Jen's 90 Gallon Tank

[Slyspy]

Sorry to hear about your disaster. I hope you stick with it, such a lovely tank. I preferred the jungle look myself - the more plants the merrier as far as I'm concerned!

 

[Dave Spencer]

Well, I killed all my fish. Every single one of them. My co2 control valve has been acting up lately, and I have a new one on order, so sometime over the past two days while I was away, it must have slipped, and I just came into the room and saw the bubbles absoluetly pouring out, and noticed that i couldn't see any fish... they are all floating on the top.

I have noticed one or two issues with a sudden, catastrophic release of CO2 lately. Do you now what the bottle pressure was when this happened (was it getting towards empty?), and what make of regulator are you using?

 

[George Farmer]

Sorry for your loss Jen.

On the positive side a clean slate is full of exciting potential.

Personally I'd stick with the angels idea. Buy quality stock, test your/sellers water, acclimatise them slowly and you'll be fine. If I can keep sensitive wild-caught Microrasbora sp. in a newish 2.5 gal. then I'm sure angels will do fine in a well-established 90 gal.

 

[netcode]

you can put together some cheap substrates jen. Keep in mind when your buying a premixed plant substrate your not going to use it everywhere and also you can do a 1:2 ratio mix or even less and just supplement with something else. Also if your into it you can make your other plant substrates with a few ingredients. There is lots of info on the web about this stuff. Here is an amazing article that you, and everyone should read just cause its interesting http/www.aquarticles.com/articles/plants...tilization.html

hopefully that provides some insight. I am currently changing over my tank now and I am going to simply make a mix of laterite or seachem's flourish substrate with peagravel and use some root tabs around the base. From there i am topping with nylon pantyhose and 2cm's of sand. I will supplement with seachem's flourish liquid. I am not going into as much depth as potentially possible but it will do hopefully

goodluck

 

[lljdma06]

For fish, I am thinking about some Kribs. I would still like some angels, but I don't like that they always die in my tank. Any suggestions for fish that would work with them in my tank?

Kribs are a lovely African cichlid. I've bred them for a few years. A 90g will easily hold 2-3 pairs plus an appropriate dither fish and clean-up crew. Congo tetras come to mind, as to butterfly fish, and upside down catfish, but there are other African tetras that are even more beautiful. All hail from West Africa and would work well with the plants you have. The kribs will readily breed in a tank that size and watching them raise fry is quite entertaining.

I disagree with George (sorry George), angels have just been done so much and kribs are more active. There are other West African cichlids as I have suggested in a past post (the Jewel cichlid). But don't tell this to my angels.

 

[George Farmer]

I disagree with George (sorry George), angels have just been done so much and kribs are more active. There are other West African cichlids as I have suggested in a past post (the Jewel cichlid). But don't tell this to my angels.

No worries. Each to their own. Angels are "common", but a nice group in a well-planted 90 gal. - not so common.

 

[Jen]

Sorry to hear about your disaster. I hope you stick with it, such a lovely tank. I preferred the jungle look myself - the more plants the merrier as far as I'm concerned!

I too miss my jungle at times. I was always so lush and just had a life about it. Maybe with the change I will find a halfway point... some jungle and some swimming room for the fish.

I have noticed one or two issues with a sudden, catastrophic release of CO2 lately. Do you now what the bottle pressure was when this happened (was it getting towards empty?), and what make of regulator are you using?

My bottle is full - 800 psi, and the regulator is a Genetic. But I know it was the home made needle valve I use. It's made out of a gas line turn off, and worked wonderfully when I first put it on. But I think since it is made for natural gas, the co2 has made the rubber thing on the inside not work as well. I now have a valve designed for co2, a Red Sea one, so I shouldn't have any more issues with that. I can control so much easier.

Sorry for your loss Jen.
On the positive side a clean slate is full of exciting potential.
Personally I'd stick with the angels idea. Buy quality stock, test your/sellers water, acclimatise them slowly and you'll be fine. If I can keep sensitive wild-caught Microrasbora sp. in a newish 2.5 gal. then I'm sure angels will do fine in a well-established 90 gal.

I do want to look into angles, and I will have to find a local breeder... somehow. My uncle has a bunch of angels, and had offered at one point to sell me some. His are all a decent size now as well. I'll have to give him a call and chat him up about them.

Here is an amazing article that you, and everyone should read just cause its interesting http/www.aquarticles.com/articles/plants...tilization.html

Thanks for the Link... that is a great website. I have some reading to do! If I don't go away to school in the fall, then I will look into stripping the tank and starting over. With the possibility of tuition I think the tank will have to be set up at a low cost now, which will most likely just mean a few more plants and the fish.

Kribs are a lovely African cichlid. I've bred them for a few years. A 90g will easily hold 2-3 pairs plus an appropriate dither fish and clean-up crew. Congo tetras come to mind, as to butterfly fish, and upside down catfish, but there are other African tetras that are even more beautiful.

Llj, it's like you are inside my brain. Under my krib list, I had put Congo Tetras and Butterfly fish, with the intention of researching them to see if they would work together. I don't think I have seen the Congo's before... they are gorgeous. But I don't know about the butterflies. I tend to leave my glass top and lid open, and they look like jumpers.

If I go with angels, then I would do one or 2 pairs, and a large school of smaller fish. I loved my black neons, so If the store gets any in stock again, I would deffinatly go for 10 or 15 of them along with the angels.

Thanks for all your advice and kind words. By the end of the week, I should know exactly what I am doing and should at least have my new plants and a few fish.

 

[dirtydogg]

very sorry about your tank, hang in there your tank looks stunning.

 

[lljdma06]

Llj, it's like you are inside my brain. Under my krib list, I had put Congo Tetras and Butterfly fish, with the intention of researching them to see if they would work together. I don't think I have seen the Congo's before... they are gorgeous. But I don't know about the butterflies. I tend to leave my glass top and lid open, and they look like jumpers.

If I go with angels, then I would do one or 2 pairs, and a large school of smaller fish. I loved my black neons, so If the store gets any in stock again, I would deffinatly go for 10 or 15 of them along with the angels.

I don't try to get in people's brains, I just know what I'd do with a 90g, if I had one.

In a 90g, you can certainly get 2 pairs of angels or a group of juvies. I'd also aim for natural coloring, there is less line-breeding involved and the fish will be more hardy, at least that has been my experience. I'd up the tetras to about 20-30, however, you'll get better schooling, especially when the angels mature. Black neons are an elegant choice and will complement a natural-colored angelfish beautifully. They can, however, be twitchy in the beginning, and could possibly end up food for the angels, unless you get juvies and raise them with the tetras. Mine do not eat my cherry barbs. So treat the tetras with TLC. There is only one choice for bottom dwellers, Jen. You must get Brochis splendens. A school of 8-12 would be stunning. Not kidding, and the greens of the brochis would play well with the green from the black neons and the metallic sheen of the angelfish. A potentially elegant tank.

llj

I'm jealous, I want a 90g.

 

[Jen]

Alright sports-fans. I have fish.

I started with 9 blue tetras. I'll keep them in for a week or so, then go get the kribs, unless the angelfish breeder I found comes through for me.

I also got 3 Schwartzii cories, and one pictus cory. The latter is beautiful. I wish they had more.

And I got a few more plants to plant up that left side.

Pictures soon!

 

[Jen]

I have my co2 under control now, so hopefully with the new needle control valve, I won't have anymore problems with that.

I have only lost one of the tetras, which I understand are a sensitive fish, so I'm pleased with that. I finally saw my Pictus for the first time since adding all the fish, which relieved me. I thought I had lost him as well. S/he is quite beautiful. I'm really glad I saw it in the store. I would love to find a few more.

Here's a pic of him.

I havent taken any tank pics yet as I am still scrubbing algae away from the glass. I don't know what I should do to get rid of it. It seems to come back as fast as I scrub it. I have some fast growing plants in there now, so hopefully that will help.

 

[rockerBOO]

You could just try adding a bunch more of fast growers in there for the time being to balance the algae growth, and then resell them later possibly.

Beautiful fish though. Hope you can find some buddies for him .

 

[Jen]

More new fish! I went back to get more blue tetras to build up a school of them, but the girl didn't feel comfortable selling them. They were swimming funny, and she didn't know if they were sick, if the lobster was picking on them, or if they were picking on eachother. So she reccomended I wait a little while, and see how they are in a week. I hope they are ok. I eventually want about 20 of them.

Anyway. Since all my stats are a-ok, I decided to get my kribs. 1 male 2 female. They are wild caught, and absolutely beautiful. I can't wait to get some pictures of them - their colours are just amazing. I also got 3 more cories, since the 3 I already have split up... 2 are always together swimming around, and the 1 just sits and 'sulks' in the plants. Hopefully this will pull them together, or at least give the solo guy a friend or two. And a high fin Leopard Plec.

 

[Jen]

WEll, I really thought my Kribs would be hiding for a few days, but they are out and about and exploring everything, so I got a few shots. I'm still geting used to my macro lens, so I only have one that is really in focus, so here is one of my girls.

 

[Themuleous]

Lovely looking kribs BTW how you finding the blue tetras? They always look lovely in the shop but Ive heard they can be a bit nippy? Any problems with the other fish? What did you do on the plant front in the end?

Sam