My current tanks and future projects

[lewk]

Hey, I figured I'd share my tanks, my thoughts on them, and some of the future projects that I have in mind. I got into the hobby in June and have a number of tanks with plans for more. I'd be happy to hear any thoughts or advice on my tanks.

I use dechlorinated tap water across the board and all my tanks have very hard water with medium KH and ph between 7.2-7.6. 

A note in advance, in my pictures you'll see an extra sponge filter thrown into a number of my tanks. I'll be moving them all soon to new tanks and tossed them into my existing tanks to get them off of my desk and hopefully accrue a little bit of beneficial bacteria. I know without airlines they wont really be getting seeded but it didn't seem like it could hurt anything. 



Tank 1 - 10 Gallon:
Tank 1 is my first tank ever. I set it up in June after buying a kit from a medium-sized chain store when I was able to double dip a 50% off sale with a 25% off coupon. It's home to 3 Peacock Gudgeons (1M 2F), 6 Ember Tetras, 2 Amano Shrimp, and 2 Mystery Snails. It has an assortment of plants - the obvious hornwort that's a mess in the middle and has since been thinned out, some amazon swords, a Java Fern, some Java Moss, and an Anubias that I think is probably nana gold but am unsure. I used to have dwarf hairgrass in this tank, but the mystery snails kept uprooting it so I moved it and put the Anubias in its spot.

Not sure what I think of this one, honestly. I like it enough but am far from in love. I notice growth from the hornwort and a little from the Java moss, but not much from the other plants. I had hoped the gudgeon would like my rock cave on the right but it seemed too big for them so I added the pleco cave that's behind the anubias. The male really loves it. He's seems like he's paired pretty well with one of the females and has showed some breeding behavior. I do think there are eggs in the cave currently as he's hiding in there but it feels super unlikely that any fry would survive as I've decided to leave it to nature. 

One trouble that I've had with this tank is that there's something wrong with the java moss - it basically always has new growth that's nice and green, but the old growth turns brown and occasionally has some small algae-looking clumps. I've tried a couple things - first I tried Flourish thinking it was a nutrient deficiency, then I tried Flourish excel thinking that the algae-looking clumps might be the cause of the death, and then I even removed every bit of java moss, cut out any brown but or bit that might have algae and re-added it all. None of that helped. I thought maybe theres a specific nutrient that the hornwort is sapping up so I removed some of that and put some Easy Green in. Honestly, I'm stumped. My current plan is just to let it be and eventually replace it with some from another tank (that i got from a different source) once enough of it grows there. 

Tank 2 - 20 Gallon Long:

My second tank. This one has El Tigre Endlers, Neocaridia Shrimp, 2 Mystery Snails, and a bunch of ramshorn snails that snuck their way in. Plants are Susswassertang and Water Lettuce. Cholla Wood and leaf litter is in there for some extra stuff for the shrimp.

The inhabitants of this tank are thriving. I had originally put two trios of Endlers in and now have something like 30 fry, the oldest of which are starting to sex out.  The water lettuce has grown so prolifically I've been giving it away to locals as well as composting some. The mystery snails have set clutches, one of which i think may have popped, and the ramshorn are going nuts. My shrimp are lagging a bit behind, but they were very juvenile when I received them and I expect to see some berried females soon. One of the reasons I think I'm seeing such growth is that I'm feeding this tank quite a bit. I feel like I'm overfeeding but everything disappears within a couple minutes of being added. My nitrates are also almost nothing - I'm guessing the water lettuce going nuts is keeping the water quality pristine. 

I have minor worries about the snails in this tank - I have manually removed some ramshorns over time, but they continue multiplying. Baby mystery snails could add to the issue. My working theory is that eventually my shrimp colony will grow and with continued removal of snails they will eventually stabilize at more manageable levels. 

I do also have a gripe about my Shrimp. I ordered 15 of the cheapest Green shrimp I could find and that was a mistake. The shrimp I got are mostly yellowish and look fairly close to wild types. I decided to reverse-cull and moved the best 3 to another tank and figure this will be my cull tank in the future. 

Tank 3 - 10 Gallon:
I got this the same time as the next tank. I mostly copied the same plan as tank 2 as I have really enjoyed that one and am going similar on stocking - This tank has 3 Black Rose neocaridinas as well as a couple of pest snails that snuck in. The main difference is that in this tank I mainly have java moss and just a little susswassertang. The java moss is doing great here compared to Tank 1. It's growing thick and healthy looking green. I have some Blue Star Endlers on the way and plan to have this as another Shrimp/Endler tank. 


Tank 4:

Currently, this tank is home to a hillstream loach, the green neocaridinas I moved out of tank 2, and a few Malaysian trumpet snails. Current plants are dwarf hairgrass (relocated from tank 1),  Riccia, Bolbitis Fern, as well as some small patches of java moss and susswassertang - oh, and duckweed. I plan on moving the bolbitis and some of the riccia to future tanks so its kind of a storage container for them. 

This tank has had some problems. It used to home a number of CPDs that I had hoped to breed, but couldn't even keep alive. When I brought them home I noticed one looked sick, and it didn't survive the day. Others would die 1 at a time at night. I kept about a half a dozen at a time, which I think was too few without having other fish in the tank to make them comfortable. This led to them hiding and I dont know if they really even fed except on the couple of occasions I fed live baby brine shrimp. I also think I noticed one being aggressive at times, but only when I was at a distance because they'd hide when i was nearby. Anyway, there is a lone survivor and it's since been moved to tank 5. 

There's also the duckweed. After the CPD debacle, I ordered some plants - the bolbitis and the riccia. The seller of the riccia had warned me that she had duckweed in her tank with it, but I wasn't properly concerned. I dunked it in a bucket a few times when I got it and did a visual inspection and didn't see any. I learned later that there were some pretty thick groups of duckweed that were hiding out in the middle of clumps of riccia. I've been working on removing some every day and there is very little left. I'm hopeful that if I keep it up, I can eventually get it all. 

There's also algae on the glass of this tank. I'm not really bothered or surprised by it. I'm lacking the super fast growing plants like hornwort or water lettuce, and ive been blasting the light for the dwarf hairgrass, also figuring that if this happened the hillstream loach would have something to graze on.

Going forward, I plan to add some gold heterandria formosa. 



Tank 5 - 2.5 Gallon:
This tank is kind of a weird one. I have had it up and running and basically got it kinda mucky on purpose. I added some plant matter that wasn't doing so great and actually intentionally added duckweed I had taken from a puddle in my ravine. My thought was that this was going to be a tank for me to raise the CPD fry from my breeding project and wanted to encourage any and all infusora for them to munch on before they're big enough for baby brine shrimp. Now it's home to my lone CPD as well as a storage place for the rest of the bolbitis that I ordered. 

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That's all I've got going on for now, but I have a couple more tanks I am getting up and running. I plan on ordering Xenotoca Doadrioi from Select Aquactics and to breed those out as much as I can. I also recently found a local source that has Cauliflower Swordtails and was looking to breed those as well! Each species should take at least a couple tanks.

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Thanks for taking the time to read all my nonsense. Like I said, I'm new to fishkeeping so I would love to hear your advice or thoughts. 

Edited September 5, 2022 by lewk
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[CJs Aquatics]

This is amazing and welcome to the hobby. One of the most fascinating things about this post is watching the progression you went through from tank to tank. You can visually see things you clearly learned, and tried and it’s refreshing and brings back memories of my own. My only advice would be continue to enjoy things your doing, never stop trying new things. I guess if I were to offer any constructive criticism at all, it would be to almost specialize in what you like most. I did what it appears you did, (nothing wrong with it) I got some of everything bc I want it all. Looking back I wish I would have placed more focus on working with a few things, almost mastering them. I feel like it adds to the excitement and value within the hobby, but again nothing but praise coming from me, I’m impressed 

[lewk]

On 9/5/2022 at 1:36 AM, CJs Aquatics said:

This is amazing and welcome to the hobby. One of the most fascinating things about this post is watching the progression you went through from tank to tank. You can visually see things you clearly learned, and tried and it’s refreshing and brings back memories of my own. My only advice would be continue to enjoy things your doing, never stop trying new things. I guess if I were to offer any constructive criticism at all, it would be to almost specialize in what you like most. I did what it appears you did, (nothing wrong with it) I got some of everything bc I want it all. Looking back I wish I would have placed more focus on working with a few things, almost mastering them. I feel like it adds to the excitement and value within the hobby, but again nothing but praise coming from me, I’m impressed 

Thank for the praise and the advice! I do feel like I'm learning what I enjoy, which is part of why the fish I'm looking to get in the future are all livebearers. I was originally going to get Kubotai Rasboras rather than the Heteranria Formosa in tank 4, but my enjoyment of the Endlers convinced me to go with a more similar fish.

[CJs Aquatics]

Love livebearers 

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

You’ve really jumped in the deep end. I love it! Well done - you’re growing plants and keeping fish alive and breeding awesome. Enjoy every minute of it!

For the goodieds find the coldest spot in your fish room and/or house for them and they’ll love you forever. They’ll need more than 20 g though. 29 -40 would be the way to go.  Greg is a good guy. He’ll take good care of you. 

Crushed coral is your friend with livebearers. A little salt can go a long way. Not too hot - they live shorter lives above 78-80. Some amount  of spirulina is good for them. Max yields live and frozen foods along with good quality dry. 

Let us know how we can help you and enjoy!

[lewk]

On 9/8/2022 at 1:17 AM, Beardedbillygoat1975 said:

You’ve really jumped in the deep end. I love it! Well done - you’re growing plants and keeping fish alive and breeding awesome. Enjoy every minute of it!

For the goodieds find the coldest spot in your fish room and/or house for them and they’ll love you forever. They’ll need more than 20 g though. 29 -40 would be the way to go.  Greg is a good guy. He’ll take good care of you. 

Crushed coral is your friend with livebearers. A little salt can go a long way. Not too hot - they live shorter lives above 78-80. Some amount  of spirulina is good for them. Max yields live and frozen foods along with good quality dry. 

Let us know how we can help you and enjoy!

I definitely have a cool place picked out for the goodieds. Why do you say that the Doadrioi need a larger tank? My original email to Greg was inquiring about threatened species that I could keep in 10 gallon tanks and he recommended Xenotoca Doadrioi, among others, for that purpose. I will be placing the gravid females into a separate tank to birth their fry and for them to grow up, if that makes a difference.

I'm also curious about your recommendation for Crushed coral. Does it have major benefits other than buffering pH? 

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

I’d say if you are separating them you’ll be fine but if they were all together they’d need more space and cover to save the females from constant harassment. I’d always thought a 20 L was pushing it and a 40 b was ideal for a colony if well planted. 

Crushed coral is wonderful for pH, gH and kH as well as a home for beneficial bacteria as it has a lot of relative surface area for its size. It’s quite porous. 

[lewk]

On 9/10/2022 at 2:41 PM, Beardedbillygoat1975 said:

I’d say if you are separating them you’ll be fine but if they were all together they’d need more space and cover to save the females from constant harassment. I’d always thought a 20 L was pushing it and a 40 b was ideal for a colony if well planted. 

Crushed coral is wonderful for pH, gH and kH as well as a home for beneficial bacteria as it has a lot of relative surface area for its size. It’s quite porous. 

I'll look into something larger down the road, as well as thinning the colony from time to time by getting some of them out to other locals at fish swaps/auctions. 

I do have an update for Tank 3. My Blue Star Endlers arrived and already seem quite comfortable.

 

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

I like the blue stars. Those and the Japanese blues have a special place in my heart. 

[lewk]

Another update: Tank 4 is now home to the Gold variant of Heterandria Formosa. I thought they would be super shy but they acclimated almost instantly! I love these little dudes.