eschaton
Fishaholic
Hey all,
Used to post here semi-frequently, but with my now eight-month old daughter, haven't had the time. Could use some advice from other fish fanatics. I'm almost considering packing it in. (I'll be discussing marine and freshwater, wasn't sure where to put this, but I figured this was more general)
I've kept fish for several years now, both marine and freshwater. There have been trials and travails, but ultimately, I simply cannot keep up the maintenance on my tanks to my own standards at the moment. Keeping up with feeding and topping off is hard enough. To detail.
55 gallon high-tech planted: I've had several frustrating issues. I didn't have time anymore to routinely trim my stem plants, or keep up with my carpet of Marsilia, so out they all went. Without them, and with the T5-HO and CO2, I've had a bit of an algae issue in places, but more of an issue is the duckweed which somehow got introduced into my tank in the last year, as it's a constant battle to keep it in check. The good part is despite infrequent water changes, all the duckweed growth keeps nitrates at zero. I'd tear down this tank in a second (and rebuild it when I had more free time in a few years), except I've always had fish problems with it, which I believe were due to internal parasites (fish going missing with no symptoms, or simply looking a bit bloated or skinny, etc.) I treated the tank with anti-parasite medication twice only to have the problems arise again, so I decided for the sake of the fish to stop introducing any more. I haven't had a fish fatality in over six months now, and my Nanostomus beckfordi even managed to breed and add another to their school. Still, I feel like if I gave up my fish, I'd have to disclose what happened to whoever took them, and put their fish at risk
6.6 gallon low-tech planted: This is my wife's tank, and actually should have been torn down already to make way for the new Fluval edge I bought her, but she won't let me set that up for her until we have furniture to put it on. Tank only has two Heterandria formosa a zebra nerite, some Anubias nana, crypts, and a few other bits and bobs. But I can't remember to fertilize it on a regular basis, so the plants have been looking more and more underwhelming. Plus in past months there were let downs like the slow decline of the shrimp colony in it to nothing.
55-gallon reef: Unlike with fresh water, I seem to have great luck with marine fish. Besides three jumpers, two gobies which I think died of old age, and two fish which vanished within a day of introduction, I've not had any fatalities (and none in the last two years at all). But I've slowly been losing the algae wars in my marine tank. The first few years, my tank was doing great - my only major complaint was the flatworms I couldn't eradicate no matter what I did. Then, late in my wife's pregnancy, all the turbos in my tank died within a short span, and hair algae reappeared with a vengeance. Once I introduced a sea hare it abated for awhile, but is basically back to where it started, where I rip out handfuls each week. Of course, it's started to overgrow some of my corals (particularly my montiporas) in places. Quite honestly, I can't even manage the weekly water changes I know I need to do in order to do normal maintenance, let alone the massive water changes I'll probably need to get my nutrients down. I can't get my skimmer working correctly either - it's in my sump and always gets clogged with chaeto. I love this tank, and I don't want to part with it, but even if I did, I'd have a hard time selling much of my stock due to the red planaria issue.
30-ish gallon frag tank: As with everything else, it's seen better days. I had nearly all my stock wiped out or brought to death's door by a heater malfunction I didn't catch for a few days (tank was up in the 90s). After fiddling around with my lights, I've finally gotten it so the surviving stock is starting to unbleach. That said, I really don't have time to trade for anything new, or even check out the local stores, so my collection isn't getting refilled.
Admittedly, I am a bit of a lower-energy, lackadaisical sort of person. My wife, by contrast, is very type A, and always has a list of things for me to do. Unless the baby falls asleep early, and I stay up way later than I should, I never get the time during the week to do things with the tanks. On the weekends I sometimes get the chance, but it seems like every other weekend something comes up (trip to the hospital, out of town visit, etc) which disrupts everything, and makes it hard to get moving during the hour or two I might have free.
Any advice from people who've been there would be appreciated.
Used to post here semi-frequently, but with my now eight-month old daughter, haven't had the time. Could use some advice from other fish fanatics. I'm almost considering packing it in. (I'll be discussing marine and freshwater, wasn't sure where to put this, but I figured this was more general)
I've kept fish for several years now, both marine and freshwater. There have been trials and travails, but ultimately, I simply cannot keep up the maintenance on my tanks to my own standards at the moment. Keeping up with feeding and topping off is hard enough. To detail.
55 gallon high-tech planted: I've had several frustrating issues. I didn't have time anymore to routinely trim my stem plants, or keep up with my carpet of Marsilia, so out they all went. Without them, and with the T5-HO and CO2, I've had a bit of an algae issue in places, but more of an issue is the duckweed which somehow got introduced into my tank in the last year, as it's a constant battle to keep it in check. The good part is despite infrequent water changes, all the duckweed growth keeps nitrates at zero. I'd tear down this tank in a second (and rebuild it when I had more free time in a few years), except I've always had fish problems with it, which I believe were due to internal parasites (fish going missing with no symptoms, or simply looking a bit bloated or skinny, etc.) I treated the tank with anti-parasite medication twice only to have the problems arise again, so I decided for the sake of the fish to stop introducing any more. I haven't had a fish fatality in over six months now, and my Nanostomus beckfordi even managed to breed and add another to their school. Still, I feel like if I gave up my fish, I'd have to disclose what happened to whoever took them, and put their fish at risk
6.6 gallon low-tech planted: This is my wife's tank, and actually should have been torn down already to make way for the new Fluval edge I bought her, but she won't let me set that up for her until we have furniture to put it on. Tank only has two Heterandria formosa a zebra nerite, some Anubias nana, crypts, and a few other bits and bobs. But I can't remember to fertilize it on a regular basis, so the plants have been looking more and more underwhelming. Plus in past months there were let downs like the slow decline of the shrimp colony in it to nothing.
55-gallon reef: Unlike with fresh water, I seem to have great luck with marine fish. Besides three jumpers, two gobies which I think died of old age, and two fish which vanished within a day of introduction, I've not had any fatalities (and none in the last two years at all). But I've slowly been losing the algae wars in my marine tank. The first few years, my tank was doing great - my only major complaint was the flatworms I couldn't eradicate no matter what I did. Then, late in my wife's pregnancy, all the turbos in my tank died within a short span, and hair algae reappeared with a vengeance. Once I introduced a sea hare it abated for awhile, but is basically back to where it started, where I rip out handfuls each week. Of course, it's started to overgrow some of my corals (particularly my montiporas) in places. Quite honestly, I can't even manage the weekly water changes I know I need to do in order to do normal maintenance, let alone the massive water changes I'll probably need to get my nutrients down. I can't get my skimmer working correctly either - it's in my sump and always gets clogged with chaeto. I love this tank, and I don't want to part with it, but even if I did, I'd have a hard time selling much of my stock due to the red planaria issue.
30-ish gallon frag tank: As with everything else, it's seen better days. I had nearly all my stock wiped out or brought to death's door by a heater malfunction I didn't catch for a few days (tank was up in the 90s). After fiddling around with my lights, I've finally gotten it so the surviving stock is starting to unbleach. That said, I really don't have time to trade for anything new, or even check out the local stores, so my collection isn't getting refilled.
Admittedly, I am a bit of a lower-energy, lackadaisical sort of person. My wife, by contrast, is very type A, and always has a list of things for me to do. Unless the baby falls asleep early, and I stay up way later than I should, I never get the time during the week to do things with the tanks. On the weekends I sometimes get the chance, but it seems like every other weekend something comes up (trip to the hospital, out of town visit, etc) which disrupts everything, and makes it hard to get moving during the hour or two I might have free.
Any advice from people who've been there would be appreciated.
