I'm wondering what the local aquarium hobby scene is like in CH and/or Zurich. If you have any information you could post that would be appreciated. I currently operate a marine aquarium fish club in Hfx and am looking to continue in the hobby in CH.
Also, I'm wondering if anyone can recommend some decent tropical and/or marine fish stores in CH. I don't mind visiting a "big box" petstore for an equipment purchase, if necessary, but am looking to source some decent suppliers of livestock.
There are a few stores around Zurich but mostly it is a case of a few tanks in the corner of a general pet shop that are not very well kept.
The best speciality store I've found is a little outside of the city, Aquarium and Teich in Villmergen - http://www.aquarium-shop.ch/ both Christian and Freddy speak some English and they have a wide selection of fish in well maintained tanks.
There are three that I know of the the city (Zurich) for tropical fish (and other pets):
Aquarium Seerose , Löwenstrasse 3 (that's tram 2 stop "Sihlporte", just off Paradeplatz) - we bought most of our livestock there - and they're still alive. No own website.
Zoo Raible , St. Annagasse 18 - just behind the Coop City St. Annahof - small selection, but very friendly. No website.
Then there's one in the old town - Niederdorf. Can't remember the name or address, though - it's near the coffee shop Teuscher.
There are also a few Qualipet centres around the city - so you don't have to go all the way to Germany.
Finally, used aquarium equipment can be found on the Swiss auction site www.ricardo.ch - we bought a cheap second-hand aquarium there.
Googling for marine fish (Meerwasseraquiristik), I found the Korallenkeller in Mettnau - Kanton Aargau.
I came across Aquarium-Seerose today and it reminded me this old hobby. I would like to get an aquarium again, but as we are soon moving into a new (rented) flat, I am not sure how the landlord would react. In general, is it easy to get their permission?
I wouldn't have thought you need permission for an aquarium. Be sure to check your contract though under house pets (Haustiere). Generally, it's only pets that make noise, mess, etc. that are restricted...
Maybe a good idea to check your insurance covers leaking aquariums too...
Exactly It happened to us once. At 5:00 am we were woken up by this bubbling sound. Went to have a look and got wet feet. Fortunately, we were in time to soak up the water in some towels before the occupants in the flat below us were showered! And a friend lent us a small aquarium he had lying around in his garage. But it did make us think of our insurance policy...
It happened to me once too. Luckily it was a small tank of 30litres and we were at home. Now I would like to get a proper one of perhaps at least 150l. Don't even want to think about leaks here! That's why I would buy only new one tank from a reliable retailer.
However, I heard that after certain manufacturers moved their sites more towards Eastern Europe, leaking is more common. In Aquarium-Seerose they told me that Juwel makes their tanks is Switzerland. Good, if it's true. Yet most likely the guy just didn't know.
AFAIK Juwel is a German company. No doubt the quality is good all the same. Ours was a cheapo set from a shop near Lucerne and the lights kept going too. In the end we replaced the lid with a second-hand one. A new set from a local dealer (with guarantee) would probably been better and a lot less hassle
100x40x40 = 160l. We've got tropical fish. We wanted a marine aquarium to start off with, but changed to tropical because we've got children. A marine aquarium should be open (great for kids to throw things into - is also noisier, I think, and needs to be a lot larger than we've space for.
At the moment we've got a couple of catfish, chichlids, black mollies, and some others I don't know English names of. We tried to keep small underwater frogs (they jumped out ), an eel (wouldn't eat ) and shrimps (they were eaten by the cichlids ). Most of our livestock is from Seerose, as we find them quite competent and friendly - even if a tad expensive. Would rather have expensive, healthy fish than cheap ones that bring in a disease, though.
I don't remember now precisely, but I think with Malawi lake cichlids plants are not good idea as they like digging the sand and move it around. If you have a look in any aquarium (eg London), tanks with cichlids are pure water and rocks, whereas, let's say there are plenty of plants in other tanks, eg with angel fish, that live in Amazon.
Though now I found this link that says cichlids and plants are OK.
Yes, the Malawi ones in Seerose are on the other (left) side of the shop. I don't remember seeing plants in those tanks. Those fish are larger than the small cichlids we've got (from the right side). The larger ones can't be mixed with any other type though - and you can't have very many of them. Apparently, all from the right-hand side of the shop can be mixed as long as you keep the cichlids to a minimum. We've just 2, Hammersmith and Trudy, and they've produced lots of offspring in their time. They've been with us from the beginning - going on 5 years now.
Good to know there are devoted aquariumists (not sure this is the right word) here. I used to belong to an aquarium club back at home. Would love to do the same here
Those are kribensis (dwarf cichlids) and should be fine with plants (tho mixing any cichlids and shrimp is a bad idea especially if you have a breeding pair.
I can't wait to get my new 300L set up and finally get a healthy pair of german ramirezi dwarf cichlids as shown below (the UK stock were always very weak and prone to disease).
Crumbs, Do you raise the young kribs? It's really fascinating to watch the parents care for the young, when they don't eat them
*Marine aquariums are as difficult as many people think and not any noisier. It is more expensive to setup than fresh but it's an entirely different hobby, IMO. I keep both FW and SW tanks.
*You can have plants with cichlids, it just depends on what type of cichlids you keep CA/SA/WA/EA.
Crumbs,
Those fish are cichlids from West Africa, in particular the Nigeria region. They go by the common names of Kribensis, Kribs, etc. Scientific name is Pelvicachromis pulcher, a very prolific fish. Those fish can be kept with most plants and display very beautiful coloration when in breeding dress.
Egla,
Malawian cichlids dig up the substrate quite a bit so having planted plants with them isn't a good idea. Plus, there are very few plants found in their natural habitat. They have a very rocky environment with specific water conditions that are very hard with a high pH. BTW, the word for those who keep aquariums is aquarist not aquariumists.
Owls_79,
Microgeophagus ramirezi (German Rams) are one of my all-time favorite species and I used to breed them quite regularly.
If you're interested, I can post some shots of my fish/tanks. I've kept quite a few species and various setups. Or if anyone here needs assistance with their current tank setups or wants some advice in setting up a tank feel free to PM me or start a thread that I can reply to. I can give you some tips on how to save $, or rather CHF when starting out.
Tip #1: Buy sand or very small pebble mixtures from your local hardware store instead of the pet store. Here in Halifax I can buy a 20kg bag of playsand (safe for freshwater aquariums) for $4 as opposed to the same amount at a pet store for $60-80.