My 33G Tank, Better Late Than Never

[moochy13]

only just noticed this part of the forum, ive just been updating my tank so figure this is as good a place as any to post the pics.

the tank (48x12x15) is now about 4 months old, was an old tank i had in the attic i used to keep a 6ft corn snake in. i had him put down (infection), and the tank went in the attic. about 6 years later i decide some fish in a smaller tank i have need a new, bigger home, and my mate offers me a juwel filter so i get the tank down from the attic, make a lid and make a start. i fish in cycled with the fish that needed rehoming, everything went great, no losses due to water quality or illness though i lost a tetra when he got stuck underneath the filter i didnt test the water for 3 months, just winged it and used common sense, and it worked. my water is perfect whenever i test it. my MDF lid got mouldy very quickly, so i went out and stumbled upon the perfect size lid for 30 quid at the LFS.

ive gone with argos playsand, real wood and real plants. community tank, i might be pushing my stocking, but with my water as good as it is bioload doesnt concern me right now, at least not as much as keeping the tank from looking too packed. i've had some losses since, a striped raphael and sterbai cory (already ill, whitespot treatment finished them off), an L168 flounder plec, no idea why that died, and the tetra i mentioned. i have no aggression issues, the most boisterous fish are the BA tetra, but they keep it between themselves. plantwise, they do what they do. i have a single 35W bulb, no CO2, no plant food or ferts. i remove dead leaves, thats it.

fish :

1 rusty plec, 1 L204 flash plec, 1 black angel, 1 hopolo catfish, 1 featherfin synodontis, 1 leopard synodontis, 1 cuckoo synodontis, 2 GBR's, 5 red eye tetra, 5 beunos aires tetra, 6 emporer tetra, 3 sterbai cory, 4 aggassizi cory, 3 trilineatus cory, 5 cherry barbs, 2 banjo catfish

plants : (im not too good with names)

amazon swords, crypts, anubis (or whatever its called), java moss, some grassy stuff, something thats planted next to my filter . possibly java fern somewhere aswell, not sure if any survived.

this is what the tank is looking like now, bit murky due to the upheavel of todays minor rescape

today i added the anubis on the large wood on the left and the plant bunch next to the filter. i previously had gravel going from the end of the middle piece of wood to the right end of the tank. replaced with sand today. also some moss fell off my moss covered wood at the back, this i have just pressed into a cavity on the piece of wood on the right hand side at the front.

some of the fish.

cory bundle !!!

 

[oscar1995]

only just noticed this part of the forum, ive just been updating my tank so figure this is as good a place as any to post the pics.

the tank (48x12x15) is now about 4 months old, was an old tank i had in the attic i used to keep a 6ft corn snake in. i had him put down (infection), and the tank went in the attic. about 6 years later i decide some fish in a smaller tank i have need a new, bigger home, and my mate offers me a juwel filter so i get the tank down from the attic, make a lid and make a start. i fish in cycled with the fish that needed rehoming, everything went great, no losses due to water quality or illness though i lost a tetra when he got stuck underneath the filter i didnt test the water for 3 months, just winged it and used common sense, and it worked. my water is perfect whenever i test it. my MDF lid got mouldy very quickly, so i went out and stumbled upon the perfect size lid for 30 quid at the LFS.

ive gone with argos playsand, real wood and real plants. community tank, i might be pushing my stocking, but with my water as good as it is bioload doesnt concern me right now, at least not as much as keeping the tank from looking too packed. i've had some losses since, a striped raphael and sterbai cory (already ill, whitespot treatment finished them off), an L168 flounder plec, no idea why that died, and the tetra i mentioned. i have no aggression issues, the most boisterous fish are the BA tetra, but they keep it between themselves. plantwise, they do what they do. i have a single 35W bulb, no CO2, no plant food or ferts. i remove dead leaves, thats it.

fish :

1 rusty plec, 1 L204 flash plec, 1 black angel, 1 hopolo catfish, 1 featherfin synodontis, 1 leopard synodontis, 1 cuckoo synodontis, 2 GBR's, 5 red eye tetra, 5 beunos aires tetra, 6 emporer tetra, 3 sterbai cory, 4 aggassizi cory, 3 trilineatus cory, 5 cherry barbs, 2 banjo catfish

plants : (im not too good with names)

amazon swords, crypts, anubis (or whatever its called), java moss, some grassy stuff, something thats planted next to my filter . possibly java fern somewhere aswell, not sure if any survived.

this is what the tank is looking like now, bit murky due to the upheavel of todays minor rescape

today i added the anubis on the large wood on the left and the plant bunch next to the filter. i previously had gravel going from the end of the middle piece of wood to the right end of the tank. replaced with sand today. also some moss fell off my moss covered wood at the back, this i have just pressed into a cavity on the piece of wood on the right hand side at the front.

some of the fish.

cory bundle !!!

what kind of catfish do u have in your tank? and your tank is very nice great job

 

[moochy13]

pic 6 is a hopolo catfish, last picture is my largest synodontis cat, a featherfin. i also have a cuckoo and a leopard syno. and 2 banjo catfish, buried in the sand somewhere. and the cory cats obviously. cheers

 

[Haveagojoe]

Love the tank setup m8 the ram looks cool.

 

[markandhisfish]

lovely looking tank only thing id say tho is that you are very heavy on bottom dwellers .

 

[Skins]

Stunning

 

[moochy13]

i know theres a few bottom dwellers in there, but the synos and plecs dont mvoe all day, just hidign udner wood and in plants. the cories and hopolo have run of the tank. then when lights off they retreat to their little bit of tank, and, well actually the synos still dont really do much . what im trying to say is at no point are all those fish trying to use the same bit of tank, they dont even feed at the same time. and the banjos are only an inch long.

 

[c-dub]

Some lovely fish that are somewhat uncommon in this forum! I like it nice tank and keep up the good work.

 

[markandhisfish]

lol i know what you mean about the synos . my big eupterus never used to come out from under his root unless it was feeding time , and then he would rush out stirring up all the sand grab the food and dart back under his root.

 

[ZoddyZod]

2 words for you

bl00dy lovely!

 

[Graphic5]

Have you a closer pic of the angel fish, it looks a beauty?

 

[moochy13]

thanks for the comments. sometimes i wonder why i even bothered putting the synos in . i never see the cuckoo, i only know its alive because its tail slightly sticks out from under a piece of wood and occasionally he flicks it. but when you see fish that are rarely out its like a nice little treat. already, seeing the banjo's feels like its going to be a once a month thing

i'll try get a picture of the angel, it just a normal black angel. im not great at taking pics of fish, and being black getting a picture of him is even harder. he also tends to stay at either end of the tank where its darkest, oblivious to anything else going on in the tank.

 

[moochy13]

trying to get a decent picture, prtty difficult. hes pretty grumpy just hangs about in the dark corner on the left, barely visible against the background. however with a bit of plant tong shaped persuasion i got him up the ther end of the tank, then he swam back to his dark corner. so heres a crappy video until i can get a picture.

 

[moochy13]

trying to get a picture of my ram showing all his best colours is doing my head in. his blue sheen is amazing and the stripes along his body, but i cant seem to capture it all going on at once. i really want to get a new pic of my rusty plec aswell, hes growing nicely and i dont think he would fit on that stone anymore, and his markings and colours are great. very underrated plec if you sak me.

 

[moochy13]

quick update, few things different. ive added a koralia 1600lph powerhead to the tank to try and stop crap settling on my swords and get blown into the filter. not sure if its working yet, though it might help after a few water changes. my plan was to have 2 opposite currents in the tank, with the filter blowing along the back from the right, then the powerhead along the front from the left, taking the bits of crap to the filter. unfortunately the thin shape of my tank means it doesnt really work, the currents just bump into eachother, but at least the leaves sway and look good.

only other problems are i used to feed in the same spots so if food wasnt getting eaten i could get it out, with the powerhead going food goes everywhere great fun for the fish chasing it about, not much fun for me watching food settle on the moss and most probably disintergrating, adding to my 'bits of crap' problem. i could turn it off, but for some reason they havnt added a power switch in-line, so would have to pull the plug out each time. the lead is also very short incase anybody needs to know.

i took these photos to demonstrate my plant growth in another thread, and i was quite surprised to notice the growth of my crypt at the front, in front of the wood on the left. they were new in that day on the photos from the original post, seem to be growing nicely. also noticed the swords have made that final push to break the surface of my tank. i think even the anubis is growing. the grassy stiuff at the front has finally been uprooted by my hopolo, and its looking minging anyway so its going in the bin. bearing in mind i just leave the plants to do their own thing, im pelased.

fishwise, i think since the last photos ive lost a sterbai cory, a red eye tetra and a BA tetra that looked very rough for a week, then finally pegged it. dont know why these fish died, the cory was very unexpected and nothing obvious stood out, the tetra was obviously very ill, dont know what with. the red eye tetra vanished without a trace however i also have a couple of new fish. i got myself a whiptail plec, another baby hopolo who follows the larger one round constantly, most amusing to watch. they are both from the same batch of fish, but about a month inbetween buying them. the first one has grown very nicely and is nice and chunky about 4-5 inches. yet the new one thats been in the shop hasnt grown a bit. i have also added a pair of young double red apistos.