I have had saltwater tanks for 2 years!! I also have a 55g freshwater tank and I will tell you from experience that the freshwater is sooooo much easier and cheaper to take care of!!! I am putting in way too many hours on the saltwater tanks! I have 2 125g SW tanks - one reef/sump/refugium with 150lbs. of live rock & one all fish tank with around 75lbs. of LR. & 1.5" sand beds - I want to convert this tank to freshwater!! Is there a way to do this and keep the sand & Live Rock??? Can you use Tonga or Figi LR in a freshwater tank?? Any ideas or thoughts would be greatly appreciated! I may also get rid of the reef and make a freshwater tank - I haven't decided yet!! Thanks!
Moving From SW to FW
- Thread starter sdascher
- Start date
i saw a pacu at the denver aquarium that was 4 ft long!!!!!! these guys are NOT good aquarium fish and should not be sold in stores IMO.
congrats on the move bro.....i have absolutely no interest in the "salty" side of the hobby and after YEARS of doing cichlid tanks have no desire to set one up.
in a 125? there are many things you can do, you just have to decide if you want color, behavior, community, schooling, shoaling, etc. (with cichlids, many of these overlap)
if you havent had any cichlids before, you could soon become an addict like many of the rest of us.
you could keep african cichlids--mbuna ("rock dwelling") or peacocks or haps.
you could do some south american dwarfs (rams, apistos) or oscars, angels, discus, severums, uarus, etc.
you could do a pair of central american cichlids like jaguars, devils, trimacs, midas, convicts, etc.
what are you interested in having?
M
congrats on the move bro.....i have absolutely no interest in the "salty" side of the hobby and after YEARS of doing cichlid tanks have no desire to set one up.
in a 125? there are many things you can do, you just have to decide if you want color, behavior, community, schooling, shoaling, etc. (with cichlids, many of these overlap)
if you havent had any cichlids before, you could soon become an addict like many of the rest of us.
you could keep african cichlids--mbuna ("rock dwelling") or peacocks or haps.
you could do some south american dwarfs (rams, apistos) or oscars, angels, discus, severums, uarus, etc.
you could do a pair of central american cichlids like jaguars, devils, trimacs, midas, convicts, etc.
what are you interested in having?
M
Thanks for the comments. I am not sure yet what I am going to have as I need to read up on some of the freshwater fish and their care. Like I said I do have one tank already, but only guppies & neons! I never took the time or shall I say I never had the time to reserch other fish as I was so busy taking take of the saltwater animals!!
I will be back in a few weeks after I read more to let folks know what I decided to do!!!
Thanks Bunches!!
I will be back in a few weeks after I read more to let folks know what I decided to do!!!
Thanks Bunches!!
hey geko how big is your ball? i had a very nice male a few years ago that i ended up having to give up so i could move into an apartment....
i have also raised many other herps including paddle tails (which i found to be EXTREMELY aggressive) chinese, japenese (my fav), some of the U.S. plethodontids, marbled, tiger, and spotted salamanders....
obviously cichlids are my main passion, but just wanted to let you know that there are other herp keepers out there.
M
i have also raised many other herps including paddle tails (which i found to be EXTREMELY aggressive) chinese, japenese (my fav), some of the U.S. plethodontids, marbled, tiger, and spotted salamanders....
obviously cichlids are my main passion, but just wanted to let you know that there are other herp keepers out there.
M
I'd get a nice school of rainbowfish. They beat cichlids by a mile in my book. You can also plant a rainbow tank much much easer than you can a cichlid tank. You can also keep small S. American cichlids (and tetras, and barbs, and generally anything smaller than 6 or 7 inches) in a rainbowtank if you so choose. Its much more versitile in my opinion. Good luck and have fun.
OOO i wish i had 2 of those babies!.......errrr....125gal tanks that is.
You could keep some awsome Cichlid colonies with those tanks!.....with TONS and TONS of cichlids!!
errr can't answer anything on SW....but just wanted to chime in about your tanks and how much you could keep in them!
LMAO!!!! For some of us, FW is the darkside in which we can't pull away from to go into SW (the good side).......sometimes.
You could keep some awsome Cichlid colonies with those tanks!.....with TONS and TONS of cichlids!!
errr can't answer anything on SW....but just wanted to chime in about your tanks and how much you could keep in them!
Welcome back from the dark side.
i often enter the debate -- "are planted FW tanks the poor man's reef tank?"
i wouldnt tread the "salt" side of the hobby again for ANYthing.
cichlids just have so much to offer that there is no reason for me to go anywhere else really.
i would also second the rainbow fish idea, as they make a nice set-up as well.
they dont match the breeding/territorial behavior of cichlids though IMO.
M
i wouldnt tread the "salt" side of the hobby again for ANYthing.
cichlids just have so much to offer that there is no reason for me to go anywhere else really.
i would also second the rainbow fish idea, as they make a nice set-up as well.
they dont match the breeding/territorial behavior of cichlids though IMO.
M
lol. the petsmart here has them on occasion also.... they are extremely hardy aquarium fishes, they just get SO big.
i think the petsmart label says something like max size=30inces?
this is way on the small side, as i saw with my own eyes!
i guess they wouldnt sell very well if they actually told the truth, though 95% of the people i see in petsmart probably dont have a large enough tank to keep them at 30 inches.
in a perfect world pacus would not be sold at places like petsmart, but oh well........
M
they are extremely hardy aquarium fishes, they just get SO big. i think the petsmart label says something like max size=30inces?
this is way on the small side, as i saw with my own eyes!
i guess they wouldnt sell very well if they actually told the truth, though 95% of the people i see in petsmart probably dont have a large enough tank to keep them at 30 inches.
in a perfect world pacus would not be sold at places like petsmart, but oh well........
M
wow sdascher I'm finding my SW tank to be much easier than my planted freshwater ... are you using a protien skimmer? in your sump, I'm curious about all the maintenence you are doing to it, wonder if I am missing something.
anyway I really enjoy my SW tank, I have a 55 but I also have a 50 gal planted freshwater, and a 55 freshwater with a couple of java ferns so I can appreciate both sides of the hobby. I really enjoy the different organisms interacting in the SW aquarium.
I only wish there were cleaner shrimp fro freshwater.
anyway I really enjoy my SW tank, I have a 55 but I also have a 50 gal planted freshwater, and a 55 freshwater with a couple of java ferns so I can appreciate both sides of the hobby. I really enjoy the different organisms interacting in the SW aquarium.
I only wish there were cleaner shrimp fro freshwater.
Iv only had my ball for 2 weeks heh. He is about a foot 3 inches maby. He is four months old but in only 2 weeks he has become so fat. Im feeding him about 2-3 pinkies a week
Your right about paddle tail salamanders being very aggressive and not ment to be kept with other newts/salamanders. Some people i have talked to on amphibian forums had to find that out the hard way
Your right about paddle tail salamanders being very aggressive and not ment to be kept with other newts/salamanders. Some people i have talked to on amphibian forums had to find that out the hard way
Agree with AndyL - sell the rock and sand. You have to pretty well obliterate everything alive, then recure it fir freshawater (read rot off everything) , and someone else can always use it for their salt tank. You'll really have to scrub all the hardware as well, and you'll find some of it useless. Thought about selling everything and restarting from scratch.
2 * 125 - I'd do the amazon biotope, and a tropheus tank. I have both of these though, and I can assure you they're both more maintenance than the FOWLR/easy invert tank I kept! Those big water changes will kill you!
What fish do you have?
2 * 125 - I'd do the amazon biotope, and a tropheus tank. I have both of these though, and I can assure you they're both more maintenance than the FOWLR/easy invert tank I kept! Those big water changes will kill you!
What fish do you have?