One For All

[IonaMcCluskey]

hi folks,
i was going to wait till i got started on the goldie upgrade before starting a journal but i've asked a few questions in a few different topics, so, rather than pulling up old threads all over the place to report back on progress due to the invaluble help and advice i have recieved, i thought i would just start the journal now
 
at the moment i have the 54"x18"x24" goldie tank
https/www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1319458034860989&l=d29303a29b
 
and the 36"x15"x18" tropical tank
https/www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1336489789824480&l=8edb92849a
 
these are old photos and i will try and get some more recent ones up
 
i am planning a 7ft upgrade for the goldies can't wait, but unfortunately this is going to be a long, slow process which will eventually lead to a complete re-stock and re-scape of the 54" tank at the moment i'm thinking a pack of cories, a shoal of dwarf neon rainbows and an angel or two, depending on if i can get a compatable pair that i like.
 
i am also hoping to get another 3ft tank for sun fish as these fish only eat daphnia, bloodworm and the like i am hoping to be able to culture my own daphnia, so this tank depends entierly on whether i can achieve this.
 
i have been in touch with my lfs and they say that they will be getting some live daphnia in next week was hoping it would have come with this weeks fish ......... but such is life, it's gona be another nail biteing week waiting to get started to see if i can culture the daphnia so as to let me get the sun fish.
 
plan of action for today is basic water changes and glass cleaning of existing tanks to use the removed water/algae to set up the daphnia tank

 

[IonaMcCluskey]

ok, the faint of heart may NOT want to look at the following pics

this is a wee 18"x10"x10" ive set up for daphnia, it contains a pretty foul soup of dirty tank water and as much algae as i could scrape out my tanks 

  bareing in mind i usually keep a bit of algae growth in my goldie tank, i think it is supposed to be good for their wen growth.
 
https/www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1353650514775074&l=91ea28074f
 
https/www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1353650511441741&l=efd33c2c1b
 
from what i've just read dirty is good and snail poop is a great food for them. my local pets at home have plant tanks that are hoatching wi snails so, i'll be paying them a wee visit and buying the plant with the most snails on it.

 

[Blondielovesfish]

Shall be good when they're upgraded! They'll love all the extra room!
 
You might be able to ask pets @ home for the snails, instead of having to buy plants, that is unless you want them
 
Erm, nice daphnia tank?
 
Looking forward to see how the tank turns out

 

[IonaMcCluskey]

i'd feel kina cheeky/embaressed just going in and asking for a bag of freebee snails when i wasn't making any other purchase

i'm hoping they will be more accomodating if i at least buy something and i can just chuck the plant in the daphnia tank, don't suppose it will do any harm, more snail fodder if nothing else
that tank is pretty vile, i'm so glad it's in an unused room where i can't see it.

 

[IonaMcCluskey]

here's a wee video of the goldie tank at present

https/www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=1353901181416674&l=8038021273579925653
 
and here's one of the tropical. it's a bit boaring, looks quite empty while i'm waiting for fry to grow and it's quite dark too. i started with a marina 3 spot LED light (which was useless) then stole this one off my cacti tank, just waiting till i find something decent to replace it with.
 
https/www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=1353909638082495&l=7840962624726119878
 
once there is enough endlers that have grown to a decent size i will add a centerpiece fish but still not 100% sure what yet

was originally thinking of golden/german blue rams but seen a few rams in my lfs and they looked pretty agresive, constantly charging each other. plus i think they are middle to bottom dwellers which is where my neons have settled, so don't want to upset them.
there is also the possability of a red dwarf gourami (i really like these) but i've read so much on here about DGD.
or, a honey gourami, this option i've been considering from what i've read on here aswell, seems to be a bit of a favourite. but then it would only be one as after reading the thread about the dying HG and how the male attacks the female after spawning i really don't want a pair.
 
any other ideas/ suggestions?

 

[IonaMcCluskey]

i've been having another wee think about the stand for the 7ft, this is a plan i have come up with.
 
baring in mind TTA's advice, i know he is off line just now and here's hoping he is not in too much pain and is back on his feet soon, the following is a quote from him -
The tank sits on 2x4s on end, the supports are 2x6s with a 2x4 on each corner underneath the ends of the tank. The longest run of unsupported 2x4 is 25 inches. As you can see the stands are not finished but just the frame. I think your builder can go with 2x6s on edge and a combination of 2x6s and/or 4x4s as supports.
 
in this plan i am useing 21 supports (of 2x4) instead of 10 and my longest unsupported is 12" instead of 25". i also plan to use a solid top and base instead of the rail round the top. i have not decided on the thickness of the solid top and base but will prob go with no less than 15mm on the bottom (as it sits on a concrete floor) and 30mm on the top (by useing a double layer of the 15mm) recomendations regarding this are more than welcome.
 
do you think this will be strong enough to hold my tank and contents estimated at 1500kg?
 
https/www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1354208144719311&l=faa1f679db

 

[IonaMcCluskey]

ok, so, after another (very unexpected/early) birthing from my endlers in 3ft tropical tank, i've decided to split them.
i've got a wee 24"x12"x12" that i've started setting up for them. unfortunately i don't have everything i need for it so will have to wait till i'm out and about on fri to get the rest.
 
https/www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1354861494653976&l=a1c20dbe55
 
https/www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1354861491320643&l=3660e57847
 
i've set this up in the hall as that wee unit was just a nice, handy size to take the tank
i intend to move the 3adult females and the 6 young females from the first 2 batches of fry over to this tank once it's good to go.

 

[IonaMcCluskey]

got my daphnia

was out at my lfs today as they got my daphnia in, it was only a pound a bag so i got 2, the more the merrier......in some cases. also got about 4 or 5 snails. they've all been added to the tank so it's a case of wait and see if they multiply or just die off. here's a few photo's though it's hard to see any kind of detail. what also struck me as i was taking the photo's is how i'm gona fish out the daphnia to feed to fish without getting a great big clump of gunk aswell

 
https/www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1355484734591652&l=1990d5e33f
 
https/www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1355484677924991&l=176313b5cb
 
https/www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1355484674591658&l=e05e42f0b6
 
https/www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1355484694591656&l=68d0221222
 
i also got a heater for the 2ft i'm setting up for my endler girls and got some plants and gravel too, hopefully i'll get this set up by tomorrow at the latest. i'll post pics when it's looking a bit better
 
as for the other 3ft for the sunfish, i ordered the tank today it will be 36"x12"x18" but they only have 1 sunfish left however they did say they would get more in again when i was ready for them

 

[Blondielovesfish]

Yay!
 
Can't wait to see the 2ft tank set up!

 

[IonaMcCluskey]

i got the 2ft set up last night and have been running the equipment over night just to make sure everything is working ok. i just put a spare bit of polishing cloth in the filter to clear out the bits and pieces i missed when rinsing the gravel, i'll remove this and bin it when i've got the mature media from the goldie tank ready to go in. so hopefully more progress and pics later tonight
not checked on the snail/daphnia tank yet today, so will update on that later aswell.

 

[IonaMcCluskey]

ok, so latest installment, i am absolutely didilyfunked from getting the endler girls into their own tank.
 
first thing i did was open up the goldie external filter, this is not easy to get to the way it's all set up. i pinched enough media to fill the internal filter for the 2ft tank and put in fresh stuff, the amount of media changed was less than 1/12. while i was at it i shortened the pipes on the external as this was needing done anyway and i figured i was aswell doing it while the thing was shut down.
 
i put the rather mature media (i can't help it, i think the inside of a filter with all the fish poop and goodness knows what is just disgusting) in the wee internal for the 2ft and let it run while i was shortening the pipes.
 
i then topped up the 2ft tank (approx 25%) with water from the 3ft tank, which is where the girls were coming from, then the fun began!
now, please, if you are prone to PMSL, go put a dipper on. for all i love my fish and feel lost if i do not have them about and can sit and watch them with the thickness of the glass between us, i am in fact afraid of them, the air turns blue if they come near me when i am feeding or cleaning the tank and now i had to catch nine of them!
 
i did catch the nine of them, i think, it was starting to get a bit difficult to tell the difference as the next again batch of fry was getting pretty close to the same size, altho i think one of the ones transfered may be a late colouring male, so will have to keep an eye on that and switch him back. if i've missed any of the girls i wanted to keep, tuff tooddle.
 
i know, i know, stop typing and put the pics up. it's not the prettiest set up but it was kina short notice and not really planed.
 
https/www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1356157357857723&l=4323bb6022
 
https/www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1356157361191056&l=6dec6a89b3
 
https/www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1356157364524389&l=40029eaec9
 
the girls were a bit camera shy after the upset of the move so the tank still looks empty, i've put an end shot as that is the way the tank will mostly be viewed.
 
daphnia tank
if anybody is following this for news on how that is going i had a wee look in on them earlier and all seems fine. none of the wee bugs look dead, everybody still seems to be moving about. don't know if they are multiplying or not (this is actually gona be quite hard to tell) but i think the snails will be, i found one on the back of another. the daphnia do actually seem to be eating the snail poo as i did see a few of them pecking at it. i sit here shaking my head, the things we do for our fish!

 

[Blondielovesfish]

 
Looks nice. What are those star fish things on the bottom?

 

[IonaMcCluskey]

thank you they are just wee ornaments i got from the lfs, i did get them for the 3ft tank but decided not to use them as i felt they didn't quite fit in with the rest of the stuff.
 
i have too also add while i'm here that i have just noticed a (drastic, for my neons) change in their behaviour. normally they never leave the bottom of the tank but they are almost half way up the tank.
i would have expected them to be totally freaked out after the upheaval of removing the girls and hiding in a corner but it looks as if they feel a lot less scared.
either the females have been harrassing them or the male's behaviour has changed in the absence of the females.
i'm astounded at the difference in the neons so soon.

 

[Blondielovesfish]

They may have been harassing them, good to know they're happier now!

 

[IonaMcCluskey]

hey folks,
it's that dreaded morning after doing something drastic to your tank! but it's pretty much all good news
goldies all seem healthy, happy and none the wiser, so pinching the media doesn't seem to have caused them any harm.
3ft tank all seems well, not tried to do an actual head count yet. neons look positively liberated.
2ft endler girl tank, everybody i put in looks fine altho there's def a young male in there, will give it a couple of days before i get him back out, don't want to stress them with another move so soon. on the down side, if you would believe it, to my complete shock and horror, i have just spotted fry swimming about in the 2ft tank

  and i certainly never put them there.