I've finally got around to a job I've been wanting to do for about two years now, but other life issues kept delaying things.
I've been meaning to juggle tanks around, but meant selling lots of babies, juggling stock to different tanks in order to move others, and will be tearing down and getting rid of old hideous 57g at last.
Previous tanks and stock:
15.5g/60 L = shrimp, female guppies
15.5g/60 L = ototcinclus, breeding pygmy cory colony, five elderly male guppies, left over from guppy breeding, retired.
57g/215 L = Inherited tank, used to be terribly overstocked with the elderly remaining members of tetra schools, trio of huge 6 or more year old mollies and their constant offspring, two yoyo loaches, zebra danios, two bronze cories, various mollies and platies, and probably more I can't remember right now. Was hugely overstocked and mismatched.
Now has three glowlights, one cardinal, one neon, two black neons, school of bronze cories and six sterbai's, three male blue platies, two young L183 starlight plecos, red cherry shrimp colony, 5 amanos, breeder box with 40-50 cory fry, 6 cory youngsters left from last spawn.
I finally managed to rehome the last of the endless livebearer fry that were being produced by my last breeding female guppy, and she has passed away (sip) so no more unexpected spawns and desperately trying to find homes for them all!
Of course, then my bronze cories spawned again, and I have 40-50 babies to move to a larger tank now, along with the six babies I still have from their last spawn that I need to rehome...
The 57g/215 L in all it's ugly glory;
It's an ugly ancient AquaOne with old massive box filters built into the massive hood (no longer working). This was my father's tank, but now that he's in his 80s, he couldn't manage it anymore. I now live with and care for my folks since they're elderly and disabled, and I took over maintaining this tank for him. Doing water changes, learning about the fish he had (and what a nightmare his stocking was), adding loads of live plants. He was happy to still have his fish, without having to do the heavy work anymore. Since I'd moved around a lot before and already had a cat, a parrot and a dog, I hadn't had a tank of my own before. Just grown up as a kid with my dad always having a tank, and learning a little about them since we were an animal mad family with lots of pets, and my parents had long had an aviaries and aquatics business, then a pet shop.
However, fish had been my mom's area of expertise, my dad was the bird guy. But he's old school stubborn and believed in keeping tanks the old school way! Regarded water changes as dangerous, didn't test water, mixed soft and hard water fish (in a hard water area), and worst of all - believed that the filter needed turning off now and again, "to rest the motor"
We bumped heads a lot when I took over maintenance, and he shook his head over test results and seeing me do large water chances which I had to do slowly and gradually increasing the amounts over weeks, to avoid old tank syndrome since nitrates were so high, it took many water changes to make the results readable on the API freshwater kit. They were off the charts! I honestly don't know how the fish survived, and the 5 year old huge black/silver mollies continued to breed and produce super hardy fry. He got so grumpy about water changes, I ended up sneaking to do secret W/Cs while he napped or at night 
I loathe this tank. It's hideous. He'd painted the back pane of glass with this ugly pale green colour which gives the whole tank a nasty greenish hue and makes taking photos difficult too. Scratched front glass; he'd glued a carpet tile(??) to the left side pane, and glued a weird messily applied white strip of plastic to the front pane to hide the waterline. After I'd maintained it for a while, I decided I wanted a little tank of my own. Got my first 15.5g planning to have a little breeding guppy colony and maybe some shrimp. My LFS agreed to take any fry I produced once old enough to sell, so I was set!
So this was my first attempt - caring for folks and reducing my work hours meant my budget was tight, so I buy second hand tanks. Not the prettiest, but I loved them, and they've changed and evolved as I've learned and the tanks became established. I still have these two 60 L tanks right now;
Then I needed to add a second tank and eventually a third tank, so I could separate male and female guppies and fry:
Once I'd had these for a while and was really into the hobby, often going to my LFS to bring them batches of guppy, platy and molly babies, dad sat me down and said he'd like to give me his tank. Aaarrgh! lol. Including wanting me to move it into my room... I really didn't want this tank! Apart from it being ugly, the height is just a few inches too tall for me to comfortably clean the substrate. I have to stand on a stool to reach the back (and I'm 5'9", not short), and it's just enough to make my back hurt every time I do a water change. Plus it would mean getting rid of or finding more space for my own tanks!
But he'd decided he wanted the tank gone so he could use the space for something else. So I had some serious planning to do, since my tanks were fully stocked, and his was overstocked... wasn't sure how to do this.
I ended up taking all the mollies to the store except the original three, and a younger male female molly pair of their offspring; a lovely jet black male and silvery female, since I really wanted to keep this healthy, hardly and pretty line going. They were black mollies, likely a sailfin hybrid I was told, but also had silver and even blue dappling. Was hard to get a good photo of them, but I was very attached to these guys since they'd been in that tank for so long, reached an easy 4-5 inches, and produced some beautiful fry that sold well at the store. They'd also happily be handfed, swimming right into my palm to snag bloodworms.
To get an idea of their size, compare them to the size of the adult guppy above and the gravid female santa platy in front of them!
Sadly, the trio were getting on, and gradually passed from old age over a span of a few months.
I told dad that since all the tanks were fully stocked, it would take time to sort this out and take down his tank. I stopped purposefully breeding guppies, but wanted to keep and retire my original adults until they passed, so the last few females continued producing fry for a long time. By this point I also had my breeding colony of pygmy cories, which I absolutely won't give up, nor the bronze and sterbai cories.
There had been two bronze cories in my dad's tank before I'd moved home, so when I took over maintenance I'd bought 4 more to bump their school up. Those four spawned while in quarantine, so I had to quickly learn how to raise cory fry! The two bronze cories became much more active and happier once they had some more friends. They've now spawned four times, lol.
He still had the remains of his previous tetra schools, so I decided to let them stay since it was all they'd known and couldn't really be re-homed as they were elderly, the rest of their schools having died off already. Just the odd pick-a-mix of random tetra species left. Re-homed the young fish like the platies and other mollies, but it was still heavily stocked.
Disaster happened when dad decided to turn off the main overhead filter on the tank without telling me. Wanting to "rest the motor". Since it's hidden in the hood, output at the back of the tank and obscured by plant, I hadn't noticed until the water became murky and cloudy, and I found a dead zebra danio. Then another. Then one of the botia... I panicked and tested the water while beginning large water changes, not knowing why there was an ammonia spike happening, and fish continued to die. I was heartbroken to lose the young mollies I'd kept, the last of the line from that trio, and cried over losing both botia. By the time I realised the main filter was off, we'd lost dozens of fish and I'd done dozens of large water changes trying to save them. Dad said he'd turned it off a few days ago to rest the motor, and that they'd seemed fine at first. I'd thought I'd broken him of that habit, having stressed that modern motors didn't need resting, and that it was essential to keep it on. I think the plants and small filter I'd added for surface disturbance kept it okay for a day or two, but of course the heavily stocked tank couldn't cope without the main filter.
There were survivors though... thankfully my cories made it, and the few tetra listed at the top, which are still here. Tough as old boots those ones are. So the overstocking problem was solved, but in the worst way possible
So now the new plan. I've bought a 34g/127 L tank which I've cleaned and plan to set up tomorrow! Will add photos of it then. This one is intended for the cories, plecos and retired tetras/platies.
Sadly, I've had to tear down this tank to make space;
Because I cannot part with my breeding pygmies. So I had to tear down the above one, and move my pygmy tank to another cabinet to make space for the 34g. The pygmy tank isn't looking quite so pretty at the moment as it did in this pic, but the fish are still thriving, spawning and producing fry, so I can always tidy it later! The five elderly male retired guppies are living here too now.
So that's the current plan! Set up new 34g, tidy up and keep the pygmy 15.5g. Go from four tanks, to two.
I have a feeling that I won't be able to stick to just two tanks for very long... That's just not how Multiple Tank Syndrome works!
Will be adding progress photos here as I build the 34g - no real clue how I want it to look yet... Haven't settled on substrate choice, have various wood pieces I want to include, and of course, will be buying more plants! I also have a little ciano 15 L cube tank I snagged for a fiver that is itching for a little shrimp colony. Maybe some scarlet badis or something!
ETA: Forgot to mention! I also just got a 20g I plant to use to upgrade and rescape for the pygmies since they reproduce so much. I need to stop buying tanks!
I've been meaning to juggle tanks around, but meant selling lots of babies, juggling stock to different tanks in order to move others, and will be tearing down and getting rid of old hideous 57g at last.
Previous tanks and stock:
15.5g/60 L = shrimp, female guppies
15.5g/60 L = ototcinclus, breeding pygmy cory colony, five elderly male guppies, left over from guppy breeding, retired.
57g/215 L = Inherited tank, used to be terribly overstocked with the elderly remaining members of tetra schools, trio of huge 6 or more year old mollies and their constant offspring, two yoyo loaches, zebra danios, two bronze cories, various mollies and platies, and probably more I can't remember right now. Was hugely overstocked and mismatched.
Now has three glowlights, one cardinal, one neon, two black neons, school of bronze cories and six sterbai's, three male blue platies, two young L183 starlight plecos, red cherry shrimp colony, 5 amanos, breeder box with 40-50 cory fry, 6 cory youngsters left from last spawn.
I finally managed to rehome the last of the endless livebearer fry that were being produced by my last breeding female guppy, and she has passed away (sip) so no more unexpected spawns and desperately trying to find homes for them all!
Of course, then my bronze cories spawned again, and I have 40-50 babies to move to a larger tank now, along with the six babies I still have from their last spawn that I need to rehome...
The 57g/215 L in all it's ugly glory;
However, fish had been my mom's area of expertise, my dad was the bird guy. But he's old school stubborn and believed in keeping tanks the old school way! Regarded water changes as dangerous, didn't test water, mixed soft and hard water fish (in a hard water area), and worst of all - believed that the filter needed turning off now and again, "to rest the motor"
We bumped heads a lot when I took over maintenance, and he shook his head over test results and seeing me do large water chances which I had to do slowly and gradually increasing the amounts over weeks, to avoid old tank syndrome since nitrates were so high, it took many water changes to make the results readable on the API freshwater kit. They were off the charts! I honestly don't know how the fish survived, and the 5 year old huge black/silver mollies continued to breed and produce super hardy fry. He got so grumpy about water changes, I ended up sneaking to do secret W/Cs while he napped or at night I loathe this tank. It's hideous. He'd painted the back pane of glass with this ugly pale green colour which gives the whole tank a nasty greenish hue and makes taking photos difficult too. Scratched front glass; he'd glued a carpet tile(??) to the left side pane, and glued a weird messily applied white strip of plastic to the front pane to hide the waterline. After I'd maintained it for a while, I decided I wanted a little tank of my own. Got my first 15.5g planning to have a little breeding guppy colony and maybe some shrimp. My LFS agreed to take any fry I produced once old enough to sell, so I was set!
So this was my first attempt - caring for folks and reducing my work hours meant my budget was tight, so I buy second hand tanks. Not the prettiest, but I loved them, and they've changed and evolved as I've learned and the tanks became established. I still have these two 60 L tanks right now;
Then I needed to add a second tank and eventually a third tank, so I could separate male and female guppies and fry:
Once I'd had these for a while and was really into the hobby, often going to my LFS to bring them batches of guppy, platy and molly babies, dad sat me down and said he'd like to give me his tank. Aaarrgh! lol. Including wanting me to move it into my room... I really didn't want this tank! Apart from it being ugly, the height is just a few inches too tall for me to comfortably clean the substrate. I have to stand on a stool to reach the back (and I'm 5'9", not short), and it's just enough to make my back hurt every time I do a water change. Plus it would mean getting rid of or finding more space for my own tanks!
But he'd decided he wanted the tank gone so he could use the space for something else. So I had some serious planning to do, since my tanks were fully stocked, and his was overstocked... wasn't sure how to do this.
I ended up taking all the mollies to the store except the original three, and a younger male female molly pair of their offspring; a lovely jet black male and silvery female, since I really wanted to keep this healthy, hardly and pretty line going. They were black mollies, likely a sailfin hybrid I was told, but also had silver and even blue dappling. Was hard to get a good photo of them, but I was very attached to these guys since they'd been in that tank for so long, reached an easy 4-5 inches, and produced some beautiful fry that sold well at the store. They'd also happily be handfed, swimming right into my palm to snag bloodworms.
To get an idea of their size, compare them to the size of the adult guppy above and the gravid female santa platy in front of them!
Sadly, the trio were getting on, and gradually passed from old age over a span of a few months.
I told dad that since all the tanks were fully stocked, it would take time to sort this out and take down his tank. I stopped purposefully breeding guppies, but wanted to keep and retire my original adults until they passed, so the last few females continued producing fry for a long time. By this point I also had my breeding colony of pygmy cories, which I absolutely won't give up, nor the bronze and sterbai cories.
There had been two bronze cories in my dad's tank before I'd moved home, so when I took over maintenance I'd bought 4 more to bump their school up. Those four spawned while in quarantine, so I had to quickly learn how to raise cory fry! The two bronze cories became much more active and happier once they had some more friends. They've now spawned four times, lol.
He still had the remains of his previous tetra schools, so I decided to let them stay since it was all they'd known and couldn't really be re-homed as they were elderly, the rest of their schools having died off already. Just the odd pick-a-mix of random tetra species left. Re-homed the young fish like the platies and other mollies, but it was still heavily stocked.
Disaster happened when dad decided to turn off the main overhead filter on the tank without telling me. Wanting to "rest the motor". Since it's hidden in the hood, output at the back of the tank and obscured by plant, I hadn't noticed until the water became murky and cloudy, and I found a dead zebra danio. Then another. Then one of the botia... I panicked and tested the water while beginning large water changes, not knowing why there was an ammonia spike happening, and fish continued to die. I was heartbroken to lose the young mollies I'd kept, the last of the line from that trio, and cried over losing both botia. By the time I realised the main filter was off, we'd lost dozens of fish and I'd done dozens of large water changes trying to save them. Dad said he'd turned it off a few days ago to rest the motor, and that they'd seemed fine at first. I'd thought I'd broken him of that habit, having stressed that modern motors didn't need resting, and that it was essential to keep it on. I think the plants and small filter I'd added for surface disturbance kept it okay for a day or two, but of course the heavily stocked tank couldn't cope without the main filter.
There were survivors though... thankfully my cories made it, and the few tetra listed at the top, which are still here. Tough as old boots those ones are. So the overstocking problem was solved, but in the worst way possible
So now the new plan. I've bought a 34g/127 L tank which I've cleaned and plan to set up tomorrow! Will add photos of it then. This one is intended for the cories, plecos and retired tetras/platies.
Sadly, I've had to tear down this tank to make space;
Because I cannot part with my breeding pygmies. So I had to tear down the above one, and move my pygmy tank to another cabinet to make space for the 34g. The pygmy tank isn't looking quite so pretty at the moment as it did in this pic, but the fish are still thriving, spawning and producing fry, so I can always tidy it later! The five elderly male retired guppies are living here too now.
So that's the current plan! Set up new 34g, tidy up and keep the pygmy 15.5g. Go from four tanks, to two.
I have a feeling that I won't be able to stick to just two tanks for very long... That's just not how Multiple Tank Syndrome works!
Will be adding progress photos here as I build the 34g - no real clue how I want it to look yet... Haven't settled on substrate choice, have various wood pieces I want to include, and of course, will be buying more plants! I also have a little ciano 15 L cube tank I snagged for a fiver that is itching for a little shrimp colony. Maybe some scarlet badis or something!
ETA: Forgot to mention! I also just got a 20g I plant to use to upgrade and rescape for the pygmies since they reproduce so much. I need to stop buying tanks!
How are things with you?
