K, so a friend picked up a 65 gallon tank last week and he's trying to decide on stuff to put inside for decor. He wants a natural looking tank. He's gonna have Oscars We have a few fish in now to set up the nitrogen cycle (I named one scooter cause he doesnt stop moving) but any sites you guys could provide that have pics of natural looking aquarium habitats or if its your own personal pics would be great! Thanks!!!

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RyuuAkago
AIM ~ GlitterGlowWorm Yahoo ~ Partyon247

ill get some pics tonigh of mine, i have real plants i dont like fake ones, and i hafe alot of flat "flag stone" rocks,
and an assortment of fish, everything from tiger barbs to angel fish, if you choose to have real plants, you might need to stay away from having snails and such because they eat the plants,

ill get pics tonight and post them

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Rich AIM: ONE FAST 2M8:
98 Black GTP 2 Dr
86se V6
Gold 86se 355 SBC,
92 BMW 325i

I have always like stuff like this......

http://naturalaquariums.com/discus/messages/290/301.html?1096646715

Put hotdogs in the tank. Either that or a printer cartridge. OK, back to being serious.

Kris

Here is a good site for all your pet needs: http://www.futurepets.com

quote Originally posted by $Rich$: if you choose to have real plants, you might need to stay away from having snails and such because they eat the plants,

He can't have plants anyways because of the fish he is choosing. Oscars are notorious for rooting up plants. It's going to end up being a tank with rocks and logs.

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quote Originally posted by $Rich$: ill get some pics tonigh of mine, i have real plants i dont like fake ones, and i hafe alot of flat "flag stone" rocks, and an assortment of fish, everything from tiger barbs to angel fish, if you choose to have real plants, you might need to stay away from having snails and such because they eat the plants, ill get pics tonight and post them

i have angels, mollys (hate them they are always doing it like rabbits), a clown loache that eats tiny snails, and a chinese algae eater..

the algae eater recently started getting agressive toward the angels and trying to suck their slime coat, and the tank is now over run with snails.. the snail-away solution didn't do anything at all.

55 gallon tank btw..

how to get rid of snails? (its infested with ramshorns as well as the small freshwater fellas)

only thing i can think of is a puffer - but that will eventually start to nibble ont he angel fish's fins

[This message has been edited by Kohburn (edited 01-12-2005).]

heres a bad pic of mine, i have never been able to get my camera to take a good pic of it

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Rich AIM: ONE FAST 2M8:
98 Black GTP 2 Dr
86se V6
Gold 86se 355 SBC,
92 BMW 325i

quote Originally posted by $Rich$: heres a bad pic of mine, i have never been able to get my camera to take a good pic of it

That is a very nice tank.

thanks, ita about 45 gal. the key to a nice tank is good filtration, i have a good filter, and a power flow that sucks from the undergravel and i keep it out of the light so no alge grows, i havent cleaned it in over 2 years, i just add water

I would suggest a limit of 2 oscars for a tank that size, but a plecostomas would work too. As for the rooting up of plants, they usually do that if they are nesting or if the water is out of balance (too acidic). Using small plants like ferns and hornwort will probably do the trick. Rocks and logs work too.

Also remember that you don't just feed oscars feeder fish. Infact, I would limit feeder fish to 4 or 5 a week, and give them frozen food designed for them the majority of the time. Feeders lack a lot of nutrients ciclids need, and you run the risk of infection when you buy feeders.

Good luck, and post pictures! (I'll post picks of my 30 gallon when I get it spring cleaned.

- Flamberge

Thanks for the advice everyone

As far as the upbringing and raising of oscars, he knows all about it

He doesnt like my suggestion for making the bottom of his tank look like bikini bottom (spongebob squarepants for those of you who dont know ) so I came on here looking for other decoration advice

i managed to get a decent close up and you can see the type of rock i use, ite verry fine, and colorfull i like it, i forget what it was called, but it came n a big tube like a sandbag tube and it was only like $12 for a 40 lb bag of it
and i have no idea what kind of fish this is, but he is atleast 4 years old

EDIT **WHOA*** i guess i clicked on the wrong pic to post HAHA, ill leave it just for fun and here is the correct pic

[This message has been edited by $Rich$ (edited 01-12-2005).]

HAHAHAHAHA!!!! That was a Freudian slip if I ever saw one. Is that a mermaid, Rich?

- Flamberge

(edited for grammar)

[This message has been edited by Flamberge (edited 01-12-2005).]

quote how to get rid of snails? (its infested with ramshorns as well as the small freshwater fellas)

I spent a long time trying to get rid of my snails. Finally I found something that worked for me, it's called Cupramine. It is an active copper snail "toxin". I took as many snails out of my tank as possible then bombed the rest like Hiroshima. The first dose didn't do much, it only killed the big snails but the second dose took care of every last snail in my little fish world. Be warned though I did loose 2 fish but over all I am happy with the stuff. If you have expensive fish you might want to take them out of the tank while the solution is doing it's job.

quote Originally posted by Kohburn: how to get rid of snails? (its infested with ramshorns as well as the small freshwater fellas)

Get a couple of Dojo Loaches, they're bottem dwellers and very none aggressive. But they will eat every snail they come across.

In my aquarium I have a pecasoumous(however you spell it lol) and to make sure no algae & w/e doesn't build up I have 3 albino corbys that feed on the bottom(once a couple days I drop a algae tablet to let them eat that). As far as decoration I got 2 large "bubble bars" which are you need either 1 really powerful air pump(which you connect the two bubble bars, like so Air pump --> #1 bar ---> #2 bar) or 2 small air pumps per bubble bar. It adds a very cool look having bubbles going up especially if you have plants nearby and I found after having the bubble bars the aquarium stays cleaner on its on ALOT longer. I have a mini cave thing, and I put it over one of the bars, so its cool having the air bubbles come out of it. The possibilities are endles, and thats not counting the bubble toys you can hook up also. I hope that helps.

LOL - That was good Rich, I liked it also. Click on the wrong picture - Yeah - Good one!

Mike

quote Originally posted by $Rich$: i managed to get a decent close up and you can see the type of rock i use, ite verry fine, and colorfull i like it, i forget what it was called, but it came n a big tube like a sandbag tube and it was only like $12 for a 40 lb bag of it and i have no idea what kind of fish this is, but he is atleast 4 years old EDIT **WHOA*** i guess i clicked on the wrong pic to post HAHA, ill leave it just for fun and here is the correct pic

That is one nice fishey.

guess i could give some more details about my setup.. i'll post a pic tonight.. and a correction the clown gobie is a clown loache.. he's one of my favorites in the tank right now other than my big black angel fish.. 55gallon tank - bottom is 1/2"-1" white marble stone - it has a blob of concrete, an old tree limb, and a few stacked bricks with failing plantlife (i need mroe plants) - the snails came with the plants - i have 3 angel fish, a black a white with a yellow crown, and a marbled.. a bunch of black and white molly's (started out as 4), and the chinese algae eater (need to take him back to the store he's about 5" long now and getting to aggressive for the rest of the fish.. oh and the tank is filtered and airated entirely by two emperor400 biowheel powerfilters (thats about 800gph flow rate combined)

with your help i've decided to get rid of the algae eater, get a bunch more plants, and a school of the loaches (aperently they don't like being alone), I may end up getting rid of the mollies and replacing them with the loaches and maybe a plecko if algae comes back. but the snails seem to have it covers

For a more natural looking tank, consider building up the substrate on one side of the tank. Also, try not to use dyed substrate as it never looks "natural" (if that's the look you are going for.)

My FAVORITE substrate is play-sand (rounded, orange-red silica sand, random particle size) and silica pea-gravel mix. It's a little more maintenance, but if you watch your ammonia levels for the first 6 months, (and you have an under-gravel filter) it'll keep your water so clean it's scary.

BTW, I wouldn't suggest this substrate on anything less than 50gal. You need a fair sized watermass too keep the bacteria in check. If its too small, the ammonia and nitrate levels will fluctuate too much, because the colony has trouble stabilizing. (well, it happens in large aquariums, but the water mass is such that it buffers the effects somewhat)

I love oscars. My favorite freshwater fish. I would guess I've had close to 2 dozen over the years. When they get big. Throw them in the pond. This was florida of course, they could survive. I have a 180gallon tank now thats in my basement. Maybe I should set up an oscar tank again. That would be pretty cool. And a lot cheaper than a saltwater setup(the way I want it for sure)

quick search found this

http://www.oscarfish.com/

Rich,
Does that "Fish" blow bubbles? LMK
Sincerely,
bubbles

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quote Originally posted by KissMySSFiero: Rich, Does that "Fish" blow bubbles? LMK Sincerely, bubbles

LOL

quote Originally posted by KissMySSFiero: I love oscars. My favorite freshwater fish. I would guess I've had close to 2 dozen over the years. When they get big. Throw them in the pond. This was florida of course, they could survive. I have a 180gallon tank now thats in my basement. Maybe I should set up an oscar tank again. That would be pretty cool. And a lot cheaper than a saltwater setup(the way I want it for sure) quick search found this http://www.oscarfish.com/

webmaster of oscarfish.com actually used to be my roomate - he gave me his old 55gallon tank which is how i got started

bask in AWE of my amazing snail raising skilz

I should be getting some more plants and loaches tomarrow morning

You can usually shock-treat an aquarium with Copper, since it doesn't usually harm vertebrates... But the watch for an ammonia spike 'cos it'll shake your bacterial colony

its recomended to have one oscar per 60-70 gals so i hope u only gettin one.
another good site is www.piranha-fury.com (they have tons of info on all fish species not just pygos)

I have mostly Cichlids in my tank, 2 algea eaters and 3 catfish. They are pretty hardy and I haven't had anybody die in about a year. The cichlids will dig a lot so I haven't been able to keep live plants. All my greenery is fake. I don't use gravel, but sand. The catfish keep it nice and clean!!

If you want your fish to breed, make sure they have places to hide. My lemon yellows and daffodils breed like crazy. The 'holey' rocks gives the little ones plently places to hide. I have had to thin out the herd about every 6 months otherwise they would take over.

Good luck with your tank. It is relaxing and enjoyable to watch.

Karl

thats a really nice looking tank you have, almost resembles a salt water tank, i like it!!

got any close ups?
i bed that big holey rock is spendy??

black angel with a black molly in front so it looks a little odd

this guy used to be white but developed an orange crown after a few months

one of my Loaches

and my fish tank helper

[This message has been edited by Kohburn (edited 01-15-2005).]

i got a few more pics of mine but its hard to get mine to turn out
what do you guys feed your fish?
i feed mine Tetra Min Pro and them every other day i give them a treat... 2 cubes of frozen Blood worms, they love them, its actually frozen Misquito Larva (i think) they carry them at major pet stores, the fish love them i have 4 baby angels that a buddy gave me, they were the runts/ handicaped from his last litter (litter,-batch, breed session whatever you call it)

quote Originally posted by $Rich$: thats a really nice looking tank you have, almost resembles a salt water tank, i like it!! got any close ups? i bed that big holey rock is spendy??

Thanks for the complement. My fish guy sells the rock based on weight so I get the ones with lots of holes!! Plenty of hiding places and not too expensive!!

Hard to get close ups, but here is one of my Frontosa and Mono.

Karl