Used to be pretty into salt and fresh water aquaria. Raised a striped bass seined from a stock pond to pretty good size, as well as a couple of oscars. Had a really, really nice big tank supporting a beautiful coral reef environment, dominos, rock beauties, coral beauties, moors, angels, blennies, etc. Really too many species over the years to recount. Had another dedicated to various anemones and anemone fish. It was such a relaxing place to sit and watch, transfixed sometimes for hours on end.
Oh, one of my cats was half manx. With his long rear legs he looked a lot like a Funny Car on the quarter mile track.
I once lived in an apartment overrun by roaches. I detest the scuttling, nasty little things more than you can imagine. I caught a tiny one under an overturned drinking glass one day, and decided to keep him as a pet, in an effort to get over my revulsion. After a week I gave up and squished him.
I doubt this type of thing is what the OP had in mind, tho…
What size tank did you have? What made you give it up?
Our saltwater tank has been up and running for about a year. My husband started first with a 55 gallon and wanted to upgrade to 75. He came home with a 125. I did this –> :dubious:
The tank crashed a few months ago and that was almost the end of it for my husband. He lost everything except the two clowns and the blenny. He’s been in the process of slowly building it back up ever since.
yellowval, I loved looking at those pics. Makes me miss mine terribly. It’s been awhile but I believe my salts were 150 and 95, and 95 and 75 for the fresh, plus a 20 gal utility/emergency if compatability was ever an issue.
I built my stands too, and for the exact same reasons. So terribly sorry about y’alls troubles.
Wow! That’s a lot of tanks. I’d love to see pictures of them sometime if you have some. We have the 55 set up upstairs as a quarantine tank. It was our own fault that we lost so many fish. We didn’t have the quarantine tank set up right away and could have probably saved some of the fish (we think they had ich, courtesy of a blue tang) if we had. As it was, we were able to save the two clowns by putting them in the quarantine tank for 10 days and treating them. The blenny never even showed signs of being sick. He’s the house favorite so we were happy that he survived.
What were some of your favorite fish? Any recommendations?
I started off hardy, 3 spot (domino) damsels and the like, and then got more ambitious. Frankly though, it’s been so long I don’t remember all the names or even all the species. Rock beauties, coral beauties, scooter blennies, moorish idols, various angels and butterflys, mandarians, etc. Kinda sad since I used to have all my reference book memorized but it’s literally been 25 years. For sheer enjoyment though, I just loved the clown perculas, especially when they were first establishing a relationship with an anemone.
I want a monkey. Oh how I want a monkey. Yes, I know that they are not suitable for pets, but I still long for one. I will dress him up in tiny clothes, teach him to dance and he will be my little friend.
Yeah, my husband wants a monkey too. I always tell him that there are two words that describe why he cannot have one: opposable thumbs. I mean, the cats can get up on the counter while we’re gone, but a monkey can get on the counter, open the cupboard doors, and take everything out. Not to mention that I’ve heard that once they get older they get really nasty, flinging shit and masturbating all the time. This of course is from the same guy who wanted to get birds until I reminded him that we have four cats living with us. I have this terrible picture in my head of coming home one day to a pile of feathers.
Now back to my fishy hijack: We started out with damsels too. I’ll definitely look into some of the varieties you’ve mentioned, lieu. We did have coral beauty but he died when the others did. I do love the percula clowns. We don’t have any anemones yet but they do do cute little dances with one another. The first time I saw them shake their little butts … er, tails, I thought there was something wrong with them.
You can get a single baby mantis? I bought an egg case from a nursery once. When it hatched, there must a been at least a hundred of those little buggers. (sorry, couldn’t resist)
My wife and I have chinchillas. It started out as one lone male chinchilla when we moved in together. He’d been her pet for a few years already. She thought he seemed lonely, so soon afterwards we adopted a female chinchilla whose owner was moving and couldn’t keep her. They got along quite well. A bit too well, in fact, and six babies later we decided to keep them in seperate cages.
Since then due to deaths and giving some of the offspring away, we’re down to four chinchillas - the original two, and two of their offspring. We don’t know how much longer we’ll have them - they’re getting pretty old and some are starting to show signs of illness. The condo will be a bit more empty once they’re all gone.
