Hiya from Upstate NY

[Rikostan]

Hi all.

i am newly returned to the hobby after a 40 year hiatus. I had quite a few tanks as a kid with the usual suspects; Guppys, Neons, Angels, Loaches, etc.

I am also newly retired and have started up a ton of new hobbies, like Extreme Hammocking, and Beard Growth Watching, but I was looking for something else to do...then I remembered the joy I got from keeping fish when I was in my early teens.

I actually don't even have a tank yet, other than a little 10 gallon the kids used for rodents, years ago. I set it up to make sure I understood how to do the cycle and get the parameters down... Then I started watching Cory's YouTube videos and videos of a few other youtubers... Now I have a 20 gallon tank coming tomorrow and a 40 gallon that will be here Tuesday. I'm lucky that I live in rural upstate NY(right on Lake Ontario, I can see it as I type this) and do not have a fish store within 50 miles of me, other than the petcos and petsmarts and even those are a good hour's drive away, otherwise I'd probably have a big tank by now. I did spend my first $100 at the shop here already and got my package pretty quick, especially for what's going on with the USPS right now!

I am going to slow down a bit though and get these two tanks set up and make sure I still enjoy it as much as I used too.

The 20 gallon is going to be planted and have guppies, shrimp, and snails.

Not sure yet what I will do with the 40 gallon, but I am going to set it up as soon as it gets here and do my research. I LOVE that we are really going for entire ecosystems these days. It's not just a cage for fish, but a home, so I am going to be doing a lot of plants and trying my best to put stuff together that like the same things.

 

 

SOOOOO much info out there! Obviously there was no internet when I was a kid, so I rode my bike to the library a couple of times a week to check out another book and hopefully expand my knowledge a small amount. Looking back, we really didn't know even a quarter of the things that are "KNOWN" now. It was a lot of guesswork, so a huge thank you to all of you sharing info!

 

I'll post pics as I go along and if things work out as I think they will, I'll show each new tank as they get progressively larger and probably my divorce papers somewhere along the line too.

Edited August 16, 2020 by Rikostan

[Rikostan]

Watching the 20 gallon online as it rides along with the UPS guy.

 

LOL so excited to get the tank set up. Think the UPS guy would mind if I go meet him half way here? 😛

[Daniel]

1 hour ago, Rikostan said:

Think the UPS guy would mind if I go meet him half way here? 😛

I love the 'Follow Your Delivery on a Live Map' UPS feature!

I wouldn't recommend it but I once tracked down my FEDEX guy and met him a parking lot just to get my package a little sooner.

My UPS guy gave me his personal cell number (I don't abuse that). And once when I was at the UPS distribution center at 7:00 AM trying pickup live blackworms before they baked to death on a 96°F day, he saw me talking to the supervisor trying her to go look for my worms (they don't open the customers service center until 3:00 PM), and stepped in and found my blackworms.

It is important to carefully cultivate your relationships with your delivery people.

[Rikostan]

We USED to have the same UPS guy all the time and he went above and beyond like that too, but he retired last year and they still haven't replaced him.

 

I definitely agree you have to get to know the delivery people, especially if you live in a rural area.

 

 

He's only a few miles away now! Squeeeee

[Alexa]

Hello! I lived in the finger lakes area for a bit and I wish I was a fish keeper back then - the well water would have been perfect for what I keep now!

I’m excited to see your setups 🙂

Welcome to the forum!

[Rikostan]

Hiya Alexa and thanks for the welcome!

We are on a well too and the water parameters were perfect for shrimp and guppies. That's the main reason I went with those for the 20 gallon... well that and how much Cory gushed over them in a lot of his videos. His joy was infectious. 🙂

 

{EDIT} Somebody needs to stop me too. I was so happy with the plants from my first order with the Co-op that I just placed a second order.

Edited August 17, 2020 by Rikostan

[ForestJenn]

2 hours ago, Rikostan said:

Somebody needs to stop me too. I was so happy with the plants from my first order with the Co-op that I just placed a second order.

Don't count on us.  We're all a bunch of fish and plant enablers here.   

And you're right.  The hobby has changed so much.  I love the idea of a themed / biotope tank.   I call my 40 a SA theme because half the plants are asian and I'm pretty sure the spiderwood is too.    Maybe pick a fish you'd love to keep and build up the rest of your community around that?   

 

[Rikostan]

My second tank finished cycling today!

I moved the guppies I had in the 10 gallon into the 20, early this morning. Looks like they are doing well!

So excited to get the 45 high cycled too, but even though it's already been a week and a half or so, I probably won't put any fish in that one for at least another 6 weeks. I'm not even really doing much to speed up the cycle other than putting the API quick start in it. I want to get the right combo of plants and driftwood set up in that one and I'm really taking my time deciding on what fish I want.  leaning toward some of the smaller rainbows as the main fish.

 

I'm currently setting up the cinder block and 2x4 stand for a 55 gallon too. I hope to have that tank home by next weekend.

So I started the hobby back up less than a month ago, and I have a 10 gallon hospital/QT tank, 2 20 gallon tanks and a 45 gallon. I have another 45 gallon too, but the center brace is broken on that one, so I need to put a new top on it. I might not even do that and just give it away as a reptile tank.

[Rikostan]

Wow got some guppy fry already! I wasn't ready for them though.I only have 4 females in the tank... One of them must have been pregnant when she got here.

 

I ran out and got a breeder box and was able to save 5 of the fry. The tank is planted, but the plants are all still pretty small, so there isn't a ton of cover. I just put a couple of the plastic plants in there to give the other fry a little more space to hide for now too.

I changed my plans up a little bit too. The guppies are in a 20 gallon, and I was going to put something else in the 45 gallon, but I think both tanks will be guppy tanks now. I built the cinder block and 2x4 stand, so i am going to get a 55 gallon for "other" fish.

 

This is turning into my little fish diary. 🙂 

[Lazarus the fish boy]

Hello @Rikostan glad to see another participant on this forum! Hope you have a fantastic day, mate! All the best! 😉

[Rikostan]

Ugh already lost some fish.

The first 20 gallon I bought was one of those kits and came with a cheap tetra heater. It stuck on yesterday. Temps got well above 90 degrees in the tank and I lost one of the males and one of the females.

All of the fry seemed to make it with no problems though The other male and three females all seem fine this morning too.

 

I had planned to switch out the heater and actually had a better aqueon one on hand, but I thought I'd at least get a few months out of the cheap heater. It didn't even last two full months. I should have switched it out as soon as I got the better one.

Live and learn.

 

[Daniel]

As I read this I think, everyone knows that heaters are going to fail. Yep, 100% the heater will fail. I guess some people...oh wait..dang! I have 2 cheap heaters in aquariums right now. Are they hooked to a heater controller? No.

I just removed them. Its probably better to have 74°F water than 90°F water.

So much for any shred of smugness I may have had. This is a good reminder to stay humble.

Live and learn.

 

Edited September 7, 2020 by Daniel
Added photo

[Rikostan]

@Danieldo you have a favorite controller?

By time our long winter hits, I'll have three tanks with fish, plus the QT tank. I'll have a 55, a 45 tall , and the 20. We  keep the house in the mid 60s for the winter and we normally just wear slippers, and sweaters ( yes and pants :P) instead of heating it more.

 

 I suppose I could keep my office/fish room warmer, but I think I'd prefer to warm the tanks instead.

[Daniel]

My recommendation for a stand alone controller is the JBJ True Temp Digital Controller. I have used these in the past with excellent success.

But because I have a Neptune Apex controller system that is what I am using now. 

I wouldn't recommend this because it is very expensive. I purchased the Apex a while back to control pH in a discus tank, but it can control just about anything including heaters. 

[Rikostan]

Couple of shots of some of the fry. Realized I've been here for weeks and shared pics of our dogs, but not a one of the fish.

 

I lost another adult guppy from the heater fiasco, so I just have two adult females left, but all of the fry seemed to come through just fine. There are roughly ten of them. Starting to get some hair algae in the tank too, but I'm okay with that. I have some cherry shrimp coming from Aqua Huna in a few days, so after they spend some time in the QT tank, they'll be moving in here... Although... the 45 tall is about ready, so I might move all of these and the shrimp into it and save this tank for a specific strain of guppy. Thinking Moscow right now.

 

Bought one of the heater controllers @Daniel recommended too, so hopefully that will drastically cut down my chances of heater induced murder happening again.