided in 2005 "why not" and dove in with a pair of seahorses in a 29....

Well that became the 29 plus a 55 (because I couldn't keep fish and corals with the seahorses) then a 55 and a 75...then the 240....then I added a 120, but it was too much so I consolidated and pared down to what is in the 240.

I can spend hours just watching it, but then I notice a smudge on the glass....then that the powerhead is crooked....then I find myself elbow deep in the tank....lol...

Thank you so much for sharing it with us , it is simply incredible.
I know how easy it is to get hooked on having tanks. My brother went through the same thing , but like you , consolidated to just the 75 gallon.
That type of fish tank in my house would be a great idea , but I wouldnt put it past my Border Collies to try to herd the fish.
The nose smudges on the glass would drive me nuts , lol.
But I could sit in front of it daily to just de-stress

Its wonderful that Mickey gets to watch the fish . I bet he enjoys it , having stimulation when he is in his cage and he even has his favorite fish , the blue tang , lolol.

 

[MickeysMom]

It is hard work....but I find it relaxing....

The smudges on the glass drive me completely insane! And with 2 Saint Bernards there are always smudges

Mickey absolutely loves it! He especially loves when I do the top offs, he laughs and giggles and dances...he's very silly!

 

[luvmytooo]

TWO St. Bernards ?! OMG ! They are gorgeous I can see what you mean now by slobber , lol. Mickey giggling and dancing has got to be really funny

 

[stephend]

Thank you very much for the info. I have no idea when I'm getting the tank, unless I win the lottery it won't be till after May. Right now I am just doing research so when I have the time and money to set it up I can do so.

 

[MickeysMom]

Wetwebmedia is good for step by step instructions for most everything, and specialized information on corals/fish/liverock.

Reefcentral is a great community much like this one, where you can get feedback/have questions answered by members.

Both have been a great help to me over the years.

 

[Wulfgeist]

That tank is awesome! I've had more fish experience than with birds and currently have a 29 with a small assortment of african cichlids. I have always wanted a salt water tank but that's definately something that won't happen unless I wind up in a house and a little more available funds.

 

[MikeyTN]

I second WetWebMedia and Reefcentral.com is a great place to lurk around too as you will learn a lot of other experienced owners! I did Saltwater for 7 years and sold out everything when one day things started happening and it was the last draw....One of the tank's over flow box busted and leaked water ALL over my carpet at 2am and I'm freaking out but I had RO/DI water pre-made at all times and started mixing in a tub, vacuuming up saltwater out of the carpet and got it all done at 4am and go to work at 9am and work all day til 10pm. Then few days later my other tank that was Reef Ready (RR) had a plumbing issue and did the same thing all over my other room's carpet. They were both reef tanks and had my fish since they were tiny babies, one of my fish was only a pea size when I got him. A Onyx/Picasso mix that I got from a reef club meeting and he was pretty big when I sold the tank. It was sad to see it go at first but I can devote my time to my birds instead as they're very time consuming! And I went ahead and sold out my other RR tank that I didn't get the chance to setup yet, it was an awesome setup too with LED lighting and all. It was built by a reefer friend and he punk that thing out. One of the fish I miss the most was my Naso Tang as I baby that fish when he was a baby, his buddies died when my Light kit over heated the tank while I was at work and he ended up getting ich and was skin and bones laying on the bottom of the tank. We give him 24hrs to live, but I thought I should intervene and do something about it. I started feeding him garlic formula from my hand and he took it from me as he was laying on his side dying. I fed him 4-5 times per day and I was running back home from work in the middle of the day to do this twice a day, I was making excuses at work...lol....After 2 days he perked up and started swimming around, a week later he was swimming pretty good and started putting on a little weight, a month later he was fully recovered. From that time on, he eats out of my hand on a daily basis and he's not afraid of my hands ever as I can pet him in the water. We named him Nate, he is my only regret....Now days we only have a freshwater tank that's been upgraded over and over and now it's at 75g and we're upgrading it to 150 as our fish is getting bigger, some of them we've had for over 10 years. Freshwater is so much simpler....lol....

 

[lexx510]

That tank is awesome! I've had more fish experience than with birds and currently have a 29 with a small assortment of african cichlids. I have always wanted a salt water tank but that's definately something that won't happen unless I wind up in a house and a little more available funds.

I also keep African Cichlids (Lake Malawi mbuna). What kind of cichlids do you keep?

 

[lexx510]

Here are a few pictures of my fish (fresh water). I really enjoy photographing them. I will try to add a video later.

 

[lexx510]

 

[Wulfgeist]

Very lovely fish! I have kenyi, yellow lab and another kind I forget which it is, it looks pinkish.

 

[MickeysMom]

Here's a couple of updated pics of my tank.

Mickey just had to get into one......