Bruno

When I was doing PWC with buckets I walked the water out and poured over our flower garden - they loved it! Now that I am using a Python I am wondering about to re-use the water. Maybe a pump and a hose for draining with the hose going out to the flowers or a rain barrel (though fish water sitting stagnent for any time concerns me) and then use the python to fill... Anyone already solved this?

The latest pic of the tank:

Setup the tank - here is how it looks so far:

We purchased a new Fluval 55 Gallon tank and the best place to put it was where the 37 G was, so my son took over this tank (actually I love that he has such an interest in this hobby, so I am happy to do whatever I can to encourage it). All his fish and decor were moved to this tank and I gave him free reign to place everythign as he wanted. I wouldn't have done it the same myself, but it is growign on me and the fish seem OK with it We seem to have a very bossy female swordtail. She chases the males around relentlessly, until one day we woke to find both males belly up. Water tested OK, and everyone else seemed happy so I expect she was the reason. With no males she has settled down and will put the chase on the Angelfish once in a while but otherwise is behaving herself. My wife has a friend who doesn't seem to get along with males either, so I have taken to calling this fish by her name. Always gets me a dirty look We had another friend who purchased a tank, so we donated some filter media and a few fish to them, allowing us to restock the tank a little. Current fish stocking is Mickey Mouse Platies purchased at our first CAS auction who have a home in my sons heart, Cardinal Tetras, Rummynose Tetras, Red Ram, a couple of Electric Blue Rams, a Leopard Angelfish, the female swordtails, Panda Guppies (also from a CAS auction) and some Panda and Punctatus Corys. It is a peaceful, colorful tank that sits right beside our couch so many hours are spent with one of us relaxing and watching them (new pic to follow shortly)

Haven't updated the changes here, oops. So we restocked the Cardinal, moved the Danio, and ended up with another young angelfish. Thankfully this has been a very timid Angelfish who is being bossed around by the swordtails and hasn't even made an attempt at the cardinals. Since then a new 55 Gallon came into the home, so I will start a new thread on that, but all of these fish found their way over to it and we added a few more. This tank is now slated to become my introduction into African Cichlids. I'll update my progress on that shortly.

I need to get some new pics now, but the 20 Gallon has become a bit of an 'overflow' from the new 55 G coming into the house, the 37 becoming a cichlid tank etc. So it is now a black gravel, fake plant/decoration tank now that is home to the danios and the guppy fry that have grown to the point I can't call them fry anymore. I think some of these will be rehomed and we will add a couple of dwarf Gourami's to the mix since the danios are always skirting along the gravel and the guppies are at the top begging for food.

+1 on the python. I just got one after setting up a 55 G for my son and taking his 37 for myself. The thought of hauling that many buckets prompted the purchase and I wish I would have a long time ago. Takes a lot less time now and I don't break my back.

What about substrate? I currently have Eco-complete in that tank, and I also have sand I can replace it with. I have seen the cichlid special substrate but my ph is already close to 8 so I worry about that raising it too much. Do I want sand or stick with Eco-complete or is it all personal preference?

Next question - do I need to put in a full stock right away or can I add each of them as I find them? Basically I am worried about adding 6 electric yellows now and having them beat the poop out of each other as they are not overstocked. Or is that less of an issue with the yellow labs since they seem to be a more 'peaceful' mbuna then most? I dont want to let a long time go between adding all the fish, but if I order the yellow labs from Spencer Jacks and then hopefully I can find someone to order the maingano - well chance are slim they will all arrive the same day or even week. I am also hopeful Sundays auction may surprise me - anyone bring either of my choices? Or some rusty's if I cant find the maingano?

Thanks. Working on my wife to convince her a 90 gallon would look good in the living room... that would make this easier. Failing that it seems that sexing electric yellows is petty difficult, so to be safe I may try 6 of them and 6 of the Melanochromis cyanearhabdos as suggested by jvision above. It will give me a starting point anyway and when I convince my wife (I am thinking positive here) on the 90 I can move them in there and then branch out and try some others. So the electric yellows look like they ar epopular and wont be hard to find - anyone know where to get Melanochromis cyanearhabdos? Going to swap over the tank to sand and get some rocks in there for hiding spots to get prepared...

thanks for the advice everyone!

I wish I had the foot print for another 55g, but we just got one for our son and he wants to keep his community fish. So I have his 'old' 37g and the only other spot in the house my wife will give up for a tank will squeeze a 30" tank in, so 37g is my max. If I can put a dozen smaller cichilds in there I will be happy. I like the yellow lab, and the some of the blue options above will look good, so just thought maybe a third colour or variation might be a nice touch - so if red is a hard color to match into the other 2 choices, are there any other nicely coloured ones that would work in that same size and aggression range?

so 12 - 14 is more the numbers I expected... so if I went with groupings of 4 (1 male, 3 female) on the Yellow Labs and one of the blue choices above, would there be a redish cichlid that could also be added?

Been thinking of trying Cichlids and am looking for some advice. The tank I would consider using is a 37 G (30 1/4 x 12 1/2 x 22 3/4) with dual Aquaclear 70's. I'd like some Electric Yellow Labs, and maybe something blue. I am getting conflicting advice so thought I would turn here and see what advice everyone here had. I was told that I could have about 50 cichlids in that tank. I have read that overstocking to control aggression is a good idea, but it seems like that is much higher then everything else I have read. I have also been told numbers from 4 to 12 in this tank. I would like to have a colourful, active tank - any advice would be appreciated...

Can you explain that further? Do you mean a true night light near the tank to provide some light in the room? Or a smaller light actually above the tank or pointed at it?

Not sure how they would fair with the angelfish, but what about rummynose tetra? I love the red nose and the black and white tail makes a great contrast plus they look great schooling.

I am going to be upgrading my tank soon and with more space to play thought about adding a few playmates for my GBR, and seeing what I can learn about breeding along the way. So assuming a get a pair, I am looking for a place/book/thread to do some learning from. I am wondering specifically about filtering so I don't suck up any fry, feeding them initially, and if there is any other care I need to provide or if they (the parents) do most of the work themselves. Can anyone point me at a beginners guide? B

Fishclubgirl, how are the fry doing?

I was thinking time to run a gas line to the garage and install a heater - bigger fish room! Hmmm, think I want a sink installed too for easy access to water

Played around with the plants in his tank this last weekend. So he has a watersprite and 6 amazon swords along with a java fern and a small bunch of java moss. Removed a few silk plants that had been added since the picture I have above and the lego came out as well. Dosing with API Leaf Zone and Flourish Excel. Gotta love that my MTS is contagious and he is talking about wanting another tank. That did turn into a stocking conversation and he wants to change his fish around. We are still learning and deciding what we want, so I guess that is to be expected. I am looking around the house trying to figure out how to squeeze another tank in without disturbing my wife... In the meantime he wanted a Electric Blue Ram and a quick search found us purchasing one at Pisces. He is now in the QT tank while we discuss fish options and if another tank will find its way into the home.

Yesterday I set my QT tank up again, this time in the garage for now. The garage is not heated but is insulated/drywalled and an attached garage, so the temp is not too much of a concern till it gets real cold outside. I had 2 bags of biomax in each filter in the main tanks, so I moved one bag to the QT tank for an instant cycle and then moved the Platies out there as the guppies are getting quite big now. I am going to have to come up with a population control plan for the guppies as I have 8 more fry that have survived being eaten. I did setup a small 9.5 Gallon cube tank I found for free on Kijiji with a sponge filter, dropped a bag of biomax from the other tank in beside it (hope that helps BB growth in there) and moved the newest 8 fry to it while I figure out the guppy issue. I know guppies are known for this, and I can't imagine there is any market for them because of how easily they breed, but if nature is not taking its course on them, I am not sure what to do. I may have to start a new thread on that problem... For now that is 4 tanks up and running, which means lots of water tests and water changes...

Do you have, or can you get, Electric Blue Rams?

good idea - I have 2 bags of biomedia in each filter along with the sponge already, but more would be good... and I like ideas that support being lazy

So just after adding the Danio's we went away for a week. We arranged for someone to come by twice a day to feed the fish, pre-measured how much food to give each time, did a large water change the night before... basically thought all bases were covered. Our caretaker was also looking after my daughters Guinea Pigs and our 2 dogs. She has taken care of the dogs and Guinea Pigs before, so this was just a little extra to look after. When we got home she was happy to announce all the fish were still alive. I looked in on the 20 gallon, and all seemed good. I went over to the 37 and immediately things didn't look good. I looked a little closer... a couple of fish looked laboured and even had some white, maybe ick looking on them. Then I noticed the filter wasn't working! It was plugged in, but had quit. I immediately took it apart, cleaned it and it started up again. Then I did a large water change and found 2 dead Cardinals. over the next couple of days we lost a couple more Cardinals. I also did 2 more large water changes as we had a mini cycle. The Cardinals that died looked like they had ick, and the platies and swordtails were flashing against the ornaments and sand, so I did an ick treatment. We have only 2 of the Cardinals left, and also lost 1 of the Cory Cats, but things have settled out now and everyone seems ok. We are still overstocked because of having what were supposed to be my dads fish back in these tanks, so I have to do some thinking and rehome some fish as I am not ready to get the larger tank I have my eyes set on. I have since added a second Aquaclear 70 to the 37 gallon and a second Aquaclear 50 to the 20 to hopefully prevent the same issue (though in both tanks case the 2 filters share the same power bar, so a power outage will put me back in the same spot). I am also starting to add real plants to his 37 gallon to help with keeping water parameters in check as I have noticed it seems to be a lot better in the 20 gallon with all the plants. So much to learn, and sometimes the lessons can be a little hard to swallow, but despite setbacks and foolish mistakes we are loving what we are learning and enjoying our fish...

So next my son wanted Cardinal Tetras. I did some reading and it seemed like there were stories on both sides, saying Cardinals and Angels were fine, and others who said no - but it seemed the stories for were greater. I discussed it with my son who decided he wanted to try, so we bought some, put them in the QT and a couple of weeks later moved them into the 37 gallon. The first couple hours it went well, and then the Angelfish decided the Cardinals looked too tasty to resist. While he never got one, the next 3 days we watched him chase them around, sneak up on them, duck down and hide behind plants to pop out as they went by. The nice schooling behaviour we had been enjoying was now gone as they were spread all over the tank from the Angelfishes activities. This was stressful for my son so we had a talk and he had to choose between waiting to see if the Angelfish would tire out, or removing either the Angelfish or the Cardinals. He decided he liked the cardinals more and so the Angelfish was rehomed. The guppies from the 20 gallon moved over to his tank, and we have seen a few fry but so far only 1 has survived but is now big enough I think he will be OK. And then as noted in the 20 gallon journal, we had another tank being prepped for my dad who suddenly was unable to take it. With no place to keep the tank, the fish were split between our 2 tanks for now, so 9 Kyathit Danio are also calling this tank home now. Next, our first disaster...