Thread: Fresh water

would love to see pics

Originally Posted by Mike

Dimfer - you have the best avatar.

thanks Mike. actually, I saw it at arofanatics, an aquarium related forum. I thought it was cute, so I asked the owner of the file if I could use the same as my avatar in other fora.

I am into freshwater aquariums too by the way. It started about 20 yrs ago when my cousin gifted my daughter with a goldfish in a bowl. it grew to a 10 gal (with the worst mixture of fish because we didn't know what we were doing), then to a 130 gal, then 200 gal.. and a 1,360 gal with 10 asian arowanas since 2007.

Originally Posted by Mike

Very cool! Any pics?

would love to, need to generate 10 posts to be able to do that..

soon, I hope

Originally Posted by Albert

1360 gal and 10 arros, wow! You must have a pretty impressive filtration system with so many arros. I have a red arrow in a 270 gal and a gold xback in a 165 gal. They are the only ones in each tank so they seem to have enough room.

I used to have motoro stingrays in each tank as well as in a 360 gal plywood tank with arros but the city put something in the water one spring and after a water change I lost 10 stingrays (some were pups). The plywood tank started to have the sides bow too much so it is now empty.

one advantage for being in Canada, we can legally own Asian arowanas. to my knowledge, they are still covered by endangered species act and still not allowed into the US... lovely fish though. my tank is DIY because nobody would build a tank this big in Edmonton. I have 2 filters and 2 heaters

I used to have a motoro and would love to own rays again, but they're just too demanding on the filtration system. I think I cannot do a weekly water change.

Spring is notoriously bad for aquarium owners because the city always put more chemicals on the water, losing 10 rays must be a bummer. I lost my biggest arowana while I was in Vegas for the Pacquiao- Mayweather bout. I think it ate my 8" pleco..

Originally Posted by Albert

It must have sucked to have lost an arro. I am paranoid about going anywhere on vacation because I don't trust anybody to look after my animals.

Yes, I used to have to do 30% water changes twice a week (using a python) and I used an Aqua Ultraviolet Ultima II 2000 pond filter with a ReeFlo Barracuda pump. I had a pair of breeding motoro that bred 4 times before the city killed them off. I also had four peacock bass that grew to quite a large size (16") and a large knife fish (24"). I also had a mixed marine tank with a Yellow Tang, French Angel, Queen Angel, Flame Angel, a couple of clown fish. All perished the same time as the rays. I figure I lost $10,000 worth of fish that spring, nearly wiped everything out. Now I just have a Lionfish and a Blue Damsel in the 200g tank with a few mushroom corals.

Lately I have been down sizing to just four tanks (270g arro, 200g salt, 165g arro, 130g 2 turtles). It is just too much work and I have been doing it for 25 years now. Plus I have a red leg tortoise in a 150g plywood tank and two tanks with snakes (2 ball pythons and an emerald tree boa). I also used to have a panther Chameleon for a few years but he passed away a couple of years ago.

So there are still a lot of tanks and enclosures in the house. A few years ago the local elementary school brought their kids one class at a time to tour my house. I guess I am the towns unofficial zoo.

wow you are hard core Bro , that's a lot of tanks inside a house.

my friend in Manila attempted breeding arowanas, but after losing so many in community fights, he gave up and started to breed high quality stingrays instead. I was lucky to raise mine without losing a single fish. They were fighting like hell when they were 10" - 12", but has clamed down since. Not a good feeling to come home and see a $1k fish badly beaten by a tankmate.

I dreamed to own a breeding pair of black diamond rays at one point. Stingrays are really cool, my daughter loved hand feeding mine before. I am giving up hope in breeding arowanas in my current setup, I think it is not big enough.

Thanks Jack..

I have 3 tanks at the moment, a 4 ft community tank with Platys, corydorus cats, bristlenose cats some gouramis and cherry barbs.
my 2nd 4ft tank sprung a leak and is at the moment stripped down for repairs, that is usually set up as a tang tank.
the 3rd tank is a 2ft hospital tank which is now holding my tangs: Black Calvus and Julidochromis Marlieri.

Repaired the 4ft tank by removing the silicone seal further than where I thought the leak was coming from and resealed. Left it for over 2 weeks, today I started filling the tank, got to about 1/3 full with no leaks, so I thought I would reconnect the filter which is an overhead trickle job, lo and behold I found where my leak was... not the tank at all, but the input to the filter. It is now siliconed.

First three photos are of my freshwater tank. It is a 60 gallon “planted” tank. This tank has been up for only three months and I only started to add fish about a month ago. Unfortunately I am at my limit. (Time for upgrade!) In order to keep the plants alive C02 needs to be injected and monitored closely. Too much and the fish can’t breath, not enough, plants die. Fortunately everything is controlled by computer.

Next three photos are my 50 gallon saltwater “reef tank”. This tank is installed in the wall of the entrance of my basement. Pretty much same chemistry applies. Think of it as analog v. digital, with the saltwater tank needing a tighter tolerance to maintain the ecosystem. Each have their plus and minuses but are equally beautiful, IMHO!

Both tanks are a challenge to maintain, and take a great deal of time, patience and dedication. It is very rewarding however and worth all the effort. Thanks for looking.

That’s Jerry (Angel Fish)