Show me your fish tank!

[Meru]

Hi all!

Thought I'd start a thread on this and 'fish out' all the other members who own a tank :D I'll start with mine (Sorry for the poor quality, the water is actually crystal clear but the phone doesnt do it justice):

50G/200L glass tank with gravel substrate
10x Harlequin Rasboras
2x Rummy Nose Tetras "My teenage brats"
1x Golden Apple Snail "Henry the Sea Snail"
RIP Sailfin Molly "Hanson"
Triple T5HO lights (on a timer, 8 hours a day)
DIY Moonlight LED lights with PWM dimmer (on a timer)
Mix of Anubias, Java moss, Blue Stricta and Val (Just added today).

I got started in this hobby always wanting a pet but never being allowed one as a kid (especially since we moved around alot). A dog would be great but dont have the time these days so decided on a fish tank! About a year in the making, the first 3 months saw 2 platies, almost a whole school of rummynose and cherry shrimps pass away due to a serious tank-crash with white fungus totally enveloping the tank within days :(

Luckily I found a friend willing to take the remaining two tetras and Henry (who is my most beloved). After a hard-reset of the tank (Nuked the tank, substrate, filter and driftwood with a mix of boiling water and bleach and chlorine) the tank has been running beautifully for 9 months. Henry regularly eats his greens such as spinach, peas, cucumber, corn and carrots and is quite the clown to watch. The rasboras are actually courting and mating which is considered difficult to achieve so was very proud of my tank so far :) The tetras love to school with the rasboras and are accepted as part of their group even though they are different species. I find it fascinating how such things occur in nature :thumbsup:

[blink138]

well meru........... i dont have one but i am jealous!
for the last five years or so, once on a trip to kailis in freo, i have always wanted a salt water tank.
pat

[noeyedeer]

I had the same snail and he found his way out of the tank and died on the floor :( I dunno if goblin and goblet ate his feelers after gobbles died ... I'll find pics of him and the goldfish... I hate looking for pics on the phone ... filenames are not my forte

matt

in the pics are moonshine (the snail, rip) gobbles (the big goldfish(rip) ...and goblin in the background... still alive))

I have lots more pics of them ... I just can't be bothered finding the pics to match file names to upload them.

last pic is moonshine tree climbing with goblin and goblet around.
brings back memories ....

[AstroJason]

Good idea for a thread and some nice looking fresh water tanks there!

I used to keep and breed Cichlids when I was younger. Mainly the African ones from lakes Malawi and Tanganyika. Eventually I got into Reef Tanks (salt water) and before my latest interest in astronomy restarted a couple years ago this was all I was into!

Started off with a small "nano" tank with 2 Seahorses and a couple soft corals. Couple years later and my interest slowly went into the stony branching corals (as they are the real challenge). Here are some shots of my tank! I really miss it and may one day get back into it. One thing I did learn... never buy a tank that's too deep. Things dropping to the bottom of this monster were a nightmare to pick up!

[Meru]

Thanks Pat,
You definitely get one! SW tanks are stunning to look at, and these days with so much information and forums on the net it's alot easier to get into it.

Matt,
Sorry to hear about Gobbles and Moonshine, that's just a part of owning a pet I guess. I know how you feel, that was like my sailfin molly called Hanson. I like the names of your fish, you still got goblin in that tank? Moonshine had a beautiful shell, I'm struggling to get Henry's shell repaired as it has pits in them. What did you feed your snail and what KH/GH did you keep the tank?

Thanks Jason,
Cichlids have sucha variety of colours and patterns, very nice. So awesome that you actually had a SW!! That is a stunning tank, for a nano it looks very clean with lots of that delicious purple stuff ;) I've heard seahorses are tough to keep and Stony corals especially so you must have been doing something right. Haha good point, I'd probably go no more than 18" deep. I have a spare 15G that I'm thinking about converting into a nano tank, what filtration technique did you use? Was it sumpless?

[AstroJason]

Cichlids are great and really rewarding when you start breeding them. I would like to one day get back into them and reef aquariums and have a fish room dedicated to it. BUT I wouldn't like to see the power bill!

The Seashorses were ok actually. The thing with them was just making sure you didn't get any pest anemones growing in the tank which could sting them. They used to "dance" around the tank holding tails each morning and night. Really amazing to watch. They were a walk in the park compared to keeping Stony corals though! But very rewarding seeing the growth kick off and colours come through.

The tank in the shots you see here was my main tank and had a Sump and Protein Skimmer in the stand with a Chiller outside the stand. Filtration was done using the Liverock.

[Chris.B]

I had a 3foot marine tank many years ago, put way to much money into it. It was lovely to sit and watch but took a lot of work. The monthly water changes and replacing fish and coral. Built the sump, pump and filter system myself. Will try dig up some pictures.
Loved our yellow tang, and cheeky coral shrimp. The blue tang was so scared it shook itself to death within a few months.

All your tanks look great

[gaa_ian]

I have 3 tanks. 2 which are outdoors up here in the NT. They are quite a struggle to keep on top of with Algae etc ....so I wont show those !
Back in Cairns NQ I have a very good looking FW tank with a healthy active group of fish including a peaceful Cyclid & a whole host of tetras and some very effective Algae eaters. Lesson, keeping outdoor tanks in the tropics is not worth it, indoors is a different story, providing a peaceful diversion.
I will post a photo when I get back next week.

[noeyedeer]

hi Meru,

yeah I still have goblin and goblet. they just cruise around playing with each other now. they would attack the snail a lot.

I never fed moonshine anything specific, the pet shop said they would just eat the algae in the tank. it worked because he grew from being as big as my thumb nail to being as long as thumb in the end.

I hope you get Henry's shell sorted. I don't know what you could do? my tanks ph is around 7.2 last time I checked and the ammonia was around 0.03. I don't have a test kit for KH or GH levels.

I'm not a super fish person, these are my sister's kids fish, but I mainly look after them.

matt

[Lee]

Nice freshwater tank.... I had a similar one, although smaller, probably 20yr ago now (cripes time flies!) - I ended up incorporating a carbon dioxide injector/diffuser - really gets the plants growing....

[Meru]

Jason,
Haha yes the power consumption is pretty high for SW, though these days with LED lighting and more efficient pumps it is reducing slowly. The seahorses sound amazing, it would be beautiful to watch them 'holding' each other closely. Stony corals would definitely be out of my reach! And ah ok so you did have a sump. I think that would be the way to go.

Chris,
Most of the hobbies these days end up with us (atleast me) putting too much money in :P Must have been quite something to see. Pics would be great, though monthly changes probably wouldn't have been enough?

Ian,
Well there's your problem! It's the sunlight that causes the algae to bloom, no wonder your indoor ones do much better. Plus they thrive on excess nutrients so perhaps too much fertiliser/food/livestock? Definitely send a pic of your tank when your back in sunny cairns

Matt,
Ah sorry I misread your post. Glad you still got the two G's :P Its nice of you to mind the fish for your nieces and nephews. That's interesting re no special food for moonshine, did you put any salts or powder when doing water changes? I think henry is slowly improving, especially with a diet high in calcium and I will start dosing liquid calcium soon. That apparently works wonders. You probably know this already but any ammonia reading above 0 is considered toxic to the fish which could explain why moonshine came outta the water? Add some real easy plants like anubias or java fern, it'll help tremendously. If I can grow it anyone can :D

Ian,
Thanks :) Co2 would be very nice, especially back in those days would have cost you a mint! Been thinking about a DIY system with yeast but to be honest the plants are growing just fine (Although slowly) which means less maintenance so I'll see how it goes

[LewisM]

I have a smallish fishtank...just does not have fish in it.

Seeing I am researching the potential novel anti-microbial and anti-viral properties of snail mucus, my tanks at home has 2 Helix aspersa, and a dozen Helix aperta snails in it. These guys are going to live, unlike that of their fellow snails who we have to dissect or subject to Pseudomonas aeruginosa or Clostridium difficile bacterium.

No water... just rocks, a branch, some calcium deposits and carrots and cucumbers :)

[noeyedeer]

Meru,
yeah I know ammonia is bad, I just think because the two Gs lol ate his feeler things he lost his way. I've only added chlorine neutralizer, anti algae liquid and water conditioner when I do water changes and vacuum, which I havnt done for a while. seems like I have a lot to learn if I ever get interested in keeping fish.

my friend is an avid aquarium man with various species, but the amount of time is too consuming for me to really look after them properly compared to him. which I know sucks. the plants in the tank are just plastic, I might try some live ones but I don't know how they will grow without a light on the tank?

good to hear he may be healing :)

matt

[Lee]

Yep, the DIY yeast system works well too (and cost effective) - you just need to rig up a diffuser of sorts.....

[noeyedeer]

lol lucky you're not French :)

[killswitch]

Heres my tank in the office, its been neglected for a while.

It used to be all lush green at one point but i havent refilled the co2 tank and kept up with daily fertz. Had to pull most of it out after a battle with algae.

[byronpaul]

Here's my little aquarium.

I run both the stand filter system, as well as a Fluval 305.

Try to keep up regular water changes every fortnight and whilst water is nearly always crystal clear, the dreaded algae in corners and on ornaments is a constant battle to keep under control.

Paul

[erick]

Goodness, must be 30 years since I had a tank for a number of years. Just the usual - fresh water tropical - full of neon tetras, platies, a few catfish, snails. I did manage to have one black Angelfish grow to quite a size before he/she fell over one day - that was sad. Tried guppies, but their tails would just vanish to rot. I wasn't much good at keeping the tank clean and disease free, but I loved it.

[Terry B]

I have 2 small (100L) tanks. One with fresh water and the other with SW. They have been happy for many years.
Just 4 fish and a coral scrimp in the SW tank.
The photo is a crappy phone pic of the SW tank but it gives the idea.
Terry

[multiweb]

Here's my duck pool on a good day. Does this qualify? :question:

50G/200L plastic tank with natural substrate.
Biodiversity too complex to list in details.
Powered by 2x turbo pekin ducks.
Triple the amount of mozzie fun at dusk.
DIY fertilising (on a timer - usually a couple of times a day).
Mix of 'what the hell is that' and other complicated amino acids.

PS: Picture's a bit crappy it's overcast. Should do a repro on a real sunny day. :thumbsup:

[Terry B]

How strange. The thumbnail is oriented correctly but the image comes up upside down.

[noeyedeer]

it's right way up for me unless your fish like swimming upside down :) nice tank too. is salt water easier to maintain?

matt

[Terry B]

Yes. I opened the image on my phone and it displays upside down. On my pad it is correct. Still strange though.

The salt takes some setting up but isn't too hard to maintain. I change 10% of the water every 2 weeks and clean the skimmer weekly. I use to test the water regularly but haven't done so for over 6 months now. I think the most important thing is not to overstock the tank. The same fish have been in the tank for over 2 years with no additions apart from a few new bits of coral.
It is in a happy equilibrium.

[astronobob]

Some Coool Aquascaping in these aquariums, very nice !
Used to have a few 3 foot tanks, only tropicals tho, one was a community tank full of allsoughts, angles, silver & red tailed sharks, neon tetras, blind cave fish, silver dollars etc ect! Did real well for years untill moved. The other was for growing a few Gauramis !
Also bread Gold fish before that, Veil Tails, beautiful tails, had approx 3000 of them one time, collected all the fertilized eggs on glass and moved to another tank away from hungry mum & dad, fed them with egg emulsion, but had to sell a lot of them when very small, didnt have the space for 3000 half grown goldfish :screwy:

My uncle had a saltwater shop in Lismore. Obviousely had Tanks at his home also ,Man you have never seen such a large & amaizing tank in all your life, true words, Ill never forget it :eyepop: This tank was a 4 footer, told you it was huuge - - um, sorry, i forgot to mention that it was 4 foot as in 4 foot deep, yep, also 4 foot wide and 16 foot long yep, true words ! Uncle had to be in the tank with a snorkle for maintanance, true words, im not kiddin ya !

The glass was near 25mm thick, Uncle had to have 6 more concrete peirs put under the house to support the weight, & under the house he also had another tank half the size for just the filtering of the Salt Water which was pumped through the floor.

The Fish were amaizing and Aquascaping was, well unreal, just like the great barrier reef in places, he had growing live corals, starfish, octopusies and anemone, beautiful colours ! Had many large exotic sun fishes, really bright colours, strong bright Yellows etc, & even a Poisonious Lion fish, that was the ultimate apart from seahorses and real salt water sharks that need a constant current so they can rest and not die, Totally amaizing !
Like something youd expect at Mooloolabah Underwater World, Un-fathom-able, pun :P

Plus he had some small tanks around the house, like one in every bedroom, only small ones, only 6 & 8 footers, you know, piddly ones ;)
Year right'o, I wish ;)
Unbelievable, I still remember them well, must have been back in the '80's there abouts !
Anyway, thanx for letting me share that, and looking forward to some other aquariums here :thumbsup:
Mights get another um just a little goldfish tank, they are easy enough, actuall have one laying around somewhere, yep, will dig it out.
Thanx for the inspiring thread Meru ...

[noeyedeer]

that's a good thing to know. like Jason's and your tank the addition of coral and salt water fish make things a different ball game then fresh water.
maybe I should try and get some grasses or something in the tank for the goldfish, and some more rocks n logs or something to mix it up for them.

matt

[GrahamL]

We have a 90 litre terracotta tub outside the wifes 4 goldfish within.

The big orange one is kurt Russell.the black one goldie hawn and the other two kate hudsen and wyatt :)

there was two large snails but a rat stole them from the tub
(Found there shells months later )

I once found kurt Russell on the tiles outside , not a flap left in him ,my wife was so going to cry , I gave him a couple of goldfish compressions and bugger me if he didn't gasp in the palm of my hand ,he was swimming upside down and was all messed up for a few days but a year on alls good ,,screen over the top now... not as pretty as an inside tank
but thems are badass tough fishes :)

[Meru]

Some beautiful examples of fish homes here! :D This is much more of a reaction that I expected.

Lewis, your research is very interesting. Is it a part of a PhD? I wouldn't have guessed that these little snails had such healing powers :) Do you see any potential in the near future to use the healing properties? Humanely too?

Haha yes Marc your one does count!

Bob, that sounds amazing. You have any pics of the shop or the 'little' 6 or 8 ft tanks :P Must have cost a fortune.

Graham that really is a badass fish!! I can't believe you gave him mini-CPR (Albeit not mouth to mouth hehe). Is that duckweed I see in your tub?

Matt, ah I see what your saying, it's interesting how the snails are blind and only sensitive to brightness. Well you certainly seem to know what you're doing, I think feeding a little less and vaccuming a little more often would do the trick. Fish tanks really arnt hard work (Once you have a little experience), just gotta do some research beforehand. I would put Java moss in your tank, it's almost impossible to kill it and will grow without a light on your tank!

[Meru]

Well,

It's certainly been a while :) Here are a few more pics of the new tank, I upgraded from the 3ft to a 4ft tank last year with the 'works' (dual filters, LED lighting, CO2 injection, UV treater etc). Of course now that I'm done I have to sell it since I am moving interstate :sadeyes:

How is everyone's else tanks going? Would love to see pics a few years on :D

[ZeroID]

Had a few tanks in the past, biggest was an 80 litre octagonal. Tetras and even grew some Angelfish from tiddlers to quite large specimens. Gave up when the tank started leaking even after multiple repair atempts. Sold all the fish and the tank for not much and shifted the little red goldfish that was also in there to the outside pond where I had some Shubunkin. Now the goldfish is about 6" long and about 8 years old and mixes it with the dozen or more Shubunkin that have bred in the pool. Homebuilt recirculating filter system, papyrus reeds, Water buttercup plant and it more or less manages itself. I clean the pump inlet weekly, throw some pellets in for the fish and add a wee bit of antialgae once a month. I summer I run a shade sail over the top ( like a tent) to reduce sunlight and algae problems.
And they all keep breeding and growing. Must be a happy lot.

[Meru]

That's great Brent, most people don't really treat their fish with too much thought so good to see you're taking good care :) I would like to have a pond one day, your DIY solution(s) sound quite interesting. I will be in touch if and when I put one in ;)

[ZeroID]

As I said Meru, the pond takes care of itself largely. It is just a 2m by 1.5 meter hole in the ground with a plastic liner. Holds about 250-300 litres I think. Surrounded by rocks, garden, plants etc and with the water plants it's looks pretty natural.
The sun sheild is a triangular sunblocker material, about 70% blocking I got from the local hardware. Held about 600 mm above the pond by some ropes to the fence and a patio pole. Covers about 70% of the pond during the heat of the day and stops birds attempting to gte to the fish although they will happily fly down to the edge for splashes and drinks. Between that and the swan plants for the monarchs we have quite a little menangerie going on in our back yard.