Pinesong's 20 Tall Community Tank

[PineSong]

I just realized I did not have good photos of progress in this tank so I wanted to start a journal. Apologies for the length of this initial intro.

Here is a photo taken from a vid I made in November 2021 when I was still waiting for the wood to waterlog:

And one from December:

Here is a photo taken mid-March before things went totally haywire. It's not a great shot but it shows how dark the tank was getting from lily pads and duckweed blocking the light and the subtle neglect that comes from taking a tank for granted:

I'm not sure what was the prime factor in what happened next, but some contenders are: due to tank overpopulation I thought I could skip dosing Easy Green as often = a sudden change in what nutrients were available; days getting longer (this tank sits directly in a window); I removed one lily to use it elsewhere; I cut all the hygrophila in half to start a hedge of it in another tank; I never cleaned the filter because I didn't want to bother the shrimp I'd just added.

What happened was the brown crud everywhere, hair algae escalating incredibly, and my remaining hygro fading, getting soft, and developing pinprick holes in the leaves.

Enter spring cleaning: I gravel vac'd and cleaned the filter, put on a HOB for 48 hours and stirred the substrate throughout the day, removed the wood to use in my pond, added Easy Green and more java ferns and replaced the stone the anubias was glued to as it had detached when I was cleaning.

Here is the tank today: please ignore floating cuttle bone, I will re-anchor it later.

Edited October 14, 2022 by PineSong
Removing duplicate photos?

[Jacob Hill-Legion Aquatics]

The tank looks great👍

[PineSong]

It's been three months since the big spring cleaning of this tank.

One of my ginga guppies I thought was empty (drumroll, please) was not empty after all and now there are a few ginga fry in this tank as well as the whale guppy fry I bred on purpose. With all the plants resuming heavy growth, it will be an interesting task to separate out all the fry. 

Amazingly, there are still yellow shrimp in this tank.

Photos don't show how totally overcrowded the tank is, so I'm adding video. I think I need to reduce the population by about 75% or buy a much larger tank. 

 

[Minanora]

I love it!!! That is a wonderful scape and I love all of the ladies. How often do you have to change water on that tank?

[PineSong]

On 7/23/2022 at 12:02 PM, Minanora said:

I love it!!! That is a wonderful scape and I love all of the ladies. How often do you have to change water on that tank?

Well, I never "have to" according to the test strips, even with  Easy Green twice a week I cannot keep the tank in enough nitrates to show up on a test strip, but my goal is 2x a month. 

That said: Here's a strip from today. Due to vacation I haven't changed water in 3-4 weeks. I did have a petsitter feed as usual (1x a day) while I was gone. I added Easy Green before I left and again this AM, several hours before I dipped this strip. Despite testing okay, I think the overpopulation may be stressful. ****OMG I was just looking at the tank and saw a newly male blue star endler that I had not noticed EVER**** I wonder how many of these females are pregnant now?!

[PineSong]

Argh. I found TWO juvenile males in this tank today. Not fully colored up but gonopodiums in place. I’m not trying to keep any pure strains in here, but I don’t want all 40 of my female guppies to produce fry, either. I need to have a guppy yard sale!

[PineSong]

Today I thought the tank was looking pretty good so I took a picture and some video. I have not discovered any accidental male guppies in this tank since July, but just in case I have Kevin the angelfish installed due to the crowding and situation outlined in my September 9 thread about flubendazole.

I've lost track of what all plants I've tried and failed in this tank, but I am happy with the ones who are hanging in there. 

 

Edited October 14, 2022 by PineSong

[Chris]

Love all the plant textures in this tank.

Awesome platies, too!

[nabokovfan87]

That background is awesome. Well done.

[PineSong]

On 10/14/2022 at 11:11 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

That background is awesome. Well done.

Thanks! This tank sits directly in the window so I put a piece of black posterboard behind it to film. The black really highlights the plants more than the clear glass it really has.

[PineSong]

The 20g tall is still overcrowded with fish, and now I've removed the duckweed and voila! just like that the guppy grass and other plants have kicked it up a notch even just over the course of the 1.5 week the duckweed has been gone.

I'm thinking that I'm going to have to remove some plants to make more open swimming space, especially as my baby angelfish grows.

Right now, it's my current favorite tank to sit in front of with coffee. This weekend, I made a video of the fish enjoying the sunbeams, and my cat enjoyed the video when I played it for her:

 

[PineSong]

I was looking through my phone for something else when I found this photo from the early days of my 20g tall:

And then we have the tank recently. I've removed about 30  fish since this photo was taken, and think I need to remove another 20 for it to not look so crazy.

[nabokovfan87]

Do you happen to still have that ornament, does it have a brand or anything on the bottom?  I had one in a similar color / design when I was a kid and I've been trying to find it.

[PineSong]

On 12/19/2022 at 11:20 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Do you happen to still have that ornament, does it have a brand or anything on the bottom?  I had one in a similar color / design when I was a kid and I've been trying to find it.

I do still have it. No brand name on it, it’s just stamped “Japan” on the bottom. I’ve seen it on eBay a few times so if you look there eventually you’ll find it. I have a small collection of vintage castles and pagodas and tiki huts; I love the vintage look.

[nabokovfan87]

On 12/19/2022 at 8:36 PM, PineSong said:

I do still have it. No brand name on it, it’s just stamped “Japan” on the bottom. I’ve seen it on eBay a few times so if you look there eventually you’ll find it. I have a small collection of vintage castles and pagodas and tiki huts; I love the vintage look.

Sounds about right.  Thank you for checking!  It's been hard to even find anything similar, so it was cool to see something similar in style.

[PineSong]

On 12/20/2022 at 12:05 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

Sounds about right.  Thank you for checking!  It's been hard to even find anything similar, so it was cool to see something similar in style.

I have a small collection of vintage tank decor--castles, bridges, tiki huts, pagodas. I just love them. I used to have one in every betta bowl/tank but now the only one in action is this tiki hut in the kitchen tank:

The non Where's Waldo view:

[cavdad45]

Your tank looks great. Really enjoyed seeing the progression

[nabokovfan87]

On 12/20/2022 at 3:16 PM, PineSong said:

That looks so similar to the one I am trying to find.  It was about that size, and it had this really, really tiny dragon on it.  It was all white, just a doorway with a few pieces of "wall" texture.  We had this little fish that would go in and it would just have that as it's cave.  That interaction left an imprint on me and the little fish would always come out to see me. That's what I remember.

[PineSong]

It's now been about a month since I removed duckweed from this tank and wow did that result in crazy growth of guppy grass! The tank is so choked with plants the fish barely have anywhere to swim. The little angelfish has staked out a territory in the front right quarter of the tank and his constant darting at other fish has kept that section of the tank open, but the rest is scary dense. 

I moved about half the female guppies and the angelfish to my 29g today, and I removed about a cantaloupe-sized network of guppy grass. Tomorrow in the daylight I am going to work on tidying up the corkscrew val and other plants so it will be lush but not impenetrable. 

Front, side, and top views today before I moved the ladies and Kevin:

 

[Schuyler]

On 12/19/2022 at 8:09 PM, PineSong said:

I was looking through my phone for something else when I found this photo from the early days of my 20g tall:

And then we have the tank recently. I've removed about 30  fish since this photo was taken, and think I need to remove another 20 for it to not look so crazy.

Those are the same tank? That grew out really nicely!

[PineSong]

On 1/1/2023 at 1:40 AM, Schuyler said:

Those are the same tank? That grew out really nicely!

Yes they are-about 18 months apart maybe? The big successes in this tank have been corkscrew valisneria and aponogetons. I’ve had my usual zero luck with stem plants; I had a nice stand of hygrophila for about four months and then it was outcompeted, probably by duckweed or corkscrew Val or both. I’ve removed the duckweed now so I may try stems again one day…

[TheSwissAquarist]

Beautiful tank 😍!

[PineSong]

The joke is on me! Guess what I found while working on the tank this morning? 

After removing a ton of corkscrew Val and all the guppy grass I didn’t get out yesterday, I sat there staring at the fish and there it was: a male guppy with a fully developed gonopodium and a totally obvious “male guppy” yellow spotted tail.
 

And then another one, a blue star endler hybrid by the looks of him.

And then another one.

And then a teen boy, still gray but blue iridescence on the sides and a 3/4 grown gonopodium.

So, there were about 60 female guppies in this tank before I moved half to the 29g. 

Buy stock in Kleenex, folks, bc I’ll be crying for a long long time.

This is a tank I sit and stare at *every morning* over coffee. Too many plants + too many fish = no good!
 

 

 

Edited January 2, 2023 by PineSong
Typo!

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 1/2/2023 at 3:18 PM, PineSong said:

The joke is on me! Guess what I found while working on the tank this morning? 
After removing a ton of corkscrew Val and all the guppy grass I didn’t get out yesterday, I sat there staring at the fish and there it was: a male guppy with a fully developed gonopodium and a totally obvious “male guppy” yelliw spotted tail.
And then another one, a blue star endler hybrid by the looks of him.And then another one.And then a teen boy, still gray but blue iridescence on the sides and a 3/4 grown gonopodium.So, there were about 60 female guppies in this tank before I moved half to the 29g. Buy stock in Kleenex, folks, bc I’ll be crying for a long long time.This is a tank I sit and stare at *every morning* over coffee. Too many plants + too many fish = no good!

After all you've done...😔 what is your next plan? Move in some guppy fry predators?

[PineSong]

On 1/2/2023 at 9:42 AM, TheSwissAquarist said:

After all you've done...😔 what is your next plan? Move in some guppy fry predators?

Yes. I was desperate a few months ago so I have a young angelfish I added to the 20 for exactly this purpose. Yesterday I moved him to the 29. I guess he will have to alternate weeks.