# I REALLY REALLY want one of these!



## keren (Oct 26, 2008)

Saw one in the pet store today, if I had the tank set up and an extra $90 I would have snaffled him!

I'm a bit of a fish addict. I have three tanks set up at the moment:

#1. breeding pair of Convict Cichlids

#2. community tank - Cardinal Tetra, Black Ghost Knife, Clown Loach, ****** Loach, Glass Catfish, Pearl Danio, Julii Cory, Panda Cory, Peppered Corydoras (its funny, this tank has like five or so of each of the Cories, and mostly they all keep in their own little groups), Dwarf Gourami, Upside down cat fish, Pakistani Loach, Zebra Danio, Zebra Loach.

You can probably tell from that, I like loaches and cory's, and I'm partial to striped fish lol

#3. marine tank - two orange/red clownfish, going to add two black clownfish to this as well

#4. Specialist tank. Was considering a pair of sea horses, Malebo Puffer, Red Devil Cichlid, Lyre Tail Pleco or Moray Eel. Am now adding the Lionfish to this list because the guy in the shop just captivated me!


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## Di (Jan 29, 2008)

This is why I almost never go to pet stores! I can always find something I want. We went through a bird phase...had an Umbrella Cockatoo...she was a great bird...she was Hubby's bird...but I did all the work... :GAAH: . Then we moved to the "farm" and got the goats and it was just too much work to then take care of Maggie. So, we found her a great home with a woman with no other pets. Now she's the ONE! I have to admit I have never missed that bird...but I don't miss the mess either. :wahoo:


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## PiccoloGoat (Sep 10, 2008)

lol
I kill all the fish that end up in my care. i dunno why
I even tried an axolotl and he got sick and wouldnt get better


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

that is one spectacular looking fish.... :shades: :greengrin:


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## Epona142 (May 26, 2008)

Lionfish! I have a friend of the family who has been doing salt water tanks for 30 years. He had a HUGE tank that had to be like, 2,000 gallons, which had all kinds of neat things, a shark, eels, and a lionfish. Most gorgeous thing ever, I LOVED watching him swim around.

I seem the remember him saying they were venomous. Makes me want to go look it up now.


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## SDK (Jun 26, 2008)

oh wow keren.. i must say this..


I


LOVE


YOU.


haha i'm a fishie fiend too. setting up my 20 gallon right now actually.

i Love lionfish. but if you get hit with a spine OUCH!

this is my favorite variety, the pygmy lionfish


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## keren (Oct 26, 2008)

lol SDK, I wondered if there were any other fish fans on the boards. 

My problem is, I am running out of power points to set up new tanks!

That pygmy lionfish is cool too :shades: 

Yep, Epona, they are venomous, apparently those spines are pretty nasty, not quite kill you nasty but send you quickly to the ER nasty.


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## SDK (Jun 26, 2008)

haha i know your dilema!! i've run out of room too.. 

yea they aren't deadly.. but very high in the pain factor


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## Crissa (Oct 7, 2007)

I love fishies too! I just have three tetras that apparently CAN'T die no matter how hard my brother tries. (he's only 2, lol) I'm setting up my two tanks soon. I have a 10 gallon and a 2.5 gallon tank. Not much room, but with the water at my town it's too hard to keep up with the big tanks. If I could I would set one up for just Seahorses. :greengrin:


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## badnewsboers (May 9, 2008)

Heh, I used to be a fish enthusiast, primarily goldfish and bettas. Problem is I can only have a 10 gallon in my dorm room and my mom kills the fish I leave at home. So now all I have is my doubletailed betta. Oh well. I used to get my fish fix when I worked in the pet care department of Petsmart but now I'm in grooming. I've been dieing to set up a Cichlid tank!

Lionfish are gorgeous fish. Just a bit of a pain to take care of and especially to net. They've actually had some issues with Lionfish where I live. They've found some off the coast and are worried they will disrupt the native fish population and be a danger to divers.


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## SDK (Jun 26, 2008)

tetra's are tough!

so are bettas i have 3 females and i used to have 3 males, but they were all really old

but my females, until recently all lived together without negative side effects. i also used to keep my bettas im my bigger 20 gallon fresh tank

but i did fresh for a loong time, then everyone got old and died, so i took it down


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## Crissa (Oct 7, 2007)

I love betta's too! That's actually how I started out, my first one was named Boxer (don't ask me why) and he was actually trained to come up to the top of the tank and I could pet him. I now know that wasn't the best thing to do though. I used to have the most GORGEOUS female, named Arwen, I've never seen such a colorful female one. She was a dark red with blue shot throughout. I miss her soooo much! I had her for about 5 years.


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## Cinder (Mar 3, 2008)

Wow.. so many goat people who love fish too! That is one beautiful Lionfish.

I have had multiple aquariums in the past but just have a 50 gln. freshwater right now. I have 135 gln. tank sitting empty in the living room. Can't wait to use it but we need to take out the carpet and put hardwood in first (I'm not going to try and move that thing after I stock it! :GAAH.

Here's a great site with tons of wonderful info: http://www.aquahobby.com/ I love looking at the pictures of people's tanks.


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## PiccoloGoat (Sep 10, 2008)

well I have some white cloud fish
a platy that slipped into the aquarium bag
and i THINK we still have a krebensis or two

Why can't I keep fish alive? :angry:


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## keren (Oct 26, 2008)

Alyssa, have you tested your water? My first forays into fish keeping failed miserably ... until I got a water testing kit and realised our water is too alkaline for a lot of fish, I have to add stuff to get the pH down. Thats for the freshwater tanks. The marine tank I get 20L containers of aged water from the pet shop. Its like ... about $20 for the 20L so thats really not all the bad considering once its set up you dont need that much, I try to exchange about 10% every week from each tank. They also have aged freshwater available too. 

Yep, tetras are pretty much indestructible. My friend has a betta and her brother got a neon tetra and chucked it in the bowl for it :roll: the betta plays with it, but the tetra still hasnt died or been eaten lol

I think the cardinal tetras are prettier than the neons, but they are also harder to get. The pet shop has to order them in for me. I have to replace them every now and then because the Black Knife guy in particular likes to chomp on them. Doesnt bother me really, cos tetras basically are just cheap fillers. I can actually get neon tetras cheaper than feeder fish, and the convict cichlids get them occasionally. Boy they love me when I give them live fish to eat!

You know, people say fish arent intelligent but my female convict cichlid is the smartest fish I have ever seen. She can distinguish between me and mum - she hates mum, refuses to eat the pelleted, flaked or granulated food if mum feeds her - so when I am away mum has to give her either feeder fish, or live or frozen blood and meal worms. She cant resist those lol

But when she sees me come into the room, she swims up out of her cave and flits around at the top, she's really happy to see me, and she knows when I put my hand near the top of the tank I'm going to feed her. She's a great fish!


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## PiccoloGoat (Sep 10, 2008)

Yes I do check my water, I am just awfully talented at killing them 

And yeah We had 10 neon tetras.. and alot of them started disappearing and then one day we saw the knifey guy muching one up
I was like :shocked: Naughty Fish! :ROFL: 

My aunt also has a HUGE fat knife fish and he always eats the other fish :ROFL: 
I have 1 neon left, his name is metallica


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## MissMM (Oct 22, 2007)

OMH Cow!!!! Please, please, please do your homework before you get a lionfish........ they are poisonous and can be deadly depending on the severity of the sting. The only way to keep a salt tank clean is to get your arms in there with a scrunchie and scrub the tough to reach spots...... bad idea with a lionfish in there as they will attack...........They are also very agressive to other fish and will quickly eat lesser fish that can't get out of their way.

I've had two 55 galloon salt tanks for over 5 years. I have 2 monoargentis, 2 scats, 1 remaining puffer of 3. A maroon clown, several cory's and a few loaches....... a few other garbage fish that survive despite the compatibility list..... I gave up on the reefs cause maintaining the copopods is harder than keeping up on a fecal count for my goats...... you get the picture.

If nothing else, please cross reference the chart below for what you already have in the tank before adding a lionfish:

http://www.liveaquaria.com/general/comp ... _chart.cfm

Lionfish are very pretty, but IMHO, better to look at in someone else's tank.


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## keren (Oct 26, 2008)

MissMM ... of course I am not going to go out and get a lion before learning about them :roll: I wont be chucking him in with the other fish. As I said, I have one tank which I havent set up yet, still deciding what to put in it. Its going to be a specialty tank, most likely a species only tank with one or two individuals depending on the ones I choose. If I go with seahorses, I will have a pair and thats all. If I go with a Malebo puffer, he will be kept by himself. If I go with the red devil cichlid, he will be by himself. If I go with the Lyre Tail Pleco I will turn it into a specialist catfish/cory tank. Interestingly, a moral eel is supposed to go quite well with lionfish, and seeing as my pet store currently has one of each of these ... I may just get them to put them on hold for me. 

I have a nifty little thing which has a scrubber attached to a strong magnet, one bit goes inside the tank and the other bit is on the outside, you move the one on the outside of the tank to scrub the inside of the aquarium. I've never had to scrub the inside any other way.


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## PiccoloGoat (Sep 10, 2008)

keren i love those scrubbers lol


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## keren (Oct 26, 2008)

Yep they are really good. 

lol, I can just see you puzzling over why your tetras were disappearing, then the look on your face when the naughty knife fish was munching on one! 

lol the girls in the pet shop know me pretty well now, they always laugh when I put an order in for more cardinals, cos they know my knife has depleted the stocks pretty well. And whenever I get some neon tetras, they tell me my convicts are lucky :greengrin: cos they know I use them as feeder fish. 

Funny, one good thing about the locust plague here, my convicts eat them :scratch: I chucked one in just to see what would happen, they went nuts! Loved em. Hasnt seemed to do any harm so far.


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## PiccoloGoat (Sep 10, 2008)

I fed my aunt's axolotl a cricket the other day 
It was wirrgling around in my hand so im like gaah and i shoved my hand in the tank and it nomnomnomed it up :greengrin:


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## keren (Oct 26, 2008)

lol lucky axolotl. 

Axolotls freak me out :shocked:


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## PiccoloGoat (Sep 10, 2008)

lol
actually this weekend my aunt went away
and my brother and his gf moved in for a few days for house sitting

and the axolotl freaked him out xD
He was holding the food waiting for it to do something
then it just sucked it up and his fingers
He got so scared he like jumped a mtre in the air and knocked the lid off the tank

Im not letting him forget that :ROFL:


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## MissMM (Oct 22, 2007)

I'm sorry if I sounded condescending in my earlier reply.... :? I certainly didn't intend to come off that way. Just trying to indicate I have quite a bit of experience with Saltwater fish & want to help before you spend a whole lot of money on fish. Boy, if I could have all of the money back that I have spent on Saltwater fish & "go with its" I could buy a whole herd of goats!

I do have one of those magnetic scrubbers (one for each tank so as not to spread disease). They work for some parts of the tank, but hard to get corners & around the reef rock. The biggest problem is my puffer likes to attack it..... the part in the tank comes loose then falls to the bottom of the tank, then I end up sticking my hand in there anyway....... but he doesn't bother me when I've got my arm shoulder deep in the 55 galloon tank :scratch: 

Good luck to you


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## keren (Oct 26, 2008)

Sorry, I think I took it the wrong way. Of course I research every fish I add to my collection. Not to brag but I am quite experienced with aquariums and particularly 'different' fish. I know how expensive they are since I've already got the three tanks up and running, and have had them for longer than I can remember. My goats are just as expensive - and take probably the same amount of time in upkeep lol I wouldnt sell my fish just to get more goats because nothing beats sitting down in the lounge room after a long day outside and watching the community tank, or heading to my room and watching my female convict beg for food (yes, she does that, she's a goofball and loves playing with me. The male is a snob). But if I had to choose between the fish and goats the goats would win of course.


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## PiccoloGoat (Sep 10, 2008)

lol keren

I love fish with personality!! they crack me up!
i used to go the aquarium and play with the cichlids
I dont remember which ones there were.
But you would come up t the tank fast, they all go away but they they come back and glare at you, then they follow you around. Its so entertaining xD


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## MissMM (Oct 22, 2007)

My fish are my "winter hobby." I take care of them year round, of course, but when it's 30 below outside about all there is to do is look at fish. 

My puffer is 5 years old as of this last Christmas. He will follow your finger as you move it around the tank. We can play the "Up........ Down" game for hours. He'll also eat shrimpies out of your fingers. But, he eats anything new that I try to put in the tank, even if they're supposed to be "compatible." 

Keren, too bad you're not closer to me 'cause I'd see if you want to buy one of my 55 gallon tanks w/stand and hood. It is soooo time consuming and expensive to maintain 2 55 gallon tanks, plus 2 30 gallon and 1 20 gallon (those are fresh water so no big deal). 70 bucks for a 5 gallon bucket of salt is a bit much......... and several of my fish are outgrowing the 55. The monos are soooo big.... but I could never be without my indoor hobby.


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## keren (Oct 26, 2008)

lol MissMM, yeah it could be a little difficult transporting them to me!

This one I am setting up is 164 gallons / 620 L. Huge, but then again I need the size because I will most likely put a lion and a moray in it.


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## PiccoloGoat (Sep 10, 2008)

i want moray eels

but in my opinion i think they are scary and mean xD
i think i would prefer a nice eel lol.

I really want a barramundi =D


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## keren (Oct 26, 2008)

The moray in the store at the moment is black and white banded, so cool, and the lion matches it cos he is black and white also. 

I love striped fish, particularly black and white ones :greengrin:


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## PiccoloGoat (Sep 10, 2008)

lol
I used to have a couple of ****** loaches, and i thought they were the CUTEST fish ever!


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## keren (Oct 26, 2008)

yes, they are very cool, ****** loaches. this moray just looks like a giant ****** loach


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## PiccoloGoat (Sep 10, 2008)

lol but scarier and with teeth xD

I think ******* have cute little seal faces
I love their little whisker things!


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## all1965 (Oct 6, 2007)

I wish I could have a saltwater tank. i have a 10 gallon freshwater one with a few fish in it.
Saltwater just seems like its so complicated and expensive.
Do yall recommend any good books for beginners who know nothing about saltwater environments or good supply stores>
Is it as difficult to maintain as it seems?


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## SDK (Jun 26, 2008)

it will be complicated if you let it.. but my dad's got a 55 gallon tank with just coral (dead) coral sand, a heater and a protein skimmer and the fish are thriving..

i'm actually in the process of setting up my 20 gallon saltwater tank right now.. should be finished tomorrow or by the latest sunday


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## all1965 (Oct 6, 2007)

Well i just get confused on as to what all you need. Like protein skimmers, what type of filters, etc.


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## SDK (Jun 26, 2008)

hwat i've learned is find a fish store ( like a fish only store) and talk to the owners about their tank setups and such.. find one you like and then follow their instruction and advice.

we've got a guy in town who's had his fishstore for 50 years.. really smart and knows how to keep his tanks SPOTLESS! with very minimum equipment.. 

but then the other fish stores are like, you NEED to buy this 600 dollar sump ( wet/dry filter) and this 400 dollar protein skimmer and yada yada yada.. but if you just want a simple tank i would just say a simple filter( we use Eheim filters- they run about 80 bucks but last a looong time - had one for 20 + years) a tank heater, a thermometer, and lighting


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