Breeding house suggestions

[firetank]

like the fishroom, looks the business!!

the more i think about it the more i lean toward insulating(im a yorkshireman and we are definitely tight...)

wouldnt pay £15 quid for them but ive never seem them private advertised so may end up using trimar...

where abouts in cheshire are you??

 

[ste12000]

where abouts in cheshire are you??

Im in Runcorn, near to both Liverpool and Manchester..I would insulate before doing anything else, and get it nice and snug,It is a good thing to spend money on when first setting up and if you use Polystyrene its fairly cheap aswell, mine was £4 per 8x4, 2inch thick sheet. I recomend doing plenty of research on the web as there is always good tips from people who have been there and done it. Luckily i dont think i made to many mistakes, it wasnt cheap though as i beleive that if you are serious about it and will get years of pleasure from it then its worth the initial outlay, I think mine with tanks and all materials must of set me back a Grand easy. But people spend that on a new telly (I dont sit infront of the telly unless there is a good documentory about fish lol) or people spend more than that over a year in the pub (I dont drink)...It depends if you think you will get your moneys worth..I DID 10 TIMES OVER.

 

[firetank]

I recomend doing plenty of research on the web as there is always good tips from people who have been there and done it. Luckily i dont think i made to many mistakes, it wasnt cheap though as i beleive that if you are serious about it and will get years of pleasure from it then its worth the initial outlay, I think mine with tanks and all materials must of set me back a Grand easy. But people spend that on a new telly (I dont sit infront of the telly unless there is a good documentory about fish lol) or people spend more than that over a year in the pub (I dont drink)...It depends if you think you will get your moneys worth..I DID 10 TIMES OVER.

Im lucky in that I've still got all my equipment from my previous fishroom that was in my garage (a few years back now) so no outlay on equipment other than the tanks and racking etc, its definiteley worth the investment, dont really drink either and our old 21" tv does just fine hehe.Incidentally did you get the insulation sheets off a builders merchant??

Have you been over to Wharf Aquatics in Derby;they are generally quite well stocked...

 

[ste12000]

Oh thats ok, i thought this was your first time setting up a room. Mine is my first attempt, its been running since august now and its holding together fine.
Yes i got mine from a builders merchant, luckily thats where i work lol, i am a yard manager in a big busy sawmill and builders merchant. I get a decent discount on wood and Polystyrene..

Never visited Wharf aquatics although id love to. Ill get there eventually, i use pier aquatics in wigan quite a bit as well as the maidenhead aquatics at Bold heath Widnes, im a regular in there. Pier aquatics is ok at times for dwarf cichlids, iv bought all my Taeniatus varients from there as well as a few apistos. When you stock up your fishroom give microman (Mark) a shout he will supply you with top quality Apistos..

Right im going to bed now, its stupid o clock and im in work at 7.30am...

 

[firetank]

i thought that was a good price lol!!

its a while since i was there but itwas voted high again by PFK this year so I would think its carried on.... the big display tank is awesome,massive cats(red tail i think and huge Gar well worth a look.)

I fell out of fishkeeping for a while and never really lost the bug but situations didnt really allow for me to be an obsessive fishhead, but now weve bought the house and have a cellar I get to play again.. seeing Marks site 18 months ago gave me a bit of a reminder what I was missing, I drop onto his site quite often top notch.

well catch up with ya later, I have a 3 week old baby to sort.

 

[ed seeley]

Hi Craig,
There will be loads of Matadi when you're ready - noticed the parents have another brood of little ones earlier this week.

Wharf is my LFS! Happen to know they'll be having a load of Matadi in again soon from a certain breeder....
Richard's a great guy, who seems to sort the fish side out, and will always try to source fish if he can, but their lists don't always have things.

I know they're doing a complete re-fit of the Tropical section soon as that huge tank is pushing the wall out on the side of the building....
They also want to update all the tanks so they can hold more and display them better. Should be good if the new marine section is anything to go by.

Ed.

 

[ste12000]

This is where i did some of my research before i took the plunge and converted the shed...
http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/management/fish_rooms/index.html
Congratulations on the baby! is it your first??

 

[firetank]

will pick through those later lots of info there for sure..

thanks its our 2nd we have another little girl whos 3 in march so its hard graft till the new one is sleeping at night.. what about you??

 

[ste12000]

Iv got two, Ben who's ten and Kelsey who is six..We have got another little girl on the way, my missus is due late febuary, I wanted to call her guppy but the missus and kids settled on Grace..Its no wonder i built the fishroom its the only peace and quiet i get.....
The top article about the huge tank remains my inspiration and is what i will do if i ever get lucky with this lottery!!!!

 

[firetank]

Hi Craig,
There will be loads of Matadi when you're ready - noticed the parents have another brood of little ones earlier this week.

Wharf is my LFS! Happen to know they'll be having a load of Matadi in again soon from a certain breeder....
Richard's a great guy, who seems to sort the fish side out, and will always try to source fish if he can, but their lists don't always have things.

I know they're doing a complete re-fit of the Tropical section soon as that huge tank is pushing the wall out on the side of the building....
They also want to update all the tanks so they can hold more and display them better. Should be good if the new marine section is anything to go by.

Ed.

thanks need to get the finishing touches sorted before getting stocked up (cant wait by the way!!)

definitely will have to try get down that way sometime for sure at least we know they have reliable suppliers....

 

[ste12000]

Oh yeah iv struck lucky and found/bought the book The Cichlid Fishes of Western Africa by Lamboj.. The last couple of times i saw it for sale it was £28-30, i found it on Steven simpson books website for a bargain £17.50 delivered..I am made up with that, a nice early christmas present to myself..

 

[ed seeley]

Oh yeah iv struck lucky and found/bought the book The Cichlid Fishes of Western Africa by Lamboj.. The last couple of times i saw it for sale it was £28-30, i found it on Steven simpson books website for a bargain £17.50 delivered..I am made up with that, a nice early christmas present to myself..

Get Linke and Staeck's book too if you can. The species data is more out of date, but the habitat info is great. I'm hopefully setting up a new tank after christmas (that may have some P.taeniatus 'Bipindi' in :wink: :biggrin: ) that I'm going to very loosely base around a description of one of the collecting locations in there.

 

[firetank]

Oh yeah iv struck lucky and found/bought the book The Cichlid Fishes of Western Africa by Lamboj.. The last couple of times i saw it for sale it was £28-30, i found it on Steven simpson books website for a bargain £17.50 delivered..I am made up with that, a nice early christmas present to myself..

lol i got a copy behind me under the tree cracking price, did you find the mergus cichlid atlas??

iv got two, Ben who's ten and Kelsey who is six..We have got another little girl on the way, my missus is due late febuary, I wanted to call her guppy but the missus and kids settled on Grace..Its no wonder i built the fishroom its the only peace and quiet i get.....
The top article about the huge tank remains my inspiration and is what i will do if i ever get lucky with this lottery!!!!

do you get any help off the eldest or is it just dads hobby lol? febs a good time at least christmas is out the way for the sleepless nights.. we spent 9 months looking for a name and still didnt decide until a week after the birth.. how about dovii.....

 

[firetank]

Ed have you had any experience with any Nannochromis species??

anyone ever seen Tilapia Joka available??

 

[ste12000]

Iv got the mergus cichlid atlas 2, and Mark Breeze thinks he may be able to source a copy of vol 1... I am trying to find out when in 2008 the reprint is out as it might be benificial waiting for that to come out. My son is not interested at all, my daughter is though and helps with water changes and netting fish, she has a planted 30litre tank with a pair of A. Hoignei and a few microrasboras..It looks good.

Ed iv had my eye on that one for a while but was told that Lamboj's was by far the better book. If it has detailed Habitat info then i will certainly buy it, i like to know exactly where my fish come from so all detailed info is greatly welcomed. Do either of you know of any decent West African cichlid websites that i might of missed on my travels??

 

[ed seeley]

Ed have you had any experience with any Nannochromis species??

anyone ever seen Tilapia Joka available??

Yeah. I've had N.transvestitus and recently N.sabinae. Unfortunately have had rather bad luck/experiences with them. Kept the sabinae in a 36"x18"x18" and had to remove the females as the males were so aggressive. Then the males died for some reason and gradually the two females died too. Don't understand it as other seem to have found them a lot less aggressive than other Nanochromis!
The transvestitus were in a 2ft tank and the male killed the female in a few weeks, as soon as she looked ready to breed!
Both tanks were VERY heavily planted and filled with caves too!
Hopefully got some more Nanos coming soon to try and reverse this trend of bad luck!

 

[firetank]

ive got the first one and the second was supposedly the better version of the two id heard..I'd probably wait

I had a look for you on amazon - $200 on US site and nearly 400 euros from the continent!!!!!!

couple of sites:

http://www.lem.net/alf/westafr.htm

http://blackwaterfish.com/fishroom.htm

seen these before???

 

[ed seeley]

Ed iv had my eye on that one for a while but was told that Lamboj's was by far the better book. If it has detailed Habitat info then i will certainly buy it, i like to know exactly where my fish come from so all detailed info is greatly welcomed. Do either of you know of any decent West African cichlid websites that i might of missed on my travels??

I think as long as you realise that the species info isn't as up to date as Lamboj (and some of the photos almost look like they've been photoshopped!) then I think it has a lot to offer. Some of the collection details are really good, in my opinion anyway! :biggrin:

 

[firetank]

Yeah. I've had N.transvestitus and recently N.sabinae. Unfortunately have had rather bad luck/experiences with them. Kept the sabinae in a 36"x18"x18" and had to remove the females as the males were so aggressive. Then the males died for some reason and gradually the two females died too. Don't understand it as other seem to have found them a lot less aggressive than other Nanochromis!
The transvestitus were in a 2ft tank and the male killed the female in a few weeks, as soon as she looked ready to breed!
Both tanks were VERY heavily planted and filled with caves too!
Hopefully got some more Nanos coming soon to try and reverse this trend of bad luck!

thats a shame they seem to get less common on anyones stocking lists as time goes on... when i worked at the LFS we had N Dimidiatus on at £4.99 seems a long way away now....

 

[ste12000]

Hi guys, how are the tanks coming on Firetank?? Ready for stocking yet? I have just splashed out and bought a pair of Nanachromis Transvestitus, i have also found some Pelvicachromis roloffi, they are for sale in Bolton so i am travelling up on sunday to buy a pair..I will give you both a shout when/if i get some fry..