Homegrown Fishsticks: community tank journal

[SpacedCadette]

Felt like I was posting a lot on a bunch of threads about my tank so figured I'd start a journal!

I started my first tank back in December last year. It was something I had been thinking of doing for a while, but didn't feel like I had the space to grow it out until we moved into our current place late last year. Anyways! Skip forward a few months and I've now got a 40 gallon breeder tank that houses my community! I'm definitely still feeling out what I like in a tank so it's already gone through a couple of iterations.

I've struggled the most with keeping plants. For whatever reason, that hasn't come to me as easily as I was hoping. And I've definitely gone through my share of newbie mistakes like overfeeding. I'm in the process of managing the amount of tiny snails that are currently crawling all over things by dialing down my feeding regimen.

Anyways! Figured I could condense most of my nonsense into one location. I'll do a roll call of all the little buddies in the tank in my next post!

 

Edited May 23, 2022 by SpacedCadette

[SpacedCadette]

In order of appearance:

Roman 👹 - Plakat Betta
The boy that got it all going. I lucked out big time with this guy. He's incredibly mellow and easy going. He's just interested in prowling his kingdom and jumping at fingers for food. Super curious guy, loves attention. Total camera hog. Definitely the tank boss.

Team Tetra - Green Neon Tetras
There's 6 of these goobers right now. I'm pretty sure they all share the same brain cell. A little dumb, but very pretty. Impossible to photograph.

Cory Gang - Panda Corydoras
There are 10 of these lovely beings in the tank right now. They sleep in cuddle piles under the driftwood (the "Cory Clubhouse") when they aren't hoovering along the bottom of the tank, wagging their little tails in the air. Shy, but playful. Unproblematic cuties.

The Boys - Harlequin Rasboras
Currently a group of 9. Rowdy. Seem to cause problems on purpose. There's a high probability of there being a couple ladies in this group, but they have teenage boy vibes.

Peach 🍑 - Super Red Bristlenose Pleco
Total sweetheart. Can do no wrong. Hardest working being in the tank. Small right now, but will eventually be the biggest fish in the tank when she is full grown. We love her.

Shramps - Amano Shrimp
3 live in the tank right now. Good at cleaning algae, terrible manners at dinner time. They are constantly stealing entire waffers from the other fish for themselves. Weird me out a bit. Too many legs. Hang upside down on the floating plants.

Bruce 🌪 - Panda Garra
Chaos incarnate. Hangs with the cories a lot. Big, clumbsy doofus. Himbo energy. 

Bea 🐝 and Lemon 🍋  - Female Sunset Honey Gourami
Little sweeties. Bea is the more shy of the two. Lemon has a dorsal fin deformity but is pretty out going. Lots of slap fights. Must touch everything.

Hannibal, Clarice, and Third Wheel - Assassin Snails
Hannibal was the first. I then introduced two more. He and Clarice immediately started mating, leaving the third snail out in the cold. Hence their names...

 

 

 

Edited May 24, 2022 by SpacedCadette

[SpacedCadette]

A secret meeting was held outside the Cory Clubhouse late last night.  
 

Edited May 20, 2022 by SpacedCadette

[SpacedCadette]

Added an air stone to the tank as an experiment to see how the fish felt about it. Bruce loves it. I wish I got better video of him zipping back and forth through it after he first discovered it. 

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CdzH7IGDeF1/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
 

Bea was being very judgmental about the whole thing. 👁n👁
 

Edited May 20, 2022 by SpacedCadette

[SpacedCadette]

Just doing a photo dump of some other pictures from this week. 

Sweet Peach cleaning the front of the Cory Clubhouse. Roman photobombing as usual. 🙃

Bruce lounging. 

Roman snoozing on some of the floating plants. 

Hannibal cruising around. 

Edited May 22, 2022 by SpacedCadette

[Bjorn]

That’s a nice looking tank. I like how that floating plant looks with your scape.

[SpacedCadette]

On 5/22/2022 at 11:23 AM, Bjorn said:

That’s a nice looking tank. I like how that floating plant looks with your scape.

Aw thank you! The Pennywort has been going through a bit of a melt the last couple of days, but think it’s starting to stabilize again thanks to lots of advice from folks here. ☺️

[SpacedCadette]

Some fun nighttime shots of Roman and Bea. ♥️
 

[SpacedCadette]

Today was bottom dwellers day for feeding. I always love watching all the cories pour out of their Clubhouse. Roman supervises and Bruce is obnoxious as always.

Highlights:
- Bruce’s poor attempt at being stealthy with his approach over the rock on the left.
- Bea flailing at Roman

https://www.instagram.com/tv/Cd6ZnbwD9bF/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

 

Edited May 23, 2022 by SpacedCadette

[SpacedCadette]

Photos from today:

[SpacedCadette]

Said goodbye to my girl Lemon the other night… she never responded to treatment and started to decline quickly in the last couple of days. I can’t thank @Coluenough for their help and guidance. I just wish there was happier ending for her. 

I decided to let her go before she became completely miserable. It was doubly tough as this was my first experience with having such an ill fish and needing to humanely euthanize… it was hard and I hated it. I buried her in our garden, next to the small pond. I hope I did right by her. 

Lemon wasn’t with me long and I’m terribly sad for that but she sure as heck taught me a lot.

She was a fighter and such a personable little fish. She is missed. 

Edited May 27, 2022 by SpacedCadette

[Colu]

Sorry to hear that at you least you did   everything you could  for her  and in the end you were their to make sure she didn't suffer

[SpacedCadette]

Peach ♥️

 

[SpacedCadette]

My project for the long weekend was organizing my new setup after having moved everyone over to tank 3.0. 

I keep my tank in my office so space is a bit of a commodity. While I loved the look of my 40g breeder, its footprint was not optimal for the space. Thanks to @Guppysnail‘s suggestion to contact the Aquarium Masters manufacturer through their website, I was able to get my hands on one of their standard 38g tanks at a local retailer. 

Once the tank was set up, I worked to get the cabinet organized and I’m pretty happy with the results. Command strips really do work wonders. My “big brain” moment was adding the cabinet light.

Edited May 31, 2022 by SpacedCadette

[SpacedCadette]

Gumby and Furby photos from tonight.

Edited June 2, 2022 by SpacedCadette

[Guppysnail]

The cabinet light is genius. Your snails are adorable.  I’m so glad you were able to find an AM tank. I really like mine. It’s my favorite. 

[ndfi78]

Great pictures! 

[SpacedCadette]

On 6/2/2022 at 3:18 AM, Guppysnail said:

The cabinet light is genius. Your snails are adorable.  I’m so glad you were able to find an AM tank. I really like mine. It’s my favorite. 

I was so stoked when I found one. Thank you again for the help! 

On 6/2/2022 at 5:19 AM, ndfi78 said:

Great pictures! 

🥰

[SpacedCadette]

I was away for a week to spend time with family and came back to Sunny changing to his mating colors and 2 shrimp with eggs. 👀

[SpacedCadette]

My male honey gourami’s mating colors have really filled in this week. 

He’s constantly doing his little flirty dancing while my female just sort of goes about her business, ignoring him for the most part. 😆

My betta continues to be a chill dude. He’s been hard to snag pictures of lately. Dude is always on the move. 

I’ve also started giving the snails their own little dining experience during feeding time so I can make sure they’re getting enough to eat without having to always compete with everyone else. 

[Jaspyjasp]

Wow, your journal and setup is awesome!  Been fun to read! I love how much love you have for your tank and its inhabitants ❤️ 
 

Your betta and honey gourami get along so well! I’m trying to plan a 22Gal Long (36x12x12) planted tank and would like to house a honey gourami and betta… How did you do that and do you think that is enough space for them? If they’re both female would that be more successful?

thank you and thanks for sharing your fish story!

steph

Edited August 1, 2022 by Jaspyjasp

[SpacedCadette]

On 7/31/2022 at 8:29 PM, Jaspyjasp said:

Wow, your journal and setup is awesome!  Been fun to read! I love how much love you have for your tank and its inhabitants ❤️ 
 

Your betta and honey gourami get along so well! I’m trying to plan a 22Gal Long (36x12x12) planted tank and would like to house a honey gourami and betta… How did you do that and do you think that is enough space for them? If they’re both female would that be more successful?

thank you and thanks for sharing your fish story!

steph

Thank you so much for the kind words 🥰. 

My current tank is a standard 38 gallon that the betta and honey gourami both live in. It really all came down to my betta having a very easy going personality. I kinda won the lottery a bit when it comes to betta temperament. I also had him for almost a year where I could observe his interaction with other fish in the community before I decided to try introducing the honey gouramis. I kept a 20 gallon long on standby for them if things didn’t work out. 

I originally had two females in with him before one sadly passed from what appeared to be a genetic disease. I now have a male and female and haven’t noticed much of a difference in how the betta interacts with them. Though I do want to reiterate that my betta has never been particularly aggressive and is very mild mannered. 

The other thing I think helps is that I have quite a few dense top floating plants to break up their line of sight. The betta does chase them on occasion but it’s only during feeding time and it only lasts a second if he does since the gourami can easily hide from him. Feeding them on opposite sides of the tank has pretty much  eliminated that. 

I can’t say for certain if this same set up will work for you in the 22 gallon long since I do think the extra space has helped since they can get away from one another if the need to.  I’d just suggest having a second tank ready in case you need to separate them and give yourself plenty of time to observe them if you decide to give it a shot. 
 

Best of luck either way!! ♥️

[Jaspyjasp]

On 8/12/2022 at 3:53 AM, SpacedCadette said:

Thank you so much for the kind words 🥰. 

My current tank is a standard 38 gallon that the betta and honey gourami both live in. It really all came down to my betta having a very easy going personality. I kinda won the lottery a bit when it comes to betta temperament. I also had him for almost a year where I could observe his interaction with other fish in the community before I decided to try introducing the honey gouramis. I kept a 20 gallon long on standby for them if things didn’t work out. 

I originally had two females in with him before one sadly passed from what appeared to be a genetic disease. I now have a male and female and haven’t noticed much of a difference in how the betta interacts with them. Though I do want to reiterate that my betta has never been particularly aggressive and is very mild mannered. 

The other thing I think helps is that I have quite a few dense top floating plants to break up their line of sight. The betta does chase them on occasion but it’s only during feeding time and it only lasts a second if he does since the gourami can easily hide from him. Feeding them on opposite sides of the tank has pretty much  eliminated that. 

I can’t say for certain if this same set up will work for you in the 22 gallon long since I do think the extra space has helped since they can get away from one another if the need to.  I’d just suggest having a second tank ready in case you need to separate them and give yourself plenty of time to observe them if you decide to give it a shot. 
 

Best of luck either way!! ♥️

Ahhh!! You are so smart to have had your betta for a while to observe him! Great idea! Yes, i was thinking to get it last so i can put it in another tank if necessary. Although my footprint is long, it doesnt have a lot of height, so i could see some issues there for getting away 🤔 Def will get more floating plants, my tank is pretty planted, but am planning to get more floaties.
 

Thank you do much for your advice! You did a great job planning and observing your animals. I’ll def go slow and stock with what makes sense for what I have now.

Thank you!! 🙏