The Fish-Apartment Journal

[MAC]

I'll start this off by simply stating I have no idea what I'm doing. I have packed a two bedroom apartment with more aquariums that most people would consider reasonable. The story of how this all came to be may eventually get unpacked little by little going forward but the rundown is this: I left a job and lifestyle that kept me away from home for prolonged periods of time, I found myself with an unfamiliar amount of free time, and I moved in with a girlfriend who has no problem with fish tanks completely taking over every room. From there, things just kept going farther and farther down the fish keeping rabbithole. One tank turned into two, two into four, and four into concrete blocks and 2x4 racks across two walls of a bedroom. Its been insane. 

I decided the next evolution in this hobby would be to actually interact with other fish keepers. Aside from the occasional YouTube comment, I do not engage with any other hobbyists. This is my first foray and hopefully when things in the world are a big less complicated with social interaction I would be up for driving a few hours a month to join a local club, but for now, this will do. 

So, what is this Journal? Basically I am going to go around the apartment and feature a tank at a time. Talk about that tank, its story, what I've learned from it, its inhabitants and any other thing that comes to mind. Like I said in the beginning, I have no idea what I'm doing. This is going to a real life look into whats going on with these aquariums. I am going to likely have some things people think are good ideas, and I imagine some folks with look at a tank and wonder what was I thinking.  Cool. I want to get better at this. Eventually, someday, maybe, we can ditch the apartment and find a house and really get crazy about this stuff. There is alot out there I want to keep. Endless projects I want to pursue. Lets see how this goes.  

[MAC]

So, the first tank, bear with me as work out a way to discuss these things in any sort of sensible order.  I imagine every week I'll do a tank? I dont know, we'll see. 

The first tank I'll share is the centerpiece tank in the living room. The Plat Fatties tank. So named because it houses the hungries platy fish you can imagine. There is a TV in the corner by the tank and the fish swarm over to beg for food from the people on television. More on them later.

The tank is a 40g breeder. Numerous yellow/red platys, a red lyre swordtail, three Praecox rainbows, a Melanotaenia Splendida inornata, a reticulated siamese algae eater (Crossocheilus reticualtus), a female betta, and a steatocranus tananti who was getting bullied in another tank and had to go somewhere. The rainbows are fairly new additions to the fish collection and I am really looking forward to adding more. Reticulated SAE are super underrated algae eaters, I dont think they get mentioned enough.  

I am finally enjoying this tank again. For quite some time this tank was way, and I mean way overstocked. The platys were some of the first fish we had gotten two years ago. When I was a kid I had livebearers at various times so I thought a good community tank starter fish would be some platys for a newly acquired 20 gallon long. We started with four that were yellow with red fins but soon picked out a few blue ones to add some mixing colors. It was nice little tank and almost immediately we were spotting the first small fry.  Anyone see where this story is going?

For a while it was great. I think watching baby fish born in the tank and grow up was a big part in getting my girlfriend hooked in the hobby but it was also a double edge sword. We were getting a bit too many fish and discussions about rehoming some or getting something to manage fry population was rejected and instead it was suggested we just upgrade them to a bigger tank. Was I going to say no to getting a bigger tank? No I was not. But here's the thing about upgrading your livebearer population to a bigger tank; you don't resolve the issue of overpopulation, you only delay it. Fast forwarding a year or so and the platys had their own 40 gallon breeder, population out of control, a whole mashup of color variations going on and now we were getting fish with obvious deformities like crooked spines. Whenever I looked at the tank I could only think about how out of control the situation had gotten. What to do?

There was a number of options to reduce the platy population. Aside from just upgrading them to a bigger tank, I instead settled on the second most irresponsible option; I just split the population between other tanks. Because thats not something I'll have to address later on down the road... But anyway, every platy that wasn't the yellow and red variety was removed from the tank, a significant reduction in population.  I planted a few more fast growing stem plants and the pothos really got established helping with maintaining good water quality. A few other fish made their way into the tank here and there and seemed to check the platy fry population enough to keep things in order. 

To wrap this up I do want to say that platys, in my opinion, are one of the best fish in this hobby. Ours are super fun little water pigs that think every time you are remotely near they are going to get fed. A great fish to introduce someone new to keeping fish especially if you want to experience baby fish in the tank. 

Thanks for checking this out. 

 

 

[BlackLabelCarling]

What a cool idea! Although I have a feeling your gf does not understand what she has done by giving you a free pass! 🤣

I may have to follow behind you with my ever growing apartment fish room. It's amazing how many more tanks one can fit even when it looks like there is no more space! Can't wait to learn about your tanks!  

[Alexa]

Gorgeous tank! Also “plat fatties” is an amazing term. 😆

I can’t wait to see what else you have.

[JimmyGimbal]

😞 Stuck with an apartment here too, but with a 5 gallon max limit.

[TheDukeAnumber1]

52 minutes ago, JimmyGimbal said:

😞 Stuck with an apartment here too, but with a 5 gallon max limit.

Can you have several 5 gallons or is it 5 gallons total? That is such a bummer I was looking forward to seeing what you would setup after the move.

[JimmyGimbal]

I can have serveral 5 gallons. Still a bummer, otherwise I'd get a 40B like the op. 🙂

[Steph’s Fish and Plants]

This reminds me a lot of my own intro to the hobby. Wasn’t exactly my first “tank” but it was the most normal tank I had as a kid. I was 12 and didn’t know anything about the nitrogen cycle or pretty much anything else. I had a HOB with cartridges and an undergravel filter, and a lot of help from my dad who hadn’t kept fish since he was a kid. So, long story short wasn’t the best tank setup ever. BUT, when I got 1 Platy at petsmart that happened to be a pregnant female, my passion for the hobby was sealed. Finding new babies every month was my favorite thing to do, and I’ve been jonesing ever since to get back into livebearers. Fast forward to my 20s now, I’m wanting to get some guppies and have that same excitement again, but I am struggling with figuring out my long term solutions for overpopulation. I’m so excited to check out the rest of your tanks, thank you for the reminder of what got me into this great hobby in the first place 😁

[MAC]

On 10/2/2020 at 11:06 AM, Steph’s Fish and Plants said:

This reminds me a lot of my own intro to the hobby. Wasn’t exactly my first “tank” but it was the most normal tank I had as a kid. I was 12 and didn’t know anything about the nitrogen cycle or pretty much anything else. I had a HOB with cartridges and an undergravel filter, and a lot of help from my dad who hadn’t kept fish since he was a kid. So, long story short wasn’t the best tank setup ever. BUT, when I got 1 Platy at petsmart that happened to be a pregnant female, my passion for the hobby was sealed. Finding new babies every month was my favorite thing to do, and I’ve been jonesing ever since to get back into livebearers. Fast forward to my 20s now, I’m wanting to get some guppies and have that same excitement again, but I am struggling with figuring out my long term solutions for overpopulation. I’m so excited to check out the rest of your tanks, thank you for the reminder of what got me into this great hobby in the first place 😁

Live-bearers are great. I'd like to get into some of the more exotic/rare--and sometimes less prolific ones soon!

[MAC]

On 10/1/2020 at 7:56 PM, JimmyGimbal said:

😞 Stuck with an apartment here too, but with a 5 gallon max limit.

That's rough. Apartments are the worst.

I'm always in the back of my mind concerned something will break, leak, or change and the landlord will lay the smackdown. 

[Sleepy]

I have 13 tanks close to 500 gallons in a one bedroom apartment 😲 I know the feelings! Thankfully I'm on the first floor but I'm inspired by this and just realizing this part of the forum is here so I may just put my setups on here as well.

 

ps. Like the first tank so far 👍

[MAC]

@Sleepy 500 gallons in a one bedroom sounds like quite the fit, man! It would be interesting to see how you do it. I know how quickly space gets taken up and having to get creative on placement can make for some interesting looking setups. 

[Sleepy]

48 minutes ago, MAC said:

@Sleepy 500 gallons in a one bedroom sounds like quite the fit, man! It would be interesting to see how you do it. I know how quickly space gets taken up and having to get creative on placement can make for some interesting looking setups. 

This is my dining room for starters lol!!! Then I have a 55 gallon in the living room and in my bedroom I have two 40's stacked like the ones in the pic then 2 20's in each corner. Thats just the ones that are in use right now I have 3 7.5's and 4 14 gallon cubes waiting to get setup the MTS is real LOL!

[MAC]

Week #2 so its time to show tank #2, but first a mention about how many great looking aquariums I've seen on the forum this past week. I've always enjoyed seeing what other people are doing and the species they are keeping and it motivates me to think about and try new things. The skill level from some of you is quite impressive and for that I have decided to showcase the complete opposite today. 

I've always liked mountain streams and the recreated look inside an aquarium has always been something I've wanted to achieve. While I can certainly appreciate the dedication and skill of the carefully aquascaped and brilliantly planted high-tech setups, I am much more of a scatter rocks and lay in some random driftwood type. One of my favorite Aquarium Co-Op products was the bag of Spider Wood Nano Twigs. Remember those!? I would take a few and simply toss them in a tanks to let them soak, sink, and lay wherever they fell. The look would achieve for me a more naturally looking display than any arrangement I would try to piece together. I still like this method of aquascaping and have a 20 long where I am doing a similar thing with collected wood, leaves, and small cones to be shown another day. 

But todays tank is one of my favorites for its sheer simplicity.  The aquarium is 30 gallons measuring 36" x 13" x 16" and this size has become one of my favorites to utilize in the apartment because of the ease of fitting it underneath a cinderblock and 2x4 rack. The 36" length fits perfectly between the columns on either side and the width is within the dimensions of the blocks as well. Its just too perfect. The fact that I've found three tanks with these dimensions on my local craigslist in a short period of time has been a severe enabling of my multi tank syndrome. 

From craiglist, the tank came with a sad 24" t8 bulb an Aqueon 30 hob and a terrible blue background. The set up was super simple and was gathered from scratch aquarium decor laying around; some pool filter sand mixed with pea gravel mixed with aragonite scattered in with some eco-complete, locally collected river rocks and a piece of driftwood also found locally and I added an airstone. My idea for scaping the tank came from what I have seen in nature, an area of flowing water with a collection of rock snagged up on a root or piece of wood creating a sort of eddy or sandy area on the leeward side. Ideally I want to create this in something like a 33gallon long but the 36" will work for now. Stocking the tank was with fish I already had on hand and I thought would fit in naturally with the scape. There are about 20 White Cloud Minnows and 4 Characidium fasciatum in right now. I'm rolling around ideas for a centerpiece fish or something more to add. I'd love to hear any suggestions. I have two wild type swordtails in quarantine that may round out the stocking here soon. The tank is unheated but the room will not drop much below 70f at night during the winter.

 Sorry about the glare and poor picture quality. The aquarium photography aspect was not something I had thought about when starting this. Crummy cell phone pics will have to do. 

Anyways, a bit about simple, basic fish in a simple basic set up. I'm a big fan. It reminds me of what I could imagine seeing if I out and peered into a section of a nearby mountain river. While definitely not the most colorful of fish the Characidium or "darter tetra" should get more consideration. These little dudes are super active, always scooting around and exploring cracks and crevasses and playing in the current. I'd be interested to hear what you think of this style, what are some of the perhaps less showy fish that never fail to capture your attention, or what would you put in this tank or something similar. 

Once again, thanks for looking.  

 

[MAC]

@Sleepy whoa man! You are blowing me out of the water with the sharpness of that set up. Looks great. The tanks and stands look crisp, most of my stuff is ciderblocks, 2x4s and yardsale furniture haha! 

[Lee Miller]

1 hour ago, MAC said:

Week #2 so its time to show tank #2, but first a mention about how many great looking aquariums I've seen on the forum this past week. I've always enjoyed seeing what other people are doing and the species they are keeping and it motivates me to think about and try new things. The skill level from some of you is quite impressive and for that I have decided to showcase the complete opposite today. 

I've always liked mountain streams and the recreated look inside an aquarium has always been something I've wanted to achieve. While I can certainly appreciate the dedication and skill of the carefully aquascaped and brilliantly planted high-tech setups, I am much more of a scatter rocks and lay in some random driftwood type. One of my favorite Aquarium Co-Op products was the bag of Spider Wood Nano Twigs. Remember those!? I would take a few and simply toss them in a tanks to let them soak, sink, and lay wherever they fell. The look would achieve for me a more naturally looking display than any arrangement I would try to piece together. I still like this method of aquascaping and have a 20 long where I am doing a similar thing with collected wood, leaves, and small cones to be shown another day. 

But todays tank is one of my favorites for its sheer simplicity.  The aquarium is 30 gallons measuring 36" x 13" x 16" and this size has become one of my favorites to utilize in the apartment because of the ease of fitting it underneath a cinderblock and 2x4 rack. The 36" length fits perfectly between the columns on either side and the width is within the dimensions of the blocks as well. Its just too perfect. The fact that I've found three tanks with these dimensions on my local craigslist in a short period of time has been a severe enabling of my multi tank syndrome. 

From craiglist, the tank came with a sad 24" t8 bulb an Aqueon 30 hob and a terrible blue background. The set up was super simple and was gathered from scratch aquarium decor laying around; some pool filter sand mixed with pea gravel mixed with aragonite scattered in with some eco-complete, locally collected river rocks and a piece of driftwood also found locally and I added an airstone. My idea for scaping the tank came from what I have seen in nature, an area of flowing water with a collection of rock snagged up on a root or piece of wood creating a sort of eddy or sandy area on the leeward side. Ideally I want to create this in something like a 33gallon long but the 36" will work for now. Stocking the tank was with fish I already had on hand and I thought would fit in naturally with the scape. There are about 20 White Cloud Minnows and 4 Characidium fasciatum in right now. I'm rolling around ideas for a centerpiece fish or something more to add. I'd love to hear any suggestions. I have two wild type swordtails in quarantine that may round out the stocking here soon. The tank is unheated but the room will not drop much below 70f at night during the winter.

 Sorry about the glare and poor picture quality. The aquarium photography aspect was not something I had thought about when starting this. Crummy cell phone pics will have to do. 

Anyways, a bit about simple, basic fish in a simple basic set up. I'm a big fan. It reminds me of what I could imagine seeing if I out and peered into a section of a nearby mountain river. While definitely not the most colorful of fish the Characidium or "darter tetra" should get more consideration. These little dudes are super active, always scooting around and exploring cracks and crevasses and playing in the current. I'd be interested to hear what you think of this style, what are some of the perhaps less showy fish that never fail to capture your attention, or what would you put in this tank or something similar. 

Once again, thanks for looking.  

 

I love everything about this thread. I don’t think the pictures are too bad. 

Your comment reminded me of a video of Jimmy that I remember watching about taking  pictures of your fish. I’m pretty sure he talks about taking them with a cell phone.

enjoy!

[Sleepy]

1 hour ago, MAC said:

@Sleepy whoa man! You are blowing me out of the water with the sharpness of that set up. Looks great. The tanks and stands look crisp, most of my stuff is ciderblocks, 2x4s and yardsale furniture haha! 

Thanks! I'm pretty sure mine costed a lot more time and money though LOL! I love the natural looks of your tanks and fish choices!

[MAC]

Week 3. The Dark Tank

Have you ever set up a tank, sat back and watch it settle in and mature only to enjoy that tank enough to not even bother putting fish into it? This is that tank and, after months of establishing, it may finally get some permanent inhabitants.

Thanks to those who check out this journal and commented on the tanks so far. I wanted to share this week a tank that has quietly become my favorite to watch develop, but also sat empty due to me not being able to settle on inhabitants. I don't know about everyone, but what I typically do is I see a fish, decide I want that fish and, if unaware of the fishes needs, do some research to whether or not that fish is something I can likely keep alive and thriving and then to create the environment for that success. For this tank though, it was a bit in reverse. I had a space to fit a 20 gallon long, not far off the ground underneath two 10 gallons below a window. The afternoon light would come almost straight down into it on a sunny day and I thought it would be the perfect spot to do a sort of "blackwater" sticks and leaf litter setup. The tannin stained look I had seen pictures of across the internet really inspired me to do something similar but I hadn't really set aside a tank to try it, until now. As I mentioned last week I have a thing for making my tanks feel natural and, lets be honest, it can be much less work to maintain a more 'natural' look than the finely tuned scapes.  As you can see by the ciderblocks and hightech cord, airline and light arrangement, I'm all about throw together style so I grabbed what was laying around and went for it.  

The aquarium came off of craigslist with a small gravel and white sand substrate that I thought would fit in perfect with the setup and being a tank I wasnt going to try and grow alot of plants from the substrate I would just keep as it was and not try to fill more in or mix and match. I started with a large branch like piece of wood I had collected to dominate one third of the tank, tossed in a few other random sticks and twigs--some of which were already waterlogged and some took some times to sink, some still partially floating--and scattered alder cones and dried leaves around with some floating water sprite and dwarf water lettus...lectus...water lettuce. I had to look up how to spell lettuce. Anyway, I dropped in a few cuttings of bacopa to see what they did and some small portions of java moss and a tiny bit of java fern windelov before adding an amazon sword that had pretty much died off in another tank to try and resurrect by throwing it in a pot. There is another plant which I think is an anacharis of some type that started as a small piece from one of the outdoor totes and has since really taken off. I did toss in a small heater and a sponge filter and found a clip on desk light with a soft yellow bulb to have on a few hours in the evening. And thats it. 

And there it sits. I inevitable ended up with some snails due to moving the plants into it and have a young betta in there at the moment to cruise around and heal up a nipped fin but the tank is otherwise empty. I know, technically, its not a true "blackwater" setup, the ph is still around neutral, but I am loving the look. This is what I wanted. The amount of time I sit and peer into this virtually empty tank you would think I had some reclusive oddity in there I was constantly searching out to observe. But its just an empty tank with some dead tree parts and decaying leaf litter. And it is an interesting realization that the hobby can flow both ways in creating these mini ecosystems. Sometimes you want a fish and cater the setting for it, another time you want to create the setting and the fish can be part of it later. Both I think can be equally satisfying and rewarding. 

It just so happens that at the end of the week I may be traveling to a location with a variety of local fish stores and have been considering the possibility of stocking the Dark Tank. One of the delays in decided on a fish to occupy the tank was coming up with a candidate that would fit in with the look and be unique. The betta will most likely be housed somewhere else. In the future this setup would be something I would love to do licorice gouramis in, but I'm not sure if now is the time. We'll see, maybe the tank remains as is for the time until something really strikes me, who knows? One of my favorite things about this forum is how much collective fish knowledge and experience is here. Feel free to shout out your favorite "blackwater" species for me to consider or I'd like to see your own "dark tank" setups. Thanks for looking!

 

[Steph’s Fish and Plants]

On 10/8/2020 at 3:15 PM, Sleepy said:

This is my dining room for starters lol!!! Then I have a 55 gallon in the living room and in my bedroom I have two 40's stacked like the ones in the pic then 2 20's in each corner. Thats just the ones that are in use right now I have 3 7.5's and 4 14 gallon cubes waiting to get setup the MTS is real LOL!

My girlfriend would never let me do this 😂😂😂 but I will dream

[Kriskm]

On 10/12/2020 at 4:04 PM, MAC said:

Week 3. The Dark Tank

Have you ever set up a tank, sat back and watch it settle in and mature only to enjoy that tank enough to not even bother putting fish into it? This is that tank and, after months of establishing, it may finally get some permanent inhabitants.

Thanks to those who check out this journal and commented on the tanks so far. I wanted to share this week a tank that has quietly become my favorite to watch develop, but also sat empty due to me not being able to settle on inhabitants. I don't know about everyone, but what I typically do is I see a fish, decide I want that fish and, if unaware of the fishes needs, do some research to whether or not that fish is something I can likely keep alive and thriving and then to create the environment for that success. For this tank though, it was a bit in reverse. I had a space to fit a 20 gallon long, not far off the ground underneath two 10 gallons below a window. The afternoon light would come almost straight down into it on a sunny day and I thought it would be the perfect spot to do a sort of "blackwater" sticks and leaf litter setup. The tannin stained look I had seen pictures of across the internet really inspired me to do something similar but I hadn't really set aside a tank to try it, until now. As I mentioned last week I have a thing for making my tanks feel natural and, lets be honest, it can be much less work to maintain a more 'natural' look than the finely tuned scapes.  As you can see by the ciderblocks and hightech cord, airline and light arrangement, I'm all about throw together style so I grabbed what was laying around and went for it.  

The aquarium came off of craigslist with a small gravel and white sand substrate that I thought would fit in perfect with the setup and being a tank I wasnt going to try and grow alot of plants from the substrate I would just keep as it was and not try to fill more in or mix and match. I started with a large branch like piece of wood I had collected to dominate one third of the tank, tossed in a few other random sticks and twigs--some of which were already waterlogged and some took some times to sink, some still partially floating--and scattered alder cones and dried leaves around with some floating water sprite and dwarf water lettus...lectus...water lettuce. I had to look up how to spell lettuce. Anyway, I dropped in a few cuttings of bacopa to see what they did and some small portions of java moss and a tiny bit of java fern windelov before adding an amazon sword that had pretty much died off in another tank to try and resurrect by throwing it in a pot. There is another plant which I think is an anacharis of some type that started as a small piece from one of the outdoor totes and has since really taken off. I did toss in a small heater and a sponge filter and found a clip on desk light with a soft yellow bulb to have on a few hours in the evening. And thats it. 

And there it sits. I inevitable ended up with some snails due to moving the plants into it and have a young betta in there at the moment to cruise around and heal up a nipped fin but the tank is otherwise empty. I know, technically, its not a true "blackwater" setup, the ph is still around neutral, but I am loving the look. This is what I wanted. The amount of time I sit and peer into this virtually empty tank you would think I had some reclusive oddity in there I was constantly searching out to observe. But its just an empty tank with some dead tree parts and decaying leaf litter. And it is an interesting realization that the hobby can flow both ways in creating these mini ecosystems. Sometimes you want a fish and cater the setting for it, another time you want to create the setting and the fish can be part of it later. Both I think can be equally satisfying and rewarding. 

It just so happens that at the end of the week I may be traveling to a location with a variety of local fish stores and have been considering the possibility of stocking the Dark Tank. One of the delays in decided on a fish to occupy the tank was coming up with a candidate that would fit in with the look and be unique. The betta will most likely be housed somewhere else. In the future this setup would be something I would love to do licorice gouramis in, but I'm not sure if now is the time. We'll see, maybe the tank remains as is for the time until something really strikes me, who knows? One of my favorite things about this forum is how much collective fish knowledge and experience is here. Feel free to shout out your favorite "blackwater" species for me to consider or I'd like to see your own "dark tank" setups. Thanks for looking!

 

I love both this tank and the previous rocks and sticks aquarium. I think they both achieve what you set out to do--copy a little slice of nature. I look forward to seeing what you end up with in here. I'm considering a similar arrangement in a 20 long to breed corydoras, plus a dither to keep them happy.

[MickS77]

My first blackwater tank, I can't imagine setting another tank without leaves and other botanicals. 

[MAC]

8 hours ago, Kriskm said:

I love both this tank and the previous rocks and sticks aquarium. I think they both achieve what you set out to do--copy a little slice of nature. I look forward to seeing what you end up with in here. I'm considering a similar arrangement in a 20 long to breed corydoras, plus a dither to keep them happy.

Thanks! A group of corydoras and green neons is one of the options I'm thinking about. One of these days I'll make a decision and put some fish in there!

[MAC]

8 hours ago, MickS77 said:

My first blackwater tank, I can't imagine setting another tank without leaves and other botanicals. 

That is outstanding! I really like the large branches . I'm definitely going to do more and go bigger with blackwater in the future. 

[MAC]

Alrighty, I'm back. Big moves happening in the Apartment-Fish Room and I have been all over the place recently. I'm going to start by stating that apartment living has giving me two distinct perspectives on keeping aquariums. On one hand, at least for me, the apartment is not a permanent living arrangement and underneath everything built, grown, and improved upon here will someday--hopefully sooner than later--get packed up and moved to somewhere else. That reality tempers some ambitions to start projects or tanks and within the limiting space and, shall we call it 'freedom of alteration' available to a renter and many things I would like to do will have to wait. I long for the day I can confidently build a tank knowing that I can allow it to mature and grow in for years. On the other side of the coin, however, is the opposite state of mind; if its all temporary anyway, it can be tried, failed, learned from, broken down and tried again. Nothing here is forever so there's no reason to get overly attached to one tank looking a certain way or disheartened when a scape has to be taken down. 

Over the course of a few long days I have broken down and moved nearly half of the tanks to relocate into other arrangements and to accommodate new furniture. Long story short, a few heirloom furniture items made their way down to us and we needed to make room for them and the only way everything could fit was to completely switch out the bedroom with the home office/ storage room. That meant that every tank in either room got drained, moved, shifted, reset up all that fun stuff. I am the Petco purchased Oscar who has outgrown his tank. Want to make alot of money? Go buy a nice chunk of land and put up storage units. Between my girlfriend and myself we have so much "stuff" in this apartment it really is quite comical in the fact that we have upwards to 25 aquariums scattered about. We wear our Nerm badges proudly and I am a furniture Tetris Grand Master. 

So its been a big reset and I'm liking the way things will hopefully go from here. I have a few 33 gallon long tanks in another state that will hopefully find their way to me soon and now I have some places set aside for those as well in addition to a few 20 gallon tanks now empty that we can do something fun with. The living room tanks have remained relatively untouched so as things settle back in with the back room tanks I can still show a few that have gone undisturbed. 

I've heard mention of people living in apartments who have to deal with tank size limitations so I figured I'd show what I have done with a quaint 5 gallon tank situated on the bar between the kitchen and living room. The setup is very simple, a rock pile in the back and planted with pearl weed, hair algae, and a few floaters on a sandy substrate. In the tank is what has become of a pair of cherry shrimp I separated from the ten I had gotten locally from someone to try and start my own colony. They have done surprisingly well compared to the other eight which occupy their own ten gallon in another room, and the little 5 gallon now has a decent population of shrimp. The fish are neon blue rasboras (Sundadanio Axelrodi) and once they settled in and colored up have proven to be an absolutely stunning little fish contrasted with the green of the plants and red of the shrimp. The pictures, obviously, do no justice to these fish but if you are familiar with this species you know how much color they have. I was a bit concerned with the water parameters between the shrimp and rasboras but both seem to be doing fine at around 7 ph and gh round 4 everyone seems to be doing well. 

Thats it for this addition. Thanks for looking. 

[MAC]

The grand reshuffle is nearly complete. Out of roughly 30 tanks all but 5 or so have needed to be moved at some point this month. The official office is now also absorbed into the home so we had to get real creative with tank placement. 

Hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving. Im thankful that all major moving projects are done and I can let my tanks settle back in and enjoy them. Lots of new fish possibilities as some fish got combined in other tanks. 

Here's a peak into the tank that restarted this whole obsession, it's an Aqueon Ascent 10 gallon. These tanks are really over priced and there's no way I would go this route again. The lights burned out in about a year and we're pretty poor to begin with. It currently has some stem plants, dwarf frogs, mystery snails, and some crypt affinis I've been patiently waiting to take off. There's a thin layer of organic dirt capped with a pool filter sand and aragonite mix and lit with an Aqueon clip light. I will say, that after significant hesitation on getting dwarf frogs they have turned out to be quite entertaining. This tank was easy to move around during the shuffle and has found it's home tucked under a kitchen cabinet perfectly placed for frog viewing while prepping dinner. Simple and not flashy, may think about fish to put in but happy with it as is. 

Thanks for looking!