The Making of a Seahorse Aquarium Thread

[ugaimes]

Well, bad news. The fish that we added Saturday (which we named Bubba) died

. I came home and he was on the bottom of the tank. I picked him up with the net and he swam to the top...then he sank to the bottom. Eventually, he stopped moving all-together

. I gave him a burial at sea (flushed him down the toilet) and hopefully he's at the fishy Rainbow Bridge.
It's always risky adding a fish when cycling a saltwater aquarium. We will not be adding any more for another 3-4 weeks until the cycling is complete. More updates then.
Bye little buddy

.

 

[kellyyfaber]

Poor Bubba. RIP fishy boy.

Sorry Amy and Bradley.

 

[bengalbabe]

you know you can cycle a tank using a raw shrimp from the grocery store that way you wont pout any fishes in jeopardy. Of course its not as exciting to see a rotting shimp floating around in the tank =0(~
Urine works well too I heard. Well any ammonia source will start the cycle process.

 

[ugaimes]

Originally Posted by bengalbabe

you know you can cycle a tank using a raw shrimp from the grocery store that way you wont pout any fishes in jeopardy. Of course its not as exciting to see a rotting shimp floating around in the tank =0(~
Urine works well too I heard. Well any ammonia source will start the cycle process.

Well, we still have one damsel in there (Rocket), who has been in there for 2 weeks and doing great. I've heard about adding shrimp....can we still add a bit of shrimp with a live fish already in there?

Man this process is more frustrating than I would have thought!!!

 

[AbbysMom]

I've had freshwaer aquariums before and it is super frustrating trying to get it started. I cannot begin to tell you how many fish we lost at first. Eventually you will get it all squared away and you will have a gorgeous tank!!!

 

[ugaimes]

Thanks

Yeah, I guess we'll get there some day. Rocket is still doing well and it even looks like he's grown a little bit!
I'm probably going to try to do my first ammonia test on the tank today....now I just wish I had paid more attention in chemistry class!

 

[snosrap5]

My brother had a saltwater tank 75 gallons. When he joined the Air Force my parents became the proud parents of the tank. Its alot of work. They took it to their business for customers to watch while they wait and kids get a kick out of it. WE do not maintain it anymore due to the lack of skill we have. I will try to take a picture of it for you. I will also talk to our fish guy about putting certain fish together. He does a great job on ours. I know we were a bit frustrated because it really is a long process when you add the live rock and sand. Then have to wait before adding fish. Good Luck. Its hard work but very rewarding.

 

[ugaimes]

Been a while since I've updated here, but that's mostly because we haven't had too many changes. Rocket has grown quite a bit and now there is a lot of reddish-orange algae on the coral and sand. We still have a bit of ammonia (need to get rid of that before we can add any live rock or other fish), but we've ordered something that should get here any day to hasten the cycling. I'll try to post a picture of all of this algae (it's not pretty, but it's a good sign) and I'll keep the updates coming in case anyone's still following this

.

 

[coolcat]

Originally Posted by Kellyyfaber

Poor Bubba. RIP fishy boy.

Sorry Amy and Bradley.

...

....RIP poor Fishy...

 

[ugaimes]

Thanks Rigel

. We are OK about it- those things sort of happen when you're cycling a tank!
We visited the local aquarium the weekend before last and we saw how they had their seahorse tanks set up. They had one tank with about 10 baby seahorses in it!

We are definitely going to need some tall, thin structures for them to wrap their tails around. Ultimately, I think we want 2-3 seahorses, a blood shrimp or two, one read sea star, 2 clownfish, and one Green Mandarin Dragonet. That oughta round out the tank quite nicely

.

 

[musicteacher]

I can't wait to see the aquarium once it's cycled and is home to some cute little seahorses! I love fish tanks, and would have one myself if I had time for all the work it entails. I've always wanted a saltwater tank. Thanks for keeping us updated.

 

[ugaimes]

Thanks for READING my updates

.

 

[fwan]

hey, im keeping updated..
my mum is supposed to give me an aquarium for my birthday.. i dont know if she did though.. its today my

but we shall see on saturday when she comes here.

 

[sillyjilly]

Yeah I'm interested in this as well.... Really look forward to seeing it! I've never seen a real seahorse! Still actually won't as well, but closer to real!!!

 

[emb_78]

I can't see any pictures

 

[ugaimes]

Originally Posted by emb_78

I can't see any pictures

Go back to page one of this thread and look at the first couple of pages; there you'll see pics of our progress

Glad people are still interested in my wee little story, hehe. I hope to one day be able to show y'all tons of cool pictures and share cute stories about my little seahorsies.

Fran, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

What size tank are you getting? Will it be freshwater or saltwater?

 

[ugaimes]

Today we added live rock to the tank. Live rock is rock from the ocean that contains hundreds of microorganisms, such as polyps and feather duster-looking things. It's a neat addition and hopefully will hasten the cycling so that we can add more fish and eventually seahorses!
A closeup of the live rock:

The tank as it looks now:

Bradley adding the live rock:

Cosy watches from the couch:

The anchor that I added. The anchor is my sorority's symbol, so it has special meaning to me.

And just for fun, a picture of Cosy and Eppie resting together this afternoon:

 

[miss mew]

It's all coming together quite nicely!

 

[fwan]

Thank you

No gosh, a freshwater is so much easier to start up, considering i already have a tiny freshwater aquarium, one day though i will start a salt water too, but.. that will be when i have money and.. settle somewhere where i will stay in a house longer than a few years.

 

[emb_78]

Originally Posted by fwan

Thank you

No gosh, a freshwater is so much easier to start up, considering i already have a tiny freshwater aquarium, one day though i will start a salt water too, but.. that will be when i have money and.. settle somewhere where i will stay in a house longer than a few years.

Me too! I have a 30 gallon fresh water tank. Some day hen I can afford it I would love a salt water tank!!!