post a pic!
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Got my 20 gal. back up and cycling, man what a job it was to clean and get it going. Using a Fluval 203 filter......also have blue LEDS for night, thanks for the thought Mike, looks cool....I'll post some pics later.
Thinking of Tiger Barbs this time.
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Blue LED'S for night.
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bastage....i still dont have the leds in any of my tanks
what did u use for them? the ones u buy at the fish store?
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Ones from Ebay....10 of them in there, but didn't use his wire,too bulky.
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I'm getting so excited now. Next week I am going to order my very 1st 90 gal tank for Fred the eel. Which means my water changes will cost a lill bit more. But Fred is worht it. I think he really loves me, or at least knows I bring the good foor home for him.



Sarge
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they all love you when either u bring food...or are food:-)
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Finally got around to taking a picture. Battling a small algae problem now, I need to get in and do a good cleaning. I build a custom cheapo hood which has four four foot 32watt lamps.

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ok...so i got some more pics...
a 30 gal that i am not quite sure what i am gonna do with. currently home to some guppys, kuhili loaches, oil catfish and a few plecos
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a 30 gal tang cichlid tank i am just getting going...home for 4 lemon cichlids
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10 gal guppy tank
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10 gal tank home to 2 female bettas and some danios and tetras
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20 community tank home to all kinds of different stuff
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and finally the wifes tank
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home to her prize fish.........
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elephantnose fish
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Nice lookin setups Mike:-)
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well never thought i would see this thread on here...nice tanks...if i ever find my camera cord ill throw my tank on here
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Here's half of my stacked and divided 75 setup. Since this photo, I've taken the dividers out and added crossbracing to them. Still have dividers in one of the 75's for smaller fish and grow outs. Electrical is also a lot cleaner.
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This tank is roughly 960 gallons and houses a hodgepodge of fish. The stock and layout of the tank have changed since this photo.
15" Cichla Temensis from Rio Ventuari
15" Cichla Kelberi/Piquiti hybrid from Sao Francisco
8" Cichla piquiti
10-12" Fossorochromis rostratus (tank boss)
10" Amphilophus sagittae
Breeding pair of Paraneetroplus bifasciatus
2 8" Amphilophus lyonsi
3 wild oscars from different collection points
yellow bullhead, longear sunfish, indian sun cat, calico convict, a bunch of misc fancy plecos, including a 20-24" common pleco, salvini cichlid, true parrot cichlid.......i think that's it lol.

Sorry for all the latin names, but it's the best way for me to keep track of and describe what I have.
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I'm considering getting into the hobby, but I don't know the first thing about it. Can anyone here recommend one of the many fish-keeping forums?
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Monsterfishkeepers.com It's geared towards larger fish, but also has many resources for the beginner fish keeper. It's one of the best fish forums on the web. You can always post questions here for me and I'll be glad to answer them as well.
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Well that's awfully nice of you, Ray. :-)

I randomly found http://www.fishlore.com/ and I've begun reading there. Do you have any feelings on that site?

Here's a question:
Where fish-keeping is concerned, I don't know anything. I'm as green as they come. So, on the one hand, it makes sense to start with a small 10-gallon tank, right? Smaller is easier? Smaller commitment? On the other hand, I know from experience that the environment inside of a large humidor fluctuates less than the environment inside of a small humidor. I would think the same rule would apply to an aquarium. Am I right? If so, what would you think if I started up with, say, a 30-gallon, planted, community tank setup?

If that's good, my next question would be -- and perhaps this should actually be my first question: after I'm up and running, and I've read up on all the basics, and I've gone thru the nitrogen cycle, how do I figure out how to stock my community aquarium? By this I mean, how do I know what will live peacefully with what, and how many? I don't want my fish to eat one another or war on each other. This aquarium idea was hatched from the need for a stress-relieving, blood-pressure-lowering pastime. Am I barking up the wrong tree?
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You're definitely not barking up the wrong tree. Many studies have proven that aquariums are very helpful in lowering blood pressure and aiding in relaxation. You're also right that aquariums are like humidors, where a larger environment provides greater stability. A 29 or 30 gallon tank is definitely a great size to start with, although if petco is still doing their sale, a 40g breeder tank is a great size.
As far as equipment goes, here's a simple list.

Hang on the back power filter-very easy to setup and maintain, relatively cheap, usually extremely reliable, and probably the best filtration imo for small to medium tanks.

Heater-Ebo Jaeger makes the best imo, titanium heaters not worth it unless you have very large tanks....i still have glass heaters on my 1000g, albeit connected to a controller.

Air Stone and pump-I used to think these were outdated and unnecessary, but on any tank I've had one on, my fish seem to like it.

Lighting-LED all the way. A cheap led strip is good enough for a small tank and they use hardly any electricity at all. T-5 is next best.

Gravel Vacuum-for siphoning old water from the tank when doing water changes.

Dechlorinator-neutralizes chlorine and chloramines from your tap water. Prime by Seachem is the best, but any will do probably.

Food-New Life Spectrum is what you want. Great food and available in any size.

That is really all the equipment you need. You may also want a top for the tank and then there's all the gravel/sand and decor. It may sound intimidating but is not bad at all. Many petshops have aquarium packages where everything comes together. Craigslist is also an excellent place to find whole setups, often much cheaper.
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As far as setups go, I would definitely recommend live plants, even for a newbie. There are many very easy to keep plants out there and they definitely have their benefits in an aquarium. As far as fish go, a great starter community for a 30 or 40 gallon tank would be a small school of tetras (many different species), a small school of corydoras catfish, a plecostomus (just be careful what species as many get very large) and a pair of small cichlids such as Apistogrammas. There are also many native fish that would work well in that type of community. Really, there is an unlimited choice of fish to choose from.

As far as compatibility goes, that can be a crapshoot sometimes, but the first rule of thumb is that if it can fit in another fishes mouth, it will end up there. If you have any idea of fish you want to keep, I can help give you ideas of what suitable tankmates would be.

As far as the nitrogen cycle goes, i've never paid it much mind lol. Just add fish slowly to a new setup and they should be fine. Don't overstock and don't add too many fish at once and they should be fine. The nitrogen/ammonia cycle is very important to understand, so I do recommend you read up on it if you already haven't.

A couple very important rules:
Only feed what your fish can consume in a couple minutes, once or twice a day.

Once a week, siphon out 10% of your aquarium water along with any stuff your siphon picks up, and replace it with fresh, dechlorinated water. Water changes should be mandatory and 10% to 25% a week is a good number.

Hope this helps a little bit. I'll also post up some links of mine for you to go over.
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Plantedtank.net - great plant and fishkeeping forum
Reefcentral.com - in case you wanna go salt :-)
Monsterfishkeepers.com is my home forum
Aquabid.com - great for buying anything fish related, just watch feedback
ratings like you would ebay.

Tangledupincichlids.com - absolute best source for very nice fish although small fish stock is kinda limited.

Kensfish.com - great place for food and accessories
Freshwatertropicalfishonline.com - great vendor of live fish
bigalspets.com - equipment
aquatraders.com - equipment
msjinkzd.com - great selection of small fish and inverts
drsfostersmith.com - equipment and live fish
yourfishstuff.com - equipment and very cool 3d backgrounds
wetspottropicalfish.com - another great live fish vendor

not familiar with fishlore.com but fishgeeks is another good one for general fish keeping.

Being a beginner, your B&M is the best bet, but all the cool stuff is usually online lol. As far as equipment goes, you can sometimes score well at local places but online prices are hard to beat.
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HAHAHA, I love the way they are all looking at the camera basically. Must be
just got home, gonna be fed time. I miss my fresh tank days, in the USAF dorms
of course everyone had to have one. Quite a lot of competition for coolness in
design and stocking. Then I went to saltwater, and now I am free of all of it.
And thankful most times.....til now. One thing I learned over time was to lose
my fascination with Oscars....what a fun fish, like a dog, really. But too much
growth and too much tank dirtying in keeping them fed. Love em, but left em.
Give me the Lake Malawi Cichlids now.
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