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Grace the shark, sharkie, as she is affectionately called is my Red-Tailed Black Shark (sharkminnow to be precise). I couldn't tell you how long she's been cruising around in my tanks, but she is indeed part of the family as it were. She sticks her head out to say hello when I check on her each morning. She is protective of her fry, well her panda and corydoras pals. She likes cover, she enjoys caves, but hopefully she is happy with my efforts right now. I've spent a lot of time interacting with her, the family has, and it's one of the most cherished fish I own. Expected lifespan is 6-10 years and I do think we are on the other side of 6 right now. She's older now and I do want her to be comfortable and to have a setup where she isn't stressed in the slightest. The entire reason for the tank to be purchased was for her. She was in it for a few years prior to the move, but it's been sitting in the hallway for a little while. Thankfully it is indeed back up and running. This was years ago... I had picked out a nice piece of wood, ordered it and waited excitedly for it to arrive. The box never showed up, USPS lost it. Around here it is something that happens too often. The owner sent out a replacement, which wasn't what I had picked out, but I was really happy with the results. That initial piece of wood, years ago, was purchased with the intent to go into this tank in some form as we have the setup below. Being able to put that piece into place, to see how it looks and play around with the orientation a little bit has been something I have waited for. I do with it had a bit of a cave for her. Some more Seiryu stone or something that she can use as a tunnel. I am waiting on some plants to make it and I'm really hoping that I can get them to grow! I am planning to cover some walls on the tank with more of this moss and I do plan to get some of my slower growing plants going as well that are in tanks elsewhere. There are some plants to improve things for her, but.... I am basically working with limited/no budget for this. As such, there are some breeding projects in the works. Black Schultzei Corydoras and the Neocaridina shrimp being the big two. Plants being the third. The goal of getting things going happened in the prior tank. First, get the corydoras to spawn and learn how to get them to spawn. Second being, getting plants to grow again and feeling a bit more confident in working with plants. I learned a lot in that ~2 years with the tank and it's been the type of experience where it's been compounded by meeting much smarter hobbyists here on the forums who can offer their insight. I hope by the end of this journal I have a tank I am satisfied with. That's the mission statement here. Below I'll attach some shots from the tank and things that caught my eye today trying to get a tank shot. I find myself always admiring these little things. Stuck staring and admiring the beauty when they do find their way into my perspective. For @A3M0N here is the revised / updated spraybar install. One full pipe length, one marineland prefilter (cut to size) and one 'typical' pumphead shooting across the length of the tank. Let's get to it..... Edit: Previous Journal

I figured that I may as well start a journal of my fishkeeping adventure. After what happened to me today, and the fact that nobody in my physical life has any interest in my love of aquariums and fish... I think this will be a good place for me to socialize about the hobby and have people who are actually interested to share with. Anyway, I have two main tanks right now. I was told that I'm only allowed to have two... But I've had the "quarantine" tank set up for many months now and plan to get another soon. Hey I need one for babies and one for sick/new fish, right? Or do I need three... I do take my spouse seriously though. But I can dream. I have a 75G, Takashi Amano inspired tank with my first canister filter. I have mixed feelings about that. More on that soon. That's my adventure I had today that sparked my idea to make this journal. I also have a 20G Tall, "toddler tank" in my son's room that was his reward for sleeping in his own bed full time. He loves his fish, he's 3. I love guppies, always have, and have had guppies in just about every fish tank I've had through my life. Now that I have started my own family and have other input on what goes in the tanks, I've fallen in love with otos, swordtails and corydoras. Before I got married, my finest tank had two angles, three spunky, chatty, long whiskered catfish, a team of koolie loaches, an abundance of blue metallic guppies and a pleco. I also kept a single silver butterfly koi in my room that was my best friend for many years. I love fish, I love plants and keeping fish brings me great joy. For now, I have to call it a night, but I'll continue tomorrow. Here's a photo to hint at my canister filter adventure today... 😅 Update 12/4/22, Over a year after I started my journal. The first picture of the 75 in this post is from 10/31/21. Here is a photo of the 75G on 12/4/22.

I'm currently feeding my fish Tetra flakes and occasionally some community repashy gel. What are some other foods that I can feed to change things up a bit?

I have a 125g tank with 23 mollies/platies/variatus in it right now. I recently purchased 3 male swordtails, 1 female swordtail, and 3 other female mollies/platies/variatus. All of these new fish are in my 10g QT tank. My question is do the female mollies/platies/variatus count towards a 4 to 1 female/male ratio with the swordtails after I have all the fish in my 125? Thoughts?? Maybe I've been reading too much about swordtail aggression. Lol