Hi everyone,
In the many years of being in this great hobby I've kept just about everything. I started out by getting my first tank when I was about 6 or 7 years old when my dad brought me back a 24" aquarium from one of his pals from the pub! He had kept fish but was giving up, so I got the tank..... yeah!
It came with a small clear plastic filter with a bit of floss and charcoal (remember them!!!) and I quickly set it up and put some goldfish in. What did I know about cycling a tank??
For as long as I can remember I have always loved animals that live in or around water, I think I must have been going on about wanting to get fish or frogs when I was young and that's why my dad got me that tank.
It didn't seem long before I wanted some tropical fish and I remember my mum taking me to a flower shop in Cumnock (my home town) which had fish tanks up the back and I bought (or should I say, my mum bought) a heater. We had a look at the fish for a while and soon after traded in my goldfish for some neons and guppies!
And that's how my addiction started!!
Since then I've kept and bred loads of different kinds of fish, live bearers, Malawi cichlids and even some frogs
The fish I've kept the longest is mbuna. I spent a long time breeding them and selling them to a few of the aquatic shops up in Glasgow. They are so easy to breed and very enjoyable to keep.
A few years ago I decided to sell all my mbuna on and set up a reef system. I bought a much larger custom built tank with a sump, halide light unit, skimmer, Tunze pumps and everything else I needed. A small fortune later I had a very successful and healthy system to enjoy.
I really loved that aquarium but for a few reasons it was time to break it down and sell all the gear.
We had a young daughter and another on the way and my wife and I decided that we would want to take the children on holidays as much as possible while they were young and this meant leaving the reef whilst we were away. We didn't have anyone who knew how to look after the tank that we could entrust to check on it and I couldn't just ask my mum to come round and feed them, and top up the RO, and check the PH, and clean the skimmer....... etc etc lol
So it had to go!
I had a short brake where I didn't have any fish tanks at all
and in this time I focussed on playing my drum kit. But, I really missed it soooooo much! Spoke to my wife and she really understood where I was coming from (think she secretly likes them a bit) and said that I could go ahead and get another aquarium.
So without further ado, I ordered an ND Aquatics 5x2x2 tropical tank. I was going for mbuna again (can go away for a week or two and not worry about them so much) and started looking to see who sold the best quality fish.
Bought myself an Eco-Lamps KR90FW LED light unit (freshwater, full spectrum), Fluval FX6, 300w heater, Tunze Nano stream 4065 and coral sand (dechlorinator, meds etc as well of course). Once the tank was here I set it all up, had collected rocks from a local beach and started cycling the tank.
Had the mbuna for a while, about 10 months or so and started to look at discus. I just fancied something a bit different and much less aggressive lol You are just so limited when keeping Malawi cichlids. Sold on the mbuna a couple of weeks ago and empted the tank quite quickly.
After giving discus a consideration and did a lot of research, I realised that there may not be that much of a difference to the issues I faced with my reef tank and maintenance whilst away from home. But I really love the look of an Amazon biotope and the variety of fish that can inhabit such a system. I've kept planted tanks before but not to the extent of using CO2 units or special substrates. So I think I'll look to keep Java fern, moss and Anubias (I know they're not from there but I'm not looking at a strict biotope tank) as these are much less demanding species but still look great! Got some great pieces of various bogwood and driftwood - Redmoor, Sumatran, Mopani etc. I'll attach the plants to them.
I think I'll get a large shoal of Cardinal tetras, Rummy Noses and various Corys, I've got a couple of Bristlenoses (not a pair though) and will probably add a few small plecos too. Angelfish will be the largest of the fish and will probably get a variety of colours and patterns. Other options I'll see along the way!
Let me know of any other fish/plants options for this kind of set-up you keep or recommend
I'd add pics but don't know how to as my pics are not on another website.
John.
Oh, forgot to mention, I've got an Amazon 3D background ordered and just waiting for delivery
In the many years of being in this great hobby I've kept just about everything. I started out by getting my first tank when I was about 6 or 7 years old when my dad brought me back a 24" aquarium from one of his pals from the pub! He had kept fish but was giving up, so I got the tank..... yeah!
It came with a small clear plastic filter with a bit of floss and charcoal (remember them!!!) and I quickly set it up and put some goldfish in. What did I know about cycling a tank??
For as long as I can remember I have always loved animals that live in or around water, I think I must have been going on about wanting to get fish or frogs when I was young and that's why my dad got me that tank.
It didn't seem long before I wanted some tropical fish and I remember my mum taking me to a flower shop in Cumnock (my home town) which had fish tanks up the back and I bought (or should I say, my mum bought) a heater. We had a look at the fish for a while and soon after traded in my goldfish for some neons and guppies!
And that's how my addiction started!!
Since then I've kept and bred loads of different kinds of fish, live bearers, Malawi cichlids and even some frogs
The fish I've kept the longest is mbuna. I spent a long time breeding them and selling them to a few of the aquatic shops up in Glasgow. They are so easy to breed and very enjoyable to keep.
A few years ago I decided to sell all my mbuna on and set up a reef system. I bought a much larger custom built tank with a sump, halide light unit, skimmer, Tunze pumps and everything else I needed. A small fortune later I had a very successful and healthy system to enjoy.
I really loved that aquarium but for a few reasons it was time to break it down and sell all the gear.
We had a young daughter and another on the way and my wife and I decided that we would want to take the children on holidays as much as possible while they were young and this meant leaving the reef whilst we were away. We didn't have anyone who knew how to look after the tank that we could entrust to check on it and I couldn't just ask my mum to come round and feed them, and top up the RO, and check the PH, and clean the skimmer....... etc etc lol
So it had to go!
I had a short brake where I didn't have any fish tanks at all
So without further ado, I ordered an ND Aquatics 5x2x2 tropical tank. I was going for mbuna again (can go away for a week or two and not worry about them so much) and started looking to see who sold the best quality fish.
Bought myself an Eco-Lamps KR90FW LED light unit (freshwater, full spectrum), Fluval FX6, 300w heater, Tunze Nano stream 4065 and coral sand (dechlorinator, meds etc as well of course). Once the tank was here I set it all up, had collected rocks from a local beach and started cycling the tank.
Had the mbuna for a while, about 10 months or so and started to look at discus. I just fancied something a bit different and much less aggressive lol You are just so limited when keeping Malawi cichlids. Sold on the mbuna a couple of weeks ago and empted the tank quite quickly.
After giving discus a consideration and did a lot of research, I realised that there may not be that much of a difference to the issues I faced with my reef tank and maintenance whilst away from home. But I really love the look of an Amazon biotope and the variety of fish that can inhabit such a system. I've kept planted tanks before but not to the extent of using CO2 units or special substrates. So I think I'll look to keep Java fern, moss and Anubias (I know they're not from there but I'm not looking at a strict biotope tank) as these are much less demanding species but still look great! Got some great pieces of various bogwood and driftwood - Redmoor, Sumatran, Mopani etc. I'll attach the plants to them.
I think I'll get a large shoal of Cardinal tetras, Rummy Noses and various Corys, I've got a couple of Bristlenoses (not a pair though) and will probably add a few small plecos too. Angelfish will be the largest of the fish and will probably get a variety of colours and patterns. Other options I'll see along the way!
Let me know of any other fish/plants options for this kind of set-up you keep or recommend
I'd add pics but don't know how to as my pics are not on another website.
John.
Oh, forgot to mention, I've got an Amazon 3D background ordered and just waiting for delivery
/aqua-maniac.com/40-amazon-background
