It's good to be here...
I'm one of those people who has been keeping fish for years, without ever really knowing what I was doing.
As a kid we had several community tanks with guppies, mollies, tetras and the like, and mom took care of it. In my teens and twenties, I had a couple oscars (in a 29 gal tank with minimal water changes - yikes, i was a stupid kid....), one died after about 3 years, the other lived for 6... after several years without fish, I acquired a dozen baby guppies, started with them in a 1 gal bowl, then to a 5 gal, then to a 20 long, then a 40 long.... after about 9 months in the 40 gal, there were so many guppies that I finally decided to add a couple predators to cull the population. I didn't quarantine them and they brought disease in and within a week the whole tank was dead....
In the meantime, I put a couple young yellow labs in my 20 long and was shocked a few months later when I saw the first babies swimming around.... While not as 'personable' as the oscars I'd had, the yellow labs were fun to watch, and they were so pretty... Then I moved and couldn't set up a tank in the new house, so I re-homed the labs and went several more years without fish.
About 7 years ago, I set up my 40 long again. Having had good luck with the yellow labs, I got a pair of them and two electric blues... within a couple months, the blues were dead and the yellows thrived (although, I think I had two males this time - they never spawned, nor did they really engage in 'spawning behavior'. 5 years ago, I started to do a bit more reading and realized the importance of monitoring water parameters and doing frequent water changes... I'm amazed that my fish did as well as they did with only changing the water (usually 50% or more) once every 4 to 6 months... (in my defense, however, I've always over-filtered and am fastidious about cleaning and replacing the charcoal in my filters...)
I moved again 2.5 years ago and only one of my yellow labs survived the move. I tried some angle fish in with him, but I have NEVER had good luck with angles... They were all gone within a year and I found the yellow lab belly-up a few months back... I'd had him about 7 years and, while I was sad, the silver-lining was that I could start all over again. Now, I have to admit - I never really 'bonded' with any of my yellows... that first pair were special to me because they were the first egg-layers that I'd managed to (if totally unintentionally) breed. Sure, they were cool fish to watch, and, like I said, they were pretty, but they didn't seem to have as much personality as the oscars I'd had years ago.
While I would have LOVED to get another oscar or two (i've had reds and tigers, but never an albino.....), I knew that it wouldn't be fair to leave them in a 40 gal for too long... And while I am planning on getting a bigger tank sometime in the not-so-distant future, I don't want to be 'forced' into get one... I'd been reading and researching a few different species, convicts, firemouth meeki, jack dempsey and several of the dwarf cichlids, but I also wanted to have more than one type of fish. I was even considering filling the tank with swords and plattys, tetras or gouramis, just regular fish.
So, about a month ago I was in my neighborhood (locally owned) pet-store to get food for a few mosquito-fish, which I scooped out of my outdoor koi pond before it got too cold and killed them all, which I'm wintering in one of those 3 gal plastic all-in-one deals (with a fluval filter....). (the biggest female is So pregnant, she should be popping any day now....) But anyway, I always walk through the fish-area when I go into the store, this day, no different. About half-way down the aisle in a tank at eye level, there is this beautiful fish looking at me. Brownish-gray, with red-tipped tail and fins and slashes of bright neon blue! I looked at the writing on the tank and started chuckling.
I'd read a little bit about Green Terrors, but usually would stop and switch to the next profile, when I saw the words, "extremely aggressive." However, I looked that stunning 2" fish in the eye and he looked back AT me! I watched him for a while, he was the biggest and best-looking of maybe a dozen in the tank. We watched each other a moment and then he went for a swim around the tank - his colors flashing in the light. He was amazing. He chased a few of his tank-mates, got chased a bit himself, then he came back and looked at me again. I watched him a while longer... I didn't want an aggressive fish. But there was something in his eyes... I finished my tour down the aisle, making three detours back to the green terror tank and each time, he would stop and look at me.
Well, I actually left the store, went half a mile down the road and then turned around to go back for him. There was just something about him. The clerk even commented on how nice he was, as he netted and bagged him (and two of his tank mates), for me to take home. I knew he was a male, the other two appeared both to be females. Well one wasn't. The big male was vicious toward the smaller male, and not so nice to the female either. Luckily my niece had an tank set-up with no fish in it and took the smaller male for me. And once they were alone in the tank, the male stopped bullying the female. They're growing fast, he's probably 3.5" and she's between 2.5-3"...
I've named them Boris and Natasha - I've never named my fish before (tho, I did call all my oscars Oscar, or The Grouch...) - and we're getting to know each other in a way I never have with fish before. Whenever I'm in the room, he's looking at me. Even when he's 'hiding' I can always see him peeking out at me. He responds to movement, both big and small, and he can be quite amusing to watch. If I sit right beside the tank, he hides. But after a while, he will come out into the open and stare at me. He will follow my finger on the glass, though at a bit of a distance - sometimes stopping if I stop, then moving again when I move.
I loved my oscars, but I LOVE my green terror! I've heard many people refer to oscars as being like a puppy or a dog. I have to agree with that. But in my five weeks with GTs, I would say that if oscars are dogs, green terrors are cats. Maybe not as playful and friendly as an oscar, but I gotta say that Boris is one smart fish and we've shared some bonding moments, however, on his terms and not on mine (even when feeding, unlike the oscars, my green terror will wait for me to back a respectable distance before he'll eat - which could change in time, but for now..)..
He has been doing the 'spawning dance' quite a bit, and just tonight I saw them 'cuddling' for a few seconds, but I'm thinking they're still a little young to spawn. I'm hopeful, though. Natasha mostly hides in her favorite 'cave', but she has been coming into the open a bit more as time goes by. Boris moves from cave to cave, always watching, clearly protecting Natasha and her cave. Quite often, if she comes out, he will herd her back to her cave and flash his colors at me, protecting her. I know at some point I'll probably have to get a bigger tank for them = everywhere I see recoments minimum 55 gal, but I figure my 40 long is 3" shorter than a 55 gal, but otherwise the same dimentions, so it should be ok until they are closer to being full-grown.
I'm starting to plan my next tank - hopefully with christmas-bonus money - maybe in the next few weeks. I have no place upstairs for it, so it's going to be in my semi-finished basement. I found an acrylic 40 long combo that is reasonably priced, and would maybe like to try some dwarf cichlids in it, rams or kribs, or cockatoos...? I've got time to read, research and mull it over...
So, yeah - that's me. It's a pleasure to be a part of this forum!!!
--VeryTas
.
I'm one of those people who has been keeping fish for years, without ever really knowing what I was doing.
As a kid we had several community tanks with guppies, mollies, tetras and the like, and mom took care of it. In my teens and twenties, I had a couple oscars (in a 29 gal tank with minimal water changes - yikes, i was a stupid kid....), one died after about 3 years, the other lived for 6... after several years without fish, I acquired a dozen baby guppies, started with them in a 1 gal bowl, then to a 5 gal, then to a 20 long, then a 40 long.... after about 9 months in the 40 gal, there were so many guppies that I finally decided to add a couple predators to cull the population. I didn't quarantine them and they brought disease in and within a week the whole tank was dead....
In the meantime, I put a couple young yellow labs in my 20 long and was shocked a few months later when I saw the first babies swimming around.... While not as 'personable' as the oscars I'd had, the yellow labs were fun to watch, and they were so pretty... Then I moved and couldn't set up a tank in the new house, so I re-homed the labs and went several more years without fish.
About 7 years ago, I set up my 40 long again. Having had good luck with the yellow labs, I got a pair of them and two electric blues... within a couple months, the blues were dead and the yellows thrived (although, I think I had two males this time - they never spawned, nor did they really engage in 'spawning behavior'. 5 years ago, I started to do a bit more reading and realized the importance of monitoring water parameters and doing frequent water changes... I'm amazed that my fish did as well as they did with only changing the water (usually 50% or more) once every 4 to 6 months... (in my defense, however, I've always over-filtered and am fastidious about cleaning and replacing the charcoal in my filters...)
I moved again 2.5 years ago and only one of my yellow labs survived the move. I tried some angle fish in with him, but I have NEVER had good luck with angles... They were all gone within a year and I found the yellow lab belly-up a few months back... I'd had him about 7 years and, while I was sad, the silver-lining was that I could start all over again. Now, I have to admit - I never really 'bonded' with any of my yellows... that first pair were special to me because they were the first egg-layers that I'd managed to (if totally unintentionally) breed. Sure, they were cool fish to watch, and, like I said, they were pretty, but they didn't seem to have as much personality as the oscars I'd had years ago.
While I would have LOVED to get another oscar or two (i've had reds and tigers, but never an albino.....), I knew that it wouldn't be fair to leave them in a 40 gal for too long... And while I am planning on getting a bigger tank sometime in the not-so-distant future, I don't want to be 'forced' into get one... I'd been reading and researching a few different species, convicts, firemouth meeki, jack dempsey and several of the dwarf cichlids, but I also wanted to have more than one type of fish. I was even considering filling the tank with swords and plattys, tetras or gouramis, just regular fish.
So, about a month ago I was in my neighborhood (locally owned) pet-store to get food for a few mosquito-fish, which I scooped out of my outdoor koi pond before it got too cold and killed them all, which I'm wintering in one of those 3 gal plastic all-in-one deals (with a fluval filter....). (the biggest female is So pregnant, she should be popping any day now....) But anyway, I always walk through the fish-area when I go into the store, this day, no different. About half-way down the aisle in a tank at eye level, there is this beautiful fish looking at me. Brownish-gray, with red-tipped tail and fins and slashes of bright neon blue! I looked at the writing on the tank and started chuckling.
I'd read a little bit about Green Terrors, but usually would stop and switch to the next profile, when I saw the words, "extremely aggressive." However, I looked that stunning 2" fish in the eye and he looked back AT me! I watched him for a while, he was the biggest and best-looking of maybe a dozen in the tank. We watched each other a moment and then he went for a swim around the tank - his colors flashing in the light. He was amazing. He chased a few of his tank-mates, got chased a bit himself, then he came back and looked at me again. I watched him a while longer... I didn't want an aggressive fish. But there was something in his eyes... I finished my tour down the aisle, making three detours back to the green terror tank and each time, he would stop and look at me.
Well, I actually left the store, went half a mile down the road and then turned around to go back for him. There was just something about him. The clerk even commented on how nice he was, as he netted and bagged him (and two of his tank mates), for me to take home. I knew he was a male, the other two appeared both to be females. Well one wasn't. The big male was vicious toward the smaller male, and not so nice to the female either. Luckily my niece had an tank set-up with no fish in it and took the smaller male for me. And once they were alone in the tank, the male stopped bullying the female. They're growing fast, he's probably 3.5" and she's between 2.5-3"...
I've named them Boris and Natasha - I've never named my fish before (tho, I did call all my oscars Oscar, or The Grouch...) - and we're getting to know each other in a way I never have with fish before. Whenever I'm in the room, he's looking at me. Even when he's 'hiding' I can always see him peeking out at me. He responds to movement, both big and small, and he can be quite amusing to watch. If I sit right beside the tank, he hides. But after a while, he will come out into the open and stare at me. He will follow my finger on the glass, though at a bit of a distance - sometimes stopping if I stop, then moving again when I move.
I loved my oscars, but I LOVE my green terror! I've heard many people refer to oscars as being like a puppy or a dog. I have to agree with that. But in my five weeks with GTs, I would say that if oscars are dogs, green terrors are cats. Maybe not as playful and friendly as an oscar, but I gotta say that Boris is one smart fish and we've shared some bonding moments, however, on his terms and not on mine (even when feeding, unlike the oscars, my green terror will wait for me to back a respectable distance before he'll eat - which could change in time, but for now..)..
He has been doing the 'spawning dance' quite a bit, and just tonight I saw them 'cuddling' for a few seconds, but I'm thinking they're still a little young to spawn. I'm hopeful, though. Natasha mostly hides in her favorite 'cave', but she has been coming into the open a bit more as time goes by. Boris moves from cave to cave, always watching, clearly protecting Natasha and her cave. Quite often, if she comes out, he will herd her back to her cave and flash his colors at me, protecting her. I know at some point I'll probably have to get a bigger tank for them = everywhere I see recoments minimum 55 gal, but I figure my 40 long is 3" shorter than a 55 gal, but otherwise the same dimentions, so it should be ok until they are closer to being full-grown.
I'm starting to plan my next tank - hopefully with christmas-bonus money - maybe in the next few weeks. I have no place upstairs for it, so it's going to be in my semi-finished basement. I found an acrylic 40 long combo that is reasonably priced, and would maybe like to try some dwarf cichlids in it, rams or kribs, or cockatoos...? I've got time to read, research and mull it over...
So, yeah - that's me. It's a pleasure to be a part of this forum!!!
--VeryTas
.
