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Post by Deleted on Nov 20, 2015 12:31:29 GMT
Plants are tricky too. Took me a long time to find Plants that my plec didn't prefer over their wafers! Aye, it does take time to find out what fish eat each other, what fish eat what corals, even what corals can eat some fish ! The problem with Saltwater is that it's more expensive to learn these lessons. The thing is the tank, whether Fresh or Salt, is a living world and it takes time to get the balance right. |
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Post by Hugo the Elder on Nov 20, 2015 12:33:27 GMT
Yeah, saltys are out of my price range. I could afford to abuse them!
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Post by Deleted on Nov 20, 2015 12:44:53 GMT
Yeah, saltys are out of my price range. I could afford to abuse them! Salty doesn't need to be that expensive. Clown Fish (Nemo) for example, can usually be bought for about 20 quid each, and they're quite hardy. Damsel Fish are usually around the fiver mark, and there are loads of fish available for between twenty five and thirty quid. The initial set-up is more expensive though. My biggest problem in the past with losing fish were the 'carpet surfer's', where they jumped out of the tank. I once bought a fish for forty quid, put it in the tank, and two days later it was on the floor ! Back then, that would have bought me two hours with my favourite trollop in the local Eros Centre. Heartbroken I was. |
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Post by inee on Nov 20, 2015 13:12:17 GMT
Ive kept allsorts over the years, used to breed guppies to feed my piranha, but i must say i found keeping marine fish a lot easier than freshwater fish, tried marines years ago, when mapsons was on stapleton rd, and found it way to tricky, but these days it's very simple to keep marine, although keeping some of the more demanding marine fish is still not so easy, started with a small nano which i set up on my bedside cabinet,had a few corals and a starfish, then bought a secondhand riverreef 90l tank, Loved that tand as it had the filtration stuff behind a false wall in the tank, so allowed me to try different filter media and add an internal skimmer, went from that to a 5ft long tank again with built in read filter chambers( kind of a rear sump) and added an extra external sump( just to polish the water and to raise brine shrimp for feeding the fish. one of the kids scratched the glass, hardly noticeable, but i knew it was there so then bought another tank a 3ft square cube with sump etc, that tank was lovely,also bought another smaller cube at the sametime, so along with the river reef had 3 tanks in the front room, 2 marine 1 tropical, plus 2 nanos in the bedroom and a few in the shed the shed tanks i used to cycle live rock and another was used to grow on coral frags for my tank, loved the fact that a lot of softer corals are dividedable ie cut a bit off glue it to a stone and grow it on takes time but saves a fortune. Gave it all away as we needed space for Ann-Marie-Irene. I also have a tmc ph controller box here (if anyone want it pm, but bear in mind you will need to buy a reactor and co2 valve set). i have one small tank in the loft, which was Ann-Marie_irenes so will set that up with a few neon tetras at some point in the future, in her room. Also found that the fish used to help Ann-Marie Irene calm down and relax her and take her mind off her illness for a while. Theres a very good marine shop in pilning called south west marines ,worth a visit Hugo your a git as you got me thinking of another set of tanks  |
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Post by inee on Nov 20, 2015 13:17:03 GMT
Yeah, saltys are out of my price range. I could afford to abuse them! Salty doesn't need to be that expensive. Clown Fish (Nemo) for example, can usually be bought for about 20 quid each, and they're quite hardy. Damsel Fish are usually around the fiver mark, and there are loads of fish available for between twenty five and thirty quid. The initial set-up is more expensive though. My biggest problem in the past with losing fish were the 'carpet surfer's', where they jumped out of the tank. I once bought a fish for forty quid, put it in the tank, and two days later it was on the floor ! Back then, that would have bought me two hours with my favourite trollop in the local Eros Centre. Heartbroken I was. Used to break my heart too nothing worse that coming home and finding a fish dead on the carpet, luckily if we were in the dogs would go apeshit when one hit the carpet so at least we could save it, hugo you would be surprised just how cheap marine set ups can be Nobby have you tried the good old remedies for your aiptasia down, get a syringe with a needle or a syringe with a thin tube, now either fill syringe with just off boil ro water, or lemon juice, the trick bit is you have to shove itthe needle or tube into the mouth of the aiptassia and inject some, but as you know these things blood close up quick so can take a bit of time, that should take care of the stubborn ones, i used to spend hours with a tank magnifier just studying the live rock so much stuff going on especially after lights out |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 20, 2015 13:26:33 GMT
Inee, sounds as though you were well into your Marines!
As I said earlier, I'm looking to buy a Red Sea Max S-650 early next year. These are plug 'n play systems which are really nice. This is a 650 litre system, complete with sump etc.
I liked your comment about growing frags as I think the vast majority of the public listen too much to the scare stories in the media about corals. You constantly hear the crap about corals only growing 1mm per year etc, but as you know, that only applies to very specific corals and most of them grow quite quickly in the right conditions. For those reading this (and don't know about these things) there are many many corals you can actually cut in half, place the two bits on different pieces of rock, and hey presto, you'll have two growing corals. Every coral I have ever bought started out as a 'frag'. As for the fish, I only ever buy fish that have been bred in a tank, and not caught in the wild.
I also laugh at the talk of corals 'bleaching' if the temperature rises. A couple of years ago I dived the old Jacques Coustou underwater living places he built off the coast of Sudan. The corals were amazing, yet the water temperature was 31 degrees !
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Post by inee on Nov 20, 2015 14:15:24 GMT
h when i first tried in the 80's the majority of marine fish and corals were taken from the seas, some still are but these days the majority of coral fish and to an extent live rock is captive bred, so are not damaging to the environment ,quite the opposite as some of the manufactured rock and captive coral is being used to restart or repair natural reefs, so this is a good sign that doesn't get much if any publicity. The big advances in marine keeping have been in the equipment of recent years especially the formation of the sea salt you mix, as you know the more water the easier it is to keep a marine environment stable, so cant wait for a few snaps of the tank you are going to buy, i think as well that to a lot of people coral means hard corals not the softer more plant like types. i found coral growing to be almost(well it is really) a whole different hobby, but the big buzz came when i could add one to the main tank, the coral tank came about by accident as i had a lot of old equipment from upgrades so wanted to change the sand on main tank and for some reason put rock in one spare tank and loose corals in the other, and forgot to put the corals back, and was shocked to find they grew a bit, so read a thread on frags and gave it a try, , was fascinated that they all grew and could restock the main tank, so anything that wasn't growing went into the shed tank got divided so had a constant supply of fresh stuff zoanthids(polyps) frag well but a lot can release toxins not good getting squirted in eyes  . i remember wendy coming home with a coral once she put it in the tank and it resembled a large cock n balls, Had an anemone for the clowns once used to drive me up the wall that did bugger used to travel randomly around the tank ,which causes all sorts of trouble with the fish, found it funny that i had a full scale turf war going on in the tank  Was also going to beginners be careful with clown fish the don't stay small for long and some varieties are very aggressive and territorial, the upside is everday you spot something new in a marine tank |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 20, 2015 14:23:05 GMT
Yeah, I don't think many people are aware of the 'turf wars' that go on between the corals! As they are living creatures they are constantly attacking each other for space and food.
and the bloody Clown fish can get really aggressive. I used to take a bit of video when I dived, and I have a clip somewhere where I went in close to get a shot of some Clowns, and the little bugger literally swam up to the camera and started attacking the lens ! Amazing when you think I was this gert big black thing blowing bubbles etc, yet it had the balls to attack me ! Hats off to the little things !
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Post by Hugo the Elder on Nov 20, 2015 14:25:54 GMT
Thing is, the problem with finding Nemo is that in real life when only nemo and his dad are left what would really happen is that one of them would have changed sex and they would have just mated with each other and carried on. And when you tell people that they ask you to leave the cinema.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 20, 2015 14:30:37 GMT
Thing is, the problem with finding Nemo is that in real life when only nemo and his dad are left what would really happen is that one of them would have changed sex and they would have just mated with each other and carried on. And when you tell people that they ask you to leave the cinema. Some things are best left unsaid Hugo ! Little kiddies wouldn't be able to handle the fact that Nemo becomes Naomi and gets roggered by Daddy. Far too complicated. and just try telling them that they'll then eat their owns kids ! |
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Post by inee on Nov 20, 2015 14:41:28 GMT
Thing is, the problem with finding Nemo is that in real life when only nemo and his dad are left what would really happen is that one of them would have changed sex and they would have just mated with each other and carried on. And when you tell people that they ask you to leave the cinema. Ah so what your saying is orange is the new read and they are bristol city fans by breeding |
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Post by baggins on Nov 21, 2015 11:37:13 GMT
Thing is, the problem with finding Nemo is that in real life when only nemo and his dad are left what would really happen is that one of them would have changed sex and they would have just mated with each other and carried on. And when you tell people that they ask you to leave the cinema. It's like that in Pilning. |
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