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General => General Discussion => Topic started by: Chino on February 11, 2011, 04:24:50 PM
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I know I posted this in the Avatar thread a while back, but I was curious if any other members are into building aquariums. I recently joined a few aquarium forums and am absolutely blown away with what some people do. Here is mine from beginning to a few I just took a few minutes ago. I have my original 10 gallon in the attic. I am thinking about trying out a live tank. One where all the plants have to be taken care of as well as the fish.
(https://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/34335_10150229581105111_515190110_13249991_1537548_n.jpg)
(https://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/34643_10150229580990111_515190110_13249982_7755671_n.jpg)
(https://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/34229_10150231982510111_515190110_13311182_1360145_n.jpg)
(https://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/155483_10150342312205111_515190110_15805477_3397051_n.jpg)
*upgraded to a larger tank*
(https://img840.imageshack.us/img840/7611/day2t.jpg)
(https://img528.imageshack.us/img528/1719/img3597.jpg)
(https://img152.imageshack.us/img152/3570/img3605n.jpg)
(https://img156.imageshack.us/img156/2688/img3607zg.jpg)
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I like your aquarium. It's shiny.
I have had a small freshwater tank with some cichilds, but right now i am converting it into a saltwater aquarium. I have almost all gear i need. As soom as i'm done collecting money for some live rock, i will start my tank. Too bad this shit is so expensive.
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I thought about going salt as well, but it's just not worth it. Not only is it expensive, but the maintenance to keep the tank healthy is very time-consuming. With my python, I can do a 50% water change on my 55 gallon FW tank in less than 20 minutes TOTAL. No mixing. No bucket hauling. Nuthin' like that. With a SW tank, it takes a lot longer.
I'll try to get a copy of my tank up later tonight or tomorrow.
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25 years worth, roughly. Currently operating a 50g breeder, which has been uninhabited for several months now. The fish I'm looking to put in there are hard as hell to come by, and since I'm moving quite soon, I stopped looking a couple of months ago. Once I get moved, I'll probably order the new fish online just to get it taken care of.
I thought about going salt as well, but it's just not worth it. Not only is it expensive, but the maintenance to keep the tank healthy is very time-consuming. With my python, I can do a 50% water change on my 55 gallon FW tank in less than 20 minutes TOTAL. No mixing. No bucket hauling. Nuthin' like that. With a SW tank, it takes a lot longer.
QFT
A python is the single most important part of any aquarium. I would have given up the hobby 20 years ago if I hadn't discovered the thing.
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EB, what fish are you looking for? (not that I can help; I'm just curious)
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Oh, and Chino: Not sure what sites you are using, but I used to LOVE this one: https://www.aquariumadvice.com
You can't always trust the advice on the forums since it is a public form that is open to everybody, but when I was active on there years ago, there were always lots of knowledgeable people ready to help out with questions. And there are lots of great articles as well.
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I've always wanted to start a tank but I really don't have the time for it. I've seen some beautiful planted freshwater tanks in my day.
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Shark bait, woo ha ha!
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Fish is one of my main hobbies, along with basketball (and music of course :D ). I have a 6 foot long tank that is currently inhabited with community fish such as clown loaches, gouramis, and some native little fish I caught down at the pond (they tend to be quite aggressive and they started killing my neons so I had to transfer the neons to another tank :p). I'll post some vids later :)
I used to have cichlids in my tank but I got rid of them because I didn't have the time to take care of them, a community aquarium is much easier .
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EB, what fish are you looking for? (not that I can help; I'm just curious)
Geophagus altifrons
(https://www.cichlidforums.com/cichlidbase/p_images/Geophagus/altifrons/251_01.jpg)
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Geo's are lovely fish :heart
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Fish tanks look so cool but they're so much work I don't think I would ever want to be bothered starting one. We had a small tank when I was a kid and it was really a pain in the ass having to clean it.
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Oh, and Chino: Not sure what sites you are using, but I used to LOVE this one: https://www.aquariumadvice.com
Thanks Bosk :tup
That site looks really promising, I'll check it out more tomorrow after work. These are the two I have been posting on.
https://www.aquaticcommunity.com/aquariumforum/index.php
and
https://www.aquariumforum.com/forum.php
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I use a local one, theres a club and because its local you get good advice and trades from other members.
https://www.perthcichlid.com.au/forum/index.php?&&&CODE=00
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cool thread...looks good Chino!
one day I want to get a salt water tank. I love checking them out in the pet store.
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Once I get moved, I'll probably order the new fish online just to get it taken care of.
A python is the single most important part of any aquarium. I would have given up the hobby 20 years ago if I hadn't discovered the thing.
How do you order fish online?
What is a python?
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Once I get moved, I'll probably order the new fish online just to get it taken care of.
A python is the single most important part of any aquarium. I would have given up the hobby 20 years ago if I hadn't discovered the thing.
How do you order fish online?
What is a python?
Many of the tropical fish sold in this country come from hobbyists who sell fry to LFS (local fish stores). Once you get a well established species tank, you'll often wind up with far more fry than you want, so you unload them. LFS's will buy them for store credit and sell them to others. There's a website that functions as an eBay for fish breeders, since there's only so much that the LFS will buy. Some guy in Cali (for example) will happily sell 6 very young fish for $20, which is $20 he didn't have before. The LFS would have sold them for $25 each. As the buyer, you'll pay $75 to have them overnighted to you, but you'll still come out way ahead than if you'd purchased them locally. Since I can't go to Venezuela to get the fish I want, this is the next best option.
A python's a 25' hose that connects to a kitchen or bathroom sink. It'll drain water out of the tank very quickly, and then by turning the valve, it'll pump water back into it. You can replace 50% of a 50 gallon tank in about 5 minutes with very little fuss.
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A python's a 25' hose that connects to a kitchen or bathroom sink. It'll drain water out of the tank very quickly, and then by turning the valve, it'll pump water back into it. You can replace 50% of a 50 gallon tank in about 5 minutes with very little fuss.
Or 50', or 75'... At our old house, I could do a water change in no time at all. Given where the tank was, I could run the python right to the laundry room sink right around the corner. Where the tank is in our new house, it's a bit more of a hassle. The only sink close enough is the kitchen sink, and it doesn't have enough water pressure to generate enough suction to really clean the gravel. So I basically have to run the backhard hose in through the slider door in our kitchen with the python hooked up to it and draining into the kitchen sink for taking the water out. Then for refilling the tank, I switch over to the faucet so I can match the tank temperature. It's a few extra steps that feel like a hassle given that I had gotten really used to how easy it was in the old house. But still REALLY easy compared to the old-school syphon & bucket method of doing water changes.
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How do the fish not die in the mail though? I'm instructed to get them out of there bags within an hour when I get them from a store.
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How do the fish not die in the mail though? I'm instructed to get them out of there bags within an hour when I get them from a store.
Fish are good for 24-36 hours in the bag. It's stressful, so you prefer not to do that, but it's still doable. That's how fish arrive at your LFS. Plenty of the fish you see in Petsmart actually were caught in the wild; in many cases Africa, China and South America.
More specifically, you bag them and pump in pure O2. You make sure the bags are secured in the box so they're not flying around. You throw in a couple of 80° heat packs, then you insure the shit out of them with Fedex.
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When I move to another house (I want to sell my current one) I love the animals, and would like to have a great tank again. my friend owns a pet store with extensive aquariums and amazing amazing species, and thats fueling my want to have a tank again. right now we have two kitties, thats all..
enjoy Chino!!!!!!!
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I'm tempted to..Yeah, i'll have to do it!
Of my aquariuuuum.
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The Official "Caption Chino's Aquarium Thread:
(https://img528.imageshack.us/img528/1719/img3597.jpg)
Blue guy: "Trapped inside this! Blue aqu-quar-EE-YUUUUUUUUUUUUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!"
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I had a freshwater tank in my room for a few years. After awhile, I decided it was no longer worth it to keep it. It got dirty way too quickly, cleaning it was a bitch, and every time a fish died I would beat myself up over it thinking it was my fault (it probably was). One day I just said screw it, and got rid of it. I don't miss it.
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My fish tank is going well! I'll post up pics soon :)
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Well now that the semester is coming to an end. I'd like to get cracking on my next tank. I would love to make an underwater stonehenge. Making a legit looking model is easy, getting it to last underwater and not kill fish is another story. Any input?
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My advice would be to use actual stones. A lot of aqarium supply stores have bins of different kinds of stones in varying shapes and sizes. You can probably find a lot of what you need there and be fairly confident that it is properly treated and only needs a routine cleaning before use. Use the same kind of transparent silicone glue they use to seal tanks to bond the pieces together so it is a permanent structure that won't get broken down by the slightest movement.
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I've looked all over for stones. It's hard to find enough of similar size and shape to make a stonehenge. I was thinking mabye pouring like 20 rectangular blocks out of plaster or something, then carve them away to shape. My biggest concern is coloring them.
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If you're actually gong to have fish in the thing, I wouldn't use plaster. It's going to screw with the water chemistry in a very unpredictable way. What you need to do is plan a drive to a nice river or a big creek. The stones you find in fast moving water are exactly the sort of thing you're looking for.
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Thought this show might interest some of you. It Starts this Friday on animal planet, it's called Tanked. Looks kind of cool.
https://animal.discovery.com/tv/tanked/
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Looks cool, I'll check it out.
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I have a buddy who's big into it.
He has shrimp scurrying along the bottom, and for a while he had a blue lobster until it got too big..and then it went bye-bye. He always has something interesting in his tank.
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When I get some more plants I'll post up pics of my display tank. Its looking a bit bare atm :(
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If I could only win the lottery.......
(https://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn85/sideways777777/underwater-bedroom-spireinme.jpg)
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I would be terrified of the glass breaking while I was asleep.
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Ceiling carp is watching you masturbate.
I'm not prone to motion sickness of any sort, but the last time I was at an aquarium with curved glass ceilings, it made me pretty squirrelly. Don't think I'd want to spend much time in there.
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If I could only win the lottery.......
(https://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn85/sideways777777/underwater-bedroom-spireinme.jpg)
No way............show me the rest of that place, NOW!
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I would be terrified of the glass breaking while I was asleep.
I'm sure it's not glass, probably an industrial treated plexiglass of some sort. It would probably crack more than shatter. I'd keep a tank and mask under my bed ;D
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Ceiling carp is watching you masturbate.
I'd be concerned more with a group of divers swimming by.... :lol
No way............show me the rest of that place, NOW!
Here's some other cool ones....
(https://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn85/sideways777777/underwater-bedroom-2.jpg)
(https://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn85/sideways777777/bedroom.jpg)
(https://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn85/sideways777777/dining-room.jpg)
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Well the rest of those are mock up pics from a proposed under water hotel that will probably never happen, but that first pic I still can't source.
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Well the rest of those are mock up pics from a proposed under water hotel that will probably never happen, but that first pic I still can't source.
True... but, If I had SERIOUS money, you could bet your ass I'd have a pad like that... :lol
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Those last two are incredible.
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I used to have one with 2 goldfish. One was tiny, the other was bigger but years of being kept in a bowl stunted her bad, the poor thing. Anyway, after less than a year something struck them all down. It was absolutely awful. I had had the big goldfish since I was like 6 or 7 and I was soo upset. But now I have more time to focus on my snakes and not have to worry about water testing, cleaning, daily feeds etc.
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So I recently got 200 bucks in pre-paid visa's from the owner of my work for being kick-ass. I'd like to build a new tank. I would really like to make a live tank. don't want to go through the trouble of having CO2 systems, or having to constantly measure the levels of stuff. I've gotten lucky with my 20 gallon artificial I have now. I've never added any chemicals or anything like that (I think I have ideal well water). I'm not looking to get anything massive, because I know they need a lot more monitoring, and definitely need CO2. Would I be able to get decent plant growth in a 29 gallon without CO2 as long as I had proper lighting? What would you guys recommend.
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I did a bit of looking into it a while back. I wouldn't mind something in the tank while I'm waiting to find my fish. I decided against it. I kind of figured that it's an all or nothing deal. You're not going to put a couple of plants in there and keep it that way. Either they'll barely exist or die off, or you'll have a jungle in there before you know it. And properly maintaining a jungle seems like it'd be a real PITA, unless you want it to look like the backyard of that creepy neighbor who didn't come out much.
I don't think CO2 is required, but it usually helps to start things off. Getting some in there on a temporary basis is as simple as a 2L bottle, some tubing and a packet of yeast. Lighting is a different story. Fish and plants really want different light. Planted tanks aren't as bad as reef tanks, where you need 3 or 4 different lights at various timings, but you still need 2 and that's a drag.
As for never minding the chemistry, it really depends on the fish. Some fish will live through anything. Some are pretty finicky about water chem. If you ever decide you want some fairly cool, exotic fish, taking care of the water (which isn't too much trouble, honestly) is the difference between them living 6 months and 12 years. And as an FYI, a bigger tank is much more stable than a smaller one, so tending to water chem is actually quite a bit easier.
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Thanks Barto. I forgot to mention I'm doing freshwater, so reef is out of the question. Can you elaborate on the two lights thing?
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Plants need good, yellow light; like the sun. Fish live under water, which filters the light they get. Cooler white, shifted into the blue end (I believe). Fluorescent bulbs stick to a fairly narrow range. You can get one bulb to split the difference, but it'll be half-assed for both purposes. Ideally, you get a bulb in each end of the spectrum, and then figure out how to time them so that you're not lighting it up like a supernova.
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But what will happen if I just use the light that works good for the plants? The tank will still illuminate , no? Do the fish go crazy or something?
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But what will happen if I just use the light that works good for the plants? The tank will still illuminate , no? Do the fish go crazy or something?
Basically, yeah. Stress is what makes fish healthy or dead. You keep the various stressors to a minimum and you get fish that live long, happy lives. All sorts of things cause stress, and lighting can certainly be a big contributor. The water chemistry that you don't pay attention to is the biggest, BTW.
Interesting anecdote. A year ago I had 4 clown loaches in that tank. Two were 2 or 3 years old. One was 7 or 8. The oldest was between 12-15. The oldest one finally gave it up. That changed the dynamics of the other three, and the new elder-loach spent quite a bit of time hiding (not uncommon at all for the species). About 3 weeks after the death of the oldest one, he jumped overboard from a tank he'd lived in all his life. Never seen any of them jump before. I find it amusing to joke that he killed himself over the death of his friend, but that's actually not too far from the truth. They're fish, so for all I know they might have hated each other, but such a fundamental shift in the make-up of the tank probably skitzed him out something fierce. It was time to leave.
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Hmmm... That's interesting. Maybe having nothing but black lights on mine for the last 15 months hasn't been a good thing. Then again, out of the first 8 fish I bought, 7 are still alive. I lost the albino catfish when I switched from the 10 to the 20 gallon. It died within two minutes of being transferred into the new tank. I don't have any crazy expensive fish, so I assume they don't have a long life expectancy to begin with. Out of the 22 fish in my tank, 16 have been in there over a year. I prefer to have a lot of small fish rather than a handful of larger ones.
9 glo-fish (modified zebra danio)
5 neon tetras
3 red eye tetras
2 (forget the actual name) black and gold tetras
3 peppered catfish
It's strange though because I see different behavior depending on whether or not the light is on. When they are on the glofish come out into the open water, when they are turned off they usually go below the plant line. When the lights are on, the neon tetras and the red eyes tetras all gather around the avatar figures. They only school around (both species together) when the black lights are off. The black and gold tetras do whatever the glofish are doing. I don't see any difference with the catfish.
Out of curiosity, what would you say the life expectancies of the types of fish I have are?
*edit
Just went to the glofish website tonsee if they had info on life expectancy. They had none. However, they just released two new colors, blue and purple. Up until now they have only had gree, orange, and red.
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Well bigger tanks actually take less work if you keep them up to scratch. Because they have a larger water body, if any excess chemicals or fish waste or leftover food, when it decays it will not affect the water balance as much. Always a good idea to check nitrate, ammonia and nitrite levels though.
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Those are all popular entry level fish, and as such tend to be fairly hearty. That's not to say that they're long lived, just reasonably adaptable.
If a fish dies within minutes of transferring to a new tank, it was shock due to very differing water conditions. Temperature is the primary culprit. I believe 1 degree per hour is about what fish can handle safely. They go from 74 straight to a 77 degree tank and it's probably lights out for a few of them.
And maintaining good water conditions is really about as complicated as changing 25-33% of the water each month. Spend $30 of that dough on a python and it's less than a five minute undertaking.
Not familiar with the Glofish until now. Interesting idea. They used to just catch fish and paint them, but due to the fact that it was kind of a shitty thing to do, most fish stores refused to sell them. Looks like these people have found a better way to get the same effect. Anyhoo, they're essentially just minnows, and as such they're only good for a couple of years. Small fish just don't live all that long.
As for the black light, that's not going to give them any usable light at all. They'll be able to see, but that's about it. Now, since you're only looking at 2 or 3 years for them anyway, it's probably not a big deal. Hell, I've impaled a thousand of their ancestors on steel hooks in a pointless endeavor to catch other fish that I don't even like to eat, so they're doing pretty well, regardless.
If you ever want to get cool/interesting fish, then you'll want to maintain a better environment. If you just want to throw some neat to look at guys in there, then that's cool too. The way I look at it, they were lucky to survive the trip to the LFS, and a helluva lot of them will be killed in 2 days by 11 year olds with no clue, so if they get a couple of years in a crummy tank, they're probably still better off.
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Well I've begun working on my new tank. I dedicated a good 11 hours to it today. I just got the plants in the substrate. I'd like to get a long piece of driftwood, cover it with live moss, the stand it vertically in the left side of the tank. I'll decide on a backdrop once I get everything in the tank.
(https://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s720x720/320394_10150825863755111_515190110_20768556_580929300_n.jpg)
(https://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/s720x720/308063_10150825864210111_515190110_20768559_130351178_n.jpg)
(https://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/s720x720/308117_10150825864225111_515190110_20768560_1194671581_n.jpg)
(https://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/s720x720/303702_10150825865330111_515190110_20768567_1167689753_n.jpg)
(https://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s720x720/319654_10150825865050111_515190110_20768563_1609278400_n.jpg)
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(https://img694.imageshack.us/img694/5914/imageymn.jpg)
Woke up this morning to clear water :biggrin:
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Adami that hotel room is in Dubai, I've seen it but I don't recall the hotel name now.
Chino the pictures from your opening post are amazing, this has to be a bitch to clean though!
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Chino the pictures from your opening post are amazing, this has to be a bitch to clean though!
Thanks man! It's a pretty big pain in the ass to clean, but its pretty routine now. It's a solid two hour job. There are 23 individual things that need to be removed and cleaned with a toothbrush. It's worth it though.
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How often do you have to clean it?
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How often do you have to clean it?
I do a 1/4 water change once a week, and a full tank vaccum and cleaning every 4-5 weeks or so. Sometimes earlier if I notice quick build up of crap throughout the tank. Since I use black lights only, growth of algie and whatnot isn't really an issue.
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Enjoy Chino.!
did you ever see that show on "Bravo or A& E " I think called "Tanked"? its like Cake Boss but they do wild fish tanks... its kinda a fun watch.
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Enjoy Chino.!
did you ever see that show on "Bravo or A& E " I think called "Tanked"? its like Cake Boss but they do wild fish tanks... its kinda a fun watch.
I've DVR'd/Watched every episode so far. Those guys do some serious work.
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Enjoy Chino.!
did you ever see that show on "Bravo or A& E " I think called "Tanked"? its like Cake Boss but they do wild fish tanks... its kinda a fun watch.
I've DVR'd/Watched every episode so far. Those guys do some serious work.
I saw a few.. the shark desk and the beer keg one.. both very cool
did you see those crazy looking walking fish? my wife was soooooo into them
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Enjoy Chino.!
did you ever see that show on "Bravo or A& E " I think called "Tanked"? its like Cake Boss but they do wild fish tanks... its kinda a fun watch.
I've DVR'd/Watched every episode so far. Those guys do some serious work.
I saw a few.. the shark desk and the beer keg one.. both very cool
did you see those crazy looking walking fish? my wife was soooooo into them
The red ones that grabbed the driftwood? I really liked the dinosaur fish that looked like a green triceratops.
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Enjoy Chino.!
did you ever see that show on "Bravo or A& E " I think called "Tanked"? its like Cake Boss but they do wild fish tanks... its kinda a fun watch.
I've DVR'd/Watched every episode so far. Those guys do some serious work.
I saw a few.. the shark desk and the beer keg one.. both very cool
did you see those crazy looking walking fish? my wife was soooooo into them
The red ones that grabbed the driftwood? I really liked the dinosaur fish that looked like a green triceratops.
Yes those.. they looked like walking bushes.. I didnt get a good look at them, it was the scene where they were getting the sharks for that desk tank..my wife wanted them!!!
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Well Barto, after your words of wisdom and some research, I've decided on being patient and doing a proper fish less cycle in my new live tank. I went went out and bought a master test kit and I added ammonia today, the level is at 4ppm on the dot. I took stuff from my avatar tank and put it in the new one to jumpstart the bacteria growth, as well as cranking the heat up to 86 degrees.
Seeing as I never once took a reading on my avatar tank other than temperature, I was curious as to what all my levels would be. It's been probably ten days since I've done a water change and it's probably 1.5 gallons low (I've been crazy busy with school and don't get home until after 10 usually).
Ammonia < .25 (closer to 0)
Nitrites =0
Nitrates = 60
Now I know for a fact I over feed, I'm guessing that the crazy number of plants I have probably houses a lot of bacteria.
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If you were doing water changes, then your chem would have been fine. As for the new one, what you're doing is imperative. Most people dump fish in a new tank and they die in 3 weeks.
After my last tank change, I did the same thing you're doing, and it's pretty interesting. I got a kick out of watching the N process in action. In my case, I had some gravel from the older tank which certainly helps to start the process along.
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Once I read deeply into the process, I'm fascinated by it now. In a sense you are playing god. You have total control over an environment that needs to support life forms. The only concern I have is that I put the plants in on day one. I know ammonia isn't bad for them, but I need to keep the lights on throughout the day. I have read that a lights off tank for a cycle will speed up bacteria growth.
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Just chunk something from the first tank in there and you won't have any trouble getting the critters to grow.
Also, the plants probably need a light-off cycle, as well.
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Well Barto, after your words of wisdom and some research, I've decided on being patient and doing a proper fish less cycle in my new live tank.
:clap:
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Woohooo! Excellent news.
I checked my levels today and my ammonia was down to 2-3 ppm. I got excited and had to check my nitrites, they were between 4-5 ppm. I got real excited. I then checked my nitrates, and they were at 20 ppm. Looks like the party is starting after only 4 days! I am very happy. Tomorrow after classes I plan on adding more ammonia.
I have a question though. When hould I remove the seeder pieces that I borrowed from my other tank?
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A few minutes after you put them in. All you were wanting to do was to introduce some critters. They're there now.
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:lol I've had the pieces sitting in there for five days. I'll get them out them I get home.
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150 gal, freshwater, old pic. Might update later today.
(https://i.imgur.com/lFKNB.jpg)
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Why do you have two different lights?
Update on my new tank.
Ammonia < 1
Nitrites > 5
Nitrates >20/<40
I added more ammonia and got it back up to 4ppm.
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That is a great question. :lol That's how it came stock, and how we've left it. It really doesn't bother me too much anymore; don't even notice it. The lights are cycled and timed to go off at certain times, and other then that, really nothing has been done.
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It almost like two completely different tanks in the same tank.
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Great thread. We're considering putting in a large aquarium (trop fish, not salt) over the next six months. This thread has a lot of good tips I'm jotting down. Thanks guys.
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If you do nothing else, these 4 rules of thumb will get you 90% there:
1. Be patient and do a fishless cycle.
2. Get the biggest tank you have space for and can afford. The bigger the tank, the more stable your water chem. will be.
3. Invest in a python.
4. Just learn 1-3 and you're pretty golden.
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You might want to give some thought to what you want to put in it before deciding what to get. If you're going to put all kinds of different stuff in there, it doesn't matter. A lot of people like to go the biotope route, and you'd want to know that before you bought 75 pounds of hot pink gravel to put in it. The likelihood is that you'll probably want an African or South American tank, and that'd be a good thing to know before hand.
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My bacteria are doing very well (I think).
Sept 26 - 3:30pm
Ammonia < 1
Nitrites > 5
Nitrates >20/<40
I added more ammonia and got it back up to 4ppm.
Sept 27 - 7:30am
Ammonia = 1
Nitrites > 5 (I'm guessing between 6-8)
Nitrates = 40
I again added more ammonia to get the level back to 4ppm
So, what should my next step be? PWC?
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...I) Keep dosing the ammonia up to 4ppm. It should be dropping fairly quickly by now. Watch your nitrite levels, and once they’ve gotten really high…start testing for nitrAtes. Once the nitrAtes show up, it’s all downhill from here!
J) When your levels of nitrItes and nitrAtes get so high that they’re off what your test kit can show you… do a 50-60% water change. A water change will have no negative impact on your cycle and will help keep things moving and bring your levels low enough so you can actually tell what they are. You can also add another pinch of ground up fish food just to make sure the bacteria has lots of nutrients and phosphates to grow. A water change will also restore the buffers in your water to prevent any fluctuations in pH at the end of your cycle. Remember your dechlorinator!
K) Wait for the magic to happen. Keep watching your levels and adding the ammo up to 4ppm. Keep a very sharp eye on pH at this point. If you see any hints of the pH level dropping…time to break out the bucket and bottle of Prime to do a 50% water change. We want to make sure we have plenty of buffers in the water to keep the pH stable.
One morning you’ll wake up and when you test the water…Ammo and nitrItes will be gone! They’ll have vanished overnight! Technically this means your cycle is complete, but we’ve still got a bit of testing to do to make sure.
L) Add your ammonia up to 4ppm one more time. Look at the clock. If within 24 hours you can turn that 4ppm of ammonia > nitrItes > nitrAtes… congratulations! After the 24 hours your test results should be ammo-0 nitrItes-0 and have lots of nitrAtes. You grew one heck of a bio-filter and are going to have ridiculously happy fish!
Source (and full article): https://www.aquariumadvice.com/articles/articles/125/1/The-almost-Complete-Guide-and-FAQ-to-Fishless-Cycling/Page1.html
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Cool beans. I've read not to worry too much about ph levels. Mine chills at 7.6 ish and is very stubborn in regards to getting it to move. What does the bottle of prime do? I saw some people on AA saying not to use it.
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Prime is your dechlorinator. Not sure why people are saying NOT to use it. It is a very trusted brand and has been around forever.
EDIT: Okay, found some of what you are probably talking about. Some people are saying Prime gives you false readings. Personally, I have never seen that happen, and I am pretty sure it is just a rumor. In this thread, for example, a few people say that, and the last poster in the thread says it does not:
https://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f15/fish-in-cycle-still-no-nitrites-171437.html
I can tell you that I used Prime right from the beginning as my dechlorinator, and the readings I got during my cycle were textbook, so I highly doubt it gave me false readings.
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Good to know, Bosk. Thanks.
Something interesting with my reading tonight. I re-upped my ammonia to 4ppm this morning. 14 hours later it was down to <.5. My nitrites stayed the same, maybe a little higher. My nitrates were between 40ppm and 80ppm this morning (7:30), tonight (9:30) they were 5ppm-10ppm.... Something doesn't seem right there. I'm going to do a 75% water change tomorrow afternoon after I finish class.
Question... In the master test kit, the nitrate test bottle #2, is there some kind of solid or powder in it? I shook it for 40 seconds, and at drop 7 it got clogged. I shook it a few time and drops 8,9, and 10 came out fine. I'm guessing that had something to do with my funky reading.
Edit*
Tested nitrates again (15 minutes later), got the same reading.... :huh:
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Last night's readings.
Sept 27 - 9:30pm
Ammonia <.5
Nitrites > 5 (6-8)
Nitrates = 5-10ppm ???
I took readings this morning...
Sept 28 - 6:15am
Ammonia = .5-1ppm
Nitrites > 5
Nitrates = 5-10ppm ...???
I'm baffled.
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When I did that a while back, it took a few weeks to get everything normalized. Do a 50% waterchange and give it time. Looks to me like everything's happening as it should.
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It's normal for nitrates to drop from 80 to 10 in a 14 hour period by themselves?
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So I realized something as soon as I woke up this morning. When I purchased my tank, it came with a bunch of sample bottles; a water clarifier and a liquid plant food. I never used the water clarifier, but I did use the plant food a few times. I used it as instructed. I realized this morning, I haven't added the food in a few days.... right around the same time I noticed a crazy drop in my nitrate levels. Is it possible that there was something in the food that was showing me the high nitrate readings? I hope that is the case. At least that explain why my nitrites are still high and my nitrates are so low. Anyways, I added the food in this morning and will be testing when I get home tonight. The food would have been in there a good twelve hours or so by then.
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Hard to say. Any time you are adding a chemical into what is essentially a giant test tube (i.e. your tank), you are introducing additional variables into the equation.
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Great thread, going to go through it and jot down all the tips you folks have given.
Having noted;2. Get the biggest tank you have space for and can afford. The bigger the tank, the more stable your water chem. will be.
Do any of you have a read on what kind of quality the stater-kit aquariums are like?
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Depends on what they include. For example, if the starter kit includes an under gravel filter, I wouldn't get it. But most starter kits for 20 gal. setups and above are decent. You aren't going to get the best quality, but you will usually get pretty decent stuff. I got a 55 gal. starter kit in 2005. The tank itself was fine. I got a good stand for it (which is not part of the kit, but you definitely want to make sure you have a stand that is designed to hold a tank). The hang-on-the-back filter it came with was decent quality. Not the best, but middle of the road, and it's been fine. I think the thermometer was the stick-on strip kind, which aren't the best, so I bought a cheap suction cup thermometer. The biggest issue was the heater. I knew I should probably replace the one that came with the kit at some point down the road. Unfortunately, the one I had died before it should have, and it happened in the month of January over a weekend when we had house guests and I was busy entertaining and not keeping an eye on the tank. The result was that I lost my favorite and most expensive fish. :(
My best advice on that is, shop around and compare. When you find a kit that is in your price range that you think you want to buy, take inventory of exactly what come with it, and post here in this thread as well as on a reputable aquarium advice forum, such as the one I posted about above, and see what others think.
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Very informative, thanks bosk. I've been browsing the communities suggestion (found a post of yours from 5 years ago in the newbie thread on aquariumadvice :P).
I'll do so when I find a good-looking kit. Also, you've made a very convincing argument for the purchase of a python, looks like a godsend.
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Depends on what they include. For example, if the starter kit includes an under gravel filter, I wouldn't get it.
Undergravel filters are still the single best way of cultivating your good critters there is, short of a wet/dry sump system. I wouldn't want only that, but combined with a decent HOB filter, it's as good as you're going to get without dumping a ton of dough.
My concern with starter kits is that they're mainly using acrylic tanks nowadays, and I'm not a fan. Also, the colored gravel they put in there is a pretty crappy filter medium.
And yeah, a Python is the single most important component. You don't blow off water changes when it only takes you five minutes to do.
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Undergravel filters are still the single best way of cultivating your good critters there is, short of a wet/dry sump system. I wouldn't want only that, but combined with a decent HOB filter, it's as good as you're going to get without dumping a ton of dough.
Agreed, but IMO, the upside doesn't outweight the downside. Critters is good, no doubt. But once a tank is properly cycles, you generally have WAY more than enough beneficial bacteria living in your substrate, HOB filter, and other places that you don't need that benefit from an under gravel filter. So the upside, to me, is minimal. And the downside is that you cannot easily clean under there, so you have a nitrate factory that is pretty inaccessible.
My concern with starter kits is that they're mainly using acrylic tanks nowadays, and I'm not a fan. Also, the colored gravel they put in there is a pretty crappy filter medium.
Oh, really? I didn't know they were selling acrylics as starters now. I guess it depends where you get them. I know some people love acrylics because you don't have seams to deal with. But like you, I prefer glass. And, yeah, I hate the colored gravel. But I think most places will let you sub it out for natural gravel. I got a natural river gravel for mine, which I'm happy with. If I had it to do all over again, I probably would have gone with sand, but I don't have any major complaints with the natural gravel.
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Agreed for the undergravel filters. Especially if you do planted tanks as all of mine are. The cycle doesn't take long and once you do it for one tank, do never need to worry again (unless you mess it up somehow). I personally prefer to do it with one fish or a snail or two. But haven't done it for a long time :)
As for coloured gravel, one colour only work great for bettas in my opinion. It can really boost the colours and can look awesome. Black or red ones in particular makes a great planted tank for a betta.
For a general community tank, especially planted there is nothing prettier than natural look :) But again it goes with the personal preferences as some people like aliens, castles, etc. I only use wood, rocks and plans. Kids are having fun making caves, etc, out of natural rocks, they glue them together with silicon. When you attach some plants to them, it looks awesome.
bosk, unfortunately most of the starter kits are plastic, I believe because it is cheaper and easier for most people because it's light. I mean mostly the 1-5 g range. I am a big fan of glass though.
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I believe your PetSmart type places are mainly selling acrylic nowadays.
As for the UGF, more than enough critters helps stability, IMO. HOB filters are pretty unreliable. I was constantly walking over to find the biowheel not turning, or the output reduced to a trickle for a variety of reasons. A massive bed or happy, healthy critters will keep things stable indefinitely.
As for the nitrate factory, that's an interesting point that I hadn't considered. At the same time, once a year or so you take the gravel vacuum off your python and snake the hose down one of the lift tubes, and 5 seconds later the underside of your UGF is a clean as the rest of the tank.
I have been knocking around ditching my UGF though for different reasons, though. When I finally stock the tank it'll be with Earth-eaters, and that just makes for a PITA combination.
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Interesting. I mostly use Aquaclear HOB with some good media, not biowheels. I rarely have any issues with them.
There are two big things I don't like about undergravel - the fact you have lots of garbage trapped there. And the need of an airpump which always is way to noisy for my liking.
Good substrate, plants and rocks do a great job with bacteria. But I guess it really is a matter of personal preferences.
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I've got an aquaclear as well. The thing was deafening. With a perfectly full tank, it was alright, but a week's worth of evaporation and (like all HOBs) it sounded like Niagara Falls.
It also tried to drain my tank once when the tab that keeps it upright bent under and tilted the entire unit back 20°.
I recently replaced my HOBs with a cheap canister filter and I've been very happy with it. Silent and a great design for W/D filtration.
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Yeah, I see what you mean and I agree with that, but I love the sound of the falling water. Not in my bedroom though :) Thus I only keep bettas with no filter near my bed :)
BTW, with a good cover there is almost no evaporation even in the Summer.
Canister is best in terms of noise and all, but way too expensive for most people that usually do smaller tanks like 20 g or so.
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Unfortunately, I'm in kind of an oddball situation. I've got a 50g breeder, which is a great size for many reasons. The problem is it's exactly the wrong size for the type of fish I want. 50g is actually a reasonable size if it's in the right proportions, but the breeder-ness of this one makes it short and deep for maximum surface area. There's a ton of cool stuff I can do with it, but housing a group of cichlids isn't really one of them. I'm actually knocking around the idea of replacing it, but the prospect of spending money, time, and a ridiculous amount of effort to "upgrade" to a tank that's essentially the same size just doesn't sound very damned appealing.
On the bright side, tons of people are unloading their equipment on Craigslist/eBay for next to nothing, so it's not a bad time to really upgrade.
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Yeah, exactly. I always see people getting out of the hobby or trading. Good luck with finding the best tank for your taste!
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When my rosies eventually pass on, I may change over to come type of cichlids. I just have to make sure to buy them when they are babies so they get used to my clown loaches when they are still too small to try to eat them. :lol
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That should work, bosk. I have a few friends with that combinations and no complains :)
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Temperamentally, there's no issue. Cichlids are usually conspecifically aggressive (though there are certainly exceptions). The bigger issue is that loaches prefer slightly different water quality. Most people think they make great tank-mates, and others think you should never combine them.
The bigger thing with loaches is to make sure you have enough of them to be social and feel safe in numbers, but I suspect you're probably well aware of that. Assuming you have enough loaches for them to feel safe, they'll usually do just fine with bigger fish. It also helps that they hang out at the bottom and don't generally look for food up top with the mean fish.
I really liked keeping clown loaches; goofy little bastards. When the two oldest croaked, I had to decide to either buy more to keep their numbers up, and therefore commit to another decade of keeping them, or unload the remainders and take a different tack. Went with the latter.
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I've tried, and for whatever reason, even though I've been pretty successful with other species, I've had really bad luck with clown loaches. I started with 5 back when I started my tank, and lost 3. Later, I tried introducing a few more, and lost them as well. I'm a decent aquarist, but it basically scared me away from that species. I feel bad when I lose fish. And, not to sound cold, but my wallet also feels bad when I lose fish that aren't cheap. I'd love to have a small school of them, but I'm just not sure about trying to introduce more.
My tank currently consists of:
-5 roseline sharks
-2 clown loaches
-2 yoyo loaches
-salt & pepper cory
-an undisclosed number of otos (they always hide, and they're not hearty at all, so I'm never sure how many I have at any given moment)
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That's strange. The only loaches I've lost were due to accidents or old age.
Don't know if the yoyos and clowns school together or not, but having less than 4 or 5 loaches really screw up their stress level.
Do your sleep out in the open?
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I wasn't sure if they would school together or not. I would say "not really." Mine like to be semi-hidden when they sleep. They aren't right in the front of the tank on the substrate, but they are in plain view. Maybe I will try to introduce some more. It has been awhile. When I lost 3 or so in a string, it was bad. I forget what parasite they got, but it basically made them not eat at all, and you could see them physically wasting away little by little.
Speaking of schooling, my roseline sharks are the funniest fish in the world for that. In general, they school very loosely. But if any other fish in the tank suddenly darts (doesn't matter if it's one of them or one of the loaches, and I've even seen them do it with the cory), the schooling instinct takes hold of them, and they all immediately group together and follow. Funniest thing I've ever seen. :lol
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Well the rest of those are mock up pics from a proposed under water hotel that will probably never happen, but that first pic I still can't source.
There's already actual underwater hotels in the Caribbean actually :P They're just expensive as hell.
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There's actually a forum devoted entirely to loaches that'd probably tip you off as to what the problem was. If it had been ich, you would have caught it and treated it, so it was probably something else. There are a few diseases that tend to screw with loaches. With all the dither fish, your loaches should be pretty active if they have enough company to keep them social. Technically, five is supposed to be the minimum, but I usually just had four.
And at that forum, check out what some whacked out Brazilian done gone and did: https://forums.loaches.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=8460&start=315
The results are stunning.
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(https://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s720x720/298624_10150847736435111_515190110_20909491_1390435854_n.jpg)
(https://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s720x720/314956_10150849235250111_515190110_20918066_1527490550_n.jpg)
(https://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/s720x720/298573_10150849236765111_515190110_20918085_215140941_n.jpg)
(https://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s720x720/299443_10150849237850111_515190110_20918093_1783022177_n.jpg)
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There's actually a forum devoted entirely to loaches that'd probably tip you off as to what the problem was. If it had been ich, you would have caught it and treated it, so it was probably something else.
Yeah. I've actually had two bad bouts of ich in my tank thanks to my little orange and black friends, but I jumped on it quickly and nipped it before it became a huge problem. I temperature treated it both times, and that worked. No chemicals. :tup
And at that forum, check out what some whacked out Brazilian done gone and did: https://forums.loaches.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=8460&start=315
The results are stunning.
THAT is a great tank. Okay. I am officially inspired to get more loaches.
I love this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udMK76w7w6A&NR=1&feature=fvwp :lol One of mine used to do that, but he doesn't anymore.
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Went to LFS on Saturday. Was ecstatic and :omg: when I saw the tag on the clown loach tank that had them for under $5 each. On closer examination: Wait...there are none in the tank. :(
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Enjoy Chino... it looks great!!!!
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So I have been clearing 6ppm of ammonia in 24 hours for over a week now... I thought my nitrites were good, they looked nearly perfect when compared to the test kit. Turns out my nitrite levels got sooo high the test showed a light green (easily mistaken as a light blue). Tonight it took a 90% water change, followed by a 70% water change, followed by an 80% water change... just to get my nitirtes into the 2-5ppm range. I'm furious.
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Just a few progress pics of my aquascaping up until now.
(https://img855.imageshack.us/img855/3122/imagetrfh.jpg)
(https://img694.imageshack.us/img694/5914/imageymn.jpg)
(https://img200.imageshack.us/img200/6954/imageekit.jpg)
(https://img442.imageshack.us/img442/289/imagentav.jpg)
(https://img225.imageshack.us/img225/7829/imagepro.jpg)
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That explains why you nitrate levels seemed so out of whack. So, from the sound of it, you developed your level 1 critters to deal with the ammonia (I forget the name of each type of bacteria, but you get the point), and then stalled a bit and don't quite have enough of the level 2 critters to deal with your nitrites. But you should be there soon. Without going back and checking, I can't remember--did you take some media out of your other tank and put in the new one? Because that should have gotten you through your cycle quickly unless you took it out.
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Beautiful. I especially like the wood your using.
I gotta get some wood soon, attach some moss and ferns and finally start this empty 10 g that is laying in the basement for some time :) Luckily, there is an auction of the local forum/community that I am part of. This thread is infectious :omg: ;)
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I am having trouble getting pics, seeing as my phone has limited exposure settings...
I feel like a total fish noob, I have already forgot the names of the two schooling species I got...
I'm buying a black back drop this afternoon. I completely forgot about it at the LFS yesterday.
(https://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/297133_10150875381230111_515190110_21096752_877451295_n.jpg)
(https://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/313565_10150875377020111_515190110_21096722_1793795237_n.jpg)
(https://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/316077_10150875372985111_515190110_21096666_706394274_n.jpg)
(https://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/315026_10150875371960111_515190110_21096656_913057890_n.jpg)
(https://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/298784_10150873506525111_515190110_21088283_883818522_n.jpg)
This guy cleaned all the algae off the glass over night. I dig him. He just chilled in the corner for a good hour after putting him in the tank before exploring. He loves the little cave under the piece of driftwood in the left side of the tank. He just hangs there upside down most of the time and comes out here and there. He became very active once I turned the lights off last night. He neglected the algae on the plants though :(
(https://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/304178_10150873505150111_515190110_21088277_1782062505_n.jpg)
(https://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/296073_10150875370115111_515190110_21096639_1477580770_n.jpg)
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As an FYI, the pleco will need more food than just the algae from the glass. While they love it, it's not very nutritious.
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As an FYI, the pleco will need more food than just the algae from the glass. While they love it, it's not very nutritious.
Yeah, so ive been reading. The lady at my LFS said they actually can consume drift wood for nutrients, others on aquarium forums seem to agree. Some people on line say they put apple, cucumber, or carrot slices in the tank, but they say not all plecos eat fruit. I'll have to research wide mouth plecos a bit and see what's best. He loves to chill in that drift wood hut. I might just put one of each of those fruits next to the back entrance of it and see if he eats any of them.
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Plecos LOVE zuccini :) I give them a slice every time I cook some. I have corries, shrimps and snails in the same tank, so I never really need to get it out in a couple of days to not allow it to spoil the water, as there too much interests that the piece is gone in less than a day :) But otherwise you can give algae waffers, they love them :)
FYI, you have bloodfin tetras (the ones with the red tail ;) ) and harlequin rasbora (the dark patch in the middle of the body). Both are wonderful fish :)
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Plecos LOVE zuccini :) I give them a slice every time I cook some. I have corries, shrimps and snails in the same tank, so I never really need to get it out in a couple of days to not allow it to spoil the water, as there too much interests that the piece is gone in less than a day :) But otherwise you can give algae waffers, they love them :)
FYI, you have bloodfin tetras (the ones with the red tail ;) ) and harlequin rasbora (the dark patch in the middle of the body). Both are wonderful fish :)
Thanks. I knew they were along those lines. Does the zucchini need to be cooked? Do the fish prefer it that way?
I added a backdrop this afternoon. I think it looks pretty good. Most of the brown alge you see on the plants in the previous pics is gone now thanks to that plecco. I love that thing!
A few updated pics.
(https://img143.imageshack.us/img143/2617/imagetmm.jpg)
(https://img835.imageshack.us/img835/3902/imageedv.jpg)
(https://img80.imageshack.us/img80/1889/imageuaw.jpg)
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People say cooked but it sounds like something that would spoil the water real fast, so I only put it raw and they love it.
But the second set of pictures and the closer look at the first ones, these are not bloodfins, just saw the other fins. These are actually Pristella Tetras :)
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Good to know. I don't have any zucchini at the moment, but last night I tried putting in two different shaped pieces of English cucumber. One of them got a we nibbles taken out of it last night. I'm gabbing some zucchini today, butnim gonna leave that cucumber in there another day and see what happens.
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I would only leave it there for max two days just in case. I think cucumber spoils faster than zuccini thus I never tried it.
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What I have always done with zucchini/cucumbers: Got a little boiled water (you can just microwave a cup) in a cup or bowl and just blanch a small slide or wedge for about 30 seconds.
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Wow. So, I'm reading this thread. And I'm eating sushi at the same time. Is that wrong? :nemo:
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Haha :) I Love the fishy icon ;)
And that reminds me when a friend once called me and I said I can talk right now as I was in a store buying shrimps on a wonderful sale and she said "mm, yummy" and I went "NOOOOO, these are PETS" :facepalm: She was SO confused :) :) :lol
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What I have always done with zucchini/cucumbers: Got a little boiled water (you can Ijust microwave a cup) in a cup or bowl and just blanch a small slide or wedge for about 30 seconds.
I put some zucchini in yesterday. I put it in raw because I forgot about this post. I noticed today my water was slightly cloudy. Think it could be related?
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Hm, I never had cloudy water from a piece of zuccini. And it's less than a day. I guess it's something else that is going on. I have to go back and read, but is your tank fully cycled already?
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Hm, I never had cloudy water from a piece of zuccini. And it's less than a day. I guess it's something else that is going on. I have to go back and read, but is your tank fully cycled already?
Definitely cycled.
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Just occurred to me to check the filter...this thing was white as snow a week ago..
(https://img406.imageshack.us/img406/4305/20111019204302437.jpg)
The fuck?
I replaced the filter with a new one I had on standby for my other tank. The filters are almost identical in size, but the one that came with this tank is just slightly different, not positive why. I put the new filter in anyway and will see if it clears up by tomorrow. I shouldn't lose the majority of my bacteria. The filter I have has a series of trays that are supposedly there to house bacteria colonies.
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If it's properly cycled and not over occupied, changing the filter media won't be an issue as you have bacteria on the plants, decorations, etc. And having a few trays will help. Also if you can keep some media in there, it the trays or something. Or maybe using a sponge on the intake, etc. Sorry, I really need to get back and read your tank info, but having the filter so dirty in only a week is odd. Hopefully you will wake up with a clear water.
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I had a busy last two days. This is my original 10g Avatar tank before I upped it to a 20g. I built the stand last night and put the tank together just a few minutes ago.
(https://img829.imageshack.us/img829/7460/imagezek.jpg)
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Considering i just aquired, lets say something that was in a tub with Will Smith at the end of the movie Seven Pounds. I love him to death( my new aquisition, but it has been a lot of work.) and his name is Shaman. I little irony if you see what i did there.
BTW, I jumped ouit of a perfectly good plane at 14,000 feet today. :)
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(https://img259.imageshack.us/img259/3930/imagehxa.jpg)
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Well, shoot. When you are in Jamaica and you order a large pot of fish stew, things are good. When you return from your 12-day vacation in Jamaica and find a 55 gallon pot of fish stew in your living room because your heater went ballistic while you were gone, things are NOT good. :(
https://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f12/starting-over-lost-my-55-g-fw-205872.html
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Dude, that sucks. Sorry to hear that. Poor fishies.
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Damn, that sucks. Actually had the same thing happen (opposite, though--heater failed, fish froze) many years ago. Thankfully it was the GF's fish, and my tank was fine, but still a bummer.
Consider this a fine opportunity to go in a different direction. Once you get something established, you're married to it for at least a decade, and even then it can be hard to change directions. The first thing you need to decide is if you want to keep up the community thing, do a species tank, or a biotrope tank? I think biotrope tanks are badass, myself. Species tanks can be fun, as well. Figure out the direction you want to go in, and then you can figure out the specifics.
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Damn, that sucks. Actually had the same thing happen (opposite, though--heater failed, fish froze) many years ago.
Yeah, I had that happen a few years back as well. Only lost one fish (a gold nugget pleco), but he was my favorite. Fish from the amazon do not tolerate cold well at all.
Consider this a fine opportunity to go in a different direction. Once you get something established, you're married to it for at least a decade, and even then it can be hard to change directions. The first thing you need to decide is if you want to keep up the community thing, do a species tank, or a biotrope tank? I think biotrope tanks are badass, myself. Species tanks can be fun, as well. Figure out the direction you want to go in, and then you can figure out the specifics.
Yeah, I've thought about that. Not sure what I might do. It was a good community tank, and I really liked the species I had (mainly roseline sharks and clown loaches). Not sure whether to go a similar direction, go with something hearty and cheap and let it become the kids' tank so they can learn to take care of the fish, or maybe go with a small number of slightly larger fish, such as maybe parrots or firemouth cichlids.
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That blows, had this happened to my fish I would have been really upset.
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Damn, that sucks. Actually had the same thing happen (opposite, though--heater failed, fish froze) many years ago.
Last October, that freak snow storm left me without power for 5 days. I had a total of 41 fish sitting in 55-58 degree water for 4 days. They went into completely frozen state. I could reach into the water and poke them, or grab their tails and move them to a different part of the tank without them trying to swim away. When the power came back, the water slowly heated back up, and all the fish became animated again. All of them survived except two glo-fish which died within hours of each other 3 days later, not sure if it was related to the cold.
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Damn, that sucks. Actually had the same thing happen (opposite, though--heater failed, fish froze) many years ago.
Last October, that freak snow storm left me without power for 5 days. I had a total of 41 fish sitting in 55-58 degree water for 4 days. They went into completely frozen state. I could reach into the water and poke them, or grab their tails and move them to a different part of the tank without them trying to swim away. When the power came back, the water slowly heated back up, and all the fish became animated again. All of them survived except two glo-fish which died within hours of each other 3 days later, not sure if it was related to the cold.
Tangentially. Stress is like AIDS to fish. It cripples their ability to fight off illness. Five days outside of their comfort zone would weaken them to such a point where anything could kill them.
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Damn, that sucks. Actually had the same thing happen (opposite, though--heater failed, fish froze) many years ago.
Yeah, I had that happen a few years back as well. Only lost one fish (a gold nugget pleco), but he was my favorite. Fish from the amazon do not tolerate cold well at all.
Consider this a fine opportunity to go in a different direction. Once you get something established, you're married to it for at least a decade, and even then it can be hard to change directions. The first thing you need to decide is if you want to keep up the community thing, do a species tank, or a biotrope tank? I think biotrope tanks are badass, myself. Species tanks can be fun, as well. Figure out the direction you want to go in, and then you can figure out the specifics.
Yeah, I've thought about that. Not sure what I might do. It was a good community tank, and I really liked the species I had (mainly roseline sharks and clown loaches). Not sure whether to go a similar direction, go with something hearty and cheap and let it become the kids' tank so they can learn to take care of the fish, or maybe go with a small number of slightly larger fish, such as maybe parrots or firemouth cichlids.
Pt. II
So I eventually decided to go with basically a single species tank, electing to have some firemouth cichlids (https://www.aquahobby.com/gallery/e_meeki.php). Fun fish. I was going to go with a small school of 4 to 6, but the LFS I bought from only had 4, and the guy who was on duty could only manage to catch 3 of them, so I figured that would be a good start. I have had them for a couple of weeks. Just got a call from my kids saying we no longer have 3 firemouths in the tank. Now, we have about 100. :omg:
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Quick story about the totally inappropriate way to deal with fish breeding.
A good friend of mine had a 50g breeder; the same tank I now have. He stocked it with six Brichardi. Interesting chchlids from Lake Tanganyika. They're aggressive as hell to other species, but get along swell with each other. They're popular because they're so social-minded and they tend to each others fry, and set up a hierarchy for raising the youngsters. His six turned into a hundred, and for a while he would sell off the excess for supplies, but this gets to be a PITA. Eventually he just decides to just leave them alone figuring they'll work it all out. Filters, accidents, aggression, natural selection; it never gets too far out of hand. He gets a thriving community that lasts for 15 years or so. Then he starts to notice that they're mutating. A side effect of starting with a small gene pool is that it doesn't take too many generations to start seeing some weird shit. He wound up with a completely different fish than what he started with. Similar, but with big protruding jaws. Unfortunately, the mutations didn't prove to be advantageous to the species, so it never really propagated too far. While the mutants did actually outlast, outwit and outplay the norms, they didn't prove successful enough to continue on and slowly died off. Eventually it got down to two mongoloid looking fish, who didn't really pay much attention to each other. Eventually, one of them killed the other out of boredom, and then jumped over board. Then he gave the tank to me.
Moralistic fish-keepers are full of things you're supposed to do to keep this from happening. Personally, I thought it was a god damned hoot. It was a wonderful study of natural selection in a 20 year microcosm. Frankly, this was far more entertaining than the hierarchical nursery. And best of all, it took almost no effort whatsoever.
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Yeah, I've heard of similar things. Very interesting to see firsthand. Here are a few pics. You can see mom (smaller one) and dad (bigger one) with lots of tiny babies swimming around the flower pot area. Dad especially was getting VERY annoyed at me hanging out close to the tank snapping pics, and was flaring his gills and showing other aggressive behaviors toward me (see especially the last pic). :lol
(https://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y280/bosk1/Fish/DSCN0184.jpg)
(https://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y280/bosk1/Fish/DSCN0185.jpg)
(https://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y280/bosk1/Fish/DSCN0186.jpg)
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I would really like to set up my old 30g hexagon fish tank but living in an apartment with a yearly lease makes me want to settle down in a place I know ill live in for a long time before I set it up. When i was younger I had the 30g and two 10g in my bedroom and when we moved I had to give my needle nose fish away and it was such a pain to move the 30g tank. However in my new house at the time we got a 55g tank put in the basement wall when my parents finished the basement. I kept a single Oscar in there and he got to be about a foot long. I would hand feed him feeder fish. But sheen I went to college my dad didn't take care of him and the heater broke and no one noticed.
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Crap! All these things you never think of until they are an issue... The babies are starting to swim off on their own a bit. Not TOO much of a problem, for the most part, but there are at least two potential hazards I can think of: (1) a couple of other fish who may swallow them if they stray too far from mom and dad; and (2) my filter intake tube, the holes of which are definitely big enough to suck up the little guys. Can't really help the former issue. But I hadn't thought of the latter until I noticed a few getting dangerously close (I probably lost a few already). Had to swipe an unused pare of panty hose from my wife and cut off one of the feet to slip over the intake tube. I hope at least a few of the little guys make it. I don't know what the average survival rate is.
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I believe the survival rate is pretty low. That's actually a good thing, considering how many fry you start out with. You obviously don't want 100 of those guys in your tank.
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Well, in the long term, no. But in the short term, I'd love it if most of them lived. I can pick a few to keep, and then trade off the rest at the store for other stuff.
The parental behavoirs these fish are showing is a really cool thing to witness. For example, my wife was cracking up last night watching them move groups of babies around the tank by sucking them in, and then spitting them out in their new location. She was also enoying watching them chase the pleco around the tank whenever he would get too close. They had completely ignored his existence before the babies came.
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I put a new light in my Avatar tank this afternoon. I dig it. I was afraid the plants would all tint blue, but they are just as vibrant, if not more so than the old black light. The genetically modified fish look much nicer, and I also bought two of the new glow tetras. I can't decide which I like more. I should add that the old pic was taken on a tripod, with a 3 second exposer, and a semi high megapixel lense. The new one was taken with my beat ass DroidX.
Old:
(https://img804.imageshack.us/img804/4679/1300481749058.jpg)
New:
(https://img502.imageshack.us/img502/7245/imageskv.jpg)
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Fits your theme very well. :tup
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After two years of dicking around, UPS delivered six of these guys (https://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=465) this morning. Currently at home exploring their new digs. They're tiny right now (I've put bigger fish on hooks), but that'll give them time to grow into the tank together rather than starting off territorial.
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Very cool. What did they cost you?
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$40 for the fish and $42 for the shipping, so just under $14/head. When the LFS finally got them in after a very long wait, they wanted $29/ea; crazy bastards.
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Oh, wow. I've seen them here for about $14, but they are rare.
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Right next to the Tapajos, the LFS had a tank with what appeared to be much rarer Altifrons for $8/ea. I think it's possible they mixed the two up, but whatever the case, I decided that they didn't know what the hell they were doing and left.
I got these from The Wet Spot in Oregon. They have a big presence on Aquabid. My guess is that shipping to your neck of the woods would be dirt cheap, so you might consider them next time you want new fish.
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LFS . . . didn't know what the hell they were doing
No way! REALLY? :shockedandappalled:
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To be fair, this is probably the best LFS in Dallas, and they're sporting a showroom that's better than the City of Dallas's Aquarium. They just really bungled that whole deal and I didn't feel like screwing with it.
https://www.thefishgallery.com/
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I seem to have misunderestimated the size of the fish in relation to my gravel. I know from experience that it's a great size gravel for geo's to nosh on, but these guys are minimum 6 months from being able to take in a mouthful. They're happy exploring as it is, but they're not able to sift for food like they should. Unfortunately, that means I might wind up having to spend an afternoon swapping out the gravel for sand, and that sounds like a tremendous PITA. Not looking forward to it. On the bright side, the fish would probably be dreading it more if they only knew.
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My Firemouths have completely rearranged my tank since I put in sand and added them. They basically dug a huge pit in the back of the tank and now have piles of sand everywhere else.
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Took the better part of yesterday to swap out 150 pounds of gravel for 50 pounds of pool filter sand. Ugly, ugly job. The fish are ecstatic, though. The sand is clean and soft, and it took all of about 90 seconds for the fish to start sifting through it.
I'm really digging these fish a lot. After being traumatized by the net, they spent 5 hours in a 2.5gallon container and didn't mind a bit. Really didn't stress them out much at all. They settled right back into the tank like nothing happened. The tank's about 10 gallons low, so the filter return is just shooting a column of water straight down, and they take turns trying to swim up through it like they're surfing. It's a hoot.
My Firemouths have completely rearranged my tank since I put in sand and added them. They basically dug a huge pit in the back of the tank and now have piles of sand everywhere else.
Wait til you come home and discover that they got bored and moved that hole to the other side of the tank. Cichlids can do a lot of work in a short time when they get motivated.
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What size tank are you running again? I forget whether you mentioned it.
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My Firemouths have completely rearranged my tank since I put in sand and added them. They basically dug a huge pit in the back of the tank and now have piles of sand everywhere else.
Wait til you come home and discover that they got bored and moved that hole to the other side of the tank. Cichlids can do a lot of work in a short time when they get motivated.
:lol Oh, I'm sure. I can't believe how much personality they have. Only downside to them so far is that my big guy busted his mouth up pretty bad a few weeks ago. Not sure what happened. He could have been fighting with his mate, could have bashed himself up on something in the tank, or something else, but his mouth was looking pretty bad for awhile. He wasn't even really able to eat properly, and I was worried. It isn't looking nearly as bad now, and he seems to eat just fine (although all three of them are the most hilariously uncoordinated fish I have ever seen--they'll dart straight at a piece of food, and then miss and have it bounce off their nose or something), but his mouth is somewhat deformed now.
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Just a 50 breeder. Breeder because it trades length for depth, increasing the surface area a great deal. Best suited for fish that don't need lots of running room.
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When I was in high school I had a 100 gallon tank for my Silver Arowana:
(similar)
(https://4.bp.blogspot.com/_t7tMG5r9hVI/S9ag-35IuLI/AAAAAAAAAQA/V_m0i-raz34/s400/arowana_silver.jpg)
I bred small goldfish for it too. I enjoyed feeding it. I had to sell it when I moved to college though. I hope one day to get another. They are gorgeous! I just wish I can get one for salt water though; since I was hoping to start a salt water tank for my next aquarium.
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Neat fish. I've heard from more than one person who said that they get so used to people petting them that if you walk by without doing so he'll splash water all over you.
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(https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/556827_367970293252283_1596593503_n.jpg)
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That yours or some random netizens?
I was gonna post some pictures of my Tapajos, but the guys suddenly turned into pussies. It's really quite annoying. The first month I had them they were always out and about and seemed to really like when I was around (the provider of food). Starting with the second month, they run and hide anytime I approach the tank. Bastards. I'm really quite pissed off by their behavior. Shame, because they're actually thriving in there. They've grown tremendously, and they starting to color up a bit. They're gonna be good looking fish (assuming I ever see them again).
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I wish that was mine. :lol
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That yours or some random netizens?
I was gonna post some pictures of my Tapajos, but the guys suddenly turned into pussies. It's really quite annoying. The first month I had them they were always out and about and seemed to really like when I was around (the provider of food). Starting with the second month, they run and hide anytime I approach the tank. Bastards. I'm really quite pissed off by their behavior. Shame, because they're actually thriving in there. They've grown tremendously, and they starting to color up a bit. They're gonna be good looking fish (assuming I ever see them again).
Same with mine in general. The difference is that with babies in the tank, they still initially dart behind something, but then if you stay by the tank, they come out and try to threaten you with gill flaring. :lol
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My theory is that they were more brazen before they became territorial. Each one of them has their own hiding place now, so if I start to walk towards the tank (which I'll occasionally do just to be a dick), everybody's got somewhere to run. Usually, it works the opposite way. Once they all have a place to hide, they should feel more comfortable, not less. I'm starting to think they're just assholes.
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I did away with my Avatar tank. It was a very hard decision. It was truly just way too much of a bitch to clean. Between my three tanks, the Avatar tank made aquarium maintenance day take way too long. All those little plants took forever. I went with a couple of drop in coral inserts that are easy to remove and much easier to clean. I know this camera phone pic sucks, but my actual camera got destroyed in the trunk of my car when I got hit.
(https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc6/261930_10152151287990111_771643469_n.jpg)
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My theory is that they were more brazen before they became territorial. Each one of them has their own hiding place now, so if I start to walk towards the tank (which I'll occasionally do just to be a dick), everybody's got somewhere to run. Usually, it works the opposite way. Once they all have a place to hide, they should feel more comfortable, not less. I'm starting to think they're just assholes.
:lol I know what you mean. Not sure yet whether I'll just leave things as they are or maybe shake things up by adding either (1) a couple of some other type of semi-aggressive fish that can hold its own (maybe jewels?) or (2) a school of a big enough fish that aren't likely to get attacked as a group (maybe some medium sized clown loaches?). I probably won't do either, but it's interesting to think about.
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Bumping this with some happy news. Basically back in September of 2010 I had to move out of my apartment temporarily. This resulted in me giving my fish away to my best friend. In July of 2011 I moved back, but didn't know if the move would be a permanent one. Well, the move became permanent earlier this month and my friend was looking at getting a dog and freeing up space and so the conditions were perfect for the fish to come back to me.
My friend was down to two fish, both which have been alive since the tank was here originally. They are a Rafael catfish named Chris Angel (because even though he's huge he's an illusionist because you never see him), and the now renamed Silver tipped shark Kratos.
In addition I've added two tiger barbs (Apollo and Artemis), a panda barb (Dionysus), a gold barb (Aphrodite), a green tiger barb (Hephaestus (builder of all tank architecture)), and red tailed shark Kimmo Finnonen (sports Flyers colors).
Really happy to have my tank back!
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Okay, I'd say I've been slightly fish crazy for the last few weeks...
Basically I have a master plan in place that's going well so far. Basically I'm setting up a 75g tank in the bedroom, which will permanently house a catfish and shark, and temporarily house my other shark and all the barbs. This tank will be low-tech and planted and I'll be doing a fishless cycle to make the conditions perfect for when the fish move in.
Once that's fully running I'll be draining the 29g tank to swap out the gravel for better substrate and planting that tank as well. I'll then move the barbs and one shark back and I think they will really be thrilled with the tank.
Finally I will take any remaining substrate from the 75 and 29 and adding it to the 29's gravel for use in a 55g Cichlid tank to be put in an office. Won't be planting this one at all as along with Cichlid's I'll also have a pair of Plecos in the bottom, and that's just a lot of fish that like to destroy plants.
I'm still not 100% sure what I want to do with the 75g tank when the Barbs move out simply because that's a big freaking tank with a lot of freaking options. I'll likely keep it community oriented with perhaps an eel as well. Thinking a few swordtails and a couple of gourami's for starters.
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Yeah, I think that qualifies as fish crazy.
What cichlids?
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Pro-tip: When setting up your 75 gal., temporarily take a handful or so of the substrate from the 29 gal. Beneficial bacteria lives on and in your substrate and will jumpstart your cycle in the new tank.
Also, what kind of Cichlids in the 55? I don't think Africans are compatible with plecos because of much different water condition requirements. A lot of South Americans are, but not all. In my tank, for example, Firemouths are usually just fine with plecos...unless you wind up with a mated pair, in which case they become VERY territorial. In my case, they killed a good-sized pleco that was bigger than them.
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Pro-tip: When setting up your 75 gal., temporarily take a handful or so of the substrate from the 29 gal. Beneficial bacteria lives on and in your substrate and will jumpstart your cycle in the new tank.
I was planning on taking a decoration from the current tank and moving it over temporarily, so with ya there. I was also planning on keeping my 29g filter running on the new tank as well. And once the 29g gets set back up I plan to run two filters on it, so I have an extra filter for a quarantine tank in the future.
What cichlids?
Also, what kind of Cichlids in the 55? I don't think Africans are compatible with plecos because of much different water condition requirements. A lot of South Americans are, but not all. In my tank, for example, Firemouths are usually just fine with plecos...unless you wind up with a mated pair, in which case they become VERY territorial. In my case, they killed a good-sized pleco that was bigger than them.
I haven't done a whole lot of research into the specific fish yet because that's way far off. Basically were I'm at now is that I love Plecos, but don't want to risk them in a planted tank. I love Cichlids but same deal. And from what I've read if Cichlids are going to work with any fish it's going to be a Pleco. People have had a wide range of experience between the two, but generally it's a pretty good fit it seems. So while I'd love to plant the 55g, I'll keep it plain if it means being able to house those two types of fish.
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Basically were I'm at now is that I love Plecos, but don't want to risk them in a planted tank. I love Cichlids but same deal. And from what I've read if Cichlids are going to work with any fish it's going to be a Pleco. People have had a wide range of experience between the two, but generally it's a pretty good fit it seems.
Generally, yes. But, again, it depends on what kind of cichlid you are talking about. And, to an extent, it also depends somewhat on what type of pleco. But there are many types of plecos that are suitable for a great variety of fish as well. If you want common plecos, for example, you want them with bigger fish that won't get swallowed. But there are lots of really cool smaller plecos that are great for a community aquarium as well. If you have smallish fish, having a few rubbernose plecos around can be really cool. Probably my favorite of the smaller plecos that go great in a community tank are the gold nugget plecos (https://www.grosvenor-tropicals.co.uk/livestock-pages/specimen/gold-nugget.shtml). They are just great fish in every respect. I had one for a few years until my heater conked out on me one winter and the tank temp fell too low before I caught it. But he was a great fish. Had him in a community tank with some clown loaches, roseline sharks, and gouramis.
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Since you've got time, sign up for the newsletter from https://www.wetspottropicalfish.com/. They're cool people, and they'll ship fish nationwide for a very reasonable price. Once you start getting into things more exotic than an oscar or generic plecostamus, they'll come in quite a bit cheaper than your LFS, even with shipping. They breed a lot of fish themselves, and they also make frequent trips down South to catch their own. As for the newsletter, every week they feature 2 or 3 fish you've never heard of, and this guy loves him some plecos. There are literally hundreds of variety, categorized by L-numbers. He comes up with some really off the wall plecos that you won't see anywhere else. Some of them are really spectacular. Within a couple of months, you'll see a one or two that really interest you. An added advantage is that you'll get some history on them. In my case, there are a few varieties of pleco that they stock which come from the same tributaries as my red head Tapajos, so they're naturally friendly to each other.
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Basically were I'm at now is that I love Plecos, but don't want to risk them in a planted tank. I love Cichlids but same deal. And from what I've read if Cichlids are going to work with any fish it's going to be a Pleco. People have had a wide range of experience between the two, but generally it's a pretty good fit it seems.
Generally, yes. But, again, it depends on what kind of cichlid you are talking about. And, to an extent, it also depends somewhat on what type of pleco. But there are many types of plecos that are suitable for a great variety of fish as well. If you want common plecos, for example, you want them with bigger fish that won't get swallowed. But there are lots of really cool smaller plecos that are great for a community aquarium as well. If you have smallish fish, having a few rubbernose plecos around can be really cool. Probably my favorite of the smaller plecos that go great in a community tank are the gold nugget plecos (https://www.grosvenor-tropicals.co.uk/livestock-pages/specimen/gold-nugget.shtml). They are just great fish in every respect. I had one for a few years until my heater conked out on me one winter and the tank temp fell too low before I caught it. But he was a great fish. Had him in a community tank with some clown loaches, roseline sharks, and gouramis.
Yeah, Plecos are awesome, and the gold nugget one is one I've always enjoyed, but my favorite of the reasonably priced ones I've seen is the Medusa Pleco.
(https://www.aquariumlife.net/profile-images/spotted-medusa-pleco.jpg)
Will do more research when the time comes to determine of those that would work which I like best!
Since you've got time, sign up for the newsletter from https://www.wetspottropicalfish.com/. They're cool people, and they'll ship fish nationwide for a very reasonable price. Once you start getting into things more exotic than an oscar or generic plecostamus, they'll come in quite a bit cheaper than your LFS, even with shipping. They breed a lot of fish themselves, and they also make frequent trips down South to catch their own. As for the newsletter, every week they feature 2 or 3 fish you've never heard of, and this guy loves him some plecos. There are literally hundreds of variety, categorized by L-numbers. He comes up with some really off the wall plecos that you won't see anywhere else. Some of them are really spectacular. Within a couple of months, you'll see a one or two that really interest you. An added advantage is that you'll get some history on them. In my case, there are a few varieties of pleco that they stock which come from the same tributaries as my red head Tapajos, so they're naturally friendly to each other.
Only had a few moments to check it out for now, but that looks like an awesome site, will definitely sign up for the newsletter. When it comes time to stock the tank I may just do an order from them. The thing about the fishless cycle is that because you're literally dumping ammonia in the tank to build up the bacteria you can build them up to a degree to handle any initial load you want in the tank, so I could do a nice bulk order right off the bat.
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Something to be mindful of is that the fishless cycle can rebound on you. In short, you build up more critters than what your initial fish load can supply waste to feed. The excess critters die off which creates too much waste (now that the critters are diminished) and everything's out of balance. Probably not a problem, but you don't want things too ramped up because of huge ammonia loads.
The fish I went with were $28ea at the LFS. I paid $7 each for them and another $30 or so for shipping from The Wet Spot. I believe I was out $75 for 6 of them. And they're friendly people. I got an email the next day making sure everything went alright. Although the main benefit is that they have any kind of fish you might want, and if they don't they might well fly to Africa to catch it for you.
Check out the leopard frog pleco (https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&tbo=d&biw=1280&bih=881&site=imghp&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=leopard+frog+pleco&oq=leopard+frog+pleco&gs_l=img.12...0.0.0.138008.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0..0.0...0.0...1c.n0xZ5r9dgVc). I always thought plecos were coolest when they have pronounced modeling.
Also, don't discount clown loaches. They're cool looking, get along with damn near anything, can fend for themselves, and once they get comfortable they're just downright goofy. I kept some for about 10 years and really got a kick out of them.
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leopard frog pleco (https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&tbo=d&biw=1280&bih=881&site=imghp&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=leopard+frog+pleco&oq=leopard+frog+pleco&gs_l=img.12...0.0.0.138008.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0..0.0...0.0...1c.n0xZ5r9dgVc).
Nice. I dream of someday doing a really big community tank (100 gal. or more) with a gaggle of clown loaches, half a dozen or so smallish plecos, and somre more roseline sharks. I loved the loaches and sharks I had before my heater cooked them last year. They were really cool fish.
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Oh yea. Plenty of plecostomi will out grow that 75g aquarium in a great big hurry. Plenty of others will never get more than a few inches. Be sure and research their max size requirements.
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That leopard is pretty awesome Barto! And yeah, will only be getting 4-6" Cichlids and none of the giant Plecos.
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The more I think about it the more I think I'll do something like this...
Once I have the 75 finished (with the 2 permanent fish and 7 temps) I'll be planting the 29g like I said. Once the fishless cycle on that tank is ready I'll place an order for fish online. That order will include 4 barbs, which will go into the 29g along with the 7 temps coming back and making the stocking on that finished. The other half of my order will be 5-10 fish to put in the 75g to continue where the 7 temps left off. This will allow me to get barbs I can't easily get locally (likely Snakeskin, Checker, Odessa and Black Ruby), and some rarer fish for the 75g.
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(https://www.nickeh.com/images/fish27.jpg)
The skull is just to help cycle the tank, and that lone plant is a transfer, should be getting more in tomorrow hopefully.
The Fluval 406 is POWERFUL. My god does that thing move water. Rock formation may change over time, but it will be in that spot with moss on it. Main goal is just to provide a limited light area for my Raphael catfish.
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I like the Fluvals; good design. Got a much smaller one, but still very effective.
As for the structure, keep in mind that the more hiding places fish have, the less they tend to hide. Particularly with cichlids, you want a ton of structure in there so they feel safe. If they're always exposed they get really skittish.
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Yeah, the Cichlid tank will have a ton of big rocks, but this is not that tank. I will perhaps sprinkle some other rocks throughout this tank though.
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As for the structure, keep in mind that the more hiding places fish have, the less they tend to hide. Particularly with cichlids, you want a ton of structure in there so they feel safe. If they're always exposed they get really skittish.
Tell that to my idiot firemouth cichlids who seem to think, "Oh, bonus! Lots of hiding places. Let's use all of them at all times and never, EVER just sit out in the open where we can be seen." >:(
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Back to the topic of pleccos a while back. I had a wide mouth plecco not long ago. Had him for a little more than a year before he died shortly after a week of no power. The entire time I had him he would demonstrate this weird behavior. It was almost like he'd play dead. I had a piece of driftwood that he would lay on his back under. The first time he did it, I thought he was toast. As soon as the net got near him, he flipped over and went to hide. I witnessed this dozens of times, but he always seemed really alive an animated whenever he wasn't laying there. I'm convinced he ate two of my other fish over that year as well.
(https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/320192_10150878020250111_800668630_n.jpg)
(https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/304178_10150873505150111_1782062505_n.jpg)
He'd chill on the glass for hours. I know the tank looks dirty in this pic. This was right after the week of no power. It went from spotless to this in less than a week.
(https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc7/390566_10150943911570111_687056554_n.jpg)
This is what he'd lay upside down under.
(https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc7/296073_10150875370115111_1477580770_n.jpg)
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As for the structure, keep in mind that the more hiding places fish have, the less they tend to hide. Particularly with cichlids, you want a ton of structure in there so they feel safe. If they're always exposed they get really skittish.
Tell that to my idiot firemouth cichlids who seem to think, "Oh, bonus! Lots of hiding places. Let's use all of them at all times and never, EVER just sit out in the open where we can be seen." >:(
Yeah, my Tapajos are pretty chickenshit, as well. If I approach the tank from the side they'll usually come out for food. If I approach from the front, or even walk past it they'll run and hide. The strange part is that they're pretty cool with tank maintenance. They don't like it but they don't panic or hide for days. Anyhoo, their behavior is kind of annoying because they're finally getting big and showing some real color (although they still have a ways to go).
Interestingly, their skittish behavior happened when the population mysteriously dropped from 6 to 5. I have no idea what happened, but I've always wondered if they blame me somehow. :lol
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As for the structure, keep in mind that the more hiding places fish have, the less they tend to hide. Particularly with cichlids, you want a ton of structure in there so they feel safe. If they're always exposed they get really skittish.
Tell that to my idiot firemouth cichlids who seem to think, "Oh, bonus! Lots of hiding places. Let's use all of them at all times and never, EVER just sit out in the open where we can be seen." >:(
Yeah, my Tapajos are pretty chickenshit, as well. If I approach the tank from the side they'll usually come out for food. If I approach from the front, or even walk past it they'll run and hide. The strange part is that they're pretty cool with tank maintenance. They don't like it but they don't panic or hide for days. Anyhoo, their behavior is kind of annoying because they're finally getting big and showing some real color (although they still have a ways to go).
Interestingly, their skittish behavior happened when the population mysteriously dropped from 6 to 5. I have no idea what happened, but I've always wondered if they blame me somehow. :lol
I feel you guys. In my glow/artificial reef tank (former Avatar tank), I have two of the glow tetras. Absolutely beautiful fish. They are bright green and their eyes glow red. In the Avatar tank, you could always see them. They stood out among the half dozen glow danios I had in there. Once I converted the tank and put in the giant coral insert, they hide virtually all day behind it. The only time I see them is when I drop some food in.
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So here is my current stock idea for when my 75g is ready (1-3 weeks probably)
Transfer from 29g tank:
Silver Tipped Shark
Raphael Catfish
Red Tailed Shark
From LGD:
9 Blue Tetras
Koi Anglefish
New:
6 Dwarf Chain Loaches
2 Bristlenose Plecos
1-3 Longfin Rainbow
2 Roseline Sharks
2-4 Gouramis
6-10 Swordtails/Mollies
I've broken down and bought a CO2 tank off of Craigslist and have bought all the parts off of ebay for a CO2 setup. *hopefully* all those things will be in by Saturday morning (as I bought from like 7 different sellers for good prices who knows), because I have this coming weekend off which would be perfect for setting everything up.
I also seem to have got snails, so the Loaches which I planned as a late addition will move up to an early add.
Here is the tank so far:
(https://www.nickeh.com/images/fish39.jpg)
I have moss on the way for the right hand rocks and for in front of the left hand rock (to be used as a grassy area). The skulls are just seeding material. And while most of the plants seem to be doing either poor (banana plant, red tiger lotus) or alright, my red/green cabomba has been going crazy. An inch every 3 days or so.
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Not sure dwarf chain loaches will eat snails. Clown loaches and yo-yo loaches will tear up a snail population in no time. Dwarf chain loaches? Don't think so.
Most loaches are pretty prone to ich when they are stressed, so they are a good fish to add early on so you can monitor and treat them without huge risk to your whole tank. Put your loaches in first, watch them for a week or so, and if no ich, you are probably good to go (although they can potentially get it later, but new arrivals are generally where the biggest risk lies).
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Been reading up on them and most reports are they will in fact at least keep populations in check, so I'll still likely go with them. I have to have them shipped in though with some other fish, costing many $$$, so they won't be the first in.
Here is my predicted final stock:
Transfer from 29g tank:
Raphael Catfish
Red Tailed Shark
From LGD:
9 Blue Tetras
Koi Anglefish
New:
6 Dwarf Chain Loaches
2 Bristlenose Plecos
6 Roseline Sharks
3 Pearl Gouramis
6-10 Swordtails/Mollies/Danios/Rasbories/etc
Today I got my CO2 setup together and up and running. Friday I do a 90% water change to finish off my fishless cycle, and Saturday I add the Angelfish, Tetras, and hopefully the BN Plecos. As long as they do well for the first 2-3 days I'll be adding the Red Tailed and Raphael. And when things have been running smoothly for 2-3 weeks I'll be placing the order for the other fish.
I also have an extra HOB filter sitting on my 29g tank for the last month, and when the new big influx of fish comes in from the online order I'll be moving that over to this tank to help with the added bio load.
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So I went to feed my fish last night and something caught my eye in the lower corner of the tank.... FRY! There were only three in there, so I'm assuming a bunch didn't make it. I separated them in a separate container. I never had fry in a tank before.
(https://i61.tinypic.com/wmh7vn.jpg)
(https://i57.tinypic.com/140kdnd.jpg)
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Cool with the fry
I set up my 30 gallon tank about 7 months ago now. I put South American ciclids in there. I got 7 of the "assorted ciclids" so I am not really sure what kind they really are, but they have great color. One passed after a month so I have 6 of them now and they have grown a lot in size, but due to my tank not being huge I am assuming they wont get much bigger. This may be my favorite tank Ive ever set up as these guys are great. Really active and go nuts whenever anyone gets close to the tank. I used the south american ciclid sand and I think that wa a great decision as the water has been great and I havent had to do really anything to keep it with the right levels of Ph and whatnot.
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So I went to feed my fish last night and something caught my eye in the lower corner of the tank.... FRY! There were only three in there, so I'm assuming a bunch didn't make it. I separated them in a separate container. I never had fry in a tank before.
Meh, let Darwin raise them. From what I recall 2 or 3 survivors is pretty normal, and since you know you've got active breeders you can probably expect to keep adding them 2 or 3 at a time. Nursing them along so you get 10 at a time is going to get A: boring and B: crowded really fast. The exception is if they're fish that your LFS will pay you well for, but even then they tend only to pay in store credit, and it's often only for stock and not dry goods which makes it fairly worthless.
Cool with the fry
I set up my 30 gallon tank about 7 months ago now. I put South American ciclids in there. I got 7 of the "assorted ciclids" so I am not really sure what kind they really are, but they have great color. One passed after a month so I have 6 of them now and they have grown a lot in size, but due to my tank not being huge I am assuming they wont get much bigger. This may be my favorite tank Ive ever set up as these guys are great. Really active and go nuts whenever anyone gets close to the tank. I used the south american ciclid sand and I think that wa a great decision as the water has been great and I havent had to do really anything to keep it with the right levels of Ph and whatnot.
Thirty is definitely small for 6 Africans. They won't outgrow the tank but it forcing them to stunt their growth isn't healthy. Not so much that they're all going to quickly croak or anything, but you could think of it as the difference between living a full life in Japan vs Puerto Rico.
As for assorted Africans, all fist stores tend to do this. Some are just stragglers from the breeders. Sold 16 out of 17, number 17 becomes assorted. Some are hybrids that breeders won't sell as pure. Some are just stuff that the LFS is too lazy to sort out. None of this makes them a bad deal, you'll often find peacocks in there for a third of the normal price. It's just that plenty don't want hybrids or unknown fish in their tanks. The downside of buying them is that you have no control over what size they'll be or how aggressive they'll be. If the seller knows that they're all Malawians or Tanganyikans, then that'll help out a bit; same water conditions and similar con-specific aggression. Sounds like in your case they're doing alright so it probably worked out well.
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So I went to feed my fish last night and something caught my eye in the lower corner of the tank.... FRY! There were only three in there, so I'm assuming a bunch didn't make it. I separated them in a separate container. I never had fry in a tank before.
Meh, let Darwin raise them. From what I recall 2 or 3 survivors is pretty normal, and since you know you've got active breeders you can probably expect to keep adding them 2 or 3 at a time. Nursing them along so you get 10 at a time is going to get A: boring and B: crowded really fast. The exception is if they're fish that your LFS will pay you well for, but even then they tend only to pay in store credit, and it's often only for stock and not dry goods which makes it fairly worthless.
I did let Darwin raise them. He left three. I have no idea which species they are as there are multiple in the tank. Like I said, I have never seen fry before. I took a neon tetra and two red tetras off a friend of mine a few weeks back. I wondering if it's theirs.
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So I went to feed my fish last night and something caught my eye in the lower corner of the tank.... FRY! There were only three in there, so I'm assuming a bunch didn't make it. I separated them in a separate container. I never had fry in a tank before.
Meh, let Darwin raise them. From what I recall 2 or 3 survivors is pretty normal, and since you know you've got active breeders you can probably expect to keep adding them 2 or 3 at a time. Nursing them along so you get 10 at a time is going to get A: boring and B: crowded really fast. The exception is if they're fish that your LFS will pay you well for, but even then they tend only to pay in store credit, and it's often only for stock and not dry goods which makes it fairly worthless.
I did let Darwin raise them. He left three. I have no idea which species they are as there are multiple in the tank. Like I said, I have never seen fry before. I took a neon tetra and two red tetras off a friend of mine a few weeks back. I wondering if it's theirs.
Yeah, but then you adopted them. :lol
I know neons breed like--well, never-mind.
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So I went to feed my fish last night and something caught my eye in the lower corner of the tank.... FRY! There were only three in there, so I'm assuming a bunch didn't make it. I separated them in a separate container. I never had fry in a tank before.
Meh, let Darwin raise them. From what I recall 2 or 3 survivors is pretty normal, and since you know you've got active breeders you can probably expect to keep adding them 2 or 3 at a time. Nursing them along so you get 10 at a time is going to get A: boring and B: crowded really fast. The exception is if they're fish that your LFS will pay you well for, but even then they tend only to pay in store credit, and it's often only for stock and not dry goods which makes it fairly worthless.
Cool with the fry
I set up my 30 gallon tank about 7 months ago now. I put South American ciclids in there. I got 7 of the "assorted ciclids" so I am not really sure what kind they really are, but they have great color. One passed after a month so I have 6 of them now and they have grown a lot in size, but due to my tank not being huge I am assuming they wont get much bigger. This may be my favorite tank Ive ever set up as these guys are great. Really active and go nuts whenever anyone gets close to the tank. I used the south american ciclid sand and I think that wa a great decision as the water has been great and I havent had to do really anything to keep it with the right levels of Ph and whatnot.
Thirty is definitely small for 6 Africans. They won't outgrow the tank but it forcing them to stunt their growth isn't healthy. Not so much that they're all going to quickly croak or anything, but you could think of it as the difference between living a full life in Japan vs Puerto Rico.
As for assorted Africans, all fist stores tend to do this. Some are just stragglers from the breeders. Sold 16 out of 17, number 17 becomes assorted. Some are hybrids that breeders won't sell as pure. Some are just stuff that the LFS is too lazy to sort out. None of this makes them a bad deal, you'll often find peacocks in there for a third of the normal price. It's just that plenty don't want hybrids or unknown fish in their tanks. The downside of buying them is that you have no control over what size they'll be or how aggressive they'll be. If the seller knows that they're all Malawians or Tanganyikans, then that'll help out a bit; same water conditions and similar con-specific aggression. Sounds like in your case they're doing alright so it probably worked out well.
Got them from Petland and was told I should get 7 to start. Only expected to grow 3-4 inches and they are at like 2.5 now. I think the person who sold them to me thought they would die or something.
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Got them from Petland and was told I should get 7 to start. Only expected to grow 3-4 inches and they are at like 2.5 now. I think the person who sold them to me thought they would die or something.
I have heard various theories about doing a "community" aquarium with aggressive fish (which African cichlids definitely are) that suggest that having certain numbers or certain types of fish can temper the aggressiveness. That may be where they are coming from.
...but then again, it may simply be a marketing directive from management. :lol
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So I went to feed my fish last night and something caught my eye in the lower corner of the tank.... FRY! There were only three in there, so I'm assuming a bunch didn't make it. I separated them in a separate container. I never had fry in a tank before.
Meh, let Darwin raise them. From what I recall 2 or 3 survivors is pretty normal, and since you know you've got active breeders you can probably expect to keep adding them 2 or 3 at a time. Nursing them along so you get 10 at a time is going to get A: boring and B: crowded really fast. The exception is if they're fish that your LFS will pay you well for, but even then they tend only to pay in store credit, and it's often only for stock and not dry goods which makes it fairly worthless.
I did let Darwin raise them. He left three. I have no idea which species they are as there are multiple in the tank. Like I said, I have never seen fry before. I took a neon tetra and two red tetras off a friend of mine a few weeks back. I wondering if it's theirs.
Yeah, but then you adopted them. :lol
I know neons breed like--well, never-mind.
I didn't adopt them per say, I just gave them a temporary safe zone until they can't fit in the mouths of the other fish. I have a spare ten gallon tank I'm not using. I did entertain the idea of using that as a breeder.
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Got them from Petland and was told I should get 7 to start. Only expected to grow 3-4 inches and they are at like 2.5 now. I think the person who sold them to me thought they would die or something.
I have heard various theories about doing a "community" aquarium with aggressive fish (which African cichlids definitely are) that suggest that having certain numbers or certain types of fish can temper the aggressiveness. That may be where they are coming from.
...but then again, it may simply be a marketing directive from management. :lol
lol maybe, but i made it clear that it was a new tank and i wanted cichlids, oh well. The fish are healthy and lively and I love them. Id love a bigger tank but that requires more time from me which I dont have anymore.
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With Cichlids bigger numbers often are better.
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With Cichlids bigger numbers often are better.
Only with Africans. SA/CA cichlids just get pissed off about it and view it as more chum for the ensuing bloodbath. It also requires a massive increase in filtration and water changes.
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As Barto knows, in this iteration of my 55 gal., I started off with 3 firemouths and a pleco. (why I chose 3, I'm not sure...can't remember if I was planning on getting more or whatever) 2 of them paired up, killed the pleco, and started bullying the third a bit, but it was okay. Now I have a thriving multi-generation single species tank made up of around 20 fish. :)
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As Barto knows, in this iteration of my 55 gal., I started off with 3 firemouths and a pleco. (why I chose 3, I'm not sure...can't remember if I was planning on getting more or whatever) 2 of them paired up, killed the pleco, and started bullying the third a bit, but it was okay. Now I have a thriving multi-generation single species tank made up of around 20 fish. :)
Start looking for those deformities. :lol
As for mine, they demonstrated some breeding behavior once but I never saw any fry. They're mouth-brooders so it's not uncommon for them to botch the job the first time our two. Never seen them act horny again. They'll occasionally rearrange the tank, which is a customary first step, but that's about it. As it turns out the 6 I started with turned into 5 with only 1 (from what I can tell) female. They're surprisingly well behaved under the circumstances, but she's understandably nervous and skittish most of the time. Now that the water temp is up I might start doing daily water changes and see if it inspires them.
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whoops, i was wrong earlier, I have African, not South American cichlids. So I guess its all good in my tank world (which I figured anyway since the fish look and act as they should).
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whoops, i was wrong earlier, I have African, not South American cichlids. So I guess its all good in my tank world (which I figured anyway since the fish look and act as they should).
Didn't even notice. Since you bought from an assortment tank it was pretty much a given. Throwing random SA/CA into a tank is going to result in instant carnage. Besides which they can get huge, whereas Africans tend to remain (comparatively) smaller, making one far less suitable for the grab-bag approach.
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Long story short, my eight year old, perfectly balanced ecosystem of a tank is dead. I hadn't added a fish in over 6 years and my two Pictus Cats were beauties. My mom has a small 2 gallon tank on her nightstand at her house, and one of her fish was getting too big for it. She asked if I could re-home it. I really didn't want to, and I told her that, but I did anyway. Within a week every one of my fish was dead.
I'm thinking of buying the tank in the link below, but I've never seen a filter setup like that before. What do you think I'd need to get it pumping?
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/2499849990267385/
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If you come to NJ I have a 120 gallon tank and old large filter (no idea of brand or model off my head) outside my house that used to be my brothers and he decommissioned it when he moved out as I didn't want to take care of it. For me, I am done with fish tanks. I no longer have the joy of the maintanence with little appreciation of the fish on my own part anymore.
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That's really tempting tbh. I'd have two main concerns though.
1) Has it just been sitting outside? I'd be wary of how well it still holds water. I'd be worried that the sun and summer heat damaged the seals.
2) I was looking to keep it around 75 gallons because I don't know what my floor will support weight wise. My house was built in 1927 and I don't know if I could put 1000 pounds in such a small area.
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Long story short, my eight year old, perfectly balanced ecosystem of a tank is dead. I hadn't added a fish in over 6 years and my two Pictus Cats were beauties. My mom has a small 2 gallon tank on her nightstand at her house, and one of her fish was getting too big for it. She asked if I could re-home it. I really didn't want to, and I told her that, but I did anyway. Within a week every one of my fish was dead.
I'm thinking of buying the tank in the link below, but I've never seen a filter setup like that before. What do you think I'd need to get it pumping?
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/2499849990267385/
A sump tank and a water pump, I believe. While I suspect they're pretty safe, I just never felt comfortable with a filtration system that exists in a constant state of dumping water out. "Wet dry filter" is what you're looking for, and there's plenty of information about it. They're very effective at maintaining nice water quality, the alternating wet and dry substrates amass tons of critters, but I'm not sure the headache (and fear in my case) is worth the added quality.
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That's really tempting tbh. I'd have two main concerns though.
1) Has it just been sitting outside? I'd be wary of how well it still holds water. I'd be worried that the sun and summer heat damaged the seals.
2) I was looking to keep it around 75 gallons because I don't know what my floor will support weight wise. My house was built in 1927 and I don't know if I could put 1000 pounds in such a small area.
The last of my fish croaked a few months ago. I have no real desire for more fish right now (the plumbing in my condo makes water changes a PITA), but I'm keeping it full and running just to maintain the tank's integrity. Plus, it still looks nice.
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That's really tempting tbh. I'd have two main concerns though.
1) Has it just been sitting outside? I'd be wary of how well it still holds water. I'd be worried that the sun and summer heat damaged the seals.
2) I was looking to keep it around 75 gallons because I don't know what my floor will support weight wise. My house was built in 1927 and I don't know if I could put 1000 pounds in such a small area.
Yea honestly, I don't know how good it is anymore because my brother was supposed to get it dumped but has yet to do so, just throwing it out there but it may not be worth your trip. I can take pics and send them to you later or something if you were at least curious.
Plus, it still looks nice.
I have a second small 12 gallon tank in my basement with a black light for neon fish I had, but I currently still have water and the lights on because it still looks nice, but I actually want to fully decom that soon too. The water hasn't been filtering so it's starting to not look so nice anymore.
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I still have my dead tank running because I have a 9 year old plant in there that I can't get myself to part with. Without anything else in the tank though, it's starting to get dirt really fast.
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Finally found me a replacement tank. Came with everything needed for $150. Upgrading from a 25G to a 55G :metal
Old
(https://i.imgur.com/AOii4CT.jpg)
New
(https://i.imgur.com/eKG0gAE.jpg)
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Very nice!
The interested cat on the old one is invaluable though :laugh:
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The interested cat on the old one is invaluable though :laugh:
Was about to say this :lol
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Nice, I'm sure kitty will be interested in the new one once the fishies are swimming
And I officially decommissioned my old 20 gallon tank that had some glofish in there from 6 years ago. Last one finally croaked about 5 months ago, but I left the tank in place.
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Nice, I'm sure kitty will be interested in the new one once the fishies are swimming
And I officially decommissioned my old 20 gallon tank that had some glofish in there from 6 years ago. Last one finally croaked about 5 months ago, but I left the tank in place.
I've kept my 50 up and running simply so the seals don't dry out. Besides, a little water gurgling adds a relaxing element. At some point I'll restock it, but the plumbing in my current abode makes the maintenance a real PITA, as do Texas Summers. Just want some time off from it. When I do recommission it I'm going to have an entirely different way to do water changes in place.
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Nice, I'm sure kitty will be interested in the new one once the fishies are swimming
I request pics with the cat when it happens :)
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Nice, I'm sure kitty will be interested in the new one once the fishies are swimming
And I officially decommissioned my old 20 gallon tank that had some glofish in there from 6 years ago. Last one finally croaked about 5 months ago, but I left the tank in place.
I've kept my 50 up and running simply so the seals don't dry out. Besides, a little water gurgling adds a relaxing element. At some point I'll restock it, but the plumbing in my current abode makes the maintenance a real PITA, as do Texas Summers. Just want some time off from it. When I do recommission it I'm going to have an entirely different way to do water changes in place.
I'm just done with fish tanks I think. I don't have a plan on reusing it, and I kept it going for awhile just because the blue light was nice in the basement but at the end of the day, it was just sucking power for very little usage especially once the water levels evaporated. I'll have a small amount of extra space in my basement now too.
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I'm just done with fish tanks I think.
Same here. At least for now. I enjoyed the work of getting mine set up years ago and getting exactly the fish I wanted and having a lively community. When my heater thermostat broke while we were away on vacation, and we came home to a 55 gallon vat of fish soup, that went a long way in killing my passion for it. But I could see maybe getting back into it at some point in the future.
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I'm just done with fish tanks I think.
Same here. At least for now. I enjoyed the work of getting mine set up years ago and getting exactly the fish I wanted and having a lively community. When my heater thermostat broke while we were away on vacation, and we came home to a 55 gallon vat of fish soup, that went a long way in killing my passion for it. But I could see maybe getting back into it at some point in the future.
Heh, I had the same thing happen decades ago. Except in my case we returned home to fish-cicles. A bummer, but infinitely preferable to your situation.
Amusing corollary to that. Included in that disaster was a freshwater eel which lived primarily under the gravel. When cleaning up the wreckage his existence completely slipped my mind. It was uncommon for him to come out and swim around, so we never really thought much about him. We re-stocked the tank and life went on. Dozens of cleanings took place, and I even moved the tank across town when my domestic situation changed. Over a year had gone by, and then one day when tending to something in the gravel, that little fucker came out of nowhere and scared the bejeezus out of me. Not only had he somehow survived the big freeze but he managed to stay hidden from sight for well over a year, and certainly long enough for me to have no recollection of his ever being there. It was like walking into your basement and finding a squatter who's been living down there for years, cooking breakfast as if nothing were out of the ordinary.
Christ, that little guy scared the hell out of me. :lol
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:lol If I ever did one again, the species I like most are:
-Clown loaches
-Plecos (various, but the gold nuggets are really pretty)
-Cory cats
-Roseline sharks
I could see doing a single species tank, or one that has just a mix of 2 o 3 of the above in large numbers. Of those, I think the loaches would likely lose out. As much as I love them and would love a tank with a large school, they are so prone to ich that I'm not sure I would want to deal with them again. But a small school of about 8-10 roselines, Maybe 15 corys, and a pleco or 2 would be nice.