Fishkeepa Posted April 3, 2006 Report Share Posted April 3, 2006 Hi I was just wondering whether keeping rockpool specimens like blennies etc was very hard and whether it could be a next step up from freshwater. I thought the rockpool fish would be quite hardy but i'm unsure about the setting up and regulating the water etc. Any feedback would be great. Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghostface Posted April 3, 2006 Report Share Posted April 3, 2006 its easier than a tropical marine tank, but keeping it cold is the biggest problem. i had a 50-ish litre cold tank for a while, but had a hard time keeping the temp down. was fun, those blennies have alot of character, they will dance for food remember those critters get a 100% water chance twice daily in nature too - long term you would need to sort out feeding, not sure what all those animals eat in the wild. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted April 3, 2006 Report Share Posted April 3, 2006 Coldwater rockpool marines are easy if you keep the temp 18C or less. Pref 15C. I set mine up using a 3ft tank and an AquaClear HOB filter. Just took several large containers down the Kaikoura coast and gathered rocks, sand and any critters I could find. This included red bead anemones, sea cucumbers, brittle stars, cushion stars, starfish of other varieties, chitons, hermit crab, rockfish, triplefins and lots of shrimp. We also had a baby octopus for a while (little escape artist got out though and fluffed to death on the carpet). Every now and then we would top it up with fresh sea water and drop in some sea lettuce for food. Otherwise we didn't do anything else to it at all. Summer and the room temp sat at 28+ and we were having to drop frozen 3L bottles of water in there to get the temp down. Too much effort. The inhabitants can take high temps for short periods of time (as the tide goes out) but not long term. Have since bought a chiller but not got around to setting up the tank again yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghostface Posted April 3, 2006 Report Share Posted April 3, 2006 id love to [re]do a coldwater tank, [free livestock mmmmmm] but need to get a chiller [and somewhere for the second tank] first. its cool to have a local tank Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puttputt Posted April 3, 2006 Report Share Posted April 3, 2006 Alot of that same equipment required depending on what inhabitants you want. I kept a local marine tank of about 800 litres for over 10 years. You need a good skimmer, a good biological filtration system, good lighting depending again on what you wish to keep. Regular water changes are necessary. i keep mine in a air conditioned room to keep temp under 20 degrees in summer. A chiller would be better. You will go through the same maturity issues that trop marine go through, algae and diatom cycles etc. There are some great livestock available at local beaches. West coast beachs on certain days (very low tide , minimal swell) can yield awesome critters and fish. I collected baby sole, baby moki, baby maomao, big eye, scarlet wrasse, leaf fish, hiwi hiwi etc from muriwai at different times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted April 4, 2006 Report Share Posted April 4, 2006 I never had a skimmer or lights and never did a water change in the almost 2 years we had the tank set up. Only topped it up as necessary. As a rockpool it didn't need these things. An 800L tank would have looked impressive! Of all the tanks we have had over the years, the rockpool marine attracted the most interest from visitors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puttputt Posted April 4, 2006 Report Share Posted April 4, 2006 Can't really agree that it didn't need it Caryl, you were just lucky They are neat tanks, my 2 girls loved it and they can get really involved in collecting for it. Now with my SPS reef, they can look but not touch :evil: When you say top up, I hope you were topping up with Fresh not salt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Feelers Posted April 4, 2006 Report Share Posted April 4, 2006 Hey Fishkeepa, I'm just about ready to put water in my coldwater tank - hopefully getting the holes for the plumbing drilled today. So not long.... My system is a 270L tank with a ~ 100L sump. I managed to get a 400L chiller unused for $450 but I think I was real lucky. I'm setting the whole thing up specifically for an octopus, but will chuck in everything I can find - they should all get along (or get eaten). Chillers are pretty expensive - and as people have said you can go without them, but its just something to be aware of. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishkeepa Posted April 4, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 4, 2006 Are the fish more tolerant of water chemistry? or are they very much the same. I have no problem buying a cooler if i really have to. I just like the idea of a rockpool tank that reflects welly's south coast Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
owen Posted April 4, 2006 Report Share Posted April 4, 2006 Iv been thinking about seting up a rockpool tank too. probably a nano 40-60L . with mainly shrimp and pods along with a few hermit crabs and snails because theyre tough and i really like shrimp. I think that rockpool life is more tolerant only to a degree as someones said they get 100% water changes twice a day. the animals that like in the highest rockpools are probably tougher than the that only live in the lowest pools. I guess that creatures from northland would cope with warmer water than those from southland? for cooling could you go open top with a fan blowing over the surface? and is rainwater better than tapwater for topping up? what would be really interesting would be a rockpool vivarium with big shore crabs... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.