Jill
Aspiring Cowgirl
I love your turtles!!!
Fellow Fishkeepers / Aquarium Enthusiasts
- Thread starter Jill
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jacks'thunder
Well-Known Member
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Thanks! I have 2 more but they will have to wait!I love your turtles!!!
I just noticed my picture of my big tank did not load. I had such an issue yesterday trying to get my pictures down loaded! It was crazy! I HATE dial up! Almost as much as I HATE winter!! LOL!!
weebiscuit
Well-Known Member
Loved your video, Jill! We had a small tank.. just a little 15 gallon one many years ago. It was always so covered in algae and needed constant cleaning so I finally just took the fish out and friend them for supper and gave the tank away. (jk)!!!
I used to sit on the sofa and stare at that little tank for hours. What is it about fish in a tank that soothes and calms so much? Our clinic has a HUGE tank. Maybe 300 gallons? I love to sit near it in the waiting room and stare at it.
I would also love another fish tank, but I absolutely hated cleaning it, and there's just no way to get around that. THese days I just content myself watching the birds at the feeders in the back yard.
Jill
Aspiring Cowgirl
When H and I kept fish 20 or so years ago, our tank also had algae and it really became an eye sore. Back then, really, the only ready advice on fishkeeping was from the fish store.
Our tanks are actually very easy to care for. The hardest part is when people first start out, the tank has to "cycle". It has to build up enough beneficial bacteria to keep the water clean. You can do that with live fish (that will probably die) or with a piece of shrimp, etc. OR more ideally, get some filter media that is already "seeded" with good bacteria from an established tank and they you can have a near instant cycle. Once we got our first tank going, then the others were effrotless to set up and add fish to.
I do change the water weekly by about 80% but our tanks are heavily stocked. This is a much bigger water change than most fishkeepers would do, but I like doing the changes which are easy and relaxing. I have a hose thing called a "python" that hooks to a sink. It will drain and fill the tanks. I rigged up another simple hose tube because it drains faster into the yard but really, "cleaning" the tanks here now is just ooking up some hoses. It is actually fun and with the big tanks, I just keep an eye on their levels and watch tv or look at the computer, etc. I have several times drained the tanks down to the gravel by accident and found our fish "beached" on the gravel!!! I screamed, since that always helps... but the fish were actually fine and all still alive and swimming.
Algae is a problem with new tanks especially. I think there's something about the sealant that encourages it, and the arcyllic tanks are worse than the glass ones. We have "Bristle Nose" or "Bushy Nose" or "BN" plecos which are small and keep the glass clean. Common plecos will too, but can get too large for most tanks.
Also, for filtration, whatever the box says the filter can do, figure it really only ideally does 1/2 that size tank, at most. We over filter and we also load them with lots of biological media, vs. filter cartridges that you have to replace. There's very little we replace in the filters, rather just rinse them..
The things above, I had no idea of before when we kept fish years ago and if I had, I doubt we'd have ever stopped. The python / hose equipment and small plocos make it easy. I do "stir" the gravel when draining the tanks to clean that up, and the live plants also help to keep them clean. It's really just kind of an auto pilot, easy hobby with the things above
Our tanks are actually very easy to care for. The hardest part is when people first start out, the tank has to "cycle". It has to build up enough beneficial bacteria to keep the water clean. You can do that with live fish (that will probably die) or with a piece of shrimp, etc. OR more ideally, get some filter media that is already "seeded" with good bacteria from an established tank and they you can have a near instant cycle. Once we got our first tank going, then the others were effrotless to set up and add fish to.
I do change the water weekly by about 80% but our tanks are heavily stocked. This is a much bigger water change than most fishkeepers would do, but I like doing the changes which are easy and relaxing. I have a hose thing called a "python" that hooks to a sink. It will drain and fill the tanks. I rigged up another simple hose tube because it drains faster into the yard but really, "cleaning" the tanks here now is just ooking up some hoses. It is actually fun and with the big tanks, I just keep an eye on their levels and watch tv or look at the computer, etc. I have several times drained the tanks down to the gravel by accident and found our fish "beached" on the gravel!!! I screamed, since that always helps... but the fish were actually fine and all still alive and swimming.
Algae is a problem with new tanks especially. I think there's something about the sealant that encourages it, and the arcyllic tanks are worse than the glass ones. We have "Bristle Nose" or "Bushy Nose" or "BN" plecos which are small and keep the glass clean. Common plecos will too, but can get too large for most tanks.
Also, for filtration, whatever the box says the filter can do, figure it really only ideally does 1/2 that size tank, at most. We over filter and we also load them with lots of biological media, vs. filter cartridges that you have to replace. There's very little we replace in the filters, rather just rinse them..
The things above, I had no idea of before when we kept fish years ago and if I had, I doubt we'd have ever stopped. The python / hose equipment and small plocos make it easy. I do "stir" the gravel when draining the tanks to clean that up, and the live plants also help to keep them clean. It's really just kind of an auto pilot, easy hobby with the things above
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