Hello from Kentucky!

[Chris]

Hello! I'm a long-time Co-Op fan, and was super excited when I got the notification on YouTube about this forum. I've always loved forums and sharing my tank, but tend to get tired of the (sometimes) less-than-friendly environment, even when it's entirely well-intentioned. I know that the Co-Op will make this a pleasant place to be, and I can't wait!

 

I'm from Central Kentucky, and actually work at a Petsmart. I spend my days selling fish, reptiles, amphibians, small mammals, and birds - I enjoy all of it, but the highlight is definitely fish. I'd like to eventually move to a local store, but it's slim pickings around here. I may eventually try to open my own store, but I'm just starting out, so we'll see where I end up.

 

I keep mostly saltwater fish, with a few freshwater tanks sprinkled in (mainly for the plants, lol). I used to have a total of 11 tanks, but I moved and did myself a favor and broke everything down to 5 - 2 freshwater and 3 marine - for my own sanity, as retail is absolutely insane right now. I don't feel that all of my tanks are in a sharable state at the moment, as some are just substrate with some media in them, but here are the three I feel are in good shape today:

 

Here's my largest tank, my 55 gallon FOWLR (fish-only with live rock) tank. It's home to a pair of Clarkii Clownfish, a juvenile Yellow Tang, a young Yellowtail Damsel, and a half-grown Green-Spotted Puffer. This is my more aggressive tank - everything in here has the potential to be pretty nasty, but also, pretty beautiful. The puffer is the star of the show, of course, but the clownfish offer a lot of personality as well. The tang is visible from across the room, even as a juvenile. The damsel is just fun to watch dart through the rocks. I will be adding more to this tank, but I haven't decided exactly what to add - as is, I think it's a fun tank!

 

FTS:

 

Clarkii Clownfish:

 

Extremely upset Green-Spotted Puffer (he doesn't like the camera!):

He's giving me the look 🙄

 

Here's my second largest (and my newest) tank, my 40 breeder FOWLR tank. It's got a pair of Wyoming White Ocellaris Clownfish, a Dalmation Molly, and a pair of Blue-Striped Pipefish. This is most definitely the peaceful community tank, and I hope for a lot of variety in here. The two clowns in here are awesome - they're the only designer clowns I've ever had - so I consider them to be my favorites in here. The molly is one of the fry I bred in saltwater myself. I used to have a saltwater planted tank with a bunch of mollies and guppies, and I kept a few fry of each as they bred. This is the only guy I have left though - he's getting old! The pipefish are new to me. The store owner says he thinks that they're captive-bred, and they seem to be well-adapted to aquarium life, especially when compared to other seahorses and pipefish I've kept. They're cool, but kinda hard to find - more of a unique oddball and conversation starter, but awesome, nonetheless.

FTS:

 

Wyoming White Ocellaris Clownfish:

 

Blue-Striped Pipefish:

Here's the third tank I'll share - my 5.5 gallon betta tank. I've had this halfmoon female for about a year and a half. I had her in a 37 gallon community tank with some long-finned serpae tetras, some platies, some otos, and a few cories. Everyone got along - until I had a tank bust. I had to move my school of 15 giant danios into the tank for a few days, and they ended up picking on this betta quite a bit. She got pop-eye - I treated her with some erythromycin, and she's done fine, but she lost the eye. So, I keep her in this tank by herself, and kinda just let nature do it's thing. It's filtered and heated, but there's enough plant mass in here that I doubt I'd have issues with ammonia. There's some Pogostemons Stellatus Octopus, a Sword, some Japonica Plant, and several different Anubias and ferns, all from the Co-Op. There's also a small colony of cherry shrimp in here that seem to escape the betta. A simple tank, for sure, but one that I enjoy.

FTS:

 

Betta:

 

Cherry Shrimp:

Thanks for reading!

 

 

[Irene]

How beautiful! I love the mix of planted and salt water tanks. Welcome to the forum and looking forward to hearing your experiences. 🙂

[Eric W-Farmhouse Fish Room]

Hey @Chris, nice tanks! I'm in south central KY (Russell Springs). What area is your store in?