Any fishkeepers here? Saltwater or freshwater

[Lprechaun]

Originally Posted by Silock

Do you keep seahorses? I've always wanted to keep them, but I hear they are ridiculously difficult to keep alive. And expensive as hell to replace.

In Bradenton, Fl there is actually a captive bred breeding and rearing facility. They are extremely easy if they are tank bred, wild caught ones are often doomed from the time they leave the grass beds. They are use to a certain type and style of food in the wild. The captive bred ones are fed from the start a prepared food.
One thing people trying sea horses dont realize is they need a species specific tank, they arent fast enough to go get their own food so they rely on food coming to them so to speak. If there is other fish in there that will quickly gobble up all the food they basically starve to death. Ive kept them and had little to no trouble.
The captive bred ones run about 35-50 bucks here.
Here are a couple of pics of my old ones (I sold them to a breeder)

[Easy 6]

Very cool, what a strange animal.

[Silock]

Originally Posted by Lprechaun

In Bradenton, Fl there is actually a captive bred breeding and rearing facility. They are extremely easy if they are tank bred, wild caught ones are often doomed from the time they leave the grass beds. They are use to a certain type and style of food in the wild. The captive bred ones are fed from the start a prepared food.
One thing people trying sea horses dont realize is they need a species specific tank, they arent fast enough to go get their own food so they rely on food coming to them so to speak. If there is other fish in there that will quickly gobble up all the food they basically starve to death. Ive kept them and had little to no trouble.
The captive bred ones run about 35-50 bucks here.
Here are a couple of pics of my old ones (I sold them to a breeder)

So, what kind of setup do they need to survive? I have a 125g that I haven't set up yet. It's drilled for a sump, if I want it. I was originally going to go saltwater with the setup, but I just can't afford 225 lbs of rock for it. If I could just do sand, a few rocks and some SW plants, I'd love to have a seahorse tank.

[Lprechaun]

Originally Posted by Silock

So, what kind of setup do they need to survive? I have a 125g that I haven't set up yet. It's drilled for a sump, if I want it. I was originally going to go saltwater with the setup, but I just can't afford 225 lbs of rock for it. If I could just do sand, a few rocks and some SW plants, I'd love to have a seahorse tank.

You can get what they call Shoal Grass, a few rocks maybe 25-50 pounds a 1-2" sandbed and possibly something like a few maidens hair, or bottle brush plants, some sponges if you want and the tank would run pretty stable. You can add the following fish to a seahorse tank
Mandarin Goby (when copepods are established enough)
Firefish Goby
Scooter blenny
cardinal fish PJ or Banghai
Gulf Coast Eaco-Systems has a website where you can order the macro algaes

[Rain Man]

We're pondering getting an aquarium for the office. I'd like to do something big, but I suspect that the 29 gallon size is the biggest we'll be able to go. How many hours a week is required for maintenance? I've never had an aquarium.

[Easy 6]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

We're pondering getting an aquarium for the office. I'd like to do something big, but I suspect that the 29 gallon size is the biggest we'll be able to go. How many hours a week is required for maintenance? I've never had an aquarium.

If its freshwater you're looking at a half hour a week tops, a partial water change and vaccuming of about half the gravel... its a piece of cake.

[Fish]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

We're pondering getting an aquarium for the office. I'd like to do something big, but I suspect that the 29 gallon size is the biggest we'll be able to go. How many hours a week is required for maintenance? I've never had an aquarium.

The bigger the tank, the easier the maintenance. It depends on what kind of fish you have, and how many of those fish recycle. Lots of fish live on other fish's byproducts. So you get a natural vacuum cleaning service. It's best to do a water change every 2 weeks or so, but that only takes 30 minutes maybe.

You need to feed once/twice daily. You can get autofeeders.

Freshwater requires much less maintenance. It varies a lot by setup.

[Silock]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

We're pondering getting an aquarium for the office. I'd like to do something big, but I suspect that the 29 gallon size is the biggest we'll be able to go. How many hours a week is required for maintenance? I've never had an aquarium.

If you have live plants, it's way easier. The plants suck up bad stuff and keep it from harming the fish. I generally do maybe one water change a month on my planted tanks. They just don't need as much maintenance. They're a bit more expensive to get going, though, as the plants require a specific amount of light (not too much, not too little) and a specific wavelength (6500k bulbs are a must).

But really, as long as you limit the fish in the tank, use a product like Seachem Stability to help get the aquarium going, and do a regular water change, you shouldn't have any problems.

But I must warn you that many people just get tired of taking care of tanks, even when they are extremely low maintenance. So what seems like a good idea now may not be so in three months.

[Lprechaun]

On the maintenance of 29 gallon tanks I suggest a 1.5-2 gallon water change each week. Run a simple mag float every day (about 1 minute) and every other week rinse out the sponges in saltwater. Maintenance on a tank boils down to two things, how many fish and how much food you have... too much of either is a bad thing. In saltwater its all about balance. (salt tank)

[Mr_Tomahawk]

Anyone have any sharks?

[Lprechaun]

Also the old rule of thumb for 1 pound of rock for each gallon of water isnt even suggested anymore. Most tanks are going for a minimalist look and the filtration now with protein skimmers and media reactors allows for this. I had about $45,000 in acropora in a 65 gallon tank, 2x250 watt metal halides and about 25 pounds of tonga branch rock all I had for filtration was a big ball of cheatomorpha.
Its all about import and export in a reef tank.

[Rain Man]

Thanks for the advice, fellas. I love aquariums and want to get one, but am a little worried about how much of a hassle it'll be at the office.

[booger]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

Thanks for the advice, fellas. I love aquariums and want to get one, but am a little worried about how much of a hassle it'll be at the office.

when you read up on doing maintenance and water changes/cleaning the gravel bottom, this is a great tool. I had a similar one when I was in the hobby and the nearest sink to drain old and add new water was a ways away. I started with doing the bucket carrying back and forth to change out old and fill it back up and that's a hassle. This is one of the tools that helps with the hassle.

hooks right up to the sink faucet and has multiple fitting attachments

http://www.petco.com/product/2762/Py...FUtp7AodkiMAKg

[BossChief]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

Thanks for the advice, fellas. I love aquariums and want to get one, but am a little worried about how much of a hassle it'll be at the office.

I have a 29gallon bio cube and the maintenance is minimal once it's up and running. Everything is built into the unit and its a cool looking enclosure.

If that's the size you want (29 gallon) and want minimal upkeep, a bio cube may be your best bet.

[mr. tegu]

So we have a water garden in our back yard. It is about 800 gallons maybe a little bigger. For the last 3-4 weeks the comet goldfish have been spawning like crazy. Now the adults love eating the eggs so I am suspicious that they are only producing them for their eating pleasure.

Regardless, many fish are hatching and watching them grow is quite enjoyable. I had set up one of my unused 55 gallons in the house to raise some of them so that I could get a higher rate of survivors and hopefully sell them next year. These fish aren't exactly cheap.

Almost as soon as I got the tank set up they spawned again. I removed one of the plants the eggs had attached to and place them in the aquarium. Yesterday, they all started hatching. For the first day or so they don't really behave like fish or look like fish. As soon as they hatch they just find something to stick to, such as the walls, to absorb the remaining nutrients from the egg. I expect they will be free swimming today or tomorrow. Since they don't move it makes for easy counting and there is well over a hundred of them. It will be fun to see what colors they all turn out to be since there are many possible combinations due to the variety of adult colors. I will try to take a picture later, but for now here is a picture I found that is basically what mine look like right now. They just stick to the glass.