BDC
New Member
Hello all! New to the forums, and just began setting up a tank again after a few years out of the fish-keeping hobby.
I used to have three beautiful tanks going before some bizarre and unfortunate circumstances ruined them all. Be warned, the following is a story of tragedy and despair!
Until about three years ago, I had three amazing planted tanks. The first tank was a four-foot tank which housed some Australian native fish. I had three "silver perch", which were about 4cm when I got them, and with a pecking order established they grew at different rates. The dominant fish grew to about 30cm in length, with the other two at about 18cm. They were very active fish, with great personalities and a rather mean temper. They shared the tank with a tandanus catfish named Onslow. He was extremely ugly, and as he grew he became more and more active, but by no means aggressive. He was about 6cm when I got him, and he got to roughly 25cm before he met an unfortunate accident (he got himself stuck behind the filter and broke his back - he swam around crooked for a few days before he died
) The other fish were 4 galaxius minnows - long thin fish, and they grew quite a lot as well, starting at 8cm, reaching 20-30cm (again, one of the fish took a dominant role and grew much bigger than the rest). The minnows were very peaceful fish, and developed some nice spotted colour as they matured. The whole tank was heavily planted, had some excellent (and expensive) lighting, and the fish thrived for many years. The fish in this tank had real personality, but people would often comment that while the tank looked awesome with the thriving healthy plants, the fish were ugly. Each to their own I guess. The tank was set up in 1994, and was packed away in 2003 (more about that later).
The second tank was a 2' tank with guppies. It was by far the easiest tank to maintain and look after that I've ever had, as it seemed to look after itself. The plants grew too well, and most of the maintenance of the tank was monthly pruning sessions. The guppies bred constantly, and after the initial set-up, I never bought another fish or plant for the tank. Everything just seemed right. And it looked good as well. I kept the water level about 4 inches from the top of the tank, and many of the plants shot up to the dry area and thrived. Interestingly, this tank was run with no filtration at all, but the water remained crystal clear. This tank was set up in 1999.
The third tank was a 3' which housed tiger barbs, harlequin rasboras, leopard danios, zebra danios, and kuhli loaches. It was set up in 2001, and it never reached the level of the other tanks. The plants refused to grow as lushly as in my other tanks, and I lost a few of the tiger barbs every now and then. Still, it looked nice, and although I had to replace some plants and fish, and work out what plants would do well in the tank (which were different from my other tanks).
In early 2002 I moved house. I was living on my own for a while, and decided to move in with a friend. I was worried about the tanks, but they seemed to transport ok, and I didn't lose a single fish. The lights on the tank were set with timers to come on in the afternoon, and go off in the wee small hours. I liked it this way because I could see my fish at night. Made sense to me. And of course, the filters (on the 4' and 3') were always on. But my house mate liked to watch TV in the dark of a night time, so he would turn the lights off. I tried to explain to him how everything was regulated for a purpose, and the importance of light in a planted tank, but I guess he liked watching TV with the lights off. He also didn't like the sound of the filters (which I thought were whisper quiet) and turned those off of a night time as well. After a few weeks I reset the timers on the lights to come on at 7:30am and go off at 6:30pm. But it was too late. The plants died first, and the fish died not long after. My 8 year old fish that I'd grown from 4cm to 30cm was floating, and his tank mates soon followed. I moved the fish from the 3' to the 4', and they died. The plants in my "perfect" 2' guppy tank died, and the guppies consumed their offspring and eventually died out. I packed up all the tanks, and then found new homes for the 4' and 3'. I kept the 2' tank coz it was easy to store.
So that's my story of how I got out of the fish keeping hobby... but there's more. My house mate was also my best friend. I would strongly encourage people out there to never share a place with a friend. It's the best way to ruin a friendship. He apologized about ruining my fish tanks, which I accepted, and that had nothing to do with the end of our friendship. That's another story all together. Anyway, he moved out about 18 months ago to live with his girlfriend, and they got married not long after that. Then, last week, I went to a friend of a friend's place and saw the most impressive fish tank I’ve ever seen in my life. The tank belonged to a guy named Ernie, who owns an aquarium. It's a 10 foot reef tank (custom built of course) that made me drool, but more importantly gave me the bug again. I went home, got the 2' tank out of storage, and set the sucker up! Now if I can just decide what to stock it with...
Thanks for reading this long post from the newbie. These forums look great.
I used to have three beautiful tanks going before some bizarre and unfortunate circumstances ruined them all. Be warned, the following is a story of tragedy and despair!
Until about three years ago, I had three amazing planted tanks. The first tank was a four-foot tank which housed some Australian native fish. I had three "silver perch", which were about 4cm when I got them, and with a pecking order established they grew at different rates. The dominant fish grew to about 30cm in length, with the other two at about 18cm. They were very active fish, with great personalities and a rather mean temper. They shared the tank with a tandanus catfish named Onslow. He was extremely ugly, and as he grew he became more and more active, but by no means aggressive. He was about 6cm when I got him, and he got to roughly 25cm before he met an unfortunate accident (he got himself stuck behind the filter and broke his back - he swam around crooked for a few days before he died
) The other fish were 4 galaxius minnows - long thin fish, and they grew quite a lot as well, starting at 8cm, reaching 20-30cm (again, one of the fish took a dominant role and grew much bigger than the rest). The minnows were very peaceful fish, and developed some nice spotted colour as they matured. The whole tank was heavily planted, had some excellent (and expensive) lighting, and the fish thrived for many years. The fish in this tank had real personality, but people would often comment that while the tank looked awesome with the thriving healthy plants, the fish were ugly. Each to their own I guess. The tank was set up in 1994, and was packed away in 2003 (more about that later).The second tank was a 2' tank with guppies. It was by far the easiest tank to maintain and look after that I've ever had, as it seemed to look after itself. The plants grew too well, and most of the maintenance of the tank was monthly pruning sessions. The guppies bred constantly, and after the initial set-up, I never bought another fish or plant for the tank. Everything just seemed right. And it looked good as well. I kept the water level about 4 inches from the top of the tank, and many of the plants shot up to the dry area and thrived. Interestingly, this tank was run with no filtration at all, but the water remained crystal clear. This tank was set up in 1999.
The third tank was a 3' which housed tiger barbs, harlequin rasboras, leopard danios, zebra danios, and kuhli loaches. It was set up in 2001, and it never reached the level of the other tanks. The plants refused to grow as lushly as in my other tanks, and I lost a few of the tiger barbs every now and then. Still, it looked nice, and although I had to replace some plants and fish, and work out what plants would do well in the tank (which were different from my other tanks).
In early 2002 I moved house. I was living on my own for a while, and decided to move in with a friend. I was worried about the tanks, but they seemed to transport ok, and I didn't lose a single fish. The lights on the tank were set with timers to come on in the afternoon, and go off in the wee small hours. I liked it this way because I could see my fish at night. Made sense to me. And of course, the filters (on the 4' and 3') were always on. But my house mate liked to watch TV in the dark of a night time, so he would turn the lights off. I tried to explain to him how everything was regulated for a purpose, and the importance of light in a planted tank, but I guess he liked watching TV with the lights off. He also didn't like the sound of the filters (which I thought were whisper quiet) and turned those off of a night time as well. After a few weeks I reset the timers on the lights to come on at 7:30am and go off at 6:30pm. But it was too late. The plants died first, and the fish died not long after. My 8 year old fish that I'd grown from 4cm to 30cm was floating, and his tank mates soon followed. I moved the fish from the 3' to the 4', and they died. The plants in my "perfect" 2' guppy tank died, and the guppies consumed their offspring and eventually died out. I packed up all the tanks, and then found new homes for the 4' and 3'. I kept the 2' tank coz it was easy to store.
So that's my story of how I got out of the fish keeping hobby... but there's more. My house mate was also my best friend. I would strongly encourage people out there to never share a place with a friend. It's the best way to ruin a friendship. He apologized about ruining my fish tanks, which I accepted, and that had nothing to do with the end of our friendship. That's another story all together. Anyway, he moved out about 18 months ago to live with his girlfriend, and they got married not long after that. Then, last week, I went to a friend of a friend's place and saw the most impressive fish tank I’ve ever seen in my life. The tank belonged to a guy named Ernie, who owns an aquarium. It's a 10 foot reef tank (custom built of course) that made me drool, but more importantly gave me the bug again. I went home, got the 2' tank out of storage, and set the sucker up! Now if I can just decide what to stock it with...
Thanks for reading this long post from the newbie. These forums look great.
Good of you to join us.
California 
