Question

[Ukfan]

Whats the difference between Marine/freshwater and tropical fish?

What things do you have to do and which is easy to keep?

 

[doresy]

Whats the difference between Marine/freshwater and tropical fish?

What things do you have to do and which is easy to keep?

How can 2 lines of questions need sooo much to answer!

Firstly, fish are EASY to keep, water on the other hand

Marine is Salt Water as in the sea. Not a hobby, more like a life style (lol) but worth it!

Freshwater as in Tropical (warm water) Coldwater as in goldfish etc.
In Tropical there are many different facets. ie, Community, Cichlids, Brackish to name but a few.

All are 'easy' to keep if you research and 'do it right' to the letter.

I think you mean which is EASIER to keep? Do you mean financially or the amount of work/dedication?

Maybe it might be a good idea to visit a really good fish shop (set a post asking for recommendations in your area) and look at the fish. See a type of fish that you like (they are are usually divided into sections) then come back to this forum and ask what is involved with that type of species.

Marine is usually all by it's self and to my mind is the most work and expense but ultimately very rewarding. Community fish are cheap and relatively easy to look after...as for the rest no experience so no comment

 

[Miss Wiggle]

ha ha definatley little question, big answer!

the groups that you get are as follows

tropical freshwater (this is what people mean when referring to tropical fish mostly) - warm water with no salt in

coldwater freshwater - cold water with no salt in e.g. tanks for goldfish

tropical marine/saltwater - warm water with salt in

coldwater marine/saltwater - cold water with salt in

the first three are what you commonly see in the shops, the last one is the sorts of fish we have in our rivers and waterways in this country

as doresy said, fish are easy to keep, water isn't always!! But if you can keep your water healthy your fish will look after themselves. Pinched this saying from someone else but we are not fishkeepers we are water keepers.

Now Saltwater is much more expensive and the chemistry is much harder to understand than Freshwater is. However if set up correctly a Saltwater tank is much closer to a natural balance ecosystem than a freshwater tank is and as such requires much less maintenance.

So basically none of them are unattainable, they all have they're strengths and weaknesses and individual difficulties, but providing you do your research before hand and take the time and money to get things working right before getting fish then you can take on any one of them.

oh and there's brackish as well which can be a combination of all 4 scenarios but lets not go into that for now

 

[Ukfan]

Okay cool, I have tropical water,

One thing is I dont understand by brackish and Cichlids, are they type of Fish?

Another thing is, IS there any topic in this forum that can show you how to set up a tank as in how to decorate it and where to put the wood, plants etc, cos i want to make my tank look as beautiful as possible but right now I have 6 plants and they all in one line at the back of the tank, i also have a back poster for the tank too, I saw one topic in the plant board with someone who made some moss/grass and their tank looked lovely -full of plants all greenary!

cheers

 

[Miss Wiggle]

cichlids are a group of fish, one of the biggest containing many many species

brackish water is water with some salt, not full sea water strength but definately more than freshwater, again can be warm/cold.

another big question there..... i don't think there's any 1 topic because beauty is in the eye of the beholder, you have to decide what you think looks best. check out the planted tank forum's for inspiration and they can tell you how to create optimum conditions for growing plants (which seems to be the look you like).... get ready for some science and leave your wallet at the door

 

[Ukfan]

haha, thanks Miss Wiggle!

Off topic here- Do you guys to MSN addy swap so we can chat on MSN etc?

Anyways back on track

yeah i see your point but I would like it something like the members have done here in the picture thread, they just like so awesome!

How have you got yours Miss Wiggle?

I mean cos fish like to hid right?

Also how can you tell if a fish is pregnaunt? And how and where do they lay the eggs?

Cheers!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

some people swp msn addy's, there's a post in the computer section with them and also you can list it in your profile so by all means check out people's profiles for them.

mine are all different, got 5 tanks at the moment, had many more in the past everything from your basic community set up to marine's

at the moment the biggest tank is a corner tank, trigon 350, with an oscar in, it's moderatley planted with loads of big bits of wood and stones, oscar wouldn't like too much decor though

Ian (my other half) has a planted tank, in theory it's like the one's you aspire too, in reality it's full of algae at the moment

then the marine tank is full of corals and live rock and is really colourful

then we've two small tanks, one looks like a jungle, loads of plants but very haphazard

the other i was trying to do a planted tank with but i'm failing miserably and probably giving it up soon

unfortunately i've had a very bad few months so teh tanks aren't looking at they're best at the moment

first thing for you to check out then is the threads in the planted section on EI, that's how they get they're tanks looking so lush and green. I won't even pretend that i understand it, plants are not my speciality! lol

depends on the species, that's another very big question!!

 

[mark.w.jones]

msn addys I must be getting old. My turn to ask a question. What's one of those then?

For inspirational looking tanks take a look at this website that runs a competition in aquascaping. Some amazingly realistic looking tanks which I absolutely love. No orange gravel, no fishing signs or sunken ships in sight.

http/showcase.aquatic-gardeners.org/2006.cgi

 

[Ukfan]

Hey thanks for the link , MSN is an online way to communicate and talk to people online.

Yeah I've checked most of the topics Miss Wiggle and i've rearranged my tank now and its looking much better although my tank has alot of space init so the fish can't hide that much as I only have 6 plants in my tank. But to make it like the members here who have posted there picture look alot nicer!!

 

[Simon<3]

msn addys I must be getting old. My turn to ask a question. What's one of those then?

For inspirational looking tanks take a look at this website that runs a competition in aquascaping. Some amazingly realistic looking tanks which I absolutely love. No orange gravel, no fishing signs or sunken ships in sight.

http/showcase.aquatic-gardeners.org/2006.cgi

Some of these tanks are awesome, and simple. It really does pay off to go out and study these fishes habitats before designing your layout im sure

 

[Ukfan]

Yeah thanks I will but no one had anwsered my question about fishes becoming pregnuat

 

[The_Dude]

Might want to specify WHICH KIND of salt. Don't want them just dumping any old Iodized Table salt. They make Aquarium salt, way more soluble than the stuff you find on fries, oh and don't use the fried to salt up a marine/brackish tank. I know you're not stupid but I said that just in case someone read this and was all like, hmmmm. Maybe that'll work and then they kill a tank with a beautiful wrasse or goby or god forbid a grouper.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

msn addys I must be getting old. My turn to ask a question. What's one of those then?

he he, it's an instant messaging system you can talk to people in real time on your pc, you just need a hotmail email address to sign up. be details on the hotmail website

 

[dwarfgourami]

Yeah thanks I will but no one had anwsered my question about fishes becoming pregnuat

Right, there are two basic ways. Fish are divided into livebearers and egglayers.

Livebearers practise internal insemination- i.e. the male puts the sperm inside the female where the embryos develop and are born at a later stage. This means a female can be "pregnant" for weeks on end and have her babies even at a time when there is no male in the tank, or when he is not paying attention to her. If you have livebearers (guppies, mollies, platies, swordtails etc), breeding is quite likely to just happen in your tank and you may find fry swimming around one day.

Egglayers have to spawn together, i.e. the male has to fertilise the eggs at the same moment that the female lays them. So both fish have to be in the tank, they need room for their mating ritual, and they both need to be "in the mood" at the same time. Getting them in the mood often involves feeding them special foods, or bringing their water to exactly the right softness/temperature etc. You also typically need to set up a special breeding tank to protect the eggs/fry from other fish, as they are quite helpless. Some parents protect their babies, but then you are likely to need to protect other fish from the parents, as they can get quite aggressive. With a few exceptions, egglayer breeding is much less likely "just to happen".

 

[Ukfan]

How can u tell if ur fish are pregnaut?