OliveFish05’s double tank journal and builds (20 gallon tropical community and 40 gallon axolotl tank)

[Rocky998]

The tank is a mess right now. It’s time for a water change and trim. I forgot to give my swords root tabs again snd they’re doing poorlyView attachment 155405


I wish I had better pictures, but I think these show just how much the axolotls have grown!View attachment 155406View attachment 155407View attachment 155408

They got some live night crawlers for the first time yesterday! I’ve finally accepted that my LFS isn’t going to be getting black worms anytime soon. I am thinking about switching up some things in the 40 gallon. Moving all the plants to clay pots and taking out the rocks altogether. I have several really nice clay pots that i can use, I think it would be really cool. I’m having a hard time managing the plants the way they are right now.View attachment 155409View attachment 155410View attachment 155411

Messy is natural ... I'm sure they loved those new worms!

 

[OliveFish05]

Messy is natural ... I'm sure they loved those new worms!

They did!

 

[OliveFish05]

Here is the 20 gallon, also in need of work

For anyone who doesn’t know, through a series of miscommunications my uncle took all my cycled filter media and I lost all but 1 honey gourami, 5 neon tetras, 11 of my pygmy Cories, and my snails and BN pleco. In other words I lost 2 honey gourami, 2 Pygmy Cories, and 4 neon tetras. I’m a little bit stuck and unsure of what to do next. The last couple weeks I’ve just been letting the plants grow. They’ve just taken over the tank, which is a good thing I guess. I am starting to consider what to do next as far as stocking, so am open to ideas! I am thinking about switching to either 3x 10 gallons or 1 29 gallon. Or I could leave it where it is.

 

[OliveFish05]

Or how cool would a 15, 10, and a 5 look beside eachother, like in tiers.

 

[OliveFish05]

Just thinking out loud here... the Pygmy Cories and the neon tetras could go in a 15, my betta would live in his 5, and I could get... I could finally.... I could have guppies I would of course need to raise the GH for the guppies, but... I can do that.

 

[Rocky998]

Just thinking out loud here... the Pygmy Cories and the neon tetras could go in a 15, my betta would live in his 5, and I could get... I could finally.... I could have guppies I would of course need to raise the GH for the guppies, but... I can do that.

Or you get a second 40g and get a mud turtle!

But honestly, I would go for what you want... I wouldnt do the 5g unless its the only place to house your betta... 10g is the perfect size for one imo. Everything else sounds like good ideas though

 

[WhistlingBadger]

I love jungly tanks. Very cool.

 

[OliveFish05]

I love jungly tanks. Very cool.

Thanks! It is very jungly right now. The plants Really just took off. The light has been great, and it only cost $16!

But honestly, I would go for what you want... I wouldnt do the 5g unless its the only place to house your betta... 10g is the perfect size for one imo. Everything else sounds like good ideas though

Right now I don’t have another option for the betta unfortunately. IMO 5 gallons is just fine for a betta, bigger is always better of course and 10 is the ideal size. Ideal is not always what works though

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Looks great!!

 

[OliveFish05]

Looks great!!

Thank you! Very wild right now, and the 20 gallon is definitely recovering. Im hoping to do a top off today on both tanks. In the next 3 days I hope to do a water change and some rearranging...

 

[OliveFish05]

Someone’s been doing some growing!

 

[OliveFish05]

Alright, a little update. Since the axolotls are so large now, I decided to remove all their hard scape and have a more defined selection of plants, I have to be really selective, they need all the space they can get! I sold one of the axolotl, Ponyo. He was my least favorite (I loved him, he just didn’t have as much personality as the others. I also think he was a male and felt like he was getting picked on a little bit) and replaced him with a 4 inch rose gold albino. This will give them more time to grow and also adds more color variety to my trio!


Naturally, all excess plant were dumped into the 20 gallon until I can sort them out. Since I was down to just 1 honey gourami, I took it to the LFS and got some credit. So the tank now has
1 BN pleco
5 neon tetras
10 Pygmy cories
3 nerite snails

I am looking in to Pygmy sunfish, Ellasoma gilberti. I just so want to give the tank time to just recover from what happened. I’m not sure how long it needs. It’s thriving right now, everybody is active. I’m hesitant to even add anything new…

The axolotls

 

[Rocky998]

Super cute little guys! Congrats on your new one!

 

[OliveFish05]

Super cute little guys! Congrats on your new one!

Thanks!

 

[itiwhetu]

Just be careful that the large ones don't start chewing on the little guy, watch them closely.