My New Roma 125 Journal

[sadguppy]

Looking good!

How many tanks do you have in total?

In use? Uh... well... There are two community tanks (one 200l, one 65l) which are currently up and running in my lounge and this one that's cycling, one currently housing a few fry, one empty in the conservatory and one empty in the garage (a cheap second hand purchase which I'm not convinced is watertight)!

Yes, everyone thinks I've gone loopy.

My husband has always said he wanted a tank, back before he was my husband so a good few years ago - but his idea of fishkeeping went something along the lines of 'buy tank, fill with water, buy fish and plonk them in, sit back and watch them'. Having a bit of a notion it wasn't that easy I refused to give in!

Then at the beginning of the year, a new LFS opened up in town and watching the fish somehow I caved, we ended up buying a 65l tank and a week later (ugh!) some danios to put in it, followed by guppies and platies. If only we had known about fishless cycling!

I ended up buying a second-hand 20l tank on ebay about a week later which was going to be a hospital tank, but then found out how quickly guppies and platies breed and whipped out the ladies quick stat to their own home (too late...) .

Then, despite our best efforts and twice daily testing and water changes, we got a touch of whitespot. I was distraught and didn't know what to do as the hospital tank was full, and so I went on freecycle where a lovely lady was offering an Edge which I begged for and luckily she let us have it. So that made three tanks...

Treated the whitespot with salt and temp in the main tank and so there was mercifully no need for the third tank. Set up the Edge and fishless cycled it using a little of what was now almost cycled media. In no time at all it had cycled and so the ladies moved in - just in time for their first round of babies to be born, which instantly filled up the now-empty hospital tank.

By this time, all three tanks were cycled and obviously that's the time to start all over with a bigger tank... So in a fit of madness (others might say...) we got a Fluval Roma 200, in went the old filter and some filter media from both tanks into the new filter, in went the danios, guppies and platies. When we were happy it was all running along nicely, we added gourami, tetras, cories and Mr Bristles the plec.

The ladies were outgrowing the Edge, so we ended up setting up the 65l again and now it has a nice shoal of pygmy cories, a few extra platies and and a couple of nearly mature guppies, plus a grumpy clown plec called Plecostomus T Barnum.

But something was still missing... and that's when the madness finally took hold and I decided to get another tank, a second hand 125l Roma. Well, it was cheap and just around the corner....

This is my last tank, I promise! Well, it has to be. I have no where to put anymore!

 

[Joshwainwright]

Ahahh, nice eventful little story

I've gone from 3 tanks (2 empty) to 1 Roma 125 because of my stupid mum GIVING ONE AWAY and TAKING ONE TO THE TIP! So yeah, that was 2 occasions she got a nice mouth full

They're not the only things she's thrown away though... If they're not hidden, the likes of buckets, bogwood, slate, air line and tubing all goes missing and has to be bought again

Never mind though, on the hunt for a little tank for my bedroom to house a betta Once I have a bit of money that is, stupid college and no job

 

[sadguppy]

Ahahh, nice eventful little story

I've gone from 3 tanks (2 empty) to 1 Roma 125 because of my stupid mum GIVING ONE AWAY and TAKING ONE TO THE TIP! So yeah, that was 2 occasions she got a nice mouth full

They're not the only things she's thrown away though... If they're not hidden, the likes of buckets, bogwood, slate, air line and tubing all goes missing and has to be bought again

Never mind though, on the hunt for a little tank for my bedroom to house a betta Once I have a bit of money that is, stupid college and no job

Well, you'll get there. I wouldn't have been able to do this when I was your age and living with my parents, who by the way also think I am going a bit loopy and gang up on me with my husband to tease me! BUT after their last visit to my house (aka sea world ) they went out and re-stocked their pond for the first time in years..., so I think the fish bug is catching to a certain degree

I'm not even sure I would have been patient enough to deal with it. I could barely look after my hamster. At least you're learning the lessons while you're young and in a few years' time (*cough*) when you're in my situation and you're working and have your own place, you will know exactly what you want and you won't waste your tank on guppies. Unless that's what you like. Mine are little bar stewards.

 

[Joshwainwright]

I suppose it's not too bad when you put it that way

I have managed to progress though, my first tank was an ancient 90L which one of my mum's friends were selling so I begged for it. Then I begged for my 125 which I was only really allowed because it "looked nice in the living room"

The 90L was form my cycle-less, colourful gravel, guppy and platy days thankfully

I get teased for being "sad" too ahahh, I enjoy being sad though!

 

[sadguppy]

Quick update (no pics today haha!).

Yesterday had a strange mix of results. I have seen no ammonia at all, but the nitrite has been a bit odd.

Before work (11.5 hrs after re-dosing) the nitrite was the highest it has been - between 2 and 5! Perhaps I put too much in??

I re-dosed anyway before work and then measured again when I came home at one hour intervals (my husband has gone away and I was bored!).

The results were 7pm 0.5-1, 8pm 0.25, 9pm 0
Then I re-dosed.

This morning at 8.30 (11.5 hours after re-dosing) I'm getting double 0s again. Anyway, just about to re-dose and get on my way to work, hopefully in 12 hours there will be nothing...

 

[Joshwainwright]

My fingers are crossed

 

[sadguppy]

So today I go on the hunt for new fish. I called in to my lfs yesterday to check the stock, no five banded barbs there unfortunately. Have a few other places to check out before I give up. Von Rio tetras are also lovely fish so they're plan b.

But first, I have to change the water and do a complete rescape. It's also water change day for the other tanks. It's gonna be a long day!

 

[sadguppy]

We went out on Saturday and on Sunday, a little worse for wear but entirely committed to the cause, we changed 90% of the water in the 125l tank (as well as doing five buckets in the 200l and two in the 65l) and went out in search of fish!

...And came home a few hours later with these guys:

6 x five banded barbs, and 8 x rummynose tetras.

We wanted some which would be compatible with our female krib, however it was evident from the off that she just wasn't going to let anyone share her tank, and the new guys cowered in the corner, so we've had to offer her up for re-homing. At the moment she is on her own in what is supposed to be our hospital tank. This means we still need to decide who's going in the tank with the barbs and tetras but there is no rush.

When we got them in the tank they all just hid away at the back and we couldn't see them at all, so a day later we decided to up the numbers slightly. We also added a few young guppies from the 65l (I think they are male but it's hard to tell!) so that the thing wouldn't look so empty!

Unfortunately, the only place we could get fish after work hours was the local Pets at Home, where we got four more tetras who have settled in OK and are shoaling with the others who seem much more confident now. However they had one single five banded barb; very stupidly I felt sorry for him and bought him, and unfortunately he doesn't seem to be doing well. I've also noticed now that he appears to have a white spot on him, I am not sure if it is ich, as it doesn't look the same as what I have seen before, as it hasn't spread however I have dosed the tank just in case which means we won't be adding anyone else for the time being.

More photos coming soon!

 

[Gladders1980]

Always exciting getting new fish, hope to see pics soon!

 

[sadguppy]

So what happened next??

Well...

• The twelve rummynoses settled in well and started coming out and shoaling in the open although they didn't really stand out very much against the background which is a shame as close up, they're stunning fish.
• The pentazona/five banded barbs didn't seem to like the set up however and spent their days cowering under cover, so after a while we decided to swap them into our 200l where they shoal like crazy and stand out beautifully. As it was already a bit overstocked, we moved six cardinal tetras into the 125 to add a dash of colour, however we couldn't catch the other six and when we've got a bit of time we'll get them too!
• We also moved two orange platies in there, to add a bit of colour but also because they seemed to be hiding away a lot in impossibly small spaces - possibly because they got bullied by the other platies in the 200l. In the 125l they swim out in the open most of the time which is great to watch.
• As a 'centrepiece' we got two small angelfish, a white & yellow long finned one (named Viv) and s silver and black striped shorter finned one (Bev) who are great to watch and will follow you up and down the tank and feed from your hand. I know angels aren't ideal in pairs but really we couldn't have had too many more in there and one seems very lonely! It is clear who's in charge (Viv!) but he or she doesn't do anything worse than chase the other one every now and then, she can't chase very fast as she seems to have strange fins! For the most part they are very peaceful together.we can always swap them into the 200l or 65l if they start to argue!
• We decided the rock background was too severe (OK, my husband didn't like it!) and it took up too much space, so we spent a few hours getting it out and scraping off the silicone, all fish in buckets of course. We added a black background (just a bit of material) and lots of plants, and my husband picked out two enormous pieces of wood which have given it a murky, natural look which I love and wish was permanent!
• The two baby guppies we moved in (it was three but one was deformed and died quickly) have now developed their gonopodiums so I now have a lot more confidence in my ability to sex guppies so moved two more over. The four guppies - which although they have the same parents (I assume!) are different colours depending on when they were born - all swim together with the two platies. It looks like the rest of my guppy babies are female, so hopefully I swapped the boys out soon enough and that will be the end of the babies - it's been nearly six months since they saw a male and for the first time they don't look like they're about to burst!
• Finally we added six yo-yo loaches over a few weeks. They're around two inches long so still juveniles and at the moment they don't seem to bother the other fish as they are the only bottom dwellers and have lots of nooks and crannies to explore. Again if they do start picking on the angels or guppies, I have a contingency plan, but at the moment it seems to be going very well indeed!

For some reason my USB port isn't recognising my camera so I will have to come and add more photos at a later date.

 

[HM Dragon Devil]

Nice tanks, sadguppy. I wish i had room for more (just not as many as yours - only kidding).

Dean.

 

[sadguppy]

Nice tanks, sadguppy. I wish i had room for more (just not as many as yours - only kidding).

Dean.

A girl has to have a hobby and with this washout of a summer the garden isn't looking too enticing!

FINALLY, some pictures of how the tank looks now (not very good I'm afraid!!).

This is Viv:

and Bev:

And my wee Yoyos:

Current inhabitants:

2 x Baby Angels
6 x YoYo Loaches
12 x Rummynose tetra
2 x Platies (were getting bullied in the other tank)
and a bunch of guppies who were getting bullied in the other tank.

All are getting on well so far but I'm keeping careful watch in case I need to separate anyone in future!

In other tank news, have switched to an external filter in my 200l so it looks so strange now - so much more space! Haven't altered the stocking much except we had to put in Mrs Kribbitch the moody kribensis as we needed the hospital tank for our sick dwarf gourami, he's still with us but for how long I don't know. Could be the dreaded DGD. His Mrs is fine and still in the 200l.

The kribensis has settled down now, and isn't picking on anyone; she's even getting on fine with the cories.We moved the guppies & hi-fin platies out (into the 125) because she would just rip them to shreds, and have put in two new platies to add a bit of colour. Tetras, danios, barbs and cories are all fine too, as is Mr Bristles who is getting HUGE already. Here are a few rubbish pics taken today:

Ta-da!

And last but not least, the 65l is now home to some rapidly growing platy and guppy young ladies. it's also had a wee re-scape:

 

[HM Dragon Devil]

Hey the pics aren't rubbish! Nice tanks and aquascaping. My tank looks so bare and there's not a lot of room for any ideas i'd have in mind. I think it's time for an upgrade LOL!

Dean.

 

[sadguppy]

Ok so... Been a little while but all is going ok, thought i'd get some updated pictures up.

My 125 currently. Looking quite busy at the moment' current occupants are two angels, 11 rummynoses (lost one mysteriously, wasn't ill to my knowledge...) 6 loaches and a smattering of guppies and platies which were getting bullied in my other tank. I might re-introduce them as I am getting impatient for the perfect tank and three species is all I wanted in there.

I was sold these as yoyo loaches but I am now wondering if they might be Botia histronica?..

Any ideas??

Finally a few of my 200l, no new inhabitants and no one gone to fishy heaven. The dwarf gourami who I thought had DGD is living in my 65l with a bunch of female guppies and platies, he's not quite right - a little curved - but he feeds ok and he's no where near as bad as he was when I took him out of the 200l to treat him with anti internal bacteria meds.

Will try and take better ones but I am not a born photographer and my iPad isn't exactly an SLR...

 

[SchottayB]

Lovin' the YoYo's! I recenly got some... great fish!