Hey everyone.

I was thinking the other day about marine tanks. Then i started thinking that i wanna keep fish from our oceans.

Is this possible? Is it the same setup as for marine tanks or is it muc more easier or complicated? For example thinking of small kahawai or yellow eyed mullet along with crabs etc.

thanks

Much the same, but you need to keep the water cold, in other words you really need a chiller.

Ohok, how much would a chiller set me back?

and most of the fish are too big to be kept in aquariums.

You can pick up 2nd hand chillers for a few hundred dollars.

if you need any questions answered give me a pm.... if you want to keep a nz temperate marine tank good thing is you don't need expensive ligting, bad thing is you need expensive chilling. a 1/4 hp chiller would set you back $300-$800 depending on new or secondhand and where you go. the fish i would reccomend are yellow morays (if you can ge them!!!), sprats or an octupus. another idea is a tidal pool tank containing kina, sea anemones, crays, starfish, crabs, or small fish.

Tidal pool tanks are cool. We used to have one.

If you ask questions here though, rather than PMs, everyone can see the answers and maybe try it themselves.

I would love to hear all about tidal pools.. and most of all I would love to keep a fish tank solely for a Leatherjacket... chiller units vary in price depending on brand.. hefty prices out there but well worth the money and effort of keeping cold water marines.

Native Tanks are FANTASTIC! :bounce:

I had FW tropicals until a friend suggested we go for a walk around the rock pools on the South coast of Wellington.

As a result the FW fish have gone and I'm currently setting up a 140lt NSW tank.

I started with taking things from the rock pools as they are use to living in a higher temperature zone ie: crabs, anemones, shrimp, Triplefin fish, seaweed covered rocks, starfish, mussels, limpets, brittle stars, hermit crabs etc basically anything that lives above the low water mark.

The tank is so full of life and it is fascinating to see how they all interact with each other.

Another bonus of Native tanks is getting out and collecting the critters for yourself.

When you want to get more stuff from below the low water mark then a chillier becomes necessary I picked one up from 'Duke' for $400.

I want to get some schooling fish like mullet etc as soon as the new tank is set up (this weekend. fingers crossed ). I did try Spoties and a mullet in the small unchilled tank but they did not last long.

Ultimately I'm work towards an octopus.

Hope this helps and good luck

Brent

Wow that sounds cool Brent, my little boy spotted the rock pool tank at the National Aquarium and flipped over it, I am rather keen to set him up one.. so anything around the rock pool area is fine? What temp does your rock pool tank sit at?

Muriwai Beach with no swell and low tide will get you Baby red moki, baby maomao, baby bigeye, leaf fish, etc etc etc. I know, ran a local marine for a number of years.

Yeah im really keen to start a Tidal pool tank with mostly shelfish, crabs and sprats. Would be really cool. What sort of price am i looking at for the complete setup minus tank?

When I set up a 3ft tank for marines, I just took containers to the beach and filled them up with water and gathered rocks and sand. I caught all sorts of critters from the pool then got the lot home and filled up the tank. Had an AquaClear filter running on it and nothing else. This tank went well except at the height of summer when room temp was 28 during the day and not much cooler overnight. Rock pools vary in temp as the tide comes in and cools it down regularly. The inhabitants do not like constant temps over 18C.

Octopi are cool but hard to see as they camopuflage so well. They are also escape artists. They can escape through the smallest of spaces. Ours was fluffed to death by carpet when he escaped overnight and was already dried out by the time we found him in the morning

IME octopus are just like Caryl says.They are extremely inteligent creatures.They will learn and remember all manner of tricks.

By the way,if anyone can raise paua and figure a legal way to post them to Ireland,I will pay handsomely!

So you didnt set up your aquarium up with all the gear needed for a marine tank caryl? just a Filter, and all ur stuff from the beach?

No Milet, just had the filter on it. No lights, skimmers, sumps, wave maker thingies or anything.

When you had the problem with the temp rise in the summer Caryl, how did you cool it off?

Now you have got me thinking :lol: :lol:

We were freezing 3L bottles of water to float in it but it was time consuming and the poor freezer was running constantly in an attempt to keep up. That is why we dismantled the tank until we could afford a chiller.

Although I must admit, we actually bought a chiller a few years ago but haven't got around to setting up the tank again :-?

Ohok caryl. Do you think the tank would get too warm in a CHCH hosue at this time of year? Or maybe in the garage wich is colder.

And if i was too set up this tank, would i have to replace with fresh seawater regularly? And Wat sort of filter would be good for a 250L tank

Depends on your house Milet and insulation. My tank was fine here over winter, it was the summer months that were a problem.

I rarely did water changes and rarely fed the inhabitants. Occasionally I would get some sea lettuce and drop that in. Not only did they eat it but it would be full of all sotrs of greeblies for the little anemones and things to eat.

I did top-ups when necessary with fresh otherwise went to the beach to get seawater.

im not too sure whether too use my 150L tank or my 250L tank. how often would i need to replace the saltwater? the ocean isnt very close to where i live lol.

I didn't change the water very often at all. About once every 3 months or so if I got around to it. You don't replace all the water anyway, just some of it.

ohok thats kool. and one more question for now, is any sort of filter ok?

I would assume so. I only used an AquaClear cos I had one spare

Be careful of metal parts as they will corrode in the salt

Awesome, well im definately going to start it up this weekend.

Only prob is, how the heck and i going to get 250L back home 20km from the beach lol. Maybe il have to start out with a 40L tank :-?

thanks!

When I was keeping cold water marines I made up a 12volt sump pump on a float with a short hose to get water from below the surface and pump it to 200 litre drums on a trailer. Ran it off the car battery. I am sure the salties would have developed even better ideas.