What Kind of Fish do you have?

[SeeinRed]

I thought it would be interesting to start a thread on all of us who have aquariums. First off, I'll admidt to being a newbie. I just started keeping fish a few months ago. I did however reasearch it deeply before starting so I knew what I was getting into before choosing the hobby. I decieded on a 55 gallon tank and on getting a couple oscars. I also purchased a 29 gallon tank and decided to go saltwater with it. I have a canister filter with skimmer and got a clownfish, valentini puffer, and a coral beauty angel for it. The coral beauty is a very accurate name, its a really good looking purple and yellow fish. The puffer is my favorite of the saltwater though.

The oscars are my absolute favorites though. They really are like underwater dogs in that they beg for food and will eat like crazy. The cool thing is you can teach them to let you pet them. I recently change the decorations of the oscar tank from a natual looking creek setting to an asian type theme. Red rocks and a couple dragon decorations. Really cool. I just put in a red light for nightime effect. Here are a few crappy cell phone pics:









Any who, I just came across another 55 gallon aquarium, so I'm looking for some ideas. I also just thought it would be fun to see what everyone else had.

[15fan]

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish

We also have a ton of Nemo stuff.

That's pretty much the extent of fish stuff at our house.

[GAC]

sticks.

[Ravenlord]

a Tiger Oscar and Albino Oscar in 92 gallon tank with a Pleco.

two Black Moors and two gold Ryukins in a 29 gallontank with a bunch of snails and live plants. I have the ecosystem in that tank so precise That I don't have the give the fish any food and I only have the clean that tank about twice a year.

[Ravenlord]

The oscars are my absolute favorites though. They really are like underwater dogs in that they beg for food and will eat like crazy. The cool thing is you can teach them to let you pet them. I recently change the decorations of the oscar tank from a natual looking creek setting to an asian type theme. Red rocks and a couple dragon decorations.

Oscars will actually get bored and inactive if you don't change the decorations every few weeks or so. Not neccessarily switch things out, but move stuff around. In the wild their diet is mostly insects that have fallen onto the surface of the water, so you can throw cicadas, june bugs, spiders and the like into the tank. I also use my minnow trap to bring them creek chubs. ever since they got pinched by a crawdad, they won't eat those anymore, so the pleco waits til they're soft and sucks the insideds out through their backs.

[SeeinRed]

Oscars will actually get bored and inactive if you don't change the decorations every few weeks or so. Not neccessarily switch things out, but move stuff around. In the wild their diet is mostly insects that have fallen onto the surface of the water, so you can throw cicadas, june bugs, spiders and the like into the tank. I also use my minnow trap to bring them creek chubs. ever since they got pinched by a crawdad, they won't eat those anymore, so the pleco waits til they're soft and sucks the insideds out through their backs.

I change up the aquarium at least once every couple weeks. Usually small changes, but every now an then I do a complete overhaul. One of the funnest parts about watching oscars is watching them learn the new surrounding and each time they will claim the part of the tank they like. I also hear they like "toys." Watching them move rocks is very entertaining. The personalities these fish have are absolutely astonishing. For those looking to start an aquarium, I highly suggest Oscars. They grow to recognize their owners and beg for food. You can teach them tricks or get them to let you pet them. Mine are just now letting me start to touch them. Very cool.

[sonny]

sticks.

Oh, GAC, you slay me.

[OUReds]

One thing to note for beginners though, Oscars get BIG. They need a large (50+) gallon tank. They'll also eat any other fish they can fit into their very large mouths, so they obviously aren't for those who want a mixed species tank.

My last tank was a 29 gallon salty mini-reef. It was absolutely gorgeous, but it was a serious pain in the neck to maintain. With such small water volumes, when things go south they crash in a hurry. Even short power outages had the potential to wreck the tank. You really have to keep on top of the temp/salinity/water changes.

Depending on what you plan on doing with your salt water tank, (fish only, fish and invertebrate, reef) a larger tank is actually much more forgiving.

For any tank, especially a saltwater one, the best advise is to have patience and stock s l o w l y .

[Raisor]

I had a Beta fish.

He exploded.

[SeeinRed]

OK, I'm gonna pick the brains of some of the fish lovers on here. I recently just bought a 20 gallon Hexagon acrylic aquarium with stand filter light and other goodies for 100 bucks (an absolute steal). The person who had the tank before me had some guppies and a plecostomus. I'm getting rid of the guppies, but want to keep the algae eater. He is about 5 inches long and I don't want to put him in with my Oscars until he is big enough that the oscars won't bother him. The oscars are only about 6 inches, but I'm worried about putting him in there right now. My first question is would you go ahead and put him in there, or would you let him grow or possibly not even attempt it. I have another 20 gallon tank I am thinking about putting the plecostomus in until he grows a little. The second question is, if I wanted to put something besides guppies in with the pleco, what would be your suggestions. I have a lot of ideas that would work, but I'm not to crazy about the types of fish I've thought of so far.

Maybe I should just stick with the guppies for now, but I have been very tempted to feed them to the oscars. Thoughts?

[Ravenlord]

the oscars will likely grow faster than the pleco, so putting them together at the current size is a good idea, because they'll gt used to it being there as they get larger.

is it a tall 20 gallon?

and i luck the guppies and mollies, ebcause they're an easy and efficent source of oscar treats.

[SeeinRed]

the oscars will likely grow faster than the pleco, so putting them together at the current size is a good idea, because they'll gt used to it being there as they get larger.

is it a tall 20 gallon?

and i luck the guppies and mollies, ebcause they're an easy and efficent source of oscar treats.

Yep, its a 20 gallon tall. I keep thinking about breeding the guppies and feeding them to the oscars, but I don't know. There are 3 different types in the aquarium I just bought that I am transfering into the 20 tall. I might just give the fish to someone else, but if I can't think of anything better to put in the other 20 I guess I might as well keep them. I even thought about getting a freshwater puffer to put in there because I have a lot of snails. I'm turning that 20 gallon hex into a saltwater with some clownfish and maybe some live coral. We'll see. I think the 20 hex acrylic will really look sweet with some saltwater though.

[Ravenlord]

saltwater i don't have the patience for, but they do look great.

that style of tall tank is actually designed mostly for angelfish, which like oscars, are a cichlid.

[Spring~Fields]

Mostly fried fish, sometimes baked or micro waved.

[RichRed]

I had a Beta fish.

He exploded.

Should've gone with the more popular VHS fish.