One For All

[Blondielovesfish]

Oh no! Lets hope it turns out to be female!
 
Good to know everything seems to be going well

 

[IonaMcCluskey]

there is at least 4 or 5 new fry in there, i didn't spend too much time looking, too disgusted with them lol, so going on past experience there will prob be at least one male.
from the fry i have or will have all the females will be going back to the lfs, i'm just going to keep any males just now and the 8 females i've put in the seperate tank.
i'll give this new fry about 2 weeks in the wee tank, by which time some of the fry in the 3ft tank should be big enough to take to the lfs and the new fry should be big enough to catch a bit easier and then trasfer them to the 3ft tank.
this way i'm using the 3ft as the grow out tank and keeping the females that i want to keep seperate from larger fry so i don't get mixed up........ hopefully
 
everything still seems fine today, so if i make it through the next 3 or 4 days without anything going askew then i reckon everything shall be fine and i should be able to breathe easy again.

 

[IonaMcCluskey]

that's my daphnia cultured, there's lots of even tinier wee bugs in there now

 

[IonaMcCluskey]

i've been shopping
 
https/www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1358176450989147&l=e7a1dc6eee
 
got myself a 36"x12"x18" this is hopefully going to be for sun fish but it looks a bit skinny now that i see it, might swap things around and put my endler boys and neons in this and use their 36"x15"x18" for the sun fish
 
also got myself a 24"x12"x15" this i can keep as a spare/emergancy tank seen as i set the endler girls up in the other one.
 
well seen my lfs had a sale on their tanks

 

[IonaMcCluskey]

just done another round of feeds and noticed there has been another baby boom in the 2ft tank. i'm taking a rough guess at about another 4 or 5.
i really am going to have to buy myself a magnifying glass as i am finding myself going crosseyed trying to spot these wee things

 

[IonaMcCluskey]

just put a new light on my 3ft tank and it looks amazing compared to what it did before.
i know it's a gamble seen as it is not a proper aquarium light but at the moment, until it all goes wrong, it is so worth it
 
camera flash on
https/www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1358540090952783&l=4762df8826
 
camera flash off
https/www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1358540077619451&l=545d56df94
 
this is it with only 2 bulbs in it, it is supposed to have 3. i only got 2 replacement bulbs to try as i didn't realise how dangerous the original bulbs would be.

 

[IonaMcCluskey]

i haven't been on much as i have been busy elsewhere after encountering a pretty big bump in the road with regards to getting organized for other tanks. i have discoverd a dirty big damp patch in the back corner of the livingroom so this will have to be dried out before i can progress with other tanks.
not much of intrest happening in my fishy worlds, the female endlers continue to give birth, unfortunately this includes the young ones even altho they were removed from the male at approx 6wks old.
the majority of the fry that were left in the 3ft tank when i removed the females has turned out to be male (coinsidense or female removal a factor? unknown) so i now have enough that my stocking is complete and all other fry can be returned to lfs when they are large enough.
just thought i would drop these few lines in here to let anyone interested know what was happening

 

[Blondielovesfish]

Sorry you haven't had many replies I've been offline for awhile.
 
Thats a shame that you keep on getting fry!
 
New tanks look great! So do the lights!
 
Will you be adding the progress of your sunfish tank on here or on another thread?

 

[IonaMcCluskey]

hi blf,
i'm not fussy about replies, i know most folk are just following along to see the big tank when it's done i can't wait to see it myself. it is nice tho when you drop the odd comment, makes me feel a bit less like i am talking to a brick wall and if anybody has any questions they are more than welcome to ask.
 
i'm past the histeria of "oh no! i have too many fry" i just have to deal with them as they come along now, at least i don't have the hassle of trying to catch them twice to seperate males from females, they will all go back to lfs and i can use the store credit for things like dechlorinator
 
i am well chuffed with the lights and - touch hairy wood - there hasn't been any problems with them. i was rather concerned because they are just ordinary celing spotlights and not aquatic ones, so there may have been a problem with evaporating water getting into them and blowing my electricity. it's a 3 spot bar i have but only have 2 bulbs in it, i think if i put the 3rd bulb in it would be overkill so i'm going to take that 3 spot bar off that tank, get 2 single ones for it - which would give me the equivelent of what i've got just now, then get another 3 spot bar and use the 2 bars on the 7ft tank and get another 2 singles for the other 3ft tank aswell.
 
i will just keep adding new tanks and whatever progress i make onto this thread, i think it's easier to have it all in the one place rather than jumping from one thread to another, especially when a lot of it can be interconected. unfortunately tho things are going to be very slow for a while, i really can't do much more until i get this damp patch dried out and it's taking it's sweet, merry time in doing so.
 
my lfs has sold out of their stock of sunfish now but have said they will get them back in, so there is thankfully no rush to get another tank up and running. the downside of this is that i am now considering a complete switch-a-rooney of stocking i may go with
the goldies into the 7ft
the sunfish into the 54" with a pack of peppered cories
the present male endlers and neons into the 12" wide (instead of the 15" wide they are in)
and just a shoal of dwarf neon rainbows on their  own in the 15" wide
this means dropping the stocking of angels but considering the difficulties of having more than one angel in the same tank, or having to decide on just one angel, it makes things easier. i console myself by remebering that the BB sunfish was once called the poor man's angel

 

[IonaMcCluskey]

the damp patch in the corner is drying out nicely, i'm thinking another week (or 2) max and i should be able to papper over it. i know you are supposed to wait a year or say but i'm just gona get on with it. i'm gona use what's left of the drying time to get the wall stripped and ready to go, this ment moving the 54"x18"x24" goldie tank away from the wall. after asking on this site ch4rlie came up with the idea of a coaster and jack set. i'll post a few photo's then try and talk through how it went.
 
the coaster and jack set
https/www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1366312816842177&l=35d06b31da
 
i used 4 of the 80ltr boxes from tesco, the 3ft tank i have for another set up and the tank on the wheels is the one i use for water changes
https/www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1366312820175510&l=19cc080692
 
the tank now in the middle of the room
https/www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1366312803508845&l=0cc8b122bf
 
i started by taking off the hood and lights, then siphoned off water into 2 of the 80ltr boxes (to about 3/4 way as they start to bellie at this) without disturbing the gravel. then as the water was siphonoing off into the 3ft tank i removed the plants (which i have in pots) into the 2x80ltr boxes and then moved the fish also, i split them with the 3 big ones in one box and the 4 wee ones in the other. at this point i switched off the filter and air pump.
once the 3ft tank was pretty much full i was left with about 25% of the water still in the big tank, at this point i stopped siphoning. i removed the rocks into one of the empty boxes and the gravel into the other empty box then gave the glass on the inside a good wipe down. the water that was left in the tank was then siphoned off straight into the backgarden. i tane the gravel out the back and gave it a bit of a rinse through just for the hang of it. i left the filter, air pump/hoses etc in situe. now i had to move the tank.
the coaster and jack set comes with 4 wheeled trucks and a hand lever. the coasters have one directional wheels on them, the good thing about this is that aslong as you jack at 90 degree angle to the direction the wheels are facing the tank/unit doesn't scoot off when you jack the second side to put the other trucks under. first you have to slightly lift one side of the tank/unit to get the jack/lever under (2 hands on the unit and foot to shove the lever under) then i placed the trucks right beside the unit where i was going to put them under, down on hands and knees, put all weight on the hand furthest away from the tank/unit on the lever and use the one closest to slide the trucks into place. it was a bit of a tight squeeze to get the front trucks under but i think that is because of the shape of my unit, then same again on the other side. once all 4 trucks were in i pushed very slowly from the back at the bottom of the unit. then it was just a case of getting the 4 trucks back out, lever back under one side, again hand furthest from the tank/unit to work lever, hand closest to pull the trucks out then 2 hands on the unit to lift and foot to kick the lever out, same at the other side.
to refill the tank. i have a small pond pump in the tank i use for water changes, this tank holds enough water for me to do 25% changes, it was also filled previous to my beggining today (as i let my water stand to dechloritnate). set this w/c tank in place and switched on the pump to start filling water into the big tank, as this was running i put a very thin layer of gravel back into the big tank aswell, then i started bailing the water from the 3ft tank into the w/c tank. once i had the water from the 3ft into the w/c tank (pump running all the time) i tane the plants from the boxes with the fish and put them back into the big tank, also switched the air pump back on at this point, then bailed about half the water from the 2x80ltr boxes with the fish in, into the w/c tank also. by this time the big tank is well over half full and i moved the fish back into the big tank, emptied what water was left in the 2x80ltr into the w/c tank and let the pump run till it had moved as much water as poss back into the big tank. end of.............or at least i thought so! a wee while later it dawned on me that i had forgot to switch the filter back on but it's up and running now.
everyone in the tank looks ok, appear to be swimming about fine but my heart is gona be in my mouth till i get up tomorrow morning just incase something has went wrong or it has been to much stress for someone.
this has been a rather long winded post but if any one is unsure on what to do when moving a tank this will hopefully help them.

 

[Ch4rlie]

You certainly have been busy! 

 
All things considered I think you did a good job in moving the tank and getting everything sorted and organised.
 
I know doing things like this can be stressful but seem you kept pretty cool.
 
Thanks for telling us how things went.
 
Good job! 

 
BTW, I think am gonna get a set of these coasters and jack set, will be awful handy to have around should I ever need them.

 

[IonaMcCluskey]

it's tane me pretty much all day to do it but it's done now
the doing it and organising doesn't bother me, the worry kicks in afterwards when i sit and wonder what the impact has been on my fish's health, i do love my goldies

the idea in doing the journal for me is not just to let everybody see my tanks etc but also more of an informational thing aswell, i may not always know what i'm talking about but people will be able to see where i go wrong or right as the case may be and also as i said at the start of this journal i do get a lot of help from people on here and i think this just kinda lets me, let them, know how i've got on as a result of their help, i think it's just nicer than to leave them wondering and shows a wee bit of appreciation too
 
these wee things were great for doing the job, i don't know how they would work on a carpet though, prob not very well. the only thing to bare in mind is the one directional wheels, great to prevent the thing scooting off but if you need to go more than one direction you would need to jack and turn the trucks. deffinately handy things to have though

 

[IonaMcCluskey]

i may be worrying for nothing here but i'm wondering if i've made a boo-boo today.
before i moved the tank all the fish swam about together but as i am looking at it now (and for the last half hr or say) the 4 wee fish seem to be tightly grouped down one end of the tank and the 3 big fish seem to be loosely grouped up the other, occasionally venturing down to the wee ones.
there doesn't seem to be any aggresion.
the wee ones may just be settling down for the night but usually they all settle together at this end of the tank not down by the spray bar.
i'm wondering if i made a mistake in spliting them up while they were out of the tank?

 

[IonaMcCluskey]

Every body is still alive!!!  

 
and all seem to be mixing again.
i think the wee blip last night was due to one of the following factors or a combo of all
either just the upset of the day of being moved
the repositioning of the tank threw them off a bit
or it may be that the tank is now catching a bit of a draught from the back door when it's open, making this end a bit colder cause it is bally baltic outside just now.
all my beauties have been fed and seem to muching away quite happily

 

[Ch4rlie]

Glad to hear all is good