New place for Marines...

I don't have marine tanks myself but see that Aquatic Village have started to stock them. Just an FYI for those interested.

Monty

Yep, but the selection is nothing compared to my LFS :
www.fishantics.com/

They specialise in marine (no freshwater whatsoever), and Simon really knows his stuff. :o

I would like to add that aquatic village have only begun with marines, so its natural they have not (yet) gained the same level of stock.

No disrespect to the guys, I find them extremely knowledgable and its one of my favorite shops.

Is it far from the Dart station.

Approx 15 minute slow walk.

Highly recommended, even my wife was impressed -
and she hates animals. :?

Might pay it a visit.
Thinking of setting up a Marine tank. 8)

Comparatively the fish stocks in both are similer though FA have more top end angels and such. The inverts are far more numerous in FA as they have a dedicated syatem too. AV don't do corals due top not having a syatem for it. However, for pretty much every dry good AV are cheaper - infact only LR was more expensive there.

Has anyone else visited Aquarium Solutions in Ashbourne...
The guy in the shop...Andy,,seems to be pretty knowledgeable about all aspects of tropicals and marines...

Ive just got myself the equipment to keep marines,,,,only starting,,,

Keepin fingers crossed..........

i was out in av last year and they had loads of marines in then?

is this a different aquatic village,or are we still talking about the one in brittas

i know of 4 maine shops

by far fish antics and andys in ashbourne are the best

they are the most knowledgable and they were also reef keepers for many years so know there stuff, i wouldnt really recommend petstop to anyone who cares about the live stock we get because they really are just like a supermarket, there is one or 2 of the people working there that know what there talking about but the best part of the staff dont have a clue. and would be recommending things that would not really be good for a tank let alone benificial

when i first started out in marines they (petstop) suggested a load of stuff that was \"essential\" i buy,but i later found out that i didnt need any of it eg..hagen cycle for maturing the tank, water conditioner for the ro water i was going to use,they even told me it was okay for me to put a powder blue tang in to my 180 litre tank,,i was also having problems with low dkh and it was suggested to me that i use tropic marin alca balance to make the dkh higher,,


i would suggest any new or old reefer to go to any one or a few of the marine forums like this one find one that suits u and ask questions constantly and also read some books, then stick to either fish antics or andys in ashbourne and u wont go far wrong<br><br>Post edited by: buleetu, at: 2007/07/27 00:19

I'm sorry but go back to av i was out there last year as well and wasn't to impressed but go back now. They have put a lot of money into setting up a better set up. Nice coral tank and there marine display tank would blow anybody away. I agree fish antics set the standard but they do only specialise in marine and Simon and Will can answer any question regarding marines.
But the more competition the better for all of us.

was in Aquarium Solutions today and watched Andy take in a delivery of marines,,,,real beauts,,,,fish / corals feather dusters/ etc,one that blew me away was a Mandarin,,,,a wow,,,

anyone living near should take the time tomorrow and go in to have a look before they r all sold !!!

Did you get the Mandarin Vincent.

no I didnt get the Mandarin,,,,
To be honest ,,,Ive decided to listen to others on here who know better , and slow down, I dont want it to be a case of stocking the tank too quickly n lose them all,,altho it still looks good and fish seem very happy,,,

I did say that I wanted to buy it,,but, am away to Spain tomorrow for a week and i dont feel its rite to introduce a new fish n then head off,,,
and erm,,,,when I did mention that I wanted to buy it,,,I kinda got this,,, \&quot;uve had enuff mr \&quot; look from Andy,,he reckons i stop buyin anymore for a few weeks...which is another reason I like his style...hes deffo not one of these guys whod sel u anything just to make a buck.... hes comin down next week to show me how to do a PROPER maintenance check on it

I'll abide by his decisions........
If id started to buy,,,i wuda bought the mandarin,,,royal gramma..clowns...anthias,,,etc etc etc,,,they r all just magnificent

Id love to know who bought the lion fish i saw there last week ????

Im glad you took the advice from the guys on the forum re stocking your tank. Just a little info on Mandarin Fish They do not eat very well on food we give our fish but they trive on little white fellows with lots of legs and big antannas called Amphipods Or Copepods which you need to have in your tank so that they can survive . Does your tank have this food for the Mandarin?

Paul.

Hi Vincent, you really need to have your system with lots of liverock for mandarins to survive, as paulm says, they eat tiny foods only found in a well established tank, usually takes up to 6 months for enough food to get established, so do stock slowly, n keep an eye on water params!!!!

Thanks for that info on the Mandarins...but i was more or less told by Andy....

UR NOT HAVING ONE,,,UR NOT READY FOR ONE !!


I'll be a good boy,,,I'll wait,,,,

Good man Vincent. We have all been there and know what its like when you see somthing nice Your doing a great job mate;)

hi vincent

if ur gonna keep a manderin in the future u will need to be able to provide the right food for him, they dont eat prepared food just the live stuff

the best way to provide the food a manderin eats, pods ,is to have a refugium, there are a load of different ways to do it, but if ur looking to sustain a maderin fish it might be best to have the fuge above the display tank so when u want ur pods in the display all u have to do is open a valve and let them gravity feed there way down, rather than having to pump them up through a return pump that will chop them up and kill them before the maderin gets a chance to chase the live food around and eat it

ill do u a quick sketch up drawing to show u what i mean

u will have to do more research on how to get the right pods and when its okay to put a manderin into ur tank, ill leave that up to u though

heres a link to get u started

www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=12715

talk to u soon

this is a quick drawing of a fuge that sits higher than ur display tank, use an ordinary gravity overflow box thats on a bulkhead at the top and a bulkhead at the bottom has a valve on it that u control when u wanna let some pods in, it will also work as a nitrate filter when u put some caulerpa into it with live rock and live rock rubble