AllFishNoBrakes Posted October 13, 2022 Share Posted October 13, 2022 (edited) What up everyone?? The early part of my hobby was chronicled on Instagram, but I find myself using the forum more often than IG. At this point, I don’t even have IG on my phone, but I’m here everyday, so I figured this is just the natural evolution of documenting my tanks. Follow along if you’d like, feel free to comment/ask questions, and if you wanna see the early part of my hobby check out Instagram @allfishnobrakes. Let’s get it. Below is a picture of each of my tanks, what’s current stocked in that tank, what equipment is used, and if the tank isn’t complete I will share what I’d like to do to it in order to complete it. Tanks are listed in chronological order (for the most part). The majority of my tanks (unless otherwise noted) have Aquaneat full spectrum LED lights. The tank that started it all! In late June of 2020, the height of the pandemic, my girlfriend bought me a Carolina Reaper plant as an anniversary gift. Being the amateur scientist and tinkerer that I am, my only thought was “I’ve always wanted to try aquaponics. I wonder if I could grow this bad boy out of a fish tank?” And thus my fish keeping obsession began. This tank is still super fun, and my girlfriend takes care of pruning the garden. I do all the maintenance, and together we decide what we want to try to grow from it next. Currently, the garden bed on top is growing tomatoes, chives, strawberries, and flowers. Jalapeños have been one of the best things to come from this experiment, but we recently chopped down the jalapeño plants. I harvested some seeds from the last of the jalapeños and soon we will sprout new plants from those harvested seeds. This tank currently houses: 6 Gold Tetras, 4 Neon Tetras, 1 Ember Tetra (RIP the group that used to be in here), 1 Endler male, 2 female Guppies, and ~10 Endler/Guppy hybrid fry from the trio. I also have shrimp and snails in this tank. The Java Moss grows like a weed in this tank, and other than thinning that out when it’s an absolute jungle this tanks is mostly hands off. ~1 gallon evaporates per week, so that gets topped off instead of water changed, and I must use Easy Green at 3ml twice per week. Nano sponge filter is the only filtration besides what the plants up top uptake from the tank. The plants up top eat through a ridiculous amount of fertilizer each week, but it works and is fun to play with. The lights inside the tank are the stock LED’s that came with it, and an additional LED submersible bar. 3.7 gallon (almost) cube. Internal filtration with sponge and bio rings. A small pump in the back left behind the false wall powers everything. Home to 1 female Betta and 1 Nerite Snail. A couple bladder snails also reside in this tank. The Anubius tied to the rock is the second aquatic plant I ever tried. At time of purchase it was placed in the tank and hasn’t moved since. This tank gets a 1 gallon water change every 1-2 weeks. The light housed above the tank came with the kit when purchased. 29 gallon tank, and the first of my “big tanks”. Home to: 6 Albino Cories, 3 pairs of Praecox Rainbows, 1 pair Peacock Gudgeons, 10 Glowlight Tetras, and cull shrimp and snails galore. Coop medium sponge filter in the back left and a Tetra whisper internal filter in the top right. Spiderwood, Dragon Stone, a plethora of plants, and C02 in this tank. I’m proud that all the tiny Amazon Swords on the right hand side came off a runner from the first aquatic plant I every bought! It grew in this tank for ~2 years before it was moved to the tank next on the list about 4-5 weeks ago. This tank gets 10 gallon water change every 1-2 weeks. This tank holds a special place in my heart as it was one of the first, and has taken several forms over the years. Currently, I’d like to breed the Gudgeons and I’m looking to breed the Rainbows when they are old enough. This tank gets a 10 gallon water change every 1-2 weeks. 55 gallons. The first actual (kinda) big tank! It took a couple of years to get this tank where I want it, but currently is 99.98% complete as far as I’m concerned. Home to: 6 Angels (2 Marbled, 1 all black female, and 3 Pandas), 13 Albino Cories (that I hatched and raised), 20 Cardinal Tetras, and 2 Bristlenose Pleco’s. All the Angels I hatch and raise come from this tank. The massive Amazon Sword taking up the left 1/3 of the tank was the first plant I ever bought and was grown out in the 29 gallon above. This tank would be complete (to me) with a massive Dragon Stone in the left side. So close, yet so far. 1 large Coop sponge filter in the left, and a Fluval HOB in the top right. This 55 gallon has C02 as well. This tank produces the majority of the fish I breed (Angels) for store credit to keep my hobby flowing at a minimal price. This tank gets ~17 gallon water change every 1-2 weeks. The light above the tank with the black shade is to grow a Pothos out of the top of the 20 gallon tank next to this one. 20 gallon long. Home to: Red Cherry Shrimp, CPO crayfish (dwarf Mexican crayfish), and Ramshorn Snails. It’s fun to know that everything in this tank was “bred” by me. This started as a shrimp only tank, and after selling hundreds of shrimp I wanted to try the CPO’s. It’s been fun, but honestly this tank is just kind of there and does it’s own thing. No heater, and just a small Coop sponge filter. This tank gets minimal water changes. I siphon off the duckweed every 1-2 weeks, meaning it gets a 1-2 gallon water change every 1-2 weeks. Obviously, this tank holds the majority of my dry foods. Shout out to Xtreme! 20 gallon high. Currently home to: 3 pairs of Furcata Rainbows, 7 Julii Cories, and 2 Bolivian Rams. Small Coop sponge filter in the back left, and a Fluval HOB in the top right. This tank has taken many forms over the years, but I’m currently pretty happy with it. The Bolivian Rams would ideally be Black Rams, but I tried a couple of pairs and they all had problems. After feeling like I wasted a couple hundred bucks I switched to the Bolivian’s. The Bolivian’s do well, but I’m not sure I have a pair. I constantly think about switching out the Bolivian’s for some Blue’s or Black’s, but haven’t forced myself to try again. For now, I’m waiting on my Julii’s to breed, and when the Furcata’s are ready I want to attempt to breed them as well. This tank has a “mix your own” C02 generator and the plants crush in here. There is also a Pothos growing out of the top of this bad boy. This tank gets a 5 gallon water change every 1-2 weeks. 10 gallon tank. Currently home to: 9 Pygmy Cories, 1 African Dwarf Frog, Shrimp, and a ton of Ramshorn Snails. The Ramshorn become Puffer snacks in the tank next to this one. Dragon Stone and a few varieties of Anubius bring this tank together. I’d love to breed the Pygmy Cories, and I want to add a school of Chili Rasboras to this tank. This tank is in my bedroom and gets a lot of viewing time as it’s at the foot of my bed. 1 nano Coop sponge filter runs this tank. This tank gets a 3 gallon water change every 1-2 weeks. 29 gallon tank. This tank started as the “Platy Paradise” until I quickly got overrun (thanks to daily frozen BBS that I hatch myself) and I had to make a change. This tank currently houses 6 Pea Puffers and 2 male Platies that were born in this tank. The 2 Platies were the last of the fry I couldn’t catch, and I figured they wouldn’t survive anyways. Boy was I wrong! I literally never fed them as fry; they survived on microfauna until they could take down the blood worms I feed to the puffers daily. The Puffers and the Platies get along well; there’s no aggression and they swim around together. I think it’s because they all grew up together but who knows. All I know is it works and why fix what’s not broken. This tank has a large Coop sponge filter behind the big Dragon Stone (bad move, should’ve been a medium sponge) and a Tetra whisper internal filter in the top right (just like the 29 listed above). This tank also has a “mix your own” C02 generator. This bad boy gets a lot of viewing time as it’s in my bedroom. The Pea Puffers are fun. I’m hoping to breed them and have seen some breeding behaviors in the past week! This tank has also made me want to jump into bigger puffers, but I’m currently maxed out on tanks. One day! This tank gets a 10 gallon water change every 1-2 weeks. 55 gallon grow out tank. On the left is ~25-30 Kribensis. I learned a valuable lesson early on to not keep and grow out full spawns! I kept the full first 2 spawns from my breeding pair of Kribs and am still paying the price 1.5 years later. Still looking to move these guys. On the right I have 14 Panda Angels (from my 55 gallon) and some Platies I bred. Some of the Platies are INSANE and if I had the space and time for the 5-7 tanks necessary I would be starting my own strain. This tank is run by 2 medium Coop sponges (literally upgraded from small this week) and a cheapo HOB. The wall separating the Kribs from everything else is built from a fine aquarium sponge. Think of it as a matten filter without the flow. This tank proves that you don’t need lots of money or lots of equipment to grow and house LOTS of fish! This tank gets ~17 gallon water change every 1-2 weeks. 6 gallon Walstad cube. No filter and no fertilizer. Just a thin layer of dirt, a couple of fish, and a bad ass light (Fluval Nano)! Currently home to: a trio of CPD’s, 3 Amano shrimp, cull cherry shrimp, 2 Nerite Snails, Ramshorn snails, and bladder snails. This tank desperately needs a trim 😅. Definitely the “I’ll do it next week” and then never gets done tank. This tank has been fun, but I need to give it a trim and I want to add a pair of Sparkling Gourami’s. Not only cuz they’re awesome and I want to try to breed them, but because this tank currently has Hydra and I know they’ll eat them up. The last tank in my bedroom, and the last tank to come into the house. This tank gets a ~2 gallon water change every 1-2 weeks. A trio of 10 gallon tanks. Quarantine/grow out/whatever tanks. On the left I have my next batch of Angels growing up. Again, those came from my 55 gallon tank. In the middle I have a pair of Platies just keeping the tank cycled. On the right I have my breeding pair of Kribs. When the Kribs breed I pull the babies and they become a snack for the colony of Kribs in the 55 gallon grow out tank. All of these tanks are driven by small Coop sponge filters and 1 light is spread across all 3 tanks. These tanks get a 2.5-5 gallon water change every 1-2 weeks. Usually, all my tanks get a water change every week. However, sometimes life or my job gets in the way, so I’ll skip a week here and there and haven’t noticed any detrimental effects when that week is skipped. I keep community/planted tanks that I enjoy, and if/when the fish breed I enjoy trying to hatch the eggs and raise the fry. I am fortunate to have multiple LFS’s within 30-45 minutes around me that I work with when I have fish available for store credit. Welcome to my hobby! If you have any questions please go ahead and ask! I’m sure there’s some details I forgot and I love connecting with other Nerms! -AllFishNoBrakes Edited October 13, 2022 by AllFishNoBrakes 8 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSwissAquarist Posted October 13, 2022 Share Posted October 13, 2022 I love the look of your shrimp tank! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Minanora Posted October 13, 2022 Share Posted October 13, 2022 13 tanks from one gifted plant. Amazing! I look forward to seeing journal updates. I love all of the plants! Your breeding projects are really cool. It's amazing how profitable shrimp can be. Your 55 grow out is a really neat setup. I love the food collection on top of your invert tank! Do you have tanks in every room or just certain places? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllFishNoBrakes Posted October 13, 2022 Author Share Posted October 13, 2022 @TheSwissAquarist Thanks! Funny how it’s one of my least favorite tanks, lol. @Minanora The aquaponics tanks and the Betta cube are in the kitchen, the 20 high/55 Angel tank/20 long/29 gallon/quarantine is on a rack in the living room, the 6 gallon cube/10 gallon Pygmy Cory/29 Pea Puffer tanks are in my bedroom, and the 55 grow out is in the spare bedroom. Essentially they’re all over the house and shout out to my girlfriend letting me set all that up all over the place! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Minanora Posted October 13, 2022 Share Posted October 13, 2022 Awesome! My husband is not as into it. Lol! I would like to have a tank in every room. I'm down to 4 tanks and have my breeding projects on pause. Except my three stripe cories, husband loves them and wants them to breed. Those are his babies. He sits and feeds them every morning before work and when he's going to leave he tells me how many he saw this morning. 💚 Sharing hobbies with your partner is the best! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllFishNoBrakes Posted October 13, 2022 Author Share Posted October 13, 2022 @Minanora Lol, for sure. My girlfriend was basically like, “as long as I don’t have to do anything to them I don’t care what you do or how many you have”. Every once in a while she’ll help scrape some algae, but that’s always at her will and I never ask her to do so. She enjoys the tanks, but doesn’t enjoy them to the level that I do. The tetras in the aquaponics tank are basically hers. I do the water changes and she prunes the garden, but she likes all the tetra species and picked out what’s in that tank. Same with the Endler now that I think about it. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSwissAquarist Posted October 13, 2022 Share Posted October 13, 2022 On 10/13/2022 at 4:58 PM, AllFishNoBrakes said: @Minanora Lol, for sure. My girlfriend was basically like, “as long as I don’t have to do anything to them I don’t care what you do or how many you have”. Every once in a while she’ll help scrape some algae, but that’s always at her will and I never ask her to do so. She enjoys the tanks, but doesn’t enjoy them to the level that I do. The tetras in the aquaponics tank are basically hers. I do the water changes and she prunes the garden, but she likes all the tetra species and picked out what’s in that tank. Same with the Endler now that I think about it. Haha it’s kind of the same with me, my mum sees a nice guppy and says: that would look cool in your tank! (Hint: Get it so I still look favorably upon the aquariums!!!) 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guppysnail Posted October 13, 2022 Share Posted October 13, 2022 On 10/13/2022 at 10:58 AM, AllFishNoBrakes said: as long as I don’t have to do anything to them I don’t care what you do or how many you have” This is my husband to a T 🤣 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ogpulchra Posted October 13, 2022 Share Posted October 13, 2022 Are you a Channel 5 fan (All Gas No Brakes)? Ypu have beautiful tanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick_G Posted October 13, 2022 Share Posted October 13, 2022 They all look great and I really like the Walstad cube. It’s fun to see folks going no tech! You can’t argue with results, that tank looks spectacular. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllFishNoBrakes Posted October 13, 2022 Author Share Posted October 13, 2022 @Ogpulchra Ding ding ding! My girlfriend actually suggested the name when I made my IG and I was like, “it’s perfect!” Also, at the time I was going HARD on the tanks! It all made sense and has stuck since then. @Patrick_G Thanks! I probably could’ve gotten away with a much more low tech light, but figured I could invest in the light and it has all worked out. Here’s a pic from when I first set that tank up: 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anjum Posted October 14, 2022 Share Posted October 14, 2022 13 tanks in 2 years... amazing what a supportive partner can do for one's MTS 🤣 My husband only likes my tanks to the degree that they remain aesthetically placed in the house, which means I only have 3 😢 At least he's supportive of turning my shed/mini home into an epic jungle shed... soon, soon. Love all your stuff! #Goals 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllFishNoBrakes Posted October 14, 2022 Author Share Posted October 14, 2022 @Anjum Thanks! Ya, my girlfriend is a real one for sure. If I had more space and more time I’d have more, but I’m basically maxed out on both of those, lol. Best of luck with your fish shed! Sounds fun! 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Minanora Posted October 14, 2022 Share Posted October 14, 2022 On 10/13/2022 at 5:18 PM, Anjum said: 13 tanks in 2 years... amazing what a supportive partner can do for one's MTS 🤣 My husband only likes my tanks to the degree that they remain aesthetically placed in the house, which means I only have 3 😢 At least he's supportive of turning my shed/mini home into an epic jungle shed... soon, soon. Love all your stuff! #Goals This^ our husbands must be related. 🤣 I'm building a fish-she shed soon. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllFishNoBrakes Posted October 15, 2022 Author Share Posted October 15, 2022 An update on the latest Angel spawn. All black female with a male Panda. Seems like half have retained the Panda coloring, and the other half seem all black. Excited to see if the all blacks remain all black, or if they potentially get some different patterns from the Panda side as they grow. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PerceptivePesce Posted October 16, 2022 Share Posted October 16, 2022 Whoah! There are dwarf crawfish?! I may have to rethink the neocardinias... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllFishNoBrakes Posted October 16, 2022 Author Share Posted October 16, 2022 (edited) @PerceptivePesceYup, dwarf crayfish! They’ve been fun, but not sure I would do them again. Honestly they’re kinda just bigger shrimp, lol. When they were babies they looked exactly like shrimp. I wanna do a blue dream colony next. Edited October 16, 2022 by AllFishNoBrakes 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSwissAquarist Posted October 16, 2022 Share Posted October 16, 2022 On 10/16/2022 at 6:25 AM, AllFishNoBrakes said: @PerceptivePesceYup, dwarf crayfish! They’ve been fun, but not sure I would do them again. Honestly they’re kinda just bigger shrimp, lol. When they were babies they looked exactly like shrimp. I wanna do a blue dream colony next. The shrimplets and angel fry are very cute 😍 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSwissAquarist Posted October 16, 2022 Share Posted October 16, 2022 I thought dwarf crayfish hunted their offspring? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllFishNoBrakes Posted October 16, 2022 Author Share Posted October 16, 2022 @TheSwissAquaristI haven’t seen that with my own 2 eyes. The 4 I started with have since passed, but the 10-12 I currently have in the tank are all the babies from them. It’s entirely possible that some of them got eaten by the parents and I just didn’t see it. Just like most things, if they’re well fed there’s a much less chance of them eating things you don’t want them to. I was more worried about the shrimp when I first put the crayfish in there, but the shrimp population has held strong. The crayfish could absolutely decimate the snails if they wanted to, but even then they mostly leave them alone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllFishNoBrakes Posted October 20, 2022 Author Share Posted October 20, 2022 (edited) Took the lawnmower to the Walstad cube today, and whadya know, there’s actually aquatic animals in there! Was hard to tell before I gave the tank a big trim, lol. Still on the hunt for a pair of Sparkling Gourami’s to fill out this tank. Might up the CPD population as well, as it appears I’m down to a trio. Crazy that this tank is just shy of a year old Tomorrow I’ll be bagging up 40 some fish to take to the LFS on trade. Will FINALLY get the last of the Kribs I bred out of the grow out tank, as well as 14 Panda Angels all of to new homes. Looking for *maybe* some new hard scape, but for the first time I may just hang on to some credit instead of instantly blowing it. Shout out to my breeding Angels for keeping my hobby flowing at low to no cost. I’ll post pictures tomorrow of the fish off to find their new homes! Edited October 20, 2022 by AllFishNoBrakes 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSwissAquarist Posted October 20, 2022 Share Posted October 20, 2022 On 10/20/2022 at 3:47 AM, AllFishNoBrakes said: breeding Angels for keeping my hobby flowing at low to no cost. How many pairs do you have? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllFishNoBrakes Posted October 20, 2022 Author Share Posted October 20, 2022 (edited) @TheSwissAquarist I have 6 angelfish total, and they pair and breed as they like. I’ve had 3 pairs thus far. Marbled male with an all black female, Panda male/female, and now Panda male with the all black female that used to be with the Marbled guy. Scandalous, that female is. Considering I’m FINALLY offloading the last of my Kribs I’m thinking about using that space to make and then keep a Panda pair again. The Panda juveniles have a higher credit at the store than just a random pairing. I’m thinking about it; we’ll see if I go that route or not. Edited October 20, 2022 by AllFishNoBrakes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSwissAquarist Posted October 20, 2022 Share Posted October 20, 2022 I can see why you're called @AllFishNoBrakes; you have 7/14 ranks in less than two weeks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllFishNoBrakes Posted October 20, 2022 Author Share Posted October 20, 2022 @TheSwissAquarist Lol, the name fits for sure. I just like to help others where I can, and I like sharing what I’ve tried and what has worked for me over the last couple of years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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