Emg's Aquarium Page

Mandarin Goby

2010-01-31T14:15:00.007-07:00

Picked up a new fish for the 50 yesturday. I've been wanting to get a mandarin for a while now. All the reports of these fish starving to death in a tank kept me from purchasing one. The 50 is very well established and absolutely crawling with pods as I've had nothing in there to eat them since I sold the 6 line wrasse 2 years ago. When I saw this fella at the store he/she was munching down bloodworms......so....for $18 I thought I'd give this one a try. I took some pod filled cheato from my frag tank and stuffed a big wad behind the rock in the tank. I figure this will help as a place for the pods to breed and escape to. I also picked up some frozen bloodworms and when I put some in this morning I could see the fish behind the rock scoffing them up. I hope this works....it's a beautiful fish....I will post another pic once it starts coming out of hiding...which I hope will be soon ! These fish are absolutely gorgeous !

Long Time No Post !

2009-12-23T18:22:00.007-07:00

Been a long time since I put anything up here. Haven't done much of anything new with the tanks since moving the 50, but I do have some new pics to share.....

2009-08-20T16:54:00.004-06:00

I finally got around to moving the 50gallon into the other room. My husband is going to be putting in the fireplace insert and the tank was sitting right next to the fireplace. In the process of the move I lost the copperband......I guess it got a little too close to the intake of the 110 and got stuck there. By the time I noticed it was too late. I had put the coral and the fish into a 10gallon while making the move....guess the 110AC was a bit too strong for a 10gallon. Rats !
Well, I did get to rescape and it came out very nicely...much better than the pile I had tossed together when I picked up the new rock.

2009-08-02T14:15:00.003-06:00

Been a long time since I posted anything. I picked up a new fish for the 50. It's a copperband butterfly. I've had it a week and it's doing very well. Started eating mysis on the 5th day. It's a beautiful fish, though a bit more timid than the clowns and they're much quicker at scoffing up the chow than the butterfly....but it manages to get enough. Right now I'm in process of finding a 75 gallon tank. I want to put the 29 and 50 together into one. I shouldn't have to spend more than just for the tank and new light fixture. I have enough rock, though I may want to put in new sand and just use a little bit of the old. Right now I have the pair of ocellaris clowns, one yellowtail damsel and the copperband in the 50.......a pair of purple firefish and a two spot blenny in the 29.

What I've been up to lately.....not a whole lot.......

2009-03-29T15:05:00.010-06:00

I added a few more things to the 29. I purchased another high fin goby. I had two previously in the 50 but both of them went carpet surfing on me. I really like those little fish so I thought I would chance another but put it in the 29 with the two firefish. I have a glass lid on the 29 and there is VERY little room for anything to flip out....soooo...here's hopin !

I also picked up an "Armor of God" zoanthid. That's it in the middle picture. A very nice zoa and the name of the coral is dear to my heart. I also traded one of my blue striped shrooms for a frag from a nonphotosynthetic gorgonian. I like the yellow color and the fact that I don't have to worry about placing it in the light. Too many things are competing for that space up top and I needed something for the lower shaded areas. This one seems to be very happy so far.....lots of polyps peeking out and scoffing up the tiny microrganisms I must have floating around in there....I have no skimmer.... I did a good cleaning and water change on the tank the other day and it's looking really nice right now !

Spent a good part of the day today doing a water change on the 50. I decided to take out 20gallons this time around. It needed a good freshening up. Right now all I have for fish in the 50 are the pair of ocellaris clowns and a yellow tail damsel. I lost the yellow watchman. I suspect that one of the heaters I had in there was no good. It looked as if some water had gotten inside it so I was probably getting a current in the tank. I really need to add to the rock in that tank and once I'm sure all is well in there I'll decide if I want to add another fish or not. I've been considering a marine betta....but, not sure if that would be a good choice or not.

Update on the 29.....we got CORAL !

2009-01-31T17:33:00.010-07:00

The 29 is looking good. It's gone through the diatom/cyno stage already. I've tossed in some coral here and there. The chalk bass aquired a huge pop eye....I think it was caused by an injury.......it's now in QT getting clean water changes daily. It's been in the QT for a week now and is doing really well. Everything else in the tank looks great !

New 29 reef

2008-12-31T12:39:00.007-07:00

I finally got sick of the 29planted. I had stopped dosing with the flourish excel because it's pretty expensive and I didn't want to buy it anymore. Things went south pretty fast. Cyno, moldy gunk...etc...just plain ugly. Basically it just had too much nutrients in the substrate and I didnt' have enough light for the plants to be able to make use of it...so the cyno did...blah !

I moved the fish over into a 20hex I had laying around.....1 gold marble angel, 2 blue rams, 4 pristella tetra and a kuhli loach. The hex has a bare bottom and both filters from the 29 are running on it. I have a new home for them, just have to hold them till he gets his tank setup. I'm going to miss those fish...but I'm way into salt now and seem to have lost my interest in fw setups...ah well....

So.....after emptying the 29, I cleaned out the tank really well and tossed everything in. I had purchased about 20lbs of rock the week before...fully cured fiji for $3 a lb...great deal ! It has been sitting in tanks for a week and all looks good...so into the 29 it went...along with the 2 firefish and a new chalk bass I picked up. I'm not concerned about a cycle, but I'll keep an eye on things just to be sure. I do have a place to put the fish if it looks like it's cycling...no worries.

This tank sits between the livingroom and kitchen...high traffic and I can look at it while I'm eating...or sitting at the computer. I LOVE it !

Random Coral Shots

2008-10-02T17:34:00.012-06:00

A few pics I took from the 50 recently. For the sake of honesty, I "shopped" out some window reflextions from that first photo.

New Fish.....New Nano Reef.....

2008-07-14T18:45:00.006-06:00

It's been awhile since I've posted anything new here. I recently added another reef to my collection of tanks.......a 15gallon nano. Original I set up the 15 as a "temporary" tank to grow out a small purple firefish that I bought for the 50. Well, you all know how that goes.....it's now a little reef with 2 purple firefish in it......and so I went out and bought a little yellow tail damsel to toss in the 50 instead.....hehe.....

2008-03-02T16:40:00.003-07:00

Here's a few pics of the High Fin goby. I have two of them in the tank...they aren't paired and I'm not even sure if I have a male/female.....I'm hoping. There's also a tiger pistol which came with the second goby. The pistol has shacked up with the first goby. I only have one pic of the shrimp and goby together in their burrow, but it's not a very good one, very blurry.....so I won't post that one and just hope to get a better one at some point. Cute little fish !

Random Reef Pics

2008-02-19T17:34:00.008-07:00

My New 50gallon Reef !

2008-02-18T15:16:00.006-07:00

My 15 and 29 reefs are no more ! I've tossed all the "stuff" from the both of them into this 50 gallon. I'm very happy with this tank so far. I have found a new home for the six line wrasse and the wheeler's goby. The wrasse is a shrimp eater and the goby rarely shows itself...so I'm trading them out for a high fin red banded goby with tiger pistol shrimp and a flame angel. I'm picking up the goby/shrimp this coming weekend and I'll be looking around for a good specimen of flame angel to add at a later date. I'm not sure I'll put anything else in there other than some peppermint shrimp to devour the aptasia....and some other inverts and such. I don't have a sump/refugium setup on this tank so will keep the stocking on the low end. Right now the only fish I have in this tank is a pair of clowns and a yellow watchman goby.

Update pic of the 29 Reef

2007-12-28T05:30:00.000-07:00

I'm really liking this tank ! I tossed in a few new corals and am presently looking around for a used 65 gallon tank so that I can put the 15 and the 29 together into one tank. It's the largest tank I can fit into the corner where the two are now. I just put some new bulbs in the light fixture and what a difference ! I like to just sit and watch it when I can......MUCH better than the stupid TV !!

Update of the 29planted community

2007-12-09T14:09:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since I posted a pic of this tank....so thought I would update. Everything is going very well and I'm very happy with it. It's been setup since the beginning of 2004 (I think) and has gone through one issue or another...mostly algae. It's finally gotten to a place where there's little fuss with it at all. I change out about 10+ gallons a week and half the time I don't even need to wipe down the glass. When I do, it's for very minimal green spot algae. I dose with flourish excel every couple of days...or maybe just a few times a week, with a dose of flourish traces after a water change. That's it !
VERY happy with this tank !

New addition to the 15 reef

2007-08-12T06:07:00.000-06:00

A Wheelers goby....very shy fella. I only have a watchmen goby and an emerald crab in the tank with this guy. They all hide out most of the time...or just sit there staring at nothing. They're neat fish in spite of that, but I need something in there that actually swims around.

2007-06-30T09:48:00.001-06:00

I just realized I hadn't gotten any good pics of my clowns in here ! When I first started the sw....I had decided "NO CLOWNS"..everybody gets clowns and I didn't want to be such a newbie....lol. Well, I can certainly understand why folks like these fish so much ! They're ADORABLE ! The female LOVES to bury herself in the shroom while the male just swims around nearby. They both take occassional forays about the tank...always together.

Also, a couple of decent pics of the sixline wrasse. A very cool fish as well ! It spends most of it's time scooting around and through all the holes and caves in the rock. The hummingbird of the sw fish world ! All the moving around makes it difficult to get a nice shot though....

Upgraded to a 29 Reef

2007-06-25T10:53:00.000-06:00

I came across a used 29 and decided that it would make a small but decent upgrade to the 20long reef. So I moved everything over.....and then due to the generosity of a fellow reefer....I was able to add to the LR that I had..along with some new corals. The top pic is of the 29 tank before I added the new rock and coral.

The rest are a couple of pics of the new corals, what I believe is a monipora in the first coral pic.......in the next is a blue mushroom, a couple of leathers and some type of plate coral which I can't remember what it's called.

A very generous friend reefer GAVE me about 40lbs of LR and all the softies in a 40gallon he was taking down. With the rock and some of the coral that I didn't put in the 29....I started up a small 15 gallon reef. I put the redhead goby and the watchman goby in the 15 along with a new emerald crab I purchased for the occasion. I also put the pair of peppermint shrimp in the 15 as well ....and it's really true, they DO eat aptasia !! The rock had been covered with alot of that stuff and now what I have in the 15 is completely aptasia free. Not that I mind the aptasia so much....hehe..... I may toss a few of those shrimp in the 29, but not sure what the six line wrasse would do to them.....

Some of the critters in my Reef

2007-01-31T08:58:00.000-07:00

A few pics of some of the critters in my nano reef....... Love those clowns, very personable and always together. They push thier little faces right out of the water at feeding time...lol. That redhead goby is a real character ! Lots of fun to watch him zipping around poking his head out of every hole he can. Always seems to want to know what's going on. The watchman is pretty cool as well. Puffs up his cheeks at the redhead once in awhile, but all in all they get along very well.
I have a couple of peppermint shrimp, hermits and various snails...also many feather worms which came as hitchikers....an ugly bristleworm or two which occasionally make an appearance from time to time....and a zillion little brittle stars that hitched a ride in with the star polyps...all I ever see of them are thier legs poking out from the rocks at feeding time....haha....
What a fun tank ! Makes me wonder why I didn't start a sw sooner....this ain't so hard !

Updated FOWLR...now Reef

2007-01-31T08:24:00.000-07:00

This tank has been doing extremely well so far. I've had no issues with it at all, don't have to add anything like buffers or calcium etc.... I do a water change on it every week...3-5 gallons depending on the mood I'm in and how much time I have. I don't have a skimmer so I put some filter floss over the outlet of the fuge when I blow off the rocks. After the tank clears I take out the floss, rinse it off and put it aside for the next wc. This system seems to be working very well...so far. Also, I use regular tap water...I have very soft water from my tap, with a PH of 7.8-8.2.....in the tank the PH is fairly stable at around 8.4.

A very nice fella I know who's big time into the "Frag Exchange" has graciously given me a few corals to add.... so my fowlr is now officially a reef. I have a mushroom coral, clavularia, star polyps and some polythoa zoanthids. They all seem to be doing rather well so far on my 40watt 50/50 lighting. I'd love to see what this tank looks like under actinics ...maybe someday...

Taking the Salt Dive

2006-11-13T05:31:00.000-07:00

I've taken the plunge......set up this 20long as a marine FOWLR. So far so good. It's only been setup for 3 weeks now. No fish yet....just a peppermint shrimp, 3 hermits and various snails that came along with the rock. I have an aquaclear HOB that I'm using as a refugium. It has some LR rubble, LS and macro in it...along with some small snails and who knows what else..lol.

I'm planning on stocking with a watchman goby and pistol shrimp....and a pair of true perculas. So far the parameters look good..the LR was already cured when I bought it locally. My calcium levels are a bit low...about 360...so have to keep an eye on that, especially if I decide to try some lowlight soft corals or shrooms. For now, it's ok though...everything else looks good. (PH-8.3, gKH-9.52, phosphate-0......ammonia, nitrite and nitrate all at 0).....and....I've GOT to get rid of that ugly blue piece of tape stuck to the back of the aguarium....lol...

Bumblebee Gobies

2006-06-26T16:34:00.001-06:00

Here are my two bumbles. Cute little characters ! Right now I have them in fresh water, but I'll be switching them to brackish before too long. They're in a planted 2 gallon "Explorer" tank at present and looking great ! I believe I have a male and a female....though I don't have any plans to purposely breed them, I wouldn't be too sorry if they obliged. The male has colored up very nicely and looks to be wooing the female, but I've never kept these guys before so I'm not familiar with spawning behavior in these fish. I highly recommend them if you have a small brackish setup or are planning on doing one up. They're alot of fun to watch just because they're so darn cute !

Updated Pic of the 29 Planted

2006-05-27T04:37:00.000-06:00

Here's my 29 now. Algae hasn't been a major problem, though I do still get a small amount of green slime algae creeping along the bottom on occasion. I've added a powerhead for more circulation and that seems to have helped quite a bit.

For stock in this tank I have:
2 angels
1 (gorgeous) male german blue ram
5 pristella tetra
2 ottos
1 striped kuhli loach

There are two filters running on it...a penguin bio-wheel 170 and another HOB that's rated for a 5-15 gallon tank. The powerhead is an Aqua-Tech 170GPH. I do water changes at least twice a week and dose with flourish excel as a carbon source. For lighting I have a 65 watt compact flourescent fixture.

The plants are doing VERY well. The water sprite is taking over...lol. I have some type of ludwigia behind that on the left along with some small java ferns behind that which I think I'll be moving up front to the right at some point. All and all I'm very pleased with this tank and enjoy it a great deal....though it does need some pruning and rearanging with the plants, but I think I'll just leave it be for now. My luck I'll stir everything up and a cause another algae bloom or something !

The Newest Addition to My Betta Collection

2006-05-05T20:07:00.001-06:00

It's truely amazing what you can find at PetCo when you show up at the right time. This fella is a Super Delta tail male betta with wonderful balance and comfirmation ! I paid a total of about $3.49 plus tax for this guy! Now, if I only had a well bred halfmoon little girl for him !!

Gorgeous Blue Ram Shot !

2006-04-01T13:48:00.000-07:00

Whoa ! Sometimes you just get a beaut...and this is one of those ! Thought I would share it with the world....lol.....
This ram is in my 29 with two lady friends who are vieing for his attentions. That one in the background seems to have won his favors. They share the tank with two angels, 5 pristella tetra and a striped kuhli loach. Very nice pic this one.....very happy with it indeed ! :-D

Half Black Pastel Guppies

2006-02-11T16:49:00.001-07:00

Some pics of my halfblack pastel guppies and the tank that I keep them in. It's been really hard getting some decent pictures of these guys...they are constantly moving around. I managed a few though with a new camera I was given last Christmas.

WOOT WOOT ! Finally, I think my 29 is fixed !!

2006-01-02T13:55:00.000-07:00

After a very frustrating 6 month bout with hair algae in this tank...I finally got fed up and removed ALL the gravel I had in it. It was a mix of ugly brown gravel and flourite. I set the fish/plants/heater and filter up in a temp. 10gallon I had laying around...while I emptied the 29 and scrubbed it down good.

I added two 20lb bags of echo-complete for planted tanks...and began refilling the tank with dechlorinated water (very important with this substrate..don't want to kill the bio-stuff that's in it.) Filled about 1/3 full and started putting plants back in...after ruthlessly trimming off algae covered leaves and roots. Filled the tank, put the filter and heater back in after wiping them both down and putting a clean fresh cartridge in the filter (not worried about a big cycle..it has a bio-wheel + the biological additives in the substrate and all)

Fish went back in and within a day and a half the tank was completely CRYSTAL clear and....BEAUTIFUL !!! Now that I can get this off to a better start..with all the nutrients in the substrate..along with the CO2 dosing (flourish excel)...I'm hoping the plants get a good start and the algae doesn't have a change ! We shall see !

Oh, forgot to mention...I had switched the gold prestella tetras I had added to this tank....for 5 regular prestellas. I think they go much better in here than the golds !

Neolamprologus Stappersi (meleagris)

2005-12-03T20:41:00.000-07:00

Another species of tanganyjika shelldweller. I no longer own the brevis...I traded them in for these little darlins...lol...The tank is a work in progress, set it up quickly and used what I had on hand. I'd like to do some rocks (not too many) and a few sparse silk plants. I have a little dilemma as one of these babies has taken up residence in a hole (which I didn't notice) near the top of the castle decoration !! I tried to plug it up but everytime I get my hands near...it darts in the hole !! I'll have to come up with something, I don't want it to get stuck in there...or have babies in there that can't find thier way out !
Anyway, I'm thoroughly enjoying them and hope they do well !

10 gallon tank for the multis.....for now

2005-11-22T07:46:00.000-07:00

Finally I have sold off the halfblack pastel guppy fry (kept 5 for myself)... and setup the fry tank for the multis. Both the Brevis and the Multis are much happier with the added elbow room. I'm still on the lookout for a 15 for these folks....already there are a couple of multi fry swimming around. I had 5 fry before the move, but so far since I have only seen 2. They're taking up residence underneath the tofa rock there. These fish are the easiest to move ! They dart right into their shells the second your hand comes in the tank...just grab a shell, put it in a dish with water and bring it over to the new tank ! Can't get any easier than that !

The tank setup isn't the best I can come up with, but it'll do for now. I kept the bag of gravel in the tank until the substrate gets a good colony of bacteria growing. When I get rid of that I'll be able to do a little more with the layout. The filter is already cycled..same one I used while the guppies were in there.

A couple of newbies for my 29 planted !

2005-11-16T14:13:00.000-07:00

11/14/05 A few pics of the new kids on the block. I wanted to get some angels for this tank....it just seems to need them...lol... Right now they're pretty small, but they're going to look very nice when they get up to size. Hopefully I'll be able to keep these two together, but if they start chewing on each other the less colorful one will be looking for a new home.

11/22/05 I just took the dwarf gourami out of the 29 and put him in my 20long with the other pair of rams. I wanted a schooling type fish to add to this tank so I went out and picked up a group of 5 gold pristella tetras. They are fantastic schoolers ! I saw some other tetras that were similar but with a black slach on thier dorcels that I liked better, but they didn't seem to school as well as these. I'm very happy with them, they stay right together all the time and do add more interest to this tank. Now, to wait for those angels to grow up !! No more fish for this tank ! Two german blue rams, 2 otocininclus, 2 koi angles and 5 tetras about does it for capacity !

Another 29 redo !!

2005-11-08T13:36:00.000-07:00

Well, I can't seem to get this to a place where I can leave it alone yet..lol...The large driftlog I had in there is now OUT. It was covered in moldy/algae like growth so I removed it to see if that could be the source of the algae issue I have been having with this tank. I am now dosing with ferts as well as Flourish Excel liquid carbon as advised by Tom the green thumb at AquariaCentral forum that I go to often. I can't remember his user name there, but you can usually find posts by him in the freshwater aquarium plants section at that forum. It looks great at the moment because I only just finished cleaning it all out and rearranging the plants and such. We'll see how it holds up from here without that log in there. Definitely need more plants in there. I know that adding a lot of them all at once helps alot to keep the algae from becoming an issue, but I've slowly been adding some from cuttings of what I have in other tanks...at least then I can be sure I'm not bringing something into the tank that will cause problems...such as "ick" or something equally annoying.

Neolamprologus Multifasciatus

2005-10-13T12:57:00.000-06:00

Well, had to go and get myself a few more shellies. I picked up 1 male and 2 female Multese and one more female Brevis. I divided the tank for the two species for now. I intend fixing up a 15 for one group of these whenever I can find one for a decent price. The Multese are definitely bolder and more active than the Brevis. They are out and about exploring thier new home while the Brevis are hovering in and near their shells. It's going to be interesting watching these folks...I think one of the female Multese is gravid...perhaps there will be a batch of fry soon !

My Shellies

2005-10-12T13:48:00.000-06:00

These are my two new Shell dwellers. They are the lamprologus brevis variety. Very cute. You can just see one of them hiding in the shell. Unbelievably....BOTH of these fish can fit in that little shell ! I do have 4 other shells in this tank but they seem to like to share this one. The larger male spends most of his time hanging out around the opening of the shell, the female is in the shell almost all the time.

I've put reef sand and crushed coral in this tank for a substrate. My water is pretty soft and I needed something to bring that up a bit...though my PH is fine for these little fish...runs between 7.8 to 8.2.

Redo of the 29 community planted

2005-09-13T10:59:00.000-06:00

I was having a problem with hair algae in this tank....finally got tired of dealing with it and took the whole tank down. Put the fish in a temporay tank...emptied all the water and scrubbed everything down good....hacked all the leaves off the plants that were covered in the stuff and put a new filter pad in. Did a massive gravel vac, stirring everything up good.

After all that cleaning, I refilled the tank treating with dechlorinator and let it sit for a day before putting the fish back in. I did a good cleaning of all the plants and rearranged things a bit. I've added some apponogeton and water lily bulbs in some of the bare areas...hope they all come up... The fish are now back in and everyone looks very happy, even the plants...they are pearling with abandon...lol.. I'm hoping this takes care of the algae issue, but I guess I have to wait and see. Took me about 3 1/2 hours maybe 4+ to do all this....don't want to have to do it again !

POISON DART FROGS !!! YEAH !

2005-08-28T05:56:00.000-06:00

I am SOOOO excited about these little guys/gals...We just picked them up yesturday (8/27/05) and I spent the afternoon making a mess of my diningroom setting up their new home. I fixed up a divided 20long for the Citronella and the Oelemari. The little Green and Black Auratus is my daughters pick and will go in her 20 tall up in her room. Don't worry, these cuties aren't poisonous. They are captive bred....poison dart frogs get their poisons from a type of ant or beetle that they eat in the wild. I feed these guys on vitaminized fruitflies. They're just babies still and have some growing to do....but MAN are we Excited ! :-))

Salsa

2005-08-26T21:05:00.000-06:00

This is Salsa, my daughter's latest pick. Beautiful tomato red coloring. He split his caudel getting overly rambunctious in this tank. After sitting in a little bowl for who knows how long...I guess one gallon must seem like a castle !

My daughter's Dart Frog Viverium

2005-08-25T21:03:00.000-06:00

We've had this tank set up for a while now...just waiting for the opportunity to get some frogs. Big store wide sale this weekend, hopefully we'll come home with a few.

5 Gallon River Tank

2005-08-15T07:20:00.000-06:00

This tank has a platform with moss and plants. There is a female betta in the water and 2 red bellied newts on the platform. The newts never go in the water. I feed them fd tubifex worms and live black worms.

Mint Chocolate Betta

2005-08-15T06:44:00.000-06:00

This fella I call "Chocolate Boy"....lol....He's more like a mint chocolate with those green highlights. Very pretty...found at PetSmart

Lots of little betta fry

2005-08-14T20:39:00.000-06:00

This is a picture of my tank full of betta fry. I ended up with over 200 of the little darlings....it was great, until I had to give them all their own little cup......For about six months I have no idea what the rest of the family was doing...but I was cleaning cups and feeding fry ! Never again until I get a proper betta barracks setup....lol....(which won't be anytime soon)

Gold Veiltail Betta

2005-08-14T20:27:00.000-06:00

Another nice find at the same store I found Jax. I have a female that is the same color, but...one betta spawn was enough for me....lol.....

Pie-Bald Marble CrownTail betta

2005-08-14T20:21:00.000-06:00

This guy was the prettiest betta I ever bought...IMHO....named him Jaxom or Jax for short...after a favorite character in an Anne McGaffrey book series. I lost him a while back though...havne't been able to find another that's even close. Found him at a LFS and paid about 4$ for him.

One Gallon Betta Setups

2005-08-14T20:16:00.000-06:00

3 One gallon size betta tanks...actually 4, there's another one behind the one in the center (the light is off) That one in the middle has a couple of live plants in it. I keep the maintenance up on these and they are very healthy and active. The one on the left is the first betta I ever bought...he must be about 3 years old by now and just as active as when I first brought him home.

German Blue Ram and Panda Cory

2005-08-14T20:10:00.000-06:00

My ram checking out the new neighbor. I love these little cories. I've since moved them to my B&W tank since the rams weren't being very neighborly. (Check my August archives for a pic of the Black and White tank....it's neat !)

10 gallon divided betta tank

2005-08-11T21:18:00.000-06:00

A 10 gallon divided up for bettas. I was finally able to reclaim it for my bettas after having had to clean it out and set it up for some blue ram juvies.
I have a mini penguin bio-wheel in the far left compartment and a box filter in the compartment on the far right. The sponge filter in one of the middle sections is being seeded for another tank. I like this setup because there are no live plants, I use only two incandescent lights. I have no algae to deal with in this tank so far as the filtration is more than adequate. I have concerns for the plants because they are plastic, but so far the betta are managing ok with them....no seriously torn fins...yet anyway. I used them because I happen to have them laying around and didn't want to spend a bunch more on silk. This is a nice, no frills, easy to maintain tank....good for a betta enthusiast who wants LOTS of bettas but doen't want to clean LOTS of tanks....lol......
Oh, one mention....the compartment with the filter in it may be too turbulant for bettas....right now I have a male ram in there...serious spat with the spouse while caring for fry..thought I would save his life and give them both a break...lol...I don't know if I'll be able to put him back in with the ole lady until the fry are out of there...(he's from my 20long planted)

Divided 5 gallon planted betta tank

2005-08-11T21:12:00.000-06:00

This tank has Echo-Complete substrate for planted tanks. Two male betta and one female in the compartment with the filter. Her smaller fins make it easier to put up with the current. I make these dividers myself from plastic canvas and binder clips. They are siliconed to the side of the tank and come out pretty easy when I need to clean them. I am using a mini whisper filter in this tank...and a 25watt heater. I dose every day with Excel.

20 long planted

2005-08-10T20:38:00.000-06:00

This tank I set up for a bonded pair of german blue rams that I had raised from fry. The only other occupants in this tank are 3 otocinclus to keep the plants clean of algae. This tank is still a work in progress....needs alot more plants....but the rams seem happy enough as they are now raising thier first brood of fry.

My 29 planted tank

2005-08-10T20:14:00.000-06:00

This tank has been setup since Christmas 2004. I have made a few changes over time, but this is the latest layout. Definitly needs more plants....

Occupants:
2 neon dwarf gourami
1 bonded pair of german blue rams
3 otocinclus

Plants:
amazon sword
water sprite
aponogetons
small amount of java moss

Dose with Flourish Excel daily
plant fertilizer tabs at the base of the swords and aponogetons

Equiptment:
penguin bio-wheel 170
100watt heater
65watts 6700K compact flourescent lighting

My 15 Gallon Black and White Tank

2005-08-10T05:27:00.000-06:00

Here is a 15 gallon setup that I recently put together. Everything in this tank is fake except the fish...lol.....I will be adding some more of the HB guppies as soon as the fry grow to an appropriate size. Keeping the inhabitants color coordinated with the tank decor. So far, so good!

Occupants:
1 pair of half black pastel guppies
1 female gold guppy
2 panda cories