Well Me and the wife just got a 55 gal fish tank from another couple we know that no longer wanted it, and we have been wanting a bigger tank, considering we started with a 1 gal with 2 goldfish in it..however now we got this 55 gal with 6 fish in it now,,,,they are all semi-aggresive, so they get along. I am new to this fish tank stuff, and just curious if there are any Ford guys or gals that also share this hobby? Me and the wife are addicted now, we cant wait to buy a ton more fish. We currently have a red tailed shark, a sucker, a tiger barb, 2 striped barbs, and another fish i have no idea what it is. So if you are into this also please leave your comments and suggestions.
Here is a pic of our tank.

 

I have the same 55 gallon, and I am getting out of it. Will convert the tank to a hamster cage I think or something else. The fish tank is too much work. So when they die off, I will get rid of it. ONly have 7 fish left

 

My dad has a 95 gallon, 55, gallon, 15 gallon All salt water. Used to have a 125 gallon too, but it just got to much. Salt water is a HASSLE!

 

95 Gallon Salt Water..

 

I've got a 95 gallon fresh water tank. Before you put more fish in it, you probably need to know some of your barbs and the shark can get rather rowdy with the others. You'll probably lose some. I'd suggest getting a book on the various fish. Some are bottom feeders, some mid level feeders, and top water feeders. If you get rid of the fish you have, you can get fish like the different Tetras, Neons, Glass Cats (but they hide a lot), and others that will get along without killing each other. In the pic, one looks like an angel fish- they can be aggressive too or it could be a black stripped Tetra.
For maintenance, get a sucker type cleaning hose. It looks like about 10' of surgical hose with a 1 1/2"x 6" tube on the end. This will get the crap out of the pebbles in the bottom. I clean mine every other week and vacuum out about 5 gallons of water. Try to match the water temp when refilling. NEVER put fish in your tank directly from the store and NEVER put the store water in your tank. When you buy fish, they will be in a clear plastic bag usually. Put the bag in the tank and let it float for about an hour. That lets the fish become accustomed to the tank temp. Take the fish out of the tank and in similar temp fresh water, dump the fish into it for a rinse. I use Methylene Blue in the rinse water to kill any bacteria or varmints. If you get Ich in your tank, it will have to come completely apart to totally get rid of it. There is a med by the same name that needs to be in the tank on a maintenance schedule. Make sure to place the tank away from direct sunlight unless you are into cleaning algae. A great place for it is in the bedroom where you can watch them at night. It's extremely relaxing. There's a ton of options, plants, toys, fish, heaters, filters, etc. Just let your imagination and your wallet be your guide. I like a fish tank and have several smaller ones around but I use those for quarantine and raising my own brine shrimp for feed. Brine shrimp is like candy to the fish and it's a healthy meal for them.

 

I use to have some fish but havent in quite a few years.
Once i get settled in my own place I'd like to get a tank going

 

I have a 55 gallon tank which only has the fancy goldfish in it. When I was starting out with fish in another tank, I must have killed several hundred dollars worth of fish. Don't know if the tank was jinxed or it was just me but I never had luck with it.

I bought the 55 gallon and didn't skimp on the filter set up. Went with the gold fish instead of regular tropical fish because they are a little stronger and actually swim around and not hide all day long.

I love having a tank but the upkeep is a bitch. It makes it all worth it when you're kicked back checking it out but the couple of hours it takes to clean the thing is no fun.

BTW, has anybody had to move since having a tank? I've done it twice with one time being up stairs. The second time I looked for professionals to move it but no company would take the job. There's nothing like 9 (5) gallon water bottles filled with tank water and a large ice chest filled with your prized fish. Combine that with the headache of moving in general. Not a fun time at all......

 

I've got a 55 gallon that I've had in constant use for the last 15 years or so.. Started out with tropical fish and kept a Bala Shark for over 8 years. Just up and died one day.. Was fine when I went to bed, woke up to feed 'em and there he was on the bottom, stiff as a board.... Bummer...

Kept some Koi in the tank for a couple of years... Had planned on expanding the backyard pond to accommodate Koi, but still have not done it! So, when the Koi got too big, I sold them to a neighbor who DID have a Koi pond... Raccoons got 'em after a month... Bummer...

Now, I just have plain old Gold Fish... I get the .15 ea feeders and see how big I can get 'em... I've got one left out of an original batch of 20 that is over 5" now and about 2 years old. I got 6 more little ones and have 5 left after 6 mos and they have doubled in size.. They are now about an 1.5" now..

I do have a sucker fish to control the algae too. I know he's 'tropical' and Gold Fish are cold water, but the water stays around 72-74* on it's own, and he's over 6" now and I've had him for over a year, so he's tough... He and the fish like cut Zucchini about every two weeks! They eat one small size one cut in quarters in about 3 days...

The tank is so established, that I only do a 20% water change every two weeks and vacuum the gravel every other time. Clean the filters as needed, and test the water once a month and it always comes out clean ... It's a whole lot less work and cheaper then keeping the tropicals! And, I still get the same satisfaction out of keeping and watching the Gold Fish grow, as all they were meant to be was feeders anyway, so at least I give them a chance to grow up!

I had 10 and 20 gallon tanks when I was a kid and kept a Blue Gill that I caught at Mile Square Lake in Fountain Valley California when I was 11 years old alive for over two years! I brought him home in a creel after I caught him and yanked a hook out of his mouth and when I dumped him in the sink to clean him, he was still moving, and I just happened to have an empty 10 gallon tank ready to go, so I popped him in and he lived for two years! Pretty cool for an 11 year old in the mid seventies!

Fish are cool IMO!

Mitch

 

i have a 75 gallon tank, got rid of the fish over the summer, and trying to sell the tank now. but its fun to get fish and set up a tank. i started with about a 1/4 gallon tank that my grand pa gave me to a 10 gallon tank, then he offered me his 75 gallon tank.

if any one in the houston area is looking for a tank let me know

 

I have a 20G tall planted tank setup with about 20 rasboras

I keep the tank about 77f and use a rena xp1 for filtration. lighting is a 55w PC retro and the subtrate is a peat/flourite mix.

the key is to educate yourself about water chemistry and biological filtration. setting up the proper conditions for your fish isnt to hard but takes time.

when in doubt do a water change

 

I had a similiar situation as Mitch. I had a fish that I bought when it was just tiny. I watched the thing grow to a huge fish and had him for a little over 6 years.

One day I woke up and he was floating upside down; very, very dead.

It's always a bummer when something like that happens especially when you've had the thing for so long.

 

I kept fish tanks from the time I was a small child, up until about 3 years ago. {so for about 35 years} Freshwater, Saltwater, North American, you name it.

If their is a fish I have not kept at home, I've probably kept it at 1 of the 3 tropical fish stores I've worked at. I also worked on a fish farm, in Arkansas.

Probably the coolest aquarium creature I ever kept though, was my Octopus :-) He would climb up the glass, to the edge of the tank, and stick a tentacle out to take c0cktail shrimp out of my fingers :-) Kind of creepy at first, but fun once you got used to it. In fact, he start climbing the glass as soon as he saw you walking towards the fridgerator ! VERY smart creatures :-)

Oh, and my Mudskippers were cool too. Truly a fish out of water :-)

Wish I had more / better photos of my fish..... It's just that I started getting a lot more serious about photography, "after" I let the tanks go :-(

Anyhow,
Yea, fish tanks are great :-)

Fish

Here's a couple of old, crappy shots of my Pea**** Cichlids {edit: Ha ! :-) I guess Pea-**** is a bad word ? :-) LOL

 

Right now I have a 10 gallon salt tank with a few pieces of live rock a peppermint shrimp and a very small brain corral. I also have a 25 gallon fresh water tank with five 10 year old tetras still hanging out.

I used to work at a tropical fish store for livestock, tanks and supplies so I probably have 5 or 6 tank setups I haven't gotten around to using yet because of a lack of time and funds to blow.

Over time depending on what you like and how serious you are it can get to be a very expensive hobby.

 

100 Gallon fresh with African Cichlids.











I still need to make a stand and run my wet/dry filtration system. Just like everything else it's a work in progress.

 

I had a custom plexiglas 30 gallon tank made to fit the bottom of my stand/cabinet and put my wet dry there to save space.