Bar aquarium assistance please

[Woogie23]

On 6/13/2022 at 5:32 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Good to see things getting better.  Just imagine that thing with a ton of Vallisnaria.

The bar tank? Won't the silver dollars eat up any plants I put in there? I'd love to try plants in there if anyone knows of a way the silvers won't eat them. Heh 

Oh wait, are you talking about getting Vallisnaria into the 55?

[nabokovfan87]

On 6/13/2022 at 6:04 PM, Woogie23 said:

The bar tank? Won't the silver dollars eat up any plants I put in there? I'd love to try plants in there if anyone knows of a way the silvers won't eat them. Heh 

Will they!?  I have no idea.

[Tanked]

On 6/13/2022 at 9:04 PM, Woogie23 said:

The bar tank? Won't the silver dollars eat up any plants I put in there? I'd love to try plants in there if anyone knows of a way the silvers won't eat them. Heh 

Oh wait, are you talking about getting Vallisnaria into the 55?

My Silver dollars will eat any and all plant material.  I often feed them excess Anacharis/Elodia and whatever is attached to it

[Colu]

A friend of mine kept silver dollars in a planted tank over ten years ago he found that twice Daily feeding of a good quality spirulina flake and vegetable matter such as lettuce spinach and  kale  they left most of his  plants alone if their not getting the amount of vegetable matter they need in there diet they are likely to eat your plants you could also add quick growing floating plants like water lettuce Amazonian frogbit duckweed to could also try Anubis Javan fern as well 

[Flumpweesel]

On 6/14/2022 at 2:55 PM, Colu said:

vegetable matter such as lettuce spinach and  kale  they

Just a thought but I guess these fish have only been getting dried food over the years so maybe raiding the pub kitchen and giving them a treat. Might help perk them up a bit. 

[Woogie23]

Here's a couple of pics and a video a day later during my lunch break after the dust settled. Seems like 2 of the dollars don't ever eat. I put some lettuce in I brought from home. They ignored it while I was there 😔. I really thought they would go right at it. Guess since they never had any they don't know what they are missing. I dropped a small pinch of Xtreme krill flakes and 2 of them went crazy for it, another one kind went after a few flakes. I'll be back in there after work to check on them. The water seemed warm too. Gonna crank down the heat a little when I get back in there later. I really should get a control box for them too. I think I have an extra one at home.

2 min video of silver dollars swimming. The better part of video is towards the end. After 2nd water change and gravel vacuuming

Edited June 14, 2022 by Woogie23
Added video

[Flumpweesel]

On 6/14/2022 at 9:22 PM, Woogie23 said:

lettuce in I brought from home. They ignored it

Typical !

Although I'd they ignore it you might get away with plants.

Is the bar covering any of your expenses for this tank? I suspect not but if they were changing the scape to give the fish things to hide behind might be nice. All I know about silver dollars is that they can be skittish and dart when startled. 

 

[Woogie23]

On 6/14/2022 at 2:36 PM, Flumpweesel said:

Is the bar covering any of your expenses for this tank? I suspect not but if they were changing the scape to give the fish things to hide behind might be nice. All I know about silver dollars is that they can be skittish and dart when startled. 

 

Ya, they aren't covering expenses. (At least not yet. Heh) I want to give them a Hideaway and I also want to add a good cleanup crew and some more community fish. Maybe some shrimp. But all this has to wait until after we move the tank. I talked them into moving it away from that door and into the main lobby area. The tank will be much better off there as long as I give those silver dollars a place they can "hide" when things get loud or busy around them. It'll be much better then next to a door that slam open and closed and by a mini basketball hoop. Heh 

[Flumpweesel]

Maybe have a dig about the bar for old promo stuff that could be used as a themed hardscape.  

Personally I wouldn't buy them any fish maybe see if any fish that need rehoming come your way over the next few months.

[Woogie23]

On 6/14/2022 at 3:16 PM, Flumpweesel said:

Maybe have a dig about the bar for old promo stuff that could be used as a themed hardscape.  

Personally I wouldn't buy them any fish maybe see if any fish that need rehoming come your way over the next few months.

I understand what you're saying. It's my wife's place of work, I know the boss and all of the employees there pretty well. So i dont mind putting out some money to make it better. Getting a cleaning crew in the tank will make the tank better in the long run and should last a little longer between major cleaning. My wife has been the one keeping the fish alive so far. She's been keeping algae off the sides with a mag brush. I had been telling her for awhile it needed cleaned badly, finally her boss gave the thumbs up for me to come take care of it. They really like what they've seen so far so I think I just became the fish guy there. Heh

[Tanked]

On 6/14/2022 at 9:55 AM, Colu said:

A friend of mine kept silver dollars in a planted tank over ten years ago he found that twice Daily feeding of a good quality spirulina flake and vegetable matter such as lettuce spinach and  kale  they left most of his  plants alone if their not getting the amount of vegetable matter they need in there diet they are likely to eat your plants you could also add quick growing floating plants like water lettuce Amazonian frogbit duckweed to could also try Anubis Javan fern as well 

The Duckweed could not outrun the my Silver Dollars. I'm working on a second crop.  Maybe I need to switch to a twice a day feeding. I have a lot of frozen and fresh veggies.

[Woogie23]

Well, this pic was taken two days ago but it looked the same yesterday. They haven't touched the lettuce. My wife said she saw them all huddled around the lettuce just staring at the it. Heh

Maybe I'll bring in some frozen food.

They are eating the Xpress krill flakes, so they are eating.

Also, there appears to be some plant starting to grow on the log. Maybe some moss? I'm not sure. I'll try and get a better pic.

Edited June 16, 2022 by Woogie23
Added info about the plant on the log.

[Torrey]

On 6/13/2022 at 7:04 PM, Woogie23 said:

The bar tank? Won't the silver dollars eat up any plants I put in there? I'd love to try plants in there if anyone knows of a way the silvers won't eat them. Heh 

Oh wait, are you talking about getting Vallisnaria into the 55?

Typically, fish/snails/shrimp only eat our tank plants when they aren't getting their nutritional needs met elsewhere... like my shrimp and snails digging up all my plants and stripping all the leaves while I was recuperating from a flare....🙄

[nabokovfan87]

On 6/16/2022 at 6:17 AM, Woogie23 said:

Also, there appears to be some plant starting to grow on the log. Maybe some moss? I'm not sure. I'll try and get a better pic.

Yeah, moss it looks like.

I really would like to understand how this tank got setup here. I'm sure there's a story....

I wonder why there's a canister + UGF. So many questions.

[Woogie23]

On 6/16/2022 at 6:07 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Yeah, moss it looks like.

Here's a better pic. Never saw the moss until now. Guess it was barely hanging on in the poor water condition. Maybe like grass in a yard, kind of went dormant?

I think I'll pull the lettuce out tomorrow. 

[nabokovfan87]

On 6/16/2022 at 6:15 PM, Woogie23 said:

Here's a better pic. Never saw the moss until now. Guess it was barely hanging on in the poor water condition. Maybe like grass in a yard, kind of went dormant?

I have a rock. It's been in a box for "a while" and it still has moss on it, but I'm sure it's not able to grow.  If I ever get it in the tank and growing, I'll try to remember to share pictures here.  Definitely is likely just something that was stuck somewhere and it has good attachment to the hardscape.

That's awesome though. It will look good now that it has some nutrients from the new water.

[Tanked]

On 6/16/2022 at 9:17 AM, Woogie23 said:

Well, this pic was taken two days ago but it looked the same yesterday. They haven't touched the lettuce. My wife said she saw them all huddled around the lettuce just staring at the it. Heh

Maybe I'll bring in some frozen food.

They are eating the Xpress krill flakes, so they are eating.

Also, there appears to be some plant starting to grow on the log. Maybe some moss? I'm not sure. I'll try and get a better pic.

You might try putting the lettuce on a skewer hooked higher up in the tank.  Sometimes the movement keeps them interested.  My barbs prefer to have their veggies anchored.  My SDs seem to occasionally enjoy the chase.  You may also get better results with a leaf lettuce, or spinach leaves.

[PineSong]

I must say I've developed a real affection for this tank!  I love the old-school sunken ship combined with the silver dollars--definitely gives that undersea vibe. 

I do think it would look fantastic with a row of corkscrew val across the entire back[ courtesy of the fact that corkscrew val is second only to duckweed in my tanks, if you want to try some I'll be happy to mail it to you!

I watched the video and agree the tank will be better elsewhere--and maybe the new location will make it more of a focal point as it deserves to be. Looks like a couple of the fish are much feistier than the others.

re: costs of improving the tank/adding fish: it's a bar! The easy button way would be to get folks good and liquored up and pass around the hat or you could go the "official" route and set up a donation bucket or have a raffle and auction off the rights to name the fish, name the ship, or sponsor the tank. People love making up punny names!

I know nothing about silver dollars but if they are at all like my livebearers, they prefer their greens wilted in the microwave prior to serving. They consider crunchy veggies a complete non-starter.

This tank is lucky to have you and I hope you are getting a kick out of improving it. I've sure enjoyed seeing it.

[Woogie23]

Another week has gone by since last photos were taken. Water looks good today, fish are active. I have noticed two of the silver dollars never go after the flakes, but they don't look starved. Not sure if they are a different type or just more picky or maybe shy about eating in front of me. Heh

Anyways I figured I'd send a quick update. I may have to wait another week before moving the tank. Which makes me sad. So many things I want to do, but not until we move it. 

Quick video

[Ken Burke]

Looking so much better!  

[Guppysnail]

You are doing a great job with this. 

[Odd Duck]

Fish are definitely looking better!  Great job!

[Mojie]

So awesome to watch this tank come back to life - it’s really lovely that someone is looking out for those fish, and they’re lucky to have you. 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

I just want to say thank you for what you're doing @Woogie23.  

Did you boil the lettuce first?  Might have been too crunchy for them?

[Flumpweesel]

Bet these fish look forward to seeing you now. Really glad it's going well.