What did you get done today?

[Tinyfellows]

I got 5 chili rasboras and an amano shrimp for my 5 gallon planted tank I recently started. 

[Brian]

Nothing.  Same old stuff.  I had shoulder surgery mid January.   Not allowed to do much yet.    So bored.    

[OceanTruth]

3 hours ago, Brian said:

Nothing.  Same old stuff.  I had shoulder surgery mid January.   Not allowed to do much yet.    So bored.    

That is rough. Hope you recover soon!

[Maggie]

I went to the LFS that's farther away just to see what they have, and for new fish for my 20L that only has dwarf danios and shrimp. I saw some really cool shrimp small and very large - they even had bamboo shrimp there today and some sort of huge exotic shrimp that was the size of a large crayfish! Keep walking...not in the market for any of those! 

The store was empty so I had time to look around. It was so cool!! I saw adorable young honey gouramis (want these fish) and beautiful baby koi angelfish (want these fish - color coordination with harlequin rasboras 🙂). And then I saw the guppies which I've been teetering back and forth on. They're the perfect size, cute happy wiggly fish that I want in there to liven things up. Will males or females only be happy and get along? I have no desire to look for homes for a bunch of guppy fry nor room to house them. The LFS keeps them separated so I'm assuming none of the females would be pregnant (lol, famous last words? That's why I'm leaning toward males only). I adored the groups of "assorted",  as I could get several very different looking fish. 

And then there's the PVAS tailgate sale coming up in mid-April, and who knows what's going to be available there.

All I know is my 20L is extremely understocked (9 teeny 3/4" danios, 6 really teeny fry-found another one in the basket this am- and under a dozen shrimp), and I'm getting pretty antsy to add some fish to it. 

Temp 74

pH 7.4

KH and GH both 7

Nitrates ~40

[Collin]

I finished making a test tube rack with some scrap maple and mahogany. The rack I was going to buy would have arrived in two weeks and I couldn't deal with loose glass tubes any longer so I took action!

[Lifeisgood]

I have an old 29 gallon tank that is just a little narrower than the ones sold today. I don’t want to spend too much money on it because eventually  I plan on moving the fish that are in it into a bigger tank.  So for now I have to come up with a custom lid.  

I didn’t want to use the greenhouse panels and already had two nice pieces of tempered glass that almost fit.  They sit exactly on the top of the frame.  Both I and the cat have knocked them off the edge and into the tank. 💦  (The cat got her feet wet—but fortunately I didn’t fall in when I did it.)

 I cut an 8’ pvc “T” railing (made for drop ceilings) and painted the pieces black and siliconed them to the front and back of the tank to make a frame so I can slide the glass panels to open the lid in order to feed the fish.  It keeps the glass from falling into the tank now.  It will make feeding them less traumatic for all of us.  Fish especially!

While I was at Menard’s, I picked up some 18” peel and stick vinyl flooring squares (some stone looking patterns) to make a reusable background for the tank too.  I bought four, two different colors so I can switch to the other side for a different look if I want.  I stuck them to each other back to back making sure that the seams of the two sides wouldn’t be in the same place so it would be one stiff background that I could just tape to the four corners of the tank frame with electrical tape.  I sealed across the entire top edge to keep drips from getting between the background and the glass.  

I thought about using the cling glass film but solid colors made the scratches in the glass show up too much.

“Whew!!😅  All done!

Top picture is the “before” shot with the glass sitting loose on the top.

 The bottom is it all done with the new background attached.

[DSH OUTDOORS]

Just got my 95 gallon Hex stocked so started scaping my 40 gallon. Waiting on plants to germinate! I'm keeping a log, hope to share success soon.

[H.K.Luterman]

My biggest goal today was to clean up the 29 a bit. The hornwort was starting to block light, and I wanted to remove some algae.

 

It gets this fuzzy hair algae down on the rocks. I don't MIND it, but I just try to keep it in check. 

 

After pic. I actually removed at least 8 inches of length from the bottom of the hornwort and it still looks huge.

 

Removed a few dwarf chain swords(?) from the front as well.

 

And then I got distracted by taking pics of the limia hiding in the plants.

 

I'm thinking I might do some water changes on the three 5 gallons today as well, and then leave the 40, 75 and QT for the weekend. 

Edited March 5, 2021 by H.K.Luterman
A pic got misplaced.

[Collin]

Replaced the filter cartidges on my HOB with the Lord's sponge (Aquarium Co-op's Coarse Sponge Pad)

[Hobbit]

Did a tiny water change in my 55 gallon using my new water pump! It was fun—though if I ever mess up that thing could pump a lot of water onto my floor very quickly.

I also transferred a clump of snails from the 10 gallon into the 55 where the loaches can snack on them if they get hungry. They’ve run pretty low on snack-sized snails.

And the best part—I brought some baby brine shrimp to the three goldfish that live at my local flooring store. I’ve been in there the last three days picking out samples and yesterday I offered to bring their fish a treat. They really enjoyed it (the humans and the fish)!

[Maggie]

This morning I found an adult danio in the fry basket. I am baffled as to how it got in there, as they generally avoid the top third of the tank. It took me 10 minutes to net the poor thing out and I won't be surprised if it doesn't make it. It was absolutely panicked being trapped in there. And now, I can only find 3 fry in there. Pardon the photo - I had just dumped breakfast in and a little extra came out when the adult made itself known.

[DSH OUTDOORS]

Local big box pet store had a tank sale...

3 new 10 gallon tanks and 2 new 40 gallon breeder tanks for $1.25 per gallon.

Even my 8 year old daughter thinks I have a problem... 

She's probably right.

[mouseturd13]

@Maggie That exact thing happened with my Danio! Same breeder basket and all. Ate my first surviving fry 😞

[Streetwise]

I pulled two buckets-worth of water lettuce and duckweed.

Edited March 14, 2021 by Streetwise

[Rory Waliser]

Started stocking my 29 gallon today since the cycle finished up a few days ago. Petco had some great looking cherries as well as some healthy honey gouramis. Picked up four of the shrimp and two gouramis. Starting my stocking light. My bristlenose will get transferred in from his tank tomorrow if the gouramis are looking good still. Probably will add more shrimp later. Center piece fish will be a school of cardinal tetras which I am very excited for.

Picture of the cherry was taken on my iPhone. Not too bad as far as phone cameras go.

[Tanked]

I have a surplus of Anacharis, and have been wanting to plant the community tank.  Before I returned with a second 24" strand, the Silver Dollars had eaten half of the first one.  I decided to install a fish fence.  It took them less than an hour to defeat it.  This trespasser doesn't seem to want to risk getting trapped a second time, but the smaller angels figured out how to squeeze past.  I don't like the look, but short of moving the SDs, I don't see an alternative.

 

[Kara C]

Oof, life... Been working on multiple projects around the house and yard the last 2 weeks. Went to a new lfs to check them out. Great people and store, great healthy fish. I couldn't leave without buying something. So Shark-Bait got a new 5 gallon set up. Going to put a cull shrimp in with him later this week and see what he does. Put up the dragon t.p. holder I got my husband for Christmas. Had some 2x8's laying around, hubby helped me get a wood patio started. Need bricks and to get it in place before we can finish it. Then will come the 110 gallon tub. Got a solar air pump off Amazon to hook to a large Aquarium Coop sponge filter. If it holds up and does it's job, then I will update and share which one I bought. The plants have been in the 40 gallon tub for over a month growing out beautifully. Replaced some broken, too small plant pots and dead plants on the front porch. Still not done with that either. Poor Fairy Town is ripped apart lol. I spent 3 days cleaning the yard just to trash it, go me. Hahaha. 

[Ken]

I finally put water on the carpet during a water change. I was filling my 20L while arguing with a recalcitrant aquaclear on the tank I had just water changed not 3 feet away. I wish I could listen to the voice of reason and get rid of HOBs completely, or had an attention span longer than your average puppy dog.

[ADMWNDSR83]

Discovered a massive half-off sale at a local box store for rimless, frameless, and other designer aquariums.  I don't want to break a rule, so I won't name the box store here, but let's just say it rhymes with "Let go," which my wallet did... and I ended up with this 6 gallon frameless cube for half off to fill an empty spot in my house.  Now to take my time piecing together parts to get it running, get in another order from the co-op for a new sponge filter and some plants, and host another C.A.R.E. forum on what should live in this nice little foot long cube.  My three main choices at this point are some white clouds, a betta, or a sparkling gourami.  The gourami is my favorite, but I have very hard water and I've read they prefer soft. 

Edited March 15, 2021 by ADMWNDSR83
Forgot to attach the picture

[Tedrock]

Finally put together the nursery tank as I like to call it.  Super clean water and eye level attention.  I struggled with creating a fry grow out system after seeing Dean’s fry rack and other’s DIY systems.  I started gathering the parts for mine a year ago and it is up today.  I even ordered directly from Ziss in South Korea for some parts.  Soon enough it will be full with breeding projects.  

[Cys aquatics]

I did my second aquarium coop order! My first was awesome

 

[DSH OUTDOORS]

It's been a day...

Work 9 hours then head to home depot to pick up materials for my basement bedroom build, get that unloaded by 5:30.

Guy shows up to pick up the free antique wood stove that I'm sick of walking around in the garage. It weighs 300+ lbs and he's almost 70. Load it into his trailer and start having back spasms. (Seriously? I'm only 35 🤦🏻‍♂️)

Now the fun part. Won the Craigslist lottery and found a local breeder downsizing.

Two 33 longs with lamprologus ornatipinnis and fry in one and neolamprologus multis and fry in the other.

two 6 gallon UNS rimless tanks with neo shrimp +-30 yellow and +- 20 jade green planted all on a rack. With nicrew lights all around.

Everything for less than $450. What do you guys think? I'll get everything cleaned up and show more, maybe after a visit to the chiropractor tomorrow.

Edited March 18, 2021 by DSH OUTDOORS
More photos

[gogomarigo]

I got impatient and just started my mini pond indoors😅 I’ll take a full photo when my plants come in.⠀
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I think gravel would look nice on the bottom but I’ll wait until it warms up and I move the bin outside (hopefully) permanently).⠀
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The pond will rely on plants for filtration and oxygenation. I’m adding hitchhiker snails and shrimp culls in it in addition to the medaka. Medaka can survive in low temperatures (even below freezing).
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I’m planning to get a tiger lotus, water coin, and more water sprite. I’m excited to try lotus for the first time! And that I have an excuse to let the surface leaves grow. Usually you’d want to trim the surface leaf runners before they get to the surface. Once they do that, the plant will focus on growing lily pads rather than bushy aquatic leaves, which is what most people want for their aquarium since you’re viewing the tank from the side rather than from above. Some people have let lily pads form in their tanks though and have even gotten water lily blooms!⠀
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I might try to grow sweet potato too. It might be too much for the tank since the water sprite, lotus, and floating plants already suck up so many nutrients (though I guess I could add more fertilizer). I love vining plants and the root system would be great for shelter. I heard even a regular potato would work. I kinda wanna try Okinawan sweet potato but I’m debating on if I wanna “waste” an Okinawan sweet potato like that (whereas I don’t eat typical orange sweet potatoes)🤔😅⠀
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Image: two small fish in a black plastic bin filled halfway with water. One fish is platinum white, the other is bright orange. There are floating plants and a potted aquatic plant.

[Will Billy]

Ah, spring time is upon us once again, and once again so is shedding season for those of us with fur babies. Unless you happen to have a German Shepard / Labrador mix then it  becomes rolling tumble weeds of fur. Oh about half way through our brushing session in which i pulled out enough fur to make 3 more dogs her size, the wind began to pick up. Im still scraping the back of my tongue where i involuntarily ate some.
 

But yay!! Spring is finally here, ive been holding out for warmer weather to purchase some new fishy friends online. Im gearing up to move my guppies and dojo loaches to a new tank, and im gonna dive back into shrimp for my 55 gal community tank. Im hoping with my dojo loaches in their new home i can keep my shrimp and bladder snails around longer. Hmm, does anyone actually sell bladder snails? Ima need some more soon, my dojos love em like i love cake. So many projects to come, i cant list them all, but yay spring is here!

[Tanked]

I enhanced the fish fence in the 65 gallon community tank with a rubber bumper. So far, this seems to be adequate to keep the Silver Dollars on their side, and away from the live plants. 

This is week #4 for the Pogostemon Stellatus Octopus from the Co-op.  Still in the plastic pot, it looks as good today as it did when it arrived, so I decided that it is time to actually plant some of it.  The plant had already rooted itself into the gravel substrate.  I'm hoping that it will be as happy under the DIY lights in the 65 gallon.