Slimmed Down Fish Room Journal

[Boundava]

Yeah I ordered from predatory fins. I can't believe they swapped our orders. I just got a shipping notification from them they're going to send out my other two tomorrow. Thankfully I get them delivered to work.



Also got my Nicrew today. I had purchased a Finnex at the same time to see what/if there was a noticeable difference.



Spoiler alert, I didn't see one. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to return the Finnex which was considerably more than the Nicrew and get another Nicrew for the tank because it does need two lights and it's basically a 2 for 1 price wise between the two brands.

 

[Boundava]

So the 2 other crassipinnis came today. Looking forward to getting them in the tank. Had a little issue with some surprise ammonia in the 120. Moved my crassipinnis (Sweetums from the Muppets) into the 125 where he perked up and was assaulted by eels and gourami trying to figure him out. Then of course our parrot fish Marigold had to try to show who's the boss. Turns out Sweetums is definitely the boss and is not liking his time in the tank.

As to the ammonia, I used some ceramic/pumice media that was already used and though I soaked it in hot water and rinsed it half a dozen times of course the nature of the stuff is porous so whatever debris in there is probably what caused the ammonia. Will be stopping by Fish Planet for Turbo Start to hopefully help with any future issues.

 

[Magnum Man]

Glad you finally got your fish… I got mine also today… they re-sent the rainbows, and 2 were dead again… but I got my 3 Africans… what are you going to do with yours??? Mine came in alive, but quite tiny… fit right into n the shoal of tetras

 

[Boundava]

I am sorry to say I dropped them off at my local fish store as I don't have tetras anymore. Had I known I would have kept them and sent them to you.

 

[Boundava]

So got the fish home after stopping at Fish Planet for the Turbo Start. Fish Planet had 2 eels that were supposed to be common spiny variety but turned out to be maculatus. Since I had lost one yesterday, and have 1 currently in the 10 gallon as a grow-up tank I decided to bring home the 2 eels.
So as the fish acclimated in the 125, I did a WC on the 10 gallon. Sweetums (the crassipinnis in the 125) was very interested in his acclimating buddies, not so much the eels. The three crassipinnis will be named after Muppets with the smaller one being Fozzie and the larger one being Rowlf.
I would name one Kermit, but that name is already taken.

 

[Sparx]

I love your videos. I wish I could come up with names for all of mine.. so far my Pleco is called Pedro and one of the two Reed fish was named Sebastian, but I can barely tell them apart and I actually think they’re both female

 

[Magnum Man]

Excellent video… glad you got your fish… you should have seen my face, when I picked out the 1st bag… so obviously not a tetra

 

[Boundava]

Excellent video… glad you got your fish… you should have seen my face, when I picked out the 1st bag… so obviously not a tetra

Never got a chance to ask you what are you going to do with them?

 

[Boundava]

Got a new fish today, Neosilurus ater. It's a very rare catfish from Australia that gets to be about 16 to 18 in when fully grown. Unlike most large catfish it eats small invertebrates, it has a very little mouth. Like it's salt water relatives, it is highly venomous and if you make a mistake and get injected you will be in pain and not for hours not for days but for months.
It looked a little rough when I put it in the tank, but it has acclimated wonderfully and has dug itself a little cave underneath the wood O.
You can see him at about 3:15.

 

[Boundava]

So did WC on the tanks in the basement (two 120g, 125g, 33g, 20L, 10g). Was able to get 2 of the bumblebee oscars into the 120 glass tank. The third one in the 125 didn't want to get near us even with wormy treats in our hands.

After I filled the 125 acrylic and got the FX4 back on I noticed that the outflow was weak to none and the hose was knocking in the cabinet. Not planning on cleaning the filters (don't do WC and clean filters at the same time), however I didn't really have a choice. So after I emptied the FX4 I noticed one of the ceramic media rings had gotten stuck in the outlet on the bottom. After I pulled it out I cleaned the canister, media and sponges. Filled 'er up and hooked her back up to the tank. Those not aware FX# have programing that will stop and start flow so when you plug it in it won't automatically start-it kina self primes. I thought I would give it 30-60 min to get going and went to make dinner. When I went back downstairs it still wasn't on; now there is oner filter that has done this in the past, to the extreme that I bought a new motor. Last time I opened the motor and cleaned the impeller area and it started working again.
So I am going to have to go though the whole removal and draining of the filter again tomorrow. I am hoping that I can clean the impeller area again and not have to change the motor out. At least the tank was 75% drained so the fish should be OK for 24 hours.

On another note, the 120 glass is experiencing a little algae issues. I am also not pleased with the barren look of the tank as I love aquarium rooted (not stem) plants. So I have been thinking for a few months about lightly planting the tank. Its been a while since I bought plants online so it took me a bit of searching to see what's out there. I knew where I would not look due to past experiences and was almost bummed when I went to my tried and true APF. I almost had a mini crisis when I saw the note on their site, but then realized I was ok to shop today, they are stopping shipping on the 2/19 to March due to warehouse expansion. Fortunately after much debate and comparison I was able to find and squeeze in an order for some swords. I wanted to get some cryptocoryne balansae and retrospiralis for the 120 glass, but I could't find both plants form the same vendor. I was able to find two swords that can become 24" beasts in the tank; a marble queen and chocolate marble. I also found a variety that stays dainty at 4-8", the Hadi red pearl. I like the two big ones have long stems and spoon shaped leaves so the fish should be good swimming through and it will still give the open feel the tank currently has. I will be nestling the small ones along the round log as well as the "roots" of the trunk.
They are shipping them tomorrow and I know its not the best time for plant shipping, but I hope they come in ok-I got them potted (instead of single or bunched, and a heat pack for extra security.

Just need to get some root tabs, anyone know of some inexpensive varieties that work well? I have liquid fertilize but swords are heavy root feeders so don't absorb nutrient's through the water column.

Here's the tank in July...the only plant left is the anubias on the wood trunk

 

[Boundava]

So I spent half the day fiddling with the filter. I did wind up taking off the motor and cleaning the impeller and the hopes that it was going to work. I did this last time I thought I had to replace the motor which is why I bought a new one preemptively. Fortunately like last time after I cleaned out the impeller (which wasn't dirty but hey why not since I took the time to pull the motor off) and reattach the motor. I filled the filter halfway and turned it on without hooking it up to the hoses. It worked fine. I go ahead and hook it up to the tank and as soon as I turn it on it works however the output hose continues to knock and the flow through it is sporadic leading me to things that there's something wrong with the hose.
After disassembling the hose and running brushes through as much of it as I can I go ahead and fill the hose with some vinegar and shake it up and let it sit for about a half hour. After rinsing multiple times, I hook it up again and cross my fingers and hope that the third time is the charm.

Unfortunately because it has that programming I didn't start right away when I turned it back on so I hung around for about 5 minutes and the filter kicked right back on and I had confirmation of good flow and no more knocking from that hose. Weirdest part is that nothing came out of the hose that would incline that it was clogged. Because this is set up on an acrylic tank that has a internal filter option, the hose kind of lays on the top oddly and I did notice a little kink in it. I fortunately have a whole bunch of those metal clamps and so I put one at the part that looked to be slightly kinked and maybe that fixed it? I don't know couldn't tell you for sure what from everything that I did to the filter fixed it. I am happy that it is up and running though and I still have an extra motor in case I actually need it.

 

[Boundava]

I guess when it rains it pours. I got my plans today but day early which is fantastic because I live in the part of Illinois near Wisconsin that is supposed to be getting up to eight inches over today and tonight. I was afraid the plants would come tomorrow after the snow.
Thankfully while I was shoveling the 3-4 inches that had already fallen on the driveway and steps, the USPS delivered mail early. Obviously they didn't want to be in the weather longer than they needed to so were delivering a few hours early. Plants came in beautiful condition, although one of the marble plants had a bunch of broken leaves.
They are all grown emersed so will probably have some leave die off anyway, until they get used to being submerged.

While I walked down the stairs to the basement, I noticed a ton of water on the floor, snaking it's way from the side of the basement to the center floor drain. I was jaw dropping shocked because I had just fiddled with the filter yesterday and we didn't seem to have any issues with leaking yesterday. Apparently there was a break in a seam on the bottom of the acrylic tank by the left front corner, and overnight it just had gotten bigger because when I opened the stand to check on the filter I could see water dripping from the top of the stand right underneath the tank.
The tank was a couple inches from the top yesterday. Today it's over 6" of water that is making it way across the basement floor to the floor drain.

So I just spent from 2:40 until 6:45 pm in the basement emptying the 120 with my sister of the decor the fish the heater and the substrate. Fortunately we had a 60 gallon tank with a Marineland 400 that we were going to set up as a river tank within the next year or so. So Jelly Bean (the Peruvian wolf fish) and as well as Banna Nut Loaf (a bichir) and Gruyere (a male bristlenose pleco that is an offspring from my male albino pleco, Ghost RIP).
The two Severum (Bean&Toast) wound up in the 120 as soon as we caught the two crassipinnus (bumblebee Oscars) and got them back in the 125. There was a L234 in the tank (Twizzler) as well but we figured two plecos in a 60 was pushing it so she went into the 120 as well.
The yellow upside-down catfish (Cheese Fries) wound up in the 125.

Lol, bet you going with their names. My Sister has a knack for picking them.

So here's the 120 with the new plants. Sis was nice enough to plant them while I dealt with the acrylic apocalypse

Oh, Peter (Parker) says hello.

Time for me to decompress with a root beer and turn my brain off with either YouTube or Crap on streaming TV.

 

[Boundava]

Well I thought I'd let everyone know, but a few weeks ago the 120 acrylic tank sprung a leak. We have to move the two Severum that were in the 120 acrylic into the 120 glass where I planted all of my swords, and they will not leave the swords in the substrate. I'm just a smidge ticked off at them.

Also while my sister was feeding the eels yesterday in the 125 she saw that one of the younger Borneo eels was not looking very well, he is a little thin and lethargic so we are going to be moving him into our 33 to cut down on the competition from the other eels, the pseudo Oscars, and the parrot cichlid.
In order to do this we are going to be breaking down and moving a few fish and tanks.
The 10 gallon is going to be broken down. It currently has some snails, some maculatus eels, and a mean cichlid named Lestat.
They will all be going into a 33 gallon.

The 20 long is also going to be broken down. It currently has some amano shrimp, pangio loaches, nano Rasbora and tetra, Panda gara, a single otto, some cichlids, my Igawazu 2009 sword and my Egyptian lotus bulb(yeah they're not fish but they're important). The nano fish are going to be going upstairs into the 6 gallon, the panda garra and the lone otto are going to be going into the 120 glass or possibly the 33
The 33 is going to be broken down as well.
It currently has a few cichlids in there, a small school of panda corry, and some panda gara.
The cichlids are going to be going into the 125, the corry are going into the 120 glass tank to play with all of my other corry, and I believe the panda girl are either going to stay in the tank or they're going to go into the 120 glass tank as algae control.

The 10 gallon, 20 long, and 33 will need to be taken down and cleaned. All three tanks were algae factories. I am going to try to get the 33 clean as well as possible and then we want to lift it up to the top rack of the shelf that we have on.

Unfortunately we ran a bunch of errands today so we just got home a little while ago. Going to try to get some energy back and then go and tackle that mess in the basement. Going to have to get that set up because I don't want the poor Borneo sitting in the 125 and possibly dying because he's not going to get a chance to eat.

I'll get some before and after pictures up once we're done.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Always something, isn't it.

 

[Boundava]

Keeps you on your toes.