Tophat665

Hello there, piscophiles, aquarists, minions of the scaled ones, innsmouthers, and assorted fishkeepers. I've searched and found that there are a number of folks out there who have a fair amount of water in glass boxes about their houses. Post your finned friends and their homes here.

I'll get this started with the Loach Motel (50 breeder, 5 Botia kubotai, 3 Weather Loaches, 1 Nemacheilus masyae, 8 Red Eye Tetras, 1 male Ancistrus. Plants: Bacopa carolinia, Hygrophilia corymbosa, H. difformis, Cabomba carolinia, Saggitaria subulata v. dwarf, Cryptocoryne wendtii, C. parva, Nymphae stellata, Java Moss and Java Fern)

1/3/2008


8/13/07


2/11/07


11/28/06


That's tank 1 of 10 or so. Lets see what kind of traction this thread gets and maybe I'll post some more.

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JumpinJesus

you have "10 or so" aquariums? You have so many you don't know how many there are?

Wow.

Okay, on the photos. The first one is a bit blurry so I can't say I'm a fan of it. The other 3, however, turned out very well.

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Tophat665

10 or so depends on whether you count only the ones currently running in the house. That's 10. Add the one in Mrs. Hat's classroom 11. Add the 110 in the livingroom I am waiting to get some more equipment for (another filter, a cover, and a light) and that's 12. Plus 2 20 Highs, a 10, and a 2.5 empty in the garage. 16 total. Only the first 11 count, I think.

On the blurry photos, yeah. I am a lousy shot without a flash, and the ones I took with the flash this time just didn't look right.

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Tophat665

Here's the tank I set up in Mrs. Hat's classroom

Denizens: A dozen or so neons. A handful of platies. About 8 pygmy cories and 5 albino bronze cory fry, and a clown pleco.

And the big tank in my family room (Pardon the photoshop framing - I sometimes use this for wallpaper)

This one has 2 blue gouramis (a male opaline and a female gold), 5 Yoyo Loaches, 8 Striped Loaches, 2 Myers Loaches (Giant Khulis), 3 Siamese Algae Eaters, 2 Cherry Barbs, and 10 Harlequins.

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ryfo

Do you have seahorses in any? Or do you have fish only. Id love an aquarium but I think my cats would see it as take away.

Tophat665

No seahorses. Freshwater tropical only, and only fish that can get by on one meal a day. I have 4 cats, and it took them a couple months to figure out that they couldn't get at the fish, but now they don't really even look.

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MirrorsrorriM

I worked at the plant that makes all the aquariums in North America for Walmart and Petsmart.

there are alot of awesome aquarium videos on youtube.

my tank is pretty simple, just some goldfish, sharks, some other easy to keep fish.
my biggest problem is the algae, the water turns yellow long before it needs changed due to nitrates and such. I need some more algae eaters I guess.

elaphe

MirrorsrorriM,

Just add activated carbon to your filter. Not sure what your normal frequency of water changes is, but the yellow discolouration of the water is likely due to dissolved organics. Most free-floating algae is green and an algae eater will not eat it regardless.

I would also consider increasing the frequency of the water changes. More frequent small water changes will produce better results rather than an infrequent large water change. The water changes with gravel cleaning will help to remove and dilute organic waste. The carbon in the filter will do the rest. Just remember to change the carbon in the filter every 3-4 weeks.

I've been in the pet industry for 12 years before moving on to other opportunities. At one time, I had eight fish tanks only. My favorite aquarium was a ten gallon micro-reef that actinic and I set up years before it was popular Unfortunately, no pics of that one.

elaphe

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Tophat665

You don't need algae eaters of a certainty. Yellow water is a sign of one of two things: Driftwood (or leaves or peat, but people generally only put those in TO stain the water), or an overstocked tank. Elaphe's right - More water changes. Or a bigger tank. I'm sure you'd be gobsmacked by the recommended tank sizes for goldfish and sharks.

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Tophat665

OK, let's bump this one a bit. The Catfish Tank 'o Sex:

This is a 55 gallon that sits right next to my computer station. It's really a standard Amazon tank - tetras and cories and plecos, but the corys and plecos are horny little buggers, so I have re-named it.

Occupants:
2 Bristlenosed plecos. mated pair - Cthulhu and Mrs. Cthulhu - they've given me three batches of babies so far. There are also an unknown number of fry in the tank lurking in rockpiles.

4 Albino Bronze cories. Until the big female died the other week they were reliably spawning every two weeks after a water change. I have one batch of their fry in my 7 year old's tank. Evenutally, I'll put another female back in here.)

7 to 9 or so Sterbas cories. They bred in a 20 before I put them in here, and they've spawned here too.

6 Bandit Cories (C. metae) - no love there yet. They need a java Moss mat to breed in. Working on that.

Tetras: 6 glowlites, 4 black neons, 5 Flame (von rio) tetras, 5 Long Finned black tetras, 8 Diamond tetras. I'm eventually going to work this until it's just the diamonds as the others die off from age or disease. Then think about some hatchetfish and maybe some apistos or angels.

Also an unknown number of amano shrimp, and too many pond snails and MTS.

Plants: Brazillian Pennywort (Hydrocotyl sp.), Java Fern, Java Moss, Chilean saggitaria, Radicans Sword, pygmy chain sword (not doing well), Amazon Sword, Red Melon Sword.

Filtered with an Emperor 400 and a topfin 20 (for carbon or peat). 2x 100 watt heaters. 130 watt CF lamp.

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BadNick

I hate to cross post the same photos I posted in another fish tank thread here, but these are the only photos I have right now. I'll try to dig up more pics this weekend.

DonnieBoy

Tophat, Very nice pictures. I have a 55 gallon set-up with a shoal of Harlequin Rasboras, I'll post pics when I can. Your plant setup looks nice.

Since I'm on the subject, does anyone know a good site to order aquarium plants online? The few local pet shops around me are kindof expensive.

Don

Vigilante

Here is my 75 in early setup. All the plants and fish are wild-caught on or in the San Jacinto river here in houston, mostly native with one introduced plant (Limnophila heterophylla left of the log). That is except for the cryptocoryne in the front left corner. That one is a holdover from my old tank 10 years ago and has been waiting patiently in a small tank the whole time.

Images are links to fullsize.

Still sparse, but the tank is new and it takes time


I took a landscaping rock and drilled it, then screwed the log to that. It's perfect for catfish. I have a flatter piece outside soaking in a cooler full of water. I don't think I will put it in this tank now, but I might get a 10 gallon w/ stand and put that somewhere outside for the log and some plants.


Camera shy. Two species. One is bluegill, the other looks more cichlid, but I have no idea. Might not be native, but it sure likes the San Jac either way. The one up front is a young bluegill. Funny that he is the smallest and best adapted of all of them.


I need to find some low-lying ground cover, but I can't think of anything native that would work. Same with any type of plant to root on the log. I think I'll have to go beyond the cryptocoryne to other non-native plants. Kinda sux, but I probably won't be keeping the fish either since the wife wants "pretty fish" LOL. Since it is a living room item, I see her point.

Plants so far:
Limnophila heterophylla
Echinodorus cordifolius
Sagittaria gramminea?
Pistia stratiotes
Cryptocoryne sp.
Unknown Bacopa (maybe, @ log)
Oh and unknown Hygrophila (back right corner)

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dlish

great thread. dunno how i missed it.

ive always wanted to get a tank but she-lish has always been against it..

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Tophat665

Saggitaria subulata for the foreground. That's Native. So is Fontianlis antipyretica, for the log.

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Vigilante

You rock the hizzouse. Thanks!

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curiousbear

I had a 20 gallon tank with barbs and tetras, but never with this much greenary! Hope to get back to the hobby soon. Thanks for the pictures