AllFishNoBrakes’ Journal

[TeeJay]

On 3/14/2023 at 2:31 PM, AllFishNoBrakes said:

For sure! I’ll look at stuff for far too long and then I’ll go to my girl and say, “convince me to spend this $80”. And she does. And then I buy it, lol. I just have a hard time spending money on myself. 

Right and I dont always have alot of money to play around with. So I try and stock up on things like root tabs easy green and air supplies for at least 6 months at a time if I can I try and get a years at once.

[nabokovfan87]

On 3/14/2023 at 11:04 AM, TeeJay said:

Dude I do the same thing. For weeks if not months. Put this in the cart. Take that out of the cart. Get two of these. Take everything out and back in. Well I'm only 10 bucks away from free shipping. What else do I need. The struggle is real.

I would always add a plant or what not to get it to a certain $ threshold to be able to order.  The last few I've just said to myself to get what I need and only what I need.  (still always forget one thing).  But the shipping price is very, very reasonable.

[TeeJay]

On 3/14/2023 at 4:58 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

I would always add a plant or what not to get it to a certain $ threshold to be able to order.  The last few I've just said to myself to get what I need and only what I need.  (still always forget one thing).  But the shipping price is very, very reasonable.

Oh yes even if you don't hit the free shipping mark 5 bucks is really dirt cheap for shipping the last couple orders I put in were like that

 

[AllFishNoBrakes]

Sup, Nerms? It’s Wednesday again. 
 

Water changed every single tank in the house today and I’m trying to make it a better habit to reset the air stones every week. New habits take time, but gonna try to make that the new norm. 
 

Massively trimmed back all the Swords, and planted 6 new baby Amazon Swords. I chopped off the runners, chopped the plants off the runners, and into the substrate they went. Also threw some root tabs down for a few plants. Took a bunch of dwarf water lettuce out of that same tank and also trimmed off the Jungle Val ends that were dying off. 
 

With all of that trimming, removal of dead plant matter, and removal of all the floating plants I actually like the new ACO light more than I thought initially. Yes, it’s still more yellow than I’m used to, but getting rid of all the excess yellow plant matter makes the light look so much better in that tank. Thankful that I’m liking the most expensive product I’ve ever bought from them more. 
 

Also saw a tiny Pygmy Cory in that tank so that’s rad! It’s been a good day of maintenance. 

Trimmed up the swords and replanted the little ones in front. I’m glad I’m starting to like this light more.

Also massively trimmed the Sword in the back of this tank. Female Furcata’s are starting to fall apart. I’ve seen other Furcata’s at other fish stores that are much smaller than when I got mine. I truly think they’re just pretty old. 

Praecox Rainbows were looking nice. That spawning mop was originally made for them, but there’s a ton of shrimp in this tank now. All over the plants, and tons of them in the mop. Wasn’t the original intent, but I dig it. Need to polish water in this tank a little bit but other than that it’s just cruising right along.

Edited March 16, 2023 by AllFishNoBrakes

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 3/16/2023 at 4:09 AM, AllFishNoBrakes said:

Also massively trimmed the Sword in the back of this tank. Female Furcata’s are starting to fall apart. I’ve seen other Furcata’s at other fish stores that are much

Furcata and Luminatus sort of last two years before passing. Someone mentioned that Gary Lange doesn’t bother with them because they don’t last long. 😂

[AllFishNoBrakes]

On 3/16/2023 at 12:22 AM, TheSwissAquarist said:

Furcata and Luminatus sort of last two years before passing.

For sure. I knew they had approximately a 2 year lifespan, I just didn’t realize how old they were when I brought them home until I saw much younger Furcata’s at different fish stores. You live and you learn. Just means I’ll get to do something else in that tank in the near future 

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 3/16/2023 at 5:12 PM, AllFishNoBrakes said:

Just means I’ll get to do something else in that tank in the near future 

Killifish ? More Panda angels?

 

[AllFishNoBrakes]

@TheSwissAquarist It’s a 20 gallon high that currently has some Julii Cory’s and 2 Bolivian Rams. Maybe some kind of Tetra, Maybe Cherry Barbs. Idk yet; we’ll see when the Furcata’s are gone 

[AllFishNoBrakes]

The first step to the 20 gallon long conversion is complete!

The lid is cut, the gooseneck lights are installed, and step #1 is done. 
-Step #2 is hitting up the LFS and seeing if they’ll take my CPO’s. My girlfriend really wants me to hold onto a couple of them, but I really don’t know what tank they’d thrive in. I’m tempted to just trade them all off 

-Step #3; once all the CPO’s are gone I can move out 1/2 the snails and 1/2 the shrimp. No problem moving those guys around. 
-Step #4 is siphoning out the years worth of shrimp and snail poop. Not going for a sterile clean, but a clean of the sand would be preferred. 

-Step #5 is to rearrange the hardscape. I’ve been soaking 2 pieces of wood for a month at this point and I’m excited to get it how I want it. 
-Step #6 is to remove all the Duckweed and the Dwarf Water Lettuce as I don’t believe they’ll be necessary in a blackwater setup.

-Step #7 is to start adding botanicals. I plan on boiling a handful of Indian Almond Leaves and 1 Lotus Pod. Lotus Pods are dope and I can’t wait to add these botanicals! I’m gonna boil down the liquid/tea and save it in a water bottle for water changes.

-Step #8 is to start adding fish! I imagine 24 Chili Rasboras and 12 Green Neons in this blackwater setup. I’ll add the Chili’s 12 at a time after quarantine and 6 Green Neons per round (or all 12, we’ll see how it plays out)

-Step #9 is to sit back, relax, and watch the fruits of my labor pay off. I’m so excited to have something new to play with and can’t wait for the next step in my fishkeeping journey!

Here’s to the future my friends. I’m stoked to have step 1 done of the many steps to come! Thanks for rocking and rolling with me. I’m excited to play with some new things!

@nabokovfan87 you’re too quick my dude! I couldn’t even finish editing this post before you reacted to it, lol. Appreciate you!

Edited March 20, 2023 by AllFishNoBrakes

[nabokovfan87]

On 3/19/2023 at 8:32 PM, AllFishNoBrakes said:

@nabokovfan87 you’re too quick my dude! I couldn’t even finish editing this post before you reacted to it, lol. Appreciate you!

LOL

I was writing the filter stuff and saw the notification.  I'll count to 10 next time 😂

I'm in the middle of fixing my own setup. Dying to move everything today, but forcing myself to take my time.

Decisions decisions..... how to solve the riddles.
 

[AllFishNoBrakes]

On 3/19/2023 at 10:44 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

I'm in the middle of fixing my own setup. Dying to move everything today, but forcing myself to take my time.

This is exactly where I’ve been for a hot minute. I’m putting it in motion now, though. Got the lights switched out, hit up the LFS about the CPO’s, gonna remove floating plants this week, and really start getting this thing ready to become a blackwater set up. 

[AllFishNoBrakes]

It’s Wednesday, Nerms. You know what that means!

Water changed and reset the air stones today on everything but the counter top 2.5 gallons. Resetting the air stones has been a pretty easy habit to build. Basically, I just have less down time while draining a tank but that’s cool with me. Makes the time go by a little quicker in my opinion. 
 

A couple pics I snapped today:

Albino Cory straight chillin’ while the 55 was refilling.

Bristlenose male looking majestic. He was up by the front of the glass and didn’t immediately swim away and hide in his cave at the first sight of the camera. He let me snap a couple of pics, and then retreated to his cave, lol.

Got the gooseneck lights on the 20 long and all the floating plants removed. A few pieces of duckweed remain, but we’ll work on that weekly as this tank evolves. This was the fourth tank I set up about 3 years ago and I’m excited for the next phase of this tank and my hobby.  
 

LFS is down to take all my CPO’s at $3/each. 25% what they’re gonna sell them for, but I’m happy with that. At this point I hit up the LFS with what I have available and they always take it with store credit so it all works out and I want to maintain that relationship. I like knowing before the email is sent that they want my stock and they’re gonna give me credit. 
 

Tomorrow morning I’m going to wake up, and start collecting the CPO’s. I have 15-18 to trade. I also have 2 berried females that I’m going to keep. I plan to move them to the 55 with the 2 coconut huts with the hope that they hatch those eggs, and I can grow out some more CPO’s for future store credit. We’ll see how it goes. 
 

Once the CPO’s are dropped off at the fish store I plan to siphon as much mulm off the top of the sand as I can. Once that’s done, I plan to remove the Guppy Grass, and finally add the new wood that’s been soaking for a month now! 
 

Once the wood is in, I may boil some Indian Almond Leaves and other botanicals to start the blackwater process. We’ll see. I may save that for next week when I’m on vacation. 
 

I also need to move the majority of the snails as I don’t believe they’ll survive a blackwater environment, but I want to leave a few to see what happens. I’ll probably move about half the shrimp as well. Again, I want to see what happens. There’s also some baby CPO’s that I won’t be able to trade. I’ll move all of those that I can for proof of concept of the babies surviving in the 55, but I’m sure there will be a couple that I miss, so, for the third time I’m excited to see if they can survive the shift in the environment. 
 

I plan to let the tank season with botanicals as long as it needs to before I bring in the Chili Rasboras and Green Neon Tetras. I’m also balancing the Bristlenose fry, Cory fry, more Cory fry, and the next batch of Panda Angels on top of needing to quarantine any new fish that are brought into the house. It’s gonna be a giant puzzle to pull this all off, but I’m excited to close the shrimp tank chapter and open the blackwater chapter. 
 

Cheers, Nerms. Here’s to something new!

Edited March 23, 2023 by AllFishNoBrakes

[AllFishNoBrakes]

There’s no going back now! The blackwater conversion has reached a major milestone. 
 

This morning I bagged up 15 CPO’s for the LFS. The two berried females got moved to the grow out tank with a coconut hut each, the shrimp hut, and all the Guppy Grass from their original tank. I’m hopeful (but not holding my breath) that they’ll hatch out a batch each and I can raise some up to trade to the LFS one last time. Time will tell!

 

The last shot of this chapter of the tank.

 

The first shot of the new setup. This was just after the water change so still lots of mulm in the water column and full intensity on the lights. 
 

I boiled up some Indian Almond Leaves, 1 Lotus Pod, and 2 other botanicals from the box. 5 minute boil, cooled everything down, saved the tea and dechlorinated it, and then botanicals went into the tank. 
 

This is where we sit right now. Most of the Almond Leaves sank, but the Lotus Pod and other botanicals are still floating. That’s alright though, I got nothing but time. 
 

I’m excited to see how much tannins comes out of this batch, especially with the boil. I wanted to have some tea so I can (hopefully) match/mimic water conditions for water changes, and I’m not looking to just flood the system with tannins from day 1. I want to see how the shrimp and snails do, and again this is all a process, I have the time, and I look forward to learning. 
 

I also turned the lights down like 7 clicks. The picture makes it look way brighter than it does in person. I like the dramatic affect, I don’t want a ton of algae, and I can always turn up the light as the tank darkens. 
 

The future is NOW, my friends. Cheers!

Edited March 24, 2023 by AllFishNoBrakes

[nabokovfan87]

Kind of crazy and awesome how many of us are working on new tanks (or jars).

[AllFishNoBrakes]

@nabokovfan87 that’s why we’re all here! Just a bunch of fish nerds hanging out, doing cool stuff, and helping out where we can. I wish I was setting up some outdoor ponds. One day. One day…

Edited March 24, 2023 by AllFishNoBrakes

[nabokovfan87]

On 3/23/2023 at 10:01 PM, AllFishNoBrakes said:

I wish I was setting up some outdoor ponds. One day. One day…

I thought about burying a pretty tall rubbermaid trashcan yesterday.  Should be deep enough for winter?

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 3/23/2023 at 11:06 PM, AllFishNoBrakes said:

floating

This is where a plant weight comes in handy.

[AllFishNoBrakes]

On 3/24/2023 at 1:59 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

I thought about burying a pretty tall rubbermaid trashcan yesterday.  Should be deep enough for winter?

I would assume so, but I also have no idea where you live and what your winters are like. Just make sure you do White Clouds, Cherry Shrimp, and a glass top 😉

 

On 3/24/2023 at 6:52 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

This is where a plant weight comes in handy.

For sure! I’m gonna strategically place the Lotus Pod once it sinks cuz I think they look dope. From here on out though, I’m just gonna toss stuff in there. Where it lands when it sinks is where it lands. Nature doesn’t bust out her tongs and strategically place things. 

[nabokovfan87]

On 3/24/2023 at 8:43 AM, AllFishNoBrakes said:

I would assume so, but I also have no idea where you live and what your winters are like. Just make sure you do White Clouds, Cherry Shrimp, and a glass top 😉

Definitely would be a black rice fish tub! (Southern California, US)

The biggest concern is dealing with the dust, bright sun, heat, cold, and then the crazy winds. 60-100MPH pretty often.

(At least that's what it feels like some days.)

[AllFishNoBrakes]

On 3/24/2023 at 11:31 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

Definitely would be a black rice fish tub! (Southern California, US)

Nice! If I was to do a tub I would want to try rice fish as well. I’m in CO so I would definitely have to bring them in when the season is over. 
 

One day when I own a home I’ll have ponds in the backyard. 

[nabokovfan87]

On 3/24/2023 at 10:42 AM, AllFishNoBrakes said:

One day when I own a home I’ll have ponds in the backyard. 

Yeah, I need a barb pond one day.

Cory's was extremely nice at the old house. Really well built and looked great.

[AllFishNoBrakes]

A little over 24 hours later and we have some tint to the water!

So far I’m really diggin’ it and I’m excited to continue to watch this tank progress and play with some fish in their natural environment. 
 

A tank over we have some algae pearling:

My dirted cube pearls constantly, and I’ve heard that algae can pearl, but I’ve never seen it until today. 
 

Cheers to the weekend (if you have it off) and extra cheers to me taking time away from work next week! Let’s gooooooooooo!

Edited March 25, 2023 by AllFishNoBrakes

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 3/25/2023 at 3:05 AM, AllFishNoBrakes said:

A little over 24 hours later and we have some tint to the water!

So far I’m really diggin’ it and I’m excited to continue to watch this tank progress and play with some fish in their natural environment. 
 

A tank over we have some algae pearling:

My dirted cube pearls constantly, and I’ve heard that algae can pearl, but I’ve never seen it until today. 
 

Cheers to the weekend (if you have it off) and extra cheers to me taking time away from work next week! Let’s gooooooooooo!

That color in the tank is great!!! What are the ‘some fish’ going to be??😁 

**Cough cough Amazon puffer tetra arapaima cough cough **

[AllFishNoBrakes]

On 3/25/2023 at 10:17 AM, TheSwissAquarist said:

What are the ‘some fish’ going to be??😁 

Right now the plan is 24 Chili Rasboras and 12 Green Neon Tetras 

[AllFishNoBrakes]

What up what up?!

If you’re a Resident Evil fan and you’re NOT playing RE4R idk what you’re doing this week! That game is absolutely incredible. It has all the nostalgia of the old game where I know what’s coming next, but the world is tweaked just enough that it feels like a whole new experience. Simply fantastic. 10/10 recommend. Now, onto the fish. 
 

The Furcata Rainbow chapter has officially come to an end. I knew they were a species that lived relatively short lives, but I really didn’t see it coming. I know now that they were older than I initially thought when I got them as I’ve seen them in other fish stores much smaller. I should’ve bred them when I had the chance! One-by-one they just started… dying. They’d be fine the night before, and the next morning they’d be squirming upside down on the bottom. It’s a shame, but it just opens up that tank to try something new. I’m thinking Cherry Barbs, but we’ll see what happens. 
 

It has been a while since I uploaded pics of multiple tanks, so here we go:

Did the first water change on the blackwater tank. I’d say we got some tannins in there!

Added a couple more full, smaller leaves, and tore up a couple more big ones yesterday prior to the water change today. Lotus Pod is still floating, but it’ll sink eventually. Really enjoying the look of this tank and it will only get better with time. Once I find a couple nice Anubius’ they’ll go in here and will be the only plants. Felt weird not fertilizing this tank today, but really enjoying it so far.

29 gallon cruising right along. The PSO need to be trimmed but other than that it’s just doing its thing.

55 gallon Angel tank with the ACO light. Super glad I started enjoying this light more. Still love this tank and can’t wait to see all the baby Swords start to grow up.

20 gallon that used to hold the Furcata’s. Still has the 2 Bolivian Rams and the 7 Julii Cory’s. All of these fish just hide all the time.

10 gallon in the bedroom. I’ve seen a couple more tiny Pygmy Cory’s! Apparently a couple have survived. Heck ya. 

29 gallon Pea Puffer tank. Siphoned out most of the mulm that was sitting on the black sand. I’ll never buy sand for a tank ever again.

55 gallon grow out. Hard to tell, but there’s like 70ish Panda Angels in here. They all swam to the top when they saw me as they thought it was dinner time. Massive chunk of Guppy Grass on the right side that came out of the 20 long. Maybe the LFS will take some…

Panda Angel parents on the other side of the wall chillin. Bristlenose in here still doing well, too.

Harvested Brine Shrimp today, too! Big day of fish keeping. 
 

I have an empty 10 gallon tank that I’m gonna move the baby Angel’s and Julii Cory’s into to grow out. Then, I can take down the (2) 2.5 gallon tanks on the counter. I really need to finish growing out some fish and trading them off before I breed anything else! Gotta move some Panda Angels and Chocolate Bristlenoses to open up some space to quarantine some new fish. Here’s what I’m thinking:

A) 6 or 8 Cherry Barbs for the 20 gallon high to replace the Furcatas

B) 24 Chili Rasboras and 12 Green Neon Tetras for the blackwater tank. I’ll probably do 12 Chili’s at a time and then the 12 Green Neons. 3 rounds of quarantine to stock the blackwater tank. Maybe 2 if I do all the chili’s at once. We’ll see. Can’t decide if I want to start stocking this tank first or get the Cherry Barbs for the 20. Probably just depends what the LFS has at the time. A different LFS has Chili’s and Green Neons pretty regularly, but I don’t have any credit there. Decisions, decisions…

C) Expand the CPD population in the 6 gallon cube back to 6 or 8. I started with 6, didn’t medicate them as they were gonna be the only fish in that tank, and I’ve paid the price for that. I have one solo guy left, and I’m sure he’d like some friends. 
 

Simply gotta grow out and trade some fish to open up some space. Man, this hobby is so fun and the choices are limitless. Hope you’re having a good week my friends!

Edited March 30, 2023 by AllFishNoBrakes