An Honest Tank Update

[JJWooble]

I haven't updated on what I've done with my tanks on FNZAS recently, so thought I'd better do something to keep track. I've also had to downgrade recently to just 3 aquariums, which is a huge change as I got up to 8 at one stage, but I'm happy with the tanks I have left.They're not the best aquariums in the world, but they're mine and as always are a work in progress, which is the fun of it after all  

200L Tropical Community

Current tank inhabitants:
21x Sterbai Corydora
17x Harlequin Rasbora
10x Steel Blue Apistos
3x Banjo Catfish 
2x female Guppy 
1x Pearlspot Gourami
1x Indian Green Spiny Eel
1x Blue Phantom Pleco

I recently had a shuffle around in stocking-- I used to have an angelfish pair in this tank who I am very fond of, but unfortunately the male had so much a go at the female that I was very worried about her chances for survival, and so have rehomed them both to a larger tank with Alexyay, where hopefully aggression is more spread with other angelfish in the tank. It has allowed me to add the apistos though, who I am enjoying watching already :3

The banjos, eel and pleco I don't often see, but they are nice 'surprise' fish to bump into a couple of days a week  The sterbai army is marching along really well, and I have a tank full of their babies who have made it through their first month so far  The pearlspot gourami is lovely but I feel like shes a bit lonely, so may get a male/another female down the track. I am also looking into getting some threadfin rainbowfish, and possibly swapping the harlequin rasbora for rocket pencilfish, but that would be a long while from now  Anyone had any experiences with these fish/possible combinations with fish I have in this tank?  

 

60L Almost-Biotype

Current tank inhabitants:

17x Emerald Rasbora
9x pygmy corydoras
9x Banded Kuhli Loaches
4x Black Kuhli Loaches
6x Golden Honey Gourami (Trichogaster chuna)

This is probably the tank I am happiest with at the moment  The rasbora are busy, simple yet beautiful wee fish, the honeys have intriguing wee territorial conflicts and breeding habits to watch, and the kuhlis snuffle along the bottom, hide in tubes and dance on the glass surface when they feel the need. I was going to move along the pygmy corydoras, but they have recently become more active and I've fallen in love with them again, so I'm happy with this being an almost-biotype tank for now  I got a fluval 106 recently and it has done wonders for the water quality and the fish are enjoying the increase in flow  I'll probably tinker with the hardscape and occasionally have wild dreams of upgrading it to a Rubix 80 with a proper shiny stand but am definitely in love with the tank overall  

20ish L Fighter Tank

Inhabitant: Fidget the HMPK male marble siamese fighting fish  

I love this tank for it's inhabitant  had this wee guy about 6 months now and he's still as hyperactive as on day 1, is so cute to watch hunting for live food like a 'real wild fish', ferocious against his mirror, jumps up to bump your finger out of the water, and sleeps in a floating tube. He recently had a downgrade because his bigger version of this tank (an aqua one trio with the dividers ripped out) developed a leak, so he now lives in an aqua one duo with the dividers ripped out . I'll be fiddling with the scape at some stage as am unhappy with it but have been distracted by other things recently. The tank is super stable with readings of under 10 nitrates every time I bother to test it, probably due to the low stocking and the large abundance of plants. All in all its a tank I go to to interact with the fish in it, rather than one that I sit in front of to watch for extended periods of time. 

 

Edited March 28, 2016 by JJWooble

[Wacky]

Thanks for the update. Really enjoyed this. I specifically enjoyed the honey gourami and loach setup. Very entertaining. Keep us posted 

[JJWooble]

Thanks Wacky  

I've managed to get myself down to two tanks. Lost my siamese fighter  but otherwise everyone is going well  

200L

Current inhabitants:
30+ Sterbai corydoras
15x Threadfin Rainbow fish 
17x Harlequin Rasbora
10x Steel Blue Apistos
3x Banjo Catfish 
1x female Guppy 
2x Pearlspot Gourami
1x Indian Green Spiny Eel
1x Blue Phantom Pleco
3x Red Whiptail Catfish 

I've managed to breed my sterbai corydoras and have added 10-15 babies who have now increased my group  I've also added a male pearlspot, 3 red whips, 15 or so Threadfins and a Red Tiger Lotus  I also removed the swords and have extended the java fern clumps further along the tank. The apistos have gotten better colour too :3 

60L

25x Emerald Rasbora (and similar species fish)
9x pygmy corydoras
9x Banded Kuhli Loaches
4x Black Kuhli Loaches
6x Golden Honey Gourami (Trichogaster chuna)

In this tank I've added some more emeralds who have turned out to be a similar species who grows larger  They seem to bicker a bit but are getting along reasonably well for now. 
I've also had a massive BBA growth in this tank but hopefully since I've started dosing excel everything will at least slow down 

[gligor]

Those look very good. I'm amazed at the number of fish you have in each, how often do you do water changes to keep on top of nitrates?

[camtang]

Hot dang!

[JJWooble]

50% once weekly, sometimes closer to 60% depending on whether I leave the siphon in too long  

Nitrates seem to coast at around 10 - 20 ppm I /think/ on the 200L tho I have an aqua one master test kit so not entirely trusting of those numbers lol. Haven't tested the 60L for a bit but probably should soon. I'm getting a different brand of kit so we shall see but in general both tanks seem to be healthy and I haven't noticed any abnormal behaviours/sickness for a long time. I also add the numbers gradually  

I've got a Fluval 306 and a Aqua One CF1200 on the 200L, the 60L has a Fluval 106 on it and I stuff a few plants in there as well.

The corys love the big group situation but I'll probably thin them out when the babies get older :'( I'm not sure the other bottom dwellers would enjoy 30 full grown corys lol, but it seems alright whilst ~10 of them are still tiny. 

Edited June 12, 2016 by JJWooble

[Pennyleigh17]

Lovely tanks! How did you manage to breed the corys? Was it on accident or did you plan it?

[JJWooble]

They more or less breed themselves  As I think I've mentioned somewhere on the forum, 4 of them are a breeding group which originally belonged to Alexyay and the rest of the adults are babies from that breeding group. Then theres another random female I picked up somewhere and she bred with the breeding group to produce the bubs that I've raised  Large cold water changes, the right time of year and frequent feedings of good food tend to trigger them to spawn and each female will breed pretty much once a week for a few months a year. Then you just remove the eggs from the nooks they put them into in the tank and raise the bubs in a fry tank

Edited August 2, 2016 by JJWooble

[JJWooble]

Few update photos These will both be moved round a bit while I change the locations of the tanks and the 60L is finally getting an upgrade to an 80L cube tank <3 So hopefully I don't ruin the scapes in the process of moving them. There's a bit of an algae issue I'm still to fix for both tanks but we shall get there  

 

[calculator]

Looking good. 

Can't wait to see what you end up doing after a re scape while moving them.

[JJWooble]

And this is the upgrade for the 60L  all set up, just waiting for me to get into my days off to move the fish over, though I couldn't resist putting the 'goldspot pleco' into it in the mean time  

 

 

[JJWooble]

Can't wait to see what you end up doing after a re scape while moving them.

I'll be very disappointing and have much the same scape for the 200L  :P 

[JJWooble]

An update on the upgrade! The move went smoothly as it could for the 80L and I've gotten it settled in with sand and planting. The dwarf hairgrass keeps getting pulled up by the kuhlis but hopefully after a few weeks it may start setting down roots so this doesn't happen... I can always hope. All in all I've moved with only one suspected casualty - a honey gourami female who seemed to have been stressed by the move and developed bloating issues. Apart from that everyone has been fine and I'm even seeing more of my pygmy corys!

[gligor]

Looking very nice! 

[JJWooble]

Thanks gligor  I'm enjoying keeping a log again as shows what sorts of progress I'm making on my tanks. 

I've done a few things to the 80L. Yesterday I added some moss caves from Alexyay which will hopefully be covered by moss in the next few months. :3
And today I added a bunch of anubias from camtang - way more than I was expecting to receive, so thank you!!! The main objective was to get them all out under some lighting in the water to recover from spending several days squished in a bag, so hopefully over the next few months there will be some improvements :3
I have had a fish fall ill - a female pygmy cory has started acting awfully a lot like she has dropsy or something similar. Her scales have turned out a bit but apart from this she has been acting normally so I've given her a few epsom baths and am mainly just keeping an eye on her. If she starts acting worse I'll have to think about alternatives to trying to save her, but I've had her for over a year now and would prefer not to lose her. 

In other news, the tank stand that I was commissioning for my 200l didn't get built due to a bunch of technicalities that wasn't anybody's fault so I've started a campaign for my family to assist in building our own  It does mean that I don't have access to the 200 every day at the moment so it's getting a bunch of interesting algaes building up and the green tiger lotus is running riot and taking over. All fixable in the long run hopefully. 

Photos below of the 80L yesterday and today and the strange look that the cory has developed. 

[JJWooble]

I hate to double post, but thought I'd also start adding updates of my Southern Bell frog vivarium in here as well. There is two male 1.5 year old frogs in the tank. They have 1 UVB bulb running 8 hrs a day and 1 heat lamp running an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening. They get fed with tinned crickets the majority of the time off tongs or a 'fishing rod' contraption which they've learnt to chase after, but also get any live insects I find outside. There is also a heater which keeps the water area from going below 23 degrees. 

They've had a rescape recently and I'm really happy with the 'land' area but am planning to change up the 'water' area in future to create more space and hiding places that are safer than having rocks, as well as reinstalling the water fountain which these two somehow managed to break. Any thoughts on how I could improve this tank is much appreciated. 

Plants are parlour palm, peace lily and spagnum moss. 

[JJWooble]

The stand has been made for my 200 litre! My dad and younger brother spent a weekend on it for me and the result is an awesome Macrocarpa stand that is solid (approx 200 kgs) and can be dissasembled for easy moving. There's space underneath for the filtration to go and the stand itself is more than sturdy enough for the tank that will go on it. It's also much bigger than my last stand, being 1120 mm x 620mm x 750mm in dimensions. After inspecting my silicone seals on the 200 litre and noticing that there is an entire corner of glass where it has cracked off and is just holding on by the silicone as well as it generally looking a bit dodgy in other places, I have decided to get a new tank built. The new one will be 1000 mm x 500 mm x 500 mm so a slight upgrade to 250 litres and to hopefully a much tidier looking tank in general. It will be a bit smaller than the stand to allow it to be easily removed from the alcove the tank will sit in.