Tank history

220L/57 USg, older tank but still leakproof


128L/34 USg Fluval, have lid but no stand.



12.5g/45L Lovefish pod tank and stand/lights


60L/15.5g tank with hood, no stand.

Very Nice! I love the 128L the most I think, but I love a tank full of plants... mine is recovering slowly! Since our first conversation I have now sold 21 Cory fry (to experienced local keepers) and the local fish shop man mentioned wanting some when I picked up some black tetras yesterday, so although I don't want to see them living in a fish shop the cory's are now earning their keep and I know I have options rather than filling my tank with all albino's! lol

Biancah76 said:

Very Nice! I love the 128L the most I think, but I love a tank full of plants... mine is recovering slowly! Since our first conversation I have now sold 21 Cory fry (to experienced local keepers) and the local fish shop man mentioned wanting some when I picked up some black tetras yesterday, so although I don't want to see them living in a fish shop the cory's are now earning their keep and I know I have options rather than filling my tank with all albino's! lol

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Thank you! The first tank was actually my father's, I inherited it when he found he couldn't manage it anymore. Not a pretty tank, and I'm getting rid of it, but it's been useful to grow out my latest batch of 80 odd bronze cories! The 15.5g was my first tank, maintaining my dad's tank for him got me into the hobby. It looked like this when I first got it;


Then looked like this before I tore it down;



My other 15.5g went from this:



To this:



Each tank is always evolving! I like to compare how they've changed over time.

The 12.5g/45L was just a quarantine/hospital/grow out tank, light is no good for plants, and plants not so great for quarantine/hospital/grow out anyhow, so it was just practical.

Congrats on your cory babies! That's awesome, especially for a first spawn! It's definitely weird to see your own fish in a store tank. Sorta feels like a betrayal, like abandoning your babies. But if you trust the store, you do get used to it. One time I took some bronze cory young into the store and a man wanted to buy them before they'd even been unbagged and added to the tank! We decided together that it would be better if he took them straight away rather than waiting a few days, and he took all six of them. He since found me online and said they're doing really well and spawned very soon after he bought them home! So it was reassuring to know they were going to a new home. Hopefully it'll be like that for you too!

Very nice! Thanks for sharing!!

Razzmatazz said:

Very nice! Thanks for sharing!!

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Thank you! Means a lot coming from you, with the amazing tanks you've entered into contests! I'm nervous/too poor to do Co2 myself, but when I saw your red tank in the latest contest, it was literally breathtaking!! Can see the work that went into that, and it's truly beautiful.

I'm just trying to keep track of how my hobby is progressing, the good, the bad and the ugly!

CO2 is nothing to be scared about. Lots of info online on how to properly set one up. But it will require some spending. One of these days my tank will come down. I think i would rather have multiple small tanks than one big one. Plants i can grow. Hardscapping is what i want to do now lol!

Razzmatazz said:

CO2 is nothing to be scared about. Lots of info online on how to properly set one up. But it will require some spending. One of these days my tank will come down. I think i would rather have multiple small tanks than one big one. Plants i can grow. Hardscapping is what i want to do now lol!

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I'm clumsy and unlucky, lol. If mistakes can be made, I'm one to make them! I can't afford to set up Co2 to be fair. Maybe one day in the future. But I still love my low tech planted tanks, and can admire the work and dedication that goes into high tech tanks like yours! They really are beautiful.
I'm in the opposite boat, I'm trying to reduce having lots of small tanks and instead have one larger one, and one small one. But we always change our minds and want something else down the line, don't we? So many fish to keep, such a variety of choice, and multiple tank syndrome kicks in!

NO ! You are not getting rid of your Dad's aquarium. You keep that. As for carbon dioxide , first it isn't worth bothering with and second , there are homemade ways to do it . Search around. You don't need fancy gear that breaks the bank.

Back in the fold said:

NO ! You are not getting rid of your Dad's aquarium. You keep that.

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Oh it's not against his will or anything, he's the one who wants it gone! lol. He sorta lost interest in the fish beyond basic concern a few years ago, hence "gifting me" the tank, but part of gifting it to me was because he wanted it out of that spot in the living room, because he wants to put a bird flight there instead. Since he broke his hip last year, he cannot walk to the end of the garden anymore where his aviaries are, so he wants to build the bird flight where the tank is. He's been asking me for a while when I'll be able to get rid of that tank, but understood when I needed to use it for a while to grow out the baby cories.

OK , that's fine but keep it. Put it away somewhere but hold on to it. So how does this bird flight thing work ? Do the birds get to come in the house ? Start a thread in the other pets section. This sounds interesting.

Back in the fold said:

OK , that's fine but keep it. Put it away somewhere but hold on to it. So how does this bird flight thing work ? Do the birds get to come in the house ? Start a thread in the other pets section. This sounds interesting.

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I've got nowhere to put away a 57g tank! Where would I put it? We're not in the US with huge garages and houses I don't have a garage, no spare room for huge empty tank and stand. Neither he nor I have any sentimental attachment to it, and it's not valuable, so why keep it?
Yes, the birds will be in the living room, he plans to build it himself with some physical help from me/my brother when he's here, and keep some zebra finches and similar small birds in it.

This spare tank would be ideal for aging change water. Having 57 gallons on hand all dechlorinated and at the proper temperature is a good thing. Can you set it on the floor behind one of your other tanks or something ? Don't let this opportunity slip through your fingers.

Double or triple tier stands.

What other birds does your dad keep?
Post pictures because I like birds

Back in the fold said:

This spare tank would be ideal for aging change water. Having 57 gallons on hand all dechlorinated and at the proper temperature is a good thing. Can you set it on the floor behind one of your other tanks or something ? Don't let this opportunity slip through your fingers.

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I'm trading the tank for the 240L I need to upgrade my cories/plecos though, I'm sorry. But thank you for the idea for future tanks!

Colin_T said:

Double or triple tier stands.

What other birds does your dad keep?
Post pictures because I like birds

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He used to keep lots, parents were in the avaries and aquatics business for decades, and he had a pet Scarlet Macaw before I was born, that apparently hated my mother and would chase her around the kitchen table, lol.

I don't have pics on this computer, but now he only has the zebra and bengalese finches, a pair of budgies, and a pair of Bourkes grass parakeets ((Australian! lol). He recently rehomed the diamond doves. I have an Orange-Winged amazon indoors, they have a Hahns Macaw. When I was a teen and he had built several flights in the garden, he let me choose some birds to keep in one, and I choose grass parakeets. Splendid grass parakeets, wow, they were beautiful! Loved them. Bred them one year, then the next year lost one to Bonfire night. We'd leave the shed lights on on bonfire night and for a long before and after, but people let off fireworks for weeks, one must have been too close and spooked the birds, and you know what happens then. They shoot straight up and break their necks hitting the roof.
So that got him into the grass parakeets anyhow. He prefers the Bourkes, and they've done pretty well for him.

@Colin_T Do you keep any birds? Or what birds have you kept in the past/favourite birds?