My Official Journal

[Native Keeper]

Hi everyone! 

I finally got my phone repaired, so I can finally provide photos and start this journal!

Today I'll just give yall introductions on my current aquariums:

1. 10-gallon Gambusia affinis tank.

This tank is only a couple months old. It holds 10 Gambusia affinis (1 certified male, 9 females/unsexed individuals) and Physella acuta that were introduced intentionally. When the tank was originally set up, there was also a species of Astacoidea, though this specimen quickly outgrew the tank and was moved to the 75 native tank, as well as what appeared the larva stage of some species of Anisoptera, though this dissapeared at some point. There was also what was likely a Lithobates clamitans tadpole, though this died after a week of introduction, likely not handling the change well. Originally, native plants of unknown classification were added, but it seems the tadpole had eaten all of them. After the rescape of my 15-gallon Fluval Flex, we had lots of leftover plants, believed to be Cryptocoryne. Some of these plants were introduced into the 10 gallon as an experiment to see if they could handle room temperature water. As of now, these plants have shown no signs of dying, tho I suspect that they are lacking certain minerals due to abnormal coloring of newer leaves. 

2. 5-gallon fry tank.

This tank originally was a temporary home of a male Plakat Betta splendens. Its recent purpose is to be a grow up tank for fish fry, mainly Gambusia affinis fry. Currently it is only home to some Physella acuta. There was also a colony Palaemonetes, but they slowly died out, which has led me to believe I'm simply not ready to keep shrimp just yet. The presumed Cryptocoryne was also addded here, but their growth was expected in this tank, since it does contain a heater. On the left is what was originally bought as a water dish for my Anaxyrus fowleri, but was repurposed as a place for shrimp food, making leftovers easier to clean.

3. 10-gallon quarantine tank

This tank acts as a quarantine tank. Currently there is some sand in there, there used to be more, but I planned to take it out soon, as well as the decorations you see. The crocodile skull, as well as the black and white sand, is planned to be used in a 5 gallon I'm requiring soon, and I have yet to find a place for the skull cave, though I have considered keeping it for an Astyanax mexicanus or Astocoidea setup. 

4. 29-gallon Lepomis megalotis tank.

This tank was specifically set up for Poky, seen on the right. Poky is a Lepomis megalotis that I collected last year. I originally misidentified him as Lepomis humilis, a species I would love to have in my collection. After identifying him correctly, I still decided to keep him, since I had damaged his eye when I caught him, permanently blinding his left eye. I feel it would be cruel to release him back into the wild with such a disadvantage. He originally lived in the 75-gallon native tank, but was moved to 110-gallon trough, as well as a failed 25-gallon trough. This 29-gallon tank is planned to be temporary; I plan to get him a 40 gallon at some point once he out grows this tank, if he does. He currently shares this tank with an Ameiurus melas that was collected last year as well. Originally a species of Astocoidea was added, but it one day jumped out of the tank, and was moved back to the 75 where it originally lived. A Fundulus notatus that had survived a disaster in the 75-gallon native tank, had been moved to the 29, only to be attacked by one of the fish overnight, and died the next day. Pimephales promelas have been added as bacteria cycle starters as well as food for the inhabitants of the tank. Gambusia affinis have been added as food, since the Gambusia tank had begun to be overpopulated. Plants were originally added, but slowly died off; any surviving plants were transplanted to a seperate tank. My hope for this tank is to see Poky make nests in the sand that has been added for tha purpose.

5. 15-gallon Southeast Asian Biotope Fluval Flex

This tank was originally owned by my mother, until disaster struck in the tank, and it was decided to redo it entirely. The tank's stocking isn't complete; currently only a shoal of Trigonostigma heteromorpha. One of the individuals is a survivor of the previous setup in this tank. Before they were added, Pimephales promelas were kept in the tank temporarily, since the tank they were going in didn't have a filter, and the filter was being shipped to the house. I plan to add some species of Cobitoidea to keep the tank clean, as well as some species of Anabantoidei. The plants all come from other tanks we have, and all seem to be doing well. The decoration seen on the right was a gift from my grandfather; I figured its coloration would fit with the color of the plants and substrate. Algae blooms have appeared but are being kept under control. My hope is to not let this hae the same fate as the initial setup of this Fluval Flex.

6. 75-gallon Native tank

This is one of my oldest tanks still functioning today. It's supposed to be home to a female Lepomis macrochirus but has recently been a winter home to my group of Carassius auratus. Currently, it is home to aforementioned Carassius auratus, as well as 3 specimens of a species of Astocoidea. The plants you see have been added recently to fight the Ammonia spike that has recently occured, and has yet to go away. Once the Carassius auratus are moved back into the 110-gallon trough, it should die down. I have plans to add a Willow sapling to that tank for its roots. There is also an unidentified species of plant growing in the HOB filter.

7. 110-gallon trough.

This tank acts as a tank for Carassius auratus that I rescue in the future. Currently, it's an absolute mess. The sponge filter doesn't filter the tank properly, leaving a large amount of waste on the bottom. I plan to get a cansiter filter for this tank soon, hopefully before Spring. The bluegill corrently resides here, though only temporarily. I am very ashamed of this tank and hope to fix it soon.

 

Today I planned to clean the glass of the tanks, since after taking these photos, it's obvious that I need to do so.

Thx in advance to anyone who decides to follow this topic!

 

[Guppysnail]

Looking good. Looking forward to following along. 

[Levi_Aquatics]

Your aquariums and stocking choices are very cool! I’ll love seeing how they evolve!

[Native Keeper]

2/2/22

yesterday I developed a migraine and didn't get the chance to do what I planned. Hopefully today I'll be able to clean the glass, as well as do some liquid fert dosing.

Edited February 2, 2022 by HydraSlayer

[Native Keeper]

2/3/22

I was able to get a lot done today. I cleaned the glass of all my tanks; they all look much better now. I used glass cleaner to clean it, since three people, including my mother, recommended this method. 

here's a pic of my 10-gallon quarantine tank after wiping the glass down. you can find a pic of it yesterday above and can definitely see a difference.

I topped off the 15-gallon Fluval Flex, and the 29-gallon Longear tank. 

I've noticed in the 75-gallon that the ammonia is becoming worse. To combat this, I'm cutting down fighting again to only once a day, and a put some extra decor that originally lived in the quarantine tank, to introduce more bacteria. 

I also noticed that two of the crawfish have seemingly traded homes. Originally, the largest crawfish lived underneath a rock on the far-left side of the tank where it is darker, while the second largest commonly resided in a crevice between two rocks in the middle of the tank. But today, I noticed that the largest was in the middle, and the second largest was on the far left! Not sure what this behavior means, but it is interesting.

Here's a vid of the largest crawfish and a goldfish fighting over an algae wafer. Lemme know if you have any name suggestions!

I noticed that two of my Harlequin Rasboras in my 15-gallon are actually more yellowish in color than the rest, not sure if this is an indicator of sex or what, though I don't think it's illness-related.

I was able to get some good pics of Poky's poked eye, as well as a better pic of Batman, the Black Bullhead, seen below!

some plans for the future:

get another plant for the 75-gallon to battle ammonia (leave some recommendations).

get some Shiners for the 75 (a bait shop sells them cheap; I think if I get some soon, let them settle into the tank before I re introduce the Bluegill into the 75, they should be fine. If you have any experience with keeping Bait Shiners, lemme know).

Scrub off the algae blooms in the 15-gallon.

top off the quarantine tank and the 5-gallon fry tank.

Edited February 4, 2022 by Native Keeper

[Native Keeper]

2/7/22

One of the goldfish in the 75 had some torn fins, which I am assuming is from the crawfish, since this certain goldfish and the crawfish are commonly scrapping with each other over algae wafers.

I dosed the tank with Melafix, and accidently dosed it twice the amount needed. Everything seems fine, so I;m not too worried about it.

I also topped off the 5 gallon and the quarantine tank. The qt will be ready for the Shiners I plan to get tomorrow.

Some of the native plants in my 15 are having issues' it seems they don't like their stems buried, so I glued a couple to some rocks, hopefully that goes well.

Plans for the future: 

clean the 75-gallon filter.

[Widgets]

On 2/3/2022 at 8:49 PM, Native Keeper said:

2/3/22

I noticed that two of my Harlequin Rasboras in my 15-gallon are actually more yellowish in color than the rest, not sure if this is an indicator of sex or what, though I don't think it's illness-related.

I think those three are lamb chops instead of harlequins. The shape of the dark marking is different.

Edited February 8, 2022 by Widgets
Typo

[Native Keeper]

@Widgets, thank you for pointing this out, I'm not exactly sure what to do. For now, I'll just leave them together, maybe one day I'll set up a separate tank for the lambchops. Do you know if Harlequins and Lambchops will hybridize? I've seen this school inhabit breeding behavior; I don't want to sell hybrids if it is possible for them to hybridize.

[Widgets]

 @Native Keeper, I am not sure if they would crossbreed. I can only find statements about them sometimes schooling/shoaling together, or comparisons of the two.

I wanted harlequins. My LFS said they were getting some lambchop coming in. They were actually harlequins. There is so much confusion. I have even heard of them being mixed at the store.

Maybe someone with more expertise will chime in.

[Native Keeper]

2/16/22

I moved my Bluegill back into the 75, where she belongs. She was residing in the 110 trough, which I will cover in a moment, but I decided to move her. She has been territorial to the goldfish, but has not injured them, so all is fine. If she does ever injure them, I will swap her with the Longear in the 29-gallon until I get the goldfish back outside. For now, all is well.

The crawfish in the 75 have come out more frequently, so every time I see them, I drop in an algae wafer for them to eat.

Pig, my largest male goldfish, has been harassing Shekel, my largest goldfish, a lot, which leads me to believe that Shekel is female. Hopefully they don't breed, since Pig looks to be the product of inbreeding, and I don't want his to pass his genetics.

 

I finally cleaned out the 110. I dumped all the water out and found that some Stonerollers that I had put in there las year, had suprisingly survived in the tank! I moved them into the 75-gallon, though because there's only 4 of them, I plan to release them back into the body of water i collected them from. There they'll be able to find other Stonerollers. 

My plan for the 110 is to get an Eheim canister filter, since the sponge filter did not keep the water clean. Once I get the filter, I'll start the cycling process, and move the goldies back in. I also plan to get a lamp for the tank, maybe even try to grow some anubias in it.

My main goal with the tank is to be a goldfish recue tank, which means if I get ny goldfish that have been surrendured, they'll live in that tank.

 

In the 15-gallon, I noticed that a pair of Lambchop rasboras are trying to breed. I planted a tiger lotus bulb, that way they'll have some leaves to ley they're eggs on.

 

I put a heater into the 10-gallon Mosquitofish tank, to give them a little boost to breed. I've noticed that one of the females looks to be pregnant, and I hope she is.

 

I noticed more snail eggs in the 5-gallon fry tank.

 

Yesterday I went out and collected aquatic inverts to feed my longear, though when they went into the tank, they all hid in the course gravel, though Poky was able to get one aquatic isopod, and I'm sure the Bullhead grabbed some inverts last night. I mainly did this to figure out where the aquatic inverts were, that way I know when I go to collect some for my new 5 gallon.

 

I got a 5-gallon tank from my grandfather since he didn't need it. My plan is to turn it into a native invert tank, with some Amphipods, aquatic Isopods, and Bladder snails. Today I'm gonna rinse it out, then paint the back and sides black.

 

I also cleaned out my mother's 5 gallon that used to hold her female Crowntail, who sadly passed away to dropsy. She's not sure what she'll do with it, but I think she's gonna get Neon tetras or Glowlight tetras.