what??? I think I'm done with one tank...

tomorrow I get a fish shipment, that may actually complete 2 aquariums... some Hillstream loaches for my Asian tank... & a dozen Tetras for my South American tank... I've done a few things since I entered the Asian tank in the last Tank of the Month contest... the only thing I want to do now, after the Hillstream loaches get added, is pull out the Cory's ( that requires another tank start up )... the Tetras finish my South American Tank... hopefully next week I get a big shipment of African Tetras, & that gets that tank nearly complete...

so... it's time to clean out another tank that is built into the wall with these tanks... another 45 gallon tall... thinking a few mid sized South American Cichlids, along with the wayward Cory's

I think all the tanks are pretty stable right now... if any of them might require more than normal maintenance, it would be the Asian tank... Tin Foils are about as big as I expect them to get... the Kissing Gourami is a wild card, being about half way grown, generally the tank is peaceful, but once in a great while the Gourami gets grumpy, usually when the Tin Foils go on a feeding frenzy, they bounce off of everything, including the Gourami, then he chases them around for a while... I'm also wondering if the bigger Flying Fox will tolerate the Hillstream loaches... he was good with the small King Tiger Pleco's I had in there a while back... the 4 Hillstream's will be about the same size, so fingers crossed there...

Looking forward to just normal water changes on these 3 tanks... I'm still working on my Rainbow tank, in another part of the house, & will be emptying all the old fixtures from that next 45...

so... what do you do, when you get a tank done???

Magnum Man said:

so... what do you do, when you get a tank done???

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Sit back and enjoy it! Of course, a planted tank is never done. I'm done with major construction on my 55g, but it's going to take a few months for the plants to really grow in, and another couple weeks to complete the stocking.

Builds are my favorite part of the hobby, though, so once a tank is done I often start thinking about the next build. But I try to get four to five years out of it before I tear it down and start over.

Loving the Hillstream loaches… got 4 of the crazy stripes ones… they seem to be holding their own, and already working the glass… kind of muddy colored out of the bag… hoping they brighten up after accumulating

Magnum Man said:

Loving the Hillstream loaches… got 4 of the crazy stripes ones… they seem to be holding their own, and already working the glass… kind of muddy colored out of the bag… hoping they brighten up after accumulating

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Do yours hide all the time? Mine are so shy I hardly ever see them, which is a slight bummer.

Mine are mostly on the glass, in the 1st 2 hours…but I don’t have any big river rocks in the tank… they do like the big piece of driftwood, and fortunately have been on the top, rather than under it

2 on the front glass right now

@WhistlingBadger … I have 2-10 inch air bars, one on each end of this tank… the Hillstream’s like hanging on the glass in the “reverse waterfall’s” created by the air bars… they are very visible there…

I'm thinking about adding another 4 Hillstreams, of the spotted variety next, since no one is bothering these 4 reticulated, & these don't seem to be intimidated by the bigger Tin Foils

Yeah, mine completely ignore anybody that isn't a hillstream loach. They even ignore the other bottom feeders.

@WhistlingBadger looks like the Hillstream’s are not intimidated by the bigger fish

Tinfoil barbs are interesting and enjoyable fish. Mine completely decimated any and all plant matter in the bank except for the lucky bamboo stems. I'm surprised yours have allowed the leaves to remain uneaten.