Aquariums and fish, anyone?

I thought I'd swing by this forum tonight to post this. I'm missing my old job a bit and therefore am asking this question for a selfish reason -- I love aquariums and fish! And, if by chance any of you love aquariums and fish as well, I was thinking maybe you'd share that love here. In this post .

At PetSmart, I worked with freshwater fish quite a bit. And, by all accounts, I hated the manual labor associated with caring for the fish. But, I did love looking at them and learning about them. And, they certainly helped me remain serene and calm in even the most frustrating of situations. Going into my work, I had very little working knowledge of fish or their care. Growing up, I know we had tiger oscars, a black knife, discus, cichlids, and tropical fish (not all at once, mind you ), but I don't remember anything about them. I do have a funny (and kind of sad) story to share about them, though, but I won't do that here unless you all want me to. I also had bettas growing up and loved them, but was never seriously involved with aquariums or fish. So, working in a pet store really opened my eyes about fish and their care. At PetSmart, we had goldish, koi, African cichlids, South American cichlids, semi-aggressives, and tropical fish along with bettas, feeders, and snails. We had some catfish and sharks as well, but nothing too out of the ordinary. And, we were strictly freshwater. I learned a lot and came to love fish -- my interest primarily in semi-aggressives and cichlids just because they interested me so much. But, now that I'm not working there, I'm missing the fish and even the manual labor -- go figure. And, since I am limited by space, time, and finances, having a large tank is completely out of the question for now. So, I'd love to hear from all of you.

Do you have a fish tank or aquarium? If so, how big? Freshwater or saltwater? What kind of fish do you have now or have you had in the past? Any pictures you'd like to share? Everyone can join in -- even those with bettas or ponds! Really, the more the merrier .

My roommate and I presently have a 20 gallon aquarium of goldfish (hers) as well as a 5.5 gallon desktop aquarium with goldfish (mine). It's technically too small for goldfish, but I'll be upgrading my tank to a 40 gallon in a couple of weeks. Thankfully, my fish are still quite small and so space, at this time, is not a tremendous issue -- especially since I perform daily maintenance on my tank. I used to think goldfish were boring, but I've come to realize that they're pretty cool. There are so many different varieties, shapes, colors, and sizes. And, I think they're beautiful despite being rather common. In the 20 gallon (it's my roommate's and is in her den) there are 2 large red ryukins, 1 small red ryukin, a small calico ryukin, a large calico telescope, a large black moor, 2 medium orandas (red caps), and a bunch of fantails. She also has some live plants, but darned if I knew what they were. In my little tank I just have a shubunkin and 2 small fantails (a bronze colored one and a red one). Oh, and I have a small white mystery snail as well. It's not much, but I love them and they just help me so much with my anxiety. And, my cats love watching them as well!

One day, I'd love to have a large goldfish tank (like 75+ gallons) as well as a cichild or semi-aggressive tank. But, for now, I love my desktop aquarium and my three little fishies.

Aren't fish awesome? (Okay, not as awesome as cats, maybe, but still... )

Hi, I love fish too, we just have a small 3 ft fish tank with 4 fish,two shubunkins and two gold fish freshwater. Before we moved house we had a 6ft fish tank with koi carp and gold fish, there wasn't anywhere to put it when we moved so we had to sell the fish and tank and downsize, I really miss them though. We had a weather loach and we kept him but he died, that was the saddest thing ever he was the best fish in the world, we called him wormy and we haven't been able to find another anywhere. My tank is ready for cleaning but when I do I will tak some pics and post them. x

hey i have a 55 gallon saltwater aquarium ill post picks soon at the moment i have a lunar wrasse and a pj cardinal fish ( trying to restock lol).

Right now I am content with my 25 gallon. I am still new to fish keeping but I absolutely love it. My kitties enjoy the fish tank just as much.They will sit & stare and paw at it. I have a paradise fish, a flame gourami, a pleco and 3 glowfish. They all really live peacefully together. They are fun to watch and actually tank upkeep has been pretty simple for me. They each have their own personalities and I noticed, just like the kitties, the fish love to chase laser lights as well.

Here's mine






It really needs cleaning-that's next weekends job :-)

I used to have aquariums when living at home. My dad and I raised several tanks of fancy guppies to sell to the pet shop stores. We had some very nice ones too.

I think we had about 7 or 8 tanks 10-20 gallon. Every Saturday morning dad and I would clean those tanks, change the filters, etc. - after I moved out I never got another aquarium. I sometimes think about getting another one, but remember the work involved

When we had other fish (non guppies) it was the zebra danios (which layed eggs too), neons, angelfish and algea eaters (which in our opinion did a better job at keeping the tanks clean).

If I ever when back to aquariums I'd probably stick with those fish.

Those tanks are crazy overstocked...you're supposed to have 15 gallons EACH for fancy goldies, more than that for the slender-bodied varieties. How many water changes do you do?

I have a 55g with 4 fancies....3 fantails and a Ryukin. Technically slightly overstocked but not badly. Hard enough for me to keep the water quality good enough, I can't imagine the trouble your roommate's tank must be!

I also have a 12g with a neon tetra (he's really quite old and all of his tankmates have passed on) and 3 cory catfish. I'm planning on adding more fish to this tank soon. Probably 5 more neons and one more cory. And a male Betta. I've always had a male Betta in every tropical tank I've had but my last guy died a while back and I just haven't gotten another yet.

Here's a link to a very nice site to help with healthy stocking: http://www.aqadvisor.com/

Originally Posted by Willowy

Those tanks are crazy overstocked...you're supposed to have 15 gallons EACH for fancy goldies, more than that for the slender-bodied varieties. How many water changes do you do?

I have a 55g with 4 fancies....3 fantails and a Ryukin. Technically slightly overstocked but not badly. Hard enough for me to keep the water quality good enough, I can't imagine the trouble your roommate's tank must be!

I also have a 12g with a neon tetra (he's really quite old and all of his tankmates have passed on) and 3 cory catfish. I'm planning on adding more fish to this tank soon. Probably 5 more neons and one more cory. And a male Betta. I've always had a male Betta in every tropical tank I've had but my last guy died a while back and I just haven't gotten another yet.

Here's a link to a very nice site to help with healthy stocking: http://www.aqadvisor.com/

Click to expand...

The easy guide for goldies is 10 gallons per inch of fish... so a fancy of 3 inches needs roughly 30 gallons

I have two micro tanks ... one with a white cloud ( used to be 3 but they are at the end of life ) and the larger one preacox( he killed the others) and a pitbull pleco

Originally Posted by sharky

The easy guide for goldies is 10 gallons per inch of fish... so a fancy of 3 inches needs roughly 30 gallons

Click to expand...

I dunno, I've never heard that one. If so, a full-grown fantail at 9-12 inches would need a 90g-120g...all to himself. Seems like overkill. The most common I've heard is 15-20 gallons each. Either way they sure do need heavy filtration and LOTS of water changes. I've had more trouble from my goldies than any other fish. I recently doubled my filtering and I hope that'll help. And my Python is my best friend .

I'd love to have a really huge tropical tank. At least a 90g. That would be sooo awesome. Too bad fishkeeping is such an expensive hobby .

Originally Posted by Willowy

I dunno, I've never heard that one. If so, a full-grown fantail at 9-12 inches would need a 90g-120g...all to himself. Seems like overkill. The most common I've heard is 15-20 gallons each. Either way they sure do need heavy filtration and LOTS of water changes. I've had more trouble from my goldies than any other fish. I recently doubled my filtering and I hope that'll help. And my Python is my best friend

.

I'd love to have a really huge tropical tank. At least a 90g. That would be sooo awesome. Too bad fishkeeping is such an expensive hobby

.

Click to expand...

lol at the $$$ ... 10 gallons a inch is with typical tropical filtration... if you use the standard double then it is 3-5 gallons per inch.... Wow the biggest fantail I have seen was five inches ( I dont keep goldies )

I know that my tank is overstocked. I got the 5.5 gallon, the shubunkin and a fantail from a friend who no longer wanted to do any maintenance on the tank. The other fantail came from my roommate's tank -- it was being beat up in her tank so I put it in mine. I've been doing a 15% water change two days and do have a nice filter running. I also scrub every other day and clean all ornaments and plants weekly. I know what I have now is not ideal and will be moving into a 40 gallon tank within the next couple of weeks. And, in my 5.5 gallon I plan on putting a betta in.

As far as the proper size of a tank of goldfish, the rule of thumb at PetSmart was 2 gallons per inch of fish. Where the larger fancies are concerned, I'd say that is grossly inadequate, but considering how small my goldfish are right now, it would be okay to go by that "rule." Like I said, I know it's not ideal, but I've only had them a short while (about 3 weeks) and am just figuring everything out. But, I do appreciate the concern.

As for my roommate, that's her deal. I've told her that her tank is over-crowded, but she's insistent that it is okay as is. There are some other things going on with her tank, but since it's not my tank, there's not much I can do about it. She has the same filter in her tank that I do for my desktop aquarium and she rarely scrubs or cleans the tank. I've offered to help her, but I think she's ashamed about it and therefore never takes me up on my offer. But, I'll continue to talk to her about it -- especially since I'll be moving up to a larger aquarium shortly.

I can't wait to show pics of my new tank when it's set up. And, I can't wait to see more pics here on this thread!

lol I had some friends with Five regular Goldies in a 23 ish gallon ( one of the odd shaped odd gallon ones) ... I said they needed more filtration and fewer fish in the tank plus live plants would help... it was only a few months old and they had replaced the fish once or twice and it had horrible algea.. Well a few months ago I saw the tank was dry... So I asked and was told OH we could not keep any fish alive and wanted to know if I wanted the tank... Well I may see if they still have it as I now have a great place for it and water changes would be easy...

Originally Posted by sharky

Wow the biggest fantail I have seen was five inches ( I dont keep goldies

)

Click to expand...

Yeah, me too.....but I keep being told that they'll get that large.....I don't know. I think 6 inches is more likely. I know common goldfish will easily get over a foot long, because I had a friend that had 2 "carnival prize" goldfish get that large in a 20g tank! She had to find a guy with a pond to take them. But I've never seen a fancy that large. My big Ryukin is about 4 inches now, but unfortunately I had something run through the tank a few months ago and I lost most of the goldies I had, so the other 3 are just babies.

Originally Posted by Alison Joy

I got the 5.5 gallon, the shubunkin and a fantail from a friend who no longer wanted to do any maintenance on the tank.

Click to expand...

Just so you know, Shubunkin are pond fish and he'll get to be over a foot long easily. Probably be a few years before you have to re-home him, but it wouldn't hurt to find someone with a pond now so you'll be prepared. I wish pet stores would refuse to sell them to newbies with 5.5g tanks.... . Especially those who don't want to do maintenance .

As far as the proper size of a tank of goldfish, the rule of thumb at PetSmart was 2 gallons per inch of fish. Where the larger fancies are concerned, I'd say that is grossly inadequate

Click to expand...

Eh, not too bad. Inadequate but not grossly so, IMO. Of course a 5-inch goldie in a 10g wouldn't be good, but at least that rule would keep people from having 20 goldfish in a 20g....seriously, how many fish does your roommate have in there? Poor fishies.

I used to breed several different livebearers, bettas, asst cichlids and s.multipunctatus.

Since moving here though, we're happy with my 2 big tanks.....1 x 90g 1 x 110g..... posted pics before....

I'm not touching the "overstocking" rules because there is so much variables involved...filtration, plant life, etc. I "overstock" according to "the rules" but funny how I lose fish to old age rather than amonia/nitrite/nitrate issues.

I keep aggressive tanks, carnivorous fishes.....several varieties of polypterus, cichlids, ropefish, lots of asst catfish (plecos, synos, cories, etc), few angels, couple different sharks....loaches..... ummm, think thats it at the moment

Not a fan of goldies, tho my aggressive fish like em

Originally Posted by Willowy

Here's a link to a very nice site to help with healthy stocking: http://www.aqadvisor.com/

Click to expand...

Hi guys,

I am the one who created this site. I spent more than a year building this tool and am still doing a weekly releases with significant changes and updates.

If you own any species that are missing in AqAdvisor, please let me know. If you see any results that you disagree with, please let me know as well.

Realistically, a working stocking level is a range - AqAdvisor tries to stay a bit on the conservative side. I myself own few tanks that would be scaled at 130% or so without any issues but does warrant heavier maintenance activities.

For those who are curious, AqAdvisor features a knowledge database that I have been collecting from various forums since Sep 2009 on top of my own knowledge (about 7 years worth of fish keeping). A lot of reverse engineering (i.e. running suggested stocking plans) and continual fine tunings have been performed since the app was released more than 6 months ago.

Let me know what you think.

Hi
I'm a betta keeper and was just using this stocking calculator as it is posted under "tank set up" at www.ultimatebettas.com!! There are alot of replies on it!! Thanks!

Originally Posted by silva_unt

Hi

I'm a betta keeper and was just using this stocking calculator as it is posted under "tank set up" at www.ultimatebettas.com!! There are alot of replies on it!! Thanks!

Click to expand...

I couldn't find this thread. Can you please point me to the right one?

Thanks.

Fellow fish lover here! I currently only have 2 Black Moor Goldfish at the moment.

I actually have a question. I want to add another species to the tank, preferrably Dalmatian Mollies. Would they get along? How many Dalmatian Mollies would be suitable to add to the 20 gallon tank? I know that Mollies should be female 2-1 (f:m), so would three be too many?

Originally Posted by Adriana

Fellow fish lover here! I currently only have 2 Black Moor Goldfish at the moment.

I actually have a question. I want to add another species to the tank, preferrably Dalmatian Mollies. Would they get along? How many Dalmatian Mollies would be suitable to add to the 20 gallon tank? I know that Mollies should be female 2-1 (f:m), so would three be too many?

Click to expand...

Mollys if memory serve are a tropical fish ... Goldies are cold water... mollies alone in a 20 would be nice