# Aquarium/Fish People



## reptilefan95 (Mar 2, 2010)

Hey guys,

Here's the deal, i have recently gotten really into Nano Planted and Nano Marine Tanks, and im going to be setting mine up soon. 

The tank i have is a 45cm square. I have great lighting, good filtration and i can get anything else i need from the Aquarium i work at....

The thing is i am having trouble deciding if i should setup a nice Nano planted with some Crystal Red Shrimp and a pair of Apistogrammas ( i will also try to propegate some rarer plants)..
Or if i should setup a nano marine tank, with a bit of live rock and maybe one or two corals, and an orchid dottyback....

So what do you Aquarium people think? What is more fun? And which style of tank do you like?

Thanks~!!


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## Scleropages (Mar 2, 2010)

If you can get a captive bred dottyback of AI then go for it , I woulden't put a wildcaught one in that ( bad karma!) and the Apostogramma will LOVE eating all the CRS. I Woulkd go the marine with CB dottyback.


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## dottyback (Mar 2, 2010)

go Freshwater.


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## Gibblore (Mar 2, 2010)

Screw marine nemo can find himself, I would go fresh i have a lot of fun with different types of anbus taking cutting's and making my own driftwood creations, and theres nothing better than watching american ciclids tend their young.


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## Sock Puppet (Mar 2, 2010)

Aussie native freshwater, some blue eyes or galaxias. And bumble bee or desert gobies.


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## miss2 (Mar 2, 2010)

def the freshwater!!! so much more varity, cheaper and eaiser to look after. im not a fan of marine tanks due to the way these fish are wild caught but thats my opinion.
i have a shrimp tank atm. have cherry's, tiger, zebra and blue glass!! i have them in one of my live baerers tanks and it looks great


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## cris (Mar 2, 2010)

If you go for salt water i would suggest getting an angler fish, they are awesome. Although i dont know where to buy them or a place to reliably catch them.

Depending on where you live you could probably catch a range of suitable freshwater critters such as gobies, gudgeons, shrimp, crabs, crayfish and other small lifeforms. Most native fish are pretty tough and often handle a wide range of water conditions. Apistogrammas are pretty cool, one of the few exotics i have kept, although i killed mine somehow after a few months, one was in bad condition when i got it and they are pretty sensitive to water quality.

A tidal type setup would also be worth considering, blennies would be cool in a small tank as well as tidal species of what i mentioned for freshwater.


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## benk01 (Mar 2, 2010)

nice little coral set up cant be beat!


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## Twin_Rivers (Mar 2, 2010)

Set up whatever you want to set up, it is you that has to look at it. Don't just set up a tank because everyone else thinks it is cool.


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## Lonewolf (Mar 2, 2010)

I've personally got a fresh water tank set up with a bunch of different bristlenose and a ghost knife. It's just so easy to look after! But that's just my opinion lol

If you have the time and money to set up and look after a marine tank, and that's what YOU want to do, then i say go for it. Do a little bit of research though so you know what you can and can't have regarding tank size and whether or not the fish and plants you want are compatible together.


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## JrFear (Mar 2, 2010)

go a pair of clowns!


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## wranga (Mar 2, 2010)

love the look of a marine tank with live rock and corals, but with a small tank heat could be an issue and you could end up with a dead tank. have found that having a planted marine tank only really works when you have a larger tank


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## Camo (Mar 2, 2010)

Why dont you go a nice little tanganyikan cichlid setup. You could easily fit some nice Neolamprologus Multifasciatus in there and have them breed like mad.

There are plenty of other shell dwelling tang cichlids that could go in that tank. Some sand and some shells and there you have it.

Or a pair of Neolamprologus Leleupi. They are a very nice fish.

Cameron


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## Lovemydragons (Mar 2, 2010)

I used to be a fish person, had fresh water. Gotta love the cichlids. I had jewels that had babies without me even trying or knowing for that matter. So cute when they're little! A lot of attitude and entertainment!!


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## absinthe_616 (Mar 2, 2010)

this thread is in the wrong area


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## reptilefan95 (Mar 5, 2010)

Any more suggestions, ive got a mate who can help me out with a planted tank,

Any pictures?


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## reptilefan95 (Mar 9, 2010)

?? Ive got a sort of a sstocking list, dwarf chilli rasobars, CRS, Bee shrimp and i have quite a list of plants


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## Flaviruthless (Mar 9, 2010)

Go freshwater  I used to have a mini south american tank. It was just awesome.


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## the-lizard-king (Mar 9, 2010)

go big and get sharks


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## corky (Mar 9, 2010)

Nano tanks are a real pain!!! The bigger the tank the better. I had both. The nano is really hard to keep cool as mini chillers cost a fortune. You will have problems with cynobacteria and algae blooms. You have to be really onto it for it to actually work. My 4x2x2 had next to no problems for over 4years. I would suggest a fish only system if you are doing the nano.

Reptiles are so much easier....


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## Hooglabah (Mar 9, 2010)

i m at month six of my first marien tank and compared to fresh its so hard everything has to be perfect or you loose the lot (worst case scenario) and ive learnt the hard way with marien that patients and reaserch really is the key. 

and my god is it expensive.

however if you do it all just right bide your time and add llive stock very slowly its so much more rewarding than fresh. with fresh i find what you see is what you get with marien even the rocks are 10x more facinating than fresh water fish.

jmo tho


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## Hooglabah (Mar 9, 2010)

I HATE CYNO but im winning slowly lights are off every other day i have almost 10,000 liters of flow (tanks only 200 L) and im about to upgrade the a marien source skimmer doing 1000l per hour. 

FREAKING CYNO SPECIALLY THE RED STUFF


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## naledge (Mar 9, 2010)

I'm going to say this in every fish/aquarium thread I see:

Get a Mantis Shrimp


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## morgs202 (Mar 9, 2010)

Hmmmm, both are pretty cool. I'm a big fan of the mini Amano style square tanks though. Also, nano marine tanks that size, whilst awsome, are really hard to keep cool. Personally, I'd go the planted tank, use mainly laterite as far as sunbstrate goes, decent lighting, flourish and maybe even a small home made CO2 system... Get the list of live stock you mentioned and you're onto a winner! Also, post pics of whichever one you do!


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## morgs202 (Mar 9, 2010)

naledge said:


> I'm going to say this in every fish/aquarium thread I see:
> 
> Get a Mantis Shrimp


 
Amen to that! I had a nano tank for maintis once! They are so freakin awsome! Actually, it was mantis shrimp and Aptaisa, so it was a pest tank! But damn was it good!


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## SLACkra (Mar 9, 2010)

I currently have a nano reef setup thats about 55-60 litres all up. I'd say marine is far more interesting than freshwater. My tank is crawling with worms and various invertabrates. It just takes a bit more effort and yes generally a bit more $.


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## corky (Mar 9, 2010)

Hooglabah, there is a product called chemiclean that gets rid of cyno over night!
Top stuff...in regards to lighting you should provide a natural photoperiod every day for your tank to thrive regardless.


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## morgs202 (Mar 9, 2010)

SLACkra said:


> I currently have a nano reef setup thats about 55-60 litres all up. I'd say marine is far more interesting than freshwater. My tank is crawling with worms and various invertabrates. It just takes a bit more effort and yes generally a bit more $.


 
Don't mean to hijack, but how do you regulate the temp?


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## SLACkra (Mar 9, 2010)

When my 150 watt metal halide run's on a timer along with a fan. Haven't had issues with temps yet. Other than that the tank is heated to about 26'C. Basically the fan increases the evaporation rate which in turn cools the tank.

Andrew


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## reptilefan95 (Mar 9, 2010)

thanks guys no pics though? well now it seems i have two tanks, i just got given a free one its smaller and is only 20 litres, but i might do a small planted for that one, then wait a while and do a marine for the other?


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## elliott (Mar 25, 2010)

hey mate I'd go marine for the 45cm cube. Use heaps of live rock and nice coral sand. Make sure you have a good light. You'll find all sorts of amazing things come out of the live rock. 

El


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## Jake_the_snake (Mar 31, 2010)

I have Malawi Cichlids and they are not too hard to keep.


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## ohhsweetness (Apr 14, 2010)

marine no clowns though lol


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## giglamesh (Apr 16, 2010)

have a look at nano reef just google it


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