Fish keeping hobby

[couchpotatostew]

Would love to find ABDL that keep fish

[oznl]

You are not alone...

Above one of my very early 'scapes. 

I wasn't sure what the species was in your first photo.  They look like Galaxia but I suspect that's unlikely given your location...

 

[Megalo]

Have two small aquariums here at the house. Actually have friends in the Dallas area that have some some large aquariums in their place with many pretty fishies.

[BabyChris121675]

If my property management would allow me- I would have fish in my fish tank- which I am thinking of getting rid of- though one day I REALLY want to have fish in my apartment as I loved having fish growing up due to my fascination with sea life- I still to this day sleep with a stuffed killer whale who also comes out to my living room every day. 

I asked the property manager as she was inspecting my apartment for repairs needed last year if I could have fish and she said NO.  No fish- due to possible water damage from tanks sadly.   I always loved having fish, aquariums because of my obsession with sea life that goes to my first visit to SeaWorld in 1980 and since then I had aquariums- first fish bowls- then larger aquariums- nice pictures of your fish by the way!  

BabyChris

[Little Sherri]

I love looking into an established, well-designed aquarium. There is nothing more relaxing than watching life take its course amidst the rocks and the plants. I've had them before on a small scale, and always intended to establish a larger one - 200 gallons + - because of the stability you can achieve if they're set up well. I'd rather undertake a big maintenance project infrequently, than small maintenance projects regularly. But I've had too many other projects on the go. Someday. 

[oznl]

8 hours ago, Little Sherri said:

I love looking into an established, well-designed aquarium. There is nothing more relaxing than watching life take its course amidst the rocks and the plants. I've had them before on a small scale, and always intended to establish a larger one - 200 gallons + - because of the stability you can achieve if they're set up well. I'd rather undertake a big maintenance project infrequently, than small maintenance projects regularly. But I've had too many other projects on the go. Someday. 

Maintenance...  Mmm...  My main display tank is a mere 120 gallon but it isn't maintenance-free.  It's a "high tech" planted aquascaped tank (high intensity LED lighting, CO2 injection, auto-nutrient-dosing).  The high plant load makes the water chemistry pretty stable but over the years I've found it's better to give it weekly maintenance/partial water change than less frequent-but-longer maintenance bouts.  In my experience "little-but-regularly-often" works best.

The photo I posted was of an older planted discus tank I used to run.  I didn't post a pic of my current tank as the tank is "known" on the internet already.

Currently I have three active tanks and two ponds.  The larger pond is around 1350 gallons.

I do agree that smaller tanks can be more prone to water chemistry gyrations although if you google "nano scapes" you can find some pretty impressive results by some.

[couchpotatostew]

19 hours ago, oznl said:

You are not alone...

Above one of my very early 'scapes. 

I wasn't sure what the species was in your first photo.  They look like Galaxia but I suspect that's unlikely given your location...

 

The first picture I believe were stiphodon elegans. Gorgeous discus. Do you know where they came from? The ones in attached photo are from a local breeder near me, still really young.

17 hours ago, Megalo said:

Have two small aquariums here at the house. Actually have friends in the Dallas area that have some some large aquariums in their place with many pretty fishies.

What all do you keep, I actually run a fish store in fort worth. I quite often get people from Dallas coming to my store.

16 hours ago, BabyChris121675 said:

If my property management would allow me- I would have fish in my fish tank- which I am thinking of getting rid of- though one day I REALLY want to have fish in my apartment as I loved having fish growing up due to my fascination with sea life- I still to this day sleep with a stuffed killer whale who also comes out to my living room every day. 

I asked the property manager as she was inspecting my apartment for repairs needed last year if I could have fish and she said NO.  No fish- due to possible water damage from tanks sadly.   I always loved having fish, aquariums because of my obsession with sea life that goes to my first visit to SeaWorld in 1980 and since then I had aquariums- first fish bowls- then larger aquariums- nice pictures of your fish by the way!  

BabyChris

Sounds like you need to find a fish friendly apt. then. I find it really relaxing to just sit back and watch.

10 hours ago, Little Sherri said:

I love looking into an established, well-designed aquarium. There is nothing more relaxing than watching life take its course amidst the rocks and the plants. I've had them before on a small scale, and always intended to establish a larger one - 200 gallons + - because of the stability you can achieve if they're set up well. I'd rather undertake a big maintenance project infrequently, than small maintenance projects regularly. But I've had too many other projects on the go. Someday. 

I had a huge 800 gallon pond  before I moved and taking care of it was lime having a zen garden. Always put me at ease.

[couchpotatostew]

Just a big dump of fish photos.

[oznl]

2 hours ago, couchpotatostew said:

The first picture I believe were stiphodon elegans. Gorgeous discus. Do you know where they came from? The ones in attached photo are from a local breeder near me, still really young.

They’re just random retail Discus that I picked up from a dealer as juveniles.  They are not that old in the photo: the ratio of eye size to body size gives it away.  I tried breeding them but they were horrid parents.  Shortly after the wrigglers started departing their parent's flanks, the parents decided it was sushi-time.  My kids are still traumatised by this ?

I haven’t kept Discus for several years.  They needed too much time and attention back when I had a high powered, travel-intensive corporate job.  Discus are a bit like underwater Panda bears insofar as when they are in captivity, they really want to be dead and it’s an aquarist’s treadmill to prevent that.  Also, their love of warm water made it tough on the plants.

Most likely they would have been imported from the gazillion fish farms that exist near-locally up in Singapore and Malaysia.

I confess I've never heard of sitphodon elegans although part of me did briefly wonder about a type of Goby since I realised that Galaxia was pretty unlikely in your locale.  The types of ornamental fish available in Australia are strictly limited by biosecurity laws.  There's loads of stuff I've seen in Petsmart in the states that we just don't have.

2 hours ago, couchpotatostew said:

What all do you keep, I actually run a fish store in fort worth. I quite often get people from Dallas coming to my store.

These days, my main display tank holds a shoal of Australian rainbows.  Mainly M. Praecox but also a couple of very large, very legacy, very old M.Lacustris and M.Boesmani.  The Praecox I have because I got some off a mate, threw them in an outdoor tank where they bred like guppies (I live in a sub-tropical climate with very mild, short winters).  God knows how many are still in the tank outside.  I also have Corydoras Sterbai as the clean up crew (a small, self-sustaining colony lives in the heavily planted tank) and some Otocinclus and cherry shrimp for additional maintenance.

Some types of Australian Rainbow can be caught wild in the local streams and rivers in my area.  Ornate rainbows, Crimson Spot rainbows and Pacific Blue Eyes are all fairly common.  Unfortunately, so are platys, swordtails and the dreaded Gambusia Holbrooki (a declared noxious pest down here).  I’ve tried to trap the famous Teewah Creek Rhad from Teewah Creek (which is about a 2 hour drive from my place) but no luck.  I’ll try again when I’m retired.  Those platys in your photo would survive effortlessly outdoors here but my experience is that they will revert to wild coloration fairly quickly.  I've been told bristlenose will winter-over here too...  I should chuck some peppermints in for the lolz.

In my indoor pond I have neon tetra.  I’ve been trying to breed neons with only limited success, not because neons aren’t cheaply available here but rather because they are notoriously hard to breed in a tank environment and I wanted the win.  This is still a work in progress.  Currently I have only several home-bred neons obtained at tremendous inconvenience!

In my outdoor pond I have random rainbows and also Paradise fish.

Every other week I throw away a bucket of excess plants.  If you want Java moss, Staurogyna Repens, Micranthemum Monte Carlo, Microsorum Windelov or Nymphea lotus, there’s usually a load composting on my garden only 8300 miles down the road from you.

I'd have to confess it's been years since I've actually bought a fish at an aquarium.  The ones I have live a very long time or I'll breed them periodically to maintain stocks.  I've bought a few neons to try to find some to breed from but to be honest, they are pretty fragile having been raised in a kind of antibiotic soup in a fish farm.  When they are exposed to general conditions, the mortality clock ticks fast for them.

I only ran a marine tank once with a mate when I was a teenager.  We both recognised very quickly that as poverty-stricken teenagers with short attention spans, this was going to be a lost cause  ?

Loved the fish photos.  I'll look around for any usable, more recent photos...

[BabyChris121675]

Love the pictures of fish!  I made my peace with not being able to have fish by putting some stuffed fish I had into the tank and some small stuffed killer whales- As I will admit I do have a sentimental attachment to the aquarium because I got it in 1998 after my old one busted whilst I was cleaning it.  I have always loved fish, whales and dolphins ever since I was a kid.  I'd had fish from the time I was 5 years old up til 2002 when my last one died- I decided not to get more fish because I spent a lot of time going to my relatives- and it got harder for me to find someone to take care of my fish when I was gone from my apartment I had at that time- even then- the management didn't like me having fish but they let me. 

Growing up I loved going to the zoo aquariums around me and seeing all the different fish and sea life and have several books on whales my girlfriend found for me at used bookstores.  

Thanks for sharing the pictures of your fish!!

BabyChris

 

[Little Sherri]

10 hours ago, oznl said:

Shortly after the wrigglers started departing their parent's flanks, the parents decided it was sushi-time.  My kids are still traumatised by this ?

This is why we no longer house hamsters. 

[couchpotatostew]

19 hours ago, oznl said:

They’re just random retail Discus that I picked up from a dealer as juveniles.  They are not that old in the photo: the ratio of eye size to body size gives it away.  I tried breeding them but they were horrid parents.  Shortly after the wrigglers started departing their parent's flanks, the parents decided it was sushi-time.  My kids are still traumatised by this ?

I haven’t kept Discus for several years.  They needed too much time and attention back when I had a high powered, travel-intensive corporate job.  Discus are a bit like underwater Panda bears insofar as when they are in captivity, they really want to be dead and it’s an aquarist’s treadmill to prevent that.  Also, their love of warm water made it tough on the plants.

Most likely they would have been imported from the gazillion fish farms that exist near-locally up in Singapore and Malaysia.

I confess I've never heard of sitphodon elegans although part of me did briefly wonder about a type of Goby since I realised that Galaxia was pretty unlikely in your locale.  The types of ornamental fish available in Australia are strictly limited by biosecurity laws.  There's loads of stuff I've seen in Petsmart in the states that we just don't have.

These days, my main display tank holds a shoal of Australian rainbows.  Mainly M. Praecox but also a couple of very large, very legacy, very old M.Lacustris and M.Boesmani.  The Praecox I have because I got some off a mate, threw them in an outdoor tank where they bred like guppies (I live in a sub-tropical climate with very mild, short winters).  God knows how many are still in the tank outside.  I also have Corydoras Sterbai as the clean up crew (a small, self-sustaining colony lives in the heavily planted tank) and some Otocinclus and cherry shrimp for additional maintenance.

Some types of Australian Rainbow can be caught wild in the local streams and rivers in my area.  Ornate rainbows, Crimson Spot rainbows and Pacific Blue Eyes are all fairly common.  Unfortunately, so are platys, swordtails and the dreaded Gambusia Holbrooki (a declared noxious pest down here).  I’ve tried to trap the famous Teewah Creek Rhad from Teewah Creek (which is about a 2 hour drive from my place) but no luck.  I’ll try again when I’m retired.  Those platys in your photo would survive effortlessly outdoors here but my experience is that they will revert to wild coloration fairly quickly.  I've been told bristlenose will winter-over here too...  I should chuck some peppermints in for the lolz.

In my indoor pond I have neon tetra.  I’ve been trying to breed neons with only limited success, not because neons aren’t cheaply available here but rather because they are notoriously hard to breed in a tank environment and I wanted the win.  This is still a work in progress.  Currently I have only several home-bred neons obtained at tremendous inconvenience!

In my outdoor pond I have random rainbows and also Paradise fish.

Every other week I throw away a bucket of excess plants.  If you want Java moss, Staurogyna Repens, Micranthemum Monte Carlo, Microsorum Windelov or Nymphea lotus, there’s usually a load composting on my garden only 8300 miles down the road from you.

I'd have to confess it's been years since I've actually bought a fish at an aquarium.  The ones I have live a very long time or I'll breed them periodically to maintain stocks.  I've bought a few neons to try to find some to breed from but to be honest, they are pretty fragile having been raised in a kind of antibiotic soup in a fish farm.  When they are exposed to general conditions, the mortality clock ticks fast for them.

I only ran a marine tank once with a mate when I was a teenager.  We both recognised very quickly that as poverty-stricken teenagers with short attention spans, this was going to be a lost cause  ?

Loved the fish photos.  I'll look around for any usable, more recent photos...

As long as it is legal in texas I can get it. Running a fish store has its perks

[oliver d]

Run a mixed reef tank of 65 gallons at the moment. Mostly soft corals and a few LPS and to two Acroporas' Fish mostly small reef fish ..