Fishkeeping Survey

[TrashPastor110]

Hello, I need to survey fishkeepers for a college course I am taking, and I appreciate any and all replies!

• What is your race/age/gender/general location? (Give as much or as little information as you wish)
• How experienced are you with fishkeeping?
• What are the specs on the tank(s) you have? (Tank size, type of filter, and what is your tank stocked with)
• Have you had any issues concerning your tank in the past?
• How often do you change the water in your tank?
• Have you had issues with cleaning your tank in the past? (Such as needing to clean the tank more often than normal because the tank gets dirty too quickly)
• Would you consider buying a prefilter to filter out waste before it enters your filter?
• Do you have any past experiences (positive or negative) with prefilters?

 

[Colin_T]

white male, over 50, Australia.
been keeping fish since late 70s.

What are the specs on the tank you would get it for? (Tank size, type of filter, and what is your tank stocked with)

not sure what that means, rewrite it.

Have you had any issues concerning your tank in the past?

what sort of issues?
I have had tanks break, heaters cook fish, diseases, and I killed everything I had.

I changed about 75% of the water and gravel cleaned the substrate in all my tanks every week. I filled the tank with water that had been dechlorinated, filtered, aerated and had minerals added to make the pH, GH & KH correct for the species.

My fry rearing tanks got a 75% water change and gravel clean every day but the main holding tanks were only done once a week.

No I would not use a prefilter to prefilter the water going into the main filter. I would use a prefilter to stop small aquatic organisms (fish, shrimp, anemones, etc) from being sucked into the power filter.

Prefilters are great for stopping things getting sucked into the filter but they have to be cleaned regularly (every week) otherwise they dump a heap of gunk into the tank when you try to take them off to clean.

 

[Circus]

Female, white, 24, Western Wa, United States.

I have been keeping fish for a year and a couple of months.

Smallest to largest.
Everything from 5 to 15 gallons has 50W heaters. 20 to 25 have 100W. 29 to 55 have 200W. 80 and 90 will have 2 250W heaters. Lights are all led, most of them meant for planted tanks. Fone black gravel.
5.5 - internal filter 40 GPH, ramshorn and nerited snails and cherry shrimp. Water ferns and duckweed.
10 gallon 1 - petco preferred 55 gph filter, about 20 mysery snails in various stages of growth and an elderly platinum dragon betta. Fake plants only.
10 gallon 2 - Quietflow 10 filter, Dwarf Emerald Rasbora Juveniles, RCS, nerite snails, and 2 mystery snails. Black fluorite gravel. Medium planting. Bogwood.
10 gallon 3 - internal filter with 70 GPH, Crown Tail Betta, pond snails, ramshorn snails, nerite snail, mysery snails. Black fluorite gravel. Lightly planted.
10 gallon 4 - AquaClear 20, Green Butterfly GloBetta, RCS, MTS, Black Devil Snail. Lightly planted. Spiderwood. Black fluorite gravel.
15 gallon Column - AquaClear 20, RCS, Blue Marble Betta, pygmy corydoras, black devil snail, MTS, nerite snail.
20 gallon High - Quietflow 30, ember tetra shoal, pepper corydoras shoal, baby electric blue jack dempsey, adult female BN pleco, mysery snails MTS. Sand, very lightly planted, bogwood.
25 gallon - Aquaclear 30, Glofish Tetra, nerite snails. Bogwood, black and neon gravel, unplanted.
29 gallon 1 - AquaClear 50, brackish water, Orange Chromides, dalmatian Molly, guppy, wrestling halfbeaks, nerite snail, Mystery snails, MTS. Sand and crushed coral. Lightly planted.
29 gallon 2 - AquaClear 50, WCMM, Florida Flag Fish, Dwarf Chain Loach, oto catfish, MTS, RCS. Playsand, medium planting, bogwood.
55 gallon acrylic - Tidal 75 filter, airstone, Black Ruby Barbs, Harlequin Rasbora, yoyo loach, Bolivian Ram, Orange Chromide, neon and cardinal tetra, mysery snails, MTS, ramshorn snails. Playsand, medium planting.
80 Gallon - not yet running - Quietflow 75, airstone, fantail and oranda goldfish, dojo loach, WCMM, Black sand, medium planting.
90 Gallon - Tidal 75, airstone, GloShark is all so far, but the EB JD will be going in there as well as 2 Firemouth Cichlids and a Pink Convict.

I have had a few issues. Had some fish kill others, and my dog actually caught one that jumped out of a tank once. Had equipment break, had a cycle crash after a power outage.

I change at least 50% of my water every week, more for 10 gallons and smaller.

Never really have to clean a tank because it was too dirty really. I was doing daily water changes when the cycle crashed in my shrimp tank. Lost most of my stock.

I tend to use a coarse sponge for my pre-filter sponges, to prevent small floating plants or inverts from being sucked into the filter. I wouldn't say I have had a "bad" experience with one. Only took me a couple of days to figure out the cutting down a block of the coarse stuff was more economical than buying the fine expensive ones.

 

[Essjay]

What is your race/age/gender/general location? (Give as much or as little information as you wish)
Female, UK

How experienced are you with fishkeeping?
I have been keeping fish since 1996

What are the specs on the tank you would get it for? (Tank size, type of filter, and what is your tank stocked with)
As other's have said, I'm not sure what this question is asking. What tank would I get for what?
My current tanks are:
30 cm cube, red cherry shrimps, nerite snail; Eheim Pickup 45 filter
107 x 45 x 45 cm tank; 2 x Eheim Biopower filters; pearl gouramis, Trigogonostigma espei; kuhli loaches, last few elderly fish of various species, nerite snails, red cherry shrimps

Have you had any issues concerning your tank in the past?
Do you mean the tank itself, or the inhabitants of the tank?
Tanks: one tank developed a leak; with another the bracer bar/trim parted company with the back wall.
Equipment: only heaters just stopping working; one filter pump stopped working. One filter had to be replaced because the suckers got rigid and they were no replaceable.
Water: when I was lazy and did small infrequent water changes, I had a pH crash due to my low KH
Fish: whitespot and camallanus worms

How often do you change the water in your tank?
50% once a week.

Have you had issues with cleaning your tank in the past? (Such as needing to clean the tank more often than normal because the tank gets dirty too quickly)
No. The reason I now do weekly water changes is not because of debris on the bottom of the tank but to remove things we can't see dissolved in the water. Removing the debris is just part of this.

Would you consider buying a prefilter to filter out waste before it enters your filter?
Prefilters would not work with my filters. There is no way to attach a prefilter. Besides which, that's what filters are for - to catch the waste.
The nearest I have to a prefilter is the mesh over the intake slits of the Eheim Pickup, and that's only to stop baby shrimps being sucked in, not to keep the debris out of the filter.

Do you have any past experiences (positive or negative) with prefilters?
I have never used a prefilter.

 

[Barry Tetra]

• What is your race/age/gender/general location? (Give as much or as little information as you wish)
• How experienced are you with fishkeeping?
• What are the specs on the tank you would get it for? (Tank size, type of filter, and what is your tank stocked with)
• Have you had any issues concerning your tank in the past?
• How often do you change the water in your tank?
• Have you had issues with cleaning your tank in the past? (Such as needing to clean the tank more often than normal because the tank gets dirty too quickly)
• Would you consider buying a prefilter to filter out waste before it enters your filter?
• Do you have any past experiences (positive or negative) with prefilters?

• What is your race/age/gender/general location? (Give as much or as little information as you wish)

Asian, Male, Thailand
How experienced are you with fishkeeping?
I have been keeping fish since 2017.

What are the specs on the tank you would get it for? (Tank size, type of filter, and what is your tank stocked with)
I'm sorry, I don't quite understand what you meant as other member have said.

Have you had any issues concerning your tank in the past?
Tank chipped, leaking and cracks, most of them was my faults.

How often do you change the water in your tank?
Every 3 days.

Have you had issues with cleaning your tank in the past? (Such as needing to clean the tank more often than normal because the tank gets dirty too quickly)
Some of my tank are overstocked, thats's why I'm trying to do as much water change as possible in a week.

Would you consider buying a prefilter to filter out waste before it enters your filter?
Do you have any past experiences (positive or negative) with prefilters?
I have never used it.

 

[TrashPastor110]

not sure what that means, rewrite it.

Are you asking what my tank setup is?

I'm not sure what this question is asking.

I'm sorry, I don't quite understand what you meant as other member have said.

Sorry about the wording! I forgot to update that question, I have edited it now.

 

[Colin_T]

What are the specs on the tank(s) you have? (Tank size, type of filter, and what is your tank stocked with)

My tanks ranged from
18 inches long x 10 inches wide x 12 inches high
12 inches x 10 inches x 12 inches
30 inches x 12 inches x 15 inches
36 inches x 14 inches x 18 inches
36 inches x 24 inches wide x 18 inches high
48 inches x 14 inches x 18 inches
48 inches x 24 inches x 24 inches.

The smaller tanks have air operated sponge filters and were used for hatching eggs and rearing fry, through to breeding pairs of fish or keeping prs of dwarf cichlids.

The 3 and 4ft tanks had air operated undergravel filters, and were used to house breeding stock (mostly rainbowfish, cichlids and catfish. They all contained live plants.

The 4 x 2 x 2 had a reverse flow undergravel filter that was run from a power head. It was a heavily planted tank that contained barbs, tetras, perch, rainbowfish, loaches and a few different types of catfish (mostly Farlowella and Loricaria species).

The tanks were all kept in one room and the bottom tanks had heaters set on 18C. The room itself stayed pretty warm most of the time and the water temperature dropped to about 18C over winter and went up to 30+C in summer.

I had a large blower type air pump in the room and ran a loop of pvc pipe around the top of the room. The pvc pipe was connected to the blower. Taps were fitted into the pvc pipe and airline hung down from the taps. The airline provided the air to the tanks.

 

[carligraceee]

Hello, I need to survey fishkeepers for a college course I am taking, and I appreciate any and all replies!

• What is your race/age/gender/general location? (Give as much or as little information as you wish)
• How experienced are you with fishkeeping?
• What are the specs on the tank(s) you have? (Tank size, type of filter, and what is your tank stocked with)
• Have you had any issues concerning your tank in the past?
• How often do you change the water in your tank?
• Have you had issues with cleaning your tank in the past? (Such as needing to clean the tank more often than normal because the tank gets dirty too quickly)
• Would you consider buying a prefilter to filter out waste before it enters your filter?
• Do you have any past experiences (positive or negative) with prefilters?

White, 16, female, Mid-West U.S
I started last year and would call myself an intermediate fish keeper because of the wonderful information given to me on this forum!
I currently have three running tanks (11g, 6g, 3.5g), I use TopFin filters.
The 11g has four mollies, two platies, four snails, and an otocinclus catfish.
The 6g has a betta sorority (4 baby girls).
The 3.5g has one Pink Orchid betta.
Yes, I have! I have had cycling issues, chemical poisoning, mysterious death, old fish from the store, algae blooms, you name it!
I change around 25-50% every week with a water vacuum and I move around the decor every time!
No I haven't. I have had a great cleaning schedule, no issues.
Yes, I think that would make the water even cleaner and make it less money as well.
No, I have never used one.


Hope this helps!

 

[Boundava]

• What is your race/age/gender/general location? (Give as much or as little information as you wish)
  • White, female, northern IL near WI border.
• How experienced are you with fishkeeping?
  • Have had fish for 33-ish years.
• What are the specs on the tank(s) you have? (Tank size, type of filter, and what is your tank stocked with)
• Currently have (smallest to largest):
  • 10 gallon rabbit/faunus snail tank with golden rabbit snail, yellow spotted rabbit snails, black spike faunus snails and cappuccino faunus snails. Sponge filter.
  • 10 gallon rimless tank (24"x16"x10") with 4 shell cichlids. Oase internal filter.
  • 15 gallon planted pea puffer tank with 3 small Siamese algae eaters growing up in. Marineland 150 HOB filter.
  • 20 long (20 g) brackish tank with 7 bumblebee gobies, 2 goblin fish and 14 blue footed hermit crabs. Tidal 75 HOB filter.
  • 22 gallon rimless cube (17"x17*24) tank, planted with 3 scarlet badis, 2 super red pleco juvi, 2 albino pleco juvi, 9 hara jerdoni, and 3 bamboo/flower shrimp. Has built-in filter compartment like the SpecV does.
  • 30 gallon standard blackwater tank, planted with one red eye puffer, assortment of java, pangio, anguillaris and forktail loaches, couple shadow catfish and a dozen explanation point rasboras. Sponge filter.
  • 50 gallon low boy with two golden dojo loaches (one 8" long), three wild color dojo loaches and 6 gold barbs. Two Fluval U3 internal filters.
  • 75 gallon glass standard planted with one red wolf fish, one large BN pleco and one peckoltia pleco. Marineland 300 HOB filter
  • 75 gallon acrylic (5'x16"x16")with two M/F shoutendeni puffers, ~20 harlequin, espei and hengli rasboras, ~8 glow light tetra, 12 red fin rasbora, 6 Macrognathus circumcinctus, 1 Macrognathus zebrinus, one Angelfish, 4 clown plecos and 1 nigirta catfish. Tidal 75 HOB filter.​
  • 120 gallon (2'x4') planted with one L124, 6 emerald corys, 4 green aeneaus cory, 12 albino aeneaus cory, 10 green and gold aeneus cory, 7 laetacara araguaiae, 2 wild blue acara females, and 6 broken line tetras. Fluval FX4.​
  • 125 gallon (standard) planted with 3 snakeskin gourami, 2 moonlight gourami, 1 gold gourami, 1 banded gourami, 4 pearl gourami, 2 honey gourami, 1 watermelon royal pleco, 1 wild blue acara male, 4 pavo eels, 6 Australasian rainbowfish, and 3 Siamese algae eaters. Fluval FX4.​
  • 120 gallon (5'x18") with 7 angelfish, 3 BN plecos, 1 L114 pleco, 1 synodontis eruptis, 3 sengal bichir, and 1 ornate bichir. Fluval FX4.​
• Have you had any issues concerning your tank in the past?
  • When I first started out with CO2 I had an issue with my regulator and one night it nuked my tank. Lost have the tank, thankfully not the corys or my plecos.
• How often do you change the water in your tank?
  • Weekly for most tanks. Some tanks monthly (my brackish tank/past shrimp tanks). I use a Python- bought one when they first came out. Also use gravity to empty the larger tank after doing some substrate cleaning.
• Have you had issues with cleaning your tank in the past? (Such as needing to clean the tank more often than normal because the tank gets dirty too quickly)
  • When I had a 29 gallon well stocked with BN pleco, clown pleco, assortment of small tetras and 6 gold barbs of 4-5" size I had a Filstar canister filter on it, the XP model. It was 90% sponge and the nitrates in my tank were always 60+. Only time they lowered was after filter cleaning but even then they were still high around >20/<60. Someone on a forum told me it was the sponges in the canister filter, that even with cleanings they had too much build up and it would be good to replace some sponges to cut down on the nitrates. They also recommended ditching half the sponges and adding Matrix (which was brand new then). I did that and it solved my nitrate issues.
  • I always have had a love for plecos, and overstocking so I have always done deep cleanings of my tank (back then it was one, lol) like 80% WC with deep substrate cleaning, still do.
• Would you consider buying a prefilter to filter out waste before it enters your filter?
  • I have had prefilters; stainless steel mesh for my shrimp tanks and would again for shrimp/nano fish tanks. I tried sponge prefilters on my canister intakes/HOB intakes but as many have stated they need to be cleaned often otherwise they will impede the flow into the filter. Or they will release all of the gunk stuck to them when you clean the filter.
• Do you have any past experiences (positive or negative) with prefilters?
  • Han Aquatics sold the best stainless steel prefilters, they worked well, were easy to clean and kept baby shrimp out of the filters. Sadly he isn't in business anymore.
  • Had some of the Eheim prefilters on my Eheim 2217 and they got so clogged up so fast that I was cleaning them more often than they were on the intakes. Because they are in a plastic housing it was hard to see when the sponges needed to be cleaned. Think if I had a less planted tank they would have been fine, but the plant matter was always clogging them up.

 

[Feisty Fishies]

Hi, I’ll try to help!
1. White/ 50/ female/ Southern Cal
2. Over 20 years keeping fish
3. 200 gallon 8 ft X 2ft X 20”- Oscar and Silver Dollars. Eheim 1500 Xl; Fluval FX 5
100 gallon. 5ft X 2ft X 20” - 1 Oscar. Fluval FX4. Cascade 1000
75 gallon - 3 fantail goldfish. Rena 4 ; AC 100
I do have a spare tank I keep occasional rescues in, which at the moment has 7 Clown Loaches. This tank is 8ft X 15” x 20” and I think approximately 130-150 gallon? If I end up keeping them the clown loaches would move to the 200 gallon and the Oscar and Silver Dollars would move to the smaller tank. Current filters on it are Fluval FX5 and Rena 4
4. No issues with current tank. Had issues with past tanks with glass busting, bowing , sealant falling apart.
5. clean over 50% weekly. I use a water changer which makes it quite easy to change out large amounts of water.
6. No issues cleaning as long as the filters are cycled and not too gunky.
7. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a pre-filter? I don’t think I would use one though. My filters are pretty robust and anything extra is extra to clean and extra devices cluttering the tank.