45 gallon, about 2 weeks away from 1st fish…& as I’m adding fish…

Today… sponge filter from the holding tank temporarily installed

3 Bolivian Rams came today… everyone seems to be getting along… I think Angel was disappointed nothing added with the shape of an Angel

Magnum Man said:

The 3 Acaras, and the angel looking good this morning… I’ll have to mess with them again, when I start putting decor back in… but at least they won’t feel like I’m chasing them…

A group of 3 Bolivian Rams will be here next Tuesday… the 5 Cupids hopefully next week as well… let Kelly aggressive water changes, as there wasn’t much actual cycling…

The Platinum Angel is following around the Acaras… I will be buying a pair of Angel buddies, but the ones I’m ordering are pretty expensive, and I want to make sure my water and the politics are good before I add them…
Manacapuru Red Backs… ( 2, not specifically a pair ), about the same size as the platinum

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Manacapuru's are amazing looking angels. I have always wanted some but the timing was never right. Get some, get some!!

I have 5 Cupids on order, should be here this week, then the next fish is a pair of those angels, they are listed, as the size of the platinum one, and I think they need to be put together, when they are as young as possible, so sooner than later...

I have a new power strip coming... one I have, only has a 4 foot cord, & hangs down, right in the area I need to work on the new 45... it wasn't an issue when the tank was sitting empty, but its in the way, when I have to get my hands wet...
I've got an interesting way to do my lights... I originally had those grow light strips, with 2, 4, & 8 hour timer settings... I've now mounted a few of those behind the aquariums not directly shining on the back grounds, but so it illuminates the back grounds... these come on, 2 hours before my normal bed time, & stay on as sunset lighting until 2 hours after normal bed time ( these tanks are in my bedroom )... then I have some mounted on the ceiling, of the work area behind my tanks... with the position, these also light up the back ground, but more light comes through the top ( these lights also supplement my plants that are growing out of the aquariums ) these lights come on, about a half hour before my alarm goes off, & stay on for 8 hours... then I have the bright Nicrew lights full width, over the aquariums, I turn these on & off around my normal waking hours...

to go back to the power strip... if I un plug it, several of my wake up lights are plugged into that power strip, & I have to get up a half hour early, to reset my morning lights... the lights work incredibly well, as long as some dumb maintenance guy doesn't unplug them...

no word on my Cupids, yet... I thought they would ship Wednesday... but doesn't look like it... I had problems with this seller a year ago, & cancelled an order... they assured me the fish were in stock this time... but if they don't ship fish for 2 weeks or more after my order... I will not be trying them again... unfortunately none of my regular suppliers had Cupids in stock... I may just have to learn to be more patient... I just e-mailed them, & asked when I can expect these to ship... & reminded them of me cancelling my 1st ordered a year ago, because they didn't ship ( in this case they charged my card, but didn't have all the fish in stock, & 3.5 weeks later, were still holding my order, so I cancelled it... )... hoping this is not a repeat

Today… still waiting for more plants and hard scape, and fish, & cycling, so I can remove the sponge filter ( I like these heaters, but hate the blaze orange color, that I have to creatively find a way to hide )

Looks like I lost out on the Manacapuru's... they had 75 a week ago, but sold them all before pay day looks like no Cupids this week, & I've not seen a reply to my e-mail, either... it's so hard to buy fish on line... there are no guarantees, only usually a live delivery, you often don't actually get to see the fish, often just a picture of what a mature breeding male looks like... then you get something a half inch long, with no trace of color yet... Cupids will be 3 weeks at minimum from order date, now, that their shipping days for this week have passed

Right now I'm looking at some Israeli bred full orange body Angels... to go with my Single platinum Angel...

trying to see the end picture here... I'm not anywhere with plants yet, lots of light right now... will be more shaded as the terrestrial plants get added & grow, shading the lights & I do have pretty high flow in this tank with the pair of Tidal 75's & the 10 inch air bar, likely too much the larger sized Angels... I could turn the flow down on the Tidals if needed, but the larger angels would be at the mercy of the current, more than the smaller varieties...

The angelfish in the picture above, looks like it has excess mucous on its head and fins (top of dorsal fin, top of tail, pectoral fin). Is the water quality in this tank good?

That’s just a sellers picture… the way those work, probably not even related to the fish they have… I don’t have any yet…

Water change day… tested the water in the new set up 45 gallon… readings were 0.5 Ammonia, 0 Nitrates, 0 Nitrites … kinda surprised that Ammonia had a reading… no new fish this week… I thought the sponge filter would do a better job… will be changing the water every other day, once new fish show up next week, and lots of water testing… I generally like all zeros

Well I’m not optimistic about getting the Cupids, that I paid for 2 weeks ago… got an email today, that they don’t have fish they can ship me, even after reserving my fish, before I ordered them… 2 time out of 2, they charged my card, and haven’t ever shipped me a fish… yes they credit my card, after using my money for 3-4 weeks… if I end up canceling my order again, I’ll post my experience here… but my feeling right now… is these guys are scammers

well after my email reply, somehow the fish were magically ready to ship this week... they are supposed to be shipping tomorrow... now as long as they look good when getting here...

took a chance yesterday... semi local pet store, ( I pretty much only buy feeders there for my Bichir ), But they had a tank of large Angels 3-4 inch, & only those fish in the tank... all looked healthy... guessing the fish did not like their water, as they were all pretty faded out... I assumed they were likely culls & not very pretty, the silver ones with stripes had very light grey stripes... I picked out one, that was white like my smaller platinum, & had a very faded orange cap... after it was in my tank for 3-4 hours, it had turned fully pumpkin orange, with white ( what do they call those long thin fins under the front )... this morning before I left for work, it was still the same, & looked good.... if I would have known they would color up that much, I might have tried a striped one as well...
I suspect the fish store is using tap water in their tanks... in our area, the water is alkaline & very hard... which is why my water is now RO water...

Water tested good today this is the Angel, that I bought at the semi local pet store... it's hard to gauge the size from this picture... but it's the size of a saucer, with all it's fins... just slightly bigger than my bigger Zebra Lace Angel in my other South American tank... tomorrow the 5 Cupids ship, so they will be here Wednesday or Thursday… joining them are 4 baby albino Cory’s

Magnum Man said:

I may have some Bolivian rams trying to breed already, there are 3 in here, and I only ever see 2 at one time

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BTW... I talked to the assistant Manager, & she agreed to take the Jewel Cichlid back & give me a store credit, so next time I need feeders, the Jewel will be going to town with me... that will free up one of my 10 gallons, & that may be time to add those blue shrimp I'd been wanting to add