Anyone know anything about fish? I can't have dogs or cats in my apartment, and my son loves fish, so I was thinking about getting some.

I've had a couple Beta fish in the past, and I don't want the hassle of a salt water tank. I've always wanted piranhas, and they sell some not too far from me.

Any advice would be great!

http://www.ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=46680.0

http://www.ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=9398.0

There are several species of carnivorous fish like piranhas, red terrors (cichlid) and Oscars.  They could all start off in a smaller 10-15 gallon tank but the tank size would have to increase as the fish grew and would eventually need a 50 gallon tank.  I've had all 3 of those species at one time or another and they were all relatively easy to care for.  Just make sure to keep the lid closed when not watching the tank and possibly keep a weight on the lid as they get larger because I have lost fish when they jumped out w/ the lid open and once even hitting a closed lid hard enough to open it and make it out only to find them dead on the floor hours later.  
Got to be a pain buying feeder fish when they got larger and could eat a dozen at a time but it's not to bad while they are smaller.

just be careful which fish you put together in a tank, like said above I used to have a bunch of cichlids which are great cause there are such a variety of them out there (they can be kinda aggressive fish). I also have had oscars which can be pretty rad but they def are aggressive fish and when I dropped one of these in my tank one time all my other fish lost their fins haha. The oscar had to be fed feeder fish which I felt had me cleaning my tank a lot more often because when they would eat them I would end up with lots of fish scales floating around everywhere.

rule of thumb is a gallon per inch of fish. Also the tank size will restrict the growth of the fish for the most part.
I used to set up salt water tanks for clients and owned both fresh and salt for many many years.
I used to breed Discus and had a 500 gallon tank with some nice big Discus. Those were my favorites.

Fish are a pain in the ass.

My advice is take him to an aquarium, or an office building that has a nice tank. He'll eventually get bored with yours, and then you'll be stuck with the hassle. 

Slat water offers so many choices IMO.  They do make some nice 6 gallon tanks for fresh water by Fluval that are easy to maintain. 

Quote from: Triple J on August 16, 2012, 03:50:33 PM
Fish are a pain in the ass.

My advice is take him to an aquarium, or an office building that has a nice tank. He'll eventually get bored with yours, and then you'll be stuck with the hassle. 

Supermarket lobster tank is another good spot.

Quote from: Scooter Montgomery on August 17, 2012, 06:30:58 AM
Supermarket lobster tank is another good spot.

Yep...we stop and say Hi to the Crabs and Lobsters whenever we go to the grocery store.  We also visit the fish at the pet store when we're picking up dog food.

If u plan on maintenance being a chore DON'T buy anything.   The more stock the more cleaning, common mistake.

I grow fish for a living.


What do I have at home? 3 koi in a 30 gallon aquarium. EASY. super easy. Hell, they don't care if you don't clean the filter for 6 months. 

(you should clean it though, just don't leave them in the care of your brother for 6 months  )


They pretty much will eat...whatever...and they can suffer crappy water quality with no problems, so if you're lazy they're the fish for you!

Plus they're colorful...and cheap.

I hand picked mine for free (perk of the job  ), and if they were from fancy Japanese breeders, they'd be worth hundreds (color patterns), but they aren't so you could get them for cheap. Just don't get them from Wal-mart. Pet smart is probably okay. Some of the private places have much better fish....but some of the salt water trade can be kind of shady.

I find it funny that there is Greasy-ness in the fish trade, but it's there!!! 

Buy a dog and tell your landlord you're blind.

Had to post these...

Cool tank.

They should probably get the dead guy out of there before he fouls things up though.

Quote from: Speedbag on August 21, 2012, 04:33:37 AM
Cool tank.  They should probably get the dead guy out of there before he fouls things up though.

I'm pretty sure that's a chick...

Anyways, I ended up getting a 10 gallon tank with seven cheap, small fish...  I wanted them to be ready for when my son came over, so I didn't wait the usual 24-48 hours for the tank to establish normalcy.  As a result, I'm down to one fish, but he's a hearty sucker so I think I'm okay.

I think I'll get the replacement fish sometime next week when I have the free time.  I'll probably ride the bike to go get them... Then I'll have Monster Fish!!