A Few of My Aquatic Friends

[Arashi]

I've already introduced my tarantulas to you all, so now I thought it was time to show off some of the rest of the family...my fishies. I'm pretty big into fishkeeping...used to have over 15 tanks running, now I'm down to 6 (only because of space limitations ). Anyways here are a few of my buddies. Enjoy!

3 Cory cat species:

My Clown Loaches...I love my Clowns!

Kraut the Crab

Dante the Royal Pleco (the gem of my collection...no I'm not biased at all... ) and a Leopard-mix Danio

And my Bettas:
Cyrus

Seto

Tsing Tao (yes, after the beer )

Shinwa (the other gem of my collection...this betta is AMAZING. :worship: )

I have LOTS more, but this thread would go on forever if I posted all of my fishy pictures. Don't wanna bore any of you now.

 

[Wisdom16]

Very nice Pleco. They really like driftwood a lot. The bettas are awesome too.

 

[Wisdom16]

BTW: Where did you find the last betta?

 

[Empi]

Hey, it's nice to see some fish pics. I keep fish too.. That is a really cool pleco! The fiddler crab is pretty awesome too. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Bungholio]

Nice to see aquatic friends here I missed them whole time. Thanks for sharing!
Very nice photos! I love Corydoras they rules!

 

[Arashi]

Thanks everyone!

The Royal Plec is just awesome. He shares a tank with a Sailfin Plec as well, and they get along great...the Sailfin stays on his side with the rock caves, and the Royal to his side with the TONS of driftwood, lol

That last Betta I got from a friend...she got him for me because she knew I was in love with Mustard Gas Bettas. She bought him off the internet and shipped him to me, but I'm not sure what site it was...

The Crab is fun, except that every minute, of every hour, of every day, of every week (you get the idea!)...he's trying to escape his tank. lol I see him trying all sorts of things, from climbing the plants, the heater...he even got into the filter once, lol

And yes, Corys do rule...they are such sweet little fish. I currently have 6 different species.

BTW, Empi, what kind of fish do you keep? I'm always interesting in hearing aobut other peoples tanks and fish.

 

[Empi]

BTW, Empi, what kind of fish do you keep? I'm always interesting in hearing aobut other peoples tanks and fish.

Well at the moment I have two 60 gallon setups..Which reminds me they need to be cleaned Anyway. In one I have 8 red belly piranha and a 12" pleco. And in the other one I have a big pacu, 3 good size silver dollers, one small pleco and one big pleco, a pictus catfish, A 6" tinfoil barb annnd oh a 2" red claw crab that I just moved in from the piranha tank... I think that is it. I would like to get like one 200 gallon tank and just house them all together. You know like inset in the wall :drool: Only in my dreams...

 

[xgrafcorex]

my story

thats how i wound up getting hooked on T. hah. bought a 30 gallon tank from someone and was going to set up a salt water tank and began reading online a lot. wanted to get a moray with some coral or something. when all was said and done, it was too much time and most of all money. so i had a glass tank that needed a resident and i thought of tarantulas and now 2 months later i have 4 and have just about finished setting up 3 new homes for my next order.
nice fish by the way heh. that last beta is awesome! have any eels?

 

[Arashi]

Well at the moment I have two 60 gallon setups..Which reminds me they need to be cleaned Anyway. In one I have 8 red belly piranha and a 12" pleco. And in the other one I have a big pacu, 3 good size silver dollers, one small pleco and one big pleco, a pictus catfish, A 6" tinfoil barb annnd oh a 2" red claw crab that I just moved in from the piranha tank... I think that is it. I would like to get like one 200 gallon tank and just house them all together. You know like inset in the wall :drool: Only in my dreams...

Wow! Sounds like your into the big fish then. I would love to have a bigger tank...the biggest one I have so far is only a 30 gallon (but don't worry, all my fishies are very small yet, and will be getting a nice 100+ gallon once I get out of this tiny apartment. :} ) I love Pacu, and would love to have a Piranha tank some day. And a tank set into the wall would be my dream. How cool would that look. :drool:

that last beta is awesome! have any eels?

Thank you! And yes, I'm glad you asked. Meet Balthazar.

 

[Sonofaglitch]

Beautiful fish! Where did you get most of them from? I've never seen a Pleco like the one you have pictured, they are cool fish. How big is he? Also, I have the name of a great site for ordering Bettas (and other fish!), kind of like ebay for fish. If anyone is interested, PM me and I'll send the link.

 

[Malkavian]

Are your clown loaches in the same tank with teh crab? If so do they conflict at all? I was under the impression those type of loaches have a taste for crabs and snails

 

[IrishLad17]

Awesome fish, man. Wanted to get back into the hobby a while back but it I never really followed through on the idea. Anywho, Empi, do you have any pictures of your piranha tank? Those things are awesome, back when I had my tropical tank I always wanted to get something like that but I heard they were pretty difficult to rear, plus, I don't even know if they're legal in California (nothing else is...)

 

[Arashi]

Beautiful fish! Where did you get most of them from? I've never seen a Pleco like the one you have pictured, they are cool fish. How big is he?

Thank you. I actually got all of them from local pet stores, except that last betta whom I got from a friend. I've never bought any fish online. The Royal Plec is pretty small yet...only about 5 inches.

Are your clown loaches in the same tank with teh crab? If so do they conflict at all? I was under the impression those type of loaches have a taste for crabs and snails

Thats right, Clowns do NOT play well with crabs or snails. The crab is in a seperate tank from the Clowns to make sure no 'accidents' happen. I actually have a colony of snails that came in on my plants in one of my other tanks...they make good snacks for the Clowns once in a while...

Awesome fish, man. Wanted to get back into the hobby a while back but it I never really followed through on the idea.

Thank you! And you should get back into it...although with the Tarantula hobby as well, you'll be pretty broke...much like me, haha!

 

[Empi]

Awesome fish, man. Wanted to get back into the hobby a while back but it I never really followed through on the idea. Anywho, Empi, do you have any pictures of your piranha tank? Those things are awesome, back when I had my tropical tank I always wanted to get something like that but I heard they were pretty difficult to rear, plus, I don't even know if they're legal in California (nothing else is...)

Piranhas are really fun. They are messy eaters though. They will get along with other fish to if they are big enough. I have kept them with oscars and an arrowana. I don't think they are legal CA. I had to buy mine in OR cuz pet stores can not sell them in my state. Here are some pics of my fish.
Piranha>

Pacu>

Tinfoil barb>

Silver dollers>

Pictus catfish>

12" pleco>

4" pleco>

Arrowana that I sold a few months ago... This pic is from when I got him. He was well over 3' when I sold him..

 

[Empi]

I hoping to get a fresh water stingray to go in my piranha tank. Does anyone have any experience with these guys?

 

[Wade]

I did a little research on them once to see if I wanted to try them, but I decided that they were too difficult based on what I'd read. I did learn that the need a fine, sandy substrate and lots of open space on the bottom, making it difficult to keep them with many other fish. Also, they are not very forgiving of poor water quality. There is a good book on them from Barrons, called "Freshwater Stingrays". Flipping through it was enough to convince me NOT to get them. Then again, I'm not a serious fish keeper so it would likley be different for someone who was more into it.

I was also surprised to learn that their venom is actually quite powerful, and fatalities from stings are not uncommon in Brazil! To think, I've seen them for sale at Wal-Mart! I have talked to aquariasts who suggest treating them with the same caution one would take when working with venomous snakes.

Wade

Wade

 

[Empi]

I did a little research on them once to see if I wanted to try them, but I decided that they were too difficult based on what I'd read. I did learn that the need a fine, sandy substrate and lots of open space on the bottom, making it difficult to keep them with many other fish. Also, they are not very forgiving of poor water quality. There is a good book on them from Barrons, called "Freshwater Stingrays". Flipping through it was enough to convince me NOT to get them. Then again, I'm not a serious fish keeper so it would likley be different for someone who was more into it.

I was also surprised to learn that their venom is actually quite powerful, and fatalities from stings are not uncommon in Brazil! To think, I've seen them for sale at Wal-Mart! I have talked to aquariasts who suggest treating them with the same caution one would take when working with venomous snakes.

Wade

Wade

That's pretty much what I figured. I can just see spending 150 bucks on one and have it die from some water chemistry problem.... That are pretty awesome though. :drool: One day!

 

[Arashi]

Arrowana! :drool: Thats one of my dream fish...someday I'll get a tank big enough to keep one. What a beauty you had. Love the Piranha and Plecs as well.

 

[Empi]

Arrowana! :drool: Thats one of my dream fish...someday I'll get a tank big enough to keep one. What a beauty you had. Love the Piranha and Plecs as well.

They are really cool! I loved that fish. They get so big though. And if you don't have a heavy cover on the tank they will jump out. If you ever do get one you will love it. They are awesome fish

 

[PrettyHate]

We've had a couple freshwater stringrays pass through where I work- unfortunently only 1 out of 3 actually lived long enough to get sold to a good home.

I guess the thing that I really dislike about stringrays in the pet business is that most of them (if not all?) are wild caught. Because of their finicky needs in terms of diet and water condition this makes them extra hard to keep in captivity. I cant wrap my mind around the idea of taking something like that out of the wild and expecting it to survive and thrive in an environment that will never come anywhere near to what it is used to.

Having to watch our Florida Blue stringray die at work was one of the worst things Ive ever seen. For a couple months it thrived. It ate like a pig and was doing wonderfully- we even got to the point where she would eat from our hands and come up to the front of the tank to visit whoever was looking at her. Things went downhill rapidly though- soon she began to swim in circles all the time, and her body became covered in sores and ulcers. No amount of water changes or medication could cure this girl. It took everything I had not to break down and cry. After her passing we decided that we would NEVER get another stingray in our store. EVER.

I know many people have "good" luck with their rays...but after seeing what this girl went through, I could never think of having one as a pet.