OT: freshwater

[Discdogge]

I thought I had seen some members had fresh water tanks,
I want to get 50-65 gallon freshwater tank.

I wanted some suggestions on filtration. I'm not 100%, but thinking if getting fancy goldfish, my 2 year old would love it, and not too exspensive.
Wet dry? Canister?

I had also thought about oscars, but doubt tank would be big enough.

I'd love any suggestions at all.

Im also looking to buy a used set up- 50 gallon min.
Must have a nice stand, canopy would be a plus.

thanks!
Linn

 

[tank121]

I would do a general community tank ( tetras, barbs, cory cats, etc). Gold fish produce a lot of waste = lots of maintence.

 

[jbrekken1]

I had a 9" oscar in a 30 gallon with a pleco and catfish and they were happy. Penguin 330 kept it really clear. Great fish with a lot of personality. Used to peck at the glass if someone sat next to the tank. Would slowly darken, list to the side and sink to the bottom of the tank around 11pm when it fell asleep. I fed it a large capful of catfish pellets by quickly opening up the lid and dumping the food right into its mouth.

Normally I would recommend a fluval 304 or eheim if you can afford, but that tank was easy with the 330. Very well established was the key. They grew up together with that system.

 

[Lageo04]

Discdogge:
I've been keeping a freshwater aquarium for the last 6 years. It's a 46 gallon bow front. Filtration is simple but has worked for me. I have an undergravel filter run by a power head and under the stand I have a magnum 220 canister filter. I still have a angel, tetra, and cat left from the original stock of fish when I bought the setup. I bought the setup from a local super store and I believe they would have let me buy their whole stock. Keep the stocking of fish simple and make sure they all will get along with one another. (My angel made short work of the smaller fish I had)
Good luck and have fun.
George

 

[mpdharley]

With our freshwater tanks, the filtration depends on the tank itself (drilled or not drilled) and what we put in it. When I can, I like to set them up this way:

For a more community type tank: Tetras, Gourami, Discus, etc I like to use canister filters. It allows me to buy a non-drilled tank (the only time I would ever buy a non-drilled tank).

For larger fish (cichlids, Oscars, etc) I prefer a drilled tank with a wet-dry.

Mike

 

[Edge]

Goldfish are some of the messiest and dirtiest fish. besure you have a high capacity filter for these guys. I would suggest a wet-dry that allows for lots of mechanical and chemical filtration. I'd say about 4 fish at full size in a 55.
For fancy Goldies I like calicos, ryukins, and red cap orandas. These kind can still swim pretty well and can all fend for food aggressively.
The lion head(which has no dorsal), celestials, and bubble eyes are more difficult to care for in that they cannot swim as well as the others and/or cannot see as well to compete for food.
Also go with a small gravel since they are constatntly picking up and spitting out gravel. It can be easy to a large piece stuck in their mouth.
Good luck with them if you go for it.

ED

 

[mpdharley]

One note on African cichlids, if you go that route. From my brief foray into those fish, the two things that I recall from them are 1) they are mean a** fish (to each other) and 2) you have to over crowd your tank to keep them. The over crowding helps to prevent any one fish from being picked on to death. This also means that you ahve to have a very good filter (preferably a wet dry).

 

[Discdogge]

Thank you everyone for your replies

Thank you everyone for your replies

I did some thinking and researching, and just not happy with the results, so I decided to sell my nano cube(12g) and go for the 24g.
That will keep me pacified until the 180 gets started.

Thank you everyone for your advice, guess Im just hooked on the salty tanks now!


Linn
Rob, you got a PM