AWESOME aquarium hardcore question

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cheezydemon3

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OK, in my 70 gallon half full aquarium........

RECIPE:

2 carnivorous baby turtles
25 or so assorted goldfish
1 gigantic crawfish


I am adding 2 BIG plecostamus to suck on the sides and clean the green gunk.

Kewalski....(said giant crawfish) is effing with the biggest Plecostamus to no end........

It is only day 1, but I am seriously considering removing kewalski's claws...
 
Here is the big effer.

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OK, in my 70 gallon half full aquarium........

RECIPE:

2 carnivorous baby turtles
25 or so assorted goldfish
1 gigantic crawfish


I am adding 2 BIG plecostamus to suck on the sides and clean the green gunk.

Kewalski....(said giant crawfish) is effing with the biggest Plecostamus to no end........

It is only day 1, but I am seriously considering removing kewalski's claws...

Nice, I used to have a 120gal salt water setup pre-marriage. I always had trouble with my triggers nipping at all my other fish. Been waiting for the right time to get back in. Stoked for you.

I would not pull the claws off. If you do, at least make a Po' Boy.
 
Nice, I used to have a 120gal salt water setup pre-marriage. I always had trouble with my triggers nipping at all my other fish. Been waiting for the right time to get back in. Stoked for you.

I would not pull the claws off. If you do, at least make a Po' Boy.

It is INSANE how much gunk these 2 have sucked... I appreciate the humor and advice!
 
That might be AWESOME;)

More pics

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Somebody Ps that one!!!

You can see the retard menacing the big guy....



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Those plecostamus have some tough skin I wouldn't worry to much about them, I used to have a 90 gallon with 3 large Oscars and one day one of them decided to try and eat one and unfortunately he didn't make it but the Oscar didn't get past his head cause of the thick skin it couldn't eat more of him. After a week or so they will figure it out for themselves. Good luck fish tanks are awesome!
 
Those plecostamus have some tough skin I wouldn't worry to much about them, I used to have a 90 gallon with 3 large Oscars and one day one of them decided to try and eat one and unfortunately he didn't make it but the Oscar didn't get past his head cause of the thick skin it couldn't eat more of him. After a week or so they will figure it out for themselves. Good luck fish tanks are awesome!

Like with brewing eh?????

Relax and HAHB etc....

I am a noob with the aquarium but it is BAD ASSed. Love the nature. It is like a Natural Geographic episode in my living room.
 
Drop a live nightcrawler in front of the crayfish, it's as good, or better than wild kingdom. If you add a couple more crayfish, it's a battle royale.
Regards, GF.
 
I've had tanks of various types for 25 years. Carnivorous fish were always a mistake. We had a huge pleco when we lived up north and that was a very hardy fish - I'd favor that guy.

I always had trouble with my triggers nipping at all my other fish. Been waiting for the right time to get back in. Stoked for you.
Regarding the triggers (saltwater), they were a serious hassle. Between them and the lionfish, nothing smaller than a bout 2" survived long.
 
Used to keep a tank with one HUGE crawdad. Id put shiners in the tank left over from fishing trips. Watching him hunt was more entertaining than watching TV - Pre marriage of course. That left at the same time as my coffee table/foot stool/cooler/beer pong playing surface.......still miss that thing.....
 
I grew a female blue yowie (New Zeland blue crawfish) from 2" to almost 2' in my 180 gallon cichlid tank. Like most crawdads, she re-arranged the bottom decor to her liking and hid for the better part of a year before she felt comfortable enough to move about in the daytime.

Turtles are nasty, messy beasts. So are goldfish (ammonia machines). Your plecos will be hardy if you can keep them warm.
 
we have a pretty big plecostamus in our 55 gallon tank that does a nice job with algae. our daughter wanted a small freshwater crab for our tank, though, and that thing wouldn't stop F'ing with it, either. same kind of thing, I guess. In our case, though, nature took it's course with the crustacean in a pretty short amount of time. so we never really had to figure anything else out.

aquariums are definitely cool, but they've been a royal pain, for us. my wife and I had a salt water tank for 4 or 5 years and had a tough time keeping fish alive. After a while, we finally gave up and switched to fresh water. We still lose fish more than I care to admit, but freshwater fish are MUCH cheaper to replace. haha...
 
the snapping turtles will eat the goldfish

Lol...that was the plan but the little buggars only seem to eat the dead ones.

I have 2 goldfish that I got 8 months ago that are now twice as big.

The tank really is fantastic. I have the filter cascading down onto the huge tower of rocks there creating several waterfalls. I have pitcher plants and venus fly trap sprouting on the top rock.

we have a pretty big plecostamus in our 55 gallon tank that does a nice job with algae. our daughter wanted a small freshwater crab for our tank, though, and that thing wouldn't stop F'ing with it, either. same kind of thing, I guess. In our case, though, nature took it's course with the crustacean in a pretty short amount of time. so we never really had to figure anything else out....

What happened? The Pleco didn't eat it.

aquariums are definitely cool, but they've been a royal pain, for us. my wife and I had a salt water tank for 4 or 5 years and had a tough time keeping fish alive. After a while, we finally gave up and switched to fresh water. We still lose fish more than I care to admit, but freshwater fish are MUCH cheaper to replace. haha...

It is nice when most of the fish are just swimming food.

I would hate to lose the plecos but I feel pretty good about their chances.


Forgot to mention tadpoles!! There are 9 or so that the kids caught in the creek. They are slowly frogging out and surviving.
 
I couldn't venture a guess as to what happened with the crab. I just wrote it off that it, like so many fish and one aquatic frog before it, met an untimely demise for reason that I can't figure out. We've had the water tested at least twice and it's been fine, supposedly.

Maybe it's just lousy luck, but it seems like anything that ends up in our tank has a 50/50 shot at survival.

Our pleco has does awesome, though. it's one of the oldest surviving tank inhabitants and has probably almost tripled in size, since we got it. If I remember correctly, though, we may have started with two...
 
Eh. Plecos are fairly cheap...

True, but I love the little buggars already...;)

I couldn't venture a guess as to what happened with the crab. I just wrote it off that it, like so many fish and one aquatic frog, met an untimely demise for reason that I can't figure out. We've had the water tested at least twice and it's been fine, supposedly.

Maybe it's just lousy luck, but it seems like anything that ends up in our tank has a 50/50 shot at survival.

Our pleco has does awesome, though. it's one of the oldest surviving tank inhabitants and has probably almost tripled in size, since we got it. If I remember correctly, though, we may have started with two...

Good to hear. I started with 2 also.
 
I've had tanks of various types for 25 years. Carnivorous fish were always a mistake. We had a huge pleco when we lived up north and that was a very hardy fish - I'd favor that guy.


Regarding the triggers (saltwater), they were a serious hassle. Between them and the lionfish, nothing smaller than a bout 2" survived long.

:off:gotta be a CAKE reference in your title;) They are incredible.
 
I loves aquariums! Had one back in the day. Beware the goldfish, though. They tend to create a lot of waste and can make some havoc happen if water changes don't happen frequently.

Do you plan on throwing some live plants in there as well? Keeps the water cleaner, and it's a good diet supplement to some fish.
 
i had piranhas for awhile but they overall, most are pretty skittish and shy so you rarely got to see them eat.

than i moved to african cichlids for awhile which were cool since its a lot of bright colors and they always swimming around

a school of exodons are pretty cool also
 
I loves aquariums! Had one back in the day. Beware the goldfish, though. They tend to create a lot of waste and can make some havoc happen if water changes don't happen frequently.

Do you plan on throwing some live plants in there as well? Keeps the water cleaner, and it's a good diet supplement to some fish.

Good thought on the plants. I got a few of those basic whatever they are, and they promptly croaked.

I need something OK with low light and not toxic to turtles.
 
I used to have 2 red eared sliders and a map turtle. The only low light plant that would do ok was onion plants. For some reason they did not like the taste. These were average size turtles. You might be able to keep a few low light plants alive while the turtles are small ie. (anubius, java fern, amazon sword) but once they get bigger I doubt it. They will eat just about anything. Good luck.
 
We've a 55 with mostly tetras of various types, a Chinese algae eater and two Yo-Yo loaches. We had three Yo-Yos, but one recently died. They're hard to find local. The Yo-Yos handled our Malay and Rams Horn snail problem in short order.

It's planted with Water Sprite, Anubias and two other plants I can't remember right now. One looks like Anubias.

We also had a big crawfish that we pardoned from the crawfish boil a while back. He was itty bitty then and grew to a good size before he died.

Here's how we handled a crawfish in the tank.

1. Hiding places. With plants, petrified wood and tile caves, the crawfish and the bottom dweller fish had places to be away from each other.
2. A piece of petrified wood that just broke the surface of the water so the crawfish could get some air. They like that. Just make sure it's away from any opening in the hood.
3. Gravel. They like to dig in it.
3. Keep the crawfish fed. Ours ate pieces of wet flaked cat food. We'd drop in a piece or two and it'd go right to them in a few minutes at most and eat til they were ate. We fed him everyday or two.
4. Algae. We get wicked bad bearded algae. I don't recommend getting it on purpose, but the crawfish would munch on that.
5. Uneaten fish flakes. Again, not a recommendation, but it would eat that too.

With all this, I think we kept the crawfish disinterested in the fish.

crawfish2.jpg
 
Oh yeah. Crawfish will mess up some plants. Best to get tough plants that grow fast or already have some size to them. If it won't let live plants live, get fakes.
 
image-1297048392.jpg

My nano reef with an ocellaris clown and toadstool leather.

This is the smallest salt water set up I've ever had at 8 gallons.



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The clown has decided to host the return nozzle if all things in this tank.
 

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Interesting setup hop spunge!


We've a 55 with mostly tetras of various types, a Chinese algae eater and two Yo-Yo loaches. We had three Yo-Yos, but one recently died. They're hard to find local. The Yo-Yos handled our Malay and Rams Horn snail problem in short order.

It's planted with Water Sprite, Anubias and two other plants I can't remember right now. One looks like Anubias.

We also had a big crawfish that we pardoned from the crawfish boil a while back. He was itty bitty then and grew to a good size before he died.

Here's how we handled a crawfish in the tank.

1. Hiding places. With plants, petrified wood and tile caves, the crawfish and the bottom dweller fish had places to be away from each other.
2. A piece of petrified wood that just broke the surface of the water so the crawfish could get some air. They like that. Just make sure it's away from any opening in the hood.
3. Gravel. They like to dig in it.
3. Keep the crawfish fed. Ours ate pieces of wet flaked cat food. We'd drop in a piece or two and it'd go right to them in a few minutes at most and eat til they were ate. We fed him everyday or two.
4. Algae. We get wicked bad bearded algae. I don't recommend getting it on purpose, but the crawfish would munch on that.
5. Uneaten fish flakes. Again, not a recommendation, but it would eat that too.

With all this, I think we kept the crawfish disinterested in the fish.

He now seems to be hiding from the fish. The big one is twice his size, so probably a good idea.

Thanks for the interesting post!
 
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The clown has decided to host the return nozzle if all things in this tank.

I just lost my clown (tank raised percula). Had it for at least 5 years.

In fact, I actually did lose it. I think it went over the overlfow and into the protien skimmer. He made it all the way through the skimmer to the sump once, and I returned him to the tank. This time I guess he just died in the skimmer. And returned to protien. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, we'll miss you Nemo.
 
passedpawn said:
And returned to protien. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, we'll miss you Nemo.

I had a similar experience with a blue damsel once, never did find any remains.
 
My 55 g reef tank in 2010 before I broke it down. The new job requires occasional travel which unfortunately doesn't leave enough time for upkeep.

I miss it, but I don't miss being tied to it.

fs8d5.jpg
 
I just lost my clown (tank raised percula). Had it for at least 5 years.

In fact, I actually did lose it. I think it went over the overlfow and into the protien skimmer. He made it all the way through the skimmer to the sump once, and I returned him to the tank. This time I guess he just died in the skimmer. And returned to protien. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, we'll miss you Nemo.

Eerilly like Nemo! Sorry to hear it. Guess fish can't really manipulate gravel intentionally.....

My 55 g reef tank in 2010 before I broke it down. The new job requires occasional travel which unfortunately doesn't leave enough time for upkeep.

I miss it, but I don't miss being tied to it.

fs8d5.jpg

That is gorgeous.

The real beauty of my setup is that it is almost self sufficient.

There is PLENTY of food for the turtles, plecos, and crawfish. Tadpoles and goldfish would be onto survival of the fittest, But I bet 2 months of no food or attention (functioning pump of course) and all would be well.

I dumped and did fresh water at the 4 month mark. I bet with the plecos I will be fine at 6 months.

EDIT: Dammit! Failed to mention that there also 12 or so small crawdads and 1 fish (from the same creek as tadpoles) and 3 white shrimp not from the creek.
 
Used to have a 55 gallon freshwater rig in my living room. Front bottom seal went out on it one night, flooded the living room and did $8,000 damage to my house (hardwood floors, ruined the basement ceiling, etc.) That tank got put out on the curb. Once my basement remodel is finished, I'd like to get another - maybe in the 125-250 range... but it'll be a higher quality tank, and solid acrylic if I can swing it. Thinking of going saltwater next time.
 
Used to have a 55 gallon freshwater rig in my living room. Front bottom seal went out on it one night, flooded the living room and did $8,000 damage to my house (hardwood floors, ruined the basement ceiling, etc.) That tank got put out on the curb. Once my basement remodel is finished, I'd like to get another - maybe in the 125-250 range... but it'll be a higher quality tank, and solid acrylic if I can swing it. Thinking of going saltwater next time.

Holy crap that would suck. I have always worried about that happening in my house. Did homeowners insurance cover it?
 
Used to have a 55 gallon freshwater rig in my living room. Front bottom seal went out on it one night, flooded the living room and did $8,000 damage to my house (hardwood floors, ruined the basement ceiling, etc.) That tank got put out on the curb. Once my basement remodel is finished, I'd like to get another - maybe in the 125-250 range... but it'll be a higher quality tank, and solid acrylic if I can swing it. Thinking of going saltwater next time.

I had a leak once too. Emptied half of a 45g saltwater into carpet. I don't remember how that got cleaned, but I do know I re-siliconed that tank and used it for a few more years. If anyone does this, use the right aquarium silicone, or else the next day the silicone will be floating and your tank will be half full again. Don't ask me how I know.

My current 90g saltwater tank is on hardwood floors. I really really hope it never leaks.
 
That's the other thing I don't miss. Living in constant fear that my tank was a ticking time bomb! Acrylic's are no guarantee against failure either.

I know someone that that came home to many gallons of stench on the floor because his protein skimmer decided to go haywire with foam production and overflowed the skimmate reservoir.
He's still not entirely sure why, but it wasn't mechanical. Some sort of event occurred that (possibly coral chemical warfare) caused his tank to go into a rapid crash. The water was dark green and almost everything was dead or dying.
 
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