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I got up to 20 tanks most in a garage fishroom and displays in the house. We moved and despite some learning that had taken place I was stubborn and ended up with tanks I was struggling to maintain, die offs from blown gfis and bunnies of all things and losing so many dollars in fish. My relationship suffered and my wife came to resent the hobby. Im down to 10, 5 in the house and 5 in the garage and it’s so much better. I think you’re doing the right thing. Balance, ability to give each setup the attention it needs and then time to enjoy them while being human and wanting to keep your connections to the other humans as well as our aquatic animals.

Love the way it's filling in

I would paint the back black, hide the heater, and raise the water level significantly.

I would move the tank by itself, either before or after everything else. 1) Drain tank water into at least 2 buckets. More depending on numbe and type of fish. 2) Put your filter media in one bucket. 3) Put your fish in the other bucket (multiple buckets depending on size and type of fish) 4) Dump the rest of the water. Remove large rocks but depending on the size of the tank and depth of substrate that can stay. 5) Move the tank, fill it up, plug in the filter, add your filter media. 6) Drip acclimate the fish for temperature and water parameter differences before adding them in.

Whether it is part of the hardscape, the plants, or even the inhabitants... what is the favorite part of your tank? I'll go first! I love this whole corner, but my favorite part of it is the moss! I was getting really frustrated because it wouldn't stay down and it was way past my bedtime, so finally I just shoved it in place, and to me it looks awesome in the foreground. I love seeing all the cute threads of moss ^__^

If you have shrimp or snails, that is pretty much their favorite treat!! They’ll gobble it right up haha

YES!!!!! Finally, but i will see if it it stays, thanks for the help guys! @macdaddy36, thanks, will be getting cories as soon as i make sure ammonia stays for a week or so, stay tuned, i will post on my journal about them @Tony s @macdaddy36.

normal, all woods have sap in it (sap is basically sugar) so its a bacterial bloom eating that. can take from a week to a few months , but it will go away.

Looks very good. 😊

Update: tested the water and looks like I am at 0!!! Maybe? Here is the pics. Up top is today, and bottom is from 2 days ago, see the difference @Tony s, @macdaddy36 and @Shrimp Doggy Dogg? I believe it is 0. And hopefully it will constantly be there. Thoughts? This very bottom one is from today btw, messed up the edit

In my 29g, it’s this area with a Crypt Tropica forest. This was originally 1 plant that has now been divided over the year into 5 very beautiful plants. (The original is in the back behind the lava rock) and in the 75g, it’s my Java Fern Island

I would test every other day on the main tank and quarantine tank if your seeing any ammonia do a large water it's possible ammonia is causing the clamped fins getting this to zero might stop the clamped fins

You are right I love watching my panda's digging around in my sand

If you have 0.5 ammonia that could be causing the clamped fins if your using test strips it can be difficult to tell the difference between 0 and 0.5 I would get a liquid test kit for ammonia and I would test your tap water for ammonia if your seeing any ammonia I would do a 50% water change and add a double dose of prime to help detoxify any ammonia till it constantly stays at zero after treating with aquarium salt your seeing no improvement then I would do a course of maracyn just in case there's a bacterial component @Guupy42

On top of what @Shrimp Doggy Dogg said (excellent name, by the way) I would suggest additional hardscape, and more plants. Short plants to the front, medium tall plants in the middle, tall plants in the back. Doing so will create depth. There are many many different aquascaping techniques. Maybe look into some of those and try to replicate them.

Believe me there is a distinct difference. It smells like putrid rotten fish and dog pee. The conditioner only smells slightly fishy. But on the bright side, I placed one of the rejuvenated pouches in the filter yesterday and today the tank is clear and everyone is happy! No smell in the tank!

nerite man hanging onto the weekend😂 me too buddy, me too…

I think your stocking is great for the moment. It will take a minute for your guppy population to explode, but when it does it sounds like you have a good local store to send the fry to 🙂 Aquadvisor is a great tool but I personally find it to be pretty conservative (which is helpful) but it also doesn’t take into account plant load and how much of the work plants do lol. A lot of times I don’t think a tank is “maxed out” until it’s about 115%ish on there. Assuming the tank is pretty planted up.

Do you have any sharp decor in the tank @Tan Tran?

Since arriving in 2022 to the Greater Seattle area I’m always overjoyed to attend our auction. I listened to some other members on YouTube this last week and thought I’d share my experience as this is now my 3rd big auction since arriving. Firstly I got there late due to my guest - Big D my 6 year old. He came to our Christmas party and had been begging to come again. He also decided he was done with African Dwarf Frogs, that it was cool that he could sell them and buy more fish that he could breed and sell again. He got $10 for his 2 remaining frogs and used that to buy a pair of Panda Guppies. He then turned around and begged for baby CPDs which I couldn’t resist so he’s got quite a new setup going. His brother is not as keen on fish keeping but he loves wheeling and dealing- he wants to be a lawyer, god help us all! So he asked me what could we get for his Variatus Platys and I said well I think at least $10 maybe $20, he got $24. He then said he missed Endlers/guppies so we got him some El Tigre Endlers. For Dad well I got a group of L519 plecos to add to my 5 I had I grabbed 2 Big bags 1 of Livebearers- Mixed Endlers and Variatus Platys + 2 a bag of Coryadoras similis. I love our club and have fun everyone!!

You could put a couple of mosquito fish, Gambusia species in the pond. They are tuff little fish. No more mosquito larvae.. A basic air stone with a simple pump can get you started with water movement. What I have have found with wine barrel ponds, is that they are always evolving. I'm constantly changing and trying new things.

Day 7 Had to quickly transfer the rest of my fish from my old tank as the water parameters were off. So all the fish are in their new home.

You will also want a DC pump and not the pump CA normally sells with thier aquarium. They are a million times quieter. The JEBO DCP are not only much much quiter they are also very inexpensive: https://www.amazon.com/Jebao-Sine-Water-Return-DCP-2500/dp/B078WHWG2Y/ The flow rate is fully control - the amount it shows when setting is % of max. I'd recommend one size larger than you think you need. On one of my aquarium i'm using 5000 but most of the aquariums have 3500. I tested various pumps (none of the super expensive ones) in a pail in the bath-tub to see the difference in noise. Other than one aquarium that came with CA's kit i purchased my own pumps. The pump is EASY to change after the fact so you can wait and swap it later if noise is an issue. I just noticed your tank is drilled at the end instead of the middle. I wonder how well it will work and am interested in seeing pictures of the water flow after you set it up. I sort of wished i had done one my aquariums that way - to be honest I didn't think about where to put the overflow and just did what the sales person recommended.

Look honey! Junior's got his legs!!

Hello All, DAY 1 Welcome in my journey of a new 75gal Dirted Tank Build. Setup with 1" dirted bottom, capped with 2.5 Inch of sand. Filled and added hard scape, filters, light, and some plants. Awaiting for more plants to come in. Day 2 Added 2 nano fish.

Hey So my basement has no internal walls, which makes heating my tanks rather expensive. For the past year, I have been settling into the house and now I'm starting to plan on additions to the house. I'm thinking of adding some internal walls as additional support in my basement which conveniently can create a nice, enclosed space for heat trapping. Year round without heat, my basement would run 45 to 60 degrees. So this is roughly what I'm planning. Some this is already setup and some of is I have the equipment to setup. The tanks up and running all with separate heaters and air pumps. I have two floor oil heaters supplementing the tank heaters. 75g are up and running. One rack is running with 4x 40s but must be moved. I have a piston pump that isn't setup yet because everything is spread out and doesn't seem worthwhile if about to rearrange. 2 pillars are grey brick and the house's support for the main beam (not messing with them). Cabinets and sink already in place and may come out/redone (in the future/one project at a time.) The gray boxes are planned internal walls, again to provide additional house support and create an enclosed space for heat trapping. Also, will finish with a door too in the open space. I have wiring ran and may have to shift some of it around the new walls. Plus, might have to add another circuit where the racks are even though just added a circuit there for some DIY racks on the existing wall. Should be a simple pipe ring for the O2 around the room. Dk about auto water change at this point but, even with the additions, shouldn't be too hard to add a drainpipe around the room in the future aimed at the sink. There's also an existing cast iron pipe from the sink along the wall from the sink and behind the cabinets which may be replaced one day, but nothing looking to messing with that for now. So, what do you guys think? See any issues or potential headaches/mistakes?

Does anyone here have Black & White Crested Polish chicken eggs for sale or can recommend a good breeder? Any help is appreciated we trying to up our flock.

They look better against white sand IMO, but then you have to consider the maintenance involved with keep white sand white. What I do enjoy about any sand with corys is that you'll see little bits of it shooting out from underneath their gill plates when they feed and I think that's awesome.

I would say that you are fine. You are already doing extra maintenance and your fish do not produce much of a bioload. The snails produce even less. When the guppies start breeding, things will get a little crowded.

When water sprite really gets going and starts blowing up a tank it’s one of my favorites. It’s super beautiful!

Cool sump!! I hate sponges but with your system, you don't have to clean them often. This is my latest sump. It is somewhat complicated because I like building things. The sump currently under construction will be much simpler. The white panel with the 2 blue dashes is where the water exits into the return pump chamber. I added a couple more inches to it after testing the sump. Similar to HOB filters, this panel is sloped so the water slides down it ie: this eliminated the waterfall which can be very noisy. For the fluidized bed chamber, the water inlets are the 1" PVC pipes (both have air stones on top), the outlet is the box structure. The white panel labeled "top" was added just in case the box didn't work. It was not needed. Both work fine.

The thing to remember is water is heavy. The less actual water you move the better. Get a place set up and ready to go to before you start. for your bacteria, anything that dries out is going to lose the bacteria. So keep as much water on the substrate as you can. Maybe a gallon on the bottom or so. If that’s the hex tank from petsmart, it’s going to be a bit awkward to carry. So the less weight the better. I’d figure out a way to keep your filter media, either the cartridge or the sponge wet for sure. That’s where you can save the most bacteria. So. Yeah. Clean bucket would work good. For the fish. You could do a bucket. Or you could net them into a couple of gallon ziplock. With something sturdy underneath to support them. then when you’re ready. Take a dedicated trip and go. The fish will be fine in a bag for a few hours at least. So you have time. set and fill your tank trying to get a good temperature balance on the water. Restart the filter. Dechlorinate the water. Then, since your fish have been cooling off. Depending on the outside temperature. I would acclimate them to the tank water. But putting the bags in your tank for 15 minutes or more is sufficient. Very much less stress that way. It would be different if you had shrimp or sensitive fish. You would need to slowly acclimate them. You should be good though. Put them in and I might add a bit more bacteria to be safe. And monitor for a few weeks to make sure the cycle is okay good luck and enjoy your new home

I'm so glad I found this forum! My name is AJ and I have been keeping fish for several years. Right now I am breeding bettas, blue gouramis, multis, and angels. I also have various live-bearers and I keep koi in an outdoor pond in the warmer months. I look forwards to learning and sharing my knowledge !

Hi! My name is Darcy and I am from an isolated corner of northeastern Oregon. I am getting back into the hobby after 4 years without a tank. My last tank was well planted and I had guppies, red cherry shrimp, and a snail or two. The closest pet or aquarium store is about a two hour drive away, so that makes life interesting. So far I have set an aquarium up with a few plants, scaped with wood and some stone from a previous aquarium. I am driving to the big city of Boise, ID next week and hope to bring home more plants and maybe a few occupants! I just watched Cory's video on "cycling" planted tanks, and am glad it confirmed what I thought was true. Really happy to have found this forum!

The reason I would guess 0.25 is that usually my ammonia tests come back a dark yellow (like the chart), but a small amount of ammonia is barely greenish light yellow. How long has it been since you were confident you had ammonia?

I think you’ll be better off shimming under the stand with hard shims - wood, hard plastic, or similar vs. using only a softer, rubber pad. I think the soft pad is also a good idea but I wouldn’t want your stand ever so slowly warping under the tank.

By now she has probably picked up the language, she is OK 😂

I cant upgrade them to a bigger tank, but I can add some juvenile angelfish once Wednesday totally heals. Seems like the best bet. Angels are limiting, and since I want to empty my fishroom, Id rather use this 50cube for smaller sized fish or a mix tank of my guppies. Angels are not guppy safe

Margins. The tanks are actually well priced compared to competition; the sumps are a bit pricey - i forget what the containers are made of - i don't think it is polyp but seems similar (polyp is very expensive). The problem is they are a 'custom' part with relatively low volume. To be honest i much prefer doing the sump without them now that i replaced one - this is the picture (i think it is already in this thread): (original) replacement (there are pro and con of both approaches - one con is the below one are glass and can break - though you could do it in acrylic - i'm not going to list all the pro/con but if i were starting over i would do all of them like the one below but find someone to make them out of acrylic instead of glass. - Anyway the valves are a pia to adjust but once adjusted they are not too bad. I did not realize how bad they were or look into alternative until after i had the system setup and mine are glued in - though i could insert a 2nd valve directly into the tubing if i cared enough to do it (the valve has a slip glued into and that is glued into the overflow box and if you don't glue them they will leak).

We have several chicken keeper members. @Sal @laritheloud and a few others.

Kudos for sharing honestly. I see so Many folks go gung ho on fishrooms. Often it begins interfering in relationships due to the time they take. When I was working I would have never considered a fishroom. I’m retired now so have more time on my hands than I can possibly fill. My physical health has eliminated many of my other hobby’s. My hobby is now what keeps me physically active and makes me still feel useful in life and is incredibly life affirming. Losing my usefulness in the workplace I lost purpose and focus in life. My husband and I have no children and he still works full time. That is a lot of time to fill for someone who does not watch tv. I do read but being sedentary is not a healthy lifestyle. As a hobbyist I prefer to keep 12-14 tanks and not more so I do get to experience that connection with each and every fish in my family. When I joined local fish clubs I found an outlet for all the babies my fish make. I’ve joined with two other hobbyists who made a business of fish. (To all those thinking of getting rich and quitting their job on fish: even this joint effort does not replace a full time income. Only allows for a few extra luxuries and some mad money) I’ve expanded by adding 7 grow out tanks. Im at a point now the 2 converted bedrooms are too crowded and become an obstacle course during water changes. I have decided to convert my spacious basement into a fish room in order to make the work easier and frees my living space of buckets and excess fish clutter, shipping supplies etc. If building a fish room makes your life easier I highly recommend this. If your goal is just to have more tanks and more fish please reread @Lennie account. When you do not have time to watch and form that connection it becomes a job. A job that pays way less than minimum wage and does not have the fringe benefits of those fish being pets and fun vs possessions and work. Consult with those in your life first. Time is finite. Be sure they support the amount of time you will be dedicating to the hobby. If it’s not fun and fulfilling it’s no longer a hobby.

Day 6 Added a few more nano fish. I checked my water chemistry and all is good.

Hello, I am Ally. I lived in FL when I got into fish keeping around 2015ish. I found Cory's YouTube channel along with a few others that really gave me motivation to try again. Let me clarify, I had tried previously to keep fish around 2009 but I failed as many do with the advice the big stores would give in order to make a sale. So, Cory and a few other avid fish keepers gave me hope again. I moved to TX in 2017 and started with a hand-me-down 20 gallon someone was getting rid of on Facebook. That tank is doing well thankfully, it is my Cherry shrimp inspired tank. I also adopted a 36 gallon wich I switched to a natural tank, took me 12 hours but I did it and it's doing well. My latest are a 10 gallon and a 1 gallon, also natural. They are also doing well. I will attach pictures. My main reason for joining now is a question that I will look for the correct place to post it. I know I am a little late to this party, but I am glad to be part of this great fish community. Thank you Cory, and those who help make this happen.

Day 5 The last of my plants came in and now are in the tank. Added a nerite snail and one amano shrimp as some hair algae came in on the plants.

Day 4 Added some more plants. Have a few more foreground ones coming in tomorrow as well.

Day 3 Nothing done except for a water parameters check. Good! ☺️

Once I watched the video and did a Google search, the internet was all over me faster than a used car salesman. Down the rabbit hole, I found these sink sponge holders at Walmart ($4). Picked them up first thing this morning. They hold the plants nicely, help reduce surface flow, create a barrier to keep floating plants out, and reduce tank noise. I'm very pleased. I now have to work on non-hood light fixture! Thanks for input.

Always love starting with Not So Sad Bowl update. Presently housing a pair of Pea Puffers, 3 common Otos, 3 SAEs and it’s been a fun aquascaping challenge. Deep substrate with an integrated UGF. Plants are an interesting mix - Crinum front and center, moss carpet up front, mix of rhizome plants, dwarf sag, little po lets of crypts, I’ve really enjoyed the challenge of it’s limitations. I haven’t discussed my fishroom in awhile. I got a better RODI system from an online retailer and finally got it setup. Rated for 100 gpd but that’s at 60 psi and out the tap I’m in at 40. So I’m probably getting 60% of what it’s capable of. I’m considering a pump to boost up the PSI to 60-90 psi. That’s about $100-140 which brings up an interesting topic….Financing my hobby is something I’ve become more conscious of. I’ve realized over time the impact it can have on other parts of our family life. So in the last 6 months I now scrimp and save from selling plants, fish, shrimp and excess tanks and equipment to fund the majority of the hobby. It’s been enlightening. I and others have spoken about how limitations can bring on more creative and interesting avenues in the hobby. It’s a good challenge. I’m feeling a lot of gratitude towards what I have, what I’ve achieved and what’s ahead. Much of what I have in the fishroom has been obtained locally. I’m not buying, selling and shipping online. I’ve stuck with the club and our PNW online communities. Shipping is god awful expensive, hard on the animals and yields so many challenges on the receiving end in terms of husbandry- I work crazy hours as an NP less crazy then I was (down from 60+ to 40-50 now) but I have to keep a balance between my families needs and my hobbies needs. I think during the pandemic this got twisted for me. It’s taken me years to sort through that. I’ve now got 4 active breeding setups in the fish room. All are planted and I’m harvesting plants from them. I have one tank beside these 4 that’s plant only with lagenandra meboldi red, nurii crypts, AR, and a moss I can’t remember the name of. 1. 60 breeder, it’s a deep sand substrate with a UGF, an Eheim canister and powerhead/sponge filter combos. It’s got a breeding colony of diamond tetras, a colony of mixed ancistrus (plain LF, plain SF, lemon blue eyes, calico sf, and albino) about 6 adults 2 f/4 m and 7 juveniles all LBE, and 12 gold laser corys. The diamonds have 5 generations and they now number about 20 individuals, 6 adults, 14+ juvies and probably 10 more babies hiding 2. 40 breeder, 7 super red ancistrus with LF genes, 20 Japanese blue gold guppies some with double sword genes and 12+ tangerine tiger shrimp. 3. 20 long, 30 adult cherry and bloody Mary shrimp, 10 blue aura tiger shrimp, 5-7 Sulawesi orange foot rabbit snails baby baby’s not even 1/2 “, and lots of ramshorns. 4. 20 high, 5 (2:3 m:f) adult Santa Claus guppies and 20+ fry, 6 L519 juvies, blood Mary shrimp, Malawa shrimp and some Aura blue tigers. Here’s video of 3 of the setups. Hope everyone stays warm along with their tanks! Have fun!

I’ve got a 20 g long going with some cherry and Bloody Mary shrimp. I’ve had it going since spring and I’m really pleased with some of the females. The legs are mostly red which is for me a great trait. I like how deep the red is. Threw in some banana leaf I had maturing in a tub today and caught her in repose. My 45 gallons been fun. Weekly water changes are necessary due to all the high protein foods I’m pumping in there for Princess Peach the Puffer. At first I think she wasn’t too fond of the chain loaches and cory gang but now she follows them about some days hunting snails with the loaches. Eventually the tank will be moved and rescaped at that point I’ll remove all the bristlenose plecos. With the new inhabitants I’ve really enjoyed the giant otocinclus a lot. The first shot is a little where’s the oto shot but the other 2 pics are more obvious I guess. Ive yet to catch them in the flow as I’ve seen them many times - they’ve been camera shy as I approach. They’ve got 2 distinct colorations so i think it’s dominant subdominant coloration or different sexes. They’re very attractive I think in that catfish kind of way. Im planning for the tank updates but I’ve got my eye on upgrading to a 65 acrylic. We’ll see if my wife will go for it - I just think if you’re going to have tanks as show pieces they should be show pieces. We’ll see If she agrees with me. But tanks and especially stands are not cheap. https://truvuaquariums.com/products/65-gallon-freshwater-acrylic-aquarium Enjoying the hobby and my paired down fish room. Have fun everyone!

Over the last 6 months I’ve stepped back from the hobby in many ways but my passion and interest remain. I think even when we’re not emulating the FishTubers and obsessing about our hobby we can still be innovative and interested in advancing our hobby. It’s taken me 29 pages of this journal to write that and it’s ok. I’m really still very in love with the hobby. That makes my heart glad like it did when I was 10 and got my turtle tank which begat a goldfish tank and a koi tank and an African cichlid tank and on and on. Of late my FishWife has made it clear that the way I approach the hobby needed to change. I have had this idea that money would buy me happiness in my hobby. I also used it to try to buy my way out of problems. Instead it brought many poor and rash decisions on me, my fishwife and my fish. So I decided a few months back to focus on 1) if I’m buying only local, no shipping 2) if at all possible rehome and repurpose 3) utilize my club, online forums and other ways to keep my hobby and interest going. This led to my most recent connection with a hobbyist we’ll call L. He’s moving and he’s had about 4 beautiful setups in his office that he was looking to take down 3 of them. Initially it was a 22 long 3 weeks to a month ago and now it was a beautiful 120 P ADA tank. This was fish and shrimp as well as plants, equipment etc. Panda loaches x 4. I get glimpses of them chewing on biofilm and hanging in the flow of the powerheads in the corners. Gorgeous patterns. I’d say as babies and juveniles they’re pandas but this is a more leopard like pattern which is very handsome. I couldn’t say no to a community puffer. Tetradon schoutedeni or the Congo Spotted Puffer is a truly special fish. Smart, social, handsome and just magical. We’ve had her for 2 days and the boys are in love. Her colors have improved each day and she munch on some blood worms and some snails - it’s an impressive pop when she gets a ramshorn. My 60 g breeder has been housing a group Of diamond tetras since the summer- once again someone was breaking down their tank and posted on the club page. To my amazement in the last 2 weeks I’ve been seeing babies! Guppies guppies guppies! I’ve had a group of Santa Claus guppies for awhile and I really like them. Part of this latest gall of fish are Japanese Blue Guppies. The metallic colors are intense! I am enjoying how my 60 gallon display is growing in. I ran it as high tech but I stopped the c02 as I couldn’t keep up with the maintenance. Have fun everyone!