What Made You Want A Freshwater Aquarium?

[gilpi]

What made me want a freshwater aquarium...
In the 1960's as a boy I lived in Cuba, I had the opportunity to live not too far from a local tropical fish farm I used to frequent. Most tanks were outside semi-covered or in cement pools outdoors. The water change there was the next rain fall. Filter, what filter? In the background you could hear the sound of an old big beat up compressor prividing some air to move the water in the tanks. Most of the pools were almost like a mini environment with algae and plants growing wildly in them, I learned quite a bit about how simple fishkeeping can be.
I was impressed with the size of their angels and the green swordtails, I have never to this day seen green swords that big! The swords left an impression on me and though I don't have any in my tanks, I am still considering buying a few someday.
Ever since I was bitten by the fish bug.

 

[t.h327]

As much as cycling is necessary to a tanks bio chemistry has anyone one else wondered what happens to the fish on this show. They never cycle a tank. they literally drop hundreds of dollars in fish right in to these tanks some times just minutes after filling the thing. i would be curious to know what happens to these big several hundred gallon tanks after they stop filming.

I record this on my pvr every week and watch it and often wondered the same thing... But the majority of their tanks are massive. Like 1000+ gallons... I figure that probably makes cycling easier.

 

[xsryman]

I record this on my pvr every week and watch it and often wondered the same thing... But the majority of their tanks are massive. Like 1000+ gallons... I figure that probably makes cycling easier.

Yeah maybe the ammonia build up wouldn't be as severe in a 1000+ tank. I know I am going through some work on my nano 20gal. Lol

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[gilpi]

Yeah maybe the ammonia build up wouldn't be as severe in a 1000+ tank. I know I am going through some work on my nano 20gal. Lol

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I would be interested how they do cycle something so massive but I can only imagine once the ammonia levels do rise, then what? I'm thinking in a larger tank it takes longer for conditions to change, even going from a 10 to a 55 gallon there is a huge difference, so the bigger the tank the less stress on the fish since the changes occur much slower but that would be a bigger water change.

 

[Kittykat364]

I would be interested how they do cycle something so massive but I can only imagine once the ammonia levels do rise, then what? I'm thinking in a larger tank it takes longer for conditions to change, even going from a 10 to a 55 gallon there is a huge difference, so the bigger the tank the less stress on the fish since the changes occur much slower but that would be a bigger water change.

Never thought about that. If the ammonia is 1.0, that is a LOT of ammonia! Granted, it is spread out a lot, but still!
Water changes are like 10x my 29 gallon tank!!!
Imagine if the tank leaks uh oh.

 

[ciph3ro]

They use pre-cycled media in those tanks by the way. It's pretty obvious as these guys are aquarium gurus and would know better. They also have the resources to do it.

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[ciph3ro]

As a serious business they probably have a big well stocked tank just to create precycled media for use in new tanks. Businesses like that would need to have this sort of resource.

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[Kittykat364]

Ya I figured

 

[gilpi]

They use pre-cycled media in those tanks by the way. It's pretty obvious as these guys are aquarium gurus and would know better. They also have the resources to do it.

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Hmm, never thought of that. I could never see them dumping a bottle of "Instant cycle" into those tanks. I always thought that's an important part of the show they leave out.

 

[ikonik_rich]

Well I am very new to the fish scene but loving it and very keen to learn off you all. I got into it because my GF said one day hey we should get some gold fish together which I thought was a great idea. But me being me I go all out with my hobbies or not at all so I have setup my very first freshwater tropical tank which I have had going for a week now and so far so good. It tested the water today and got the following readings:
Ammonia 0.50ppm
Nitrite 0.25ppm
Ph 7.6 to 7.8
Nitrate 0ppm
Soooo... I have a bit of work to get the tank going well but I'm getting there. As punishment for going over the top my GF has put the sheep that you can see at the bottom right in my tank. :|

 

[trinifella]

LOL!!! ur gf trolled u!!! HAAHHAHAHAH! nothing wrong with that man

 

[ikonik_rich]

Haha yes yes I did. It's ok she is happy now that it is in the tank. Haha

I have always wanted a tropical tank so the encouragement from the GF made me make the leap.

 

[Old Scales]

Welcome to AA Iconic.
Looks like you're getting started in the hobby in style. Nice tank! Many great people in this forum ready to help each other and enjoy our hobby. OS.

 

[trinifella]

Yea he's got it right from the get go

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[Kittykat364]

The best first step you can take is to not put goldfish in an uncycled, too small tank. Yay! You are heading on the right track. And the second best step is to join the forum! Congrats. You are doing even better than I was when I started.

 

[Mifsud]

Well, awhile growing up my parents always had a tropical aquarium. So when I moved out, I knew what it was that I had to do to make it feel like home.

 

[AlexFishKeeper]

Ecology and biology have always fascinated me greatly, so naturally, I was pulled toward them. My first was a 10 gallon with peppered cories.

 

[JandN0603]

I've been into freshwater tanks for about 7 years or so. I've always had freshwater tanks since I was a kid. Mostly goldies and betas as a kid. Since then I've really stuck with the easier tanks to maintain ie cichlids and catfish. Recently I got my girlfriend into the hobby and she has really motivated me to get into the more intricate and nicer forms of freshwater. So our new projects are a 220 gallon that will house an Arowana, a Red Tail Catfish, a tigerstripe shovel nose catfish, an Oscar and a Chaka Chaka Catfish. I will also be setting up a 55 gallon planted discus aquarium (currently doing a fishless cycle). We also have a 45 gallon bow front that is housing the red tail, shovelnose, chaka, oscar and arowana until the 220 is in place. We have a 35 gallon that is housing several cichlids and a little 10 gallon for my girlfriends beta and emrald cory. Im just marveled at how a fishtank can not only change the look but the mood of a room and the people that enter it.

Jesus and Nicole

 

[JoeNDeb92]

Hello All

Brand new to AA after lurking a bit. My name's Deb and I've had a 20L freshwater tank years ago. After getting married, having boys and generally no time for fish, I discovered the beauty of Bettas. Wanting to rescue one, I decided to go small this time and bought a beautiful little 5 gallon acrylic before Christmas as a present to myself. Also after having a 20L with plastic plants, this time I wanted to try live as well. I'm happy to report that my little tank has given me endless amounts of joy and I'm constantly adding and rearranging plants. I LOVE it.

Bubba the Betta is in the front. He's the reason. I couldn't wait 'til the tank came in so I originally set him up in an old 2 gal hex I've had forever. Once the tank came in and I transferred him, I decided to rescue since I already had a place and saved my cranky boy Red from the shelves of Wal-Mart the day after Christmas:

That's all for now. I'm not tech-savvie, I just enjoy and try to do the best I can. Take care, everyone!

 

[Kittykat364]

Once the tank came in and I transferred him, I decided to rescue since I already had a place and saved my cranky boy Red from the shelves of Wal-Mart the day after Christmas

So your blue betta's name is Red? That's more creative than mine...

(Skip this part if you don't want to read a long story about my betta)

My first betta's name was 'Dexter' because I kept seeing the adds for the TV show on the busses with all of the red blood (kinda gory for a 10 yr old, I know) so when I got a red betta from our Girl Scout pet keeping project (which was horrible considering we kept the bettas in a small 'kritter keeper' (which is so small it's probably like the size of your shower in comparison to your size vs a betta) with no filter or heater, and they gave us too big pellets (luckily my family had fish before so we knew to do water changes and observation (to see he wasn't eating the huge pellets))) and he lived for four years and is now in fishy heaven since September.

My mom used to have a nickname for him (not sure how to spell it, it isn't a real word), it was almost like his 'Latin name,' so when we got a new Dexter, we added a word (a description of the new one) to the deceased Dexters name in remembrance. The new Dexter is now happily living in a 2.5 gallon aquarium with a filter and heater

Dexter really got me started on aquariums because of his relationship with a guppy. The guppy died of old age (he was two and so happy you wouldn't imagine) and Dexter was four, they were perfectly healthy until one day Sammy the guppy (didn't know about how to determine gender at the time so chose a gender-neutral name) went belly up. Dexter got horribly depressed. He slept a lot and didn't want to fight with my finger anymore, and a couple months later he died. I don't know if it was old age, too, or he got so depressed he died. It really showed me how much fish have relationships.

RIP Dexter! (whose name was based off of an add I saw when I was ten)

(Ok the long story is done)


I hope that Red the blue betta lives a long and happy life.