What did you do with your tank(s) today?

[DMD123]

Felt good to have some quality tank time after work. Got about 1/2 the 300 scrubbed down, gravel vac’d and freshwater put back in. Already looks better. Just one more deep clean and it should look pretty good for a while. Also cleaned a 65B in the garage. Really felt good getting fish time in.

 

[sir_keith]

Felt good to have some quality tank time after work. Got about 1/2 the 300 scrubbed down, gravel vac’d and freshwater put back in. Already looks better. Just one more deep clean and it should look pretty good for a while. Also cleaned a 65B in the garage. Really felt good getting fish time in.

Fish time = happy time.

 

[Madness]

Just continued to play in the fish room, trying to get this pleco tank completed and running

 

[DMD123]

Fish time = happy time.

Yep, I think my non-fish keeping friends think Im weird that I enjoy spending time cleaning the tanks, lol. I find it is part of the entire fish keeping process. Its more than just watching and feeding them. The clean up is part of the fun.

 

[sir_keith]

Yep, I think my non-fish keeping friends think Im weird that I enjoy spending time cleaning the tanks, lol. I find it is part of the entire fish keeping process. Its more than just watching and feeding them. The clean up is part of the fun.

Whenever I show non-fish friends my fish room, the very first question is invariably 'Isn't taking care of all these fish a lot of work?'

To which I invariably reply, 'If I didn't enjoy taking care of them, I wouldn't keep them.'

But there are limits. Sometimes I'm asked, 'How many tanks are too many?'

My response is, 'If it has become a chore, then you have too many tanks.'

I downsized from nearly 30 tanks in the 90's (when I was a younger man) to my present collection of 12 tanks, which is just right fo now.That's the cool thing about this hobby: there are as many ways to do it as there are hobbyists, and whatever way works for you is the right way.

 

[DMD123]

Another fish filled afternoon, got to clean out the other half of the 300 so it looks pretty nice again. Got time to water change a 65B and 46 bowfront. Things are getting back to my standards again. I need to pull Aquaclear filters soon and clean but enjoying this brief moment of getting tanks back in shape.

 

[Madness]

Completed piping the sump, setting up the sump, and filling with water. Slowly starting to clear up. The first pump i install was just a bit too much for the 1"drain to handle, so had to use one of my old pumps for now. Tomorrow i will add plants to sump and attempt to add them to the tank. Hopefully the plecos leave them alone.

 

[DMD123]

Semi recent pic of a water change in progress. Give a bit of an idea of the size of all the fish in the 300. I really wish I could get a good pic of the biggest bala. I picked it up as an adult from Aquarium Paradise and I think its grow even more since Ive had it. I dont think Ive ever seen a bala in person this big. My guess is over 14" but might be bigger since I have a tendency to underestimate fish sizes. Not much but a least a picture update.

 

[DMD123]

A bit of garage tank work. Cleaning and moving fish around. Decided to take the two trimac males that were solo in 65B’s and moved them back to the 90. Then removed the female and gave her a 65B to herself. This means the 5 males are together with no female to get them going so I hope they calm a bit. This leaves a 65B to do something with.

 

[DMD123]

Morning trip to Petworks in Olympia. Found a piece of Manzanita I picked up and got something for the “empty” 65B

 

[sir_keith]

Harkening back to an earlier discussion, it seems that a few PetSmart stores now have the Aqueon 125 Ensemble in stock again. I saw one in the flesh at the the PetSmart in Silverdale a couple of days ago...

 

[Madness]

Visited Tropical Fish World and Pets this morning to pick up some Purigen and came across a beautiful piece of spider wood. Like you all say, "if you wait it will be gone". I didn't wait

 

[DMD123]

A bit of a fiasco with the puffer… made me feel a bit dumb but Id rather not take any risks especially with a $150 fish! Employee commented when I purchased that there was something strange on its butt. Could not see anything with the double bag and blue dye added to water. Once home and out of the bag, there was a big pink bubble sticking out of its anus. My first thought was anal prolapse. Through all the catching, moving the fish to tank this thing did not fall off. I called the store and they said to bring him back, so I did.

Once at the store the more experienced employee there got it into their little bag holding container and it looked fine. No big pink bubble out its anus. He mentioned how he thought the fish had just needed to poop and that it was likely just a poop ball stuck on its butt. Made me feel a bit dumb but with years of having puffers, I had never that. It reminded me of the ‘Smelly Cat’ song… ‘What are they feeding you?’, lol. Anyway I didn’t want to take a risk and ended up returning for a full refund.

I did find a nice big Manzanita branch while I was there. Need to figure out what tank it will go in.

I feel good about my fish time this weekend. Got ALL tanks cleaned with good scrubbing of algae, gravel vac’s with big water changes. Also got three Aquaclear filters cleaned too. I feel like things are back to where they should be.

 

[DMD123]

My Manzinita branch

Its about 43" long and I am going to try it in a 65B. Here it is for an idea of scale. It will need to water log and release tannins for a while.

 

[Madness]

Finally got the pleco tank ready for some occupants

 

[DMD123]

Im kind of at a point where I am selling off unused aquarium items like rocks and driftwood. I have realized that many of the pieces I had purchased over the years were just too small. I need something more in scale to the tank, so the little stuff goes and Im shopping for a few larger choice pieces. I really like the look of the pleco tank pic @Madness posted, a great example of using larger pieces and the scale is really good on that.

I still need one large Mopani piece to complete my 300 and a few other pieces for the garage tanks. My aqua-scape goals are that each tank presents itself differently and has its own character. Some will look more like submerged stumps, maybe an underwater forest or just branches. So thats my goal for now, better aqua-scape.

 

[DMD123]

I want to do some stock changes.... my arrowhead puffer needs to go, I think I might rehome my RTM female and my Rhino pleco. Not really putting them up in the for sale section, but if anyone is interested, let me know. I will probably see if Aquarium Paradise will take them. Got some trimac to rehome and then a few fish of interest on my list.

 

[fishguy1978]

I want to do some stock changes.... my arrowhead puffer needs to go, I think I might rehome my RTM female and my Rhino pleco. Not really putting them up in the for sale section, but if anyone is interested, let me know. I will probably see if Aquarium Paradise will take them. Got some trimac to rehome and then a few fish of interest on my list.

Sad read. Rhino looks cool.
Stopped at Petworks for a couple favs

 

[DMD123]

Sad read. Rhino looks cool.

I need to change some stuff up. I like having set tanks without the constant change in stock. Basically a wet pet solo to a tank or a little community set up. Love my 300 and 46g bowfront because they are pretty smooth running community set ups.

The arrowhead puffer is interesting but it is a pet rock. I think that as I do maintenance, why am I keeping it? I hate the fine sand in its tank too. Not easy to maintain without fear of scratching it all up.

Even the RTM and Rhino pleco are pretty cool but really did want a male RTM not female. Even though she is feisty and a good wet pet, I wanted a fish that would get a little bigger.

The trimacs are so skittish... they are really different than my other amphs. I still want to try and keep one big male but currently only 2 of the 6 are even showing as keepers and I'm not that impressed by either, truthfully could rehome the whole batch and wouldnt miss them.

Looking to replace the hairy puffer, will probably look at getting from Wet Spot. Also thinking of another Oscar, I know common but Ive always had a soft spot for them.

Things in the works... just need to start rehoming fish

 

[DMD123]

I began the tank changes by ordering a 50lb bag of the CaribSea 'Rio Grande' substrate. It is called "sand" but a bit bigger with it being a small gravel. Likely will put this larger stuff in my 65B and take the 'Peace River' sand which is like three times the grain size as the puffers sand and replace that out. It has begun!