SkaleyAquatics - The "Temp" Fishroom Build

[SkaleyAquatics]

Hello All,

Finally after wanting a fishroom for the better part of the past decade it is finally happening. I will be using this as a way to keep track of the progress and how things change throughout the fishrooms lifespan. The plan for this fishroom is to be a temporary fishroom until the basement gets finished a few years down the line. The room is 6'9" x 9'9" with a ceiling height of 84". 

There will 3 racks that will be 3 high with tanks. 6" between each row. There will be a 2ft stand that houses 6- 20gal highs, a 4ft stand that will house 2- 75gal and 6- 5.5gal. Then a ~7ft stand divided roughly in the middle for 4-40gal breeders and 11-10 gals. So 29 tanks in total. 

The room was cleaned up on Sunday, May 28th with a fresh coat of blue paint. Monday I began cutting the legs for the first 2 racks that I need immediately(2ft and 4ft) I have 2 tanks in the basement that need to be moved before this weekend as what they are currently on is getting demoed. 

Last night, I finished the cuts of lumber for these stands and hung the air loop. Tonight the plan is to get the stands built and painted/stained.

Edited June 1, 2023 by SkaleyAquatics
fixed Spelling

[TheSwissAquarist]

Great! What kind of species are you planning to put in?

[SkaleyAquatics]

On 6/1/2023 at 12:51 PM, TheSwissAquarist said:

Great! What kind of species are you planning to put in?

There will be a mix of rainbows, killies, wild type livebeares and wild type betta's primarily but am pretty open to anything. I have some rhadinocentrus ornatus carland creek I would really like to get breeding. Along with some Tanichthys Thacbaensis I really want to distribute. 

This is a young pair of the Thacbaensis. Credit to Eric Bodrock for the picture and fish I received. 

And an older male:

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 6/1/2023 at 7:00 PM, SkaleyAquatics said:

There will be a mix of rainbows, killies, wild type livebeares and wild type betta's primarily but am pretty open to anything. I have some rhadinocentrus ornatus carland creek I would really like to get breeding. Along with some Tanichthys Thacbaensis I really want to distribute. 

This is a young pair of the Thacbaensis. Credit to Eric Bodrock for the picture and fish I received. 

And an older male:

Can’t wait to see how this develops! I can always recommend Endlers in thé livebearer category:

[SkaleyAquatics]

Alright the racks are built, painted and house the first tanks with 2 filled and ready for fish first thing in the AM!!!

 

After I get these in I'll need to focus on getting the air system tapped for the linear piston pump. Have 1 more tank that needs to finish being painted and then ill be moving the fish from my parents house to that 75gal until I decide what to do with some of them.

The next update I'd plan there will be actual pictures of my fish!

[SkaleyAquatics]

So alot has happened since I last posted. I have 4 aquariums with fish in them. Moved my parents fish into one of my 75 gallons and air system is up and running.

I also got the lights going on the tanks. These things are great for the price so far.

Also moved my only Rhadinocentrus ornatus Carland creek female into a 5.5gal to condition her to try to get eggs out of them. 

My buddy also let me know he was getting out of the hobby and I had first pickens from his stuff. So I will be picking up his unused 75gpd 5-stage ro unit, another 40gal, another 5.5gal and another 20gal. Plants, so beautiful Coral red guppies and blue dream/velvet shrimp. 

Edited June 12, 2023 by SkaleyAquatics
Fixed spelling and grammar

[SkaleyAquatics]

So finished up another stand last evening and installed the lighting to it.

Also these Tanichthys Thacbaensis are really starting to color up and become more skittish really looking forward to getting them spawning. The picture does not do these guys justice. I will have to play with the camera setting to better represent how I see them. Tonight there should be installation of a few more aquariums, the other 75gal, a 5.5gal, 20gal, and the first 40gal breeder.

[SkaleyAquatics]

Not a ton to report on but did get the first 40gal Breeder and other 75gal setup. But did want to show off the Gardneri Makurdi killi i have had for awhile now. He was looking the best he had in a long time last night when he was being moved. 

This week brings some new things. Picking up a few tanks with some blue velvet shrimp and these super awesome guppies from a buddy who is getting out of the hobby, and a ton of plants from him and a unused ro unit which will be an upgrade from the one I have that is also unused. 

Sometime this week or next I will be getting a pair of Xenotoca Variata Jesus Maria and couldn't be more excited to get these into the fishroom and get then spawning as the guy who has them hasn't been able to. I'm also going to be installing a few of his tanks to watch his ricefish while he moves. 

[SkaleyAquatics]

It has been a busy 2 months in the fishroom and in life. It is extremely difficult to keep up with the journal while attending summer college classes and buying a house. Since the last update I have added more tanks and more fish. Still need to finish the last rack but first I have to install 10 more air outlets where that rack is going to go to house the 14 tanks that will be there. I've had a tank leak that was not even pictured that housed some very expensive and rare fish in it:

My first wild type betta. Betta Unimaculata "Sangatta" these are wild caught and got them from a local-ish shop(2 hours away). I received 5 of them, 2 females and 3 females. I am currently trying to get them breeding. There is someone local to me who has another collection location of these that I will be trading for once I have babies. Initially these were put into a 40gal breeder but that tank ended up developing a leak about a week later and needed to be taken down. Luckily, one of the 75gal was still empty and that is now where they reside. This is the best picture I have been able to snap of one of the males, they are extremely active and hard to get a good picture of with my phone.  This was a bucket list fish that has been on my list for well over a year when I last saw them as juvenile F1 at the same shop, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to get them this time.

The Xenotoca Variata Jesus Marie I received unfortunately disaster struck as the male probably ended up killing the female. I do know someone with more of these and am hoping to get some more soon to try to breed. 

I also was given Heterandria Formosa - Least Killifish - this is a super cool fish being one of the smallest livebearer's but the males have a huge gonopodium. 

I have also received some new bristlenose plecos and other fish as another member to my local club(Michiana Aquarium Society) is moving to Nevada and is tearing down his fishroom. I received the following:

3- L393 - Cheese Creek Ancistrus

Pair - Super Red Bristlenose

Reverse Trio - Longfin Blue Eye Lemons

4 - Ancistrus Claro LDA008 (I believe these are all female, so looking for some more)

Trio - Solar Flare Swordtails

5 - Green Latern Platy's

 

Overall Picture of the room:

Its a mess in here but doing my best to keep it tidy. I've also taken on live nematode cultures and annelids as well. I plan to install brine shrimp hatcheries in the future, hopefully sooner than later but for now frozen has been working pretty well. 

[SkaleyAquatics]

So exciting news for me, the Betta Unimaculata spawned. Have 14 babies currently growing out in a growout box.

I was also fortunate enough to pick up 10 Betta Hendra Berang juveniles at my local auction on Sunday. So the betta collecting has officially begun. I have moved on from species that I am finding less desirable and going to be filling out tanks with more labyrinth fish and rainbowfish moving forward. 

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 9/12/2023 at 9:07 PM, SkaleyAquatics said:

So exciting news for me, the Betta Unimaculata spawned. Have 14 babies currently growing out in a growout box.

I was also fortunate enough to pick up 10 Betta Hendra Berang juveniles at my local auction on Sunday. So the betta collecting has officially begun. I have moved on from species that I am finding less desirable and going to be filling out tanks with more labyrinth fish and rainbowfish moving forward. 

Huge congrats on spwning a wild caught betta!! I can’t wait to see what the fry look like while they grow up! 
What other Labyrinths are you thinking of getting? 

[SkaleyAquatics]

On 9/13/2023 at 9:21 AM, TheSwissAquarist said:

Huge congrats on spwning a wild caught betta!! I can’t wait to see what the fry look like while they grow up! 
What other Labyrinths are you thinking of getting? 

So I currently have Black Paradise fish, but the juveniles look a little different so I am going to follow up with the person I got them from to see where he got them. They have this like bronze sheen to them and are stunning. So I am curious about them. But other labyrinth I am going to end up keeping would be more paradise fish and licorice gouramis. Nothing particular as of right now. Luckily another member of my local club is also interested in labyrinth fish and has quite a few different paradise fish and wild type betta's. She particularly has Betta Smaradina Guitar that has babies that I want as soon as I can get them. Currently space is very limited and I need to empty some more tanks as putting more in is currently not an option. 

[SkaleyAquatics]

Well last night I was watching the other Male Betta Unimaculata's and the female trying to figure it out. Woke up this morning to see this male with a full mouth of eggs. He has many more than the other male had. The throat size was much larger. I love these guys, they are so fun and personable.  

[TheSwissAquarist]

Are you able to “pop” the males (remove the eggs out of their mouths to raise up separately) like with African Cichlids?

[SkaleyAquatics]

On 9/20/2023 at 2:00 AM, TheSwissAquarist said:

Are you able to “pop” the males (remove the eggs out of their mouths to raise up separately) like with African Cichlids?

I'm sure it is a possibility but i don't know if anyone does it. They are supposedly pretty suspectable to swallowing eggs. To the point, I've seen people avoid water changes and to not separate the female. 

I forgot to mention I picked up Macropodus Ocellatus juveniles as well. So excited for those to grow out. 

[Ruud]

You really have a cool fish room going on there with a bit of (for me) eclectic collection of fish. Pretty cool!!

[SkaleyAquatics]

On 9/21/2023 at 7:37 AM, Ruud said:

You really have a cool fish room going on there with a bit of (for me) eclectic collection of fish. Pretty cool!!

Thank you! I appreciate the kind words. It's definitely a labor of love. 

[SkaleyAquatics]

Finally was able to get the last rack in today. I also started cleaning the last 4 - 20gals.

Edited September 27, 2023 by SkaleyAquatics

[SkaleyAquatics]

Well I managed to obtain 2 new wild betta types, betta dimidiata, betta rubra(think they are dennisyongi but are way too young to tell) and also picked up parosphromenus deissneri supposedly time will tell with these. Was also able to grab a beautiful pair of xiphophorus helleri. These have splotches on them and the female dropped fry already. 

In a few weeks I will be picking up a pair of both, macropodus spechti(f2) and macropodus sp. Zhaoqing. After that I am just waiting for some smaragdina guitar babies to grow out from a friend and I have first dibs on them. Extremely excited for all the labyrinth fish I've obtained and will be obtaining.

My betta hendra are starting to color up and I can pick out males and females. They greedyingly ate white worms tonight for the first time. The unimaculata are growing out quite well as well.

[SkaleyAquatics]

Betta hendra starting to color up!

[SkaleyAquatics]

So I figured I'd let you all on a little insight of how I keep track of my fish.

I made this excel document so I could keep track of the fish I am currently keeping as I am not fan of writing with a dry erase marker on the tanks. This also makes it easier to moves fish around as I am not always rewriting on the tanks or peeling off stickers for species that are no longer in there. 

The tank number is just a number I printed out on a label maker and attached those to the tanks to easily identify the tanks. This also has the side benefit of making it super easy to tell people what to feed what to each tank. I am debating taking this a step further and labeling the tanks in a different color tape so I can easily identify which tanks receive RO water when I am changing water as about half of my tanks are on RO. Currently I just use some painter's tape stuck on the corner of the glass at abut 25% as I would not have enough RO water produced to do 50% in each tank currently. 

Edited October 23, 2023 by SkaleyAquatics
Add information

[TheSwissAquarist]

That’s pretty organized! I tend to just use a post-it system if I have eggs or fry. 

[SkaleyAquatics]

On 10/23/2023 at 1:52 PM, TheSwissAquarist said:

That’s pretty organized! I tend to just use a post-it system if I have eggs or fry. 

Thank you! I try to be as best I can. I also have a whiteboard on the door that I write things on when i notice eggs or fry then try to input that information into excel

[fishboy]

On 10/23/2023 at 5:56 AM, SkaleyAquatics said:

So I figured I'd let you all on a little insight of how I keep track of my fish.

I made this excel document so I could keep track of the fish I am currently keeping as I am not fan of writing with a dry erase marker on the tanks. This also makes it easier to moves fish around as I am not always rewriting on the tanks or peeling off stickers for species that are no longer in there. 

The tank number is just a number I printed out on a label maker and attached those to the tanks to easily identify the tanks. This also has the side benefit of making it super easy to tell people what to feed what to each tank. I am debating taking this a step further and labeling the tanks in a different color tape so I can easily identify which tanks receive RO water when I am changing water as about half of my tanks are on RO. Currently I just use some painter's tape stuck on the corner of the glass at abut 25% as I would not have enough RO water produced to do 50% in each tank currently. 

Congrats on betta unimaculata success. You said that you had bought 5 in an earlier post but currently, it looks like you only have 3 adults. As someone who wants to keep unimaculata complex in the future, I'm curious what happened to the other two, hopefully they are alive and well, and if not, what happened.

[SkaleyAquatics]

On 10/27/2023 at 7:16 PM, fishboy said:

Congrats on betta unimaculata success. You said that you had bought 5 in an earlier post but currently, it looks like you only have 3 adults. As someone who wants to keep unimaculata complex in the future, I'm curious what happened to the other two, hopefully they are alive and well, and if not, what happened.

Hello fish boy,

They are alive I separated a pair from the other 3 the first time I noticed a male holding. I sold off the pair to a friend, she has had them hold but not to term yet. I am sure they would've been fine in the 75 together but I was really trying to get these to breed as they are not easy to find. I'll have juveniles soon they are roughly half an inch. I want to grow them large enough to be able to sex them before I part with any.