fishyfoofoo
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
- Joined
- Jul 10, 2007
- Messages
- 36
My lfs guy tells me he had one that was a 6 gal, and it was more of a pain than anything else. Convince me otherwise, please! I would love to start one.
SPARTAN VI said:Above all, don't forget this is a hobby! It's supposed to be fun right? I'm doing constant PWCs on my FW tank, but hope to never see this turn into a chore.
Ferret_Friend said:SPARTAN VI said:Above all, don't forget this is a hobby! It's supposed to be fun right? I'm doing constant PWCs on my FW tank, but hope to never see this turn into a chore.
I'm actually giving up on freshwater because of this. It's too easy to overstock a freshwater tank, and it seems that saltwater fish (in my limited experience) are far more resistant to less than perfect water conditions than my freshwaters.
But, that could just be inexperience talking. I've only been doing this for 18 months.
I have a 12gal nano and a 2.2gal pico. If you set them up properly, take your time and perform regular maintanance they are very rewarding. Not sure what the guy at your LFS was doing wrong...too bad he is giving out poor advice.
Your LFS guy might not be as knowledgeable as he acts like.
Ferret_Friend said:Spartan, my first fresh tank was that way. I had a 29 gallon tank with over 25 fish in it less than a week after setting it up. I was told to give the tank a few days to cycle (while nobody explained to me what that actually meant), then to go ahead and stock things up. So, I'd get a fish, then it would be a schooling fish, so I'd get five or six. Then I'd get another fish that nobody tells me will grow three feet long even though they know I have a 29 gallon, amongst other things.
At first, I really liked the overstocked tank because there was so much activity. The crowdedness caused the schooling fish to school. The more territorial fish found themselves homes and defended the homes fiercely, and it was a such an active tank. I loved it. Within a couple of days though, fish started dying. I was doing PWC's left and right with the bucket method going up and down stairs one bucket at a time. It was just downright awful. Once the tank leveled off in terms of deaths, I still had too many fish in there, but inexperience let me think it was all ok.
After a year and a half, I JUST brought my rainbow shark back to the pet store. Reducing the number of fish in the tank while adding plants and better lighting kept things far more stable. Chemical levels were still higher than preferred, but the fish were doing fine. The problem was, I was on that sensitive edge. One small fish died, and I didn't see it for nearly a day. The ammonia spike killed another, and a domino effect ensued. I went from a dozen small fish and two medium fish to two small and two mediums because of the die off. My 6 inch pleco, my five inch rainbow, a guppy, and a small chinese algae eater were the only survivors.
The last die-off was mostly due to a lack of free time. I literally had no time to do any kind of PWCs, so my tank that was living on the edge crossed the line, and the chain reaction destroyed it.
Thankfully, saltwater has been going slowly. I've had two fish for a couple of months now, but one got eaten by my cat. So, now just the clownfish, some live rock, and a couple of snails that I recently discovered (thinking they were some kind of sea slug no less!) are it. I'll be moving in the next couple of months, so that tank will stay underpopulated. Once I move, I want to do more. I want this to be a reef tank. I'd like to get another royal dottyback, because Skittles was awesome. I have to wait though.
Fishkeeping has taught me one thing. It has taught me patience. I also find that when a tank is truly finished and how I want it, it's a nice sense of accomplishment. Most people look at a fish tank and go "oh, that's nice." Those of us who know all the hard work and precision that goes into creating a stable environment that also looks nice are the ones who really appreciate it.
I could spend the rest of my life just setting up fish tanks. If I ever get rich, I'll be doing fishy things all day every day. I've become addicted to fish. I couldn't imagine not having any fish now that I've had them. I would have to at least have a betta bowl for lack of anything else.
I <3 Fish.