Fish

Do you have the test and adjustment kits for ph?
I assume so its been mentioned at least a few times.

Anywho congrats and good luck. Fish are cool.

I want a bog enough room to have a large tank with a few large mouth in.
 
Green ford said:
Start cheep and easy. Then in a few years go salt! Here's some pics of my old 125gal tank...
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Thats nice

My wife and I are looking to buy some land and build a bigger house. When we do I want to have a bigger set up then.
 
I've got a Jack Dempsey you can have. He's all I have left. He's about 6" from nose to tail. I've had him since he was about an inch long. I used to have a group of Pacus with him but they outgrew my tank and I gave them away to people with larger tanks.
 
marvilusone said:
I've got a Jack Dempsey you can have. He's all I have left. He's about 6" from nose to tail. I've had him since he was about an inch long. I used to have a group of Pacus with him but they outgrew my tank and I gave them away to people with larger tanks.
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Pm sent sounds good
 
Dude, you're rushing things! Slow down. Your son is going to have to deal with the reality of death at an accellerated pace if you're not careful. The cichlids are going to beat the goldfish to pulps. The blue one is going to outgrow the jewels and probably kill them. And if you pick up that Dempsey, he's going to kill everything! Trust me. I use the handle jdempsy because it's one of my favorite fish. They got their name because of their pugilistic nature.

I'm not trying to flame or puh-poo here. but you need to exercise patience. That's one of the biggest aspects of fishkeeping. Your tank hasn't even had time to cycle yet, and you're adding fish that are going to presend a fairly heavy bio-load on the system. There's a possibility the whole thing will go belly-up. I'm not saying it will. I also won't tell you that you will die if you build your roll cage out of sched. 40 pipe or weld a pitman arm to your steering knuckle. I'm just saying the odds are stacking up against you. Fish are long-term. You realize this, and that's why you wanted to get the tank instead of letting the goldfish die in the bowl. Don't get something you're going to get tired of. Cichlids can live a long time, but require a lot of maintenance and pretty specific water qualities. I never kept Africans because I wasn't willing to put the time, effort, and money into doing it properly.

A lot of kids grow up with the belief that tropical fish are more of a decoration than a pet. They think they only last a few months each, then die off. This is because of tanks they grew up with that were never maintained properly, stressing and killing the fish. And remember, there's a lot of "community" tropical fish that look a LOT better when they've got a little age on them, and they're acclimated to a tank with the proper conditions and food. Don't make your decisions on what you see in the stores. Many fish look drastically different when they're adults rather than juveniles.
 
catfishblues said:
Dude, you're rushing things! Slow down. Your son is going to have to deal with the reality of death at an accellerated pace if you're not careful.
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catfish, were you being serious on this part?

everything else you said was dead nuts correct, on cycling, and fish maturity, but the whole reality of death at an accelerated pace. :rolleyes:
 
mbalbritton said:
catfish, were you being serious on this part?
everything else you said was dead nuts correct, on cycling, and fish maturity, but the whole reality of death at an accelerated pace. :rolleyes:
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Sorry. I don't do much fishkeeping these days, but I guess I'm still a little passionate about the buggers. I know I've seen more than one goldfish trying to swim around a tank with his back half missing, and I'd hate to have to explain that to a two year old. Sorry if that was harsh, I'm just trying to help Brandon avoid some of the pitfalls of fishkeeping. I've killed more fish than I wish I had in my day, many of which could have been avoided if I had known better at the time.

Brandon, it's your tank now, and you do what you want with it. If you want some literature, though, just swing by the house next week. I've got tomes of info here. I'm sure I could find one or two I could let go of. ;) And I want to see a pic of the whole setup! :D
 
something else no one has mentioned, when you clean the tank don't change all of the water. I always left at least 1/2 the original water in the tank. The bacteria from the fish poo actually helps the water. And don't put the tank by a window, algae will go crazy. good luck with the tank, get ready to buy a bigger tank, they're like trucks you always want a bigger one:huggy:
 
cut the light off at night also to help keep the alge down.
correct me if I am wrong but the fish you have do a little better if the salt level is a lil high right?
 
purpleTJchick said:
cut the light off at night also to help keep the alge down.
correct me if I am wrong but the fish you have do a little better if the salt level is a lil high right?
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Some say yes, some say it doesn't matter. A couple tablespoons of the aquarium salt that comes in the milk carton thingy won't hurt anything. I've done it with and without, and never really noticed a difference in fish health or happiness. Now a saltwater bath for sick fish is another thing. Those seem to work, but are very hard to do correctly.
 
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