Hi everyone,
I just found this site last night and had to join. I'm in north east ohio and currently running 4 tanks. I had to start out with a 10g because the girlfriend wasn't happy with the idea of an aquarium. She was worried about the expenses, smell and having to deal with dead fish. We are on a very tight budget so my first tank was a garage sale special, 10 gallon tank with lighted hood, metal stand, under gravel filter, a few cans of food, misc. decorations/plants/driftwood, air pump and natural gravel - $5 investment.
To show her how cheap this can be, I bought a dozen feeder goldfish that the netter allowed me to pick out. I got a good mix of color variations, some orange, some orange and black, some look like a pearl white - $1.29 investment. Now I had less than $7 invested and a fine looking tank considering what I had to work with.
Very quickly she took a liking to the goldfish when she saw how they followed her when she walked by. This was the first step to getting her hooked, now I just had to reel her in so we were in the same boat. Now when we go to any LFS I get her to look at all the different fish and tell her a little about the ones I know. Very soon she was already picking out fish she liked. She took the bait, the hook was set.
We go to a lot of garage sales and we find tanks and supplies on a regular basis. Now when ever I find a deal too good to pass up its easy to get her approval (if momma isn't happy, no one is
) I've since managed to pickup another 10g ($2) to add to the bottom of the first stand, a 30g long (free from a friend) with stand, and a 75g with wood stand ($10 at church rummage sale) along with a box full of pumps, and filters of all types and sizes (incredible find!) And last but not least, a little 2-3 gallon with glass top that was in a box filled with driftwood, plastic plants, air tubing and a few pumps.
Right now since I've not had the funds to get many fish I've got the two 10g tanks setup with goldfish, you might laugh but these are some of the happiest (thank you for not letting me get eaten) and healthiest goldfish you'll ever see. They are all growing well and in great health plus they were the bait that landed the big fish (the woman) so they have a home here for as long as they want.
The 75g tank had an 5" oscar, a 7" chocolate pleco and two leporinus (sp?), one about 7" and the other about 10" all 4 grew up together from babies. After awhile, for some reason the leporinus's decided they didn't like the oscar anymore and they torpedoed him. I new they were chasing him around but didn't realize how serious it was until it was too late, they beat him to death. A few days later the pleco was dead too, another victim of abuse from the leporinus's. I've had a couple of them in the past and don't recall them being so agressive, but back then they were in tanks with more fish.
Now the 75g has three small jewels, about 1.5" long each. I traded in the lep's for them and some other supplies I needed. of course now the search is on for the perfect tank mates for the jewels. I will build lots of caves and hiding places for everyone to hide, I also have some nice driftwood in there and I'll be adding plants at some point.
Anyhow, I've rambled enough for now - time to feed a fish!
Rocks
I just found this site last night and had to join. I'm in north east ohio and currently running 4 tanks. I had to start out with a 10g because the girlfriend wasn't happy with the idea of an aquarium. She was worried about the expenses, smell and having to deal with dead fish. We are on a very tight budget so my first tank was a garage sale special, 10 gallon tank with lighted hood, metal stand, under gravel filter, a few cans of food, misc. decorations/plants/driftwood, air pump and natural gravel - $5 investment.
To show her how cheap this can be, I bought a dozen feeder goldfish that the netter allowed me to pick out. I got a good mix of color variations, some orange, some orange and black, some look like a pearl white - $1.29 investment. Now I had less than $7 invested and a fine looking tank considering what I had to work with.
Very quickly she took a liking to the goldfish when she saw how they followed her when she walked by. This was the first step to getting her hooked, now I just had to reel her in so we were in the same boat. Now when we go to any LFS I get her to look at all the different fish and tell her a little about the ones I know. Very soon she was already picking out fish she liked. She took the bait, the hook was set.
We go to a lot of garage sales and we find tanks and supplies on a regular basis. Now when ever I find a deal too good to pass up its easy to get her approval (if momma isn't happy, no one is
) I've since managed to pickup another 10g ($2) to add to the bottom of the first stand, a 30g long (free from a friend) with stand, and a 75g with wood stand ($10 at church rummage sale) along with a box full of pumps, and filters of all types and sizes (incredible find!) And last but not least, a little 2-3 gallon with glass top that was in a box filled with driftwood, plastic plants, air tubing and a few pumps.Right now since I've not had the funds to get many fish I've got the two 10g tanks setup with goldfish, you might laugh but these are some of the happiest (thank you for not letting me get eaten) and healthiest goldfish you'll ever see. They are all growing well and in great health plus they were the bait that landed the big fish (the woman) so they have a home here for as long as they want.
The 75g tank had an 5" oscar, a 7" chocolate pleco and two leporinus (sp?), one about 7" and the other about 10" all 4 grew up together from babies. After awhile, for some reason the leporinus's decided they didn't like the oscar anymore and they torpedoed him. I new they were chasing him around but didn't realize how serious it was until it was too late, they beat him to death. A few days later the pleco was dead too, another victim of abuse from the leporinus's. I've had a couple of them in the past and don't recall them being so agressive, but back then they were in tanks with more fish.
Now the 75g has three small jewels, about 1.5" long each. I traded in the lep's for them and some other supplies I needed. of course now the search is on for the perfect tank mates for the jewels. I will build lots of caves and hiding places for everyone to hide, I also have some nice driftwood in there and I'll be adding plants at some point.
Anyhow, I've rambled enough for now - time to feed a fish!
Rocks
