Bream in an Aquarium

[LakeConjolaFish]

Hi,

A few years back I kept 4 bream in an aquarium and they were around the 2''- 3'' size I also kept 2 small whiting some hermit crabs & some Stripeys (footballers).

Over a year they became incredibly tame and would eat prawns and garden worms from my fingers. As soon as I lifted the lid of the tank they would come straight to the top and wait.

I finally gave them back there freedom in the lake and went back to keeping freshwater tropicals, though there numbers have dwindled and I'm inclined to go and get some more bream for the tank and convert it again to a saltwater aquarium.

By the way I did get a permit from NSW Fisheries to catch & keep undersize fish.

[white_bait]

Hi Jim, how much did they grow in the year in captivity. I've also been told they get very aggresive towards each other, how did yours handle the aquarium.
cheers madfish

[LakeConjolaFish]

Hi Madfish,

They were a bit on the aggro side until I put in lots of rocks co they could create their own territory and that settled it down.

They left the other fish alone but would hassle the hermits but they held there own no worries.

Most of the day they would just cruise around the bottom sifting through the shell grit mouthing it.

If a hapless spider or fly fell in the top and floated around the water would explode as it got eaten.

Yes I definantly feel like I'm getting the bug to do it again just thinking and writing about it:D

[Ravin]

How big a tank would you need to keep a couple say 8 or 10 inch bream & what type of filtration system would it need?

[torvic]

How hard is it to get a permit? Does it cost money?

[LakeConjolaFish]

In NSW the permit is free, you write/telephone and they send you out the permit which allows you to collect/keep marine animals (on a non-commercial basis of course).

Ravin, the tank that I used was 4' long and had an underground filter powered by a power head and two external filters.
Just remember that the bigger the fish the more they consume and thus the bigger amount of waste they eliminate.

All water lost by evaporation needs only to be replentished by fresh water, every 2-3 weeks you need to change 1/3 of the tank water with fresh sea water or a mix that you can buy from any aquarium store.


Jim

[Bear]

Well done on the info Jim.

I've always wanted to do something similar with Bream and Barra in a small Dam.

Not sure what the limit is on size in WA, but you can buy both Barra and Bream at Golden Ponds.

[Dave W]

I really want to set up a Bream tank, but the DohDohDohDohDoh about renting (in a 2 bedroom dog box:( ) is the 'no pets' clause - and the logic that includes fish (I asked) defies me.....

I had a Bass in our last place, but he died on me one really hot summer...

The good news is we should be buying our house within the next few months:) Thanks for the info Jim;) :D

[torvic]

Did you use saltwater mussels? I had a saltwater tank last yr with an ocean wrasse and used mussels, they clean up the water so well it was crystal clear and even looked good enough to drink

[LakeConjolaFish]

Torvic,

The only problem (albeit big) with salt water mussels is that there are no outward signs that the mussell is either old nor sick.

A mussel that dies in an aquarium will so rapidly decompose and rob the water of all available oxygen that all the other inhabitants will perish. I would be very careful before using any molloscs in a tank set up.

[beefaman]

Dave
To solve the problem of the temp in summer, just freeze some ice cream containers of water and float in tank. Cools the water right down. :D

[LakeConjolaFish]

Depending on how serious you want to go most good aquarium shops sell hobbiest refrigeration units that have come down dramatically over the last few years in price.

[Matt Ireland]

Hey all

Just thought Id let you know about an interesting newish form of filtration for salt water tanks. Its called a deep sand bed or DSB.

Basically like most filter systems it uses bacteria to break down the wastes of the fishes, however, there is a major difference in using a DSB. Fishs wastes are generally in the form of ammonia which gets converted to nitrite and then nitrate by aerobic bacteria (bacteria which need oxygen) in the aquarium. Each of these compunds is less toxic then the one before it, but you still have to do regular water changes to remove nitrates as they accumulate (this is basically the sole purpose of doing water changes in most aquariums).

However, nitrate can be converted to nitrogen gas, which leaves the tank as tiny bubbles. However, this reaction is crried out by anaerobic bacteria (bacteria which do not need oxygen) and most traditional filters do not support populations of these as there is no low oxygen areas for them to occur.

All a DSB is is a layer of fine sand (I used beach sand but there are other alternatives) on the botom of the tank of approximately 10-12cm. You also need a couple of powerheads (submersible pumps from aquarium shops) to circulate the water in the tank. A DSB is an excellent filtration method for any saltwater aquarium and if anyone wants to setup a tank to keep saltwater stuff, then feel free to email me or post here and i can help tehm out with how to set it up.

matt