My Managerie of Tanks

love all the cories! What's in the tote?
The tote is my goldfish and livebearer "pond"

Has:
1 fancy lionchu goldfish
1 baby common goldfish who will move to a pond once he grows
4 platies
4 guppies
2 mollies
1 apple snail

Its 50g, maintained with Seachem Equilibrium to keep the GH at 250ppm for everyone since I have soft water. Temperature set to 68-72F.
 
46g and 10g baby tank got new driftwood today

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It has been a very, very long while since I've been here. I've taken a hiatus due to personal issues with some things but I've kept with fishkeeping the entire time.


My tanks have changed quite a bit.

This may be a long update, apologies!

I'll do individual fish photos in a separate post, this one will focus on the tanks themselves. I can't remember if there's a photo limit per post lol

I've upgraded my goldfish tank to a 135 gallon, a nice 6 footer. Some folks may remember the tiny baby goldfish i caught out of my local river who was barely the size of my thumb nail... well hes the big orange common boy here. Hes got two fancy companions. I moved all my hoplosternum punctatum to their tank as well since they're good with the lower temperature range as well (lowest is 68F, but usually stays at 72F). An old coworker was also taking her tank down and asked me to take in her common pleco (Pterygoplichthys pardalis species) and we've got the space so we agreed to it. He does fantastic with the space (he used to live in a 55g with my coworker)
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My corydoras eques tank has been upgraded to a 55g from the old 20g they had. That used to be a separate thread, but I'm just going to keep things streamlined and contain things back to one thread. If you followed the old corydoras eques thread, it's here now. It is also not just "osteogaster" eques anymore (yay for name changes lol), there are also hoplisoma loxozonum and brochis splendens among them. Tetras are lemons, ornates, and embers, along with a pleco pair and a small species of banjo catfish who I barely ever see lol
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10 gallon nano, houses some aging pseudomugil gertrudae and pygmy cories, unsure what direction I'll be taking in the future with this one however.
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5g betta tank, with new boy named Earl. This tank will always house a betta and occasionally I change it up, but it's mostly buce, ferns, and anubias.
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55g blackwater, houses my aging skirt tetras, emperor tetras, what remain of my black neons and harlequin rasboras. I joke and call this my retirement tank because all my elderly fish live in it. I am in the market for a new upper level though since most have dwindled. My osteogaster aenea and hoplisoma sterbai also call this home, along with a couple pleco species (1× l240, 1x l448, 2x ancistrus bodenhameri). I no longer have my farlowella since i lost them during a nasty heatwave in 2022.
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20g asian community. This tank is home to my very very old cherry barbs (I have 4 left), rasbora sarawakensis, and my pangio loaches. Three bamboo shrimp also live in here.
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This 10g is technically my son's tank. It is home to 8 male endlers and some ramshorn snails. The water in this tank is boosted for pH and GH for the endlers since my water is soft for livebearers.
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This tank has seen heck and back, so much struggles along the way. Unfortunately it is not the original stock. This was the 55g that met an unfortunate incident back in 2020 that blinded a lot of fish, but then in 2022 ended up being infected with camallanus worms and were not responding to fenbendozole or levamisole because baby plecos didn't eat the dewormer meds and kept reinfecting the tank to the point of med immunity. In 2023 I had to make the call to cull the entire tank to protect my other tanks and prevent spread to other hobbyists. I had to throw a lot of stuff out, bleach and boil the heck of everything I could reuse and after letting things sit dry and fishless for a month, had to start back from scratch. A small comfort is days before culling, my original corydoras gave me a batch of eggs which I raised in a separate nursery and were untouched by the parasites. Those babies now call this tank home, there are 15 hoplisoma paleatum (formerly corydoras paleatus) and I've built this tank to be themed off Paraguay region. All the fish, except my trio of chaetostoma formosae, come from the Paraguay region. It is home to the paleatum, the 3 plecos, a pair of apistogramma borelli, a big school of Reed tetras, and some mixed species of Moenkhausia tetras (m. forestii and m. sanctaefilomenae). The temperature to this tank is kept low, 73-74F due to the fish preferring cooler temps naturally. All of the plants were chosen to be those from the general region of Mato Grosso or Paraguay.
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Those are beautiful set ups. Each tanks looks better than the ones I first thought were the best.
 
Beautiful. Could you tell me the names of fish in pictures #1, 2, 8, 9, 10..
1. Common goldfish
2. Telescope eye fancy goldfish (he was sold as a Moore but he lost all his black haha)
8. Moenkhausia forestii (told apart from sanctaefilomenae by scale count difference, broken lateral line, and generally smaller size)
9. Apistogramma borelli female.
10. Apistogramma borelli male.


Unless you meant like, what I've named them as individuals?
 
1. Common goldfish
2. Telescope eye fancy goldfish (he was sold as a Moore but he lost all his black haha)
8. Moenkhausia forestii (told apart from sanctaefilomenae by scale count difference, broken lateral line, and generally smaller size)
9. Apistogramma borelli female.
10. Apistogramma borelli male.


Unless you meant like, what I've named them as individuals?
No. You nailed it the first time. thanks
 
What is this beautiful creature?
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I keep going back to your aquascape photos. I generally don't like tank photos, because a lot are staged and taken down very quickly, once the photos are done. Yours are real tanks, well cared for and not for a quick photo. I guess my tanks with 4 scraggly Vallisneria need some work... something more than 6 Vallisneria.

The fish photos are great too.
 
What is this beautiful creature?
View attachment 346112
That is hyphessobrycon pulchiprinnis, aka lemon tetras. Fantastic tetras, though can take awhile to get the yellow color. Mine were grey until about 2 years old, then they turned nice yellow. But very mellow, not much attitude from them and they're a nice mix of calm but active.

I keep going back to your aquascape photos. I generally don't like tank photos, because a lot are staged and taken down very quickly, once the photos are done. Yours are real tanks, well cared for and not for a quick photo. I guess my tanks with 4 scraggly Vallisneria need some work... something more than 6 Vallisneria.

The fish photos are great too.
You're thinking of what I call "scapers". They give fish keepers a bad name because they can make an artistically beautiful tank but not give a hoot about the fish living in it and either cram them in tiny spaces or put them in the wrong parameters or habitats (majority of fish are not happy in open spaces like those of iwagumi scapes) and they see them simply as decoration in the artwork.

To me that's backwards.

Build the tank to suit the fish and think about the environment they expect to be happy in. A scape is a waste if it's solely for your own esthetic.


My tanks do change up over time, but I try to build onto what I've already got going and the fish's needs come first before all else. But I do like to fuss with things, maybe move stuff around, add new things, etc.

Some tanks are overdue for another refresher, but I've not decided on any ideas just yet.


I spend a lot of time watching underwater videos of fish in the wild, get a feel for their natural behaviors and environments.

And also, learning to pick and choose my battles. Example: I now have a carpet of sußwassertang moss, because my pangio loaches decided they liked it better scattered all over the place instead of neatly tucked onto the driftwood. I'd prefer it neatly on the wood, but they're also happier with it as it is, so I've left that to them.
 
I'll be back as soon as I reasonably can to admire and ask questions, I've known since we met that your tanks are always gorgeous, with a lot of thought and work put into them, to make them the best possible habitat for the fish you love! It's always inspiring to see your tank and fish photos! As I did a quick scan, I remembered some of the tanks from when you set them up! Evolved of course, but recognisable. :D

Likely a big part of why they breed so well for you ❤️

But mainly, just wanted to say thank you coming back and sharing!! :yahoo:


I know we've still been in contact elsewhere, but not as often and as in depth as we used to here! You brought so much to the forum, and you're appreciated by so many people! I know I wouldn't have been able to raise my first cory spawn without your amazing help and support! Calming me down when I was freaking out, and telling me how to do it, with clear photo instructions! :friends:

I've said before and will say it loud and proud every time - I'm convinced you can breed anything you turn your hand to!


The macro shots you took of your cory eggs developing, hatching into wriggers and growing on were epic, and with your sparkling gourami laying spawn after spawn!

I also feel old, since I remember when those goldfish were wee little nippers, and now they're huge, healthy and stunning in the tank with the plec and hoplos! Or whatever they're called now - I am really trying to learn the new classifications.

Mainly just wanted to say how good it is to see your name here again!I ❤️
 

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