Reptile tanks for fish??

[CAGE-RATTLER]

I've been looking for tanks to setup a fishroom and keep seeing reptile tanks listed and was wondering if there is a difference in a reptile tank and fish aquarium??

Are they made the same?

weaker glass or not able to hold water?

Just curious as ive seen some good deals on some 75's listed as reptile tanks.

They look the same and even have the center brace too.

Only difference i see is they usually come with a screen top instead of hood and lights.

Please help before i buy one!

Looking at a 75 for $50 right now.

[traco]

I think they are the same but you'll have to give the tank an extra good cleaning. Maybe replace the silicone seams because of the urine, etc... with keeping reptiles in there? I'm sure someone with more knowledge about this question will be able to help you.

[Greg Richardson]

They should be the same. But, keep in mind these may need a bit of repair so add that in the price and your timeline for use.

Bleach solution should do the trick for cleaning.

Also ask for measurements before spending the time to even go look at someones tank.

You'd be surprised how many people think their tank is bigger than it really is or think you won't know to scam you.

I just picked up a free tank off craigslist yesterday.
They said it was a 55. LOL!
Well, no it's around a 40.
But hey it was FREE!

Here is a good link to help out with size of tank.

http://www.garf.org/calculators/Tank...Calculator.asp

[CAGE-RATTLER]

The one im looking at is 36 x 18 x 16 ........... and he said its a 40 gallon

Looks like its the same size as a 40 breeder to me.

He wants $30 for it ............. comes with the screen top.

Good deal?

I also have a line on a 75 for $50

[brewmaster15]

I have been selling a bunch of my old fishroom tanks.... when I sell them I sell them as reptile tanks if they leak or are drilled..and am clear on what they are... in CT most of the "reptile" tanks are old fish tanks... unless they say custom made or Vivarium or something like that.


keep in mind... Snakes feces is pretty harsh stuff and if it gets into cracks may be hard to get out... and lizards have claws that can really scratch up glass..making for a pain when you try to clean it. so be ware if used!

I raise snakes and have at least one "reptile tank..it has a slide out screen top.. this is definetly a reptile setup, it looks the same as fish tank otherwise and hold water...I kept a water snake in it.

hth,
al

[CAGE-RATTLER]

Thanx for the replies.

I called a couple pet shops and one guy said that reptile tanks have thinner glass and also vent holes at the bottom too.

Also like you said some have the slide out tops.

I guess i'll just have to look at them to see if they will hold water and suitable for fish.

[Willie]

I'm leery of buying old tanks with a center brace. They usually go within the year, so you have to look at whether it was a good spend.

Willie

[tlum]

I have a 20 gallon long reptile tank and a 20 gallon long fish tank. Reptile tank has much thinner glass and has a hole at the bottom. It is much lighter than the fish tank. I don't think it is a good idea to use a reptile tank for fish.

Terry

[Greg Richardson]

Terry. I agree with what you said. If reptile tank only then you bet no go.

It's just that some people use a real fish tank for their reptile tank.

So when they do that it can be a bargain.
Even if you fill it up and know you may need to repair a seam.

Problem with these fish is before u know it needing tanks out grows the available money so finding a deal is very important.

[CAGE-RATTLER]

Well i didnt bother with the 40 that the guy said was a reptile tank but i picked up the 55 tonight and im very happy with the deal i got there.

55 gallon tank with matching black laquer stand for $50

There was more included that i had no idea about.

She also gave me a 10 galon tank with hood & lights, and aqua clear 500 filter, 3 heaters, whisper air pump, an aqua clear power head, 4 real nice pieces of driftwood, a couple nice stones, 2 5 gallon buckets of white and turquoise gravel and a box full of cleaning supplies.

The 55 came with hoods but the strip light wasnt there .............. I think she forgot to pull it out and i didnt even think about till i got home ...... hopefully she has it. She also gave me 2 48 inch flourecents so it must be a full length strip light. one florecent is a 40 watt power-glo & the other a 40 watt coralife actinic 03 blue.

I love getting deals like this

Everything was pretty dirt and it was pitch black when i got it and really didnt even know what i had till i got home ..... lol.

I gave the tank and stand a quick cleaning and not even one single scratch on the tank except for the bottom from the gravel a bit. The stand also looks like brand new.

I stopped by EXOTIC AQUATICS on my way home from picking it up to check out they're discus selection and the other 100's of tanks of fish they had. The discus selection wasnt quite as good as i remember from the last time i was there tho.

They had 6 75 gallon tanks with discus ranging from 2.5 inches to some real huge ones. These are all HANS discus and he actually goes there everyday and takes care of them. i knew they were HANS stendkers there but didnt realize he was the one that took care of them and the tanks too.

The ones i liked the best were the 2.5's............... and boy were they hungry ............ or at least starved for some attention ....... lol. anywhere i would put my finger they all came a runnin ........ lol .............. and when i put my hand up to the top of the tank ............. i thought they were gonna jump out and eat me ....... lol.

I planned on stopping there and was gonna take my camera but completely forgot it cause i was runnin late. I could spend all day in there taking pics ................... they have one heckuva selection of freshwater and saltwater fish. And there corals and and other stuff for salt tanks displays are amazing!!

While standing in front of the discus tanks my back was to some salt tanks and i kept hearing a clicking sound and when i turned there was a huge trigger fish about 10 inches long and man was that dude mean ...... lol. I guess he was trying to bite me thru the glass ..... lol. Then when i put my finger up to his tank .......... he went nutz trying to chew thru the glass ......... lol. i can see why he was in a tank by himself .... lol. Ugly sucker too ............... and looked like he had one fang on the top and one on the bottom. Probably a trade in or somethin.

My nephew has salt tanks and i would go broke if i did ............ i had no idea how expensive stuff was for them. Man they had some huge tanks loaded with the corals and anoemones and whatever else that stuff is ........... with prices of $50 -$100 each for them. No thanks ..... i'll stick to freshwater ....... lol.

And the amazing thing about my 2 hour stay at the LFS ............... i walked out without spending a penny ..... lol. cant believe i actually did that ... lol.

Just not quite ready yet but i did do some price checking for some thing i will probably get in a couple weeks.

Oh yeah .................. one of the sales guys i was talkin to said they had a bunch of used 15's and 30's up stairs that he said were for sale ............. but unfortunately i couldnt get the manager to sell me the 30's. He said he already promised them to someone else.

Oh well .............. I'll keep lookin but in the meantime ......... im gonna get this 55 setup and the 29 i picked up earlier too.

Now i have to figure out how i wanna go.

I wanna do some breeding but not sure which way to go with just a few tanks right now.............. and limited room.

Im thinking of picking some larger fish to put in the 55 and hope i get a pair to hook up so i can put them in the 29 to breed ............... but then where will i put the babies to raise?? Mo Tanks....Mo Tanks!!

I also have thought about picking up a bucha babies to grow out in the 55 and picking up a breeding pair for the 29 .................. but then if the pair spawn .............. i still have no place for babies.

Or i could get a buncha babies for the 55 and grow them out and hopefully get a pair outta them ............... but im to impatient for that ...... lol. I want FRY!!

And what happens when i do get a bucha fry and grow them out? Not sure if i would be able to sell them and i certainly wont want to freeze them.

With 2 big hatcheries in my area .............. one being HANS DISCUS ............ why would anyone buy from me???

I know im thinking way into the future ............... but i try to look ahead.

Any suggestions on how i should proceed??

(man ......... i sure can ramble on ..... lol. And im actually not much of a talker either ....... lol )

[Greg Richardson]

That's a great deal. Even the tank without the stand would have been fine. The market in my area when people aren't being stupid with wishful thinking is pretty much $1.00 per gallon for used tanks in the 55 gallon area.

Try putting a tanks wanted ad on craigs.

Yes, you'll find out one pair can add quite a few tanks just to supply all the situations that can happen with that one pair.

Kind of like Hotel California. You getting in deep here. LOL!

Once you have a pair they got you! LOL!

[CAGE-RATTLER]

Try putting a tanks wanted ad on craigs.

Thats actually how i got this deal .............. put an add on craigslist and the seller contacted me.

Hoping to get some more replies.

Im pretty new to craigslist and actually a bit confued.

I put the add in the community/pets section and also the wanted section but when i do a search for AQUARIUMS ........... my listing doesnt come up.

The only place i see it is if i click the WANTED section.

Do the searches not bring up our own ads? Or is nobody getting it to come up when searching?

[White Worm]

Hey Rick,,, Sounds like you are in the same position that I am in except,,,,I have already purchased discus at all sizes. These are my findings and my advice,,,,
1st - Dont waste your time with a tank full of youngsters because it takes a long time to grow them out (seems like forever) and they seem to have more health problems than older discus, so, sometimes you may not get most of them to adulthood. That is alot of money and time invested and if one thing goes wrong,,,,pow!
2nd - I purchased a proven pair recently and just because they are proven, doesnt mean they are gonna start producing crap loads of fry for you. I cant blame the breeder who sold them to me (which he is a very good friend of mine) because there is never any guarantees and I know that. Costs a pretty good amount of money also to buy pairs and more for a proven set.
3rd - this is what I wish I would have done at the stage you are at,,,
Purchase 6-7 good quality sub adults (approx 3"-5") not very expensive if you consider how much you may spend in the long run on discus like i did in the past that didnt work out.
The subadults seem to be healthier and you wont have to wait too long for them to start pairing up. With sub adults, you can kinda get an idea of their quality which you cant do with juvies unless you have that expert eye. Once you breed,,you will know they are clean and healthy because you raised them. You will also be able to keep the ones you think are going to be good stock for future breeding and grow them out since you will now not be in a hurry. You can sell them at about 2-3 months old. People will buy your discus as long as they are good quality and fair price (I would). Some of us cant afford to spend the big bucks yet. Also choose sub adults strains that are currently selling good or in demand. It may cost you a little up front, but it will pay in the end.
Another little bit of advice,,, PREPLAN,,Think about what you want to do in about 3 months.
I have 3 tanks that I have to clean manually (85g, 75g, 35g) They are in different parts of the house (time consuming)
if you are planning on breeding and having fry,, setup a couple breeder tanks, and couple growout tanks and maybe a couple QT tanks. Its better to have all these things in place before things happen than rushing around to accomodate a fry producing epademic. Plus make sure you have a good system of storing water enough to do WC's.
If you are as impatient as I am, this will be difficult for you to do,,,I learned the hard way. Its been about a year since I bought my first discus from a lfs, I have purchased probably 25 discus and I currently have 4. I have just recently ventured into the idea of breeding, thats why I bought the proven pair. My next purchases are probably going to be all subadults to adult size because I can plan in the near future to have fry. And,, then still,,you cant guarantee they will carry the fry within their first 15-20 times if ever. At least i wont have to wait, feed them constantly and worry about their health for a year just to get them to adulthood. I would rather spend that time on new batches of fry. Just some ideas from someone who has tried the long route. Mike

[CAGE-RATTLER]

Sounds like sound advice to me ...... thanx.

I will have all the tanks in the same room and right in view and actually right here next to me hwere im typing. Hopefully my late nights on the PC wont bother them too much.

Im building a rack to put the 29 in and will probably make it so i can stack 3 high. (may opt for a gorilla rack if they come 30,32 or 36 widths) The 55 is on a stand right now but when i get another 55 i'll also put them on a rack thats 2 high.

Im also looking for a couple 75's to do a two up rack for them.

I figure i could use some deviders as needed for more spawning room or grow out room.

I also have the 100 gallon community tank with a couple stunted 2 year old discus and buying a batch of sub adults sounds like a good plan cause i could still add some discus to the community tank when needed.

I guess i could also still get some juvies to grow out to get some practice on whats ahead and could add them to the community tank later on as well.

I plan on taking a trip to see HANS setup and also to GWYNBROOK FARMS and see if they have what im looking for. If not i will probably order from someone on here. I'd love to get some spotted discus and im not sure if our locals have any.

Thanx again and keep the tips coming.