Bruno Posted July 25, 2013 Report Share Posted July 25, 2013 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): Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruno Posted July 25, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 25, 2013 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... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruno Posted July 25, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 25, 2013 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... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvision Posted July 25, 2013 Report Share Posted July 25, 2013 Since you have 2 ACs on each tank, fill one completely with biomedia, the cut a hole in the short side of the sponge and slide it over the intake. You'll NEVER need to clean the media inside the filter, and just rinse the sponge under the tap (no worries of killing beneficial bacteria with tap water bc your filter is full of them!) when you do WCs. This will also cut down on maintenance on the other filter. You could do the same with both, if you feel extra lazy (like me!). With more than twice the recommended filtration, overstocking isn't such a big issue. The more biological filtration capacity, the easier it will be to keep the water safe for your fishy friends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruno Posted July 25, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 25, 2013 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruno Posted August 1, 2013 Author Report Share Posted August 1, 2013 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvision Posted August 1, 2013 Report Share Posted August 1, 2013 Sounds like it's time to sacrifice the office for a FISHROOM!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruno Posted August 1, 2013 Author Report Share Posted August 1, 2013 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruno Posted October 7, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 7, 2013 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruno Posted October 8, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 8, 2013 The latest pic of the tank: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruno Posted October 13, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 13, 2013 And now with some fish in it: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruno Posted February 20, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2014 Time for an update... the cichlids were rehomed into a 90G (purchased from a fellow AA member) and for a while this tank was shut down. It recently was setup again to play QT for some new additions to the 55, and once they are all in their new home I am going to try a planted tank again, with the goal of starting low tech and progressing... how far we will have to see. Here is a pic of the tank now doing QT duty to a school of Cardinal Tetras, a German Blue Ram, 2 Electric Blue Rams and 2 Powder Blue Gourami's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruno Posted December 18, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 18, 2014 This tank has since been passed on to my mom who is trying a low tech planted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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