Has Anyone Built A Fake Stream Or River For Their Fish?

[iankent]

Just wondered whether some fish would love it - either constantly replace the water or recycle the water through a water pump or filter to create strong current across the tank in one direction?

could make an interesting setup to watch

 

[Colin_T]

One of the shops in my area had a tank set up with plastic spill trays creating different levels in the tank. They had a pump taking water from one end to the other and it flowed through the spills creating a slight waterfall effect. Some of the fish would swim around in the spillways and others would just hang out in the deeper end near the pump.

I used to run a water pump in the tank with Galaxias. Every few days I would swap it to the other side. The Galaxias would sit there for hours just hovering in the current.

One of the things I want to do (if I ever win lotto) is build a creek around and through my property. Have a pump at the lower end and push the water up to the top of the property so it can flow down through the creek. There would be deeper pools spread along the creek and if the water level dropped then the fish could gather in these deeper pools.

 

[iankent]

One of the shops in my area had a tank set up with plastic spill trays creating different levels in the tank. They had a pump taking water from one end to the other and it flowed through the spills creating a slight waterfall effect. Some of the fish would swim around in the spillways and others would just hang out in the deeper end near the pump.

I used to run a water pump in the tank with Galaxias. Every few days I would swap it to the other side. The Galaxias would sit there for hours just hovering in the current.

One of the things I want to do (if I ever win lotto) is build a creek around and through my property. Have a pump at the lower end and push the water up to the top of the property so it can flow down through the creek. There would be deeper pools spread along the creek and if the water level dropped then the fish could gather in these deeper pools.

sounds really cool - also sounds like endless hard work

 

[Colin_T]

You can also have a pump on a timer and have it come on for a few hours in the evening. This means you get to watch the fish swim into the current when you get home from work.
Most fish will swim into currents and if it only happens once a day for a short time they will all enjoy it and spend a bit of time moving around throughout the stream.

 

[iankent]

You can also have a pump on a timer and have it come on for a few hours in the evening. This means you get to watch the fish swim into the current when you get home from work.
Most fish will swim into currents and if it only happens once a day for a short time they will all enjoy it and spend a bit of time moving around throughout the stream.

would something like that be suitable for a 110L? saying that if I added something like that to my current tank the water would end up all over the floor i could put my internal filter in there for an hour without any filter media!!

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

A lot of fish definately enjoy having very strong currents, hillstream loaches and danio's to name some. I wouldn't say my no.1 fish tank is a true river style set up, but its got very strong filtration in it (at least 800litres worth) so has a good strong current going in it which the fish seem to really enjoy .

 

[Colin_T]

you can use a powerhead in any size tank. Just use a smaller pump for small tanks. If you have a spare power filter then use that. It will be fine. Just have the case on it to prevent the fish being sucked up and put it on a timer.

 

[iankent]

you can use a powerhead in any size tank. Just use a smaller pump for small tanks. If you have a spare power filter then use that. It will be fine. Just have the case on it to prevent the fish being sucked up and put it on a timer.

thanks will give that a go over the weekend. changed the internal for an external about a week ago, so its lying around doing nothing at the moment!

 

[Colin_T]

Did you run the external for a month before turning off the internal?
If you didn't you might get an ammonia reading as the external filter cycles and establishes itself. Under these circumstances you should keep the feeding down and do regular partial water changes to dilute any ammonia build up.

 

[iankent]

Did you run the external for a month before turning off the internal?
If you didn't you might get an ammonia reading as the external filter cycles and establishes itself. Under these circumstances you should keep the feeding down and do regular partial water changes to dilute any ammonia build up.

i moved all of my filter media into the new filter, and have been monitoring daily and not had any spikes or mini cycles at all

 

[Colin_T]

ok no worries, just checking

use your old internal filter on a timer and watch the fish do their daily aerobic workout

 

[iankent]

ok no worries, just checking

use your old internal filter on a timer and watch the fish do their daily aerobic workout

i'm just wondering whether I can somehow adapt the internal filter to be external lol (makes me wonder why I bothered buying an external ), but it'd let me leave the filter itself outside the tank and just leave a pipe at either end to create the current! gonna have a look at the filter to see what I can do lol!

i really should just learn to leave things alone