At what point do you become a CRAZY fish lady?!

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GilbertonFisher

New Member
I am new to the fish keeping hobby. But I'm ADDICTED. What I'm wondering is when I will be dubbed a "crazy fish lady."

I have hobbies, salmon fishing, dirt bike riding, four wheeling, gardening, household projects, and the list goes on. But keeping fish is quickly becoming a passion. I have dreams of a fish room, or even their own building!! My mind is being overwhelmed by fishy thoughts and ideas. What is the most popular DE fish? How can I make a living from this? Ahhh!!

I have a 20 gallon 'night light' community tank in my sons room and a 55 gallon community tank in the living room. I love my fish, and I love to tend to their needs, so I decided that my catfish need more floor space...they are getting a new 190 gallon bow front.

But what do I do with my 55? I just upgraded the filtration on it so putting it in storage seems like a waste...hmmm.

Are there any FW fishy people in the Bremerton area?
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Ashley

New Member
Hey there! Sounds like you already are a crazy fish lady! lol. It's not like that's a bad thing!!! Trust me the tanks just keep getting bigger and bigger, then it get's even more crazy. I started with a 35 gal almost 2 years ago. The moved to 55 gal, then to 150 gal, 250 gal now we have a 450 and a 410 and are getting rid of the "small" tanks ;)


What kind of catfish do you have? Catfish can never have enough room lol, I feel like no matter how big our tanks are, they always wants more, kind of like children haha.

Also, about making a living off fish. It's a pretty hard thing to do to actually make a living. I would just do it as a hobby and not expect to make money, but if you do awesome! Our 450 is actually dedicated to leopoldi rays. You should look them up it's a really neat stingray and also go for $1000 upwards. I am going to get a little breeding group of them eventually and when they DO breed their babies also go for $1k+. But I will never do it expecting to make money because I want it to still be a hobby, not a job.

Anyways thought i'd comment since we have a lot of the same hobbies, dirt bikes, my boyfriend loves to 4 wheel and gardening and all that!

Ashley
 
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Spyral

New Member
Pretty much as soon as you begin to wonder if you are a crazy fish lady..you are a crazy fish lady.
 
Kaosu

Kaosu

New Member
bwahah!! its an infectious disease that can spread to others!

I started with small tanks.....

now i have over 80 gallons in my bedroom....i gave the sickness to a friend, in the from of a rather restarted/stunted dwarf garami ....and her tank collection has gone from a small hex tank to 29, and a few 10s and a 3 gallon.

..We are all crazy fish ladys...!!!! ^_^ and we love it.

welcome to the pack!!
 
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GilbertonFisher

New Member
So! Just picked up the big tank, a 7' monster! Question....where do I find lighting for it?!

Ashley, I have what we believe to be a columbian shark, a pictus, 2 lace, and 2 striped rapheals. Other bottom dwellers include 2 gold algae eaters, 2 corys and 2 plecos. I got this tank and stock off a gal moving out of the country, way overstocked! That list doesn't include the other community fish.

This whole drive my boyfriend has been telling me, "you're crazy...."

LOVE IT!
 
Kaosu

Kaosu

New Member
lol my boyfriend encourages it... i think he like the tanks as much as me..just doesn't want to do the work lol
 
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Ashley

New Member
Wow, Yeah that it a lot of stock! I like the colombian sharks they're pretty cool. We used to have a striped raphael and never saw the stupid thing! We got rid of it because it would never come out from under it's cave we seriously didn't see it for a good 8 months.

I guess I got lucky with the boyfriend. He is the one that got me into fish so he gets to deal with the not so fun stuff. (ie. pulling rotten food out of the tank, scrubbing the sides, fixing broken stuff, changing nasty filter pads) haha ; )
 
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GilbertonFisher

New Member
Yeah, the Raphaels are pretty lame even at night. Idont think I'll get rid of them though... any thoughts on what I should do with the 55? Maybe an aggressive bugger?
 
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finsandfeathers

New Member
Wouldn't worry about being the crazy fish lady LOL I have 40 tanks going right now along with kids & several other projects not counting a small shop that will be going in across the street so the local folk have some place to buy there community fish.
 
Madness

Madness

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Well, if you decide to go with the aggressive Cichlids in the 55, I would suggest you start out and use it as a grow out tank. Buy several small Cichlids around an inch. Let them grow together, they will learn to live together and wont be as territorial. But, the bad news :(, you will quickly fall in love with the personalities, and the attitudes of your Cichs. I believe that the Cichs think. My fish when they see me coming they all swim to the front. My sons? Nope, nothing. When I try to take pictures of them, they all seem to want a profile shot. AT THE SAME TIME!!! lol My big Dovi will not let his female flare her gills at me. When she starts to get pissy with me being there he smacks her around a bit, chases her off, and comes up to the front to see what I'm doing.

Cichlids are a crazy addiction. I am building a fish room in the back of my garage. OH, and your 55 will soon turn into something larger, if you go with Cichlids. Guaranteed. :)

Any questions on Cichs, feel free to ask anytime.
 
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GilbertonFisher

New Member
i was thinking melanochromis johanni, they are gorgeous! and stay fairly petite right? I will be sure to direct my questions your way when I get it going...

on second thought... maybe i should just ditch my 55 and 60 gal. corner for another big tank :twisted:
 
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GilbertonFisher

New Member
So I've decided my 55 will be an African biotope.....but which one! I had my heart set completely on Malawi but I keep seeing new and exciting fish. They have to be small and packed with color!
 
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GilbertonFisher

New Member
So it has been nearly three months since I picked up my first fish for my sons room. Today the tank count is as follows:
1g Betta
3g paradise fish pair
5g planted with an Otto and cheery red shrimp
10g guppy trio
20g community, killi, ABN pleco, cherry barbs, neon tetra, ottos, platy
55g Daffodil cichlids
190g community, penguin tetras, rainbows, tiger barbs, various gourami, plecos, cats

I am doing some rearranging in my dogs room and building shelving to consolidate the tanks into one room and to get my betta and paradise fish some more space.

I love this hobby!!!!!!!!
 
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GilbertonFisher

New Member
And I'm really excited to watch the stepped parenting situation with the older fry helping the parents. That is a really cool concept to me!
 
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GilbertonFisher

New Member
So. I am setting up a fish room, it will have 16 ten gallon tanks. There will be shrimp and guppies mostly and probably the shunned daffodils until they find homes. I'm kind of curious if i can get a spawn from my paradise after they mature. Right now we are having domestic violence and they are on a break.

My 190 gallon lost a member over the weekend, RIP Australian rainbow. They were all happy at breakfast Sunday and one was belly up a couple hours later. I'm kind of waiting for the whole group to die of old age, massive fish need homes too!

My colony of daffs are all happy and healthy. There doesn't appear to be a hierarchy established yet. The largest fish probably 2"-3" and the smallest is around 3/4". There is one deformed fish, it needs a new home. I can't let it breed and cant make myself cull it...

My betta wants his new digs finished, I'm sure he doesn't enjoy living right next to the porcelain throne.

Shrimp are doing well, just waiting for shrimplettes!
 
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GilbertonFisher

New Member
I am impatiently waiting for my black Moscow guppies to drop...it's almost as bad as when i was waiting to pop!

I have my shelving up in my fish/dog room, it will have 12 tanks on it. I'm sure i could cram more in there but i'm not keen on the idea of having 3 levels of tanks. I will move my guppies, paradise fish, and shrimp in there. I would like to get a pair of ABN plecos too, but in do time.

...there is not enough time in the day for fish....
 
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