Any fishkeepers here? Saltwater or freshwater

[Dr. Johnny Fever]

Originally Posted by Lumpy

That's a start! You will need a pretty good light fixture to get your Dwarf Hairgrass to grow right. Depending on the size of the tank you get, a T5HO fixture should do the trick. The only problem is, if you go w/ a high wattage fixture like that, you would need to run a CO2 system or else you will have an algae bloom like you wouldn't believe!

A CO2 system is also expensive and can be too complex for beginners. Which is why I never went w/ CO2. I have a low-med light setup and dose a liquid form of CO2 called Excel. Originally I had a single T5 fixture, but I noticed that my plants were dying off. Then, last week, I added another T5 fixture and BOOYAH! they're taking off.

Planted tanks are a lot of fun, but if you're new to the hobby, it would be best to start out w/ low and move up to high. This way you can get a routine going w/ dosing fertilizers, and adjusting your photoperiod, (how much light exposure your plants will get during the day).

About your stock idea, it sounds good, except w/ the Mollies, Discus, and Cichlids.

Mollies are Brackish fish and may or may not do well in a freshwater tank. I had 3 Gold Dust Mollies in mine, and they did "ok", but they require a certain amount of salt in the water to keep them healthy. I would just substitute Mollies w/ Swordtails if you're looking at getting a nice group of livebearers.

As far as Discus, from what I hear, they can become aggressive and should be kept in a Discus only tank. The Cichlids in a community tank is a really bad idea. They are way too aggressive! Even if they don't technically "kill" any of your community fish, they could stress them out to the point where they could die.

Undergravel filters suck ass! Seriously! I had a partial UGF setup in my tank for about 4 months until I finally had it w/ the amount of crap/debris getting clogged beneath the grates. If you're looking at a tank larger than 75 gallons, I would suggest going w/ a Canister filter. Otherwise, there are some really nice Hang-On-Back filters. Just make sure that you get a filter that will accommodate your tank size.

Heaters are heaters, but just make damn sure it is made for your tank size. The best place to start would be to cruise the Petco/Petsmart sites and read reviews. While you're on the sites, you can also check out their fish and write down the names of the ones you like... then research away! Also, Petco has a compatibility table that will help guide you in your selection.

JFC! I wrote a damn novel!

Anyway, there's a lot to learn, but it sounds like you're motivated to get into the hobby. Just take things slow, research everything, let the info sink in, and never feel like an ass if you need to ask questions.

I'm trying to decide if DJ's or Lumpy knows more on the subject at hand... it's a face off!

[Lumpy]

Originally Posted by beer me

I'm trying to decide if DJ's or Lumpy knows more on the subject at hand... it's a face off!

DJ definitely knows his shit! I think he has me beat though... I know absolutely nothing about Cichlids.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Lumpy

DJ definitely knows his shit! I think he has me beat though... I know absolutely nothing about Cichlids.

Well much obliged, Lumpy.

I'll graciously concede that freshwater crown to you, though (or htismaqe w/ the late run). I know a fair amount about cichlids and that's about it. Everything else I just kinda chuck in there and hope they live.

When you have to cross your fingers and pray that your $100 Clown Tang starts eating in the 10 or so days it's going to have before it starves to death (and invariably it won't), you develop something of a callous attitude about the loss of a .99 cent molly. So I've not done nearly the homework I should on community fish.

And the plants are way above my head.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Well much obliged, Lumpy.

I'll graciously concede that freshwater crown to you, though (or htismaqe w/ the late run). I know a fair amount about cichlids and that's about it. Everything else I just kinda chuck in there and hope they live.

When you have to cross your fingers and pray that your $100 Clown Tang starts eating in the 10 or so days it's going to have before it starves to death (and invariably it won't), you develop something of a callous attitude about the loss of a .99 cent molly. So I've not done nearly the homework I should on community fish.

And the plants are way above my head.

I've got two mollies left in my FW tank - they were born in the tank before I was wise to how much of a nuisance livebearers are. And of course, because I don't really care much for them, they're as healthy as an fish you'll ever see.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

I've got two mollies left in my FW tank - they were born in the tank before I was wise to how much of a nuisance livebearers are. And of course, because I don't really care much for them, they're as healthy as an fish you'll ever see.

I had some tank-born cichilds that were freakin' indestructible.

I never figured out what was paired with what, but they were pretty obviously some form of pseudotropheus. The damn things were all the same orange color, even though I didn't have any red zebras in the tank.

It was kinda neat watching 'em because you could start to figure out which ones had a chance to survive. Every now and then you'd see one motoring about in the open water and you knew it was dead to rights. Then you'd see this tiny little orange dot stick its head out from under a rock then dart right under as soon as it saw you. You knew that one had kinda figured out that every other living thing in that tank would eat it so it had to lay low for a bit.

the mouthbrooders are kinda cool, until you end up with a tank full of orange mutt cichlids.

Originally Posted by htismaqe

My next large tank is gonna be Mbuna cichlids. I just haven't been able to talk my wife into it yet since I have 2 tanks and a large koi pond already.

I'm gonna flip back. My community tank sucks, I'm bored to death of it. I think I'm just going to drain it altogether and pitch the gravel (black and white gravel I've had since 2002). I'm going to go with fine sand as the substrate and either make a Tanganyika/Rainbow tank or just go back to the Mbunas. In either event, I've learned a lot more about rockscaping since I set up my saltwater tank, so I'm going to go pretty heavy on rock to make it work a little better.

It will take the better part of a weekend and the tank's in my office, so it will probably have to wait until after the holidays...at which time I will probably decide that it's not worth the effort again and just get a blue-jaw trigger for the reef...

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

I'm gonna flip back. My community tank sucks, I'm bored to death of it. I think I'm just going to drain it altogether and pitch the gravel (black and white gravel I've had since 2002). I'm going to go with fine sand as the substrate and either make a Tanganyika/Rainbow tank or just go back to the Mbunas. In either event, I've learned a lot more about rockscaping since I set up my saltwater tank, so I'm going to go pretty heavy on rock to make it work a little better.

That's where I'm going next.

My planted tank is black substrate (black Seachem Flourite) and with the wood, plants, and everything it's very "warm" on the color spectrum.

My next tank I'm gonna do Mbuna cichlids with rockscapes instead of driftwood/pants and white sand or small grain substrate. Since I won't have any plants needing 6500K full daylight, I want do like a 50/50 lighting setup (10000K/actinic ) similar to what you'd use with saltwater/reef and get a bluish "cool" color spectrum to contrast with the tank I already have.

[Skyy God]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

I'm gonna flip back. My community tank sucks, I'm bored to death of it. I think I'm just going to drain it altogether and pitch the gravel (black and white gravel I've had since 2002). I'm going to go with fine sand as the substrate and either make a Tanganyika/Rainbow tank or just go back to the Mbunas. In either event, I've learned a lot more about rockscaping since I set up my saltwater tank, so I'm going to go pretty heavy on rock to make it work a little better.

Tang tanks are way cool. Assuming you rock it up, there's usually little aggression. Julis, altolamps, shell dwellers, etc all work well.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

I'm gonna flip back. My community tank sucks, I'm bored to death of it. I think I'm just going to drain it altogether and pitch the gravel (black and white gravel I've had since 2002). I'm going to go with fine sand as the substrate and either make a Tanganyika/Rainbow tank or just go back to the Mbunas. In either event, I've learned a lot more about rockscaping since I set up my saltwater tank, so I'm going to go pretty heavy on rock to make it work a little better.

It will take the better part of a weekend and the tank's in my office, so it will probably have to wait until after the holidays...at which time I will probably decide that it's not worth the effort again and just get a blue-jaw trigger for the reef...

As I went back to see if I was just repeating myself in here (hint: I was), came across this one.

The tank is still sitting drained in my office a year later. I did throw the rock away and still haven't replaced it with sand. I did decide to get a blue-jaw trigger some months ago, though he had such a high metabolism that I couldn't keep him fed and he eventually lost enough weight to get sick and die on me.

Funny how often we know how our plans will actually work out ahead of time...