Members fish interests

[jinx]

first kept tropical fish back in 1986 in the u.k. finally got back into it when we built our house 2 1/2 years ago, i had a section framed out in the wall so you can see it both sides, and the tank weighed a ton, am trying to talk the missus into letting me set up a marine tank.

[Warren]

Hi, just in case my username is not clear, I am Warren, I am an electronics engineer. My main interests are Fishkeeping, HiFi, Electronics, Mountain Biking, Road Cycling, Rock Climbing, Caving and I used to be into Motor Racing. The Motor Racing got too expensive and one of them had to go; Motor Racing ... Keeping Fish, the fish won. I don't know which one was more expensive however!!??

I have been keeping fish for about 10 years. I started with a 900mm goldfish tank with 4 fish. Over the years things have grown a bit.

I now have 27 tanks.

There are 3 in the lounge:

1200L Planted Discus Tank (2400x800x650) - plants(lots), discus(15), neons(~150), rummy nose(~25), rams(6), SAE's(~20), Aquiden Cerviceps(6) (Dwarf Flag Cichlid). It used to have a Pink Tailed Chalceus but it bashed itself to death one night when I turned on the light (stupid fish).

700L Cichlid Tank (1850x620x690) - has Oscars(3), Chocolate Cichlids(2), Leporinis(1), Cigar Shark(1), Jaguars(2).

560L Round Tank (Diameter 900x1000 Tall) - has Mistus Catfish(1) and Borneo Tiger(1) (Datnioides quadrifasciatus).

Outside in the shed is the remainder of the tanks. They range from 30L to 250L. Most are on a central filter (keeps mainenance low - only 45mins a week to keep all tanks clean). There are 3 quarantine tanks and 2 breeding tanks not on the main filter.

Soon I will be adding another 10-15 tanks to the shed (extending the fishroom). Also the 700L and 560L tank will be moved from the lounge to the shed. This is to make way for the new lounge display tank. It has been mentioned in other posts previoulsy. I've just spent the last 3 days finishing the welding in the frame. Man its big (about 3000L). I will be starting a new thread sometime in the near future with photo's etc showing the progress. Included will be some design calcs for those who are interested.

[Deleatidium]

Warren, when I upgraded from my first 30L tank to my 150L tank it seemed so big. It is adequate for me at present but I want a bigger one. Your bigguns make mine feel very small indeed. Howver as I am a student in rented accomadation, the logistics and hassle of moving anything bigger are definitely an issue. What is the biggest tank you have had to move? I mean a set up tank that has had to be disassembled and reassembled.

[Caryl]

Warren was involved in the relocation of the fish and tanks in the public Napier Aquarium when they started their rebuild. Ask him to tell you about moving them! He wrote a great article about it. Perhaps we could get it posted here when Cees starts uploading them.

[Bruce]

Thought it was about time I wrote something as well :lol:

My name is Bruce, live in Napier with my wife Julie and 2 teenage boys..I work for Ericsson Communications in the Cellular and Data fields

My interests are F1 GP, Superbikes, Riding my own bike as well as Tropical Fish

I have 1 x 4ft tank , this has 5 x Silver Dollars ( Lawn Mowers From Hell.. so no plant at all) 3 x Boesemani Rainbows, 4 xRed Rainbows, 6 x Cory's, 4 x Keyhole Cichlids, 5 x Curviceps and 1 x Botia Striata...

1 x 1ft tank full of Male Guppys

I am also in the process of moving Kelly's fish room to my place this week which will increase the tanks to around 30 (I think) sizes ranging from 10 litres to 540 litres. Really loking forward to be able to do somme serious breeding in the near future

I am a member of the Hawkes Bay Aquarium Society so if any one from the Hawkes Bay reads this and is interested in joining the society please do not hesitate to contact me

Cheers

/Bruce

[Warren]

Hi Deleatidium,

Caryl is right, I did help relocate the aquarium setup. The largest tank we moved was about 3000L. It wasn't too hard however as there were lots of people and the tank was only about 600kg. I will dig out the article she mentioned and send it to Cees.

The largest setup tank I've moved was my 8 foot 1200L. It took quite a while and 6 people. It weighs 310kg empty so is quite a handful even for 6 people. It came in through my front door on its side (the tank is 690mm overall tall and the door frame 710mm wide - tight fit!). The gravel was the worst part, - scooping out 500kg of it by hand was lots of fun.

At the time the tank was setup as a general community type. Mostly rocks and driftwood and a few plants that grew rather poorly. As it was a relatively simple setup it only took the time to take the bits out and put them back in. It still took a whole day however.

Now it is set up as a planted tank. It still would not take long to empty, but to reassemble would take some time. Also a move would have to be very well coordinated to minimise the time the plants were uprooted. I cannot see why it would not be possible to move a tank this size with all its water saved (I have some 1000L drums to shift it in) in less than a day. It would take a few good friends and some hard work but should be no problem. This way the plants and fish could be returned immediately as if they had never been moved.

I have done this using the 700L tank a few years ago for our local pet-expo. Four of us attacked the tank at about 3:00pm on a friday and by 8:00pm it was all setup, filled with the original gravel, water, plants and fish.

The trick is to keep your filter running the whole time and only switch it off for the absolute minimum time. I moved the trickle filter (in both cases) to the kitchen sink. I filled the sink with aquarium water and started it cycling. This way fresh oxygenated water is kept passing through the filter keeping the bacteria alive. It only takes about 45 minutes for the bacteria in a fliter to start dying off big-time.

Once the 8 foot tank was set up in its new location the filter was then moved (at high speed - watching out for police radars). Once reconnected it was run for a couple of hours. After a couple of quick water tests confirmed all was ok, in went all the fish (transported seperately and stored in 4 foot tanks for the day).

Success, no dead fish, completed in about 9 hours.

It can be done, but its a big effort. You need lots of friends. Afterwards you usually have to find some new friends!!