Bruno

So I am documenting our(my 8 year old son and I) fish keeping journey so far so later we can look back and see 'where we came from'. The 37 Gallon tank was our second tank, the first being a 20 Gallon whose story is also told in my journal in its own topic. The 37 gallon tank came to us from a friend, and my son was happy to receive it as he was feeling frustrated his stocking plans kept being blocked by the size of tank he had. So while still doing a fish in cycle on the 20 gallon, we started a fish less cycle on the 37 gallon. He had decided on having Cory Cats and so we went with a sand substrate right from the start. He picked out a couple of taller plants with plans to move a coupl eof decorations from the 20 gallon once the cycle was finished. The tank finished cycling a few days before our first CAS meeting and auction, so we went to the auction with hopes of getting a good start on his stocking. His desire was to have Cory Cats, Angelfish and Swordtails. At the auction he was offered a couple of Angelfish he had seen on the CAS home tour from a fellow member, Nanmer. So he was excited before the auction even started. During the auction we also picked up 3 Marigold Swordtails (1 male and 2 female) and 3 Mickey Mouse Platies (I am not sure what we got for sex). They all went into his tank and a day later we came back from Nanmer's place with 2 Marble Angelfish. The Angelfish were well behaved, but were testing each other out a little, locking mouths and taking little dives at each other. It was then we discovered that my son has no tolerance for anything but the most peaceful of tanks. We took 1 of them back and peace was once again found in the tank. My son is a lego fanatic to put it mildly, so he was sure to include some in decorating his tank. Here is what it looked like (with both Angelfish still in the tank):

When I added the plants I switched lights from the LED light the kit came with to the T8 I got with the QT tank. I swapped the bulbs for Flouramax, but found the light was a little dim looking for watching the fish. So I added a hidden 18" LED to the front lip inside the tank and now run both the T8 and the LED. I am adding Flourish Excel and API Leaf Zone each week following a water change, and will also add a dose of the Excel mid week. My dad suffered some health issues and had to forgo taking his tank. The QT was in an ackward spot I promised my wife would be very temporary, so the danios went into my son's tank and the platies into mine. As the guppies grow I am going to need to figure out what to do. I want a bigger tank, but wanted to wait until I felt like I knew what I was doing, but now both our tanks are over stocked I did add a second Aquaclear 50 to my tank so I am now running 2 of them to be sure my filtration is as good as I can get it for now, and I test my water every few days to be sure everything is OK. Here is the tank as of today: So I still feel like a confused newbie, stocking being the hardest part to get my head wrapped around. I am loving the hobby though and can't wait to see what the future holds.

I have loved the look of the GBR so I purchased a couple from the LFS, put them in the QT for a couple of weeks and then added them. My son wanted the guppies so we moved him to his tank, but I got a surprise as I found 9 guppy fry swimming in the tank. They were still very tiny so I left them in my tank, not sure if they would be eaten, but I left that to nature. My dad liked our tanks and decided he wanted one and asked us to set him up. I was not a fan of the danios so decided to rehome them to him and went and got some Rummynose Tetras. We also picked up some Sunburst Platies for my dad and some stock for my sons tank, all finding there way into the QT for now. So at this point my plan was to have Rummynose Tetra, the 2 GBR and if any guppy fry survived they could stay. A couple of weeks later I moved the danio to the QT to wait on my dads tank and moved the Rummynose in. I did it late at night before heading to bed, and sadly missed seeing one of the GBR jump out of the tank. I didn't realize it was missing till the next morning and found it dried out under another piece of furniture to the side of the tank I did have a pleasant surprise though and seen 8 of the guppy fry were still alive and now big enough they could avoid being eaten.

I had problems with the amazon sword floating out of the sand, I was replanting it daily. Around this time we also went to our first CAS meeting and during the auction I picked up some guppies as well as some more Amazon Swords, a Golden Melon Sword, a Remi Sword and some Watersprite. I added them but again had problems with the sand being too fine and the plants drifting out. So I decided to try Eco-Complete and did another substrate change. I kept monitoring my water parameters and had no issues with the changes. So the tank now looked like this:

Once the 37G was cycled, we set that up for my son, and the 20G became mine. I wasn't as fond of the gravel and plants he had, so I took them all out, put some sand in, some driftwood and a couple of plants. I picked up an Amazon Sword, Java Fern and an Anubias Nana. The danios stayed in my tank for now and he added fish purchased at auction to the 37G. So here was how the tank looked then:

Thought I would start a journal of our tanks if for no other reason then to look back later and see where we started and hopefully how far we have come. So our journey into fishkeeping started with my 8 year old son asking for fish. When the desire didn't pass after some time we decided to get an aquarium. I picked up a Marineland 20G LED kit and we were on our way. We had lots to learn and relied a little too much on LFS advice, but here was the first tank: We had 9 Kyathit Danio (we were advised to do a fish in cycle and when we asked how many he said you want 6, but will likely lose a couple - so we bought 9, and still have all 9) Water changes every day or 2 for what seemed like an eternity got us thru our aquarium introduction. During that time we visited LFS's frequently, my son's stocking list changing frequently. He wanted Cory Cats, so we made plans to change from gravel to sand. Other then settling on those his list changed frequently, but we also realized he was going to be limited by the size of the tank, and we were disappointed we hadn't done research ahead of time and bought a larger tank. Around that time we were given a 37G tank (just missed out on a 60G from another friend) so we set that up and started a fishless cycle on it. I'll start another thread on that one too as we now have both tanks running and I want to track the progress of both. Once this tank cycled we bought a couple of guppies from a LFS, but sadly we lost them about 2 weeks later. Water tested fine the whole time, and danios never had any issues, so we are not sure what happened. But the experience scared me that maybe they had been sick/diseased when we bought them and we could have introduced that to our tank, so we also at that time bought another 20G to use as a quarantine tank. We then decided to wait for the 37G to finish its fishless cycle before adding any more fish. to be continued...

Congrats fishclubgirl!

I was hoping that given your love of bettas you would have some info So how would they fair in with other fish? Any community fish they should not be with, or would do better with?

We picked up a betta a little over a week ago. He went into our QT tank which is a community tank right now since we are just starting to add fish to the other 2 tanks. He has done fine with the cardinal tetras, cory cats and blue rams. He actually looks frightened by the rest of the fish, including the cardinals. Last night he went into my sons 37G which has some swords, platies and an Angelfish. We kept an eye on them to see what would happen, and the betta has left everyone alone, though the Angelfish showed him some interest as soon as he went into the tank, but within a minute or 2 they were ignoring each other. So we will keep an eye, but so far so good. Looking ahead though, if the Imbellis is truly a peaceful community fish, I might want one or more in the larger community tank I am dreaming up in my head. So just wondering if anyone has kept any Imbellis and how easy they are to obtain.

Just read a quick article on Betta imbellis or the Peaceful Betta, and then did a google image search. They look very close to my untrained eye to the betta's I see in LFS. The article seemed to imply these would be good beta to put in a community tank (without fin nippers etc). Does anyone here know much about these? I love the look of the betta but don't really want a small 5 gallon set aside for one. Are they easy to find and can they go in a true community tank?

Not sure, I am enjoying the contrast it gives in color, but that may wear off and then who knows, it may get a moss treatment.

So the home tour here in Calgary prompted me to redo my aquascaping. This tank had been my son's, but we got a hold of a 37G that he claimed. So it wasn't what I had envisioned for myself anyway, but seeing all those nice tanks made me decide to do somethign about it. So with some help from purchases at the last club meeting, the tank has been reinvented. Here is before: And here is After: And how my son did his 37 Gallon (convinced him to go sand as he wants some Corydoras) but he wanted to add Lego to make it 'his':

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone who invited us into their homes and especially for making my son feel welcome. He left with lots of his own plans (so did his dad lol). Now to sort thru all the wants I have from seeing your tanks to decide what direction I will go. Again thanks to everyone.

So I ended up trying the Aquaclear's and while they arent completely silent, the noise level is alot better. I put a AC50 on each of the 20 Gallons and a AC70 on the 37g

I considered one of these but the reviews I found on them weren't so great.

Guess this is why there are so many filters out there - everyone likes a different setup. I like the idea of a canister, but I don't have the tank on a traditional stand. I have a small area therfore I can put a canister, but looking ta the specs for the various brands/models out there the ones that have sufficient flow etc for my tank all seem to be too big for my space (I have a area roughly 13" x 13" x 13" I can hide a canister in - if hoses come out the top then the canister has to be really small. I'll head over to Big Al's and have a look at what is there that can fit in that space, but if anyone knows of a good canister (also quiet) that would fit, let me know please. The last coupe of days the existing HOB has gotten a little quieter, though some vibration to the tank woke my wife up at 1:00 AM which didnt make her happy, so I may also look at some felt or somethign to reduce vibration noises for now...

I was looking at the reviews on the U4 and considering it, though hiding it also came to mind...

Who in Calgary carries Sunsun?

I have a 37G with a Marineland Penguin 200 HOB filter, and my wife is wanting to throw it out the window. I have to admit, it is a little loud. So what filter would you recommend to provide good filtration but be as quiet as possible. Either HOB or Canister (or even in tank - seen a couple of those and while they are ugly in the tank, I would consider it if it is the quietest option). I am still doing a fish less cycle so now is the time to do it before we get fish in there. Any suggestions?

Do you need to be a member to join the tour? And do you have to tour your tanks to see others? New to this and would love to see some other tanks, but my fish less cycling 37 g and my new empty 20 QT aren't much to look at.

So I am thinking this thru for when it comes time to stock my tank now going thru a fishless cycle Once it is cycled, theoritically I could go and get close to a full stocking depending on fish and I am good to go. But I dont want to introduce something into my tank that could jeapordize the health of my tank and its filter by extention, so I opt to set up a 10G quarantine tank, move some filter media over, and I can introduce some fish to it. So I have an extra sponge stuffed into my HOB which lets says makes up 25% of my overall bio media in the 37G. I am not sure what is going into the 37G for now, so lets say swordtails - maybe I buy 6 as I am using only 25% filter media and have a small tank in comparison? That 25% media should be pretty strong from the fishless cycle though, and during the quarantine I keep adding ammonia to the main tank to keep the bacteria there alive, and in fact it likely produces more bacteria to make up for what I removed. After 2 weeks my fish are all healthy so I do a large water change in the 37G, test etc and then acclimitize the 6 swordtails to the new tank water and move them in. So far so good... Now in the main tank, I likely am producing quite a bit less ammonia with 6 small fish then I was dosing, so does bacteria now die off in the filter as it resets for 6 fish? So now how many fish can I go buy and put in my quarantine tank for the next addition? Say I do a rummynose tetra - if I get 6 the quarantine should be able to handle that as it just gave up 6 fish, but after the 2 weeks I would be doubling the load in my main tank, which doesn't sound like a good idea. Any way around this? or do I have to go with a smaller school the second go around? As my 37 reaches capacity I can see this would be less of an issue, but initially doubling the fish seems like asking for trouble...

While waiting for tanks to cycle I have been doing reading, and am considering setting up a quarantine tank so all my hard work on getting the tanks ready isnt for nothing. How many here use one? My biggest concern is my bacteria - obviously I want a 'cycled' tank for quarantine use, but how do I keep it cycled between buying fish or to be ready as a hospital tank? I have a Penguin 150 HOB filter in one tank and a Penquin 200 in the other. Both have a combo fibre/carbon cartridge and then a bio wheel, but both have room for 2 of the cartridges. I had intended to discontinue use of the cartridges once I was out and just use some floss, sponge or cut fibre in those spots, but if I used the second slot for some fibre, would that be sufficient to pull out and use in a box filter for the quarantine or hospital? I dont want the tank running all the time with me injecting ammonia every day to keep it ready, so looking for another way to set one up quickly when needed. What do you do? Any ideas?

I posted my 3 posts, and only want in to that section to see what is for sale, not to post an ad... but I still can't get in EDIT ** Nevermind - maybe 1 post didn t get counted... this one put me over the top and I am in

Awesome thread, great to find out there are some choices out there.

Hi All, New to this hobby but started with my 8 year old son. We started with a 20 G tank but soon realized our fish choices were a little more limited then we wanted so have also started a fishless cycle of a 37G. The 20G was started with a fish in cycle so it is home to kyathit danios and is about 7 weeks into its cycle with ammonia always showing zero now but nitrites are still needing PWC to keep them in check. Here to learn as much as I can. B