Fish / Aquariums Again.... Man, I'm so hooked!!!

[Jill]

H and I are so into these darn fish aquariums! It's been a long time since he and I were both so into a hobby... We set up a bigger aquarium this weekend and we got some new fish, too (below).

The next aquarium is a 75g we'll do probably next weekend for the mbuna cichlids in the second video. They will get some friends (red zebras and cobalt blues) at that time. Then the parrots in the first video will move to the tank the mbunas are currently in... THEN, H is going to brace the floor under our Florida room and we're putting a 150g tank there for fancy goldfish... and then we are "done" unless we decide to get a flowerhorn after all.

These fish really are as addictive as horses. It's crazy but soooooooo fun and relaxing!!!

 

[Sterling]

Oh how NEAT!!!! Very pretty set up and fish! I had to giggle at your choice of music...suited the fish perfectly!

Oh....did I tell you that my guppies had babies???!!! I still have not graduated towards a bigger aquarium yet...but the thought is still there! lol....

 

[LittleRibbie]

You have the cleanest aquariums I have ever seen!! Your choice of music was so clever. Your poor Mom.....she will never be able to keep up with making cookies for all your animals.

 

[maplegum]

Aren't they the coolest things! I love aquariams and you have such a wonderful set up there.

 

[Gini]

Jill the aquariums are beautiful!! How many do you have now?... LOL

 

[HorseMom]

I watched the videos when you posted them on facebook. I've also started a new obsession with fish. I had a water garden on our porch this summer with some goldfish in it, since it turned cold we brought them in. I've since added more fish and all kinds of new gadets. You are right, addicting and relaxing.

Your tanks are beautiful. I hope my tank will end up as nice as yours.

 

[RockRiverTiff]

Your fish are so neat Jill! And the music--I'm going to have that in my head all day!

 

[Soggy Bottom Ranch]

These are beautiful Jill! My husband wants an aquarium, and I may just get him one for x-mas. I might be asking you for some tips later on!

 

[HGFarm]

Rats, I cant see the videos here at work.... LOL, yes they are very relaxing, but also can be a lot of work. Mine is just a tropical tank (55 gal). I dont like the cichlids, they are mean! LOL

 

[MountainMeadows]

Hi Jill

Yep, aquariums are a ton of fun-- now quit fiddling around -- GO SALTWATER ! ! You know you are going to eventually - just make the leap - bigger the tank the better! I loved my 150 gal salt tank - had some of the coolest fish in there -- but with power outages killing our tank 3 times, it was just too depressing to stay there - even with a generator I couldn't keep the tank up to temp during extended outages.

Stac

 

[MeadowRidge Farm]

Jill, Your tanks are beautiful. I am so glad you and H found a hobby you both are enjoying. Stac is soooooooo right, we all know eventually you will have a saltwater tank too. Right now, we have a 72 gal fancy goldfish aquarium, (that one is mine...I like easy...

) a 72 gal saltwater, a 55 gal tropical and now I had to set a 10 gal up for some guppies that seem to have found there way to my house. My favorite is the goldfish tank, the fish are huge and all have big flowing fantails. I have 2 tanks not set up at the monent..kind of ran out of room. One is a 65 gal hex and the other is a 30 gal hex. They are so soothing and addicting. One of the very first things we bought after getting married 39 yrs ago, was 2.. 30 gal. tanks, and have had aquariums ever since, but it is more of Bobs hobby then mine. Are you using canister filters?

 

[Jill]

The tanks are SO much fun!

So far, we are just running HOB filters on the tanks except the one on the mantle (fake fireplace) which has two intank filters due to the max width on that mantle. We are thinking of setting up a 150g for fancy goldfish in our Florida room and if we go that big (vs. a 75g), then we will use a canister filter for that big a tank. I'm telling H if we do this huge fancy goldfish tank, then I won't want to build an outdoor pond this spring... but you all know that I'm not sure I really won't be pushing that pond idea anyway in the spring!

For cichlids, yes, they can be VERY agressive, but the type of mbuna's that we have are among the least agressive cichlids available. They are very active, but so far, no fighting at all and no one is being picked on. When we move them to a bigger tank, we will be adding two more types of mbuna cichlids that are different colors, but these ones are also pretty mild mannered.

The blood parrots, too, are cichlids but due to how their mouths are shaped, they actually cannot do much harm to much of anything. They are just the bomb, I swear!!! ML has her Barney that is one of them and we've only had ours since this weekend, and their tank is currently in the spare bedroom which ordinarily, I never even go into. I'm in there so much now "playing" with the parrot cichlids. I adore them! They are like little cartoon characters and are so responsive to me. They're so nice to have.

For saltwater, I really do not know. At one point, I was sure we'd want to set one up, but then we found the mbuna cichlids, which are so brightly colored and very sturdy in terms of care requirements. As it is now, I'm still learning about the tropical fish and branching into more advanced filter media. Once I really think I know a good amount about tropical fish, then we may do a saltwater tank but I'm not sure. Right now, it's too intimidating to take on... reading about the "sumps" for them and God knows what else, seems like I'll really need to be educated better than I am right now before we go there.

The best thing about the new hobby is that H loves it, too. He loves our horses and he is proud of them. He tells his friends and family about the show wins and new foals, when we go drive them, etc., but I've been far more into the horses than he's ever been. With the fish, we are both pretty much equally interested (and he's the one that said "I want some of those!" the first time he saw parrot fish). It's been fun picking out fish, gadgets, decorations, etc. together.

 

[MountainMeadows]

Jill

You would love clownfish - they are so cute and rolly polly and rarely aggressive. If you are lucky enough to also get a carpet ananome for them it is just tons of fun to watch them roll around on it. Other salt fish are beautiful, but many are aggressive or very shy. I had a really neat lionfish that I got when he was teenie tiny - his body was about as big as a quarter - he grew to be about a foot long with a fin-span of over 2 ft. He was a total pet - begged just like a dog and followed me everywhere as far as he could go in his tank. Then I had a snowflake moray that was pretty cool, but very shy. I had a beautiful pinnatus bat that was stunning to watch, but very delicate. I had an assortment of angels and tangs and some other fairly rare fish - my tank was almost self-sustaining - it grew it's own little critters for the fish to eat, so I rarely had to feed them - my seed coral gravel came straight from Hawaii when I went on vacation so I suspect that is where the little critters came from - it was pretty cool. The guys who owned the fish store would give me their new fish to help transition to being fed and it didn't hurt that I was dating one of the store owners, so I got some really rare specimens. Anyway - have a ton of fun with your tanks - it is really super that you and H have a common hobby - especially one that doesn't cost as much as the horses do.

Stac