[JC Nor7]

Originally Posted by Imnothungry

Pretty much. there are very, very few people in the US that can house them. that is the same way i feel about pacu, common pleco, iridescent sharks, etc



i have rummy-noses in my larger community tank and absolutely love them. i personally prefer the rummy-nose because they are not quite as every day as cardinals or neons which you see in every other tank with tetras. the way their tails move with the stripes also has a really nice effect as well. i already had a lot of blue in my tank with my rainbows and GBR so the rummy-nose tetras gave it a little more variety.

if you are going to do the 1 species biotope i would go cardinals. if you have a huge school and nothing else in the tank it looks pretty awsome. IMO community = rummy-nose, single species = cardinal

the best single species biotope tetra is easily the exodon/buck tooth. you need quite a bit of space and they are pricey, though. they are like mini-piranha but not boring as all hell

so a few different tank ideas here for my 75.

community tank with 10 denison barbs, 6 false julii cory cats, and 1 red tailed black shark.

biotope with a bunch of cardinal tetra.

biotope with zebra plecos.

[akward silence]

Originally Posted by Imnothungry

Siamese algae eaters are actually kind of a pain to come by in a lot of places. they are often confused for flying foxes (more so the inverse of that). honestly, the first time i have seen them in about a year was this last weekend when i went to get more flourish

blue botias are pretty bad *** btw, much cooler choice than clown loaches.


Oh, this lil cutie pie was for sale at the store when I stopped in on sunday...

That's crazy. I didn't know they weren't common.

I agree, blue botias look incredible and aren't the norm too

That's awesome, what is it? Looks like a gar kinda.

Jc: zebras!

[Imnothungry]

the biotope with the zebra plecos will probably get pretty boring after a short while. i would go with A or B. B to save money, A if you want to be more 1%.

i like A but that is probably going to be about $200 in livestock unless you get lucky. its not really THAT much but compared to the cards it is a ton.

the zebra pleco biotope would be even more. there is a local place that has really cheap zebras iirc. check here http://www.somethingfishyinc.net/main03.html. i stopped in there for the first time this weekend and they had a huges selection and i guess it is always rotating.


edit: that is a northern pike and it was about a foot long. this place had a bunch of musky there a few weeks ago but i guess they sold like hotcakes. they also have a few great barracudas, a few shark species in SW indoor ponds and they had a Nile Perch there a few months ago (i almost crapped my pants when i saw it, very surprised). I asked them about the perch and they said if i was interested they would have to send someone out to see my set up first, so at least they were being semi-responsible.

[ProtoxxPaintball]

Awk, the bigger the tank, the easier they are to take care of, applies to both salt and fresh.

[akward silence]

Semi responsible? What else should they do? That's way above and beyond.

I think my 180 will be my final fresh tank, I'm trying to find a bigger salt setup.

[Imnothungry]

Originally Posted by akward silence

Semi responsible? What else should they do? That's way above and beyond.

I think my 180 will be my final fresh tank, I'm trying to find a bigger salt setup.

its a nile perch, which is probably irresponsible to sell to anyone.

[akward silence]

Who knows, maybe that guy down the road has a 10000g tank made specifically for that fish?

My parents have some insanely wealthy neighbors, stuff like that doesn't surprise me anymore.

[Imnothungry]

i know there are guys with massive set ups around here but still, they are very few and far between. i just think fish like that and a. gigas should be left in the wild or a zoo

[akward silence]

Would you say the same about Payara (vampire fish)? I would, but they have one at my lfs. He, literally, frightens me. He's only about 6", I'll get a picture of him next time I'm over there.

[Imnothungry]

Originally Posted by akward silence

Would you say the same about Payara (vampire fish)? I would, but they have one at my lfs. He, literally, frightens me. He's only about 6", I'll get a picture of him next time I'm over there.

no because you can definitely manage those in an aquarium. i do not think they should be readily available at any random pet store, though. the only ones that get really big are armatus and red tails but you will be hard pressed to find those. i believe scombs stay around a 1-1.5 feet although they often mysteriously die in captivity with now warning signs. id bet it is a scomb, they are the most common and least expensive (i think you can ID them by a black spot on their gill plate).

they also do not get 6 feet long and 300+lbs like a nile perch.

if you are asking me if i would keep one the answer is no because i have no where near the space or ideal conditions. id consider red tails some day but i would require something massive and a lot of power heads to simulate a nice current. if i was going to get something that big and mean i would go golden dorados or african tiger fish (NOT goliaths) over payara.

[XshockadoctaX]

Well, looks like im moving into a rather large house next year. That means I'll be bringing my 55g up to school. I think I am going to do a random tank with emptied beer/liqour bottles as the decorations. Does anyone know a good process of clear coating the bottles so that the labels won't deteriorate and will not leak chemicals into the water?

I'm also going to be building a full stand with it and probably going to have a sump underneath. I will be upgrading the filtration system as well. Any suggestions?

[JC Nor7]

northern pike are quite tasty with some onions and lemon. lots of bones though.

used to catch and eat them in north dakota, along with the ABSOLUTELY delicious walleye.

i think a few perch, crappie, and bluegill as well.

[akward silence]

Originally Posted by Imnothungry

no because you can definitely manage those in an aquarium. i do not think they should be readily available at any random pet store, though. the only ones that get really big are armatus and red tails but you will be hard pressed to find those. i believe scombs stay around a 1-1.5 feet although they often mysteriously die in captivity with now warning signs. id bet it is a scomb, they are the most common and least expensive (i think you can ID them by a black spot on their gill plate).

they also do not get 6 feet long and 300+lbs like a nile perch.

if you are asking me if i would keep one the answer is no because i have no where near the space or ideal conditions. id consider red tails some day but i would require something massive and a lot of power heads to simulate a nice current. if i was going to get something that big and mean i would go golden dorados or african tiger fish (NOT goliaths) over payara.

They said his max size is 3 feet, I still consider that crazy for a fish like that. You'd almost need a huge species tank for him. I don't know enough about them to have a real opinion. I don't remember a black spot though, I've spent quite a bit of time watching him too.

I still prefer big friendly fish, like the Bichirs and black Ghost. I consider 12" to be a large fish

[Imnothungry]

Originally Posted by JC Nor7

northern pike are quite tasty with some onions and lemon. lots of bones though.

used to catch and eat them in north dakota, along with the ABSOLUTELY delicious walleye.

i think a few perch, crappie, and bluegill as well.

pike is alright, i caught a few early in october throwing spoons for trout but i always release them. the only fish ill keep are perch, walleye and sometimes steelhead and king salmon but that is mostly just for the eggs

[JC Nor7]

Originally Posted by Imnothungry

pike is alright, i caught a few early in october throwing spoons for trout but i always release them. the only fish ill keep are perch, walleye and sometimes steelhead and king salmon but that is mostly just for the eggs

you seriously have to try walleye. it's like the chicken of fish. coming from someone who really doesn't care for seafood.

[akward silence]

You make it sound so good JC, now I want some.

Tax money came in. Time to get tanked

[Imnothungry]

Originally Posted by JC Nor7

you seriously have to try walleye. it's like the chicken of fish. coming from someone who really doesn't care for seafood.

lol you think i have never had walleye? i live on lake erie, in ohio (its our state fish), ive had a **** load of walleye. yellow perch is a lot better but walleye is pretty good.

the best eating fish from around here is burbot. only problem is you have to go out on a pier in the middle of the night in the dead of winter to catch them and you will never see it in stores (its basically a fresh water cod)

[akward silence]

Originally Posted by Imnothungry

(its basically a fresh water cod)

That sounds fantastic

My leporinus and blue botias are coming in a few hours. I'm ****ing thrilled. I'll acclimate them to quarantine (same environment as my current main tank) then transfer them to the main while I'm finishing setting up the big tank.

[Imnothungry]

nice.

yea, burbot are cool *** fish. id love to keep one as a pet but they need really cold water and will only come into semi-shallow water in the middle of winter. here is a pic, they look a lot like snakeheads

[akward silence]

That fish is really cool. I wonder what the max size is and if anyone has successfully kept one in an aquarium.

I need to start looking before asking.

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/fo.../t-350687.html

[Imnothungry]

if its in freshwater ill bet someone on MFK has kept it. they get pretty large, i think around 3 feet. the largest ive caught was a little over 2 feet


they would probably be really, really boring fish to keep. they look cool but i do not think they are really active