What's your Holy Grail...

I'm sure we all have a particular fish in mind that would be the ultimate fish that we would love to have. If your like myself it becomes the issue of money mostly. Having the money and space to build an enclosure for something as big as a Black Tip Reef Shark.   You can get them kind of small, but they sure don't stay that way.

So what's you Holy Grail and what's holding you back.

Steve

Mine is time. Even when I had the aquariums set up in the basement as a teenager, I was spending hours in water changes. With piping and a drainage system that would change though. Then the show stopper would be lack of dedicated space. Doing a reno specifically for a fish room, with electrical, plumbing and reinforcements, would really be out of my reach.

On the other hand, the search for the Holy Grail has made me appreciate every tank, and task. Efficiency and making every tank count has me introspective about the beauty of every small occurrence.

Kimr wrote:I would love a built in wall aquarium, equipped to do its OWN water changes and all that goes with it. I would still enjoy feeding them! Guess I better win the lotto!

I'm with ya on that project! When I saw Roy E's self water changing 120 gallon discus tank I thought it would be real nice to have the resources to make that happen!

i'm new to the hobby and don't actually have fish yet but i think celestial pearl danios are one of the prettiest fish out there. difficult to find though :/

Since the big meanies are my thing, I must have the king of them all.. Parachromis Dovii. Need 8ft 400gal tank, just for 1 male! Working on it. Also considering a female to go with my male Jaguar, they are cousins in a way. 7ft 265 would suffice for that. Already have one.

I don't have a big grail like suprd71. I'd love to have a high tech fishroom with super cool plumbing and filtration, but that's a cathedral, not a grail.

I would like to have half a dozen real platies. They are currently unattainable in Canada - all you can get are the aquarium trade Xiphophorus maculatus/variatus/helleri hybrids. I'd love to find one of the wild-type Mexican maculatus with spotting and a little red orange along the back - one of the fish that helped kickstart the hobby back in the 1920s. There are millions of them in Mexico, but since the "species" is considered common, you never see them in the hobby.
The fact they are a little ugly doesn't help either.

Wild mollies were an old grail to me, and I now keep seven types of wilds. I managed to find them after thinking it would be impossible, because others developed the same curiosity.

The aquarium hobby's like life to me - you get one grail, and you discover they originally came in a box of six and the whole set would look nice.

I would love to have large 6ft X 6ft X 3 ft tall acrylic round cornered Fraser River tank in my home.
it would be the center piece with all the filration built in with both bottom drains and skimmers.

Stock:
Skulpins, salmon fri, trout, sturgion fri, with the participation/co-operation of fisheries Canada<G>
It will require heating and chilling. But then so do I.
I wonder if I could run a return water line though my heating/AC ducts to maintain the 68°F I like.
Then the Chiller would not have to work as hard.

If I run the return water line under my pond 5 ft down. I have a 3/4inch 75ft long poly pipe under my pond it could easily work as the chiller/heater to maintain the grownd temps aprox 48°F year round.

My clock is ticking - eventually when the kids are grown and I'm retired, me and Mrs. dahling would like to travel more. But that would also mean less time for fish tanks. I've already started downsizing, I think I can handle 500 gallons worth of water for the next 10 years. After that, I'll probably pack my python away for good.

2 more setups:

A planted community tank with 2 of some of my family favourite species: 4-5 schools of corys and melanotaenia maccullochi "skull creek" rainbowfish. Maybe a betta there for good luck.

A self-sustaining colony of tropheus moorii kasanga. I'd love to keep several variants of tropheus, but I don't like hybridizing and I'll only allow myself 1 tank of tropheus.

I would really like to have an outdoor pond with koi. What's holding me back? Money and "know how" is part of the issue, but the bigger issue is not knowing where to put the koi over winter! I wouldn't want to leave them in as I'd constantly be worried about them on extremely cold days and nights!

Shell wrote:I would really like to have an outdoor pond with koi. What's holding me back? Money and "know how" is part of the issue, but the bigger issue is not knowing where to put the koi over winter! I wouldn't want to leave them in as I'd constantly be worried about them on extremely cold days and nights!

For the first 10 years or so that we lived in our current house I would leave all my pond fish outside for the winter. The pond is 4' deep and had a small cattle trough heater in one corner to keep a little section open. However we would still loose one or two each winter. It's wasn't a big deal as we only kept goldfish at that time.

About 10 years ago we decide to try a few Koi and really liked them. Unfortunately it was that winter that my heater packed it in sometime in Early Feb. It was during the lead up to Valentines day and I was working 12-14 hour days. I estimate the heater was out for two weeks before i realized it. I picked up a new heater that day and melted a new opening. However when the ice went off in the spring the damage became evident. I had lost all the fish in the pond. I was really surprised that they were all dead and decided to never over winter them again outside. Besides you don't get to see them for several months. Unlike now were I see them every day during the winter. I let the water drop down into the low 40's and don't feed them for a couple of months but at least they are safe and sound inside. It can be done outside, but not by me never again, to much at stake these days.

As far as "Know How" is concerned, if you do decide to go down that road, I'm sure you could find someone on here that has half a clue that could help.

Somewhere, maybe, possibly...

Steve

I would love to have a small heated fish room where I could have a nice cozy chair and desk/work area, so I am surrounded by my tanks while working on other projects.

Pamelajo wrote:I would love to have a small heated fish room where I could have a nice cozy chair and desk/work area, so I am surrounded by my tanks while working on other projects.

Just grab your favorite lawn chair, big floppy hat, sunglasses and your current book. Head on down to your favorite fish store and set up shop right next to your favorite tanks.

Hey works at Chapters, why not there?

Steve

Lol I actually do have a nice comfy lawn chair there now, but once winter sets in and the wood stove is going it gets a little chilly down there. I was thinking maybe I should get one of those electric snuggly blankets.

For me a nice sting ray tank... much like what someone has had was the "1700 Gallon Stingray River"...

cephalotus wrote:i'm new to the hobby and don't actually have fish yet but i think celestial pearl danios are one of the prettiest fish out there. difficult to find though :/

If you forward me a mailing address via a private message I can make this happen. I have fry right now, they are getting close to a size I'd be comfortable moving them.

Sbenson11 wrote:As far as "Know How" is concerned, if you do decide to go down that road, I'm sure you could find someone on here that has half a clue that could help.

Somewhere, maybe, possibly...

Steve

Hmmm...I wonder who that person might be? I'm stumped.

Pamelajo wrote:I would love to have a small heated fish room where I could have a nice cozy chair and desk/work area, so I am surrounded by my tanks while working on other projects.

Hey - I'm almost living your dream! My office is becoming more of a fish room than I had intended. Right now, when I am working from home, I am surrounded by the 220g, the 10g, the 5.5g, the 3g, and (coming soon), the 36g! I have my own Niagara Falls in my office

A large above ground pond (I don't bend well anymore) and a small back yard to go with it. I don't have a grail anymore, but I do miss the ponds.

A heated greenhouse attached to a heated workshop. In the greenhouse would be a swimspa surrounded by above ground ponds with a viewing window so I can enjoy on multiple angles. Lots of plants and critters for me to enjoy, and a workshop to build stuff. Maybe throw in an office/lounge area so I can have somewhere to kick back.

If I get this, my fiancée (probably wife at that point) will only see me at food times, and bed time...

I've been dreaming of this for a long time.

So many things... but I think ultimately its either a pico reef with some sort of automated top up system to reduce the work of keeping a small saltwater tank salinity stable or a pea puffer biotope.

vince0 wrote:A heated greenhouse attached to a heated workshop. In the greenhouse would be a swimspa surrounded by above ground ponds with a viewing window so I can enjoy on multiple angles. Lots of plants and critters for me to enjoy, and a workshop to build stuff. Maybe throw in an office/lounge area so I can have somewhere to kick back.

If I get this, my fiancée (probably wife at that point) will only see me at food times, and bed time...

I've been dreaming of this for a long time.

Hmmm, sounds kind of like where I work, but without the swimspa.

Careful what you wish for

Steve

Thanks to GaryE i have been able to get alot of my holy grails as I love the wild livebearers would also love to find some pure blood wild platties but also some Elassoma species.

There's that Gary again being Johnny Appleseed.

I would love to keep some German or Electric Blue Rams. However, with my high pH and hard water I have been reluctant to try.