Mr. Ed's Aquatics

I know this feeling

I'll be just as straight with you, I disagree with what you are saying. I've both lived in quake zones and worked construction. And worked on repairing damage caused by quakes. And from what everyone I interacted with said and my own experience, the main benefit of cinder block exterior walls was that they would more often than not ...shift, crack, move, whatever where rigid construction tended to collapse. I believe this is also why the codes only require reinforcement in specific areas. The whole thing isn't reinforced by rebar and cement, much is just mortar. And that's how they shift instead of collapse, same as the stands... When a quake struck my area and I didn't lose tanks on cinder block stands, they did the same thing as construction walls. Some blocks moved, maybe even cracked, but the structure as a whole stayed up. Its like you think that not adding rebar negates the effects of gravity, friction and enormous down force. Build one and try to push it over, or take out the bottom brick. I don't know why you don't think that the same beneficial effects would translate but since I witnessed it I am going with my eyes over your opinion. Also if the codes were only for strength, they would require steel beam construction which is even stronger. But its rigid, and would be like traditional construction and be more likely to collapse. Much like my 150 on a steel stand is more likely to tip over during a quake due to its high center of gravity and inflexibility. Adults are free to disagree, you think I'm wrong. Okay great, don't listen to me or my advice. I think you're wrong, and I will follow my own advice and just not follow yours.

Clear gorilla tape works pretty good as a DIY hinge. Lasts quite a while and is easily replaced when needed.

Yes permanent structures are made with reinforced, but they are required for their ability to shift and flex instead of collapsing. When I lived in San Diego, the only tank I lost during a quake was the one I had on a hugely reinforced wooden stand attached to the wall. With no way to wiggle, shift, flex, whatever you want to call it.... the entire bottom panel shattered and the stand basically broke in half. The cinder blocks on the other hand barely moved, never lost any tanks and came through just fine. With everyone who actually does this having good success and no real horror stories about losing 30 tanks during a quake... I stand behind what I said. You're likely going to be just fine. Any quakes that can take down that kind of stand would also likely destroy wooden ones as well.

Mutt guppies are great fun and produce good colorful fish that are heartier and live longer than line bred fish. They can produce very pretty and unexpected results which is how new lines are developed. I've had tanks that ran for years and I never had all the guppies end up plain brown. Just remove any offspring that have defects and occasionally add cool new male or female guppies you come across. Your friend is describing a very "shrimp only" issue that doesn't really apply to guppies. On the flip side of that, if you were line breeding and you were not diligently culling and maintaining your line, over time it would look less and less like the original line.

I'd stick to nano fish like small rasborahs or tetras. Green or blue neons, chili or exclamation points... Maybe some otto cats for clean up. A lot of tank mates might eat shrimp, many more will eat the shrimplets.

Have you considered the USB pumps? The price of 6 would be way less than a linear piston pump. Their power consumption is nominal, the ones I like are 5 volt, 2 watts. They are dead quiet (linears are loud) and if the power goes out you can power them with battery backups or even your phone. All my old air pumps are in a box now and have been replaced with USBs. Linear piston pumps are more common for fish rooms that are running between 25 to 50+ air drops. It's hugely overkill for anyone with less than 2 dozen tanks.

I have a couple 55 hexagonal tanks and had one setup very close to what you're describing. I used large river rocks and wood to make the center island. I put the intake in the middle of the back painted section with the return facing forward on the left side of the back and a circulation pump facing backwards on the right. Kinda like a triangle, worked well and created a counter clockwise constant flow. Schooling fish worked great and they would all swim against the current and look like they were hovering. Or all turn slightly and the whole school would shift. I liked the look and it was an interesting tank to watch. Only thing I didn't care for was that it was kinda plain. Never found a center piece fish that liked the setup.

I have not been a fan of internal filters in the past, but have seen several Youtubers praising them and their use in bigger tanks. I usually use canister filters or bigger hang on back filters as my primary biological/ mechanical filtration with Co-op sponge filters as my secondary filtration (all on USB hubs with 48hr battery backup attached). In my 125, even with 2 sponges and a large power head, I kept getting build up in a dead spot in the corner so I decided to try the one Ben O'chart uses in his 150. It's a 3 stage filter, power head and aerator by eXpertmatic. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B081YJMRM8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_kE0sFbMNKSV89 I love this thing, it's a really good filter. Each compartment has a coarse sponge and a center chemical filtration section. It draws a lot more water through vs an air stone driven sponge, circulating way more water, and a ton of bubbles. Cost is 30 bucks, and for the money you can't beat it. I think the 2 USB pumps and 2 sponges cost more than the internal. I have since purchased 2 more and have plans for at least 1 more. So for bigger tanks, I'd say they make excellent secondary filtration (for all us redundancy nerds) and a great water polisher. I don't know that I would use them on my smaller tanks, but only because I don't have any issues with them I think it would help with. I could see using them as the primary filtration on smaller tanks instead of hang on back filters, might try it out if I get any new tanks set up.

I think my least favorite tank was my multifasciatus setup. I love the fish, but due to poor planning, I hated working on the tank. It's the bottom of a stacked set up, and had a built in wet dry in the back. Which is extremely difficult to get in and do maintenance. The inside is just as bad, the wet dry takes up much of the footprint and I added faux cliffs for cover. Reaching in or netting out fish was incredibly difficult. What I'm doing to remedy it, total take down. Rescaped a 40 breeder and rehoused all the multies in that one. Purchased a bunch of new glass tanks, including a couple 55's. So the plan now is to use the substrate and filter media to start a new 55 in place of the old one.

I've always equated them with the building codes that require cinder block walls in areas where earthquakes and hurricanes are problems. If structures are more likely to survive earthquakes and hurricanes built with cinder blocks over lumber, you'll likely do better with your tank stands as well. Hopefully you never need to find out.

I've thought about using that or Ebay if I couldn't sell them locally, but each time I cross post Offerup, Craigslist and my fish group page on Facebook I sell out within a couple days. Last time I didn't even post, I just contacted the people who didn't get some previously and asked for a heads up next time. Eventually I will flood the market locally, I think I will try Aquabid then.

I actually swapped to selling them myself since I get way more that way. I just offer multi starter packages that have at least 1 adult male, 1 adult female, and at least 3 juveniles plus a few shells. I decided it was easier to catch them in shells. When it's crowded I order a new bag of shells and offer 4-5 starters for $50. So far everyone has been pleased that they end up with more than 5 (not shorted anyone yet) and happy to start a colony for what stores charge for just 3 fish. I do wish you luck, the shells is the only thing I don't enjoy about keeping these great little guys.

My LFS has to see them and won't take any under 1". Don't think that I could drop off a dozen pipes and tell them how many fish were in there and still get paid.

Might have been just mine, but I moved their shells way up on the ledges I have on the back of their tank and replaced them with PVC caves.... They just moved up onto the ledge where their shells were and ignored the PVC.

My silliest mistake is the opposite of yours. I used to forget to unplug the heater before a water change. Probably broke half a dozen that way until I finally had one explode in my face as I began adding water back in. Nowadays, I have them and any other equipment that should be off during water changes on cut off switches... and I also have a small notch in my eyebrow to remind me to use them.

Just saw on Bob's stream that Petco is doing tanks cheaper than dollar per gallon right now. I got 2 55s, 2 40s, and 5 10s for under 250. If you want a new tank, check it out

Made a new shelly tank and combined both smaller colonies into one larger one.

Added those cichlid stones that Tazawa tanks and Ben O'Chart did videos on recently. I had to leave for a couple hours and thought that they had killed my fish somehow when I got home because I didn't see any of them as I came in the room. They must really like them, there wasn't an empty cave. As soon as I was visible to the fish, they all came shooting out of the caves to beg for food.

I intentionally didn't mention the MANY things that I wouldn't do as by your very long justifications you already know what you're doing that is widely frowned upon. I seem to have incurred a little bit of your wrath by barely mentioning it too you so I'm guessing you have heard all this before. That being said, I suggested that this maybe wasn't the best place to post it because many beginners or less than advanced hobbyists come in for ideas and advice. Your tank, which might be great for you, which I did say before you kinda went off, gives many examples of things 99.9999% of fish keepers should not do. I'm not going to get into everything I cringe at and just remind you that the purpose of the forum is to be helpful. By the way saying "not a slam on you" before slamming me is like saying "no offense" right before saying something offensive. And while I may be a breeder, you assume many practices that I wouldn't do and also frown on. At least we both agree no one else should keep the types of fish, amount, or for long term what you have in your very unique tank.

I like that you said that you would get torn apart posting this anywhere else. So you know everything I want to say that are against the rules of this forum. If you feel like your tank is successful and you like it, that's great since it's yours and for you to enjoy.... but maybe not the best idea to post it in a forum full of people who are going to melt down seeing it. Just to clarify, that's all in 1 90gal tank right?

Schooling fish are a must in my opinion. Discus are shy, and if you have an active school of Cardinal or Rummynose tetras, they see the small dither fish out and know there are no predators around. They're much more active that way. My friends discus are basically alone in his planted tank, and they're always hiding. I keep trying to get him to add something, but he's convinced that anything else will mess with the discus.

I keep several breeding colonies in my show tanks with all sorts of other stuff. Most have a neocaradina colony, so far I've got cherry, pumpkin, blue dream, black rose and jade green. I also like to keep corys and plecos as the clean up crew and tetras for dither. Really have a ton of options for tankmates. I took a quick picture of one of mine for reference. Besides guppies, you can probably see some penquin tetras, lemon tetras, bristlenose pleco, albino corys, adolfoi corys, mystery snails and shrimp.

I keep a portable generator under my big hexagon tank and 4 100' contractors extensions under the tank next to it. When the power goes down, I roll the generator out to the back deck and run the cords to each fish room. Unplug the power strips from the wall and into the extensions. It is weird during power outages that all my fish tanks and the refrigerator work but nothing else.

That's funny, I begged my dad for everything under the sun for a pet (he's allergic to animals... or so he said) and finally got a 10gal tank with guppies for my birthday when we moved to Washington. Back in '79 when I turned 7. Guppies or other livebearers are great starter fish for someone with your water and are a very interesting and active pet that most kids love.