# My hobby has become a job!!!



## MetalGirl30 (Apr 15, 2008)

Well my hobby has turned into more of a job now then a hobby.
Fish....I love fish and aquariums.
I have one 55 gallon tank that has 1 albino Oscar and 1 Tiger Oscar plus 2 African Feather-Finned Catfish (they are my favs) and one huge Plecto.

The I have two 30 Gl. Tanks. One has 8 betta females, 4 powder blue Guaramies and 3 dwarf Guaramies in it.

The other tank has 3 brand new baby Silver-tipped shark catfish in it, oh and a male betta also. I have really gotten to were I HATE these fish!!!!!

The two Oscars are fixing to be moved to a 400 gallon outside pond. It will have a pond heater during the winter so it can stay at 82 degrees. My other sis in law's dad owns the pond. Oscars will grow to their enviroment so they will get pretty big in the pond.

Lets see I have killed 9 silver tipped sharks already. now I am working on killing the new 3 ones.
My hubby is bound and determined to have one of these damned fish. They are damned for sure b/c they are in our tank...lol.
Well come to find out they are being sold as freshwater, but they are really brackish water fish. They just go to freshwater to have babies them swim back to saltwater.
I have researched, studied, and email fish experts...all of them keep theirs in freshwater. I have had my water tested..it is fine. So I am just stumped.
We are slowly turning our tank into a brackish water tank.
We put a new high powerd filter on the tank that makes a good current and am using marine salt and hard water. Fingers crossed at least one will live!!!

My hobby is not a hobby anymore...lol!!
Does anyone else know about these fish or have any?
I know it's a long shot but was wondering.

Does anyone have fish tanks to. I would love to know what you keep in them.


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## BedlamBully (Jun 6, 2008)

you want a goldfish that refuses to die and some pirates of the carribean fish decor? lol

I love fish tanks but I HATE taking care of them.


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## MetalGirl30 (Apr 15, 2008)

BedlamBully said:


> you want a goldfish that refuses to die and some pirates of the carribean fish decor? lol
> 
> I love fish tanks but I HATE taking care of them.


LOL..THATS FUNNY!

Already have the pirate scene









This is my other 30 gallon with the silver-tips..you can see one on far left top.









This is my 55 gallon tank









If you look in the log to your right you can see my catfish inside of it..upside down..he loves to swim upside down


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## hell no they wont go (Oct 4, 2007)

love fidh tanks especially salt water ones but sorry not to smart when it comes to fish when i got a fish tank i just got the fish the people at the pet store said would do best together. i had some tiger barbs and some blue fish that started with the letter g cant remember the name of them though.


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## MetalGirl30 (Apr 15, 2008)

hell no they wont go said:


> love fidh tanks especially salt water ones but sorry not to smart when it comes to fish when i got a fish tank i just got the fish the people at the pet store said would do best together. i had some tiger barbs and some blue fish that started with the letter g cant remember the name of them though.


I like saltwater tanks to. Saltwater fish have more vibrant colors than most freshwater fish. The tanks just get alot of corrossion on them from the salt you have to add. The inside of tank stays clearer though b/c you have to have a strong current in a saltwater tank, so stuff doesn't really have time to settle on the bottom of the tank.
Plus you can grow coral in a saltwater tank...I think that would be neat to have.


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## NesOne (Feb 7, 2008)

I found this link for you regarding the Silver Tip catfish and adding aquarium salt and stuff: http://en.allexperts.com/q/Freshwater-Aquarium-3216/Care-Silvertip-Shark.htm

And yes, it's a job not a hobby, lol. When I clean it I'm all the way up to my armpits, since my tank is tall (31") 

Metalgirl, nice tanks, very colorful and nice Oscars.

I have a 110 gallon freshwater tank, currently stocked with:

1 7" Jack Dempsey
1 6" Midas
1 Electric Yellow AKA Yellow Lab
2 Convicts(breeding pair) does that make me a FTB (fish tank breeder, LOL)
4 Baby convicts that survived from the aforementioned pair

Here is a pic of my tank:










And some of my fish:

Female Convict:










Convict pair with babies:



















Midas:


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## MetalGirl30 (Apr 15, 2008)

Thanks Nes for the link....helpful.
I love your tank,, very pretty.
Yah, my dad had a convict fished and named it after my brother, since he was in jail at the time he got it....lol.
My hubby is thinking about getting a Electric Blue Jack Dempsy, but they are $60.
Thanks I am glad you like my tanks.
I love Oscars they are just very messy.


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## Bleu Clair (Jun 14, 2008)

I hear ya about the hobby turning into a job! That's why I've turned it over to my husband and I just sit back and enjoy the pretty fish.

It's true that a lot of fish shops list fish as freshwater when some should be in brackish water- I wish some people in fish shops were more educated. We bought a Spotted Perch and were told by someone who wasn't very educated it was a good community fish. My butt it was! It ate 4 schools of my fish :curse:! So, needless to say, she went back to the fish shop where we learned from someone who is educated what we already knew...they aren't good community fish- lol! 

We do add salt to our water...it's made a huge difference in the health of our fish. Before we weren't and a lot of our fish were dropping like flies. 

Currently we have one Honey Gourami, one Green Neon (our Neons keep dying so I've given up on keeping them anymore), 2 Ghost Cats, 4 Ottos, 1 Cherry Barb, 4 Fancy Tailed Guppies, 3 Harlequin Raspborras, 2 Coris, 4 White Clouds and 1 Dwarf Puffer in a 35 gall. tank.

We also have a male Betta in his own one gall. tank.

Have you had your Gouramis long? The males will sometimes fight each other and breeding pairs will get feisty with others as well. I know male Gouramis and male Bettas will fight (they're from the same family), but didn't consider keeping female Bettas in with Gouramis. How long have you had them together? I might consider it when we get a new tank if yours are doing well together.

I love your tanks by the way, very pretty!


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## Bleu Clair (Jun 14, 2008)

Ahhhh! I know I didn't give you much advice, but for the Gouramis, but here's some good solid advice...check your water temp. often if you have submersible, non adjustable, maintenance free heaters! Just found about 1/2 of those fish I listed dead! Our tank is in our master bedroom and I haven't spent much time in there today, all was just fine this morn. though. Just went in there to feed them and that's when I noticed 1/2 my fish on the bottom! My husband was trying to figure out what the crap was going on when he noticed the temp. was reading at 100 degrees! It was keeping the tank at around 75 degrees, but I guess it went wonky. Good grief, my husband is trying to find the box the heater came in so he can gripe at the company :stick: .


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## MetalGirl30 (Apr 15, 2008)

Bleu Clair said:


> Ahhhh! I know I didn't give you much advice, but for the Gouramis, but here's some good solid advice...check your water temp. often if you have submersible, non adjustable, maintenance free heaters! Just found about 1/2 of those fish I listed dead! Our tank is in our master bedroom and I haven't spent much time in there today, all was just fine this morn. though. Just went in there to feed them and that's when I noticed 1/2 my fish on the bottom! My husband was trying to figure out what the crap was going on when he noticed the temp. was reading at 100 degrees! It was keeping the tank at around 75 degrees, but I guess it went wonky. Good grief, my husband is trying to find the box the heater came in so he can gripe at the company :stick: .


Good gracious...you sound like me when it comes to fish....lol!!
I have a heater that you can control the temp on. I keep mine around 80 degrees.
I have found that using Copper Safe once a month help with your fish to. It keeps stuff like ICK, POP-EYE, ETC. from getting in the tank.
It is hard to cure that stuff once they get it, and the stuff you use to cure Ick is aweful. You have to make sure your tank has plenty of air in it b/c it takes the oxygen out of the water.


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## NesOne (Feb 7, 2008)

MetalGirl30 said:


> Thanks Nes for the link....helpful.
> I love your tank,, very pretty.
> Yah, my dad had a convict fished and named it after my brother, since he was in jail at the time he got it....lol.
> My hubby is thinking about getting a Electric Blue Jack Dempsy, but they are $60.
> ...


I like your dad's sense of humor, lol. 
How big is that Blue Dempsey? I know they are expensive, but around here they cost like $35 for a baby fish, which are less than 1", so I'm assuming that those are past the baby stage, right? I hope at least. I would like to get one, but would be pissed if it died on me, I have heard stories. 
My very 1st fish was a Tiger Oscar, he/she was very pretty. I had a 19 gallon hexagon tank in my room that a neighbor gave me. I was 19 yrs old at the time, and not well versed in the hobby yet. I found a heater at a yard sale for $3, and it was pretty big, and it did not have a temp setting on it, but would shut-off depending on how much you turned the knob (I found out later), so I would turn it all the way on in the morning while getting ready for school (community college, not high school, lol) and turn it off right before I would leave... well 1 day I forgot, and when I got back home at noon that day, my poor fish was laying at the bottom of the tank boiled. The tank must have hit the 100 degree mark. I ended up freezing it, and tossing it in my brother's 60 gallon tank with a clown knife and large Pacu, at least they had a good meal out of it. I then bought a Pacu, and moved on to bigger tanks from then on, and haven't been without one since then. However, I'm getting pressured from the Mrs. to get rid of this one now, since it "takes up space". I don't think I can be without a tank though, even if it is like job, LOL. All right, that's enough blabbing for now


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## Bleu Clair (Jun 14, 2008)

MetalGirl30 said:


> Good gracious...you sound like me when it comes to fish....lol!!
> I have a heater that you can control the temp on. I keep mine around 80 degrees.
> I have found that using Copper Safe once a month help with your fish to. It keeps stuff like ICK, POP-EYE, ETC. from getting in the tank.
> It is hard to cure that stuff once they get it, and the stuff you use to cure Ick is aweful. You have to make sure your tank has plenty of air in it b/c it takes the oxygen out of the water.


Thank you for the advice  ! Yeah, the next heater won't be one you can't set the temp. on, that's for sure, we're going back to the kind you can regulate yourself. I'll have to try the Copper Safe.....we've had 2 cases of Ick wipe out our entire tank though we treated the fish for it. It wiped out a 20 gall. community tank and wiped out a 10 gall. tank of Figure 8 Puffers.

I'm so mad about that darned heater! :curse: I finally had the tank set up with the fish I wanted in it. Usually my husband picks all the fish and I have no say so. Oh well, looks like I get to start over again.....it's always something- lol! I've been seriously looking at getting into Cichlids (I've had my heart set on a Yellow Lab for quite some time) so I may start over and move the handful of fish left in the community tank to a spare tank (have to get it cycled 1st) and then get some Cichlids for the 35 gall. There might be a bright side to this after all.


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## NesOne (Feb 7, 2008)

Bleu Clair said:


> I'll have to try the Copper Safe.....we've had 2 cases of Ick wipe out our entire tank though we treated the fish for it. It wiped out a 20 gall. community tank and wiped out a 10 gall. tank of Figure 8 Puffers.


I've used "QuICK Cure" in the past, and it takes care of the problem within 2 days. All you need to do is remove the carbon from your filter and I believe 1 drop per gallon in the tank. It will turn the water blue, but will go back to normal later. I've never had any fish die from ick, so I guess it's pretty good. Here's a link:http://www.pet-dog-cat-supply-store.com/shop/index.php?page=shop-flypage-12949#



Bleu Clair said:


> I've been seriously looking at getting into Cichlids (I've had my heart set on a Yellow Lab for quite some time)


Cichlids are the best :thumbsup:


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## MetalGirl30 (Apr 15, 2008)

You have to be careful with cichlids though, they will tear into other fish like a pack of wolves.
They are some very aggressive fish...but have some of the most beautiful colors.

I would love to have a big tank with some real sharks. The sharks you see in the fish tanks at alot of Seafood restaurants.

I know the Silver Bay rest. here has 2 sharks that don't get but 2 1/2 to 3 feet in length. Now they are cool.


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## MX_Bigtime (Jul 29, 2007)

Right now I only have a Caribe Piranha in a 55 gallon acrylic tank. They're illegal over here..but oh well.
Anybody own or has owned any piranhas?


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## NesOne (Feb 7, 2008)

MX_Bigtime said:


> Right now I only have a Caribe Piranha in a 55 gallon acrylic tank. They're illegal over here..but oh well.
> Anybody own or has owned any piranhas?


I use to have 2 red belly piranhas, they lived for about 6 years and didn't get too big, they were about 8" or so.


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## Bleu Clair (Jun 14, 2008)

MetalGirl30 said:


> *You have to be careful with cichlids though, they will tear into other fish like a pack of wolves.*
> *They are some very aggressive fish...but have some of the most beautiful colors.*
> 
> I would love to have a big tank with some real sharks. The sharks you see in the fish tanks at alot of Seafood restaurants.
> ...


That's what I've been reading and I'm stumped as to what fish would go together.



NesOne said:


> I've used "QuICK Cure" in the past, and it takes care of the problem within 2 days. All you need to do is remove the carbon from your filter and I believe 1 drop per gallon in the tank. It will turn the water blue, but will go back to normal later. I've never had any fish die from ick, so I guess it's pretty good. Here's a link:Quick-Cure Aquarium Ick Cure 3/4 oz. Aquarium Supplies - GregRobert
> 
> Thank you for the link . My husband treated them, but neither of us can remember with what.
> 
> Cichlids are the best :thumbsup:


Cichlids do seem awesome, they're gorgeous, but I've been researching what fish will go with what and I can't wrap my mind around it 'cause every site I've researched only talks about the ratio of males to females. They go on about how to get fry and I don't want fry (I went through that with livebearers and started running out of room and people to give them to)! Is it possible to have a male only tank or will they fight if they're of the same species? I'd really like to have a yellow Lab and whatever other fish would be compatible with it in a male only tank. I'm moving the fish I have now from our 35 gall. to a 10 gall. (more fish have died since the heater incident and I have very few left now so I'd like to set the 35 gall. up as a Cichlid tank). Any ideas what I could stock it with or how many? It's a long tank (36" long and 17" high).


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## babyshae (Jul 21, 2008)

I'm a little late on the post but I have to ask-metal, where did you get those dragon decorations in your tank? I am a BIG dragon freak and am looking to set up a tank as well. I would LOVE to be able to find those for my tank!


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## NesOne (Feb 7, 2008)

Bleu Clair said:


> That's what I've been reading and I'm stumped as to what fish would go together.
> 
> Cichlids do seem awesome, they're gorgeous, but I've been researching what fish will go with what and I can't wrap my mind around it 'cause every site I've researched only talks about the ratio of males to females. They go on about how to get fry and I don't want fry (I went through that with livebearers and started running out of room and people to give them to)! Is it possible to have a male only tank or will they fight if they're of the same species? I'd really like to have a yellow Lab and whatever other fish would be compatible with it in a male only tank. I'm moving the fish I have now from our 35 gall. to a 10 gall. (more fish have died since the heater incident and I have very few left now so I'd like to set the 35 gall. up as a Cichlid tank). Any ideas what I could stock it with or how many? It's a long tank (36" long and 17" high).


It's possible to have a male tank only, however, to figure out which ones are male is the hard part, depending on the fish. With cichlids, they say you should only have a species tank, and since you already want a yellow lab, then you're better off sticking with African Cichlids. A suggestion to go with the labs are electric blues, more than likely your local pet store will already have them together in a tank. All the places that I go to, they list them as "assorted cichlids". With a 35 gallon tank, I would say that you could get around 4-5 African cichlids. Just pay attention to how big they get, and think about how crowded they will be once they are adults. With Central/South American Cichlids in a 35 gallon, you're looking to get only 1, maybe 2. For example: Convicts: 2 (they max out at about 5 inches), Jack Dempsey 1, Firemouth 1, an Oscar or Red Devil I would say at least a 55 gallon tank, although if you hit some fish forums, they will say 75 gallons.

In case you want to read up and get excellent experienced advice, check out this place: Cichlid-Forum :: Index

Good luck, and happy fish shopping


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