Return of the Hobbyist: A Fishkeeper's Journey

[Shadow]

Fishkeeping, a hobby I once enjoyed as a child and young adult that gave way to adulting, being a father and well...life. Now that my only child has grown, graduated university and started her adult life, I have found more time(AND MONEY) on my hands. Saving, of course, is always a thing for later in life, but what about my mad money?(Yes, I am lucky enough to have some in this crazy economical world we are living in believe it or not!) Well, during COVID I got into watching A LOT of YouTube to kill the time as I was at the end of my 23 year career as a chef in New Orleans, back home on the Gulf Coast of Alabama and doing nothing but walking beach line collecting driftwood(reselling).

 

One of the channels I got into was Cory and Dean on Aquarium Co Op, amongst a couple other channels I adore like MD Fish Tanks & Dan's Fish. In watching these Youtubers I learned a lot with the interest of getting back into it once I had the time and money. Fast forward 3 years and a complete 180 in my career choices as I joined the United States Postal Service, needless to say I have worked and saved a ton. I decided besides a couple vacations I have wanted to take, I would begin fishkeeping again. 

 

My first tank purchase was a Lifegard 10g Rimless, of course my plan was to go planted and have a nice tank to enjoy. Here's the breakdown so far of what is in the tank...

Substrate: Fluval Stratum(in 4 small media bags...regretting this as its hard AF to plant into...think they aren't the right bags) with top layer light aquarium sand and small pebble mix. 

Feature pieces: Dragon Stone and Lava Rock purchased raw, cleaned heavily before adding. 

Plants(so far...): Alternanthera Reineckii "Variegated", Bacopa caroliniana 'Yellow flame', Dwarf Chain Sword (Echinodorus tenellus), Valisnaria Spiralis Italian and Java Moss. (ON WAY to still be planted): Hornwart Coontail for the top of my tanks(for the holding tank(s) for fry) and Rotala Rotundifolia "Red" Hardy Aquarium Plant. 

Filter: Fluval Aquaclear 30 with Ammonia Reduction and Crushed Coral(some crushed coral in substrate) plus a sponge filter I am seeding for holding tank for pregnant ladies. 

Lighting: Fluval Aquasky with personalized settings based on my sleep schedule lol

Livestock: (Currently)3x Albino Yellow King Cobra Guppies(2 females/1 male...both females pregnant currently est 7 days gestation), 10 fire red neocaridinas & 5 purple mystery snails. (On way) 3x Blue Dragon Guppies(2 females, 1 male...thinking I might get some cool hybrids from the two types until I separate them in a few weeks to their own tank), 10 more Blue Dream shrimp & 4x Gold Laser Corys(unsexed & very young...holding them for  another tank later on). 

Results so far have been pH drop, thanks to advice in here I realized even though my tap water runs a pH of 7.4ish the Fluval Stratum substrate dropped pH to 6.6 range...added crushed coral and wonder shell to help with that, minerals needed for livestock. As so surprise since the tank is cycling, I have had daily spikes in ammonia but not much really at all in nitrites/nitrates. I have combatted this by doing daily water changes of 20% which keeps it minimal at best. 

 

Anyways, hope you all enjoy my progress. Will update as I go along! 🙂 

 

P.S. Sorry for photo quality on guppies...they are nonstop little buggers lol. If you have any advice or suggestions, feel free to drop em! I am documenting this on video some as well to put on YouTube eventually, although I am nervous lol. Thanks!! 

Check this out to help me which my parameters, any help would be appreciated!>> Low pH in new planted tank

Edited February 23, 2023 by Shadow

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

Wonderful start and great story! 

Unless until you get a camera with a super fast shutter or you are just super patient and snap a million pics and get the ONE time they pause on camera this is how pics of guppies look! 

[JJenna]

Beautiful work! The scarlet temple and rotala add such a nice pop of red! Your dragonstone looks layered. Can't wait to see more. 

[Shadow]

On 2/22/2023 at 10:36 AM, JJenna said:

Beautiful work! The scarlet temple and rotala add such a nice pop of red! Your dragonstone looks layered. Can't wait to see more. 

Yea its why I got just a little more as I want the pops of red in those areas to be a nice highlight. I love dragonstone...will be hard not to use it often, its just so unique and cool looking. 

[Shadow]

Well I got my 3 other guppies in today...was a nice surprise as it was my last day off taking a little personal staycay time. Blue Dragon Guppies...2 females, 1 male. They are so awesome looking!! Acclimated well and very happy lil fish. 🙂

 

[Shadow]

Back to work today...so got up an half hour early to make sure to keep up with my water changes until I get the aquariums parameters in check. New aquarium pains while it cycles, slight nitrite/nitrate readings and some low ammonia spikes but even with additions of 3 guppies yesterday along with shrimp today, everyone seems happy and healthy. Trying to keep minimal feedings as well until I get things with low spikes settled. Lost 1 shrimp that came in today, not sure if it was in shipping or due to shock. The rest all look well. Got the last few plants in I was waiting on and had a small meltdown trying to plant next to some other plants in a near full tank all while knocking a couple plants loose. All in all, bit headache day but the tank is looking nearly there and also found out the bid on my new home was accepted...so all in all good day. I finally will have a fish room soon. 🙂

[Shadow]

Tank is fully stocked as I have wanted it now. Gold Laser Corys came in yesterday and took some adjusting but are doing well now, schooling and dive bombing as they adjust to their new surroundings. Added a few more red plants, Rotula Rotundifolia "Red" and some Dwarven Hair Grass. Tank is getting close to cycling I believe as my ammonia and nitrite spikes have been very minimal, 0.25 readings on both after water change today. Now I await the stuff for my next 10 gallon project and my last until my big move to the new home AND NEW FISH ROOM. 

 

Going to put a black back on this so you do not see the cords and the aquascape/fish pop more. Here's a quick update pic! 

[Shadow]

UPDATE: 

 

LONG week at the Post Office combined with endless showings of my home for sale and an Open House today, I am pooped. Mornings consist of wake up, water change, clean house, go to work, come home, eat, sleep...RINSE/REPEAT. Can't wait to get into the new home though, as I am excited about what is to come for my office/fish room. New tank is near cycled I believe, but definitely been a pain to keep the numbers in check as I believe its heavily stocked for a small tank. Might back off my numbers for livestock on next builds. I do really love how everything in this tank cohabitates though. Plants look to be thriving and sprouting new tops, etc. Fish seem happy and all of my female guppies surprise surprise are pregnant. So should be a fun month!! 

 

Hope all reading this is well and will update soon!! 

[Shadow]

Hey hey everyone! Just a quick update! The tank is doing well. Parameters are finally starting to level out to where my daily water changes might finally end soon. All the parameters are great bar a slight issue with lower pH, which I just refreshed the cc yesterday so its starting to help raise it. All my livestock are doing well. I did lose one of the last Blue Dragon Guppy females that had an issue in shipping. She started to noticeably have fin rot starting and before I could isolate/medicate her, she succumbed. All the other fish and livestock are super healthy, thriving. That happened about a week or so ago I think now. All the neo shrimp are getting bigger, found a few molts floating around in the tank flow. My purple snails are insanely huge...two of them at least. As big as large marble at least or a quarter maybe. My other female guppies, the two albino yellow king cobras and the one blue dragon are all HUGE pregnant. The furthest along you can actually see the fry starting to really form as they are practically translucent. The life of the tank tho is the Gold Laser Corys...they school then separately perform divebombs as they swim about the tank. I love this tank and def am having a lot of fun getting back into the hobby. What's the most impressive is the plant grown in this little tank!! Posting a pic below so you all can see the difference from then to now...RIP a few of the red plants in the front right corner as the Corys kept digging them up sifting at the bottom lol. 

 

Also, I move into my new home next month. Once I get there I have a room for an office/fish room, which I will fully document my journey there as well. Including the creation of my koi pond in the back garden. 🙂 

Edited March 12, 2023 by Shadow

[Shadow]

Well....we've got fry! A fry at least. 😂 The largest female still looks big and is swimming around but there def is a lil fry hanging at the top of the tank in the plants. Fed some fry powder tonight with their other food so it could eat. Let's see if it will survive or be a meal for one of the adults. 

[nabokovfan87]

On 3/12/2023 at 2:27 PM, Shadow said:

The life of the tank tho is the Gold Laser Corys...they school then separately perform divebombs as they swim about the tank.

@Lennie has a vid of his sterbais doing this or doing something different. If you ever get a chance record the lasers doing there thing, I would love to see it.

Here's mine doing it at night or early morning.

 

Same week:

 

[Shadow]

@nabokovfan87 I will get some videos of them for sure...they are a trip when they get going. The runt of the four loves the flow from the powerhead and will do laps off n on throughout the day. 

[nabokovfan87]

On 3/16/2023 at 5:03 PM, Shadow said:

@nabokovfan87 I will get some videos of them for sure...they are a trip when they get going. The runt of the four loves the flow from the powerhead and will do laps off n on throughout the day. 

I planted some moss in the substrate, watched one of the adults today just do a full nosedive for a minute or two today.  I guess they like the choice.  They've been bonkers! So many plants getting tossed up.  Looking forward to it.

[PineSong]

It's a fun stage to be in--new tank, new fry, new fishroom coming up. Glad you are getting to enjoy it again!

[Shadow]

On 3/16/2023 at 7:19 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

I planted some moss in the substrate, watched one of the adults today just do a full nosedive for a minute or two today.  I guess they like the choice.  They've been bonkers! So many plants getting tossed up.  Looking forward to it.

So I have some videos of them, I can't catch them dive bomb...every time the camera is on, they don't do it. I see them get going, they do it like 5x and I get the camera...the stop. 🙃 Will try to learn DaVinci Resolve and put together a small VOD of the clips I took of them. You can see my other fish a bit too. Will try to do it today and post later. 🙂

 

[Shadow]

On 3/17/2023 at 10:35 AM, PineSong said:

It's a fun stage to be in--new tank, new fry, new fishroom coming up. Glad you are getting to enjoy it again!

Yea, anxious as all get out about moving the tank/fish as I have new fry which may or may not make it 3 weeks until we move. I got a nano tank to move them to grow out later this week if any remain. Preparing for the move in general and sale of my home has been smooth so far but still a couple more boxes to check before the full pack starts. Pretty exciting though that I have a new office area and fish room! Already picked the perfect room nearest a exterior water hose where I will prob install a RO system and tank for holding water change water. Got so many projects down in my project book to share with everyone, I am super excited! If I can learn editing software properly, I plan to start posting videos of my journey on YT...will share them here as well. 

 

Anyways, will drop a video of the current tank later on hopefully! Thanks everyone for the positive remarks and welcoming me back to the hobby. @Cory & everyone at Aquarium Co Op are a real reason I am back. Being a member on YT and the talks that are held weekly plus Cory's podcasts have given me so much information to digest, help me along, it's been amazing! BUT, the real reason of my success has been you all and the community here helping me with all my concerns. Cheers for that!! 

[nabokovfan87]

On 3/19/2023 at 5:51 AM, Shadow said:

Will try to do it today and post later. 🙂

ORD very exciting! If you need help with the editing please feel free to send me a DM.

[Shadow]

On 3/19/2023 at 11:27 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

ORD very exciting! If you need help with the editing please feel free to send me a DM.

Luckily, I am the co creator/manager of a former esports team so I have loads of content creators in gaming to harass so I am not bugging you all the time! 😂 My close friend is a visual master and has a top YT channel for travel vlogs, so he put me onto DaVinci Resolve...super easy with YT to start. I did a quick edit of some clips I took with my phone and a little surprise at the end. Hopefully its an ok job...I will get better, I PROMISE!(More of my journey to come on there if you all would like to subscribe! 🙂 )

 

[Shadow]

Well we have more fry! This evening my Blue Dragon Guppy female dropped prob 10-15 fry...pretty exciting. Just hope I can save them in the move, but we shall see. Just a couple more weeks until my move to the new, BIGGER home! 🙂 

[Shadow]

So...fry galore still. Adults seem uninterested with them, likely as they are well fed. Currently, last count, I have 23 fry. 20 Blue Dragons and 3 Albino Yellow King Cobras. Now to figure out the process of trying to move them with everything else in a couple weeks time. Tank has really grown in well, water parameters are spot on with 20% water changes every week or just under. Corys are still the life of the party, but not taking away from them the plants have just exploded. From first planting to now they are HUGE! Snails have gotten quite big as well, will probably have to move some to other tanks at some point. I cannot get an accurate count on both types of shrimp in there as the overgrowth with plants tends to hide them everywhere. Its like Where's Waldo but with Neocaridina Shrimp instead. 😂 All in all I am happy with what I did, now to tear it all down in 2 weeks time and restart...this time with a 20 gal! Yea, I have decided to expand their playground as this will be my bedroom tank. 🥰 Can't wait to share the journey with you all! Thanks again for the support!

[PineSong]

The video was charming— the corydora ballet!

[Shadow]

On 3/28/2023 at 10:11 PM, PineSong said:

The video was charming— the corydora ballet!

Ty so much for the complement! The Corys are a mess quite often! 😂 Just bought a Sony EV-10 camera for when I get moved...plan on doing some more long form stuff with the tanks, fish room, etc. 🙂 

Edited March 29, 2023 by Shadow

[nabokovfan87]

On 3/28/2023 at 8:16 PM, Shadow said:

The Corys are a mess quite often! 😂

Lol.  Very true, but gotta love em 🙂

Nice camera! excited to hear about it.  I have a sony phone I use.

 

[Shadow]

So here it is...the night before marking 1 week until my move. I am still not convinced that the two Albino girlies, one is still pregnant. Just not sure which one. At one point there were 4 Albino fry, there seems to be only one that has survived before all the Blue Dragon one were born. Think I have slightly overfed the tank as I saw one of those weird worm things on the glass, but got it. Checked around the tank, no more that I see. Changed the water last week on Thursday but might tomorrow night since the plants are so big and taking over the top of the tank. I would trim them, but since I move in a week...I will just trim then and use trimmings when I move.

 

I decided as well to move my current fish to a much larger tank(double the size...20 gal) and change the landscape of it slightly. I researched by watching one of the latest talks on the Co Op Members section on Corys, as well as reading a bit of literature, that Corys prefer lighter sands and smooth rocky bottoms. Any wood or rock features should be smoother, as well as substrates, to not harm their barbels. So I will be using some new driftwood pieces I got recently(going to boil and soak to remove tannins), some new river stones and adding some new plants I got recently(Hygrophila Pinnatifida, Hemisgraphis Exotica, & Cryptocoryne Balansae). I also bought a small canister filter, some nice stainless lily pipes and plan to run that plus a Co Op sponge filter. I will put the one Albino fry into the tank with the other fry to try to get some cool looking mutt guppies from all the fry from these first ones. Hoping for a Albino Blue Dragon(wonder how cool they look 🤯) or something else neat. Plan to make that my first tank video. 🙂 

 

Found out my water parameters are different at the new place...6.4 pH as compared to 7.2 base here. Going to move 30 gal of this water with me to make sure that I can allow them to slowly get use to the new water via water changes, most likely I will start preparing my water in a rain water collection drum I have. Plan to have it outside the window of the fish room and treat, do water changes with it. Will also work on doing fixed pH with it by adding Seachem. Will be a crazy week, but at least no boss at work all week then I am on vacation for 10 days for my move to the new home. 😄 

 

Anyways, will try to post here later in the week before all the craziness of the move. If any of you read this essay, hope it finds you well and you have a great week! Gn!! 

[nabokovfan87]

On 4/2/2023 at 9:07 PM, Shadow said:

I decided as well to move my current fish to a much larger tank(double the size...20 gal) and change the landscape of it slightly. I researched by watching one of the latest talks on the Co Op Members section on Corys, as well as reading a bit of literature, that Corys prefer lighter sands and smooth rocky bottoms. Any wood or rock features should be smoother, as well as substrates, to not harm their barbels. So I will be using some new driftwood pieces I got recently(going to boil and soak to remove tannins), some new river stones and adding some new plants I got recently(Hygrophila Pinnatifida, Hemisgraphis Exotica, & Cryptocoryne Balansae). I also bought a small canister filter, some nice stainless lily pipes and plan to run that plus a Co Op sponge filter. I will put the one Albino fry into the tank with the other fry to try to get some cool looking mutt guppies from all the fry from these first ones. Hoping for a Albino Blue Dragon(wonder how cool they look 🤯) or something else neat. Plan to make that my first tank video. 🙂 

I think there's a ton of weird information on corydoras.  White vs. Beige sand, I don't really think they care what it is as much as how it is.  Too small and it sticks to them are irritates them, causing flashing.  I've kept mine on 3 different kinds of rocks, 3-4 different types of wood and they generally interact with it all the same as long as you prep it right to reduce damage on them.  They like cover (sit in shadows) but they also like to have some open space.  Think island style or triangle style aquascape that leaves 25-50% of the tank open or with just plants.  Depending on what you choose will determine how they interact with it.  The only thing I'd recommend or comment on based on the video above is that they would enjoy having a more open "grazing section" when you feed them. 

Busy week!  Best of luck with everything.