Tropical Fish! - My new hobby :)- photo heavy

[Skywatcher]

Wanted a fish tak pretty much all my life but never got around to it. Whilst in Pets at home we were looking around and rather fell for a lovely looking biob life that looks like an iPod and Lisa said it would look great where the steroe used to go so I started to look into it

There is a LOT to learn and the first thing I learned was the Biorb range do not have a good reputation at all amongst serious fish keepers, they are also bonkers expensive so for the same money as a 60L Biorb I found online a 165 Litre cracking looking tank with trickle filter, heater and lots of stuff to get me up and running.

After about a month of staring at an empty tank ( save some plants and snails that hitched a ride) testing teh water every night and adding ammonia carefully the tank was finally 'cycled' and ready to get the fish - this is really important as it means there is enough bacteria in the filters to deal with their 'waste' so they don't die as soon as you put the fish in.

I love it and its a cracking hobby to have - pretty low maintennance as well - only takes about 20 minutes once a week to do a partial waterchange and clean the glass with a magnet /prune the plants

Here are some of my fishies

My Red neon Dwarf Gourami

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6232/6315765991_a170c9f0ab_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/48304094@N08/6315765991/)
Red Neon Dwarf Gourami (http://www.flickr.com/photos/48304094@N08/6315765991/) by Sidleydoc (http://www.flickr.com/people/48304094@N08/), on Flickr

My Angel Fish

Lisa calls this one Chris

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6102/6315760697_7699c0d04f_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/48304094@N08/6315760697/)
Untitled (http://www.flickr.com/photos/48304094@N08/6315760697/) by Sidleydoc (http://www.flickr.com/people/48304094@N08/), on Flickr

And this is the one I call 'this big stripey one with the amazing tail'

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6108/6315761249_5f127a1b6a_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/48304094@N08/6315761249/)
Untitled (http://www.flickr.com/photos/48304094@N08/6315761249/) by Sidleydoc (http://www.flickr.com/people/48304094@N08/), on Flickr

Although they both have bodies the size of a 50p at the moment tehy can grow to be 8 inches or more top to bottom

My Rather splendid Dwarf Cockatoo Cichlid male

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6113/6316282538_626d757cfd_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/48304094@N08/6316282538/)
Male Cockatoo Apisto Triple red (http://www.flickr.com/photos/48304094@N08/6316282538/) by Sidleydoc (http://www.flickr.com/people/48304094@N08/), on Flickr

And his good lady ( currently with fry)

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6116/6315765503_ab49252d75_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/48304094@N08/6315765503/)
Female Cockatoo Apisto (http://www.flickr.com/photos/48304094@N08/6315765503/) by Sidleydoc (http://www.flickr.com/people/48304094@N08/), on Flickr

We have 6 catfish - 5 Julii and 1 Panda who was with them all alone in the shop and I couldn't abandon him

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7163/6446919891_75149f39de_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/48304094@N08/6446919891/)
Untitled (http://www.flickr.com/photos/48304094@N08/6446919891/) by Sidleydoc (http://www.flickr.com/people/48304094@N08/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7026/6446922739_6ac9225d48_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/48304094@N08/6446922739/)
Untitled (http://www.flickr.com/photos/48304094@N08/6446922739/) by Sidleydoc (http://www.flickr.com/people/48304094@N08/), on Flickr

10 x Cardinal Tettra - the hardest Fish to photograph bar none!

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6050/6249863971_788c952ba6_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/48304094@N08/6249863971/)
Untitled (http://www.flickr.com/photos/48304094@N08/6249863971/) by Sidleydoc (http://www.flickr.com/people/48304094@N08/), on Flickr

And last but not least is Perry the Mickey Mouse Platy! how could we not have a Mickey mouse fish in our tank - see the ears on his tail area - they really stand out under the moonlight

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6042/6315767081_9e0bbee9ae_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/48304094@N08/6315767081/)
Perry the Mickey Mouse Platy (http://www.flickr.com/photos/48304094@N08/6315767081/) by Sidleydoc (http://www.flickr.com/people/48304094@N08/), on Flickr

[MystikPiglit]

Nice fishies. :yes:

[catrancher]

Looks great Chris! :thumbsup:

I rather like your Male Cockatoo Apisto Triple red. :yes:
(I guess that's how you spell it. I just copied what you wrote.)

Anyway, he's a handsome fishy.

When you were looking, you should maybe have considered one of these:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8aqkVUeumc

:unsure:

Tom (:macwave:... oh well, it was a thought!)

[uscwest]

Had fish as a kid, don't want any more. But you have some pretty ones Chris.

[Slowhand]

When you were looking, you should maybe have considered one of these:



You would have to be fairly flush to afford one of those Tom. :lol:

[Slowhand]

Had fish as a kid,

Me too John.
I used to breed them when I was lad & I keep saying that maybe I should start again but somehow I never get around to it.

[catrancher]

You would have to be fairly flush to afford one of those Tom. :lol:

:ROFL: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/75186662/smilies/lmaof.gif http://dl.dropbox.com/u/75186662/smilies/tracy.gif


but somehow I never get around to it.

Here ya' go Terry! Now you've got one.


http://dl.dropbox.com/u/75186662/roundtuit.png

Tom (:macwave:... just trying to help!)

[Beccaberry]

Lovely fishes!!! Have always wanted to have a tank, but never made the commitment...so thanks for sharing yours!

[Slowhand]

Here ya' go Terry! Now you've got one.


Oddly enough Tom, we sent some "tuits" out as a mail shot to customers a while back as part of an advertising campaign. They went down a treat. :yes:

[Mari]

yay!!

Cant see the pics :( but I LOVE fishtanks!

We had one until Tatiana was born, and one day it broke and the water covered half oour living room floor, and I remember Tatiana screaming her little head off in her carseat and we going mad trying to save the fish :(

ok.. so not so nice hahaha, but I had had fishtanks for years, my dad has a massive one, and I think we are finally ready for another one.. I just love them and find them super relaxing to look at :)

[Esmeralda]

Yum... runs off to get fishing rod, tartar sauce and frying pan >>>>>>>>

[Tink]

I love fish... they are so serene to watch and given the opportunity, I could lose hours doing so.

Thank you for sharing your beautiful fish with us. :hug2:

[foreverducky]

Wow, our resident animal and sky photographer is now the new Fish Photographer!

Awesome!

So pretty, and would instantly lower any anxiety I would have.

[Kate]

Beautiful photos Chris - as always! We used to have tropical fish too, if you can use rain water its (or was at that time) by far the best :yes: We had some angel fish that grew huuuuge, we had to rehome them in the end as they got too big for our tank (it was a marine tank too so plenty of room!) and the catfish went with them, he was about 6inches if i remember rightly.

My mum bought some Danio's, they werent in the tank 10mins when we saw a tail sticking out of the angel fish's mouth :unsure: dont get danio's with your angel fish!!

[Skywatcher]

Yep its a real challenge getting all the fish in a communiity to get on together but thankfully there are some great websites that tell you i a sec if there will be any problems , save the odd psychotic fish

[Dorothy]

We've had tropical fish for about 15 years now, The tank is Bob's and he loves fussing with it.

At the moment though, we have goldfish because grandpa made the mistake of taking Zach with him to pick up a couple of fish. What my dear husband didn't know was that goldfish need cold water and he ummm......ended up sort of cooking the GF in the water set for tropical fish. We had to turn the heater off and wait till it cooled down and then I had to go spend another $25 to replace all the fancy tailed GF before Zach noticed.

The 5 GF are ALL named George by the way :lol: