Hello. Stay Fresh Or Go Salt?

C

cm11599ps

Small Fish
#1
Nov 13, 2008
30
0
0
#1
Hi, I'm Chris.

I've had a 55 gallon freshwater tank for close to 12 years now. Through the years I've had many varieties of fish such as gouramis, tetras, different sharks, crayfish, crabs, flounder, catfish, etc.......

Presently, I have 3 fish. I have a Jack Dempsey and a Parrot, both about 5"-6" long. I also have a Pleco about 8" long.

I've been wanting to get more fish for months now but I just got married 3 months ago and just moved the tank from my parents house to our new house this week. Since I was going to be moving the tank I didn't want to have more on my hands with more fish. Everybody survived the move and are doing fine.

Here's my dilemma and my 3 options.


1) Get an oscar, cichilds, etc... to keep with my current crop of fish
2) Exchange my current fish for things like black moors, neon tetras, etc.
3) Excahnge my current fish and go salt.

My current tank has 2 Aquaclear 500 filters ( I know they changed the model # and I'm not sure what it is now), standard heater, standard fluorescent light and gravel. I was told by my local shop that if I wanted to go salt that all I needed to do was change the gravel for sand and add salt. They said my filters and lights are fine unless I wanted live rocks and the like.

Any option above is viable for me, I just need some advice. My wife doesn't know what to do either. How sound is the salt water advice I got?

This has been an issue with me for some time. I like looking at big fish in my tank and everyone gets a kick out of it too. The thing is, people also get a kick out of just looking at a 55 gallon tank when they used to seeing 10 gallons. That's why I feel smaller fish would work well too.

Please, anyone with some advice? I just got back from the store and googled aquarium forums and popped up here and I registered. I'm going to go and read some threads and check back here later. Thanks in advance!
 

Plee_cO

Plee_cO

Large Fish
#2
Nov 5, 2006
153
0
0
33
Daytona Beach, FL
#2
Well first off you need to remember that lfs's want to sell stuff
they can be trusted sometimes but not all the time.
You could theoretically just do as he says (people do it all the time -fish only without live rock), but saltwater fish need pristine water. Due to this you should definately get a protien skimmer. For added filtration it is highly reccomended to have live rock. However, for live rock you need at least 3 watts per gallon. You would also need water flow and for a standard 55g which would require powerheads. Saltwater, as a proven general statement, is immensely more expensive so it depends on how much money you have to spend. For a well stocked tank of medium size, you would also want to look into a sump system in the future. Im not trying to shy you away from S/W because i absolutely love it and my 55g freh will be salt in the next two months. You just have to really research and think about whether or not you want to spend the time and money on a S/W system(i say do it!!!)
 

C

cm11599ps

Small Fish
#3
Nov 13, 2008
30
0
0
#3
Thanks for the reply.

For a S/W (fish only) they were telling me all I needed was to change my gravel to sand and purchase salt and that I could throw in some damsels pretty much right away. They said to wait a week or two before adding something else.

They said I only needed extra equipment (skimmer, new bulbs) if I was going for the live rock, anemones, etc... They weren't really trying to sell me on anything. Oh, he also said I could probably throw some kind of discs or something like that into my 2 filters if I wanted to go S/W.

K, now back to reading the forums!
 

brian1973

brian1973

Superstar Fish
#4
Jan 20, 2008
2,001
3
38
Corpus Christi, Texas
#4
Welcome to the tank...keep reading the forums..you will find TONS of good info, some disagreements here and there but hey were human..lol. Just continue researching.

option #1 very bad idea..you probably already know this but a 55G is to small for an oscar and your current stock.

you forgot option #4 buy another tank!!! LOL
 

Lotus

Lotus

Ultimate Fish
Moderator
#5
Aug 26, 2003
15,115
13
38
Southern California
home.earthlink.net
#5
Welcome to the site :)

To be honest, a better setup would be to empty the tank, add saltwater sand and live rock, a couple of powerheads (remove the filters) and a protein skimmer. Live rock is the best way to ensure a healthy saltwater tank. Live rock in itself does not need special lighting. Damsels are one of the worst choices, as they're so aggressive that they'll beat up almost any other fish.

A saltwater tank will usually cost a couple of hundred bucks for a simple setup; more for a reef tank (with corals or anemones).

Feel free to ask about setup/stocking in the saltwater forum!
 

C

cm11599ps

Small Fish
#10
Nov 13, 2008
30
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0
#10
I'm leaning towards staying fresh and doing a Sal tank in the future from the start, the right way.


So then staying fresh, should I then stay with my current crop (Dempsy & PArrot) or go more peaceful with black moors, neons, etc....

Such decisions! lol
 

F

FishGeek

Elite Fish
#16
May 13, 2005
4,294
5
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38
South Carolina
#16
No. Goldfish are way to messy to live with other community fish, get HUGE and also have different requirements, not to mention with your current stock you could forget them even living. How long has it just been your JD and Parrot?? Im worried that trying to add another fish may not go over so well.

BTW:
 

brian1973

brian1973

Superstar Fish
#17
Jan 20, 2008
2,001
3
38
Corpus Christi, Texas
#17
my recomendation as of now would be keep the jack, get rid of the parrot.

looks like Fishgeeks responded before I did..I thought black moors where goldfish but wasnt sure..why not look into some larger tetras?
 

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C

cm11599ps

Small Fish
#18
Nov 13, 2008
30
0
0
#18
FishGeek said:
No. Goldfish are way to messy to live with other community fish, get HUGE and also have different requirements, not to mention with your current stock you could forget them even living. How long has it just been your JD and Parrot?? Im worried that trying to add another fish may not go over so well.

BTW:
Click to expand...
There's also a pleco in there too.

It's been a couple of weeks now with just the 3 of them in the tank. The thing is, I got married during the summer so the tank was at my parents house. I just moved it to my house this week.

In the weeks before the wedding I had 2 other fish in there. One was what they called a nicaraguanese, or something like that. It was a dark gold fish with a dark spot kind of in the middle of the body. I googled it but didn't get a match. The other fish was a pale white color with a black line going from top to bottom of the body. The line may have been over the eye, I forget.

Anyway, the 2 fish in question are no longer with us. One died a few weeks before the wedding (Early august) and the other died recently.
 

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