Aquariums! or My Slice of Aquatic Life!

[Lithium Flower]

Oh wow, those are absolutely gorgeous! I WANT!

Are those live plants?

The community tank is just beautiful.

Linty, I actually went and sought out crayfish. They're creepy little buggers, kinda cute but really creepy. More so in real life. Creepy. With those googly eyes and translucence. Creepy.

Okay, so the piranha tank is now on hold for some weeks. I can't find any piranha to begin with (I'm not in the US!). I'll have to import them and it'll take a while. In the meantime, I am thinking of getting a small tank to play with at my office.

25L approximately. Undecided between Fighting Betta, Angelfish and Black Moors and guppies! How many can I have in a desk tank of that size? Was thinking 2 at most, maybe more guppies - they're TINY! The Aquarist I was consulting says he has Freshwater Bacteria Treatment thingy to speed up the fishless cycle and I can put fish in after 24 hours. Is he bullshitting me?

[Drayven]

The only tank with live plants is the community one, the floating plants and plants on the right are live, the reddish one and the other green one to the left are fake.

If it were me and I was going with a tank that size I'd go with the guppies. You can get 2 or 3 females and a male to start with and they will breed like crazy. Then I'd add in a few cherry or ghost shrimp because I find them very fun to watch, just make sure they have a few hiding spots. Again you can start with 3 or 4 and they will likely breed. I started with that many in my community tank and now I can look in there and usually count 30ish at any given time and that's with tons of hiding spots. I also give them away alot when people setup new tanks:

I'd avoid the Black Moor as they are a type of goldfish. Goldfish are dirty filthy creatures that need ALOT of filtration to keep the tank clean.

As for the bacterial stuff, it probably will help jumpstart the process so if it's cheap I'd go for it. In my mind it doesn't replace the need for a cycle. The thing to keep in mind with the fish guy is that while I'm sure he's an expert in his field he's also a vendor. If you were to tell most people that they have to setup their tank 2 months ahead of time and feed it ammonia every day before you could put fish in they're going to just give up.

Is there any chance you know someone that already has a tank? If so what you can do is buy a filter now and take out the sponge/biological part and ask them to put it in their tank or filter for a few weeks to a month, then you're filter will be ready to go.

[Drayven]

Also, be sure to browse the aquariumadvice.com forums, lots of good stuff there and depending where you are you might be able to get in contact with a breeder that's near you too.

[Wraith]

Originally Posted by LarsenNET

No aquarium but I have a Japanesee Koi pond about 1500 gallons.

What do you do with koi ponds in winter?

[LarsenNET]

Originally Posted by Wraith

What do you do with koi ponds in winter?

Nothing, they stay in the pond. Koi's metabolism pretty much shuts down in temp's below 40 degrees. They hang out at the bottom in the warmest water, also feeding stops around 50 degrees. Feeding them protein can actually kill them because it will rot in their gut since they can't digest it below those temps. I do keep a small heater to keep a hole in the ice so gases can escape.

I know it sounds odd but extreme heat is much worse on them than extreme cold, they are made for cold weather.

[Wraith]

Originally Posted by LarsenNET

Nothing, they stay in the pond. Koi's metabolism pretty much shuts down in temp's below 40 degrees. They hang out at the bottom in the warmest water, also feeding stops around 50 degrees. Feeding them protein can actually kill them because it will rot in their gut since they can't digest it below those temps. I do keep a small heater to keep a hole in the ice so gases can escape.

I know it sounds odd but extreme heat is much worse on them than extreme cold, they are made for cold weather.

So even if you have some really cold days (say -20F air temp), they do okay as long as you've got something going to keep the water from freezing over completely?

[LarsenNET]

Originally Posted by Wraith

So even if you have some really old days (say -20F air temp), they do okay as long as you've got something going to keep the water from freezing over completely?

Yes, as long as your pond is deep enough for the climate your in. Mine is 3 foot deep. If I lived in Minnesota I'd want around 4-4.5 foot deep. If it gets so cold that ice crystals form on their gills, they may not survive.

Also it's important to be sure your waterfall(s) are turned off. Koi ponds need a bottom drain which pulls water from the bottom though the filtration system (mechanical then biological). If your pulling from the bottom eventually it will be deposited at the top of the waterfall which means your taking the warmest water and bringing it up to the cold air "super cooling" so to speak.

Right now my pond surface temp is around 45 degrees and they are moving extremely slow and mostly hanging out at the bottom.

Koi ponds take a lot of planning and thought. You have a whole ecosystem going on that has to be maintained but so worth it. It's so peaceful to watch them swim and go nuts during feeding.

[MagGnome]

I saw a koi pond at the Como Conservatory in Saint Paul yesterday. It was beautiful!

[Akion-Totocha]

Has anyone had any experience with Axolotls?

And yeah, take everything a vendor says with a pinch of salt, and always get a back up opinion from a free forum. My parents tried to set up an aquarium so many times when they were younger, and because the internet wasn't about, they could only rely on advice from the salesmen.