Tommy Gun's Fw Odyssey(s)

[Tommy Gun]

Hello fellow fish-fanatics!

Well, I have been 'hanging out' on TFF for a couple days now and have come to appreciate the great advice and information that can be found here....as well as being a part of some great discussions...so, I thought I would share a little bit more about myself and my aquariums for those who might be interested.

A quick background history

Well, to be honest, a couple years ago my girlfriend (now wife) and I took a trip to a few stores to find something that could fill an annoyingly empty corner of our living room - at first thinking of some sort of cabinet before settling on buying one of those big (read: gaudy, IMHO) fake plants, but LUCKILY, came upon one of those 'kit tanks' that can be found at stores like Wal-Mart....so, in the end, we brought home a 55 gallon 'kit' and stand. As I am sure has happened with a great number of us hobbyists, after setting up the tank, I immediately went out to get some fish...bringing home 6 bala (silver) sharks, three tinfoil barbs, a sailfin pleco, and about 7 clown loaches...and of course soon there after, became exceedingly perplexed as to why my water was extremely cloudy and why my fish were dying on a daily basis. Luckily though, I was mid-stride in working on my second Bachelor's Degree - which I am now nearly complete with my MBA* - making me relatively well adept at research. So, throughout my research into how to properly care for my fish, I bumped into some forums like this one and my odyssey began.
*Which has also taught me how to type relatively quickly, hence, my somewhat longer, and more in-depth posts...in case you were wondering.

^This is my that 55 gallon tank (my very first one) set up in the corner or my living room, uncycled, and severely overstocked. Even though I took this bad photo with my cell phone, I think you may be able to notice the very cloudy water...due to what I later found out was a Het. Bloom.

Once I did learn a little bit more about aquariums and the fish we keep, I did what I felt to be best and found new, much much larger homes for all of my initial fish, short of one rainbow shark and four clown loaches. By the time I figured all of this out though, I had inadvertantly cycled the tank with those fish, and once I removed them, I tried my hand at a bit of Livebearer breeding...which, of course, I had an over abundance of success with. Then I changed jobs...

[URL="http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFtxLJY7Kd8"]http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFtxLJY7Kd8[/URL]
^This is a short, and poorly shot video is of a 45 gallon tank that I bought off one my new co-workers and subsequently moved my livebearers and their fry into (and yes...I have bought a new couch since then, lol). This tank, even though I was lucky enough to find places to sell and/or trade the fry to, was taken down due to a leak shortly after moving it to my current house (new job equalled no more apartment living for me, thankfully!)

Once in my new house, and with my newly empty 55 gallon tank, I decided to try my hand at cichlids, which, I made even more mistakes with:

^(Again, sorry for the bad cell phone pictures) As you can see, I decided to 'start off' with a few M. Auratus and P. Kennyi as my first cichlids...which is not all that condusive to having some wiggle room for learning about cichlid aggression and how to deal with it. Admittedly, I chose these fish not because they were some of the few cichlids I could find since I have access to at least two, very well stocked LFS, but stupidly, I chose them because my favorite color combination is black and yellow, and my son's are black and blue. Needless to say, I had quite a few problems keeping things under control.

So, what is a guy suppose to do? Find the exact opposite end of the spectrum:

^Yellow labs! This is when I really began to get a little bit more serious about this hobby...and consequently, began reading and learning as much as I could via a myriad of resources, including forums. In fact, this is when I learned the benifits of dither fish in cichlid tanks (which I highly suggest for a number of reasons above and beyond aggression issues). This is also when I decided, after hearing too many 'horror stories' about sand, to change substrates...

^To black sand! (which, I think I found a pretty decent method of cleaning and adding sand, although somewhat time consuming, if anyone is interested)

^I eventually was able to breed yellow labs as well (this holding female is in my 'grow out' tank)

^One of the few fry I kept versus trading them (to prevent too much in-breeding)

^My big rainbow shark, which was one of the first fish I ever brought home, and is still ruling the bottom of one of my FW tanks today

^As I became more confident, I also began to keep some more aggressive cichlids with my yellow labs, such as this P. Demonsoni (yea, big fan of Malawians) and some M. Johanni (which I just realized I only have fuzzy pictures of).

 

[invader]

It's amazing how far you come from the first tank, isn't it?

On a random note, your member number is 35999 and that amused me for some reason...

 

[Tommy Gun]

CHAPTER TWO

Like I said though, I had become pretty interested in learning more about this hobby, and eventually became rather involved with another aquaria-based forum where I found a 'niche' in reading questions, doing the research, and answering them - hence, I started learning a lot about fish and other aspects of the hobby that I had previously never really considered. One of those aspects was the FW plants area, so, even though I wasn't bored with cichlids by any means, I decided to try my hand at a planted tank.

^So, I cleaned out that 55 gallon tank, bought myself the supplies I needed (like the substrate heating cable you can see above) including taking my best shot at using two different substrates in the same tank:

Finally, I brought home some livestock:

^Obviously, plants (all of which were pretty much 'beginner' types...which was actually my first experience with buying anything alive off of an online LFS - and continue to do so today)

^And, of course, fish as well....including the 'usual suspects' of rummynose tetras, neon and cardinal tetras...

^Half-Black Angels

^A pair of B. Rainbows

^A small (7) school of oto cats

^A few P. Rainbows (aka Dwarf Neons)

^Yo-Yo Loaches

^A lyretail swordtail

^And my current favorite FW fish, a pair of cockatoo cichlids

 

[Tommy Gun]

It's amazing how far you come from the first tank, isn't it?

To be honest, creating this thread has really brought back some great memories...and yes, it is amazing to see how far I have come to some extent...but wait, there is more!

CHAPTER THREE

Well, as I am sure the vast majority of you can completely understand and empathize with, thus far in my aquarium 'career', for lack of a better term', the only thing that could be better than the tanks I had, would be to have larger tanks!!!! So, of course, that is exactly what I did.

^Rather than bore you will all of the details as to how I came to this upgrade (for now), I will tell you that this is my 90 gallon (bowfront) planted tank. The primary reason for my wanting to upgrade to a larger tank was not only becasue more room equals more livestock (plants included), but I wanted to have a taller tank because I love the look of having all three planted 'zones'; meaning, taller plants in back, medium in the middle, and shorter, substrate covering type plants in front.

^I also took the opportunty to upgrade my planted tank to the more 'high-tech' side of things by adding a Co2 system (this is a 20 pound bottle, with a timed solenoid)

^This is the Co2 reactor I used...which you can get a better idea of what it looks like and how it works by clicking HERE.

^Of course, with bubble counter

Additionally, I had a 4 X 54 watt, HO T5 light system over the tank...initially with two actinic bulbs and two 10,000k bulbs (it was intended for saltwater tanks I believe), but changed that over to three white light bulbs and one actinic

^And a relatively short video of the tank

 

[Tommy Gun]

Chapter Three-point-Five (3.5)

This 'half-chapter' begins on a very positive note simply because the additional tank size allowed me to keep a few more fish that I had previously only read about, including, but not limited to:

^A few male Endler's Livebearers...which are now in their own breeding tank -- this one is in one of those HOB fry 'boxes' for some reasons that I cannot recall

^Initially, three female kribs...although I did have a male for about two weeks (sorry, never got a pic), but later traded it because it became so overly aggressive (lesson learned) that it had my rainbow shark hiding out at the very top of the tank.

--------------
However, this chapter ends on a mainly negative note. Soon after the upgrade from 55 gal to 90 gallons, I was pounded with algae problem after algae problem. This is when I changed all of those light bulbs, removed as much algae as I could, and even, after picking the brain of at least one very knowledgeable planted tank hobbyist, began using the right combo of nutrients and supplements. Unfortunately though, my work soon placed more demands on my free-time and eventually, the tank was basically taken over by algae since I did not have the time to provide the attention it needed (especially since I have other, high maintenance tanks). So, rather than placing my sanity (and possibly some fishes' lives) in jeopardy, I chose to get out of the planted tank 'biz' entirely...or at least until work settles down and I have the time I need.

 

[invader]

I'll comment again, since you've finished more of the chapters.

So, rather than placing my sanity (and possibly some fishes' lives) in jeopardy, I chose to get out of the planted tank 'biz' entirely...or at least until work settles down and I have the time I need.

Sadly, that is the same reason why I took down my planted tank. I just didn't have the time for such a high maintinence tank anymore and it was affecting the fish's health. Here is a picture of it, back in it's prime:

How many tanks do you have now?

 

[Tommy Gun]

CHAPTER FOUR (and current chapter)

So, being the cichlid fan I am, I obviously couldn't take down that 90 gallon entirely, so of course, I went back to cichlids...only this time, I was more able to do things the right (read: easier) way:

^As you can see, my strategy is a very commonly suggested version in that I tried to create as many caves or "hidey-holes" as I could with some pieces of fake limestone, and then added a lot of fake plants which I placed in a way that would reduce any sight-lines from one side of the tank to the other side.

^However, I wasn't all that satisfied with the fake limestone pieces because they were made in a way which meant I could not 'rock-face' the sides (although they were on the top, due to the mold used to make them, I assume), which were the more visible area of the stones. So, I switched them up with some broken pieces of bluestone (a very dense sedimentary stone...which I do not believe will dissolve into, or otherwise effect water...and for the record, hasn't done so noticeably thus far), which I could, of course, chisel so that they looked like natural, uncut stone. I should also mention that I am still using that same 4 X 54 watt, HO T5 light system over this tank, but am using three actinic bulbs (I was told that FW algae cannot benefit from this light...which may or may not be true and is yet to be seen for sure) and one 6500k (if I remember right) bulb.

^Even though I had a great deal of fun on another forum when I asked the members if any of them could positively ID these cichlids, I will refrain from that on this forum since it would mean I would have to stop adding more pictures. That being said, one of the cichlids that I have been a bit more interested in, but could never get my hands on in my area, are these P. Saulosi. In fact, since adding these two fish (which were the first two I added after the change from a planted tank), I have added five more -- which it turns out that I got relatively lucky with picking out two males and the rest females. Here are a few more P. Saulosi pictures:

^Male changing colors (the females stay yellow/orange-ish and the males are blue with black vertical stripes...in case you didn't already know)

^I have also added these three cichlids, which I assure you are not fronts, but Neolamprologus tretocephalus, or five stripe (bar) cichlids from Lake Tanganyika. And no, I haven't had any problems at all....in fact, I have never taken any action to buffer or otherwise change the ph, Gh, or Kh and still have had no problems with this stocking choice.

^As I mentioned before, I am a firm believer in the use of dither fish for various reasons, and so this tank is no exception to that. I started off with five Odessa Barbs (which I realize may not be listed as a good dither fish, but so far, they have much of the same 'attitude' of a tiger barb). However, I did lose two of these fish to a semi-freak rock slide one day. So...

I added five of these fish...which, since I can't help myself, will ask: Can anyone ID this fish? Here is another, better picture which may help out with an ID:

Granted, I realize that this fish could certainly be easily found and purchased in some parts of the world, and truth be told, it isn't really all that hard of an ID to make, but still, I would love to hear some guesses!!!

----------------------
So, other than that, I am only keeping another 29 gallon display tank (although I do have other FW tanks, but they are small tanks used for various situations), which currently holds quite a few Endlers, that same cockatoo cichlid that I posted a picture of earlier, and just recently...

...two Apistogramma borellii (one of the smallest apistos, if not cichlids in general I believe)

Hope you like my past and present FW tanks! I will be sure to add more pictures and perhaps some videos as I take them.

 

[paul_219]

Stunning pics. Wonderful tank and fish.

 

[n3ont3tra]

Great photos, and an even better tank. Thanks for posting!
And for the ID, maybe it's a panda barb?
http/www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_di...id=2518&N=0

 

[Tommy Gun]

Great photos, and an even better tank. Thanks for posting!
And for the ID, maybe it's a panda barb?
[URL="http/www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_di...id=2518&N=0"]http/www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_di...id=2518&N=0[/URL]

Thanks for the compliments!

Sorry, it is not a panda barb, but good guess!

 

[WeeMan147]

Wow...just wow! You my friend, have just made my, along with probably every one else's, biography. You did a great job on putting the "chapters" together. You have beautiful fish and I envy your ability to get so many tanks and fish. Job well done!

~WeeMan~

 

[Tommy Gun]

Thanks WeeMan...you are too kind! But to be very honest, if I haven't already mentioned it, almost every tank design/set-up that I have used has been nothing more than a compilation of ideas that I 'stole' from looking at other hobbyists' tanks - I just took the aspects which appeal to me the most to mix-and-match them for my own tanks. In fact, I also read subscribe to quite a few aquaria-based magazines, and have to admit that I took a lot of ideas from one 'expert' or another; especially for the planted tank. However, on the other hand, I suppose that is what we all do to some extent.

Thanks again for all of the compliments.
=================
Well, since I don't really want to drag out this guessing game as to what type of fish in that photo is, I will tell you that they are Arulius Barbs (aka long-finned barbs, I believe) -- which, in my short time of observing them, seem to have a similar disposition to a tiger barb. In fact, they have been very successful in holding their own with the cichlids; even those increasingly aggressive P. Saulosi which are getting very close to having the complete male coloration. Oh, and same with the Odessa barbs, who are really starting to impress me with their areas of bright red coloration...which is really the reason I wanted to keep these fish in this tank seeing as how red is a hard-to-find color in the cichlid world; if not the freshwater world in general.

Here are a couple videos of some of my past and present tanks:

^ A short and somewhat lackluster video featuring my Arulius Barbs that I made one day while exploring the features of my new digital camera software's features



^ This is a short video of my 55 gallon tank in its 'cichlid' mode, just before I changed the substrate from that gaudy (IMHO) multi-color gravel to black sand. Even though I realize it isn't the highest quality vid, if you watch closely you might be able to see the tiger barbs (8) I was using as dither fish back then. The reason I point this out is because they are all adults - and if not, extremely close to reaching their full potential size - which you may be able to notice that they are relatively 'round' fish which is somewhat of a departure from their juvenile body-type, giving further support to my opinion that these fish are not good candidates for a 10 gallon tank (which I noticed quite a few new hobbyists do) because, even though they grow to 3 inches or so max, they are larger than those 3" fish with the long, slender type body. Oh, and you may also notice that, when they are not swimming, they often take on a position which seems as though they are looking at the substrate - which is good to know because, if we don't already know it, this behavior may be misunderstood as being some sort of swim-bladder problem or something along those lines.


^ A short video of my spitting/grow-out tank for my yellow lab fry and holding females.


^A video of a quarantined yellow lab I once had that is showing a good example of a 'sunken belly'. At first I had no clue as to what was wrong with this fish since it developed relatively quick...but when I asked some people on forums about this, a lot of the replies brought up the possibility that the cichlid was dealing with Fish TB - however, this sunken belly was the only symptom and never showed almost no other symptoms that would support that hypothesis. In the end, this fish's belly never recovered but never died before I traded it in order to start up a planted tank. I also want to point out that the tank the fish is living in is only a 3 gallon eclipse. Point being, a quarantine tank does not have to be large, nor anything special - hence, there are a very few reasons/excuses as to why all of us can't have one; if there is any reason at all (Hint, hint: take a look at my signature )

 

[Straydum]

I SEE A FLAG

 

[Tommy Gun]

I SEE A FLAG

Perhaps I am missing something, but yes, the grow-out tank had a US Flag in it...in fact, they are all over my house.