My fish room

[chris1932]

Someone posted asking to see pictures of other peoples fishrooms and breeding setups. It has taken some time to get pictures loaded but here is mine.

My room starts with source water. I have a well and the quality of the water as it comes out of the ground is not very good. I have a large pressure tank, contacting head water meter powering a diaghram pump that feeds an iron dispersant based on flow, there is a neutralite tank to adjust pH to neutral, a water softener to remove hardness, a UV so I can drink the water without getting the runs, and a whole house filter to remove solids down to 10 micron.

After the house treatment, there is fish treatment. I have a de alkylizer to remove alkylinity and adjust pH. Following the dealkylizer is a dual membrain RO, both produce 100 gallons per day and are low reject. Permiate water goes to a wet well that goes back to the area groundwater. Backwashes of treatment equipment go to a tote. The tank on the right has alder cones, almond leaves and peat in it, .3 cubic feet of each.

A tank fills and is my product water for water changes. Once the tank is full float valves shut off water to the tank and divert water to the drip system. It is at this point when tanks begin overflowing to their own drain system.

There are quite a few tanks in my system.

There are two display tanks. Both are 150 gallons. One is a tall and the other is a wide. The wide houses southeast asian torrent loaches and geophagus. The tall houses discus, angels, corys, and tetras.

The four foot wide hole in the racks is for this.

I plan to move all of the wild angels and my group of cory weizmani into this tank.

The following pictures are my amazon display tank and some of its fish.

 

[bigbird]

wow very nice indeed. Mice looking fish, especially the cupido and geophagus and discus.
Great set up. May I ask you, what do you do with all of the fry that you get, are you selling to LFS , over the net or is it just a hobby ?
Well done I am very jealous.

 

[chris1932]

Thank You Jan

I have a few local pet shops I sell fish to, I am picky about where they go because their survival is important to me. All of the 55s in the center island of tanks are for growout. Each has a small froup of corys in it to eat missed food. In my experience shipping fish is tough unless you are set up for it. The people who do it all the time have supplies and are set up with shippers. When I have fish ready to go I send out a list to the lfs that I like and if they buy I deliver them. This started as a hobby. I have always had a soft spot for loaches, the odder looking the better. I wanted to replicate their environment "fast moving waters" in a big tank. The 150 wide started out as a reef tank that I got used. I removed the corner overflows, resealed the tank and made the supply and return manifolds. Water in that tank flows at 30-35 gpm from right to left. Running the pump to do that got expensive and still is. The river tank rewarded me with fry from Sewellia, Schistrua,Danio, and Homaloptera. Two of which I have been told I am the first to breed in captivity. The tank was proof to me that if you provide the correct environment the fish will do their thing pretty much without intervention. I started breeding Angels because there are not many places around here that you can get them, and its easy if you have parenting pairs.
Sales have not yet offset the cost of opperation. But its close. Keep asking questions and I will keep answering.
Bev N you now have some catching up to do, Get busy. :biggrin:

 

[georgedv]

I was hopping for pictures of your fish room, not your local FishMart...LOL!
Extra ordinary!!! It must be a challenge to maintain such a room. However, it is so beautiful that it must be worth it.

Chris, thanks for taking the time to post these pictures. I know lots of time went into preparing this thread....I am now going back to drool over your set up.

Again thanks!

g

 

[chris1932]

George
I saw this morning that it was you who was looking to see fishrooms. Thank you for the compliment. I have some cleaning up to do. As you can see the basement looks like a bomb went off in it. I also took the time too look at some of the pictures I posted. You can see lots of little angels in the 55s, most are forms or orange/orange pearl and yellow blushing/yellow. I spend a half hour in the mornings feeding, and at least one hour in the evenings. It has gotten easier. I have a pretty good routine for working down there. Water changes on the center island are the hardest, I have the pipe and valves but I have not had the time to get fill water to the tanks. I have an old 50 breeder on a dolly that I siphon into. It works OK and the nice thing is if I get a fish by accident its not gone forever. I net it and put it back, then go drain the tank.
I am telling you wait till Bev puts hers up.

Psst....Bev I talked to Mark last night.....I know what came in:tongue:

 

[chris1932]

By the way Bev and I only live about 15 min away from each other, she is a wonderful woman and a good friend. I get a charge out of elbowing her on here.

 

[tjudy]

Great looking set up. Where abouts do you live (region of country is fine... just curious).

 

[bigbird]

Gday chris,
thanks for your reply. It is great when one gets to fullfill ones hobby. I have just 8 tanks and love the whole process of pairing fish, raising fry and seeing how they grow. I also believe to make the environment as natural as their home environment to mimic their region. Well done on your principals.
cheers jan-kurt

 

[chris1932]

Ted
I live in Spring Grove, Pennsylvania. I am close to a few people we both know, Ryan "Twofishguyz" and Lonnie Langione, over to the east I have Mark Denaro. If you're ever in the area my door is always open, I know you had toured a few fishrooms of people I know "Francine B". I am not a member of any local clubs but the group in Lancaster is pretty close.

 

[tjudy]

There is a chance that I will be along the eastern seaboard in June. I do not know iif I will get that far south though. I am back at the Captial Cichlid Association in October, but I do nto now how long that trip will be. Rest assured, if I ever get into the area I would let you know.

 

[chris1932]

Are you speaking at Capitol Cichlid? I have often thought about trying to put together a fish room tour. While I dont want to speak for her I am sure Bevs door would be open too. Getting there is a treat just to see Mr. Altum and soon to be a big group of U. fernandzepezi

 

[tjudy]

Yes, I will be speaking at the meeting. That is a three dayt weekend for many folks (Columbus Day on Monday), and i have alto fo family in the D. C. area, so I usually schedule a few days either side of the meeting and hang out a bot. Making a fishroom tour trip up into PA sounds like a good idea. I will mention it to Patrick Kelly.

 

[chris1932]

I spoke too the few people I know and they are up for it. If you are speaking I will be there.

 

[Mikey]

After seeing quite a few posts on different forums about fish rooms, i have but one question..........with all do respect for peoples lives/incomes etc.


How do you all afford these things????? I think i make a pretty decent wage, and to get a tank(a measly 38 gal) going for me and my fish-adoring 2-year old daughter is anything but cheap. The tanks alone are a lot of money, but the fish,equipment,food and everything else continues to add up. God help my wife if i win the lottery, cause we bicker already with just the little gaffer of a tank that i've got now. How do you folks watch ALL of these tanks as well? I can sit in front of mine for ages, but i would have sensory overload if i had just half of the tanks that some of you guys have. Definitely jealous!!

 

[chris1932]

Mike
The only new tanks in the entire basement are the two 150 extra talls. Every other tank is used, leaked, craigslist, ebay, exct. The breeders are not lavish setups, simple red flint sand, driftwood, sponge filter, heater and plants that have been propigated from the display tanks. I buy dry goods from either That Fish Place or Jehmco. Jehmco is the better of the two. It is expensive, but it is paying me back slowly. As a responsible person I feel that I do not own these fish I am their caretaker. It is my responsibility to do what is best for them and breed. Soon many of the fish we keep will have lost their habitat. We owe them so much.