Hello, Returning to the Hobby

[Nanotanks]

Started about four years ago, and thought I knew what I was doing. Made every mistake you'd expect someone to make, who knew what the puzzle looked like, but had no idea how the pieces fit together.

In the end, I was defeated by the implacable fertility of snails, livebearers, and duckweed. I gave up. It hurt my self confidence. But now I've regrouped. I'm four months into my new tank. I'm still not a journeyman, but I know what I like: nano planted tanks, shrimp, and nano fish. I especially like otos.

I might get some flak for this: I do not like snails. At all. Thanks Irene, for the alum dip video! You're one of the reasons I got back into the hobby. I know people say just feed less, but I had a snail explosion in a tank that had never even seen fish food; they were feasting on algae, diatoms, and all the things that I want to feed my otos and shrimp. So not only are the competing for bioload, they're competing for food. Just my personal opinion, and I respect all snail lovers. 

Here is a pic of my hardscape that I planned out for the tank, day 1, and the current product. Any questions, comments, or criticisms are welcome. Thanks everyone!

 

Edit: Oh yeah, Low tech, HoB Aquaclear 50, airstone, and fluval 3.0 planted light.

Edited April 28, 2021 by Nanotanks

[Isaac M]

Hi @Nanotanks, welcome back! Great looking aquarium, definitely looks like you regrouped well haha your confidence should be pretty high now! 

About the snails, we all have individual preferences and there is nothing wrong with that. You keep your aquarium the way you enjoy keeping it. 

Also, I will tag @xXInkedPhoenixX here given that you especially like otos. 

[Nanotanks]

Thanks so much!

 

I grew up catfishing with my grandpa, and otos are mini catfish. They hit the nano and the nostalgia hard for me. 

I plant cycled my tank, and the otos were the first in. I got 12, but even with a good local fish store and trying to get healthy ones, I still lost 4 over a week's time, as they did not eat the newly offered foods. The other eight, at 1/1/4" to 2" are the biggest fish in the tank. They are led by Princess Fathead, who I think I is a golden oto (afiinis), while the other are the more common oto (vittatus).

I did manage to get them to spawn! Unfortunately, I was not expecting it, so did not know where the eggs were located. Even seeing the fry was a surprise- I thought they were detritus worms! There are maybe a half dozen fry left. I took a decent photo of one today; at ~2weeks, it's about 3/4", but less than 1/4" wide. That's the last photo in the set: it's up against the glass.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 28, 2021 by Nanotanks

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

@Nanotanks indeed, hello! Thanks @Isaac M for leading me here. I too, am an Otocinclus fan, growing by the day. I'm also currentlly keeping (between 4 tanks) 10 Black Neons, 10 Harlequin Rasboras, 2 Cherry Shrimp, 2 Nerites and 3 Mystery Snails. I think too, I'm with you on the prolific breeder snails, though I tried to have the lovely fish keepers here try and convince me they are indeed NOT pests- but I've decided they were never invited to my tank to begin with, and despite dipping- they still made their way in. So I diligentlly "remove" them from existence in my tank day by everloving day. 

If you haven't come across it already you may want to see my Oto breeding thread- I never meant to breed but now I have 60+ babies and a 3rd generation coming into being. Which is leading me to think I need to make my tank with the parent Otos into a species only tank- or at least a vegetarian tank anyway. Ha! Your tank is lovely!

 

[Nanotanks]

@xXInkedPhoenixXpleased to meet you too. I had similar experiences. Even after dip and  one week quarantine, snails and parasites got by me. 

I was fortunate in that I plant cycled my new tank. In the strange way of things, I got both an infestation of white planaria and snails. I treated with No Planaria, and it got rid the snails, but most importantly, the parasites. Since I already had all my plants in the tank, and I rigorously quarantine, I haven't had snails since. And the next tank I start, I'm doing the same thing! After planting, I'm medicating the plants. After all, if you quarantine and medicate fish, why can't you do it with plants?

I keep tucanos and rubies along with my otos and CRS, because I want a  colorful community tank, but if I wanted to tank breed otos I would definitely make it a species only tank.

Cool guide!

[Eric R]

Welcome to the forum! Good looking hardscape, nice equipment list, and nice looking plants! I'm sure you'll do great. It's so neat seeing another person on the forum breed otos with relative ease! I hope this is the start of a new trend.