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Have you started off one sort of tank then graduated to more challenging set ups?

Been faithful to the fish you first fell for? And still fascinated by those little suckers!

Who just knew what they wanted and went for it!
6ft species african cichlid setup
4ft marine tank from the get go


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~~~ My fish blow kisses at me all day long ~~~

OPTIONS SHOULD BE:

a. Still keeping same sort I started with (tell who you're so faithful to!)

b. Community then moved to species tank (what species)

c. Community then changed to cichlids

d. Freshwater then graduated to marine

e. Jumped in with marine - why not go for what I wanted?

(bugs mean posting a poll puts the options outta order, editing meant that some options dropped out.... sorry friends.... THANKS in advance for those who persevere and participate )

{sorry this bit is replicated.... I cannot edit the top section at the moment.)

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~~~ My fish blow kisses at me all day long ~~~

I don't consider marine aquariums "graduating" from freshwater. In my opinion, saltwater aquariums are not as interesting, attractive, or as challenging as advanced freshwater systems, and I have maintained many different reef tanks before.

Also, there should be an option for "all of the above". I still have most of my original fish and tanks, but I have added many new setups to my collection without taking any down.

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

I voted community then cichlids.

Really though, I started out with a very basic community tank. Then I started planted my tanks. Now I have 3 planted community tanks and I'll be setting up a cichlid tank soon. I also started with danios, then got tetras, then cories, then angelfish, and last rams...so I've kind of moved to more challenging fish (as far as stocking tankmates goes).

Great poll wishga!

*Kristin*

Natalie... I did ponder the use of 'graduate'.

A few points since it may be queried by others:

* It is intended as lighthearted
* I knowingly used it to prompt discussion (worked so far)
* Not meaning imply one or other type is more valid BUT......... see next point
* Multiple tanks means multiple skill level and extending knowledge base beyond one type of tank

Explaining in your post that you have added tanks without breaking any down is a great way to prompt sharing and further discussion in the community ..... so thanks for getting the ball rolling




Thanks for compliment GirlieGirl.... we meet again! See you in lots of threads I also particpate in... thx for support.



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~~~ My fish blow kisses at me all day long ~~~

I'd go for all of the above. I still have my 55g and it still houses Pecan the gourami and the 4 yoyo loaches which were my first fish. They've got to be at least at if not beyond the average lifespans listed on this site. It's still a community tank but as these inhabitants pass it's going to either be my ram tank or NA natives. Depends if I can find what I'm after. I've also set up several other tanks including a marine nano. A planted freshwater tank definitely rivals any marine tank but I like all the random little critters that show up in the rock. 8months later I'm still seeing new things in there.

Most of the above-

Still got my original community tank. All of the fish in there have been around for well over a year. None of them do anything really interesting, probably a result of me jumping in without knowing anything. I don't have enough Corydoras or Bolivian rams, and even the characin schools seem kinda small. But the tank is full now, so are no changes I'm willing to make.

The breeding tank was really sweet until the cichlids had problems. One of the females got ill and died quickly. Weeks later the healthy male just vanished. I suspect the other female in his disappearance. I don't pay much attention to that tank right now, as the fish are only growing. If I can move the female Apisto and get a pair of A. nijsseni or A. panduro, that will spark my interest in the tank again. I may wind up doing just that.

My newest tank is less than two months old, a sixty-five gallon saltwater. Definitely my favorite now, even though I had problems with the plumbing early on and it's noisy. All of the critters that keep popping up in the rocks are amazing, and the fish act more naturally than in freshwater. Probably because most come straight from the wild and are placed into tanks that do a fair job of replicating their habitat. Not like the average freshwater aquarium, which isn't stocked optimally and often features unnatural objects. My first tank sucks in that regard.

Though the marine tank is what I'm really focused on now, I don't know if I'll keep building on saltwater. There are still a lot of things I want to do with freshwater fish, some of which aren't really possible in a marine tank.

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

I'm still keeping basicly what I started with, small tropical community fish.

But I do plan on focusing more on small US-native species in the near future.

I still have the same fish i started with two pearlscale goldfish a catfish and a pleco just fyi

I started off with quite an eclectic mix - including trifasciatus Pencil Fishes and Anomalochromis thomasi Cichlids as a teenager, then tried my hand at an Angelfish species aquarium and watched them spawn. That was quite an experience.

Since 1994, I've been in the 'old faithful' category. Had Otocinclus and Cardinals since December 1994, kept Lemons and Rummies from 1995 until last year and the wipeout resulting from the water company poisoning my tap water (sigh). Dabbled with Venezuelan Rams in 1995, but instead of a pair I ended up with two males and they had to go to stop them beating each other up. Had Siamese Algae Eaters in 1999 as a temporary measure to nuke hair algae (job well done guys!).

Persevered with odd mixes of Corydoras as and when I could get them - had pygameus at one point but they weren't too successful, some triineatus sold to me as julii, a couple of bolivianus (or were they sodalis - who knows?) then I was bitten big time by the Panda Cory Bug and I've never looked back.

Tried Beckford's Pencil Fishes in 2003 but mine were weird - I had a group of psychotic males that killed off the females, then set about exterminating each other. Won't do those again unless I have at least a 4ft tank to put them in.

Intend at some point to try pygmaeus Corys again, along with habrosus and arcuatus, but that will have to wait a while, because the next plan is the long awaited return of Anomalochromis thomasi to my aquarium collection ... hopefully to breed!

Would like to try Rift Lake Cichlids, but want to do that properly - nothing less than a 6ft aquarium for those. A 72" x 24" x 24" Rift lake aquarium should be something to behold - and I'd have enough space in there for some of the hardcore ruffians that are beautiful but possessed of pyroclastic temperaments! One fish I'd want to keep at some point, despite the fact that it's basically Vlad the Impaler with fins, is Petrotilapia tridentiger, because the males are a GORGEOUS lustrous purple colour, once seen in breeding dress, NEVER forgotten.

One thing I'd LOVE to do is collect Characins. Odd ones. Neolebias ansorgei, Pseudocorynopoma doriae, Corynopoma riisei and Poecilocharax weitzmani are on my Characin "wish list". I also want to get my hands on some of those 'Junior Pandurini' Tetras that I posted a pic of in Tetra Talk.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

*sigh*

due to an untimely loss of my work-tank companions I will be attempting a setup new for me .......... shellies

Lucky the conversion will take a while.... have to get used to the loss of the guys that kept me company at work
for 4+ years.

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~~~ My fish blow kisses at me all day long ~~~

I couldn't change, what would I do with the fish I started with?

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I like to think that whoever designed marine life was thinking of it as basically an entertainment medium. That would explain some of the things down there, some of the unearthly biological contraptions

I dunno where to put myself. Ol' faithful maybe. I've always stayed with community fish, never cichlids. I have no interest for them. My interests lie in such completely opposite directions, that they are kind of similar. Hi-tech planted, and Hi-tech reef. I concern myself more with the non-fish life(corals or plants) in the tank over the fish. That's the way it will probably always be.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

I'm still keeping a betta. He's a gorgeous crown-tail named Merlin. On another note. I have upsized my tank and am trying new fishies, small community ones. Slowly making my way to my dream 150 gal planted discus setup.

Jbe.... Love the way you think big! Merlin sounds tres kewl.

matty... u must be very unique! More emphasis on the non-fish life in your reefs.... yeah, I can see the attraction to that. I bet you are a very patient person?

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~~~ My fish blow kisses at me all day long ~~~

I started out on barbs and goldfish, then i eventually left the coldwater species behind and went totally tropical and marine with a strong focus on tropical.

Then things got bigger. Much bigger. The communities got bigger, the species diversity became much bigger, and the rainbowfish started being a firm favourite and I went ballistic on plants. Then i started to get into catfish, and various niche species. A few cichlids too.

Then i started having little tanks for species that dont mix well like puffers etc. Basically my fishtanks are getting a bad case of urban sprawl, lol, with shanty towns spreading out from the main city.

Complex communities with a variety of types and forms remain my first and last love though. I just love lots of fish!

Voted Ole Faithful, Same tank & fish but added new & diffrent fish to it yes,

I voted community then changed to cichlids.

This is only partly true. I still have my planted community tank, but have now 2 other planted tanks set up specifically to each house one pair of apistos. They only have minimal tank mates, having 2 otos each & one tank also has 1 pencil fish. I'm hoping to one day successfully breed them & that's why the apistos virtually have the tank to themselves. They have had babies, but the longest survivor disappeared after 24 days.

I'll always keep my planted community tank, but I surprised myself by how much I'm enjoying my apisto tanks.

My husband has a reef tank, which I'm helping him set up & maintain. It is amazing to see what creatures & corals just "appear" in the tank but to be honest, I much prefer a freshwater planted tank. If his tank were mine, I'd be swapping it back to a planted tank in a flash.

Cheers
TW

I started off with an overstocked 10 gallon, I had done much reasearch, but that that time, people were stern on the 1in per gallon "rule" and I ended up with 2 corys, 2 tiger barbs, and 2 mollys..later on I would get my first betta...

Now, all I use 10 gallons for is betta breeding tanks and fry tanks..

In my 29 gallon I have a rather natural setup for them, with tiny inverts to keep the ballance, but i still have to collect the tiny shrimp on a regular basis..in the tank, I have natural plants from Lake Champlain that are thriving, but, because some of the plants can reach over 4ft tall, they have to always be kept in check, if you look into the tank, and look around all the nooks and hiding places, it appears to keep going, an effect i'm proud of..The fish in there are thriving, and include:
~3 Tesselated darters
~1 female betta
~1 male threadfin waiting for mates
~10 corys of 2 species
~5 fry from the lake, either yellow perch, or sunfish
~3 ottos
The fry will be leaving to a 55 gallon soon, but right now they are still very small, about a half inch and just getting a little color..

The 55 gallon is still being worked on lol, it has no substrait, a huge piece of drift wood/stump.. And lots of floating plants, i'm saving them for my friend, but hopefully she will pick them up very soon..oh, and its 3 inhabbitants, 3 young bass. it will eventually have about 4-5 inches of natural gravel, with only plants from the lake, and possibly a shoal of larger darters to pull up the bottom

Myy 20 long hold a pair of breeding Apistos, who are working on try 3of3 but this time its been a week, and shes still gaurding, and still has her breeding colors on, so i am very hopefull to get fry this time..

the 20 high is in for a change, or i'm going to sell it for something different, i will see if I can trade it in for a 20 long at my LFS..but it currently holds my female bettas and guppies

oh, and im getting another 55 soon, that tank will be a fry grow out for my bettas, but its going to be planted and have a handfull of Johney darters, and a large school of threadfins..

but my dream tank, is one over 100 gallons, I'm not clear on what i want in it, but I suppose its a tank randomness can support lol