NomiDemekin

Those are farlowella catfish. They came in friday, so they must not have the tag up yet. The adonis is in there, it's still quite small.

Hmm... I think I am really liking the idea of a breeding pair of rams. I do love me some rummies, but with further thought on the subject it would be better to wait until I can have a larger tank to better house a nice big school. How does this sound? A pair of rams. 2 otos. 3 cories. And my little shrimp colony. How are rams with shrimp though?

I have a ten gallon now holding two bettas (with a divider, of course) and a handful of red crystal shrimp. I'll be moving the two bettas to their own tanks (To better treat one with tail-biting and recurring fin rot), and I'm toying with the idea of a small planted community tank. Though I'm still not sure what I want to stock it with. I was thinking about galaxy rasboras. Or Rummy noses. Or Honey Gouramis. Or rams. Or... or... well, you see my problem. Obviously with such a small tank I'll only be able to keep a few fish. Any and all suggestions are absolutely welcome.

I'm going to be making a divided betta tank, roughly 20 gallons (to be separated into 6 'apartments' and about 40" (121.9 cm) x 10" (25.4) x 12" (30.5). This will be my first time constructing a tank, so of course I'm a little fuzzy on some *coughmost* of the details. I know I want to go with glass, so my first question will be: Where can one buy/order aquarium suitable glass around Edmonton, and can I order it pre-cut? If not, where would be a good place to go to get it cut? I want to stay away from cutting the glass myself right now. And for silicone aquarium sealant, is there any brand or type to avoid? And on the other side of the coin, any you recommend? As well, I've been browsing everything on aquarium building I can find, but any and all advice/tips/links is immensely welcome!

I've gotten the final go-ahead to work on this project and to have the tank displayed out in the house (that is, if I can make it look decent). :thumbs: So it's full steam ahead! The black foam block sounds interesting, but I can't help but think that using foam could have complications (though I must admit I cannot think of any specific problems right now, other than the issue of keeping them clean of algae and debris). First things first, I'm going to be making the plans and doing some practice tank making (making a quarentine tank, 5 G, since the betta barraks will use the same water and filtration and I really do feel I need to practice something like this). I'm thinking something along the live of five 5G sections, totaling 25 gallons in all, and I still need to work out how to work with the canopies and lighting. For the dividers I think my best bet is to use black or blue plastic dividers, with holes drilled in them (meaning less glass/acrylic work, and no chance of a betta getting stuck underneath the divider). Though I still have to decide if I want to use glass or acrylic, as well as what dimensions would work best. As well, if we keep getting females as nice as we have in the last month at work, I may move my HMPK out of the ten gallon and have a few females in there, if it's doable in a 10G.

That sounds a good deal more simple than drilling holes, but as bettas do tend to jump i don't know if i would place the silicone under the water line. Though if i did place another small strip above the main piece I could do it.

Lately I've been wanting to try building my own tank, especially since other tank plans seem to fall through. I'm quite attraceted to the idea of a tank designed specifically as a divided betta tank. I know I would want it to be 25-30 gallons divided into 5 or 6 square sections, each divided area set up so the individual bettas cannot see each other (opaque divides). I wonder though, if it would be better to have it filtered, making holes in the dividers to allow for flow and quarantining each individual betta extensively, or to have the sections completely sealed off from each other, with an air-pump system and weekly 100% water changes. Personally, I would prefer a filtered tank, but would it cause too many problems? Has anyone had experience with divided betta tanks, or is it something best avoided?

I was possibly going to be able to get my hands on a used 70-some gallon tank, and I was either going to move my goldies in it or try my hand at african cichlids, maybe two or three of the more peaceful mbuna species ( I know they are not the best beginner cichlids, but I'm really attracted to them). Sadly, due to a combination of things this isn't going to happen for quite a while. I really appreciate all your replies though! For now I'll just have to focus on improving the tanks I have and making some betta barracks. (I always have to have some sort of project to work on, maybe one of these days I'll actually be able to go through with more of them. Darn you, art student's budget *shakes fist* )

What are some of the more (relatively, of course) peaceful mbuna cichlids, and other compatible african cichlids? I know Yellow Labs and Rusties are said to be less aggressive, but what are some other mildly aggressive mbunas? And are there any other africans that would be a good match to this grouping?

I have a small-ish pond in my backyard (roughly 300-400 gallons), but as far as I know, it's purely decorative as of right now. If I wished to make it suitable to keep a few goldfish in (Hibuna, shubunkins, wakins), what would I have to do? I know I would have to clean it out, instal pond liner (if it has none, it might), a nice filter and pump and a net covering for those pesky cats and herons. Perhaps a water trough heater for the winter. But I have no experience with ponds, and I would love any and all advice and tips on converting a mosquito metropolis (alright, it's not that bad) to a goldfish paradise.

It could work well, if you stock a handful of high quality goldies (and koi) along with pet quality goldies and koi. Us koi and goldfish keepers are crazy, that's true. Why, I'm one of them starving art students, but I still didn't blink at paying 20-40 for a goldfish (I do drool over the 100+ goldies, but that's a dream still out of my grasp).

Sounds like a big venture, I'm afraid I have no experience in such matters so I cannot offer much in the way of advice. However, I would not mind seeing a store offer some higher quality goldfish, which are all but non-existent in any local shop. To get quality goldfish, people like myself would have to purchase them from online auctions such as goldfishconnection or goldfishnet, which is a pain in the keister and very expensive (shipping all the way from the states).

Thank you everyone for the replies! As of right now, I've continued with the daily water changes and took out the substrate and decorations (I'll do the boiling water thing just to be on the safe side). I can easily pick up some antifungal at the store I work at. The only meds I have on hand are melafix and the usual aquarium salt. Once the infection is gone, will light dosing with melafix be helpful?

I'm afraid to say one of my bettas, my super delta, seems to have developed fin rot while I was away on a vacation. It is not a bad case (maybe affecting only 25-30% of his fins) but I'm still freaking out. I'm doing daily water changes now, but is there anything else I can do to help along the healing of his fins?

Well that's too bad. It's awesome to hear that somebody is still working on the canakin! What strain of goldfish are you working from? Do you have any pictures of the tail type you've gotten?