[Rhiannon]

Right now we only have trop tanks because of the price of the halide lights needed to keep hard corals, i had one 5x2x2 sump tank  and it must have cost me over 150.00 a month in electric with all the gadgets .We had a 6x2x2 with sump we kept loads of seahorses in and some soft corals .

Now its just trops and some of the Pigeon blood Discus and Penang Eruption Discus wil give marines a run for thier money.

I reely miss my Hard corals but i cant justify spending that sort of money a month on electric plus replaceing the bulbs and tubes at regular intervals is over 500.00 pounds , LED lighting hasnt progressed to the point that hard corals like Acropora and Montipora can be kept well with good growth and colour under then yet .

[Ma and Pa Snip]

I have to admit I have never been a fan of marine fishkeeping, in my days of direct involvement there was far too much coral and fish taken directly from the wild. When we had a specialist outlet we never sold them.
Only the simplest of marine fish were bred for home fishkeeping, the bulk of species were wild caught.

That must have had (hopefully) to change now though.

[Paul Plots]

Anyone ever kept Talapia Mariae?

I bought a second-hand tank once that housed a pair. I kept the pair and they bred. Next had to buy two tanks to keep the babies in. 

I supplied numerous fish to those willing to take them and a small shoal to a local resurant. 

"Calm down dear"..... the resurant had a huge tank between dining-rooms so housed them easily.

[Rhiannon]

Now adays hard corals and soft corals too are "fragged" which means small fragments are broken off and grown from a mother colony , so very little realy needs to be taken from the wild logicaly. Lots of marine fish are bred in captivity tho it wil always be awkward because of the pelagic stage the fry go thru . most Clowns , Damsels, Banghai cardinals (mouthbrooders) Reidi and Kuda seahorses , some blennies and ive even heard of mandarin dragonettes being bred ....

many species should be left in the sea IMO Tangs and especialy the long suffering  Regal tang that featured in a Disney film , these grow to over a foot and have no place in a tiny aquarium, in fact many of them act weird ans thier a schooling fish in the wild and very hostile to thier own species in small spaces .

One trys to educate on forums but sadly if Josslyn want a regal tang in a bi orb mummy is going to get him one .....its one of the reasons i walked away from Admin duties on a marine and coral keeping forum i just could not keep listening year after year to the selfish cruelty being practiced on these lovely creatures .

[massa]

i think i may go for a comunity tropical tank then. wont be getting it for a while so will have time to research and have been to my local indipendant aqatic shop which were really helpfull. they gave me lots of fact sheets they also said to start off with tropicals and avoid marines due to the complex setting up and costs involved. I just think the marines look really nice and colourful! i will be wanting a large tank for the living room and think it will be my birthday present (not till july) so will start looking into it all in more detail! thanks for all your advice, matt.

[Ma and Pa Snip]

Regal tang that featured in a Disney film , these grow to over a foot and have no place in a tiny aquarium .

One trys to educate on forums but sadly if Josslyn want a regal tang in a bi orb mummy is going to get him one ..... .

And the same thing applies to Goldfish.

Just like plants get crammed into small spaces so do fish !!!

 Plants get fertilisers chucked a them, fish get too much food chucked at them.

[Aunt Sally]

My tank contains mostly tetras of different kinds; some small catfish to keep the bottom clean, some minnows.  It's a very peaceful and happy tank.

[spottymint]

We have a new 5' tank standing on it's end. It's a replacement for the 6' by far too much that my son had in his first-floor bedroom for three months after I had said, "Please don't have that up-stairs".... so he ignored me and his mummy backed him up. Bless her.

So.... when there was a loud bang in the middle of the night because he had whipped a rug off a chair and something heavy flew from it and hit the glass I was not that surprised.  

I forgot to say all of the fish survived!! 

Please don't tell my other half, I have a 3ft, 180 ltr tank upstairs & he worries about the joists. 

[Paul Plots]

We have a new 5' tank standing on it's end. It's a replacement for the 6' by far too much that my son had in his first-floor bedroom for three months after I had said, "Please don't have that up-stairs".... so he ignored me and his mummy backed him up. Bless her.

So.... when there was a loud bang in the middle of the night because he had whipped a rug off a chair and something heavy flew from it and hit the glass I was not that surprised.  

I forgot to say all of the fish survived!! 

Please don't tell my other half, I have a 3ft, 180 ltr tank upstairs & he worries about the joists. 

I reckon it'll be fine. My son's tank was 6'x2'x2' and even soggy joists coped. 

[Rhiannon]

depends how you spread the weight accross the joists i think    I know a guy had a pretty big  system in his loft   

[Paul Plots]

depends how you spread the weight accross the joists i think    I know a guy had a pretty big  system in his loft   

I hope it stayed up there!

[Rhiannon]

Um yes so far..........

[Casey76]

i think i may go for a comunity tropical tank then. wont be getting it for a while so will have time to research and have been to my local indipendant aqatic shop which were really helpfull. they gave me lots of fact sheets they also said to start off with tropicals and avoid marines due to the complex setting up and costs involved. I just think the marines look really nice and colourful! i will be wanting a large tank for the living room and think it will be my birthday present (not till july) so will start looking into it all in more detail! thanks for all your advice, matt.

Definitely do a lot of reading before you start.  Then think where abouts you want to place your tank.  Near a water source is great (kitchen/bathroom), opposite a window is not (as I found out  )

What ever you do, do not be talked into cycling your tank with live fish, it is cruel and completely unnecessary.

I have a lovely 160L tank that I'm itching to get set up again, but I have no where suitable to put it at the moment.

[Ma and Pa Snip]

What ever you do, do not be talked into cycling your tank with live fish, it is cruel and completely unnecessary.

Well that's lost me.  What is it you mean

[Casey76]

What ever you do, do not be talked into cycling your tank with live fish, it is cruel and completely unnecessary.

Well that's lost me.  What is it you mean

It's where you introduce fish (danios are often sold for this purpose, because they are cheap (expendible???)) to a "virgin" tank to start the nitrogen cycle.  I.e. put fish in tank, feed fish, fish eliminate ammonia... however before the bacteria which process the ammonia/nitrites into nitrates, the fish have usually succumbed to ammonia/nitrite poisoning.

You can cycle a tank using pure ammonia and patience.  Using a nitrite/nitrate test kit, you can see when it is safe to introduce fish to the tank, and, as long as you introduce new fish a few/couple at a time it doesn't overload the cycle to cause spikes in nitrites.

It may take longer, but is more ethical, imho.