Hello to All from the Garden Route.

Hello All, I'm really chuffed finding your very informative site. After 22yrs of being fishless(is that a word?) I have just started a 1.2 x 0.5 x 0.5 fresh water tank.
During my early years I kept freshwater fish then when moving from Durban to St Lucia I changed to saltwater which I managed for about 10yrs before selling my 2 x 2.4 mt tanks with a couple smaller ones to move down here.
I'm really blown away with the amount of info, knowledge and products available these days and look forward to gaining some of your knowledge and experience.
My apologies for the long winded intro.:embarrest:

 

Greetings @slowpoke and welcome. What sort of setup are you thinking about? Fish wise, equipment, decor...? :shakehands:

 

Welcome dude!
While fishing at St. Lucia in the estuary I caught little Monodactylus argenteus and Therapon jarbua (hope I spelled them right) and knew that they would look AWESOME in my tank... I never managed to take any home, but I hope you did!

 

Hello welcome enjoy. Weekends is quite sloq around here. Peeps are rather active when they are supposed to work

 

Welcome to TASA! We will gladly help out as much as possible. Take the time to read the stunning articles in the beginner section - altho you are not new to this, there has been some great changes ;D

 

Hello and welcome to TASA. You have come to the right place! Tell us a bit more of what you are planning to do with your new setup.

 

Hello @slowpoke. Welcome TASA. Where about in the Garden Route are you from?

 

Welcome! Enjoy TASA

 

Thanks for a warm welcome.
@ MarcHawke & OscaCT, Nothing finalised as yet I have just added a few plants & 2 guppies to get things cycling, I'm leaning toward a well planted live bearer tank with a shoal of neons(nice & easy) but am open to suggestions.
@ lep2soma, Nope I stocked my tanks from further north between Cape Vidal south to Mission Rocks and lower North Coast, mainly Butterflies, Angels, Moorish Idols, Goldies, Wrasses, Surgeons & Tangs.
@ Shakes, Mossel Bay.

 

Slowpoke, did you collect specimens yourself?

 

Yes about 90% of them although this was 20-30 yrs ago when the marine reserve ended 200mts south of the entrance to Cape Vidal so you were allowed to collect specimens with a permit of course. Natal Parks Board payed me a few visits to check my stock against what I'd registered on my permits.
These days the area has been declared a World Heritage site so I'm not sure what the situation there is now as far as collecting specimens are.
Those days there were no LFS that stocked marines in the area and it required a trip to Durban if you wanted to buy.
Do you keep marines?

 

I'd suggest you swop the neons for Cardinals. They are hardier and will be better with livebearers. Neons require a temp of 22 degrees to keep them healthy and living nice long lives. I have 3 neons left from 10 and they look like hell (I cannot give them the required/suggested temps).

 

Okay, thanks for the advice.

 

Welcome welcome and enjoy... George is just around the corner with some awesome tanks.

 

Thanks Willem.

 

@slowpoke, I used to keep marines when I lived in Isipingo on Ocean Terrace, but that was 22 years ago...
Good luck with your tank, I hope it turns out great!

 

Thanks lep2soma, we used to collect behind Shell & south of Isipingo.

 

@slowpoke: I often try to mimic those rock pools at Isipingo when I set up a tank, even if it's freshwater. If you like I can post a video link of one of those...

 

Please do.

 

Demasoni Otopharynx - YouTube