The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread

[shilala]

In my 17 years of saltwater keeping, I've killed over 5K worth of fish. Easily. Sometimes a couple thousand bucks at once. It is a painful, painful hobby.
It sure is nice when everything is going right, I'll admit that. I figured out what my most recent problem is. Now I just have to get the gumption up to fix it and wait the year it'll take till things straighten out.
I tried to give my fish tank away the other day but I don't want all the stock dumped in the garbage. So I decided I have a responsibility to the critters and I'll struggle forth.
I imagine my "want to" will return. I'd really just rather go back to keeping fresh water local fish like crappies and bass and stuff. That's FUN.

[4WheelVFR]

Originally Posted by shilala

I imagine my "want to" will return. I'd really just rather go back to keeping fresh water local fish like crappies and bass and stuff. That's FUN.

I love keeping natives as well. Definitely a cool list of fish we have to choose from, but you just can't replace reef keeping. Hell, I could be entertained by uncured live rock alone for a good month.....and that's a good thing, because that's how long it'll take to cure lol. Salt tanks are just awesome.

[Blueface]

Originally Posted by shilala

In my 17 years of saltwater keeping, I've killed over 5K worth of fish. Easily. Sometimes a couple thousand bucks at once. It is a painful, painful hobby.
It sure is nice when everything is going right, I'll admit that. I figured out what my most recent problem is. Now I just have to get the gumption up to fix it and wait the year it'll take till things straighten out.
I tried to give my fish tank away the other day but I don't want all the stock dumped in the garbage. So I decided I have a responsibility to the critters and I'll struggle forth.
I imagine my "want to" will return. I'd really just rather go back to keeping fresh water local fish like crappies and bass and stuff. That's FUN.

Scott,
After many years in the hobby and as a business, there a few simple secrets to not killing fish and having them live as long as 15 years, as my Emperor Angel.
1 - before buying expensive fish, buy all your expensive equipment, like an EETS skimmer and so on.
2 - and more important than 1, never, ever, ever add additional fish to your tank once populated. If you must, as hard to keep number 1, never, ever add fish to your tank that have not been quarantined for at least a few weeks. I always fresh water dipped them first for five minutes and then in copper tank for two to three weeks. Easiest way to kill established fish is to add new fish with parasites.
3 - see first two

For reefs, put in all your rocks and corals and run tank that way without fish for a couple of months, so that any parasites that may have come with th rocks die without a host. Then refer to 1, 2 and 3.

That worked well for my customers and me.

[OLS]

Originally Posted by shilala

I'd really just rather go back to keeping fresh water local fish like crappies and bass and stuff. That's FUN.

I know I have told this story in the Asylum, but when I was in college, I had a 29 gallon tank in my dorm room.
In it was just a plain old bluegill I had caught one day, kinda small. But it had grown to be quite a pet. I had
masking tape stretched across the top in a web to discourage leaps of faith on it's part. The reason I did that
was that down the center of the 4 man dorm room, a sweet, LARGE corner unit, there was a long, continuous
desk and above it a equally long bank of fluorescent lights, so I figured, "Why waste money on a lighted cover?"
One day I had a chunk of tubifex worms torn off the block and ready to feed and I got a knock on the door.
I put the chunk on a strip of that tape, and turned to answer the door. I opened the door and heard a LOUD splash.
I whipped around and saw the fish still in the tank, and worms floating out of it's gills. I thought WTF, and the
dude who came in the room said he jumped up out of the water. It hit me instantly what he had done, so I put
another piece of food on the tape and didn't have to wait but about 5 seconds and he jumped up and hit the tape
with his nose and the chunk of worms fell in the water and he scarfed it up. I used that as a trick from then on,
and people got a real kick out of it, especially stoned people, of which there were many over the ensuing months
in that dorm room. When I transferred to another school, I let him go back in Bayou Lafourche.