transparency... what has worked, and what needs work???

[Magnum Man]

of my main tanks ( not counting my 10 gallon shrimp tanks ) only 2 of my tanks are as I expected they would be, when I set them up, the others have all gone sideways some how... my Hillstream tank, and south american Tetra tanks are IMO near perfect, just like I saw in my mind, when I set them up... my Cichlid tank ended up being a disaster, my African tetra tank, is fine, but didn't work over time at the stocking level I had hoped to maintain, barb tank was a disaster... Bichir tank not a disaster, but the fish is much more aggressive than I expected ( I would have never guessed it would have eaten a pleco nearly its same size??? )... the nano tank in the window is growing plants well, but as far as fish, it's limited... I think I'm going to try a single American Flag fish, as they are known algae eaters... these failed tanks, aren't complete failures, they just didn't work out as expected, all are still cycled aquariums with thriving fish and plants in them, they just didn't pan out as I had hoped, when I set them up...

my 4 ten gallon tanks are all as expected, with different color shrimp in each one, thriving plants and colonies of small breeding live bearers...

anyone else want to talk about successes and failures???

 

[Magnum Man]

BTW... I'm really happy with the Anubis's family of plants, I have 4 varieties, each in a different tank, and all are thriving, without the need for fertilizers or CO2... obviously the pothos is growing well, but I'm also really happy with the Hoya vine experiment these are a great addition to tanks, and I had one flowering within the 1st year, which is unusual even for potted plants, so it's obviously happy in the aquarium...

 

[GaryE]

When my original plan blows up, I only see it as a failure if I can't adjust and make it work anyway. One of the things I love about this hobby is that it regularly defeats control freaks. I can be a bit that way with my set ups, and failure keeps me honest. So that can't be failure.

I could go one by one through all my tanks and say where each hasn't cooperated with my intentions. But I don't have any tanks that aren't working well. If I did, I'd probably make changes in them anyway.

 

[Rusty_Shackleford]

If.you have fish thriving in your tanks just not how you envisioned it, it's not failure, it's just a different success.
We can plan all we want, sometimes plants don't live, sometimes we have to rearrange the hardscape, sometimes our lights fail after 6 months. As long as our fish are thriving it's a success.
I liken this to setting up a.perfect tank for breeding fish "X". You set it up thinking oh they'll spawn in this cave over here and it will be perfect, then your fish decide to spawn on that resin SpongeBob house you put in there for your kids. It's not failure, it's success, just a different success than you had in your head. Maybe we need to align our human ideals of success with our fishes idea of success?

 

[TwoTankAmin]

I have bred plecos now for over 20 years. I have been moderately successful. What I do know is that I cannot determine in a group of plecs who will spawn with whom. Nor can I tell where the ideal placement for a cave is in terms of it becoming a spawning hub.

What I do know is the fish are able to determine these things, so I let them do so. I try to give them the options and then let them choose.