Tropical Fish keepers of AH

[William Lemmerhirt]

That is one pretty setup.

Thank you!

More beautiful tank pics! I'm enjoying this thread and I don't even have any fish. I love looking at the pics tho.

Thanks brother. I had to laugh at your mahi mahi-mahi comment earlier, as I grill it all the time. Just yesterday in fact, for my MIL’s birthday. Hope you’re good. Check ya later…

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

That red tail was lovely. We had a 60 gallon tank in a previous home which also was home to a red tail shark that grew to be 7". Rare for them to get that large. I also had a Bristle Nose Pleco that must have been 7 or 8 years old. Damn thing looked prehistoric. We had a lot of the typical red tail sword fish, fan tail guppies, zebras and neons. I loved getting tropical Puffer fish.

I had a pair of Angels that grew quite large in that tank. Didn't know they were so aggressive at the time. They picked on the other fish so much that I had to sell them, but they had grown so large that I made good money. Wish I had some photos of that tank, but that was almost 30 years ago. Dreamed of getting a salt water tank some day but that's a serious investment and takes special care.

Thanks ep. I do love red tails, but not rainbows as much. Bala’s are great too.
Our bristle nose is a female, so her whiskers are very very small, can’t even tell…
We have mostly garden variety tropicals too, except the kids talked me into some glow fish, which do look cool with the night light(blacklight) on. I like angels too, but they’re definitely mean, and seem to prefer water conditions that my other fish don’t like. Maybe I need a tank full of just them. Nah…
I’ve had fish tanks since I was about 14 and just really enjoy the hobby. Plexus…

See! Can’t even tell.

 

[Eppie]

Wow, you're right. Our Bristlenose was very bristley also brown in colour and scaly in appearance. Quite different from the standard black Placostomus we had which grew to be twice the size. We also had a small suckermouth that I think had the common name George but looking at photos I believe was an Otocinclus. Pufferfish are fun to watch but a little more difficult to take care of.

I started with a 15 gallon as a teenager. When we moved, the new house had a 60 gallon built in to a wall which opened up a lot of possibilities. I still have the 15 gal tank but it's not in use. I'm tempted to set up again but it's hard to go down in size after you have owned a 50 or 60 gal. Love the heavily planted tank that NINaudio posted. Have not seen one of those before.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Wow, you're right. Our Bristlenose was very bristley also brown in colour and scaly in appearance. Quite different from the standard black Placostomus we had which grew to be twice the size. We also had a small suckermouth that I think had the common name George but looking at photos I believe was an Otocinclus. Pufferfish are fun to watch but a little more difficult to take care of.

I started with a 15 gallon as a teenager. When we moved, the new house had a 60 gallon built in to a wall which opened up a lot of possibilities. I still have the 15 gal tank but it's not in use. I'm tempted to set up again but it's hard to go down in size after you have owned a 50 or 60 gal. Love the heavily planted tank that NINaudio posted. Have not seen one of those before.

Lol. It is hard to downsize. And also larger tanks tend to be more stable environments. I like ottos too. Definitely fun to watch. I’ve never had a puffer but my younger son wants some for his 20gal long tank. And yeah, our pleco is an albino although she’s quite yellowish lol. Very shy too, and I didn’t know until we had her that the males have the real bristles. I suppose it’s like many animals where the male is more ornamental.
There are actually a LOT of different plecostomus. I like them.

You should definitely set up a tank.

 

[davidscott]

Also a couple old favorites, no longer with us.
I love red tail black sharks(balas too).
This is Finderella. She was seven inches when she just suddenly died.

This was Koons. Named after my sons friend. He came to visit for my sons birthday, and wanted to buy a fish to put in our tank. I bought one instead and named it after him.
Glofish rainbow shark. 5” when he died. He was a little aggressive.

I've always found red tails to be rather territorial and especially belligerent at feeding time. Did you have those issues with your red tails?

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

I've always found red tails to be rather territorial and especially belligerent at feeding time. Did you have those issues with your red tails?

Yes. I have experienced that as well. I’ve always tried to give them a space to call their own so they don’t try and dominate the whole tank. But once they get so big….. lol

 

[marticus]

Wow those are fantastic looking tanks.

I grew up having fish, my dad had marine and tropical, and I've had a few tropical setups over the years.

I keep coming back to the idea of having a long shallow tank behind the sofa, but I have to talk myself out of it.

I barely have time and money for my other hobbies, and my wife has vetoed more animals in the house..

 

[Eppie]

I've always found red tails to be rather territorial and especially belligerent at feeding time. Did you have those issues with your red tails?

The 60 gallon tank we used was plaster on 3 sides (it was built into a wall) so they installed a 12" shelf about 7" up from the bottom. The red tail claimed that as his territory and generally left the fish above alone. The pleco liked to hide there during the day as well.

 

[davidscott]

Anyone else have Firemouths? They are my favorite fresh water fish and I've had them off and on for years as long as I had at least a 20 gallon tank.

 

[Pogre]

Growing up we had a suicidal Oscar that got pretty big and it jumped out of the tank!

 

[davidscott]

Growing up we had a suicidal Oscar that got pretty big and it jumped out of the tank!

What size tank did you have that Oscar in? I always liked Oscars too but never had a big enough tank to own one.

 

[Pogre]

What size tank did you have that Oscar in? I always liked Oscars too but never had a big enough tank to own one.

It wasn't a very big tank and we ended up selling or donating it to a pet shop iirc. We did that shortly after it flopped out of the tank. I was just a kid and my mom was a novice with fish. I don't think she expected it to get so big.

 

[panteragstk]

More beautiful tank pics! I'm enjoying this thread and I don't even have any fish. I love looking at the pics tho.

Same here. Those pics are great.

Never was a fish guy, well I like to eat them and get them out of water (they don't like that) when I fish, but that's about it.

I have watched quite a few episodes of Fish Tank Kings though.

 

[panteragstk]

Growing up we had a suicidal Oscar that got pretty big and it jumped out of the tank!

I think the only fish I ever owned was a Beta that also tried to kill itself.

That was a beautiful fish, but I hated cleaning it's bowl.

 

[NINaudio]

For freshwater fish I've always liked the various members of the Rainbowfish family.