Getting Rid Of 120 Gallon :[

[Raechal]

So I find myself not being able to find enough time to clean and maintain my 120 gallon freshwater aquarium. It sucks, but I think my best option is to sell it to someone else who will have the time to take care of the fish.

What do you think my best bet would be? Selling the fish tank all together with the fish and decorations and everything. Or just donate the fish to a local fish store and sell the tank empty?

I'm sure going to miss my fish.

Atleast I'll still have my two male bettas.

 

[yvez9]

what?

have you thought this through?

anyhow, i think it would be best to sell everything together then if the buyer doesn't want the fish you just bring them to the pet store.

 

[Raechal]

what?

have you thought this through?

anyhow, i think it would be best to sell everything together then if the buyer doesn't want the fish you just bring them to the pet store.

Yes, I have thought it through for awhile. I've wanted to sell it a few times, but then always changed my mind and thought about how much I love my fish. But with school and me trying to find a job, it gets hard to find time for them. I wish I could keep them, but it'd be best for the fish if I sold it to someone who had the time to maintain it and keep the fish happy and healthy.

I don't have a job anymore so I find it hard to even keep up buying sinking wafers for all my little bottom feeders.

I'm going to miss them, but with the money I get from selling it, I'll probably just buy some plants and plant my remaining betta tanks or something.

I don't want to get out of the fish hobby completely, just slow it down a bit and maybe focus on bettas. They're my favorite type of fish anyway.

 

[yvez9]

so sell your fish and keep a betta in the 120 for now

then when you have more money you can stock it again!

or maybe just get one large fish, which should mean less maintenance. You could maybe get a school of silver dollars or tinfoil barbs.

I just find it sad to have to sell such a nice tank

 

[pica_nuttalli]

that's awful to hear, honey!

why not just sell out all the messy fish and convert it to planted? you can keep your bettas in there to provide some ammonia and toss in some MTS snails too.

a 120g is a terrible thing to have to give up on. i think you could seriously cut down on maintenance time by increasing the plant levels, especially with such a large volume and significant understocking.

if you could post your current stocklist, i'm sure the people on here could help you figure something out.

 

[Raechal]

so sell your fish and keep a betta in the 120 for now

then when you have more money you can stock it again!

or maybe just get one large fish, which should mean less maintenance. You could maybe get a school of silver dollars or tinfoil barbs.

I just find it sad to have to sell such a nice tank

Hmm...maybe..but the only place I know that accepts donated fish is a fish store I don't feel comfortable giving my fish to as I used to work there and they didn't take very good care of their fish at all.

I'd feel bad just returning my old fish for new ones...

that's awful to hear, honey!

why not just sell out all the messy fish and convert it to planted? you can keep your bettas in there to provide some ammonia and toss in some MTS snails too.

a 120g is a terrible thing to have to give up on. i think you could seriously cut down on maintenance time by increasing the plant levels, especially with such a large volume and significant understocking.

if you could post your current stocklist, i'm sure the people on here could help you figure something out.

I wish I could have a nice planted tank, but I have no money whatsoever to spend on my 120 gallon. My stocklist is

6 tiger barbs
2 black skirt tetras
4 lemon tetras
1 neon tetra
1 bumblebee catfish
1 red finned shark
2 clown loaches
1 common pleco
1 rubbernose pleco
about 10 cories
4 bleeding heart tetras
2 von rio tetras
1 black moore goldfish
1 fantail goldfish
1 scissor tail rasbora
1 striped rasbora? I forgot the name of it
2 neon pink zebra danios

And I think that is it. A lot of the fish in there were in larger groups...but my bumblebee catfish likes to snack on the smaller tetras at night.

And some of my fish shouldn't be in my tank...like the goldies. But my ex boyfriend had bought me them and we were planning on building a pond in the backyard....which never happened.

 

[Funny Pie]

Wow, a 120 gallon tank. Shame to give it up if I were you, and i wanted to sell that i would sell the fish to a friend, or give them away to other fish keepers because whenever i see a tank that sells the fish, everything in one package i generally steer away from it, cause people like to start their own stuff up. I'd sell the tank, and all the filter/heater in one package, or just the tank on its own becuase people liek doing things once again on their own

 

[Raechal]

Wow, a 120 gallon tank. Shame to give it up if I were you, and i wanted to sell that i would sell the fish to a friend, or give them away to other fish keepers because whenever i see a tank that sells the fish, everything in one package i generally steer away from it, cause people like to start their own stuff up. I'd sell the tank, and all the filter/heater in one package, or just the tank on its own becuase people liek doing things once again on their own

None of my friends are into fish like I am nor have a tank big enough to house my fish. I wish they did though. That would make things much easier.

Maybe I could try selling it with the fish and see what happens...if I get no buyers I might have to just donate the fish to a lfs.

 

[pica_nuttalli]

i'd rehome:
6 tiger barbs
2 black skirt tetras
1 neon tetra
1 red finned shark
2 clown loaches
1 common pleco
about 10 cories
2 von rio tetras
1 black moore goldfish
1 fantail goldfish
1 scissor tail rasbora
1 striped rasbora? I forgot the name of it


i'd keep:
1 bumblebee catfish
1 rubbernose pleco
2 neon pink zebra danios
4 bleeding heart tetras
4 lemon tetras

as for money, planted tanks really don't cost that much if you keep simple plants. you may have to perform a cheap and dirty DIY light upgrade, but you don't necessarily have to go the route of CO2, fertilizers, etc. if you're concerned about money for plants, i know i have a couple handfulls of plants that i don't know what to do with right now. you may have to do something about your substrate, but again, there are cheapie ways of handling that issue.

off the top of my head, i know i've got several java fern babies, several stem plants that have developed side roots (ready to be planted and to grow into rows), hornwort (a great waste absorber), some red lilly offshoots, and absurd amounts of pygmy chain sword. ask in Buy/Sell/Swap to see if anybody else has prunings that they could send to you.

 

[yvez9]

maybe you could look for a fishkeeping association in your area. These clubs usually hold weekly or monthly meetings and hold auctions or ads for stuff to sell. that way at least you know your stuff is going to a decent fishkeeper.

or sell it to your parents. that way you get your money and get to keep the tank

i would have a hard time trusting anyone with my fish, except snowyangel but she moved far far away now

I can't imagine how you feel having to give them away like that

 

[Raechal]

i'd rehome:
6 tiger barbs
2 black skirt tetras
1 neon tetra
1 red finned shark
2 clown loaches
1 common pleco
about 10 cories
2 von rio tetras
1 black moore goldfish
1 fantail goldfish
1 scissor tail rasbora
1 striped rasbora? I forgot the name of it


i'd keep:
1 bumblebee catfish
1 rubbernose pleco
2 neon pink zebra danios
4 bleeding heart tetras
4 lemon tetras

as for money, planted tanks really don't cost that much if you keep simple plants. you may have to perform a cheap and dirty DIY light upgrade, but you don't necessarily have to go the route of CO2, fertilizers, etc. if you're concerned about money for plants, i know i have a couple handfulls of plants that i don't know what to do with right now. you may have to do something about your substrate, but again, there are cheapie ways of handling that issue.

off the top of my head, i know i've got several java fern babies, several stem plants that have developed side roots (ready to be planted and to grow into rows), hornwort (a great waste absorber), some red lilly offshoots, and absurd amounts of pygmy chain sword. ask in Buy/Sell/Swap to see if anybody else has prunings that they could send to you.

I really dislike the bleeding heart tetras and I'm not a big fan of the lemon tetras either haha. If I were to keep the tank I'd probably get rid of everything and get myself an Oscar....what I wanted to do when I first bought the tank.

maybe you could look for a fishkeeping association in your area. These clubs usually hold weekly or monthly meetings and hold auctions or ads for stuff to sell. that way at least you know your stuff is going to a decent fishkeeper.

or sell it to your parents. that way you get your money and get to keep the tank

i would have a hard time trusting anyone with my fish, except snowyangel but she moved far far away now

I can't imagine how you feel having to give them away like that

My parents were wanting to re-model the living room and they offered to give me $300 for everything. Then they would put it out in the living room and stuff.

But I'm not sure if they want to do that anymore.

 

[yvez9]

you should ask them if they still want it!

 

[Raechal]

you should ask them if they still want it!

Well they know I am going to list it on ebay for local pick up only and put it in the paper and they never said anything about offering me any money for them to put it in the living room.

 

[pica_nuttalli]

heh, i only picked those because they were the smaller tetras with the bigger schools.

i suggest that you first try just cutting down on the number of fish and increasing the number of plants. if nothing else, add a few leaves of duckweed. whenever you have high waste levels, the duckweed population will spike to absorb the extra nutrients. you can easily scoop out the excess with your net. duckweed requires little beyond waste products and a little light to thrive in the aquarium. you'll never get rid of all of it, but its a great way to buffer against ammonia/nitrate spikes. mine at one point covered the entire top of my puffer tank when i hadn't scooped any out in a while--all from an original 8 leaves i wiped off the outside of a bag of fish.

when you say you don't have time to clean your tank, what does that mean exactly? how long between water changes do you need to go?

heh, i only picked those because they were the smaller tetras with the bigger schools.

i suggest that you first try just cutting down on the number of fish and increasing the number of plants. if nothing else, add a few leaves of duckweed. whenever you have high waste levels, the duckweed population will spike to absorb the extra nutrients. you can easily scoop out the excess with your net. duckweed requires little beyond waste products and a little light to thrive in the aquarium. you'll never get rid of all of it, but its a great way to buffer against ammonia/nitrate spikes. mine at one point covered the entire top of my puffer tank when i hadn't scooped any out in a while--all from an original 8 leaves i wiped off the outside of a bag of fish.

when you say you don't have time to clean your tank, what does that mean exactly? how long between water changes do you need to go?

 

[Raechal]

heh, i only picked those because they were the smaller tetras with the bigger schools.

i suggest that you first try just cutting down on the number of fish and increasing the number of plants. if nothing else, add a few leaves of duckweed. whenever you have high waste levels, the duckweed population will spike to absorb the extra nutrients. you can easily scoop out the excess with your net. duckweed requires little beyond waste products and a little light to thrive in the aquarium. you'll never get rid of all of it, but its a great way to buffer against ammonia/nitrate spikes. mine at one point covered the entire top of my puffer tank when i hadn't scooped any out in a while--all from an original 8 leaves i wiped off the outside of a bag of fish.

when you say you don't have time to clean your tank, what does that mean exactly? how long between water changes do you need to go?

heh, i only picked those because they were the smaller tetras with the bigger schools.

i suggest that you first try just cutting down on the number of fish and increasing the number of plants. if nothing else, add a few leaves of duckweed. whenever you have high waste levels, the duckweed population will spike to absorb the extra nutrients. you can easily scoop out the excess with your net. duckweed requires little beyond waste products and a little light to thrive in the aquarium. you'll never get rid of all of it, but its a great way to buffer against ammonia/nitrate spikes. mine at one point covered the entire top of my puffer tank when i hadn't scooped any out in a while--all from an original 8 leaves i wiped off the outside of a bag of fish.

when you say you don't have time to clean your tank, what does that mean exactly? how long between water changes do you need to go?

I slacked off and didn't do a water change for months. Maybe 4 or 5 months.
I'm not home often and there have been times where my fish don't eat for 3 or 4 days.

I have half the tank with sand as the substrate so it gets pretty dirty easily. It's white sand.