Yep ... have a few of them
I have Tropical fish, but they live in A/C at a constant 24 deg C and do well.
I have local Rainbows, Tetras (4 kinds), Clown Loaches & my new favorites, Dwarf Cichlids plus a few others.
Aquarium fish are very therapeutic, especially on cloudy nights.
At the moment I have a 'betta', but would like to take him out of his small 'tub' and put him in a bigger tank. My friend is willing to give me his old tank - its about 43 l, (unless I am measuring it wrong) which seems a nice comfortable size to manage.
I think the betta's are warmish tropical fish aren't they?
sure, why not I guess thats an easy, low maintenance option.
dont think my daughter would approve though
Been known to set up big round tank in the garage with about 100 litres of sea water in it and keep a few dozen yellowtail in it (taking out and replacing 30 litres or so every day) and keeping the high capacity 220V aquarium pump running to keep them aerated for a week or more , the build up of toxins in the water, or starvation , or increased water temp kills them off if much longer. Mullet are much more robust and seem to last a lot longer in a tank.
I have no problem keeping one or two dozen yellowtail alive in 30 litres of water for all afternoon and all night with 2 battery powered selfcontained aerators providing I keep the tank out of the direct sun and refresh water when I am ready to move to the jewie spot.
I enjoy watching them swim about in the big square tank that I carry the 35l homebrew drum in on the trolley and transfer them and the water too when I arrive , they seem to last longer in square tanks than round ones unless the tank is very big.
Typically , unless I am preparing for an expected fresh (and I am taking home to keep for a few days or a week maybe in readyness), I release the remaining livebaits I have left at the end of the fishing session unharmed - good calma ? A lot of guys pore out the water and just leave any remaining livebaits to die on the rocks , grass or wharf .... that's not good.
I try to leave no evidence except a wet spot maybe, when I leave.
Been thinking of setting up an aquarium the house for years, just never gotten around to it.
Last edited by Ian Robinson; 23-12-2008 at 02:54 AM.
A very relaxing hobby, mate. I have two tanks, a communal one for guppies, putty nose tetras, golden barbs and a couple of corydoras. The second tank is for the baby guppies...millions of 'em...well about 100 ( extremely easy to breed).
Once the tank is set up, the maintenance is really only a matter of changing a third of the water each week and checking the pH of the water.
Being in the tropics, I don't need a heater for the fish.
At the moment I have a 'betta', but would like to take him out of his small 'tub' and put him in a bigger tank. My friend is willing to give me his old tank - its about 43 l, (unless I am measuring it wrong) which seems a nice comfortable size to manage.
I think the betta's are warmish tropical fish aren't they?
just dont put two betta's together in the same tank unless male and female,
my gramps had tropical fish the tank held a 1000 liters of water man it was huge the glass was 1 cm thick and a solid steel bottom very very nice
Hi Tim, I have a tropical setup with a 200lt tank.
The current population stands at 1 Bristlenose catfish, 2 Albino catfish, 1 Silver shark and 10 Neons.
It usually requires around 2 hours work every 6 weeks to keep everything in order and a filter clean once a week. I think the most important thing is a good power filter, mine hangs off the side of the tank and filters the entire tank every hour (200 lt/hour). There are other things to check every week like PH etc but never takes more than a few minutes.
I have a 60cm tank at present. I've had various tanks over the years including a few marine tanks. Currently there is only the 1 tank with just 2 fish in it- both Malawi cichlids. They get very little attention and fed every few days. Look pretty but could probably be better kept with more time.
Had tropical fish for a while in the 70s. Enjoyed them, but they'd die unexpectedly. Plenty of the usual - neon tetras, guppies, black mollies, platys, catfish. I had one black Angelfish that lived long and healthy and grew quite large - but he died too I used to get a lot of finrot, especially on the guppies' tails, and couldn't seem to get rid of it. Discovered children were easier to keep healthy, so gave up on the tropical fish.
My brother used to keep fish a long time ago when we lived in the UK. They had a good sized tank, - about a metre long and quite high but I don't know any of the technical details.
Him and his missus came home from work one day to find the lot on the floor. He never found out what had happened, though it looked as if the glass had just broken somehow.
I have a bunch of Kribs in a few different tanks, and also my favourites the Bristlenoses. I also have a bunch of other tropics: silver dollars, Gouramis etc
The key to this hobby is low maintainance, meaning, get the best filter/pump you can and this will reduce the housekeeping chores to a minimum. Given your size, its not overly big so should be easy to setup.
Summary:
1. good filter/pump
2. change 1/3 of the water every 3 weeks.
3. feed in small quantities only.
4. not all tropicals are compatible with each other.
5. expect to replace some fish from time to time - they just seem to die, even when they look healthy.
6. Ph - some people methodically check regularly, personally I don't bother too much about it.
7. get some nice plants, eg, amazon swords, java fern - the fish won't touch these and they'll proprogate quite nicely too.
had fish tanks for years, the move to the country and the timber floor instead of a concrete slab saw the finish of it, you tend to get a bigger one each upgrade.... much the same as scopes.
the last one was 6ft long 2 ft wide and 2ft 6 inches deep. you need huge lights to penetrate the water for plants. had all sorts of fish over the years. Started off with simple things like guppys, neons, gouramis,tried the unusual like hatchet fish and other oddities, never really got into the african chiclids as they are somewhat destructive. then went on to breed angel fish and discus. finished off with a the big catfish tank full of all sorts from synadontis and bristle noses, clown loaches etc etc, and a 19 inch sailfin plecostamus you could feed by hand, when we left i donated her to a large comercial aquarium for their display tank. Lots of fun and nice to look at on those cold rainy nights. But a lot of upkeep if you want to do it well.
we had 3 mercury vapuor lights (proper aquarium ones) 6 ehiem filters running full time, all sorts of monitoring kits, had to feed a mix of frozen and live food... bloodworms brine shrimps etc. then you end up with breeding tanks, hospital tanks etc etc.
lots of fun though if you can keep it under control.
We started out with one 2ft tank - now grown to 3 x 2ft and 1 x 4ft. All tropical - mix of the usual favourites in the small tanks and 16 ciclids/2 silver dollars in the large tank. As Clive says - quite a bit of work to keep them all alive.
Hi Tim.
I Concur with Norm.
Have two tanks 200 & 250 Litres.
I think some of the most important tips would be;
Have descent filters, I have a Fluval 305 on the 200L tank and a Fluval 405 on the 250L tank.
Research the subject thoroughly before you start.
Buy fish that are compatible with each other and make sure you know what size they will grow to. "Big fish eat small fish". Be aware of the number of fish that can be put in the size of tank that you have, don't overcrowd.
Know the pH and temperature range that suit the type of fish you want to keep.
Don't be in a hurry to put fish in a new setup, let the water age, give it about 3 weeks.
Don't over feed your fish, people kill their fish by putting too much food in the tank, it rots, ferments and sends the water off.
I change 1/3 of the water every 3 weeks. I have tanks on rollers with my makeup water stored in them, so after each water change I refill my make up water tanks, add conditioner to it and that water stands for the next 3 weeks until my next water change. At each water change I move everything in the tanks and vacuum the gravel thoroughly. I also am a great believer in adding Stresszyme regularly, this helps to build up the colonies of bacteria within your filtering system that clean the water.
My Fluval filters are loaded with, activated carbon, Hagen Green phosphate remover, noodles and the foam filter. Never clean the noodles this is where the good bacteria live that you rely on to help keep the tank clean. I replace the activated carbon and Hagen Green and clean the foam filter every third water change. This maintenance takes my wife and I about 4 hours every 3 weeks.
This regime works because of the filtering capacity of using over sized filters for the capacity of my tanks.
I often hear about the problems other people are having from my aquarium supplier, when I am getting supplies, but I have not had any problems. If you do the correct maintenance and research, don't just introduce a fish because it looks good, then things should be fine.
When setting up my tanks initially I used to monitor pH levels, nitrate levels and hardness. Now my tanks are mature and my maintenance regime fine tunes I no longer bother.
yep what Grant said 
I guess thats an easy, low maintenance option. 
I used to get a lot of finrot, especially on the guppies' tails, and couldn't seem to get rid of it. Discovered children were easier to keep healthy, so gave up on the tropical fish.
. He never found out what had happened, though it looked as if the glass had just broken somehow.
