Any Aquarium owners out there

[Largemouth21]

Anybody else keep fish?

[A-Jay]

Does this count ?

A-Jay

 

[IndianaFinesse]

I've got a few salt water fish, but the most interesting fish I've kept in a tank is a small 8 inch bass last summer.  I have a fairly large tank, about fifty gallons, that I placed the bass in with some weeds, rocks, and a small chunk of a log.  It was interesting to watch how he ambushed and attacked the small minnows, tiny bluegill, and crawfish that I fed it.  It was also interesting to watch how much the bass slowed down after a cold front, it sat completely still on the bottom in the thick weeds, and didn't eat for a day of two.

[NYWayfarer]

I have had many tanks over the years. Mainly Cichlid tanks South American variety and then Africans.

 

My favorite fish to keep were Oscar's. They are intelligent, as far as fish go. Mine recognized their owner and did a dance when they knew they were getting fed. Anyone else besides me entered the room and they barely got a second glance. Oscars get quite big though and the most I had room for is a breeding pair.

 

I also liked the African Cichlids as they are very colorful. The Zebra Cichlid is a mouth brooder, very cool to breed them. The female scoops up the fertilized eggs in her mouth. When they hatch the fry come out but will quickly retreat back to the mothers mouth for safety.

 

Now all I have is a small aquarium with a Betta fish.

[J Francho]

I used be heavy into the hobby.  Had a fish rearing/hatchery in the basement, and several display tanks around the house.  I eventually got onto the industry, worked as a livestock manager for an importer/wholesaler.  That was around a 120,000 sq. ft. facility.  Later I ran a high end "boutique" style pet shop and built and installed custom aquariums and filtration systems.  The freshwater closed system actually used a huge ozone reactor of my design.   In my years working with fish, I've had over 100 species reproduce.  Some of my favorite spawnings were some unidentified Ancistris sp. "Bushy Nose" pleco, Lemon Tetras, and some shell dwelling dwarf cichlids.  One year, we collected pygmy sunfish from the Pine Barrens in NJ.  Those were really cool natives.  Look up "Elasomma" and check out some pics.

 

I don't do anything with them anymore, but I've been thinking of setting a small 40 breeder tank for some drwarf cichlids.

[NYWayfarer]

25 minutes ago, J Francho said:

 and some shell dwelling dwarf cichlids. 

 

Was it this guy, the African Cichlid compressiceps?

 

 

I had one. Entertaining little fellow. Lived in a shell at the bottom of my aquarium. Retreated into the shell to sleep and when it sensed danger.

 

[J Francho]

No, but I had calvus and compressiceps.  The calvus came from the Brichard family's collection camp on Tanganyika.  Compressiceps are a pretty large fish as an adult.  I had a L. brevis, L.multifasciatus, and what I thought was L. meeli, but was probably something else.  I had real Lanistes shells, but most of my fish seemed to prefer the empty apple snail shells!  I never got the calvus to spawn.  Actually, your pic looks more like a calvus "Black" but they're pretty similar.  Really a stunning, if not a little shy, display fish.

[Darren.]

Used to have a few around the house, but not for past

6 or so years. Just got too busy, plus keeping snakes is

enough of a cleanup that fish were just too tedious.

 

Though I did love watching them. Had all fresh water

and a pleco that grew to 20+"... Traded him to a local

store for a bunch of fish.

 

Used to have a bucket list item of a wall in my house that

was an aquarium. If I won the lottery, I'd consider it and

have a local crew take care of it  

[Subaqua Adinterim]

Used to have a 20 gal. tank when I was in college.  Grew some huge angel fish and would take them in to the pet store as Darren did above with his fish, and get credit to buy additional fish.  Needed to remove the angel fish after they got too big as they would devour the smaller fish, they especially liked the neons.  I put an African water frog in my tank and that was in there for a day.  I think it jumped out, however, I never found it on the floor - a mystery.

 

Would love to get another set up but we don't have AC in the house (just a portable room AC unit) and on the few days that we would need it, the fish might get cooked. My wife nixed the idea of putting a tank in the bedroom where the portable AC unit is, so no tank for me now. 

 

Whenever I go to the local library once a week,  I spend some time peering into their tank.  Love to see the giant exhibits in the big cities as well as those at Bass Pro, Cabelas and the NY state fair.

Aquariums are very soothing, like moving art.  I really admire the efforts of anyone that maintains a tank in their home. 

[Darren.]

15 minutes ago, RichPenNY said:

Used to have a 20 gal. tank when I was in college.  Grew some huge angel fish and would take them in to the pet store as Darren did above with his fish, and get credit to buy additional fish.  Needed to remove the angel fish after they got too big as they would devour the smaller fish, they especially liked the neons.  I put an African water frog in my tank and that was in there for a day.  I think it jumped out, however, I never found it on the floor - a mystery.

 

Would love to get another set up but we don't have AC in the house (just a portable room AC unit) and on the few days that we would need it, the fish might get cooked. My wife nixed the idea of putting a tank in the bedroom where the portable AC unit is, so not tank for me now. 

 

Whenever I go to the local library once a week,  I spend some time peering into their tank.  Love to see the giant exhibits in the big cities as well as those at Bass Pro, Cabelas and the NY state fair.

Aquariums are very soothing, like moving art.  I really admire the efforts of anyone that maintains a tank in their home. 

 

There used to be (probably still is) a great store in Lockport

that had a really nice reptile and fish section. Can't remember

the name, but visited it several times in the mid-90s. Wasn't

big into collecting then, just remember the nice displays.

 

@J Francho may know of it?

[RoLo]

I've had a few aquariums over the years, it's a great hobby!

I had the usual fare like angelfish, zebrafish, black mollies and neon tetras.

If I got another aquarium though, I'd have Cichlids including a couple Oscars.

 

Roger

[J Francho]

Just now, Darren. said:

 

There used to be (probably still is) a great store in Lockport

that had a really nice reptile and fish section. Can't remember

the name, but visited it several times in the mid-90s. Wasn't

big into collecting then, just remember the nice displays.

 

@J Francho may know of it?

 

Pets Plus.  The Kick brothers' store.  Dudes were crazy, but a lot of fun, and cool stuff in the store.  Fred once flipped me out.  I was delivering a shipment of fish and ferrets, and he wants to show me this albino king cobra.  OPens up the cage, and you guessed, thing sinks it's fangs into Fred's hand.  He starts freaking out, his brother is freaking out.  I'm in complete shock.  Then turns to me laughing and says, "It's venom glands are full silicone.  No poison."  My reply, "Here's your invoice.  Cash or check?"

 

I'm not sure if they're still around.

[Darren.]

1 minute ago, J Francho said:

 

Pets Plus.  The Kick brothers' store.  Dudes were crazy, but a lot of fun, and cool stuff in the store.  Fred once flipped me out.  I was delivering a shipment of fish and ferrets, and he wants to show me this albino king cobra.  OPens up the cage, and you guessed, thing sinks it's fangs into Fred's hand.  He starts freaking out, his brother is freaking out.  I'm in complete shock.  Then turns to me laughing and says, "It's venom glands are full silicone.  No poison."  My reply, "Here's your invoice.  Cash or check?"

 

I'm not sure if they're still around.

 

Yep, that's the place! Loved it. Had a place about 5x the size

down in VA Beach, but recently closed. Family owned...sad to

see places like that go. I think Pets Plus had some of the best

in-store displays...zoo-like.

 

Great story. How'd they get silicone in the venom glands? My

brother was bit by a canebrake (for real) in his basement in

Lima back in, I think, '83. No silicone there. Had to fly in 

anti-venom from the State Police in PA....Strong Memorial saved

his life.

[J Francho]

2 minutes ago, Darren. said:

Great story. How'd they get silicone in the venom glands?

 

I have no idea.  The place I ran was similar, and around the same square footage.  Most everything was based on the best husbandry.  I recall our local zoo consulting us on how to set up their panther chameleons.  We were breed them, and around 20 other spp. of reptiles or snakes right in the store.  Pets Plus was doing even more breeding.  Those guys really were in the reptile game way before the boom in the 90s.

[long island basser]

https://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/165064-aquarium-thread/

 

Im into it.

[Subaqua Adinterim]

This is one area that Walmart will not be pushing the small local businesses out of, as the expertise and effort that goes into these smaller operations is amazing. Our local Walmarts shut down their aquarium section a few years ago.  

[bigfruits]

ive got a yellowhead jawfish (you need one), flasher wrasse, two O. clowns, pistol shrimp/goby, firefish, fire shrimp and a tail spot blenny currently.

[CTBassin860]

10 hours ago, Finesse Wayfarer said:

I have had many tanks over the years. Mainly Cichlid tanks South American variety and then Africans.

 

My favorite fish to keep were Oscar's. They are intelligent, as far as fish go. Mine recognized their owner and did a dance when they knew they were getting fed. Anyone else besides me entered the room and they barely got a second glance. Oscars get quite big though and the most I had room for is a breeding pair.

 

I also liked the African Cichlids as they are very colorful. The Zebra Cichlid is a mouth brooder, very cool to breed them. The female scoops up the fertilized eggs in her mouth. When they hatch the fry come out but will quickly retreat back to the mothers mouth for safety.

 

Now all I have is a small aquarium with a Betta fish.

I used to love my Green Terror and my Convicts.Both were pretty mean.I cant tell you how many other cichlids i added to the tank just to find them dead the next morning.Ive thought about starting a new tank with either some Jack Dempsy or Parrots.

[Angry John]

1 hour ago, bigfruits said:

ive got a yellowhead jawfish (you need one), flasher wrasse, two O. clowns, pistol shrimp/goby, firefish, fire shrimp and a tail spot blenny currently.

I was a reefer also.  Helped with the wife's depression during the long CT winter.  Got into guns and fishing and I found two guys that bought both my 90 and 125.  Think about it every once in a while and most likely do it again when I retire.

[Raul]

Used to but no longer, I even owned an aquarium store. Mexico's largest tropical fish importer ( Acuario Echegaray ) owner is a friend of mine.

[Wind Knot]

A couple years ago I kept a tank with 6 tiny sunfish and a small largemouth.  Unfortunately, most of them jumped out (the lid didn't cover the entire aquarium) and the few that were left became ill and died.  After that, I housed a large betta in the same tank, but he jumped out and died as well.  I seem to have a problem with suicidal pets.

[J Francho]

1 minute ago, Wind Knot said:

A couple years ago I kept a tank with 6 tiny sunfish and a small largemouth.  Unfortunately, most of them jumped out (the lid didn't cover the entire aquarium) and the few that were left became ill and died.  After that, I housed a large betta in the same tank, but he jumped out and died as well.  I seem to have a problem with suicidal pets.

 

Some fish just jump - Betta fall into that category.  Others jump due to stress or something triggering a fight or flight response.  Sometimes it's a water quality issue, which might be the case here, since your sunfish got sick, and they're extremely resistant to disease.  At any rate, there's an easy solution for keeping them from jumping out.  Water quality can be tricky, though usually cutting back on food, and some partial water changes resolve the issue.

 

Sorry, turned this into a pet care thread, lol.

[Wind Knot]

Just now, J Francho said:

 

Some fish just jump - Betta fall into that category.  Others jump due to stress or something triggering a fight or flight response.  Sometimes it's a water quality issue, which might be the case here, since your sunfish got sick, and they're extremely resistant to disease.  At any rate, there's an easy solution for keeping them from jumping out.  Water quality can be tricky, though usually cutting back on food, and some partial water changes resolve the issue.

 

Sorry, turned this into a pet care thread, lol.

 

 

Oh, that's good to know!  When I pulled in my minnow trap full of goldfish-sized bluegill I thought they would look nice in aquarium, but I hadn't done too much reading on them.  Lesson learned!

[bigfruits]

3 hours ago, Wind Knot said:

A couple years ago I kept a tank with 6 tiny sunfish and a small largemouth.  Unfortunately, most of them jumped out (the lid didn't cover the entire aquarium) and the few that were left became ill and died.  After that, I housed a large betta in the same tank, but he jumped out and died as well.  I seem to have a problem with suicidal pets.

 

carpet surfing is a common sport practiced by many aquarium fish, some species more than others.

 

a screen top will keep jumpers inside. a glass top will do the same and also keep evaporation down. a glass top will reduce PAR a bit (especially when not clean) so be mindful of that if keep light loving coral/anemones/clams.

[Redlinerobert]

I've always wanted to have a big tank but time and other hobbies never allowed for it.