OK, Lets hear the crazy combinations...

crazyaqua

crazyaqua

Member
Ok i never do water changes but when the water evaporates i add RO water. I hardly test the salinty i use a swing arm and i just got a skimmer even though my tank has beening running for about 2 years with out it. thats the biggest thing i guess is i dont do water changes. Ah i feel better and the reason why i dont do water changes is because i base everything off how my fish are doing and if there eating well swimming and no diseases which i havent had then i see no need i know people say it replenishes the salt but to each is own
 
poniegirl

poniegirl

Active Member
If any of the posts here are contradictory to what that member has told any other member in the past, it is because they know the "right way" to do things and would never pass along wrong or risky info. That's one reason that this board is so great.
When you have been involved in SW for a while, you may tend to venture beyond the accepted practices and do some experimenting.
This thread is a pretty decent cleanser!
I try to be a good girl. I do water changes (tho I have never purchased RO water), I test, try to control my instinct to feed a fish that looks like he is starving. I have not lost a fish to poor maintenance. Matter of fact, I have the only fish that have been in my systems for 6 years, with the exception of 1 dissappearing fairy wrasse.
I keep controversial species together. Yes. And have been asked by some not to discuss it. I did recently post and it drew very little attention, so I don't think it's a big issue, as people may think.
 
cjml

cjml

Member
Originally Posted by oceana
i'm not afraid of the big bad reef police lol.
i have just about every type of coral you can think of all in one big tank.everythign from toadstools right next to SPS to zoanthids growing on brain rocks.
i have
three yellow tang
two hippo tangs
one sailfin tang
one midas
two algea blennys
and 6 black and white clowns.
all in the one tank. total system = around 500 gallons including sump
Wow!!! Beautful tank!! Can I hire you as a consultant!LOL!!!
 
cjml

cjml

Member
Originally Posted by oceana
i'm not afraid of the big bad reef police lol.
i have just about every type of coral you can think of all in one big tank.everythign from toadstools right next to SPS to zoanthids growing on brain rocks.
i have
three yellow tang
two hippo tangs
one sailfin tang
one midas
two algea blennys
and 6 black and white clowns.
all in the one tank. total system = around 500 gallons including sump
Beautiful tank.......
 
xdave

xdave

Active Member
I had a 38 I called the rescue tank. I worked at a large distributor. I took home fish that were too small, too mean, injured, shy, and if no zoos could take them in time, the way too hard for a hobbyist to keep fish. I've had as many as four different butterflies at once, 6 tiny yellow tangs, whatever you could imagine. However the "just keep them a while" thing is way more reasonable when you work at a place that has that many species at once.
The too hard for a hobbyist ones I would keep until a zoo could take them, or they died of course.
 
S

saltfreak4

Guest
Originally Posted by Pyro
I honestly beleive anything my LFS owner says

(My dad has been buying off of him since he sold out of his garage in high school at least)
I don't quarantine fish
I don't do water changes (gonna have to after I swap my hair algae spawning miracle mud out sadly)
I don't use RO water for my imaginary water changes
I use my tank as an excuse to the parentals to have my girlfriend up to my room.
I also ordered $150 worth of corals online 4 days ago out of celebration of final day of school (off to PSU!!!)... without taking care of my 'slight' hair algae problem yet (darn miracle mud)
...I also laugh and point when one of my snails falls over and can't get back up until I flip it over =P.
Ok, feel much better

where is PSU??? Portland state?
 
poniegirl

poniegirl

Active Member
Originally Posted by Pyro

...I also laugh and point when one of my snails falls over and can't get back up until I flip it over =P.
Ok, feel much better

How mean!

PSU is Portland State. You know, with the letter P, it isn't easy to sound scholarly. My oldest daughter attends U of P.
 
S

sea_star

Guest
Originally Posted by saltfreak4
where is PSU??? Portland state?
Penn State maybe?? Well, I generally follow the tried-and-true things for the best chance of survival. But I did cycle with 4 damsels and 2 false percs. They told me the clowns would be fine -- they were and still are! One of the damsels died though. I use a plastic swing hydrometer and tap water with my water changes. (the tap water might be R/O, I'm not sure.) I only use a QT for the first week, just until the fish become less shy and are eating well. I'm still looking for another fish and I wonder has anyone ever kept a coral beauty with a flame angel?
 
robsw

robsw

Member
I set up what was supposedly a reef tank for my girlfriend, and because she really wanted it i told her that a HumuHumu Picasso Trigger was reef safe. Lukily when she spent like 500 dollars on her corals he did not touch a single one. Whats wierd is that it is still alive and i have yet to see it nip at a coral. It actually is a better sand sifter than anythin else in the tank. he takes the sand up in his mouth and swims around the tank filtering it having it come out of his gills.
You have ta promise not to tell anyone else tho.

I forgot- i use distilled water, not RO, i use a plastic swing arm hydrometer, and i dont dose the tank at all. But everthing is goin great.
 
S

saltfreak4

Guest
Originally Posted by Jmick
It always amuses me when I read that putting in two tangs, a lion fish and a dwarf angel into a 55 gal is a new concept. Also, keeping fish for a year or two does not equal success, when you can keep those fish for 5+ years without any causalities and maintain a healthy system then you might be mildly successful. For as long as SW tanks have been around people have been over stocking and it’s not a new idea. What most have learned is that in the long run it’s a better idea to add fish that are ideally suited for your system and IMO, a fish that can grow upwards of 8-10” and needs lots of swimming room is not suited for a tank that 48”x20”.

WOW! I have to have my tank up and running without ANY losses for five years to be considered mildly successful. I should quit now before I waste anymore of my time and the time of others on this site, because that is never going to happen for me.
 
S

saltfreak4

Guest
Originally Posted by PonieGirl
How mean!

PSU is Portland State. You know, with the letter P, it isn't easy to sound scholarly. My oldest daughter attends U of P.
Actually he lives in Pennslvania!!! I really wanted to know if he was coming this way, because I attend Portland State University. I know U of P, the private lutheran college, I have many forensics tournments there. There are more uses for the letter P in a college abreviation, which is why I was asking.
 
bobwire

bobwire

Member
Originally Posted by emmitt
My camera is horrible and the glass needs to be cleaned but here is the best full tank pic I could get. Let the flaming begin,lol

EMMITT, youre not allowed to post stills from the movie FN and say that it is your tank. LOL
Just kidding, That is a awesome tank. You should be very proud!
 
windmill

windmill

Member
A curly-q anemone with another anemone (condy I think) in a generic 10 gallon conversion to salt. Still had the freshwater pebble substrate, fake rock and fake plant and 10 w fluorescent "warm glo", no skimmer and a 15 gallon freshwater waterfall filter.
I was about 13 years old. Even then both fed and seemed to do fine for about half a year. Then my main tank cracked and I exited the hobby for a while.
 
dc-fish-e

dc-fish-e

New Member
Ok, this is really good- Ive had my current tank setup for about 4 years.......the only fish leftover from my "Angry Aggressive Fish Only" tank is my beautiful yellow bellied Dogfaced puffer whom Ive had 6Yrs.. I love him and his personality and couldnt get rid of him. He is in my newly reformed, "nice nice happy tank" with the following tankmates and no problems, seriously, the best combo of fish ever:
1- Lawnmower Blenny
1- Longnose Hawk
4- Green Chromis
1- Royal Gramma
1- Diamond Goby
1- Cleaner Wrasse
1- Fancy Foxface
1- Rusty Angel
1- Lamarks Angel
1- Shortfin/Dwarf Lionfish
The kicker is, Puffys also in there with blue hermits, a fighting conch, turbo snails and some cleaner shrimp! Haha........he eats prawn and mysis all the time too from my hands.
I have only seen him from time to time take a shot at the small crabs or snails, they have learned to not venture up the glass, and I will turn them back over when I see this.....the shrimp and he have this cleaning "understanding", and he has eaten goldfish in his past, but is reformed and no longer attacks smaller fish. He is actually shy of the other fish and hides often, or wedges himself into his rock spots until evening hours........I did add the shrimp in the dark and while he was not looking......
I also have two Angelfish in the same tank, OMG~~~~~~~~~~~
My Lamarks and Rusty angels have never fought once, and they swim along together in the tank and sleep under the same rock at night, why a pygmy and a larger angel which look nothing alike in size or color cannot get along in a large tank I dont know.....maybe luck?
I also have some low light starburst polypys and a leather which I received for free to try out and they are doing very well high placed on the rock and in medium water movement......
Now thats amazing folks~
 
dc-fish-e

dc-fish-e

New Member
In my first tank I cycled my tank with Blue Devil Damsels and got rid of them by adding my first Volitan Lionfish........as he grew the Damsels dissapeared?
 
1journeyman

1journeyman

Active Member
Ugghh... some threads should just die and be forgotten....
Ok, no flaming here, but I am going to express, as politely as possible, the problems with these kind of threads.
I believe it was Oceanists that pointed out the "law of averages". Look at some of the things posted on this thread... keeping fish in unhealthy environments, keeping fish known to fair poorly in captivity, not doing water changes, not using RO water, not QTing fish, etc...
The bulk of these things are due to a couple of things: Selfishness and blatant disregard for life on the part of the hobbyist, and laziness by the hobbyist.
Originally Posted by Murph
.....
Its unfortunate in the fact that we are not exactly at a point in the evolution of the hobby where brave new territories are being explored. Just think; if the types of attitudes I see today where prevalent twenty years ago we would all still be running UG filters. :joy:
Murph, this post, with all due respect, is nonsense.... You're not "cutting" edge in the field of marine aquatics by throwing a fish into a tank and seeing if it will die. "Brave new territories" are being explored all of the time, but it's done properly... by people willing to do the work neccessary. Your Cleaner Wrasse eats frozen, that's great. How many Cleaners die because they don't? How is your Wrasse "evolving" our hobby?
What would you have done if the Wrasse didn't take to eating frozen? See, that's the difference between research and irresponsibility. A responsible "researcher" has a back up plan in case the "experiment" fails. You mention Mandarins... WE'VE ALL SEEN THEM STARVE.... That's a fact. Individual success doesn't change that. By posting "I've done this" you encourage new aquarists to try it because THE THOUSANDS OF FOLKS who have failed what you've tried don't post.
For every "look what I've done" thread there are countless failures left unsaid.
This isn't a game to one up one another. We're dealing with living creatures. As a responsible aquarist it is your obligation to behave responsibly.
If your neighbor threw a puppy out in the back yard in the snow and said "I think he'll survive in the cold and I'm sure he'll find enough scraps to survive" you'd call the local authoritites. Could the puppy survive? Well, in theory... I mean if we threw 10,000 puppies out in the snow I'm sure there would be success stories. Would that be research? Would that be furthering the hobby of dog owning? No, it would just be cruelty.... Why is our hobby different?
Originally Posted by Murph
.....
Its unfortunate in the fact that we are not exactly at a point in the evolution of the hobby where brave new territories are being explored....
I hope we're never at that place in our hobby..... not the way you all have described it. Not doing a water change doesn't prove anything. Not using RO water doesn't prove anything,. Success stories not using QT tanks doesn't prove anything. Keeping a Mandarin, Tang, Cleaner, etc. doesn't prove anything nor does it advance our hobby IN ANY WAY.
Our hobby needs to evolve to where fish/inverts/corals etc. are seen as living creatures. At that point our hobby will truly make an impact on preserving the wild reefs and habitats of the world.
What you all are describing isn't evolution, it's just the opposite.
 
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