Rikostan

Mail just came by! When I was a kid, I could only dream of having Dr. Alexrod's Atlas. I checked it out of the library so much, our librarian actually limited how many times I could take it. When I saw it today, all those old feelings came rushing back. Can't believe it took more than 40 years for me to have my own copy. LOL. Oh and all 4 of these cost less than $20 shipped. If you don't mind old library books, checkout (library humor!) betterworldbooks.com. A large portion of their proceeds go to charity and you can find a ton of books for $3.99 each. {EDIT} This says the book was first published in 1987... that can't be the book i am thinking of then. Was there an older book that was as big as the mini atlas? Pretty sure Dr. Alexrod was the author. Maybe it was just the Handbook of Tropical Fishes or Encyclopedia of Tropical Fishes. Either way, so happy to have a copy!

Following up more on Brandy's idea, I think a willow moss might work. It doesn't get as long as i want, but I think i can get the look I want with a small net I'll hang the net down a couple of inches from the stick and then cover the top of the stick and the net with the moss. The stick already has a good angle to it, but I think if I cut the bottom line of the net into a pretty irregular/ragged line, I'll get the moss to grow more how I want. I'm going to look and see which moss bets fits my parameters for that tank, but I'm sure one of them will work. Thanks @Brandy! Rereading @JaydenDSin's post, they said much the same thing... lol, so thanks to both of you!

Thanks for the responses! It sounds like i am going to be hard-pressed to find something that will send out tendril or curtain down in the blue area. Partly because there isn't anything that really falls down like what I want and also because it's so close to the top of the tank or needs to be able to root better. Maybe I'll just do the moss like Brandy mentioned in the blue area and plant a stem plant below it in the substrate that grows tall enough to get the affect i am looking for. (EDIT) Maybe i could make a long trench in the blue area of the stick and fill it with substrate and root something there... That would at least open up my options. It's hard to tell, but that stick is a good 4-5 inches in diameter.

Ignore the rest of the stuff. The tank is just set up for me to visualize what I want to do. The only thing that is important is the stick... I was thinking a moss wrapped around the top and front part of the stick will look good in the red area. I will put a plant in the green shelf area too, but I haven't decided what yet, maybe one of the Anubis The blue area is where I have doubts. I want something that will sort of curtain down after being attached to the top of the stick, but my thought is most things will want to grow up towards the light and will be too buoyant to want to "fall down" So is there anything that would hang down after being attached to the stick in the blue area? Extreme newbie here, so any advice would be greatly appreciated.

You know... i really haven't put much thought into yet. i knew I wanted to get back into guppies and shrimp weren't really available when I had tanks before, so I knew I wanted to give them a try. That made the 20 a pretty easy choice, but I think i am really going to take my time with the 45 and find a few things that really grab me. I currently have no idea what that'll be. 🙂. i do know that i am either going to have to move all my other hobbies out of my office or move some stuff around somewhere else in the house, because i am willing to bet I'll have a larger tank by Christmas!

Hiya and thanks for the welcome! I have had quite a few tanks in the past, but it's been 40 years since I was serious about it, so I am actually looking forward to breeding the guppies. The first 20 gallon should be ready to go by time they need to move out of the 10. As for the others, well the ten will be my hospital tank, but I haven't quite decided on what i want to go into the 40 gallon or the other 20. I like the idea of tetra schools, but I'm taking my time on deciding. i feel like i need to slow it down a bit... I'll be sure to post pics after I decide though! Oh and yeah plants from the co-op in the 10, the first 20, and just a few in the 40, but I'm about to put in my third order to really fill out the 40.

We have a large walk in basement that I don't go visit very often...Just no real need except to inspect things, but today I was down there and found a 20 gallon aquarium I didn't know we had. My daughter used it a few years ago for rodents. I knew we had a 10 gallon, which I had my son pull up a couple of weeks ago when I started to think about setting up a tank, but I didn't remember the 20. I got a little excited... LOL So in the space of less than 3 weeks I went from no tanks to a 45(odd size I know), two 20s , and a 10 gallon. Of course I still don't actually have any fish, since I am cycling the first 20 gallon and the 40, but I am already deeply, deeply hooked on this hobby/lifestyle. Saturday we are making the trek a the closest aquarium store and probably a petco or petsmart too. I've waited to go until my wife has time and can hold onto the credit card and reign me in a bit, but I expect to come home with some fun stuff. The ten gallon is all ready to go, so maybe I'll just grab a few guppies for now, just so I have some fish. I really don't have anywhere else to share this stuff with people who will understand, so I apologize in advance for overly enthusiastic newbness. Gonna go give the 20 a good scrubbing now!

The guppy/shrimp tank is what I am doing right now. I bought a 20 gallon and it's currently going through the cycle. Moving pretty quick too, thanks to all the tips I found every where. I haven't decided on the strain of guppy yet, but I am going with the cherry shrimp too. It'll probably still be a month before I'm really ready to take pics though. This is my first foray back into fish in 40 years and the mistake i already made was getting some blue gravel substrate. I love the more natural look you have, but I went that route in my 40 gallon.

This isn't my image, but it was taken about 2 miles from my house a couple days ago The next two pics I took from where I am sitting right now typing this. I don't do anything at all with with about a quarter acre of our property, except pile brush in the late summer and early fall months, so we sometimes get a family of fox or turkey that move in. The next one is another one of my hobbies. We live right on lake Ontario and my kayak sits right by the water for most of the year. I love getting out on the bay by us and just paddle all day. So much to see, especially during the bird migrations. This last one was a few years ago. It was taken on a nice day in January. the temps were pretty warm and the lake was like glass, so I went out for a paddle. That ice on the shore is a good ten foot thick. Here is a video from that day... I guess it was longer than a few years ago, the date is over ten years ago. 🙂

Very cool, love those types of finds! I'm a little worried about starting up a fish book collection. I recently got rid of almost all of my books, except for my weather related collection and nature field guides, but buying tons of books based on my hobbies seems to be my M.O. I just don't have the room for another bookshelf or two. i AM going to buy a few, but I am going to try and only get very specific books... I hope. I usually buy these types of books from betterworldbooks.com. They are incredibly cheap and while they are a for profit company, they give a huge portion of their proceeds to charity. Their books are usually old library books, so you never know what you are going to find.

WOW! The box was just dropped off... two days early!

LOL! So many inappropriate jokes to make there.

Looking through the All Oddball site brings back so many memories! i know I owned some of that stuff. I wasn't cool enough to work at a pet store, but I did spend a lot of time at the two places close to me that sold fish.

Some awesome answers, thanks to all! I'd give them each a "thanks" but I guess I've used up my reactions for the day.

Thanks, that'll be fun to scan through! Ugh, Guess I should have searched first. I just looked on the first page... Thanks!

I get it, I do. The internet is awesome. Tons of info that is indexed, cross referenced, and endlessly debated. I'm a fan. I have a Kindle and read tons of ebooks and, almost all my music is digital these days too... BUT ( I like big buts), I still enjoy cracking open a "real" book now and then. So are there any aquarist (aquariist?) related books or magazines you enjoy reading or found particular helpful? Maybe there were just great shots of the fish, or maybe they explained something in a way you found really helpful... I'm not picky. TIA! {EDIT} I should have searched first. I would delete this if I could, but anybody seeing this, look here instead of commenting on this post.

Little OT here, but have you gone through the museum? It's about an hour and a half drive south of us, but we like to drive down every Autumn, love the area! And the museum is pretty darn cool too.

I've been married to an awesome woman for almost 30 years, have three great kids who I love to be around, three great dogs too. I have a ton of hobbies and besides some chronic health issues, I've been blessed with a pretty good life. I'm saying there are a lot of positives in my life and lots to be happy and excited about, but lately nothing makes me more excited than this...

Our stories are pretty similar, although your return to the hobby preceded mine by a little bit. Nice looking tank there!

Hiya Alexa and thanks for the welcome! We are on a well too and the water parameters were perfect for shrimp and guppies. That's the main reason I went with those for the 20 gallon... well that and how much Cory gushed over them in a lot of his videos. His joy was infectious. 🙂 {EDIT} Somebody needs to stop me too. I was so happy with the plants from my first order with the Co-op that I just placed a second order.

We USED to have the same UPS guy all the time and he went above and beyond like that too, but he retired last year and they still haven't replaced him. I definitely agree you have to get to know the delivery people, especially if you live in a rural area. He's only a few miles away now! Squeeeee

Watching the 20 gallon online as it rides along with the UPS guy. LOL so excited to get the tank set up. Think the UPS guy would mind if I go meet him half way here? 😛

I saw some of your videos just today and took a look at your website... I am putting together a small guppy tank as my first tank in a good 40 years, so I might be hitting you up when I'm ready!

Hiya. I don't have a favorite one yet.I have seen soooo many that look awesome in pictures, but none up close and personal like. Give me a month or two and I'll have an answer for you!

Hi all. i am newly returned to the hobby after a 40 year hiatus. I had quite a few tanks as a kid with the usual suspects; Guppys, Neons, Angels, Loaches, etc. I am also newly retired and have started up a ton of new hobbies, like Extreme Hammocking, and Beard Growth Watching, but I was looking for something else to do...then I remembered the joy I got from keeping fish when I was in my early teens. I actually don't even have a tank yet, other than a little 10 gallon the kids used for rodents, years ago. I set it up to make sure I understood how to do the cycle and get the parameters down... Then I started watching Cory's YouTube videos and videos of a few other youtubers... Now I have a 20 gallon tank coming tomorrow and a 40 gallon that will be here Tuesday. I'm lucky that I live in rural upstate NY(right on Lake Ontario, I can see it as I type this) and do not have a fish store within 50 miles of me, other than the petcos and petsmarts and even those are a good hour's drive away, otherwise I'd probably have a big tank by now. I did spend my first $100 at the shop here already and got my package pretty quick, especially for what's going on with the USPS right now! I am going to slow down a bit though and get these two tanks set up and make sure I still enjoy it as much as I used too. The 20 gallon is going to be planted and have guppies, shrimp, and snails. Not sure yet what I will do with the 40 gallon, but I am going to set it up as soon as it gets here and do my research. I LOVE that we are really going for entire ecosystems these days. It's not just a cage for fish, but a home, so I am going to be doing a lot of plants and trying my best to put stuff together that like the same things. SOOOOO much info out there! Obviously there was no internet when I was a kid, so I rode my bike to the library a couple of times a week to check out another book and hopefully expand my knowledge a small amount. Looking back, we really didn't know even a quarter of the things that are "KNOWN" now. It was a lot of guesswork, so a huge thank you to all of you sharing info! I'll post pics as I go along and if things work out as I think they will, I'll show each new tank as they get progressively larger and probably my divorce papers somewhere along the line too.