Exciting Times - Planning new tanks & new fish .... YAY

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

That's a bit of hyperbole, I have enough left for about 30L of water. But I'd planned to do large water changes on main tanks and potentially QT tanks, depending on how they test.

 

[MattW]

What declorinator do you use? It's interesting to see what everyone uses

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

What declorinator do you use? It's interesting to see what everyone uses

I usually always have a bottle of Seachem Prime in the cupboard, just in case. But also use the Tetra tapsafe one for when I'm using a lot, and reserve Prime for potential emergencies.

But went through a very, very broke period, and only had the two tanks running for ages, so it was really lasting since I had Prime and that huge container of Tetra Tapsafe. Too scatterbrained, it's probably on a list somewhere I've overlooked.

 

[JackGulley]

I hadn’t heard of hoplos until now, they look so cute! It’s like a loach-shaped catfish. What tank are you planning to put him in?

My vote personally is for the rainbows, they’re really cool fish. And it seems like you keep coming back to them! I’d love to keep some someday. My LFS had a TON in stock last time I went, in almost every tank. I wonder if someone did a massive special order or something.

This was a section of their largest tank that usually holds angels.


These ones especially were really pretty in person. Idk what species that is but they had really prominent reds and blues.

Regarding apistos, I’m currently shopping for one, and they’re really cool fish! But unfortunately at least in my experience, it’s really hard to pick and choose species; most stores I’ve visited *occasionally* get Cacatuoides; I finally found someone that could get me an Agassizii but any other species the shop owners acted like I was asking for a unicorn.

 

[MattW]

I usually always have a bottle of Seachem Prime in the cupboard, just in case. But also use the Tetra tapsafe one for when I'm using a lot, and reserve Prime for potential emergencies.

I found Prime a bit dear for my wallet. I used to use Tetra on my old Danio tank and it worked very well. Im on Fluval Aqua plus now. I Got a 2L for £20 mid 2022 and now coming to the end of that and bought another at Christmas.

But went through a very, very broke period, and only had the two tanks running for ages, so it was really lasting since I had Prime and that huge container of Tetra Tapsafe. Too scatterbrained, it's probably on a list somewhere I've overlooked.

I'm trying to slim down on costs for this hobby now. I probably have £60-£90's worth of equipment, sponges, hoses, filters, heaters, etc in storage now. I think Gumtree might be getting a few new ads . It's probably better to have more than just enough in the case of this hobby.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

I found Prime a bit dear for my wallet. I used to use Tetra on my old Danio tank and it worked very well. Im on Fluval Aqua plus now. I Got a 2L for £20 mid 2022 and now coming to the end of that and bought another at Christmas.

I find Prime too expensive to use all the time (I know it only needs a small amount, but it still adds up when you have a lot of/large tanks!)

But I do recommend keeping at least a small bottle in the fish cupboard, just in case. If a tank crash, ammonia or nitrite spike, do water changes as usual, but you can also add a bigger dose of Prime and it'll bind any ammonia and nitrites for 24-48 hours, so it helps keep the fish safe from spikes between daily water changes.

Have had tanks go into mini cycles after using antibiotics, when I used a cheap root tab that leeched way too much nitrites into the water and even huge twice daily water changes only kept it down. Since I had to sift through the sand to remove all those tiny balls of ferts, and they sent nitrites sky high. Took time to get all of those out, and for the tank to settle down again, even with huge water changes, some of them back to back. But the Prime kept the fish safe inbetween those large water changes.

So it's super handy to have, just in case! Things happen.

But yes, I also get the Tetra because it's much cheaper! Then use that for nearly everything.

I'm trying to slim down on costs for this hobby now. I probably have £60-£90's worth of equipment, sponges, hoses, filters, heaters, etc in storage now. I think Gumtree might be getting a few new ads . It's probably better to have more than just enough in the case of this hobby.

I want to make sure I only have working spares, clearly boxed and labelled, lol. I'd tamed the cupboard before, I can do it again!

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

I hadn’t heard of hoplos until now, they look so cute! It’s like a loach-shaped catfish. What tank are you planning to put him in?

A friend of mine had some hoplos in with her mixed gang of cories, and the vids and pics I saw, they were active and did really well in her 55g of cories, hoplos and others. I remember her saying they have a lot of personality! I love botiid loaches too (haven't any at the moment, but one day! Had two yoyos I inherited before, so a cory/loach really appeals!


So he's in QT for a month in a 22g with other new fish, but then he'll join my cory gang. It'll either be in the 240L roma, or the 200L Roma

When I get an ID, I'll search out some friends of the same species! I've got contact details for the people who gave him to me, so hopefully can source some more from them.

My vote personally is for the rainbows, they’re really cool fish. And it seems like you keep coming back to them! I’d love to keep some someday. My LFS had a TON in stock last time I went, in almost every tank. I wonder if someone did a massive special order or something.
View attachment 345925
This was a section of their largest tank that usually holds angels.

View attachment 345926

Some gorgeous fish in there! Looks like a good store? Handy to have a good store.

These ones especially were really pretty in person. Idk what species that is but they had really prominent reds and blues.

I don't know either, but I bet someone here could ID them! Maybe @Colin_T or @GaryE ?

Regarding apistos, I’m currently shopping for one, and they’re really cool fish! But unfortunately at least in my experience, it’s really hard to pick and choose species; most stores I’ve visited *occasionally* get Cacatuoides; I finally found someone that could get me an Agassizii but any other species the shop owners acted like I was asking for a unicorn.

Ah, that sucks! Last time I went to the good LFS here, they had quite a variety! I spent ages checking them all out and figuring out which I preferred! Which was hard, since they were all pretty.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Oh, and there was a shop just a little up the road from the pub (and opposite the cashpoint I had to go and visit) that had a load of lovely outdoor and houseplants. For decently cheap prices... so I also got four new houseplants...

I almost never go out, let alone spent and treat myself like that, so today was a special occasion.
Setting up tanks again, getting back into keeping different fish and wanting to set them up well, and looking after the houseplants too and seeing them thrive - it helps fight depression/grief, and is giving me something focus on and enjoy, get into that zen zone we all know.

And also pushing me to crack on with this redecorating, so I can set up the big tanks.

 

[MattW]

Oh, and there was a shop just a little up the road from the pub (and opposite the cashpoint I had to go and visit) that had a load of lovely outdoor and houseplants. For decently cheap prices... so I also got four new houseplants...

I almost never go out, let alone spent and treat myself like that, so today was a special occasion.
Setting up tanks again, getting back into keeping different fish and wanting to set them up well, and looking after the houseplants too and seeing them thrive - it helps fight depression/grief, and is giving me something focus on and enjoy, get into that zen zone we all know.

And also pushing me to crack on with this redecorating, so I can set up the big tanks.

Ooooooo! I love house plants especially ones I can use in aquariums! I’ve found peace lilys do best in my tanks out of 5 species I’ve tested so far. Think I’ve already mentioned @Magnum Man in a previous thread.. but wow those root systems in those tanks and the Tilapia tubs hydroponic veggies

A garden centre near the avro heritage museum a short drive away has a great glass house for houseplants. I got a pothos for 5.99 and managed to get 6 plants from it all but one are in my 90L now and growing well.

Always good to treat yourself every now and then. It seems you’ve contracted the early stages of MTS again . I use tank maintenance as a distraction from all the other cr*p going on at the moment. It gets therapeutic when you get a rhythm going.
Can’t go wrong with DIY as well

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Bedtime update - *touch wood* all alive and swimming (well, sleeping, but I disturbed them... don't like to do that, but the one hillstream loach playing dead and making me think he was DOA has me paranoid! Had to check on them all. Plus check tank temps and heaters are at the right temp etc.

Hillstream loaches had both moved, so not dead, at least! *touches more wood*


I added some decor/hardscape from my established tanks as well as seeding the filters with some mucky sponge swaps.

I'd added some mossy wood and a bushy algae coated pleco cave to the 22g which the hoplo was sleeping on. Worried for a moment if he was ailing in some way, but think he was just sleeping in an odd way, the way cories often do when resting and sleeping. Once I'd had the light on to check the baby pygmies, baby plecs, hillstream loaches, he'd woken and was moving about well, whiskers twitching as he explored. I can already tell I'm going to fall in love with this fish, and need to get him some friends.

Corydoras World advised that some species can get quite big - when I manage to get some clear photos of him, they'll be able to ID him for sure. I'm not good at estimating sizes, but my guess is 3.5 -4 inches. Definitely the biggest fish in that 22g QT tank.

Betta seems to be enjoying having the 12.5g to himself.

Counted five of the six blue dream shrimp in the 15L ciano cube. Moved decor and plants from established tanks, plus new plants I'll need to list another day, so they have lots of live plant hiding spaces.

It's 1am, been an unusual day for me, lots of excitement and pushing back panic, but had a blast, and I'm now an anxious mum about my new fish. All tank lights out now, but it's still scary to fall asleep, with that slight worry that I could wake to disaster! I shouldn't. Haven't fed any yet, but lots of algae and microcritters on the decor and plants I moved.

Want to add some botanicals too, but want to be able to observe them clearly for at least the first few days, and try to get some clear photos. Then I'll gradually add botanicals. But wide awake! And resisting the temptation to keep checking on them, want to let them settle in and sleep after a big day, and hours in bags.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Of all the fish I expected I might bring back today, a betta was the last thing I expected!

But they import them and breed them themselves, and breed wild types too, so I feel better about it than the pet store bettas often seem to fair on the forum.

Beautiful blue, with white edge to tail fin!

Open to name suggestions for any of them! Hoplo and Betta especially need names! Likely won't name the six blue shrimp But I'm rubbish at coming up with names, and don't want poor betta to be stuck with being called Bluey or something!

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

I already have two L181 plecs, bought in 2020 with the hope I might wind up with a M/F pair, but wound up both being females (were also sold as L183's, which is why I named them Ziggy and Stardust! So their names didn't make sense when they matured into the colours for L181 Peppermint plecs, but oh well, names have stuck now).

I know their breeder on FB, I could buy a mature male for £70 but that was beyond my budget at the time. Could have straight swapped a female for a male, but I'm attached to my two girls now, know their favourite foods and hiding places etc, so I didn't want to let one go.

Might be tempted by a group of L181 juveniles I could raise myself up came up for a reasonable price, I might do that, since odds of getting at least one male would be high.

But I'm also not stuck on L181's, if another really appeals and doesn't turn monster sized! Or again, might stick with trying to breed Pseudos, otos, or apistos or something first! Or while plecs are slowly maturing. I just have a lot of options, interest in a lot of different species, and limited opportunities to find other local hobbyists that breed!

Oh, another planned buy, but don't have the fish yet - guy I got plecs from also had a young L181, so I told him about my two adult females and how I was keeping an eye out for a male. He offered to straight swap for one of my females, but understood that I'm attached to these girls, named them, know them apart and their favourite places, foods etc, and can't bring myself to part with them.


He only had the one young L181 at the sale, since he had so many different species, but said he has four tanks of them at home, and can drop off a male for me for £20! That a M/F/F trio should do well together. So there will be another fish soon!

I didn't plan to buy so many plecs. But have wanted a white long fin for years, apparently white long fins are scarce right now, so I got a short fin snowball. He showed me photos of his stunning adult long fin green dragons, and at £17 for two, I couldn't resist. It was right at the end when they were packing up, so I resisted for a long time! Gonna give myself credit for that. But it was a chance to get fish at a much lower price than in stores or what the same guy sells them for on Ebay.

He said it's fine to mix them while they're juveniles, but warned they can interbreed, so I'll make sure they're in different tanks long before they reach maturity. They're all in QT for a month anyway, and they're much slower to mature than the regular bristlenose.

 

[Fishmanic]

Be sure you enter your new tanks in the TOTM contest and your new fish in the FOTM contests

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Be sure you enter your new tanks in the TOTM contest and your new fish in the FOTM contests

What's going at the moment/coming up? Tanks aren't show off ready yet (I know they don't have to be, but I want them to be! lol), but might be by the time the next contest comes up for their size!

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Confirmed this morning that the reticulated hillstream loach I thought was DOA yesterday, actually was DOA. Definitely didn't survive the night. Even once they've passed, they seem to naturally suction to the bottom pane of glass, just from their bodyshape, I guess. But got a good headlamp light on, a magnifying glass, and he hadn't moved from the spot against the top of the heater, where he was at bedtime, and where the filter output would naturally blow him to.

So I scooped him out, examined him as closely I could while still underwater cupped in my hand, and I did have to grip the tail to lift from the bottom after I'd nudged the body away from the heater, as it suctioned to the glass a bit and needed lifting. But held in hand, closely with magnifying glass, no gill movement or anything, and could see the signs of decomp. Like a fungus/excess slime kind of stuff on the fish, and no movement from anything when I turned him upside down and examined the underside closely for a while. Lifting him out confirmed he was no longer with us.

Bit gutted, honestly! Everyone at the event had fish bagged in the same way, many had much longer drives home, and I left very shortly after the sellers and not far from home. Maybe couldn't handle being in the bag as long as he was. Or when I bought them home, had all fish and shrimp bags in an insulated bag, could have got trapped in a corner or squished somehow. I only temp acclimated them to QT tank for about 30 mins, then plopped and dropped into fresh clean water with live plants and the canister filter that I swapped media with from my established canister filter on the 57g.

Got a headcount on other fish though, all others seem to have made it through the night! Saw all six pygmy cories, snowball and both dragon plecs, other hillstream loach is all over the glass nomming on something, very active- the one fish I couldn't spot was the biggest! The 4 inch or so hoplo! Until I finally used headlamp, and saw his tail waving from inside a pleco cave I'd moved from a main tank to the QT

I can already tell these are going to be fascinating and entertaining fish to keep! Will try for photos later for help with names and ID'ing him, when he's out and about. He'd also slept in the thick bushy green algae that coats the top of that pleco cave, but apparently he likes the inside too, and fits pretty perfectly!

Betta also made it through the night, was snoozing on decor on the bottom of the tank, but woke up and got a bit active when I disturbed him with the light, but I had to check on them all!

Since I left that DOA RHL in there since yesterday evening til this morning, about to do a water test and likely change 30L with the remaining water conditioner I have, then pop to the nearest fish store (a chain, sorry! LFS are too far away for me to get to today, no car) for some Prime and some tapsafe, likely some other bits and bobs. Like a new dual airpump, one running now is working, but it's a weak output. Might have to accept that cheap airpumps will only have a relatively short lifespan. Not like the ones dad had that ran for donkeys years! Will test some of the water I remove to see how ammonia/nitrates/nitrates look.

Oh, also need a new lightbar that will fit the 240L and/or the 57g- the 57g one packed up a couple of weeks ago, but the 57g is closer to a window, I rigged the smaller nicrew light I had that fits the 22g perfectly and is now on the 22g QT tank, and a lamp, but since I'm going anyway makes sense to get a new light if they have decent, affordable ones. Gotta measure before I go, but W/C and testing on the 22g that had the dead hillstream loach more urgent, so doing that first.