My Aquarium Journey by Hutch

[Its Hutch]

Osiyo nagada.

It's been nearly a year since starting up my new 75g tank. Now that I am really experimenting and attempting to learn by doing and less by knowledge transfer I am starting my own journal. Maybe someone else will find this information useful. 

I've gone through 3 phases in life of keeping fish. As a child, a teen/young adult and now finally a responsible adult. I killed many fish as a kid. I know now why but then I just thought thats how it worked. My parents didnt know better. As an older teen I kept 2 oscars. They started small in a 20g and as most of you know quickly out grew that tank. I upgraded to a 55g and had them for a while. Once they outgrew the 55 I knew I could no longer care for them I was living with a roommate and didnt have much money but I did love and care for them. I didnt know what I was doing but I learned a lot. I did clean their tank weekly but not because I knew I needed to, it was just dirty so i cleaned it. Luckily a friend of mines Uncle had a 125g tank and offered to take them. My roommate shattered my tank a week later and that was the last fish tank I kept. I decided years ago that I wanted to have an aquarium again but I wanted to do things right. However I have an autistic son and wasnt sure that he could handle having an aquarium in the house without him accidently causing chaos so I put it off. I did however start researching. Thats when I found Cory and the coop on youtube. At this point in time I had being doing research for awhile. The COOPs videos where like a breath of fresh air. Cory was doing things his own way. he didnt always agree with everything I read. I quickly ended up watching the majority of videos. I lurked for a long time. Then one day I caught a live stream live. I made a youtube account and said hello. The rest is history. I've been part of the community for a long time. Learning and researching. Helping others. I dont actually have a heavy online presence besides youtube. I dont have facebook. No twitter. No insta. I lurk reddit. This forum is the only other social media I use besides youtube and even here I dont spend much time. I have 2 sons now. My oldest is 6 and the younger is 3. My wife and I decided that we would try owning an aquarium and see how the boys handle it.

In December 2019 I bought a used 75g tank and stand.  The 75g needed resealed so basically I was buying a stand for 50 bucks. I thought I would reseal the tank EZ PZ and I would be good to go. After all I had watched multiple youtube videos on how to do it. WRONG. I will never attempt to reseal a tank again. Lesson learned. It was a mess. I'm a big clumsy dude as my wife likes to put it a "caveman". I got sealant everywhere. I had to throw a pair of pants away. But I got it resealed. I let it cure and filled it all the way and let is sit for 3 weeks before deeming it sealed correctly. I sold that tank for 50 bucks and got my money back for the stand. I then went and bought a brand new tank during a $1 per gallon sale. 

The empty tank sat on the stand in my living room for 4 months. My thought process was to let my kids get used to the idea of having a tank and learning they arent allowed to play around or mess with it while there was no life inside the tank. After the tank lost that new sparkle in their eye I washed some gravel and began to soak some drift wood. I put the gravel, driftwood and some rock in the tank and let that sit for a couple of weeks. The boys didnt care at all about the new change. I then ordered some plants from the COOP and filled it with water and began the cycle. I slowly added ammonia over the course of a couple of months to cycle the tank. The addition of water and plants made the tank new and exciting again in their eyes. I then began explaining in more detail that we would soon be adding fish to the tank and that they are responsible in helping dad make sure nothing bad happens to the tank. Only mom and dad are allowed to open the lids. Only mom and dad are allowed to say when to feed the fish. It worked. They understood and to this day havent ever tried to open the lids or put anything foreign inside of the tank. 

Once the tank was cycled we made a trip to the store. We dont have any LFS where I'm at in Oklahoma. Just the big box stores. Apparently the salt water community is huge here and there are multiple Saltwater specific stores around. We went and picked out 3 nerite snails. Gary, Larry and Jerry. A week after adding the snails, we bought a dozen ghost shrimp. We then went and got 4 tiger nerites. 2 weeks later my wife picked out a clown pleco she loved and  I setup a 10g quarantine tank (tank number 2). After the pleco made it thru quarantine we bought a betta. Atsadi is his name. I've posted pictures of him before. Then we added 7 otos. I lost 1 in quarantine. 23 harlequin Rasboras in groups of 6. I lost 1 of them as well. He was small and didnt make it thru quarantine. I expected to lose more otos because they are hard to transition but pulling out that little harlequin made me sad. And at long last I finally found 13 Corydoras Paleatus. This was well into Covid and finding fish wasnt the easiest. Everyone in the tank besides the snails and shrimp made it thru quarantine which included the med trio. You may be happy to know that everyone is still alive and well. The last time I counted shrimp I was up to 18 but in a planted 75g they arent the easiest to count. 

So next month, September, is when I added the first 3 snails and marks the tank 1 year old. In that year I can tell you 100% the most important thing I learned. Patience. Everything in your tank takes time. The cycle. The plants. The fish. Maintenance. You cant rush it along. You just need to give it time.

For Fathers day this year, my wife bought be a 20g Long stand. It also is able to support a 10g tank below as well. I am up to 4 tanks counting my Spongebob themed quarantine tank. MTS is real and the worst symptom is my empty wallet (lol). The 20g is cycled and has 3 nerite snails so far. The 10g is housing some plants and whisker shrimp. I am searching for the right fish to join the whisker shrimp and call this tank home. I havent decided on what fish to get but I think my wife has been eyeballing a few bettas. She will probably tell me which one she wants soon. Once I have all 3 tanks setup with all the fish I want I plan to allow my boys to pick out whatever fish to populate the Spongebob tank. 

That is the backstory and I will now be moving on to projects and random thoughts.  

Edited August 7, 2021 by Its Hutch
Multiple typing mistakes/spelling errors.

[Its Hutch]

The below is a post I made on July 16th in a different thread. I am moving it here and deleting the old thread.

I purchased and have been feeding Repashy Community+ and my Corydoras Paleatus (Peppered Cories) have laid eggs twice in the last month. The first batch of eggs was smaller so I decided to leave them in the tank and see what happens. Well they didn't last the night and were all eaten by morning. The second batch of eggs I rolled approx. 75 eggs off the glass and into a breeder box. I left the breeder box in the same tank. Over the next 3 days, the eggs had all fungused. I waited till day 6 to toss them just in case. None survived. That was last week.

I plan on pulling the next batch again but this time pulling them out of the tank into a specimen container with an air stone and methylene blue. I have Sera Micron and have ordered the Ziss BBS hatchery to hatch BBS if I ever have fry. 

[Its Hutch]

Currently (8/7/21) on my third attempt to pull eggs and hatch fry. I have successfully hatched 11 cory babies. We are on day 8 and everyone is still alive. I've been doing a large daily water change and feeding Sera Micron twice a day. I am unsure when they will be big enough to start eating live BBS. I plan on moving them to a 10g by themselves in the next few days. They are still very small. 

The 3rd time collecting eggs I put the eggs in the new COOP specimen container with some floating water sprite and an air stone.. I added 1 drop of methylene blue on days 1 2 and 3 after doing a daily water change. I had pulled approx. 50 eggs. Next time I am going to add methylene blue each day for 5 days and see if that increases the hatch rate.

I've also been fattening up and giving my harlequin rasboras time to mature and grow. I believe they are full size now and have been seeing breeding behavior but no eggs yet. I read online they normally breed in softer acidic water which is the exact opposite of what I have. Hopefully they will lay eggs one day. I dont plan on attempting to pull them just going to let nature do its thing. 

I am planning on attempting to breed super red bristle nose plecos soon as well. I dont have any yet.

[GameCzar]

Sounds like great projects.  Good luck!  Share baby pics when you can 😉

[Its Hutch]

On 8/7/2021 at 11:40 AM, GameCzar said:

Sounds like great projects.  Good luck!  Share baby pics when you can 😉

I will ask my wife to take pictures. I am a terrible picture taker. But I realize now I probably should have been taking pictures the whole way. From eggs to wiggler to free swimming. Will update soon with pics.

[Its Hutch]

Here is the gif i have uploaded before of Atsadi. (Ah-cha-dee) which means fish in Cherokee.

[Torrey]

On 8/7/2021 at 10:44 AM, Its Hutch said:

Here is the gif i have uploaded before of Atsadi. (Ah-cha-dee) which means fish in Cherokee.

You speak Tsalagi?

 

Atsadi is a gorgeous boy!!!

All of my kids have 'autistic traits'

The youngest was officially disabled by age 6 due to autism and the struggle to self-regulate in a world that wasn't sensory friendly was real. Your kids have an awesome dad who understands their needs. That is a kindness.

 

I look forward to following your journey back into fish keeping. 

[Taco Playz]

On 8/7/2021 at 12:44 PM, Its Hutch said:

Here is the gif i have uploaded before of Atsadi. (Ah-cha-dee) which means fish in Cherokee.

Love that betta. How much was it?

[Its Hutch]

On 8/8/2021 at 1:02 AM, Torrey said:

You speak Tsalagi?

 

Atsadi is a gorgeous boy!!!

All of my kids have 'autistic traits'

The youngest was officially disabled by age 6 due to autism and the struggle to self-regulate in a world that wasn't sensory friendly was real. Your kids have an awesome dad who understands their needs. That is a kindness.

 

I look forward to following your journey back into fish keeping. 

I know some basic words but am currently taking class to learn the language. My family is Tsalagi but nobody speaks the language anymore. I am attempting to learn so I can one day pass the culture and traditions on to my boys.

It is a struggle for me sometimes. My wife is the one who has really helped me to understand their needs. Thank you for the kind words. I love them and they love me.

I am going to do my best to keep updating regularly. Thanks for the support.

[Its Hutch]

On 8/8/2021 at 7:48 AM, Taco Playz said:

Love that betta. How much was it?

He was 8.99 at a big box store. He is huge and I think he is a king betta but wasnt labeled as one. He was just a little pink thing when I got him. I will try to find the pictures I took day 1.

[Taco Playz]

That’s a amazing price. 🤑

[Torrey]

@Its Hutch there is finally a resurgence in language. 

I relocated from Tuscarora lands to Tiwa and N'de lands.

Unfortunately, I had a TIA in February, and I am still relearning English. Some words from other languages I knew come back to me, but I don't always get word + meaning to match up. Typing I can at least proofread. 

Talking is frequently a word salad🤣

 

It's good to see so many people reclaiming heritage and community. It gives me hope my grandkids will experience a better world.

[Its Hutch]

Moved the baby cories to a cycled 10g by themselves. Forgot to take pictures beforehand so it will be harder now. However I did order a macro lens for my phone so we will see if that helps. Also bought some Panda Garras for the 20 long going thru quarantine now. 

I made a new batch of repashy last night and mixed in some blood worms while it was cooling. Excited to see if the big cories like it even better now. 

[Its Hutch]

Here are the glow up pictures of Atsadi. These pictures were taken in March.  These were taken in the quarantine tank post med-trio 2 to 3 weeks after bringing him home. I guess I deleted the original pictures I took on day 1 or cant find where I stored them. He had already colored up so much at this point. I had a feeling he was going to be big and beautiful one day.

[Lemon]

On 8/7/2021 at 11:44 AM, Its Hutch said:

Here is the gif i have uploaded before of Atsadi. (Ah-cha-dee) which means fish in Cherokee.

he is so pretty! 

[Its Hutch]

Took some practice shots with the new Macro lens. I think I need a tripod now.

 

[Its Hutch]

[Its Hutch]

[Its Hutch]

Forgot to update on the baby cories because its a sad update. Got home from work Sunday night to see they had all died. Not sure what happened but I suspect I moved them to early into the 10g tank. The water parameters tested fine but I just don't think they were strong enough yet for the move. An unfortunate way to learn but necessary I guess. Next time I will wait till they are larger and stronger.

[ChemBob]

Sorry about the cory babies. It's a learning process for sure. 

Your pictures look great! I'm going to have to look into a macro lens one of these days, especially if you keep posting such awesome pictures. 

[Its Hutch]

On 8/17/2021 at 9:02 PM, ChemBob said:

Sorry about the cory babies. It's a learning process for sure. 

Your pictures look great! I'm going to have to look into a macro lens one of these days, especially if you keep posting such awesome pictures. 

Thanks for the compliment. I got a cheap 3 pack of lenses on Amazon for like 14 bucks. The fish eye and macro are great the 3rd is just a wider frame which I haven't found much use for yet. 

I am hoping for better luck with the next batch of eggs. There's a few currently in the tank but not enough to pull yet in my opinion. I'm hoping a few more females will lay in the next couple of days. 

 

[Its Hutch]

I have a devastating update. I got home from work Sunday night to Atsadi laying motionless on the bottom of the tank. I have no idea what happened. My wife doesn't feed while I'm at work. He looked bloated but I have no idea how long he had been laying there. I know he was still swimming Saturday night before bed and looked normal. No noticeable marks or discoloration on his body. Water parameters were 0 0 approx 25 to 30 nitrates. Everyone else seems to be doing fine and there were even Cory eggs on the glass. I did a large 75% water change Monday morning to be safe. Heartbroken. My first loss outside of quarantine. Swim In Peace Atsadi. 

[Its Hutch]

I pulled the Cory eggs mentioned above in the last post. I put them in a speciman container with some methylene blue and an air stone. I did a water change this morning on their container and counted 21 fry already hatched and squirming around. It took me a couple of days to make the last update cuz I was sad but with death comes life. Hopefully I can do these fry better than the previous and raise them all till they're big enough to find a new home. Will attempt to take pictures today but they are tiny.

[Guppysnail]

I’m sorry for your loss of Atsadi he was beautiful.  I have also moved fry too soon it is definitely a learning thing. 

[Its Hutch]

Thanks guppysnail.