DO U have an aquarium?

[warhawk]

hello fellow chrome domes:  i got this 30 gallon empty aquarium that is sitting in the garage collecting dust.  i'm planning 2 fill it with some water and fish this summer.  just wondering... how many of U have an aquarium in your home?  how many gallons?  do U have more than one?  salt water?  fresh water?  kinds of fish?  what's your story?

WARHAWK

[TheTrucker]

I used to be really into aquariums. At one time my living room was pretty aquariums on every wall. I had 15 or 20 ranging from  10 gallons for raising feeder fish and for sick isolation tanks to 100 gallon reef tanks and everything in between.

My main aquarium related hobby then was raising Oscars. I would get them when they were only a couple of inches long and raise them until they were a foot or more and then sell them to people who wanted them but didn't want to bother with raising and training them.

If I didn't spend most of my time trucking up around the country I'd have a couple running now.  There are few things as relaxing as watching a tank full of fish swimming around.

[BaldBen]

My son wants an aquarium with 'tropical fish". I'm assuming they require salt water. What types of fish do you recommend for the novice.
As a kid I had a few gold fish and guppies. They did not live very long.
I want to do it right this time.

This site looks like it could be very helpful.
http://www.fishlore.com/

[TheTrucker]

Tropical fish are fresh water fish. I'd suggest visiting an aquarium store and checking them out. there are a great many from which to choose.

Before setting up a tank I'd suggest buying a good book on the subject, reading up on the internet, and talking with the folks at the aquarium store.

As for the stores, look at the tanks to see how healthy the fish look, and if there are dead ones floating in the tank as this is a good sign to shop elsewhere.

[D.A.L.U.I.]

I've got a fish pond in the backyard, it's about 9 feet wide by five feet, and 5 and 1/2 feet deep, it's filtered by a spa filter, basically it's a swimming pool for fish.  Before Katrina I had gold fish, some had gotten 9 inches long and were really nice--not so nice after a month w/o a pump running though.  After thoroughly cleaning it up, I switched to mainly koi, larger and more spectacular to look at, but about two to three times the expense for the size when purchased though.  Note however that they live for years so it's just a one time expense--absent a bad storm.  It's very relaxing, as Trucker says, you can literally feel the tension and blood pressure go down while you watch them.  Do it, and if you like it you may move on to fish ponds too.  They're great to listen to from inside, and relatively easy to keep up.  They REALLY dress up a yard.

[tomgallagher]

How expensive are Koi saint.?

[D.A.L.U.I.]

How expensive are Koi saint.?

I got the main group--five--for about $12 to $13 apiece and they were about 3 to 4 inches then---now two years later they're nearly a foot long!  I've seen large ones like they are now for $35 and up each.  One died--it got caught in the leaf scimmer early on. I've been looking for another 3 or 4 small ones but I know what coloring I'm looking for and I've been looking every weekend for a month.  There are numerous sites about them--it's worse than bald sites!  Ponds are really great--just be careful of birds like egrets, because until the fish get relatively big, they're bird food!  An at $13 a bite, pretty expensive bird sushi for my taste!  Since my pond is so deep it's not too much of a problem for me.

[Marz]

My parents used to have a pond at their house. I spend a couple of days one summer cleaning it out and making a nice environment for Koi. We got a few smaller Koi and they were doing great, then one day *poof* they were gone. We decided to get some goldfish the second time around and they grew to about 6-8 inches and were also doing great. One night while watching tv, we heard a ruckus on the deck. Went outside and found a whole family of racoons fishing in out pond having a great ol' time. They bareley acknowleged we were there. My dad turned it into a planter shortly after that.

I have always wanted to get a salt water aquarium but it seems like a huge undertaking. Any advise on whats involved in terms of upkeep, cost and learning?

Trucker, my dad had an Oscar for years, mean ol fish would strike at damn near anything that touched the water. He had a Jack dempsy as well but the Oscar ate him eventually.
 

[TheTrucker]

Yeah, untrained Oscars can be pretty aggressive.  They're pretty aggressive hunters either way, but can be trained to be petted and even do tricks. Very intelligent fish.

Salt water aquariums can become quite expensive in a hurry, and they are a lot of work to keep up. I had one and will never do it again as it just ran into way too much money.

[Bald_freak]

30 is the minimum for salt water. bigger is better. But as mentioned above, very expensive endevor. Get an expert to help you get it started if that's the route you want to go. Guy I know has a computerized tank and a service to take care of it. take was about 6500 and service is about 200 bucks every other month.

[Timmay]

does a fish bowl count?

[Tyler]

We have 2 aquariums that my wife manages.  They aren't my thing, but my wife loves them and they do look great in our house.

[PigPen]

We've got a small tank (less than two gallons) for my daughter's Beta. Then another small bowl next to it for my son's Beta.

[Bald_freak]

I had a sandfish (lizard) in a 10 gal. But it died a lil while back.

[Mike]

I have 2 29 gallon tanks, one fresh and one salt. The fresh water tank has my breeding pair of firemouth cichlids, 3 pair of plecos, and a marmokreb (self cloning) crayfish.

 In the saltwater tank I have a pair of 'nemo' clowns, a firefish, 2 hermit crabs, a decorator crab, 2 yellow tail blue damsels, 2 neon goby's, a bubble tip anemone, a curly que anemone, and tons of glass anemones plus all the other goodies on the live rock.