Any tropical fish owners here...
 

Now that we have moved into our 'final' house and every thing is done I have decided to buy my 'final' fish tank.

I was umming and Arrring about Marine or tropical but with holidays I thought it be best to get tropical fish until I retire and have more time for marine.

I love the look of the Aqua one Regency 300 litre curved front nice wood but for £1000 I couldn't swallow the price and I couldn't find a clean second hand one. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Aqua-One-R...d=307041014277

Purchased a 330litre with curved front from all pond solutions for £330.00
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3103471507...fvi%3D1&_rdc=1

And wondering weather I should buy more power heads and heaters and where online is best for live stock sand etc... Locally all suppliers seem to have poor quality fish.

What type of fish your keeping will determine how many filters and power heads you need. For me I always used to run two very big canister filters and/or a sump on my Malawi and trophies setups

Dam phone, I also used to keep discus so for me over filtering water is a must. The better and cleaner the water the more your fish will thrive. Don't forget you may need to buffer you water etc to get to optimum conditions? What type of tank do you want? Planted, rock. Etc

You really should set that up as a Mbuna (Malawi) tank and you could easily stock it as I`ve stocked mine...online...here http://www.midlandsmalawis.co.uk/ I`ve had all my Malawis from them and they`ve all been spot on.

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/e...s/IMG_0886.jpg

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/e...s/IMG_0868.jpg

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/e...s/IMG_0817.jpg

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/e...s/IMG_0883.jpg

I want it to be planted, a large green area at one end, possibly a log or array of rocks for fish to hide in. Going to have tiny stones - not sand, so that fish can hide in it and filter.

I'm going down the route of communal fish, guppies, loaches, tetra's mollies etc. May even get some frogs again.

Once the tank is fully up and matured - few years I may consider getting a group of (yellow or red) labeled fish that need more attention.

Thanks for the link - I'll add them to my favorites.

I have had a fertiliser/co2 dosed tank and there very nice. Quite alot of work, this for me is the best way of keeping s planted tank. I love some of the Japanese aquascaping it's so nice but for overall colour and activity for me it's mbuna, tropheus are also nice but expensive fish. I used to breed them in a dedicated fish shed, but got rid of all my tanks and equipment. I'm desperatly trying to convince the mrs for another tank lol

Steve, Interesting, just came back to see Jakes comment and your pictures finally loaded and look amazing.. Gonna show the wife and see what she thinks..

The pics were an after thought that`s why they weren`t there first time :lol1:

And this forum is a fountain of knowledge http://lakemalawi.co.uk/

Another `posing` pic :lol1:

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/e...s/IMG_0861.jpg

I had to ditch my cichlid tank as although all 'species' they did not get on at all, the blue malawi's terrorised the firemouths and some of the hybrids i had were just mental.!!

Firemouth are American cichlids not African. You do over stock Malawi tanks hence the brilliant colours. Some fish can be more aggressive than others for sure but I have never had to remove a fish because of it.

Nice. I have a 4ft Malawi setup, I'm running black sand, black background and grey rock stacks. Funnily enough I was looking at setups this morning to change it to white sand like yours. I'm not sure what to do yet, I saw a setup before doing mine in a shop and had to try it. The total black really shows the fish colours well.

this was my high doesed tank

https://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y1...e/DSC01212.jpg

then moved to malawi

https://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y1...508_214803.jpg
https://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y1...308_195502.jpg

then had frontosa for a while,

https://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y1...frontosa-1.jpg

had discus and large angel fish, also bread tropheous they are a nice fish

I originally had play sand in mine...what a nightmare...way too fine and a b1tch to clean. My background is reversable now it`s on the outside. I can have blue (which I had inside) or the black.

cuprajake - im loving your planted tank. what airation were you using to keep the plants healthy.

It was bottled co2 through a ladder that allows it to dissapate, dosed every day with frets. The tank had two external filters and a 3ft sump. Didn't need much in the way of power heads just a spray bar, and about 10hrs of light a Day.

i like it very much. i used to have a tropical tank, the i went to a 6 foot malawi tank with cray fish and now im into marine. upgrading tank in the next month.

Pics pics pics.. love it!

Should I order slate from a fish shop or just nick it from the local church ... I know lime is bad.

You've got crayfish in with malawis? Do they get on ok? I'd love to try that, I used to have a pair of blue crayfish and they were awesome to watch

this thread rekindled my fishtank lust, but having no room i needed to go nano,

found a fluval edge for a very discounted price, now set up as a white cloud minnow biotope, be ready for fish soon


http://www.flickr.com/photos/cuprajake/6738474817/http://www.flickr.com/photos/cuprajake/6738474817/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/cuprajake/, on Flickr

Those large tanks are amazing. I got a 60 litre tank off my mate when he upgraded to see if I could keep up with the cleaning or would I be lazy and let it go to crap....
I've had it about 7 months now and want something bigger.

Are there any bargain tanks around? eBay???

Seapets sell some good tanks from 50 - 500 litres for all budgets

ebay is very good for tanks, also aquarist classifieds.

they got along brill,
you all ready this is one of my BEST pic - (malawi tank with crayfish)

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t...s/SDC12985.jpg


http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t...s/SDC12932.jpg

then this is the tank i made my self as im a carpenter by trade -


http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t...s/SDC12873.jpg


this is my marine tank now -

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t...k/SDC15035.jpg

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t...k/SDC14211.jpg

Yeah, I got my 5 ft 100 gallon Juwel Vision for my `big fish` off eBay for £300 including 5 large clown loaches, external filter, ocean rock etc. :thumb:

i would say ebay is the best place for tank :)

my tank from Ebay arrived today and my god it's heavy... !!! The link is in the top post and when the carpets are done I'll update this thread accordingly..

Should I use a dildo as an ornament and see if the wife notices lol...

that would be good to see the reaction on her face lol

Hi - sorry to sort of hijack this thread but been thinking about getting an aquarium for dining room-where i would put it i can fit a 3ft x 1ft tank and like look of ones that have the cabinet under them etc.

What sort of fish are good for a newbie to keep that dont require too much effort plus also how much leccy do these require to run? with lights and filter ( and anything else?)

Loads of tanks with cabinets available, especially on eBay http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3-foot-aqu...#ht_500wt_1287

To be honest if you`re gonna do it right any tank will be an `effort` ;) You will have to keep on top of your water quality otherwise whatever fish you have, however hardy they are...will die. To save on electric there are loads of LED lights available :thumb: