Pinesong's 20 Tall Community Tank

[Theplatymaster]

have you been having success with platies and shrimp in this setup?

[PineSong]

On 1/27/2023 at 7:11 AM, Theplatymaster said:

have you been having success with platies and shrimp in this setup?

I have three tanks with platies in them and they all have shrimp.

The red shrimp numbered in the hundreds with platies, swordtails, white clouds and guppies in the tank. Tons of babies as well as adults were visible whenever I looked in the tank...until I added my angelfish. Now my angelfish has doubled in size and is orange in color, but there are very few shrimp left. 😞

In the other tanks, I have yellow shrimp. I first bought them a year ago. They do not number in the hundreds. I see maybe six adults at a time and never babies. There are several pieces of cholla wood, rock piles, and a lot of plants in each tank, so I guess the yellow babies hide and only come out when they are too big to be eaten.

In my orange shrimp tank there are no fish at the moment. Babies number in the jillions and I've only had those orange shrimp since Aquashella Chicago, so like 5 months.

If you want to raise shrimp to sell, I do believe fishless is the way to go. But if you just want a sustainable colony of shrimp, I do not believe platies will be a problem. I do feed my fish 2x a day, and that may be a factor.

[PineSong]

Today I removed and counted all the fish in this tank, one by one (except for the otocinclus which I counted as the max number I have seen at one time during the past week). 

I estimated there were 30 fish in the tank and after removing them and counting one by one as I added them back in, here are the numbers.

3 otocinclus

3 adult and 5 juvenile male platies

3 juvenile male swordtails

19 female guppies

Total: 33 fish

I have plans to rehome 5 fish to my coworker's tank, which would bring me down to 28 fish. I think given the volume of plants in the tank and the stability of the water quality per test strips, that number is not a big stretch for this tank. 

I originally had 6 otocinclus so I am disappointed that there may only be 3 remaining. Part of my desire to do the census is wanting to reduce my populations to numbers that I can count at a glance in my 'permanent'/non-breeding tanks so I can better track longevity. 

I hope to do a similar census on my other two non-breeding tanks this week.

[nabokovfan87]

On 1/2/2023 at 6:18 AM, PineSong said:

corkscrew Val

Very cool shape to it.  I dig the look. Wish I had some!

 

On 2/6/2023 at 6:19 PM, PineSong said:

I originally had 6 otocinclus so I am disappointed that there may only be 3 remaining. Part of my desire to do the census is wanting to reduce my populations to numbers that I can count at a glance in my 'permanent'/non-breeding tanks so I can better track longevity. 

I had a similar thing happen then one day I had 4 back in the shoal.  Hopefully you're able to find more.  Removing everything probably means that isn't going to happen, but here's hoping.  Otos can be elusive.

On 11/22/2022 at 4:42 PM, PineSong said:

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:

This is one of my favorite things. Really fun when pets do this.

[DebSills]

On 2/6/2023 at 9:32 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Otos can be elusive

That's for sure!! I had an overgrown 29 and thought I only had one of my 3 Otos left because he was the only one I could see (there was a spot under the driftwood he liked to "hang")...until I did a full re-scape and low and behold, I still had all three in there and they're still going strong 🙂

Love your tank! especially the corkscrew val, that stuff is so cool!

[PineSong]

 This is the end to my 20g journal: I broke the tank down this weekend, it was a somber occasion.

I loved this tank sitting in my window and growing plants like crazy, but despite my month (or more) long QT of all fish, my tanks got infected with serious incurable disease(neon tetra disease and TB), which has resulted in my stopping breeding and letting the existing populations of fish age out. 

All my tanks are basically hospice tanks now, and as the populations have decreased I have broken down all my smaller tanks and moved the fish to a larger tank in another room. No more sunny tank 😞 I hope to have one again some day when I can start over with new systems. Until then... farewell, 20g!

 

 

 

[anodyne99]

What a beautiful tank! I am so sorry. Neon tetra disease is just terrible to deal with. 

[Chris]

On 5/6/2024 at 9:41 PM, PineSong said:

 This is the end to my 20g journal: I broke the tank down this weekend, it was a somber occasion.

I loved this tank sitting in my window and growing plants like crazy, but despite my month (or more) long QT of all fish, my tanks got infected with serious incurable disease(neon tetra disease and TB), which has resulted in my stopping breeding and letting the existing populations of fish age out. 

All my tanks are basically hospice tanks now, and as the populations have decreased I have broken down all my smaller tanks and moved the fish to a larger tank in another room. No more sunny tank 😞 I hope to have one again some day when I can start over with new systems. Until then... farewell, 20g!

 

 

 

Sorry to hear! Your tanks looked fantastic back when I visited for those swordtails a couple years ago. 

I find that sometimes it's for the best to let off the gas when you find yourself off course - much easier to correct things when you're willing to slow down. I think you're on the right track!

[PineSong]

On 5/7/2024 at 9:11 PM, Chris said:

Sorry to hear! Your tanks looked fantastic back when I visited for those swordtails a couple years ago. 

I find that sometimes it's for the best to let off the gas when you find yourself off course - much easier to correct things when you're willing to slow down. I think you're on the right track!

Thank you for the kind words. Hope your swordtails have thrived. I have one left--he's a survivor!

 

[Chris]

On 5/7/2024 at 9:31 PM, PineSong said:

Thank you for the kind words. Hope your swordtails have thrived. I have one left--he's a survivor!

 

They have! Most of the fry have gone to friends and a store, I have most of the parents I got from you in a 55 in my living room. Let me know if you ever want any - I think I'll get a few more batches of fry out of these guys. 

[nabokovfan87]

I absolutely can relate to this and I'm sorry for your issues you've experienced. I'm going through what I can only describe as pure chaos in my tanks and hoping to get things moving to the right direction.

It's unfortunate to have to stop and break down a tank completely, but there is always that endless options for redoing things once it is broken down.  Try something to clean or sanitize the tank (vinegar, bleach, etc) and maybe that gives you a canvas back.

I'm sorry for what you're going through, wishing you the best.

[PineSong]

On 5/9/2024 at 2:50 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

I absolutely can relate to this and I'm sorry for your issues you've experienced. I'm going through what I can only describe as pure chaos in my tanks and hoping to get things moving to the right direction.

I'm sorry for what you're going through, wishing you the best.

I am sorry you are also facing tough stuff in your tanks and I hope it will turn around soon. The enjoyment I get from my tanks and from breeding guppies and platies is well worth it to me to start over once this group of fish has passed away. I have learned a lot about keeping planted tanks and fish during the four years my current tanks have been up and running. One thing for sure about next time: NO DUCKWEED 🙂 I can already picture how much I will enjoy that.

[nabokovfan87]

On 5/9/2024 at 3:58 AM, PineSong said:

One thing for sure about next time: NO DUCKWEED 🙂 I can already picture how much I will enjoy that.

I never thought I'd enjoy them, but red root floaters are pretty special.  I still need to get my hands on some salvinia.