New(Ish) Tank

[armiger]

I inherited a 55 gal tank through an unfortunate loss of a family member about 3 years ago.

I knew absolutely nothing about fish, so I just fed the 6 angels, 3 plecos, 1 Otto and 1 white skirt tetra. Everything was fine until I introduced 3 clown loaches to the tank. I believe the loaches were carrying a fungus or bacteria of some sort... I acclimated them to the tank and they died within 3 days.

Shortly after I had a massive outbreak in the tank and lost everything but the Otto and Tetra. So I decided to do some reading, buy a test kit, purchase a 10 gal hospital/isolation tank and start again.

To make a long story short, I've started again. My tank cycled with 5 danios (3 zebra, 2 leopard, since then I've added 5 sword tails and the surviving Otto and Tetra.

My water all tests in spec and I think my swords are going to be giving birth before too long although after what I experienced with the first tank I'm a bit scared and wanted to post some pics of my tank, and some pics of the two swords who I think are pregnant.

Oh yeah... I have 5 mollies in the hospital tank that will be added in a few weeks also.

Hopefully this time (armed with some knowledge from this forum and others) I have a successful community tank that remains healthy.

Let me know what you think of the setup and if you think the swords are bloated or pregnant.

Tank Setup (thoughts and advice appreciated)



Swords in question

 

[Joshwainwright]

I'm sorry to hear about your previous pandemic but I'm also not. Because of it, you decided to take aquatics seriously and learn about what it takes to be successful.

I'm sure if you follow what you already know and the tips and tricks you will be learning about every day, you will have a healthy community set up!


Great photos too.

 

[armiger]

I'm sorry to hear about your previous pandemic but I'm also not. Because of it, you decided to take aquatics seriously and learn about what it takes to be successful.

I'm sure if you follow what you already know and the tips and tricks you will be learning about every day, you will have a healthy community set up!


Great photos too.

Thanks!!!

I'm still worried (hopefully without cause) about those two swords.

 

[waterdrop]

Those females look ok to me. I'm not an expert but as far as I can tell from the pictures they are fine. I'm not sure how close they may be to bearing.

You're not feeding a lot of bloodworms or anything, right? What type of food are you feeding - the members may be able to help with that.

You are on the right track getting a Q-tank and studying up. It will pay off. I suppose the next things to be sure on will be good weekly gravel-clean-water-change technique and the willpower to keep doing them week after week. That is a huge part of a healthy tank. Another is good filter maintenance. Make sure you study up on that too. Our Beginners Resource Center should have articles on these topics.

Nice looking tank and Welcome to our forum!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[armiger]

Those females look ok to me. I'm not an expert but as far as I can tell from the pictures they are fine. I'm not sure how close they may be to bearing.

You're not feeding a lot of bloodworms or anything, right? What type of food are you feeding - the members may be able to help with that.

You are on the right track getting a Q-tank and studying up. It will pay off. I suppose the next things to be sure on will be good weekly gravel-clean-water-change technique and the willpower to keep doing them week after week. That is a huge part of a healthy tank. Another is good filter maintenance. Make sure you study up on that too. Our Beginners Resource Center should have articles on these topics.

Nice looking tank and Welcome to our forum!

~~waterdrop~~

They do get bloodworms, but not as a staple. All my fish are fed a small amount of flake twice a day, enough that they eat it all quickly and very little if any makes it to the bottom of the tank. As for the bloodworms, twice a week they get a treat that is either an algae tablet, dried seaweed, freeze dried bloodworms, frozen brine shrimp (thawed and rinsed), or shrimp pellets.

I monitor the nitrates weekly and monthly for the other parameters.

As far as water changes/gravel cleaning, that is one thing I've always done. If I was guilty of anything before reading up, it was doing too big of a water change 30% with gravel cleaning weekly.

That practice has been scaled down to a 10-20% change weekly, with a gravel vac every other week. Also I change one activated charcoal filter every 3 weeks (I have 2 in the tank).

I don't believe the swords are bunged up, they all seem to be doing their business on a regular basis.

 

[waterdrop]

OK then, all sounds good!

 

[Joshwainwright]

It sounds to me as if you know what your doing and all your fish have a knowledged, loving owner. The hard work pays off once you get to sit and watch your beautiful fish.

 

[Tizer]

Looks nice, shame about the train that looks like its gone off the rails and landed in the tank

 

[armiger]

Looks nice, shame about the train that looks like its gone off the rails and landed in the tank

I'm actually not a fan of it either...... don't have the heart to move it yet.... The otto loves to hide in there.

I will be looking for a nice cave like structure that looks more realistic. I may just wind up making one from pvc pipe and rocks.

 

[Joshwainwright]

Why not make a cave out of some small pieces of slate?