My Dream Aquarium- 55 Gallon - Plans

[MuddyWaters]

 

[noahm]

Looks fantastic. Lots of happy fish.

 

[MuddyWaters]

This forum and all I learned from you all is 80% of what I know. Much appreciated!

 

[MuddyWaters]

Update on the tank. I cut back the jungle and have had to cut back the lighting to fight the ensuing algae, but it's about there now. More room for the fishies. I want to get rid of some of the kribensis- they bred like crazy- but they are SO hard to catch

 

[MuddyWaters]

Here is my tank just over 2 years on. I love it! Some interesting tidbits:

• - I started with 6 kribensis- put 2 caves in there for them to breed in (thinking other fish would eat the babies), now have 15-20. I sold some at the club, but they're hard to catch. I removed the caves, though- they all get along, amazingly
• The mollies are all children of a pair I had for about 3.5 years (the pair was in another tank and I moved them to this one). I used to have tons of pearl weed on top of the log- the fry hid in there until they got big enough not to eat. I later removed the pearl weed (from the log- it's still carpeting the bottom) and no more surviving fry
• The kribensis on top of the log is part of a pair who constantly lay eggs under that rock and "protect" them, but they don't notice the snails getting in there and chowing down
• I have a lot more variety in there than appears- the plants just keep taking over- I cut them back, determined to make it less of a jungle, but everything grows and I end up liking it LOL
  • otocinclus
  • Venezuelan orange cories
  • glowlight tetras
  • neon tetras
  • cardinal tetras
  • rummynose tetras
  • blue cochu tetras
  • ember tetras
  • black mollies
  • San Marcos Redtail Splitfin (males & females)
  • silver hatchet fish
  • kribensis
  • angel fish pair - they are not doing well and hide in the back- I put one in a hospital tank w epsom salt and moved her back when she got better, but not sure they're going to make it- they were some of the first fish I put in here
  • super red bushynose pleco
  • malaysian trumpet snails
  • mystery snails
  • almost forgot- pencil fish! love them
  • Oh! green glofish pristellas
  • I keep having to edit! 1 spotted raphael catfish- he never comes out, but there's a hollow log turned on its side that he hides in so I can see him- he's fat and happy
• I've had tons of different plants. I've tried the difficult ones, but because it's overstocked and my (previous) bad habit of overfeeding I haven't had success with them, but the ones in there now do great
  • crypt of some kind (big ones on the left)
  • tiger lotus (all over the dang place- I constantly have to prune and just pull out new plants)
  • pearl weed (in the front)
  • limnophilla aromatica (to the right of the log)
  • anubias nana (hidden in the limnophilla aromatica)
  • Amazon sword (in the back right- it's 4 years+- pulled it from another tank)
  • Alternanthera Reineckii (sp?)
  • water weed (elodea)
  • ...I think that's it...
  • forgot rotalla something or other

I change the water twice per week (30 gal each time)
I filter with FX4 and an AC110 HOB
I used to overfeed ALL THE TIME, but have finally gotten down to Wednesday, Friday and Sunday- mixture of dry, frozen and live (flightless fruit flies)
PH stays at 6.5 (have a regulator tied to the CO2- comes on when the PH goes up)
temp - 78/25.5

 

[anewbie]

I will say that about kribs - while they were interesting fishes when I kept them they are among the best parents and have the muscles to be great parents. I seperated the pairs and gave the bunch to the pet shop:

Before i knew better i mixed new and old cichild fishes - never again (though in truth it mostly worked until it didn't).

Gotta say they keep a very close eyes on those frys.

 

[MuddyWaters]

I will say that about kribs - while they were interesting fishes when I kept them they are among the best parents and have the muscles to be great parents. I seperated the pairs and gave the bunch to the pet shop:

View attachment 375879

Before i knew better i mixed new and old cichild fishes - never again (though in truth it mostly worked until it didn't).

View attachment 375880
Gotta say they keep a very close eyes on those frys.

they sure do- I was very surprised at how many lived - I had heard they were prolific breeders, but dadgum! Rabbits don't hold a candle to them