AllFishNoBrakes

1.do you have one? I live in CO and am fortunate to have many options within 30-60 minutes drive in basically any direction. It’s been fun to see @Irene Instagram and YouTube videos and go “I know that place! I was just there the other day!” One day I’m gonna run into her at one of these LFS’s, one day lol 2.If yes How Many Let’s see… Off the top of my head… 6, not including big box stores. 3.If yes how far away is it from you? As originally stated, they’re all within 30-60 minutes drive. More like 30-45 minutes, really. The LFS I work with the most is 30 minutes from my house to their door. It’s crazy that I have so many around me, and big box stores on top of that, yet there’s TONS of fish and plants I’ve only seen in pictures and videos and never in real life. I guess it probably has to do with what’s popular/selling in my area, right?

I’ve never personally experienced this, but it seems to me to be an environmental factor seeing as it affected multiple fish all at the same time. I’m not on a well, and considering you are, and had a snow storm, I feel like those factors may be at play. You said you bottled it a week ago, so maybe not, though? Are you sure you dechlorinated when you bottled the water? For what it’s worth, I’ve never tested my tap water prior to putting it in any of my 15 tanks in the 3 years I’ve had them and have never had an issue with water changes. I’m sorry you’re going through this. Hopefully as a community we can figure out what happened.

What up Nerms? Hope you’re doing well. I’m currently daydreaming of turning my 20 gallon long shrimp/crayfish/snail tank into a blackwater setup. I imagine 2 pieces of Spiderwood flowing from the ends of the tank towards the center. A few stones in the center, a gooseneck style light, low light rhizome plants under the gooseneck, and then tons of botanicals. For stocking I’m thinking Chili Rasboras, 1 trio or 2 pairs of Sparkling Gourami’s, a couple nerites, and then some shrimp. When it comes to stocking the thing I can’t decide on is A) a bigger group of Chili’s or B) a smaller group of Chili’s and then either Green Neon Tetras or Black Neon Tetras. I have the light picked out, bulk Almond Leaves, and a mixed pack of botanicals in the cart. Tomorrow I’m gonna stop by the LFS and see if there’s a “matching” piece of Spiderwood to the existing piece already in that tank. I’ve been thinking about this tank for a hot minute, I’ve been piecing it together in my head, and I’m ready to start making some moves. Super stoked to try something new! Now it’s your turn. What’s the tank you’re realistically going to set up that you can’t stop daydreaming about?

I’m about to convert my 20 long to a blackwater tank and have the same idea as your 60 gallon. Gooseneck light for that dramatic effect, wood, a few stones, and I’m doing tons of botanicals. Looking at your tank with similar style is only fueling me to convert my tank! Also, congrats on the Pencilfish fry! That’s rad!

What up Nerms? It’s Wednesday again. Water changed everything in the house, squeezed a couple sponges, and reset a few Ziss never clog air stones. Also threw a little bit of poly fill into a couple filters to polish some water. Pretty chill maintenance session this week and I need to enjoy it. Next week I need to trim the cube, move some fish, and clean the other filters. I have 19 or 20 Julii Cory fry in the breeder box! Excited this round is going well and I chucked another 12 or so eggs in the box. I’m excited to raise these guys up and have another species to offer my LFS that buys all my fish. Tomorrow, we’re going to look at a restaurant location that has opened up and the owner of our restaurant group is pretty serious about acquiring. As fate would have it, it’s literally 2 doors down from the LFS that buys from me! What are the chances, right?! Gonna hit up the LFS after we check out the restaurant space and I’ll probably pick up some wood in anticipation of switching over the 20 long. The 20 long has had almost a 3 year run. Started out as a cherry shrimp species only tank that was super fun. After a year and a half or two years of just shrimp and snails I added a group of 5 Mexican Dwarf Crayfish. The Crayfish have been fun and the population is exploding. I’ve proven that shrimp, crayfish, and snails can cohabitate, but I’m ready for something new. The 20 long is going to be converted to a blackwater/botanical style aquarium! I picture 2 pieces of Spiderwood flowing from the ends towards the middle of the tank. A little bit of stone in the center, tons of botanicals (Indian Almond Leaves, and then a mixed pack of other botanicals), a gooseneck light for dramatic effect, and then rhizome plants underneath the gooseneck. For inhabitants I’m thinking 15-18 Chili Rasboras, and 1 trio or 2 pairs of Sparkling Gourami’s. Those inhabitants are for sure. Where I’m caught up is A) my water is already super soft, and has slight tannins from the cholla wood already so I’m curious if my cherry shrimp can make the transition. If they can that’s great! If they can’t I’ll try some Caridina shrimp. B) Maybe some Green Neon Tetras or Black Neon Tetras in addition to the Chili Rasboras? And C) I’ll probably try some nerites as I’m on team snail. Chili Rasboras, Sparkling Gourami’s, some shrimp, and some snails sounds like so much fun. Really just hung up on a bigger group of Chili’s, or a smaller group of Chili’s and a different group of Tetras. If you have experience with a blackwater set up I’m all ears! I daydream about this blackwater tank constantly and I can’t wait to start setting it up. My question to you is, should I start a new journal for that tank, or just keep everything condensed to this already existing journal? Everything you add is one more thing to manage, but I feel like maybe that tank specifically should have its own space. Let me know what you think! Cheers, Nerms. Thanks for being such a rad group of fish nerds and sharing this hobby and my experience with me.

If it was my tank I’d just do normal gravel with root tabs if you have plants.

My rack has a wire base that goes the whole length of the rack with steel supports every 2 feet that span the width of the rack. On the top level that holds my 55 and a 20 high I put down a piece of plywood over the metal wire base. To reinforce your shelving I would try to do something similar. My mind also goes to 2x4 supports on each vertical corner, but that’s not very aesthetically pleasing and could make maintenance a pain.

@Jeff When it comes to the color of the BBS 🤷‍♂️. I simply buy the ACO eggs and put ‘em in the hatchery with the instructions provided. I prefer a 36 hour hatch. As far as the sieve, I literally just rinse it real good under the hottest water that will come out of the tap. I try to keep things simple, lol.

@Ali I hatch 1 tablespoon per week and like 90% of it gets frozen to use throughout the remainder of the week. 10% gets fed live. Works great for me.

As stated by others I do the following: -tiny piece of airline tubing to connect the rigid tubing. No air stone. -I use the usb nano pump and hang it from my cabinet handle. This keeps the pump about the same height as the hatchery with a drip loop so I do not need a check valve. I do have an air valve in that line though.

I got my cube from Petco when they actually had that line of tanks for 50% off in 12/21. Was just the tank, lid, and neoprene pad. I bought the heater and the light in addition to the tank. They’re pricy when they’re not on sale, but if you’re patient enough you can snatch them up for pretty cheap.

@Mary W. That mulm isn’t going anywhere! Lol. With my crazy work schedule over the weekend these eggs are staying and I’ll see if I have tiny guys in a few weeks. Not expecting much as there’s also an African Dwarf Frog in this tank, but we’ll see what happens. The next round of eggs I’ll probably pull them and try to raise them myself. Experimenting is half the fun!

@Tommy Vercetti I live in higher altitude and know exactly what you’re talking about. That was my first thought, too.

Agreed with @mynameisnobody. Me personally, I would leave the HOB for 2-3 weeks and then just take it off. If you wanna squeeze it into the tank you could help seed the sponge a little faster.

I’ll play again. 1. What is the largest tank you've ever cared for? 55 gallons. Currently have two of them 2. What is the most amount of tanks you've kept? Why? 14. It’s literally the most I can handle with my crazy work schedule. And I’m out of space, lol 3. What is the next plant you wish to have in your tank? I don’t really have like a “holy grail” plant, but I’m gonna convert my 20 long to a botanical/blackwater tank with Anubius and Ferns and I’m excited for that. 4. What is the biggest challenge you face with maintenance? Maintaining all 14 tanks, lol.5. How often do you test your tank? I used to test every tank every week for like a year. Then I went to like once per month. These days I haven’t tested in a while, but I do water changes weekly. After seeing the same numbers for 2 years every week/month and doing maintenance weekly, every week it became more of a chore. These days I’ll stick a test strip in there and it’s like, “yup, same as the last 3 years”. 6. Do you have aquarium salt on hand and what was the last time you used it? Always keep salt on hand. Use it weekly for hatching baby brine. The last time I used it as a med was probably 2 months ago. 7. Have you ever kept a tank with a planted substrate, what did you like or dislike? I currently have a dirted 6 gallon cube, but I’ve never used Stratum or Eco Complete. I like that I have a Pearl Weed forest and don’t have to mess with root tabs in that tank. 8. What is your favorite thingamajig that you have for your tank? (something you use) Probably the siphon that just hangs over the rim of all my tanks. Saves me so much time. 9. What is your favorite color and do you have any fish in that color? Black. Yes, all black female Angelfish. 10. Choose 2: Seiryu stone, Ohko stone, Red Lava Rock, Mopani wood, Manzanita wood. Ohko Stone all day!

@JJenna @Theplatymaster Thank you for the suggestions. I think I found the light im going with and I’m stoked to set up this new to me tank!

@TeeJay Heck ya. I bought my Bristlenose a while back and was shocked how quickly they became mature enough to breed. I was not expecting it whatsoever. I also got super lucky in that I bought 2 juveniles and happened to get a male and female. I noticed the male was in his cave more often but thought nothing of it as I thought they were way too young to breed. I finally flashed my phone light in there and saw a clutch of eggs! I grabbed my Ziss Tumbler, threw the clutch in there, and then literally 10 minutes later I had separated wigglers. Timing literally could not have been more perfect. I was shocked.

Nice. If you run into any trouble with the stand just holler! Happy to help! What kind of Pleco? I’m raising my first batch of Bristlenose and they’ve been fun.

Rice fish is a good idea. They can handle lower temps and you could get a color that would really pop against the Cory’s. White clouds sound like fun too! Sounds to me like you know what you wanna do, but just gotta make a decision. Or do all 3! A 40 is a good size to get some colonies rocking and rolling.

For me personally, I think I would switch to a linear piston air pump at around 20 tanks all in the same space to be able to make a loop. If you really wanna get technical I’m sure you can look up the wattage on the linear pump vs. however many pumps you’re currently using. I also believe that heating the room instead of running heaters in each tank has the potential to use less energy and therefore save money. Make sure all tanks have lids, use LED lighting, potentially reduce your lighting periods (even though LED’s are efficient), etc. Cory talked a lot about efficiency and reducing costs when he got back from Europe, both in individual videos and the livestreams. When I first set up my rack I made this bad boy: It runs on a single Tetra Whisper 150 air pump and runs 5 sponge filters. Has the capacity to do 6 but it has run 5 for a couple years now. It’s the same idea behind a linear piston pump with a loop on a tiny scale. Idk how many tanks you have, but maybe something like this could help you out for air pumps specifically.

I’m not sure what size this silicone tray is. Got it off Amazon like 3 years ago at this point. For the hatchery, I listed the supplies and the steps to build it. I believe it was on the “show off your brine shrimp hatchery” thread that someone else started. If you search that name you’ll find the thread and all the parts and instructions!

That’s exactly what I do. I hatch 1 tablespoon of eggs once per week, freeze the majority of it, and then what’s leftover gets fed live. Then, throughout the week I use all the frozen until I need to hatch again. Works like a charm for me. Harvesting Total hatch after harvest What gets frozen and used throughout the week The leftovers that get fed live

This tank gets Krill flake in the morning, and then at night it gets a pinch of Krill flake, a pinch of Xtreme nano pellets, a shot of frozen baby brine shrimp, and then a few bloodworms. The tank also houses Marbled Hatchetfish, the Praecox Rainbows, the Gudgeons, Glowlight Tetras, and Albino Cory’s. I make sure there’s food at all levels of the tank so everyone gets to eat. No issues at all on my end.

For sure. They might be more “typically” bottom dwelling, but I see mine all over the tank. The male will go up against the Praecox Rainbows for the couple bloodworms I drop in there. They’re fun little fish.

I keep a pair in my 29 and they do great for me there. But, that’s just one pair and not a group. I could see more ground/cave space being important if you have multiple pairs or a group. Hopefully someone who had kept a group chimes in! They’ve been great for me in my experience with them.