# Aquariums



## Bigj (Jul 22, 2007)

Are there any aquarium people in here I have a 55 wonting to go larger is worth it.At this time theres 3 red tiger 3 albinos Oscars and 3 Blood Red parrot. This is a old picture with startup fish.


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## fishslicks91 (Mar 1, 2013)

I would definitely go larger the oscars get about a 10inches long and they don't like to be crowded they tend to pout and of corse fight. Hope this helps


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## xtreme (Jan 9, 2010)

125 Gal Saltwater. It's an expensive hobby


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## Bigj (Jul 22, 2007)

I did salt once never again


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## DSL_PWR (Jul 22, 2009)

Had several 175 gallon bowfront tanks, a show tank, then some smaller 72 and 90 gallon bowfronts. I had one saltwater tank and I will never do that again. 

Once you find the right balance of fish, plants, filtration, and food the tank pretty much takes care of itself. 

Your blood parrots will get pretty big. Had several that were pretty small when we got them and lived to between 12 -14 years and were huge. They need space, lots of it. Same as stated above with the Oscars. 

Usually they say 1 gallon per inch of fish but some will say 2 or even 3 depending on the nature of the fish and the mixture.


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## plhsurfer (Jun 28, 2005)

Scaled down from a 150 gallon to a 29 gallon Biocube fish with live coral setup.


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## Part Timer (Jul 2, 2012)

Those 3 oscars alone are going to overcrowd a 55 gal when they get full grown. I would say cut some fish or get a bigger tank. Although with how agressive oscars tend to be, natural selection might take care of that for you. Lol But I agree with dsl, a bigger tank wont be any harder once you get the tank established and running. 

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## NaClH2O (May 25, 2004)

I have four aquariums right now - a 55 gallon and three bookshelf 6.6 gallon aquariums, all freshwater. The 55 gallon has a bunch of tetras (neons, black neons and Congo tetras), assorted corys and two longfin albino bristlenose plecos, along with live plants. It's been my favorite aquarium so far. The action in it is fantastic.

The three bookshelf aquariums are listed below.
1. A white and red male doubletail betta
2. A bunch of red cherry shrimp with live plants, mainly java moss
3. Right now the third one has nothing but some plants in it, but it will soon have some red cherry shrimp that I move from bookshelf #2. My goal is to keep the populations diverse so I'll keep moving some back and forth from time to time. When I get too many, some will become fish food. The betta and the Congo tetras should love some live shrimp.


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## fishslicks91 (Mar 1, 2013)

I have a 700g and a 125 saltwater the 700g is in the process of being set up now just have to build a stand and ill be ready to go.


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## acoastalbender (Jul 16, 2011)

Part Timer said:


> Those 3 oscars alone are going to overcrowd a 55 gal when they get full grown. I would say cut some fish or get a bigger tank. Although with how agressive oscars tend to be, natural selection might take care of that for you. Lol But I agree with dsl, a bigger tank wont be any harder once you get the tank established and running.
> 
> Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2


X2! I think the Oscars are going to take care of anything else in the tank that moves, then they will turn their attentions to each other....then there was 1...:biggrin:............Had a co-worker who had just an Oscar in a 50gal tank. It was about 10 inches long or maybe a little bigger. He had it a long time, long enough that he had it trained to jump far enough out of the water to grab a feeder goldfish out of his hand when held it about 4-5 inches above the water......

.


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## rc10j1 (Jul 15, 2010)

Don't get a pacu unless you want a lot of trouble when he gets huge!


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## Bigj (Jul 22, 2007)

What happened to the old saying only get as large as tank will let them.


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## rc10j1 (Jul 15, 2010)

I had a 58 gallon tank. He was 18" long and still growing. I could never keep him from splashing water out when he turned quickly since he was 2/3 as tall as the tank and 1/2 as long.


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## HuntinforTail (Mar 29, 2011)

Bigj said:


> What happened to the old saying only get as large as tank will let them.


That is true to an extent. I started a south american tank when I was in high school. I had a red bellied cat, tiger shovelnose cat, pacu, and oscar, along with a bunch of other fish.

They quickly got big for the 20 gallon tank, but didn't grow to the point that they couldn't move around. I upgraded to a 75 gallon tank and it seemed like as soon as I moved them over they doubled size wihtin a month. Like they had stored up some growing they needed to do.

Eventually I built a 5'x10'x3' deep heated tank in my back yard once they got big for the 75 gallon tank. Again they have a rapid initial growth. When I went off to college I donated them to the Aquarium downtown. I believe the red bellied cat is the only one still there. He gets bigger every time i see him!

In the last few years I've moved to having a natural planted tank. You have to have special lights, special substrate, and fertilizers. I even inject CO2 into the water to help the plants grow. You have to prune them and stuff just like a garden. You can't really keep cichlids or other agressive fish, but I love the way it looks with the neons, discuss, and all the different kinds of shrimp swimming through the live plants.


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## Jdejay02 (Mar 27, 2013)

I've been keeping fish most of my life. I don't really know how many tanks I have off the top of my head. I think I have 20 something. I cut back a bit til my daughter gets old enough to go to school so I have time to do it right again. I have kept tons of different fish including a pair of 15" oscars. Oscars are giant babies. I got them from my brother because his other fish were picking on them. No way would I ever put an Oscar in with another aggressive SA cichlid.


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## Jdejay02 (Mar 27, 2013)

I keep a few tanks . Not as many as some of my friends. I spent all last week moving my best friends 100 tank room! That was work.


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## Part Timer (Jul 2, 2012)

The fish i had were mostly sa cichlids and none of them were as agressive as the oscars i owned. The cichlids had he upper hand while the oscars were small but when they grew up game over. 

A lot has to do with how you introduce the fish in the tank. If you introduce them together all is well. The fish that already have established territory in the tank will be more agressive to new fish. Also it has a lot to do availible territory. If you have a lot of fish have places for the weaker to hide and escape danger. I have also heard you can purposely overcrowd a tank so that no fish can claim territory and it will keep them calm. This of course will need a better filtration system. 

Wih my cichlids i went through a lot trying to find the right bunch that got along. Gave up on the oscars. They just get big and ugly. Cichlids hold their color. 

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## Jdejay02 (Mar 27, 2013)

Part Timer said:


> The fish i had were mostly sa cichlids and none of them were as agressive as the oscars i owned. The cichlids had he upper hand while the oscars were small but when they grew up game over.
> 
> A lot has to do with how you introduce the fish in the tank. If you introduce them together all is well. The fish that already have established territory in the tank will be more agressive to new fish. Also it has a lot to do availible territory. If you have a lot of fish have places for the weaker to hide and escape danger. I have also heard you can purposely overcrowd a tank so that no fish can claim territory and it will keep them calm. This of course will need a better filtration system.
> 
> ...


I agree with you it has a lot to do with order of introduction. With cichlids they are best to introduce in groups or all at once. I used to breed alot of Malawi and Victorian cichlids and they do best overcrowded. It really lessens the aggression. When I broke down my 75 gallon Malawi show tank we pulled out 45 cichlids ranging in size from 1-5"+ never had aggression issues.


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## Part Timer (Jul 2, 2012)

Holy cow! Do you own a pet store??? Im guessing you breed and sell? 

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## Jdejay02 (Mar 27, 2013)

Part Timer said:


> Holy cow! Do you own a pet store??? Im guessing you breed and sell?
> 
> Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2


I breed and sell to my local fish stores. One of the stores I trade Angelfish for coral so that's pretty awesome too.


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## Fish_On! (May 25, 2012)

I'm a diver in the shark tank for the downtown Aquarium. It is 175,000 gallons. Does that count?


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## Jdejay02 (Mar 27, 2013)

Fish_On! said:


> I'm a diver in the shark tank for the downtown Aquarium. It is 175,000 gallons. Does that count?


That would be freakin sweet! I'll count shark taming as fish keeping.


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## Part Timer (Jul 2, 2012)

Not unless you are in a cool job contest lol

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## monster (Apr 11, 2008)

I kept a 125gal for many years. I'd say the amount of maintenance would be only slightly more than with a 55gal. While I've never done saltwater, I love keeping cichlids. Very intelligent fish..fun to watch the hierarchy build. You can get smaller cichlids to go with big ones, but you do have to balance it right. If you have a smaller fish, it needs to be fast, and you need to give it plenty of structure to hide in. I liked to go with the more aggressive cichlids, but it's a learning process. It would be ideal if you could keep a 2nd "infirmary tank" going at the same time. If/when certain fish start to get picked on, they will need to be removed to survive. Also, if there's any sickness in the tank, it would really help to have that 2nd tank to keep the "other" fish healthy. Some of my favorite cichlids to keep (pardon the spelling):

Frontosa - not too aggressive...usually made it one of the larger fish in the tank.
Tetracanthus - smaller African cichlid. Very aggressive and will sometimes nip the fins of larger/slower fish. Will also try to dominate other fish of similar size.
Green Terror - beautiful fish. S. American, can be aggressive, shouldn't be as large as the frontosa or other moderately aggressive fish.
Firemouth - comments similar to Green Terror. For some reason, I always had bad luck with Firemouths, but they're cool fish.
Geophagus - cool looking fish, but nowhere near as aggressive as the others. May not be the best idea to put in an aggressive tank
Salvini - beautiful fish, but very aggressive.
Texas Cichlid - similar comments to Green Terror
Compressecep - very cool and fast fish African (I think) Not as hardy, but a bada$$ predator who patrols the upper level of the tank. Usually fast enough to stay out of trouble with meaner fish.
Misc Catfish - often hide out during the day, and will eat smaller fish while they sleep, but if you can find a good one, they can be pretty cool. Tough.
Silver Dollars - weaker than all these others, but I liked to get enough to make a small school. Cool to watch the shimmery silver swim around. The smaller "minnow-like" Africans will sometimes tear them up.
Venustus/Livi-stonie/Robert-stoni - I'm sure I destroyed the spelling. Very attractive fish...minnow-like African.
Peacock Bass - not sure it's a cichlid, but an awesome fish. Beautiful, fast as hell, ultimate predator. Can be difficult to train to eat non-live food. They used to be illegal, so check the laws. 
Crawfish - everytime we did a boil, I would pull out a few of the nice looking crawfish and drop them in. Sometimes they wouldn't last (catfish loved to eat them), but I had a few that lasted over a year. Fun to watch.

Keep in mind that just because you may get a species and it's very aggressive, the next one you get may be more even-tempered. I know you just asked about tank size, so you may already be knowledgeable of these fish, but it was fun for me to remininisce. Makes me want to start a new tank. Do yourself a favor and don't go cheap on the lighting. These fish can have amazing colors that cheap lighting may not bring out.

Post up pics when you get it up and running.


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## NaClH2O (May 25, 2004)

I've always wanted a Geophagus tank, but I don't have room right now for anything larger than the 55 gallon and I think they definitely need something larger to do it properly, at least 125 gallons I would think. Very cool fish.


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## Bigj (Jul 22, 2007)

Here's afew more pics all fish are under 2 inchs now but there hungry little guys


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## Ershaddy (May 16, 2013)

I have a 400g and a 100 saltwater in process to set up.
Aquarium Installation


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## Pilot281 (Aug 14, 2006)

Here's a pic of my 10gal I've had set up for about 5 years. All these platy's were hatched in the tank and I've since given them all away. Right now I've got 2 bumble bee catfish, 1 ram, 1 dwarf puffer, 1 pleco, and 1 unknown I got from my niece.


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## PortHoleDiver (Sep 5, 2007)

I have a 200gal saltwater. Had fresh water in the past but love the salt. Been up and running this time about 5 years. Not a maint. problem as long as you pick your inhabitants wisely. However, reef tanks are a whole other topic. Stick with a fish tank.. Lot less headaches.:cheers:


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## ossnap (Jan 4, 2010)

I have a 210 gallon freshwater setup. My main fish in there is a Red Tail Gourami. I've had that particular fish for about 8 years now and he's right at 22 inches or so. Some of the other fish in there are 2 firemouth cichlids, 2 madagascar cichlids (polleni), a couple small catfish, couple clown loaches, 2 tiger barbs, a bala shark, and one lone frontosa. Here's an older pic from a couple of years ago..


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## HUSTLETOWN5591 (Feb 9, 2008)

*75 gallon*

I have a 75 gallon tank....I have a silver arrowana living in it right now...super agressive...anything that hits the water is lunch....


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## Levimac (Mar 23, 2011)

*Aquarium*

I have a 29 gallon biocube set up as a salt tank....


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## Ron R. (May 21, 2004)

ossnap said:


> I have a 210 gallon freshwater setup. My main fish in there is a Red Tail Gourami. I've had that particular fish for about 8 years now and he's right at 22 inches or so. Some of the other fish in there are 2 firemouth cichlids, 2 madagascar cichlids (polleni), a couple small catfish, couple clown loaches, 2 tiger barbs, a bala shark, and one lone frontosa. Here's an older pic from a couple of years ago..


Beautiful RTG!!!!!

Here's my 180g freshwater set up with wild-caught Moba Frontosa.


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## ricpan (Oct 28, 2004)

I'm a process tech (operator) but also have a aquarium service for the last 18 years. I have a bunch of stuff I'll let go for cheap or give away. Tanks stands caps lighting ballast you name it. If you need something let me know. I live in League city.
Rick


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## ossnap (Jan 4, 2010)

Ron R. said:


> Beautiful RTG!!!!!
> 
> Here's my 180g freshwater set up with wild-caught Moba Frontosa.


Thank you for the compliment, Ron. I'm pretty proud of that fella. Bought the fish when it was only 2 inches long and it's been a joy to watch grow.

Very nice Frontosa setup you have there as well. I've always wanted to do a Frontosa or maybe even a Tropheous colony.


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## KRA79 (Feb 14, 2007)

I've got a 30 gal. reef tank, but would love to bump up to 75 or 100. Had some major headaches at first, but the last couple of years have been smooth sailing.


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## chuck leaman (Jul 15, 2004)

I used to have a bunch but got out of it for the most part. We have one 10 with my Son's pet perch and a 40 low for his red ears. Im ready to get back in it though.


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## coastman (Apr 18, 2013)

I've got a 55 gal. With a bunch of cichlids. It's my first one and its been going good for a few years now. The yellow cichlids breed like crazy! I started with a few and now have 10-12. I'm gonna have to get rid of some.


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## mtaswt (Aug 10, 2007)

I've got a 156 gallon saltwater reef tank that I absolutely love....although at times it's a chore!


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## fishNwithfish (Aug 17, 2011)

My 88gal 

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## fishNwithfish (Aug 17, 2011)

Oops and my 34gal cube

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## Riley & Sons (Aug 7, 2008)

Here is my 75 gal setup. 2 oscars and 2 placos and that will be the max for that tank. Since I moved to Friendswood it has only been set up for 1 1/2 months. The Albino Tiger Oscar will already let me pet him while he is waiting for his food. There are times I just go in the office and watch them. It's relaxing.


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## BILLYSTIX CUSTOM RODS (May 23, 2004)

*155 gallon*

this is our 155 gallon.
we have clown loach's & yo.yo loaches & several other loaches that i can not pronounce  in any case it's full but they like to stay in the rock's for the most part, i walked up to take a couple of shot's "see ya gone 
stix


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## fishNwithfish (Aug 17, 2011)

mtaswt said:


> I've got a 156 gallon saltwater reef tank that I absolutely love....although at times it's a chore!


What lights are you running?

if it smells like trout get out


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## Jigger (Feb 12, 2009)

I wouldnt mind having a tank. There is a wall here at home thats at least 6' long that I could put it on. Would like to keep it narrow...maybe 12" deep.


I want to go hillbilly in mine and put bass, crappie, perch, cats, maybe a gar?
My wife said they are a pain to clean and I would have to do it all the time. How true is that?


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