AllFishNoBrakes

I have multiple QT tanks/grow out tanks and haven’t in 3 years noticed that the meds crashed the cycle. These tanks regularly house 1 fish to 50 fish and I personally haven’t had any problems. For instance, I currently have 1 Furcata Rainbow in a tank with light salt and an Indian Almond Leaf, and the tank next to it I have 50 Bristlenose juveniles and 10 Cory juveniles. In my opinion, it’s all based on what you feed

@MalevolentMermaid Here’s a full shot of the tank HOB on the right side is hidden by the plants but I promise you it’s there!

On the left I have 1 large ACO sponge filter (wish it was a medium honestly as the large size drives me nuts) and on the right side I have a Fluval C3 or C4 hang on back. Stocking for this tank currently is: 4 adult Angels, 20 Cardinal Tetras, and 13 Albino Cory’s

@MalevolentMermaid I made the decision early on to not chase parameters. I focus on consistency instead of trying to alter/make my water and it has worked out great for me. In my opinion, Angelfish are so widely bred and distributed that it shouldn’t be an issue. In a perfect world, you could find a local breeder to buy your stock from but even without that I wouldn’t be worried. Now, if you were going for wild caught fish, that might be a different discussion.

@Monkeypoint Considering you mentioned Angels I would personally go for height over length. I don’t have absurdly tall Angels, but with them I will always provide more height. c02 is fun and doesn’t have to be crazy. I have it on several tanks but I’m not maxing out at 30ppm, simply just giving the plants a little boost and helping fight algae

@Monkeypoint For sure. Definitely something to be aware of. If you’re concerned about it, perhaps get a new tank at the next 50% off sale and just keep a close eye until then

@Monkeypoint Is the tank itself showing signs of wear and tear that you’re concerned about?

@Chris That’s a great question. Being the naive new fish keeper I was at the time, I had a species only tank as I intended to breed them. While I can’t give you first hand experience I would suggest something that A) isn’t bottom dwelling like the Kribs are B) Is fast and can hold up to the cichlid mentality, especially when they’re spawning and get territorial, and C) Something that can/will eat decent sized fry. Kribs are some of the best parents in the fish world and parade their fry around the tank and protect them very well. You’ll need something that can stand up to them to even have a chance of eating the fry. With my Kribs: The first spawn I moved all the fry to another tank once they were young juveniles so they’d spawn again. The second spawn, I left them all in the same tank in the hopes the parents would not spawn again as I saw I was going to be overrun. This plan worked for a long time, and then eventually the parents spawned again and were fighting off their whole previous spawn to protect the new one. That’s when I made the decision that I was moving on from the Kribs. Pairs are relentless!

Super rad idea! You could cut a hole/square towards the top of the sandwich container, and then plug that hole with sponge to prevent overflow/ allow water to continuously flow up and then out of the container, no?

@Chris For sure. I don’t necessarily “breed for profit”. Instead, I keep the fish that I like and if they breed I like to try to raise the fry. The bonus is that the LFS will take them once raised and helps fund new projects. It’s a win win! In my opinion, you just have to have somewhere to offload the fish or have other fish that will eat the fry. Since Kribs spawn in caves, it’s hard to dispose of eggs to help with population control. All of the sudden you have 50-75 fry that pop out of the cave and those have to go somewhere, one way or another.

Me personally, I would try to sex a male in the store. The only way I would do a group is if the LFS will take back the extras. Kribs were some of the first fish I ever bred. Started with a group of 5, got a pair, and then they bred like rabbits. So much so that I got stuck with like 50 Kribs for close to two years as I flooded the market and had to wait for the LFS to sell what I traded them before they would take more from me. In my opinion, you need to be willing to control the population or it gets out of hand quickly. At least that was my experience. When I finally got rid of all my Kribs I was so relieved. Jokes on me though, they left one more spawn right before I traded them off and I still have 10 juveniles I need to trade.

I vote female as well.

Another day of fishkeeping in the books. Did a slight upgrade today: I bought and installed the power strip and the U shaped hanger for the Python. This allowed me to turn my girlfriends shrimp tank to the side so she’ll have a full on view. I also noticed a Furcata Rainbow had a weird spot on it so the 10 mixed Cory fry got moved to the Pleco grow out tank next to it and the Furcata got moved to the second tank on the right with some salt and an Indian Almond Leaf. Catching those Cory’s, removing all the snails, and removing all the plants stirred up the water hence why it’s cloudy. A couple small steps, but small steps in the right direction. Also cleaned up some wiring on the main power strip in the level above. Again, a small step, but a step in the right direction. ACO 48” Easy LED should be here on Monday and I’m super stoked to start playing with that. I think I’m going to order the second gooseneck light tomorrow and when that comes in I can swap the lighting on the 20 Long and then I can really clean up all the lighting cords. The next real upgrades will come when the ACO dual outlet pumps release. Probably not the worst thing to spread out the purchases instead of doing it all at once. Cheers, friends. Hope you’ve had a great day!

Personally, I would go with option 1. They’re beneficial.

Typically, I’ll make a list and look at items/things for weeks if not months before I pull the trigger and actually buy. My girlfriend convinced me to place an order so we have the following coming: -48” Easy LED for the Angel tank -Brine Shrimp Salt -Small Sponge Filter (for my girlfriends shrimp tank) -2x Algae scrubbers It’s on! The upgrade plan is in motion, much sooner than I would’ve started the project thanks to my lady

Lol, I didn’t even think about duck weed growing up the walls, but you’re probably right! The nightmare continues. My brain literally never stops. Going to sleep at night is a chore to say the least. Normally it’s stuck on work stuff, and typically day dreaming about tanks gets me out of my cycle and allows me to fall asleep. Just another check mark for calmness and clarity that the hobby brings me. Pretty stoked about the changes in the near future. Just gotta start putting it together one step at a time. Really excited to streamline some things, and even more excited for this tank conversion. Keep your eyes peeled my dude. You’ll get an exclusive look as I don’t believe I can handle running multiple journals and you’re always chiming in on this one! Appreciate it

I tell my employees, “when it’s going well you gotta enjoy it. Because, at some point, you’re gonna get kicked. When you’re down, the only way out is through. And when it’s good again, you gotta enjoy it, cuz that kick in the pants will come around again”. Definitely lived that today. Another Wednesday another maintenance sesh. Noticed a dead Endler in the aquaponics tank. Sucks, but is what it is. My girlfriend was cooking lunch and had an appointment so I did the tanks backwards today. I’m a creature of habit. No doubt. It’s not that I can’t be flexible; I just like to do things the same. I’ve spent the past 3 years perfecting this maintenance routine. No biggie though, I’ll start with the large tanks. I drain the 55 grow out, squeeze the filters, reset the air stones, all is good. I move on to draining the 29 Pea Puffer tank. Squeeze the sponges, reset the air stone, and all is good and normal. The grow out is filling up. Typically, I can drain the next 29 AND the next 55 before the grow out tank fills up. My girlfriend gets in the shower for her appointment. The Python is hooked up in the only bathroom we have. All good; I’ll just keep an eye on the water temp to ensure the shower doesn’t rob my hot water. I had to adjust the knobs a couple of times and didn’t realize I was pushing more water volume than I normally do. I move on to the next 29. Start the siphon, move the light, pop the lid off, take out some floating plants, and start working on the filter. Squeeze that bad boy, reset the air stone. Still all good. At this point, I normally keep an eye on the 55 grow out filling up as I move a 5 gallon bucket of used tank water, but typically I have ~4 more buckets before I even think about stopping the Python on the 55. I look down the hallway and audibly gasp; the 55 grow out is overflowing! I RUN to the bathroom, twist the Python to kill the water, grab an empty bucket, rip the siphon out of the 29, and run back to the back room. I slam the siphon into the grow out tank and start removing water. Thankfully, I overfilled the tank by about 3.5 gallons of water. 2.5 back into the bucket via the siphon, and probably 1 gallon overflowed. The real kick in the teeth is that this tank is on an 8 cube organizer and not an actual aquarium stand. I spent the next 45 minutes or so taking EVERYTHING out of their cubes and drying them off. Water everywhere. Duck weed everywhere. It was a nightmare and one of my worst fears come true. Thankfully, no fish overflowed out of the tank. A couple Platies made it over the foam divider so I had to catch them and put them back on their side. Duck weed removed from the Angelfish side. Man, that was a bummer. I guess you can mark that off the “yup, I’ve done that” list. 3 years in the hobby and it finally happened. I finished up the rest of the big tanks, took a break to eat some lunch/early dinner, and then moved on to the small tanks. Got them all taken care of, fed the fish, fed the shrimp and snails, set up the brine shrimp hatchery, and cleaned out the DIY c02 canisters. The last thing I need to do tonight is mix up some c02 so the containers can hang out overnight and be plugged back in tomorrow and refill some fish food jars. Tomorrow I need to go swap out my 5 lb c02 tank and come Friday all the tanks that are supposed to have c02 will have it again. All tanks/cylinders have been empty for a couple of weeks. Looking forward to getting everything where it’s supposed to be again. Looking towards the future I’m pretty excited. I’ve spent the last 3 years kind of just slapping things together as they needed to be done/as I’ve added new tanks, but I’m gonna invest the money and the time to really set everything up as I want it. I had a hard time falling asleep last night as I was thinking about upgrades/improvements/streamlines I could make to my setups to make it better and more organized. I’ve thought through it and have a good plan moving forward. Before the maintenance sesh started I removed the DIY pvc “gang valve” that ran up to 6 sponge filters. This removed 6 Ziss air flow controllers so I should never have to buy any ever again, lol. This DIY pvc “gang valve” was replaced with a 4 way metal gang valve I took off the 55 grow out tank. It dawned on me that the grow out tank used to run 3 sponges, but now only runs 2. Considering the air pump is dual outlet that gang valve was useless. The sponges are now direct to the air pump and the metal gang valve now runs 4 sponges. When the ACO dual outlet pump is released I’ll snatch one of them up and that will replace the dual outlet pump on the 55 grow out. The current pump on the 55 will be moved to the rack to run 4 small sponge filters on the bottom level of the rack. This will allow me to A) add 1 sponge filter for my girlfriends tank and B) remove 3 usb nano pumps currently running 1 small sponge each. This will give me 4 or 5 back up usb pumps and again, fingers crossed, I shouldn’t have to buy them for a long time coming. I’m gonna buy another big ol’ power strip for the bottom level of the rack. This will allow me to have more outlets/options and keep things more organized. Today I also re-routed some power cords and tried to just generally start the organization process of all the cords. Feeling good about it as a first step. As for future upgrades in the near future I need to: -Place an ACO order. I’m HIGHLY considering picking up a 48” Easy LED to replace the lighting on the 55 Angel tank. Currently, it runs two Aquaneats. I’m also gonna pick up some ACO Easy Brine Shrimp Salt, straight airline connectors, and some Xtreme Shrimpee Sticks. Then, when the dual outlet releases I’ll pick up one of those, and hopefully get to free shipping with a 16oz bottle of Complete and a back up bottle of Easy Green. -I’m going to pick up a second gooseneck light for the blackwater tank conversion. I could probably get away with just the 1 I already got from my girlfriends family for my birthday, but I think I’d be happier and get what I’m really looking for with 2 considering they’re gooseneck/spotlights and they’re going on a 20 long. This should also allow me to have more plants which is hard to argue with. -I might actually pick up 2 of the dual outlet pumps. 1 for the 55 gallon grow out (2 sponges on that tank) and a second to run the 29 Pea Puffer tank and the 10 gallon Pygmy Cory tank. Currently, the 10/29 run off 1 single outlet ACO pump with a T splitter. It works, but it could be better. It really just depends on the price of the dual outlet pump. When that’s released we’ll make the decision. If I do pick up a second dual outlet, the single outlet I currently have will be moved to the 10 gallon aquaponics tank. It would be nice to have 4 tanks on battery back up and 3 battery back up pumps to move around if I ever needed to. -I believe with the stock I have raising up, and the fry behind them, I can stock my girlfriends shrimp tank and my blackwater tank for free. Gonna trade fish as they grow up and stack that store credit. For my girls tank I’m thinking of starting with 15-20 blue shrimp. For my blackwater tank I want 20 Chili Rasboras (should get 24 as the store does buy 5 get one free) and 12 Green Neon Tetras (again, buy 5 get one free). Pretty stoked that I don’t have to pay for any fish as I have CPO’s, Panda Angels, more Panda Angels, (and then some Panda fry behind those), Chocolate Bristlenose, and Julii Cory’s to trade for new stocking. Heck ya. If you made it through this giant rabble I thank you for sticking through it. 99% of the time this hobby is amazing and I can’t get enough of it. 1% of the time you overflow your grow out tank and get super frustrated with yourself, but the pros definitely outweighs the cons. You live and you learn, and you keep going. I’m STOKED to make these upgrades and have some fun. I’m so thankful for this hobby and the calmness and clarity it brings me on a daily basis. Cheers, Nerms. I’m off to fill up some food jars and mix some c02. Until next time. Oh ya, my girlfriends strawberries are killing it in the aquaponics tank:

I run c02 in a few tanks, but only dose fertilizer weekly with water changes. I leave everything on, but I’m also just giving the plants a boost with the c02. Definitely not getting anywhere near 30ppm, just a little boost. When I’m gone, the only thing that changes is that fish don’t get fed for a few days.

Definitely male Platies

Go with the fish and set up you’ll enjoy the most! I struggle with the same thing. Maybe I’ll do this! No, maybe this! Nah, let’s try that! When I’m in that phase it tells me that I need to keep thinking and narrowing down exactly what I want to do. The worst thing you could do is rush a decision just because you have the open tank and then wish you did the other thing.

I change water and dose ferts immediately after every week. Works for me.

@knee Are you in the US? I keep the trio (Ich-X, Maracyn, and Paracleanse) on hand as well as aquarium salt. When I had an ich outbreak (thankfully the Hatchetfish were still in quarantine) I used salt to beat it. When my Bristlenose Pleco had a weird cyst on her face I used Indian Almond Leaves and mild aquarium salt to beat it. When my Angelfish had Camallanus Red Worms I bought and used Expel-P to beat it. Im my almost 3 years in the hobby those are the three active infections I’ve encountered and beat. Mostly, the trio is for the start of the quarantine process (Meds marinate for a week, but then I continue to quarantine for another 3-5 weeks for good measure) but it’s nice to know I have meds if I need them.

I rinse and strain, and then put them in tank water. The difference between myself and @Guppysnailis I thaw mine (again using tank water) before feeding.

@Theplatymaster those definitely have different body shapes and fin shapes of any Angels I’ve ever seen, but idk, I wasn’t there 🤷‍♂️

@Theplatymaster that’s exactly how I look at it. They’re happy so they’re breeding. Win-win all the way around.