20 Long With High Flow

[MuddyWaters]

This evening I bought an Aquarium Co-Op 30" light- got it at the LFS since Aquarium CoOp's website only had the 12". All the rest were out of stock. I thought maybe they had quit making them. Went to the LFS and lo-and-behold they had them. I had never shopped for a light there, so I didn't know what they had.

Also got an Eheim heater. Two of the folks at my LFS are also board members on the local club and they have MTS, which is solid, in my book. Anyway one suggested Fluval, the other suggested Eheim. Eheim was cheaper and was better suited for the tanks (the range of temp was good enough with a smaller heater to allow for that).

So, I have gravel, filter, heater, tank, lid and light. Need to paint the back of the tank black and then I'm ready to get rolling.

 

[fishorama]

I started hillstream loaches with 3 adult gastromyzon ctenocephalus. But my favorites are sewellia lineolata, F1s from a different forum member from wilds (same seller as the gastros). The gastros died out after a few years but my sewellia breed a fry or 3 every year now with no effort on my part () I have them in a 55g tank with rasboras sarawakensis (probably not a good choice for a 20 long) & a couple of species of blue stiphodon gobies. The gobies are very different & cool! I got them as adults & 2 of 2 species are still alive after10+ years. Females are hard to come by, they all look similar but of course the fish can tell, lol. They can turn their heads sideways to look at me & give me the "feed me" stare. I rarely see them these days so it's a treat when I do. I don't heat that tank, they're fine with low 70Fs.

I have plants in their tank, you could try smaller anubias & bucephalandra. Neither is planted in the substrate but attached to wood or rocks w/sewing thread or superglue gel.

You could get by with 2 Aqua Clear HOB filters, 20, 30 or 50s.

On the spouse thing, my husband is an enabler, lol. More fish please! But he also helps with water changing & algae scraping.

 

[Magnum Man]

one of the hard, but cool things about Hillstream's is, many have not been as well identified, with many only started but not with complete scientific names, many with the 2nd part of their name, just with sp.

I just looked up gastromyzon ctenocephalus, for example, and in half of the pictures, they are spotted, and half striped, so even though they carry a full name, work is likely need there, as both types are probably not the same species genetically...

paper has a way of making a liar out of us... I've been doing up spread sheets for my tanks, recording the fish I have... the Hillstream tank being one of the hardest to complete... I've always said I have close to 25 different species, but I only come up with like 13 species, by cross checking off my recorded order lists, and that includes some cousins, that aren't actually Hillstream's, like flying foxes, and panda garra's, which get along nicely with the Hillstream's... I've always tried to buy 3 of each, it so far have not had any breeding occur... on my spread sheet, I try to include a link to where I purchased them, which most often has a picture which helps me personally with identification

 

[GaryE]

My wife is extraordinarily tolerant of my fishkeeping. But there were times early on when I noted:
a) that I was often bored in my alone free time;
b) a trip to the local pub/bar might be something to try;
c) beer costs have skyrocketed;
d) when I play with the fish, I'm just not bored.

When your partner isn't convinced they like what you're doing, consider what else you could be doing. Fishkeeping, if it is a vice, is a pretty mild one.

 

[fishorama]

I forgot to suggest Repashy Soylent Green Gel food. It's an auf wuchs replacement sold as powder you mix with boiling water. My sewellia, gastro & gobies all eat it. I make & freeze a small batch in small bags or jars & thaw a week's amount. I don't think I'd have tried hillies without it. Some other fish eat it too. I think otos & many plecos would like it, my bns do.

 

[gwand]

My Anomalochromis thomasi love Repashy.

 

[MuddyWaters]

Repashy Soylent Green

"It's people!!!"

my husband is an enabler, lol. More fish please! But he also helps with water changing & algae scraping.

That's a good man! I can hardly get my wife to come look at the new fish I buy LOL. She is very tolerant, but it is not her thing. She does agree that the tanks are pretty, so I have that going for me.

 

[gwand]

When my wife seems interested in my fish I’ve learned there is an ulterior motive lurking in the shadows.

 

[fishorama]

gwand, what "flavor" of Repashy do you use? I have some Bottom Scratchers but the smell is pretty strong. The hillies, etc don't really like it.

MuddyWaters, it's a different spelling. LOL, if you were truly a fan you'd know that...& now you've spoiled the book & movie for everyone!

My husband & I have shared our hobby for 40 years. Sometimes 1 or the other is more into it. He remembers the "good old days" in some ways that I've moved on from.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Wow, that danios chart at the beginning of the thread has me wanting more than I already have. But I'll put in a word for choprae danios. Glowlight danios is a stupid, marketing name. They don't glow, not even a little bit. But they are really, really pretty when viewed close-up. They are also bold, active, and not at all aggressive. A school in a 20 long could look cool, and I think if it were fairly sparsely furnished they'd have enough room to move.

 

[gwand]

gwand, what "flavor" of Repashy do you use? I have some Bottom Scratchers but the smell is pretty strong. The hillies, etc don't really like it.

MuddyWaters, it's a different spelling. LOL, if you were truly a fan you'd know that...& now you've spoiled the book & movie for everyone!

My husband & I have shared our hobby for 40 years. Sometimes 1 or the other is more into it. He remembers the "good old days" in some ways that I've moved on from.

The Repashy I use is called Community Blend. I did not know there are different versions.

 

[Magnum Man]

I use soilient green, specifically for my Hillstream's, but when I put it on a stick, nearly everyone eats it... surprisingly angel fish particularly like it... anything left over goes into a silicone mini ice cube mold, and once set up, into a zip lock bag, and into the freezer, to feed as cubes, occasionally through out the week

 

[MuddyWaters]

Here's the beginning. Added some rocks, wood and a couple of anubias nana. More anubias and Buce plants on the way.

Added Dr Tims and will add some used media to get it going. Have a few white cloud minnows in quarantine and will order the Microdevario Kobotai from LFS soon. Also friend from the club has some hillstream loaches he'll sell me once they get big enough.

 

[MuddyWaters]

Last night I cleaned the cannister filter in the office (Fluval 407). I removed the dirty floss I had added in one of the baskets and put it in the FX2 I have on this new tank. My ammonia was 4ppm yesterday after adding more Dr. Tim's. Today I will check again and see if the bacteria in that floss (it was NASTY in a good way) has started to do it's thing.

My white cloud minnows are doing well in their quarantine tank. I'm excited to get them in the main tank. They can actually quarantine there since they'll be the first, but I want to make sure I have good bacteria going for them.

At some point I'm going to add some Bacter AE to get some bio film going and add some water and detritus from a water change from the office tank to speed up the "aging" of this one. Once I do that I'll order the Microdevario Kubotai and pick up the hillstream loaches from my buddy at the club. YAY!

My order of plants shipped from Buceplants.com. They are expensive, but I got a 15% discount. I really hope I can make them live this time. The good thing is that EVERY plant in that tank will be a low light plant. I have the light (a 30" Aquarium CoOp light) on 20% intensity from 10am to 8pm. It's a long time, and I may cut it back, but it's ok for now I think and it's very low light.

I have that fancy power head going at 50% power- it's quite a bit at 100%- I think too much for a 20 long. It'll be fun to see what intensity is good for the fish to swim in. I have visions of 20 - 30 Microdevario Kubotai swimming en masse against the current with my loaches stuck to the wall or rocks here and there just looking cool as all get out.

Woo hoo! I'm excited! And, FOR ONCE, I am not rushing the hell out of this in an effort to get it where I want it. I am going to be methodical in my approach and see if I can avoid some of the normal problems I cause myself.

 

[MuddyWaters]

Oh! I forgot to mention that the rocks I got, I got from a landscape supply company nearby. Neither of the LFS near me had river rock - they had other types, but I wanted smooth rocks for this setup. One shop did have one big one that is gray/black- looks kind of like granite and is lava rock. It was $5.99 per pound- they get these from UNS I think. I got 6 big rocks from the landscape supply for $4 bucks. He didn't even make me weigh it- they sell by the ton, so this was no big deal for them. I told him about the rocks at the LFS- he was amazed.

I did pay a lot for those 2 pieces of wood in there. It's just the nature of the beast, I guess. The good thing is that when there's a nice stock (and this LFS has a ton of wood right now), you do get to look through all of it to find just the right pieces. I could go search the woods and what-not, but I'd end up compromising I guess. Anyway, that's what I tell myself to ease the buyer's remorse.