Rant: Fed up with Fishkeeping

[LythSalicaria]

Yikes! Message received. Something like that would be heartbreaking.

See, it's because of stuff like this that I'm so infinitely glad to be here. Thanks again for all the great info xirxes! And everyone else for that matter.

 

[bugmankeith]

I've always wanted to keep simple fish in huge aquariums. Like feeder guppies or minnows they can live for years but nobody bothers to consider them. Or two goldfish in 100 gallon aquarium they can live for like 30 years!
Or a female Betta community tank with lots of live plants.
African dwarf frogs are awesome aquarium pets too!

 

[Hobo]

Split tank can be done as long as one has an ounce of common sense (proper and secure divider, seperate lids).
Split tanks are always more work especially during cleaning and maintenance though, and I would prefer separate containers I could move independently of one another than two of them stick together.

 

[dementedlullaby]

Split tanks are awesome if done right. Most people just throw in a divider and call it a day. My wife made a "betta barracks" before she came over her from Australia. It was done properly, with panes of glass and marine silicone dividing everything off. I think it was six sections but could be wrong. If anyone is interested I'll ask her for more details on splitting a tank properly. We've been throwing the idea around of making another one lately. I'm sure I'll just get in the way and be generally annoying but I look forward to the end result lol.

 

[Louise E. Rothstein]

Dear Lyth Salicaria,

"Bonnie and Clyde" are not "sadistic."
They are acting on instinct that is not really the same as the conscious cruelty that some people impute to animals who do not understand human thinking.

Please consider separating your horseface loach.
Since your supposedly "sadistic" fish cannot read or understand your threat to feed them to cats they might kill your horseface loach if it is left in the same tank.
Please separate your horseface loach...and,quite possibly,any other fish in the tank that the loach does accept and that you wish to keep.

Please decide whether they are worth one more tank to you...

They just might be.

Just go with your gut.

---------- Post added 07-15-2014 at 09:57 PM ----------

There IS an exception.
Many places feature feral hybrids between (Asiatic) "goldfish" and European carp.
And these hybrids ARE fully fertile.
In many places they are even abundant enough to support a fishery...but most of these opportunities go to waste because Americans don't know how to prepare carp for cookery.

Many Europeans do.

They're no smarter than we are.

What are we waiting for?

 

[bugmankeith]

Dear Lyth Salicaria,

"Bonnie and Clyde" are not "sadistic."
They are acting on instinct that is not really the same as the conscious cruelty that some people impute to animals who do not understand human thinking.

Please consider separating your horseface loach.
Since your supposedly "sadistic" fish cannot read or understand your threat to feed them to cats they might kill your horseface loach if it is left in the same tank.
Please separate your horseface loach...and,quite possibly,any other fish in the tank that the loach does accept and that you wish to keep.

Please decide whether they are worth one more tank to you...

They just might be.

Just go with your gut.

---------- Post added 07-15-2014 at 09:57 PM ----------

There IS an exception.
Many places feature feral hybrids between (Asiatic) "goldfish" and European carp.
And these hybrids ARE fully fertile.
In many places they are even abundant enough to support a fishery...but most of these opportunities go to waste because Americans don't know how to prepare carp for cookery.

Many Europeans do.

They're no smarter than we are.

What are we waiting for?

I thought of goldfish carp hybrid names.
Garp/Coldfish

 

[succinct]

I am sorry you are frustrated. I don't think fish keeping is for you. Sorry. If you are not willing to source you fish from breeders and not from pet stores, you are going to get hybrids. There is simply no way around it.

IF you are not willing to figure out what will work for you, then you will simply not enjoy fish keeping. Every person has different conditions. You need to figure out what will work for you. You can not simply plug in and enjoy fish keeping, it is a lot of work.

You need to deal with your angel fish now. They can not be kept in your tank as they get order. I have no idea who told you that angel fish is a community fish, but I am guessing they wanted to sell you more fish.

They will get bigger and more aggressive until they are the last fish in middle to top of the water column fish in the tank. I will tell you right now, there is zero possibility of have angels in a tank with anything that will swim at the same level of the tank.

Lastly, angelfish prefer to have soft and acidic water. Live bearers (mostly) prefer hard and alkaline water.

You have a group of fish that has different community requirement and different water requirements. No wonder you are ready to quit.

DO NOT GET A RED DEVIL AND KEEP IT IN A 65 GALLON TANK. You need a minimum of a 150 gallon tank per 1 fish. 260 gallon for a pair.

And adult red devil will reach 40+inches. You can not kept them in a 36 inch tank. It will start to stress out and die by the time it is 12 inches long.

 

[dementedlullaby]

there is zero possibility of have angels in a tank with anything that will swim at the same level of the tank.

Uh....No. Bolivian Rams can hold their own. While they are not agressive fish they won't let an Angel push them around. Apistogrammas are another species which are more than ready to tell an Angel off. Also angels don't mind picking on cories and such which are bottom dwellers.

Live bearers (mostly) prefer hard and alkaline water.

No. Platies, guppies, halfbeaks, endlers do just fine in low PH setups.

DO NOT GET A RED DEVIL AND KEEP IT IN A 65 GALLON TANK. You need a minimum of a 150 gallon tank per 1 fish. 260 gallon for a pair.

And adult red devil will reach 40+inches. You can not kept them in a 36 inch tank. It will start to stress out and die by the time it is 12 inches long.

No they don't, red devils are like 10-14" (14" is not a size I would expect, more like 12"). 50g is fine for 2 red devils.

 

[succinct]

Uh....No. Bolivian Rams can hold their own. While they are not agressive fish they won't let an Angel push them around. Apistogrammas are another species which are more than ready to tell an Angel off. Also angels don't mind picking on cories and such which are bottom dwellers.
No. Platies, guppies, halfbeaks, endlers do just fine in low PH setups.
No they don't, red devils are like 10-14" (14" is not a size I would expect, more like 12"). 50g is fine for 2 red devils.

wow. Honestly with your post, I understand why the user is upset. You need to stop giving advice for fish keepers.

1.) I own dozens of rams, I know how they behave. They are bottom dwellers, so they will not cross the angels anyway. RE-read my post. Top to middle of the water column not bottom.

2.) Most live bearers can take low ph, but it does not mean they like low ph. I could send you to the middle of Antarctica and you would survive, you would not like it, but you would survive.

3.) About the size, I was missed typed. I was meant to say the lenght of the tank needs to be at least 40 inches. But you are dead wrong about the size. Lets ask the experts.


"A tank with base measurements of 150 cm x 45 cm or equivalent should be the minimum size considered considered for a single specimen, but you’d need something much larger for a pair or community containing other fish."

60 x 18 x 25 MINIMUM FOR 1 FISH. Which is 125 gallons, I prefer always to go bigger.

About keeping 2 red devils.

"One of the most downreight aggressive cichlids around, you need to know what you’re doing when attempting to keep a red devil with anything else, and that includes its own kind. In very large tanks this aggression becomes less of a problem, but by very large we are talking in excess of 1000 litres, which is simply beyond the reach of most hobbyists. In tanks of this size you can try it with other robust Central American cichlids, large Loricariids and other big catfish. Decent-sized fast swimming fish such as silver sharks, tinfoil barbs and the like are also a possibility. Keep a close eye on proceedings though, as some specimens will not tolerate any tankmates, and will systematically attack anything else in the tank. Keeping more than a single male is not usually an option in any tank, regardless of size."

You need at least 1000 litres or 264 gallons if you want to keep two fish.

http://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/amphilophus-labiatus/


You are categorically wrong on everything you posted, except for catching me on a typo.

Please stop giving advice in subjects you have no idea what you are talking about.

 

[dementedlullaby]

wow. Honestly with your post, I understand why the user is upset. You need to stop giving advice for fish keepers.

1.) I own dozens of rams, I know how they behave. They are bottom dwellers, so they will not cross the angels anyway. RE-read my post. Top to middle of the water column not bottom.

2.) Most live bearers can take low ph, but it does not mean they like low ph. I could send you to the middle of Antarctica and you would survive, you would not like it, but you would survive.

3.) About the size, I was missed typed. I was meant to say the lenght of the tank needs to be at least 40 inches. But you are dead wrong about the size. Lets ask the experts.


"A tank with base measurements of 150 cm x 45 cm or equivalent should be the minimum size considered considered for a single specimen, but you’d need something much larger for a pair or community containing other fish."

60 x 18 x 25 MINIMUM FOR 1 FISH. Which is 125 gallons, I prefer always to go bigger.

About keeping 2 red devils.

"One of the most downreight aggressive cichlids around, you need to know what you’re doing when attempting to keep a red devil with anything else, and that includes its own kind. In very large tanks this aggression becomes less of a problem, but by very large we are talking in excess of 1000 litres, which is simply beyond the reach of most hobbyists. In tanks of this size you can try it with other robust Central American cichlids, large Loricariids and other big catfish. Decent-sized fast swimming fish such as silver sharks, tinfoil barbs and the like are also a possibility. Keep a close eye on proceedings though, as some specimens will not tolerate any tankmates, and will systematically attack anything else in the tank. Keeping more than a single male is not usually an option in any tank, regardless of size."

You need at least 1000 litres or 264 gallons if you want to keep two fish.

http://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/amphilophus-labiatus/


You are categorically wrong on everything you posted, except for catching me on a typo.

Please stop giving advice in subjects you have no idea what you are talking about.

Wow check the snide attitude at the door please.

Bolivian rams are mid to bottom dwellers. Not only bottom dweller. Sorry you are wrong. I'm not even going to reply to you about anything else. It's a waste of my time. Red Devils do not need a 125g tank per fish. Stop trollin'. That's for two fishes. I did mess up and say 50g was fine for two, I meant for one. I've been tired and not sleeping well lately.


BTW I had an angel that killed itself by getting stuck under a piece of driftwood. This would make me assume it was trying to find something tasty stuck under neath. Maybe they don't generally go to that water column but they will in search of food. Or when they're aggressive during breeding times even cories and other bottom dwellers get bugged. I've seen this with my own eyes.

Oh and I know how to copy and paste too. Wanna see?

 

[Cooper]

Cold blood:

They are getting larger that's for sure 7" or so, I have three right now. I use nothing special to cool the water, it's currently 68 degrees. Living in the basement helps. Does not seem to bother them at all, at the first sign of ill health I can simply release them back into the lake. I have been catching Iowa darters for them lately, they go crazy for them.

 

[skar]

I've really enjoyed keeping diverse life in a planted aquarium.
I get way more out of it than I've ever had to put into it. . .. Other than $
Personally I've really enjoyed keeping an aquarium as a visual reward.