AllFishNoBrakes

@Jazz Pizza My first tank was, and still is, a 10 gallon aquaponics tank. My girlfriend bought me a pepper plant and I was curious if I could grow it out of an aquarium. Amateur scientist first, nerm second for sure.

@Jazz Pizza Very nicely said! Super early on in my hobby I accidentally sucked my female betta through my siphon and was pretty upset with myself. It was the last water change before her tank was cycled so the timing couldn’t have been worse. I looked away for one second and then next thing I know my fish was in the bucket with a ripped open belly. My girlfriend calmly reminded me that I was still learning and that mistakes happen. Since then, I’ve looked at everything I’ve done in this hobby as an experiment. I still look at everything like that and have to remind myself that it’s pretty amazing that we can keep fish in a glass box in our house in the first place. Also agreed that @Herefishie is in the right place. This forum is full of friendly people who all have a passion for the same thing. Welcome to the hobby and the forum! Things are super confusing at first, but it gets easier and people here will help you when you need it!

Also noticed that my big Amazon Sword is throwing off baby swords again! And the cardinals were looking majestic in the light, and the first Angel I got (one of the first fish I ever got) looked goofy peeking out in the back

Well, 2 years in and I experienced my first bacterial bloom. I think it was from feeding the Bristlenose Plecos zucchini like 8 or 10 days in a row. I’ve always fed this tank heavy, but I think the zucchini that many days in a row just tipped the scales. Had a small ammonia spike (.25) but I just did a water change and fasted for a day and we’re back on track. Water has cleared up and it’s all good. Took this as an opportunity to move some things around, too. The Amazon Sword in the middle was moved to the right and to the back, and the hard scape was rearranged a bit. Also planted some PSO trimmings that have been hanging out in my quarantine tank. I normally don’t really move fish around, but I did that for once as well. Bristlenose were moved to the 55 gallon grow out tank as they were destroying my Swords rasping on them all day long. I was trying to deter them from the swords by feeding zucchini so heavily, but obviously that just caused other issues. They can help control algae in the grow out tank so I’ll take that for what’s it’s worth. I also moved a m/f Panda Angel combo as my LFS told me to keep them coming, but that wasn’t working out so well. The male was being super aggressive and the female was hiding behind the breeding slate all the time. I gave it a couple of days and it wasn’t improving so the male got moved over the sponge wall and can help control the Platy population. I’m waiting for my last male Panda to breed with the all black female one last time, and then the male will be moved to the female so hopefully they can pair again to keep the Pandas flowing for the LFS. Only time will tell.

Dooooope. I hit my year next month and I’m stoked to get mine. Will pair nicely with my generic coin I bought when they released

@mountaintoppufferkeeper LET’S GOOOOOO! Where did you pick them up if you don’t mind me asking? I was at a LFS in our area this week trading some fish, took a look at the puffers they had available and wondered if any of them were yours lol.

@Jstewart0925 I found it on Amazon. I’ve had it for a long time and it’s basically brand new still. Pretty sure I just searched “brine shrimp sieve”.

It seems that I am of the opposite opinion here. If the silicone seals are solid you shouldn’t have a problem.

I love my hatchery. I hatch a tablespoon at a time, but freeze the majority and use X amount per day until I need to hatch again. I also built a stand and modified it to hold my sieve hands free!

I too use the digital thermometers that @Kurt Brutting showed. The only difference is mine are stamped FreeSea and came with my heaters. I like them, but they have small differences between them. The downside is they can run through batteries, but those are cheap to replace. I used to obsess over my temps, and now I just give them a glance every once in a while. Some of the thermometers are still in the tank, but need the batteries replaced. That’s always the “I’ll do that tomorrow” and then it doesn’t get done tomorrow… I also have a handheld infrared thermometer, and that’s super efficient to just go around to the tanks and pull the trigger.

Agreed that the seeded sponge and decor will be a big help. Even squeezing the sponge in the tank would be a huge help! Are you planning on running meds in the tank? I would suggest not doing water changes as you’ll need to re dose meds and that’s a pain. But test your heart out and make sure nothing spikes! I keep my quarantine tanks cycled with either new fish I’m quarantining, starting to grow out fry, a fish or two, or snails. We put in so much effort to cycle them in the first place that I don’t want to lose that progress

Right now I’m on the hunt for a pair of Sparkling Gourami’s for my 6 gallon Walstad cube. Hoping my LFS gets some in soon and it’s on!

I wanted to say anything under 2” fully grown, but I’m not sure that’s the answer. That would include tons of tetras, rasboras, etc. Maybe those are nano, but they’re not the species that come to mind when I think of “nano” fish. When I personally think of nano fish I think of the really small guys. Chili Rasboras, CPD’s, Pygmy Cory’s, Pea Puffers, etc. It’s hard to really define what it is, in my opinion that separates “nano” from “small”.

I love my DIY siphon for draining water. I didn’t go fancy with a hook, just 2 90° elbows, but I do have the ball valve.

@Beardedbillygoat1975 You might be onto something there 🤔. Highly unlikely that I’d go that route, but could be fun to see! Glad to hear you’re enjoying my journey. Thanks again!

I too poke a hole prior to burying them in the substrate. Works wonders

I’ve been in for about 2.5 years. It all started during COVID. Got my first tank as I wanted to try some aquaponics, and then it just exploded from there. I now maintain 13 tanks and have maxed out the space and time I have. All but 1 (grow out tank) are planted community tanks. I don’t “force” things to breed, but when they do I enjoy raising the fry and trading them to my LFS for store credit. Can’t imagine not having tanks at this point.

@Patrick_G Thanks! I bought them from the LFS I work with a long time ago and I’m glad I did. They have a pretty good value for the credit I ask for, and when I dropped this batch off they told me to keep ‘em coming. I’m glad I’ve built the rapport with them that I have.

Pvc is super easy. Most of the time you can “friction fit” things together, but if you want to be absolutely sure there’s no leaks you glue things together with pvc glue. Seems intimidating at first, but it’s simple and the possibilities are endless.

They’re all bagged up and off to the LFS we go! 32 Kribs and 14 Panda Angels fit neatly into my Coop tote bag. A short 30 minute drive and we’ll be having some (free, essentially) fun!

My girlfriend is from Tennessee and this blew my mind when I first heard about it. “Y’all got Coke? I’ll take a Mountain Dew”. Still agree that the Tetras should be the ones to get the tank seasoned, and then add the Discus down the road.

@TheSwissAquarist Lol, the name fits for sure. I just like to help others where I can, and I like sharing what I’ve tried and what has worked for me over the last couple of years.

@TheSwissAquarist I have 6 angelfish total, and they pair and breed as they like. I’ve had 3 pairs thus far. Marbled male with an all black female, Panda male/female, and now Panda male with the all black female that used to be with the Marbled guy. Scandalous, that female is. Considering I’m FINALLY offloading the last of my Kribs I’m thinking about using that space to make and then keep a Panda pair again. The Panda juveniles have a higher credit at the store than just a random pairing. I’m thinking about it; we’ll see if I go that route or not.

Took the lawnmower to the Walstad cube today, and whadya know, there’s actually aquatic animals in there! Was hard to tell before I gave the tank a big trim, lol. Still on the hunt for a pair of Sparkling Gourami’s to fill out this tank. Might up the CPD population as well, as it appears I’m down to a trio. Crazy that this tank is just shy of a year old Tomorrow I’ll be bagging up 40 some fish to take to the LFS on trade. Will FINALLY get the last of the Kribs I bred out of the grow out tank, as well as 14 Panda Angels all of to new homes. Looking for *maybe* some new hard scape, but for the first time I may just hang on to some credit instead of instantly blowing it. Shout out to my breeding Angels for keeping my hobby flowing at low to no cost. I’ll post pictures tomorrow of the fish off to find their new homes!

@Chick-In-Of-TheSea It’s most definitely, without a doubt, soda. No ifs, ands, or buts about it! Oh ya, all the GlowLights made it. Still have all 10 to this day, although 2 females hang out at like a 45° angle… I think it’s just from old age as they’re some of the oldest fish I have. The tank they’re in just might be my favorite one!