Worst vs Greatest

[connorlindeman]

Lets see the aquarium you are most proud of, versus the aquarium you wish nobody ever saw.
Go.

 

[MattW]

This will be a fun thread to watch I'll have a go.

My worst ever tank was my first ever planted tank. I had little to no knowledge of aquatic plants. This tank never received any aquatic fertilisers, as I didn't know they existed.. That Java fern quickly died due to rhizome rot, the bacopa melted, and the Java moss never took off. But my betta's personality made up for all that.

My best tank was an old scape in my 60L. It was a jungle in which I very rarely saw my fish. The slightly tannin-stained water really worked well with this tank. I do miss that scape, but it was heavily prone to mulm buildup & Anaerobic pockets in the substrate. It was also the first tank where I had a semi-successful attempt at breeding fish (honey gourami).

 

[GaryE]

Most of my disasters and best tanks were when digital photography wasn't an option. The best was a dark Congo lake bottom set up - no plants, lots of rocks and deeply tannin stained water. It was too tannin dark for plants, but the 30 inch tank held 2 Nanochromis transvestitus, and when they liked the tank and bred in it, it was fascinating. That is a clever fish.

The tank was absolutely for the needs of the fish, with no traditional aquascaping involved.

The worst was every tank I ever owned before water changing became a thing. I am very glad I have no photos, though there may be a cave in the place I grew up, and on its walls, you may find my aquascapes, over by the aurachs.

It may be a problem for the thread that a lot of people don't photograph all their set ups. I just focus on the fish in them. Let's hope a bunch of shots show up.

 

[connorlindeman]

I'll go.
This is how my aquarium looked when I first joined the forum a little over 3 years ago.

Three years and multiple rescapes later, this was my absolute favorite scape.

 

[gwand]

You definitely win for the worse set up. But where’s the clown gravel?

 

[connorlindeman]

You definitely win for the worse set up. But where’s the clown gravel?

Even my uninformed self would never purchase clown gravel lol.

 

[anewbie]

There is no such thing as a bad aquarium - just one that is a work in progress.

 

[anewbie]

Ok these two are my current 'worse'. The first is a 5 setup 10 days ago with spare stuff in the closet for 1 fish:

The 2nd is a 10 that i setup for some krobia frys about 6 or 9 months ago; the frys grew up so then i put some a. sp bluketa frys in it and they grew up so now it has some other stuff.

Hum... i'm sure i have other bad ones around here somewhere - but of course the level of badness is in the eye of the beholder.

Not sure if this is my greatest but it wasn't bad if you like jungles:

 

[seangee]

Worst I can find - I decided to build a wooden reef at one end. Still use the same water change system though

Maybe not the best but one of my faves

 

[Rusty_Shackleford]

You definitely win for the worse set up. But where’s the clown gravel?

Oh no if he had clown gravel it would look better because it would match.

 

[seangee]

My best tank was an old scape in my 60L. It was a jungle in which I very rarely saw my fish. The slightly tannin-stained water really worked well with this tank. I do miss that scape, but it was heavily prone to mulm buildup & Anaerobic pockets in the substrate. It was also the first tank where I had a semi-successful attempt at breeding fish (honey gourami).

I'm intrigued.
How do you semi successfully breed fish?

 

[Innesfan]

The 75g in my office has been rock solid for over 25 years, and one of the two aquaclears has been pumping away for the entire time. The other conked out and was replaced two years ago. Here's the tank s few years back during the pandemic. The center clump of jungle val has been moved out but most everything else is still there.You probably cannot make it out but there's a driftwood construction that runs the entire length of the back that is covered in Java moss and Java fern. I'm terrible at taking photos but this one ain't bad...for me.

 

[MattW]

I'm intrigued.
How do you semi successfully breed fish?

Fish spawn, eggs hatch, fry swim, get eaten by parents.
If I had another tank at the time, I probably would have tried to keep some.

 

[Rusty_Shackleford]

I'm intrigued.
How do you semi successfully breed fish?

I've done this as well, I had 2 female angelfish pair up and lay eggs.

 

[connorlindeman]

I'm intrigued.
How do you semi successfully breed fish?

My bet is they spawned and most died.