Fish tanks
 

Can anyone recommend a good larger fish tank? My husband keeps talking about getting one and I think they are so relaxing to look at. He wants saltwater fish. Ugh I just hate cleaning tanks, he's agreed to do that. LOL ;) I am not experienced in big fish tanks, I only had the desktop tanks as a kid. Any suggestions would be great!

My mother won one on the "Price is Right." It was a 500-gallon tank and my Dad was in charge of cleaning it. Tropical fish are beautiful, but I know that when they moved Dad decided not to set-up the tank in the new home. I never thought about this before, but now I wonder what he did with all those beautiful fish?

Hmm...That is a huge tank!!! LOL I love tropical fish!

Recommend a fish tank? I have a 90 gallon saltwater one with a wet/dry filter. What did you want to know?

LOL I'm not sure! I was just having a moment I guess. Hubby wants tropical fish so he can have Nemo. What a Disney dork! :p What kind of fish was Dori?

Both the Clown Fish, (Nemo) and the Regal Blue Tang Fish, (Dori) are Saltwater fish, (Marine) and the tanks are ALOT different set up than a Tropical (Freshwater) tank. If you put both of these fish into a Tropical tank then they will die.

Marine tanks cost more to set up and cost more to maintain, although for the most part they do run fairly effeicently on their own. The initital costs are HUGE. You need the tank, stand, filterting system, lighting system, chemicals to establish the water... only once all that has been set up and running can you introduce living coral, etc to balance the tank... THEN you can add fish. It takes roughly 6months to establish a tank from set up to being able to actually put the fish in.

I personally prefer Marine tanks out of all of them, (I've had all kinds, marine, tropical, coldwater) and I find the fish for Marine tanks prettier, more active and they grap your attention more... but on the downside they are expensive.

I'd be happy to assist you with information on any tank you set up. :D

Oh, wait it wasn't 500, I don't know why that number sticks out in my head. I got to thinking our pond is only 1000 gallons. Lol, It was big though - but not that big. She was the big winner that day. :D

Saltwater fish tanks are $$$. If I lost a $75 fish I'd seriously have a moment. I'll just visit them at the pet store. :p

I think a nicely set up freshwater tank can look just as good for a fraction of the cost.

How cool that she was the big winner on Price Is Right!!!! :thumbup:

We have a 45 gal and a 55 gal tank. We have tropical fish in freshwater, not salt water. We bought the 45 gal tank - fish and all - from someone on criaglist. It cost about $100. We did replace the filter because it looked pretty old. We really enjoy it.

We keep aggressive fish (e.g., sharks, tiger barbs) in one tank and community fish (e.g., angel fish, neons) in the other tank. None of these fish are very expensive, so if they kick the bucket (or the tank), they are not expensive to replace. Yes, the saltwater fish are prettier, but you can get some really pretty fish for the freshwater tank.

It does take quite a bit of work to keep the fish and environment healthy. We just had a spontaneous overgrowth of algae and will have to completely clean everything, rocks and all to get the algae off. Oh and the tank we bought on craigslist had snails in it and we battled them until we learned that clownfish will eat snails. Two clownfish later, we've had no snails in over a year! :D

My hubby has spent lots of time at the fish store getting tips on how to maintain the tank and solve problems.

Our son-in-law gave us the 55 gal tank because he was tired of it. So we lucked out on the set up with both of them.

We love both tanks and after the initial set up, they aren't that expensive to maintain - it just take diligence to keep everything healthy.

She is right in the begining it is very pricey but once you get established it's beautiful and takes care of itself mine is about 2 years old. The first thing you need is the tank, stand, the lights (by far I think the most important and expensive), the filtration system, the chemicals, your live rocks, the salt water and the live sand. That normally stays by itself for about 3-4 weeks. You can not rush that process. It has to build up it's own good bacteria. After it has gone thru it's cycle the only fish you should add are the less expensive and hardier ones like the damsels or croomies they are your starter fish. Here is a good website to get you started. Cycling your Saltwater Aquarium - Member Blogs

BTW I have several different Tangs in my tank but Dori commited suicide one day. My son left the lid open one day and I came home from work and she was on the floor in the living room.:eek:

Wow, I've not heard of that before! :confused::(

Had she been watching Nemo? :rolleyes:

I quite agree! Currently I have a twenty gallon freshwater tank with ten goldfish in it&I love it! Sooooo easy to take care of&not expensive at all. &just because they're goldfish doesn't mean that they're ugly, either. There are many different varieties of goldfish&there's a lot of beautiful ones out there. I think I paid 200$ for the twenty-gallon tank&another 100$ for the stand. The fish were also kind of pricey as well. I think I paid a total of 100$ for all ten fish! But after you pay all of that stuff, everything else is pretty cheap. Their food is about five bucks&it lasts me about a month. I change the filter once a month. A box of eight large filter bags costs me about eleven dollars, which I get at WalMart or a local pet shop. Gravel for the bottom was about two bucks for a five pound bag. Good luck&I hope you find something that works for you!

-Amy

Oh&I wouldn't recommend getting koi, unless your husband wants to clean out the tank every three days! I had seven koi for a year (we had to get rid of them once we moved unfortunately) &boy, did they dirty up the tank quickly. I'm talking about algae on the walls, slime all over the plants, a really dirty filter&really yellow water. I seriously did have to clean it out, change the water&put in a new filter bag every three days. Koi are very dirty fish&they poo a lot, lol. Still though, I miss them. They're beautiful fish in my opinion :)

-Amy