MTS symptoms are showing

[Alec2cool]

Got a new 55g last night! Currently having my trusty HOB filter clean out all the crud. After that, just gonna use a sponge filter.

I will be moving my stock in the 20g long below into the 55g when it's ready. I'm gonna test the TopFin stock lights to see if it will grow Water Wisteria and some other easier plants though I don't have high hopes.

Stocking will be
6 Neon Swordtails
1 Gold Gourami
8 Tiger Barbs
Possibly 1 Golden Wonder Killifish
And likely more down the road!

The substrate and plants will also be moved as well though most plants will likely spread to other tanks, not the new 55g. The main focus for this 55g is for my Crinum Calamistratum and I highly doubt these lights will do well for it. I plan on getting Finnex Stingray when I can and because of that, the Crinum will stay in a tank with proper lighting until then, not risking my favorite!

I'll be putting Black Sand in the 20g long and going for a neocardinia shrimp colony, specifically blue coloration.

I have now beaten my record for a maximum of 5 tanks 10 years ago, 6 tanks now!

[FrozenFins]

sounds like a cool setup!

[DaveSamsell]

@Alec2cool, Best of luck with the new purchase.  55 gallon tanks are a lot of fun.  👍

[Fonske]

8 hours ago, Alec2cool said:

The main focus for this 55g is for my Crinum Calamistratum and I highly doubt these lights will do well for it

Mine was doing fine with the cheapest weakest chinese made kit light that came with the aquarium, I guess because the leaves were so close to the water surface.

8 hours ago, Alec2cool said:

6 tanks now!

... And then the realization comes "wait a minute, I could have fit a BIGGER tank in the same space!" :)  Good luck with the new setup. 

[Alec2cool]

1 hour ago, Fonske said:

... And then the realization comes "wait a minute, I could have fit a BIGGER tank in the same space!" 🙂 Good luck with the new setup. 

Oh that's exactly what happened with this new 55g. I realized if I moved the stand over to the other wall,I could easily add 6 more feet to the stand

Matter of fact, I originally built this stand to hold a 20g on top and a 10g on bottom. It has evolved to what it is now

[Ruud]

I am fighting the symptoms simply because there is no more space for more than 1 tank in our little apartment! (though I could do some tubs on the terrace... hmm). 

Anyway just wanted to chip in and say congrats and keep us posted. Also I have a very soft spot for Swords and live bearers so could I ask for a picture of your Neon Swords? I was tempted to buy a pair yesterday but my gf liked the wagtails ones better (and thinking on future negotations on more tanks I gave in) but thinking at some point maybe add some Neons as well.

One day I will have my man cave and space for more tanks!

[Alec2cool]

6 hours ago, Ruud said:

I am fighting the symptoms simply because there is no more space for more than 1 tank in our little apartment! (though I could do some tubs on the terrace... hmm). 

Anyway just wanted to chip in and say congrats and keep us posted. Also I have a very soft spot for Swords and live bearers so could I ask for a picture of your Neon Swords? I was tempted to buy a pair yesterday but my gf liked the wagtails ones better (and thinking on future negotations on more tanks I gave in) but thinking at some point maybe add some Neons as well.

One day I will have my man cave and space for more tanks!

I have gotten quite a bit done last night and I'll provide pics of the changes when the lights come on in a few hours

I have a terrible camera on my phone so I apologize, I'll try to get a decent, recent pic with my webcam later today. This pic is from yesterday shortly before I moved them so I could move the substrate of the 20g over to the new 55g

I only have female Neon Swordtails. (My male jumped out back in May) 4 adults and 2 juveniles, they are fiesty girls and I've found them to be just as aggressive as the males if not more honestly. They'll fight eachother often but I don't think they really understand what they are fighting for. Usually fish fight for a certain territory or food but these girls seem to have spats for no real reason. This behavior started shortly after being housed with Dwarf Gouramis and they've fought with the Dwarf Gouramis and other fish as well. Sometimes I wonder if this is a behavior they've picked up from the Dwarf Gouramis because how they fight is very similar, lining up with fins flared and circling eachother. The only difference is that they don't descend to the bottom while circling eachother and they very rarely bite. Though this could just be their natural behavior and not learned behavior but I have not found any articles referencing this for females.

I am calling them aggressive and that might be an alarm bell for you but their behavior is quite harmless. It's just fin flaring and disrespecting personal space with a very rare bite here and there. They are very interesting to watch, get larger than you think and are the only fish I've found to eat staghorn algae! I'll provide more pics later today.

[Alec2cool]

Seems my webcam is worse, I am absolutely terrible at taking pics. It's something that infuriates me actually

The 20g inhabitants are in the 29g until the new 55g is ready. The Dwarf Mexican Crayfish has not been happy with having to share her giant tank, she's been chasing animals quadtriple her size away from her caves (Yes, she claimed all 5 of them). The swordtails often stick their heads in there only to be chased away by an angry, tiny ball of fiery rage.

I've swapped places for the 20g long and one of my 10 gallons. The 20g long now has black sand in it which has to be the most gorgeous substrate I've ever seen. You'll probably note I have way too much gravel in the new 55g and trust me, I agree. I'm removing about half of it. I always overestimate how much I need, it's a curse.

Last night, I moved my 2 adult platys and their 13 juveniles up to the 55g on the right. The fish in the 55g have been used to me feeding them newly born platy fry every few months and immediately assumed these smaller platys were small enough to eat. About 60 seconds later, all of them realized they are too large and stopped chasing them around. HOWEVER, the Red Tail Shark continued harassing them, specifically the orange-red colored ones. I eventually had to take him out and he's in the 10g on the right for now (3 inch juvenile, he's fine), I'm not quite sure how I'm going to go forward with him but I'll figure something out.

Now that my smaller tanks are finally clear of inhabitants that I didn't plan on putting in there (Exception of the red tail shark), I can actually start filling my fish room with FISH. Every tank is incredibly understocked, at least by my own standards.

[DaveSamsell]

@Alec2cool, The fish room is looking really nice.  Some folks purposely run heavy gravel or sand for many reasons, actually.  I.E. aqua-scaping, developing anaerobic bacteria, etc.  I have Red Wag Platys in my 55 and they can be 'nippy' fish, but are interesting.  

I agree with you on the black sand.  Also, it takes a bit of time to find out what ultimately works with an aquarium, both fish & plants alike.  Looks like you are well on your way.  Great job.  😊 

Will stay tuned for future updates.  🐟

[3vi1p3nguin]

On 11/22/2020 at 12:18 PM, Alec2cool said:

I only have female Neon Swordtails. (My male jumped out back in May) 4 adults and 2 juveniles, they are fiesty girls and I've found them to be just as aggressive as the males if not more honestly. They'll fight eachother often but I don't think they really understand what they are fighting for.

It's been said before that the dominant female swordtail can become a male in the absence of a male in the tank. I've also seen it argued, that it was likely that the male was not a strong male prior to developing more obvious traits. I've had one tank that started with 4 juvenile females, that ended up having one develop male traits after almost 6 months, and the weeks leading into that there was a lot of fighting in the tank. I can't say that it was truly a female that changed over, or a weak male, but this just made me think of that.

[Alec2cool]

8 minutes ago, 3vi1p3nguin said:

It's been said before that the dominant female swordtail can become a male in the absence of a male in the tank. I've also seen it argued, that it was likely that the male was not a strong male prior to developing more obvious traits. I've had one tank that started with 4 juvenile females, that ended up having one develop male traits after almost 6 months, and the weeks leading into that there was a lot of fighting in the tank. I can't say that it was truly a female that changed over, or a weak male, but this just made me think of that.

I've been made aware of this very early on and I've checked every day to see if one of these females is a hidden male. I've had them since April of 2020 and all 4 are still females. The two juveniles are past 5 months old at this point and neither of them are showing any male traits but man I am hoping one of them ends up being a male. They are about the size the females(and the male) were when I originally got them so my hopes aren't too high.

[3vi1p3nguin]

2 minutes ago, Alec2cool said:

I've been made aware of this very early on and I've checked every day to see if one of these females is a hidden male. I've had them since April of 2020 and all 4 are still females. The two juveniles are past 5 months old at this point and neither of them are showing any male traits but man I am hoping one of them ends up being a male. They are about the size the females(and the male) were when I originally got them so my hopes aren't too high.

Yeah, probably unlikely at this point.

[Alec2cool]

Some updates! Since I can't really figure out how to post images correctly, I'm gonna do each tank as a seperate reply.

First up is my 10gallon, Mirkwood!

I have a Red Tail Shark in here named Scar, he was being nasty to the juvenile platys in Misty Mountains and I placed him in here for now. I'm still trying to decide where he will go or maybe try my luck again with Misty Mountains.

I also have 4 Electric Blue Mickey Mouse Platy fry in here. I was half-hoping Scar would take care of them for me but he seems to have no interest in eating them. I think I may just raise them up, it's only four more platies right? Just four more...

I have easily 20+ Ludwigia crammed around in here, a few floating Water Sprite that refuse to stay planted, some Java Moss scattered about and 6 Windelov Java Ferns. The water's surface is also nearly completely covered in Giant Duckweed.

I often find the 4 Platy Fry following Scar around. When he's doing his fast-nipping on surfaces, sometimes gunk gets stirred up and the fry will eat it. Scar seems to completely ignore them despite being absolutely vicious to their older brothers and sisters in another tank. I'll have to figure out a home for Scar in the next few months because he won't be able to stay in this small tank indefinitely though he does seem to enjoy the solitude.

[Alec2cool]

Next up! a 10 gallon named Mirrormere!

This was actually my first tank since getting back into the hobby. I got it for christmas last year and it was a walmart tank kit. Walmart tank kit means it's dimensions aren't right for a 10 gallon and as a result, many pieces simply don't fit it. The lid is tight and hard to open, the light is slightly too large and some HOB filters will not sit on it right. The glass is also dangerously thin. All these cons means this tank will eventually be replaced when I get around to it.

Mirrormere is usually the tank I use for quarantine and it is often empty as a result. When not quarentining or using it to temporarily store a fish (Which I'm doing now), I will excessively overfeed it to keep those snails breeding (Bladders, Ramshorns and Malaysian Trumpet Snails)

Right now, I have Behemoth, my Golden Wonder Killifish in there. He can be difficult to feed when he's housed with other fish. I'm not sure what I did wrong raising him up but he refuses to eat anything unless I hand-feed it right into his mouth and that can be difficult to do when 20 other fish are bustling with excitement for feeding time and are shoving him around trying to get to my hands. I have the same dilemma with him as I do with Scar above, I'm not sure what I'm gonna do with him.

I have a korean light on here and it seems to have no brand name attached to it aside from a warning label written in korean, my uncle gave it to me for christmas. It's terrible for growing plants but it will at least barely grow them. However, it is amazing for bringing out the colors in fish. Of course, Behemoth is far too close to the front to show off his beauty but when he's in the back, his golden-green scales are just stunning!

I have Water Wisterias in here with some scrap Hornwort stems that have been ripped off the parent stem by a naughty Dwarf Gourami. When I have extra plant growth, I'll sometimes place them in here to see if they can survive in this light and currently, the Water Wisteria certainly can grow but very slowly. The Hornwort, of course has always been able to grow just fine in here with little effect on it's growth rate.

[Alec2cool]

And now, we are on to the 20 gallon long, Fangorn!

Fangorn was recently set up. The 20 gallon long was my second tank and it housed many different substrates throughout it's use and this time around, black sand! However, I do believe I've put far too much in there and I'm still having an internal debate to take some out. Obviously, this tank definately still has the "Under Construction" stamp on it as it looks pretty lackluster.

I am having odd problems with this tank. I have Cabomba in there that I've always struggled with growing since I've gotten it. It used to look gorgeous and fluffy but nearly a month after, it's grown long stems with few leaves. Since I've placed it in Fangorn, all of the Cabomba has turned yellow. Looking up deficiencies in plants, yellow seems to mean a lack of Co2 which is odd because I've never dosed Co2 with this plant since I've gotten it 7 months ago but only just now it's turning yellow? How odd, I'm keeping an eye on it to see how it develops. The Hornwort also has the same issue, it's yellow as well.

BUT the Pennywort, Java Moss and Marimo Moss Balls are doing just fine. In fact, I put my scrap stems of Pennywort that I trimmed from it's parent plant in here and ALL of them have already grown tiny little leaves in just a few days.

I have a Honey Gourami in there to ensure it stays cycled as I try to decide how I'm going to change this tank. I've been dosing with Easy Green, two pumps for 20 gallons, every week but I'm not sure how to add Co2 in there without actually buying Co2 tanks or liquids which I have little interest in doing. We'll see how things develop down the road.

I have plans to get Ohko Stone for this tank, LOTS of it and attach my java moss onto them and perhaps more Cholla Wood as well. When the tank is sufficiently "dirty", I plan on getting a breeding colony of Dream Blue Velvet Shrimp from Aquatic Arts! as well as some more Honey Gouramis.

[Alec2cool]

Now we are onto my 29g, the Mines of Moria!

This tank is a whopping 10 years old that used to house a African Clawed Frog for that entire time. Those claws absolutely tore up the glass, it is scratched beyond belief. A friend sold it to me, frog and equipment included for 50 bucks. However, he told me it was a African Dwarf Frog and did not send me a picture. I assumed I could easily put that frog in my community tank and use the 29g for other purposes.

Boy was I wrong! His frog was nearly a foot long with her legs extended and is certainly NOT an African Dwarf Frog. I decided to buy the tank and frog anyways but after about a month, I simply did not want to keep such a large animal I have little interest in. I found her a new home and got to work on changing the tank for it's upcoming inhabitants! The Neon Swordtails.

Well, that fell apart too. The light it came with will not grow any plants I've tried so far. I lost about half of my Windelov Java Ferns and several of my Water Wisteria as well. Not even my Hornwort grows in here but, the Hornwort doesn't die either. Currently I am testing my Giant Duckweed. I've moved the Swordtails elsewhere and planned to use this tank for my Dwarf Mexican Crayfish!

That also fell apart as the male was killed by the female and then the female mysteriously died a month later. As of right now, I'm just housing snails in it while I decide how I want to move forward. I already intend to replace the tank itself as well as the lid and light with brand new equipment but I haven't decided on what inhabitants it will house yet.

[Alec2cool]

And my favorite tank, the 55 gallon Misty Mountains!

This tank is what really encouraged my deep-dive into the hobby. Every fish in my fish room has been in this tank at some point in my journey to form a cohesive functioning ecosystem.

I have Pool Filter Sand in there, two pieces of Malaysian Driftwood, 3 large pieces of Seiryu Stone and many smaller pieces of Seiryu Stone.

This tank is VERY overstocked, at least for my standards.
Dwarf Gourami x3
Electric Blue Mickey Mouse Platy x2
Assorted Juvenile Platy x13
Zebra Angelfish x2
Otocinclus Catfish x7
Red Lizard Whiptail Catfish x1
Gold Mystery Snail x7
Olive Jade Mystery Snail x5

And oh boy, onto the plants! I have a huge forest of Water Wisteria in here as well as a recently trimmed forest of Ludwigia on the other side. There is 6 Jungle Valisneria in the corner, Java Moss growing on one of the driftwoods, Red Java Ferns found throughout, a clumped-together group of Pennywort, two gorgeous Anubias Congesis and of course, my all-time favorite, a Calim Calimistratum! I also have Hornwort and Water Spangles up at the top and I do believe I've been struck with the tinier species of Duckweed but hey, any "pest" species I've gotten, I've grown to love anyways.

The action in this tank is non-stop. The 3 Dwarf Gouramis bicker for territory, the two Angels are searching every nook and cranny for Platy fry and the larger Platys go absolutely ballistic if I even slightly move toward the tank, those little guys are ALWAYS hungry.

I plan on taking the Otocinclus cats out and replacing them with a school of Kuhli Loaches! That likely won't happen for quite some time though.

I spend an enourmous amount of time on this tank, mostly just gazing at it's beauty. I've often debated with myself to get more larger Seiryu Stone pieces to better represent the "Misty Mountains" theme.

[Alec2cool]

And now onto my final and newest tank! Umbar the 55 gallon

Umbar also suffers from the "Under Construction" stamp. I'm currently trying to find out what plants will grow in these TopFin stock lights as well as searching the nearby fields/woods for large rocks.

Hornwort pearls and explodes under these lights! and since discovering that, I've gone ahead and put a Water Wisteria in there. Despite the lights having success with plants thus far, I still plan on replacing them. The stock plastic lids this tank came with are just obnoxious in design, It has a little lid to open for feeding and every single time, food gets stuck to it and I have to wipe it off. I could keep the lights by removing them from the plastic and placing them on the glass lids but it doesn't look very neat that way.

So I will be replacing it with the glass TopFin lids that I really enjoy and possibly getting a Nicrew light to test out as I've already proven to myself that Finnex Stingrays are phenomenal! I'd like to see how other brands work in this hobby.

Umbar is currently housing:
Neon Swordtail x6
Tiger Barb x8
Gold Gourami x1

This may or may not be their permanent homes, I'm still deciding how I want to build up this tank but it is highly likely the Tiger Barbs will be staying as they fit the Pirate-ish "Umbar" theme very well. And also, the Hornwort! That entire cluster of hornwort is one gigantic stem that is over 6 foot in length and I gotta say, I love how it looks when it covers the entire top and I plan on keeping that growth going to see how far I can take it.

I'm super excited to work on this tank! I have lots of potential plans to sort through to finally settle on one. I generally do much better at planning in the moment rather than ahead of time. I almost never stick to the original plan.

[Alec2cool]

Thanks for reading! I'll continue to update this thread as time does it's unbearably slow crawl.

[Alec2cool]

It's been awhile since I posted! I apologize.

Lots of things have changed in my fishroom. I ended up reaching 10 tanks and that proved to be just too much to handle. I've since shrank the number down to 4 and honestly, that's still too much. At the beginning of this year, Misty Mountains got some weird fungus infection that I could not beat. I lost my 3 favorite fish, the Dwarf Gouramis. I've since shut down that tank as well as many others.

Umbar, 55g
Cherry Shrimp - 50+
Mystery Snails - 2
Otocinclus - 17

I've pretty much allowed the plant life to go wild in here and the inhabitants seem to like it. In fact, a month or so before this picture, most of the tank was a water wisteria forest. I've taken out 2/3rds of it to make room for the vallisneria to spread. I got the Cherry Shrimp about a month and a half ago, 10 of them. Since, they've exploded into over 50 little shrimp crawling over every surface. The Otos and Shrimp will scramble for the algae wafers and it seems like they fight over it! The otos will push and shove the shrimp away and the shrimp will climb onto the Otos and it seems like they are clawing at their heads. Otos don't seem to mind and don't budge at all though. However, both parties scatter when one of the big Mystery snails shows up

Moria, 20g long
Tiger Barb - 12
Golden Wonder Killifish - 1

My Tiger Barbs produced fry last year and just this week, the fry were large enough to be housed with the parents without being eaten. The Killifish certainly can eat them but she's since proven to me that she has no interest in eating other fish since I've tried to get her to eat platy fry on multiple occasions and she just doesn't. I'm a bit concerned that this 20g isn't large enough for this Tiger Barbs. I'm not worried about water quality but more on the available space sort of thing. When they've been housed in larger tanks, it's an experience watching these guys play their intense game of tag but they don't seem to play in this smaller tank at all. I'll have to figure something out.

Unnamed - 10g
I just set this tank up after shutting down a 20g long that sat in it's place. The two 20gs were right next to eachother and the board they were sitting on had started to bow slightly, causing the top rims of the tanks to start pressing together. That made me very uncomfortable. There are no inhabitants in here aside from snails. I'm not sure what I'm doing with it yet, I may even shut it down.

Fangorn, 20g long

Dwarf Gourami - 5
Honey Gourami - 1
Electric Blue Mickey Mouse Platy - 5
Red Lizard Whiptail -1

This is my current favorite tank. I originally hated black sand when I first got it but over a year, I've grown to quite like it. This tank is just over a month of being set up and the plants are growing like crazy. The grassy plants were sold to me as Willow Hygro but I'm not sure exactly what it is. However, it grows just like Water Wisteria, very fast. If you clip it, both sections will continue growing. I hope to absolutely stuff this tank with that Hygro plant.

After my original 3 dwarf gouramis passed away, I was pretty heartbroken about it. Eventually I decided to get more! They are truly my favorite fish. Curious, moody and feisty. They have spats with eachother all day long and just like my previous 3, they are all huddled together in the same spot in the tank while the lights are off. However, this group of 5 are far less aggressive than my original group of 3. The original group were very picky on the fish they would tolerate and as the months passed by, this pickiness would get worse. Before they had passed away, they only tolerated fish significantly larger than themselves such as angelfish and even then, sometimes they had spats. These 5 however are quite friendly with other fish, even other species of gourami such as the Honey Gourami in here. Once I get a large population of cherry shrimp, I'm hoping I can get the gouramis and shrimp to coexist though many have warned against it.

Apologies for my long break of updating this. I'll try to keep posting in here. Thanks for reading!