Guru Aquatics...

[Sounguru]

Hello and Welcome to Guru Aquatics home of the we don't have a clue and prefer to wing it aquatics setups.

On todays agenda was some major moves in tanks and just all around soaking of the carpet to give the wife something to scream about. So let's start with the layout to give a feel to all the newcomers to this wonderful aquatic world of mine.

First off we have the 18 gallon tank sitting on the kitchen counter. Inside you will find several berried female Cherry shrimp and the males who berried then Cha Chow....
http://www.stopactionphoto.net/images/EV518D~112.GIF
you will also find a large assortment of different sized Molley fry waiting to go to market along with the healthy population of Malasyian Trumpet Snails (here on out refered to as MTS). I have a sponge filter and a small HOB with no pad running just to help on circulation. Plant wise I have an American Valensieana (Corkscrew Val) that I harvested myslef that is sending out baby plants like mad. I also have some common water moss that is taking off, an Amazon sword, some Bog plants that are growing like a weed, and one crypt.

Next up is the 29 WTF tank.. Here is an assortment of wierd and jumbled stuff. Livestock sits right now at. 2 Silver Molley Female, 1 Gold Male Molley, 1 Gold and Black Sailfin Male, About 15 Fry, 2 Very fat Glowlight Tetras (rescue), 2 Male Cherry Barbs, 4 Female Cherry Barbs, 1 Oto, 1 Chinese Alage Eater, 5 Whimpy Assassin Snails, 400 MTS. Plants are a jumbled mess of 1 crypt, 3 Amazon Swords, 3 Corckscrew Val, and a jumbled mess of unidentified stuff I collected. Now moves out of this tank today were the 4" Rainbow Shark and the pair of Black Molleys. This move was promted by the shark needing more room and the Black male getting his rear kicked by the larger sailfin. This is the only tank running any CO2 and the Swords have taken off.....

Now on to the 55 hex and the 75. Gonna lump these two together because that was the major move made today. I moved the 2 Male 6"+ Severums, the 4"+ Angel, The 2 really badly deformed Silver Dollars and the Jack Dempsey all to the 75 that I had cycling for a week deciding if I wanted to make that move or not. As I was breaking down the 55 Hex I discovered the pain in the arse guppy that I had thrown in there after removing him from the before mentioned 29 because he was harrassinfg the female molleys. Which brings up a question if the molley and guppy mated would that be a Golley or a Muppy?
http://www.stopactionphoto.net/images/120104laughter01.gif
I also drained the tank and found out how pathetic I really am because I recused all 12 MTS and put them in the 75.... I also put the before mentioned Rainbow Shark and the Guppy in the 75. Now the 55 Hex is going out to the shop for a rebuild and the 75 is decorated with plastic crap until I can rehome some of the bigger fish.

55 Goldfish Not much here plastic crap decor and 3 really big 5"+ comets along with the most hammered Balck Moor I have ever seen although he looks a lot better in the week I have had him than he ever has. Oh yea the Shambukin commited supposed suicide the other night, but that is still under investigation by the local authorties. The Cat is a person of interest in the case.

62 SW tank yes I have a SW tank but not by design... When I pulled the 75 out of Big Bobs it had had nothing but top offs for so long that the brackish tank had become a full blown SW tank due to build up in salt. So I figured what the heck let's go with it. Now inside the tank is a 6" very skittish Silver Scat. My goal is to find him a few friends but silver scats are hard to come by right now in a large eough size that they are ready for full salt. So what I may have to due is slowly back off the salt content to brackish bring in the buddies and then move it back up. I really don't want to do this until I do a tank rebuild and turn it into a mangrove swamp lookin tank. Now this whole project is up in the air and I may just rehome the scat. So in the mean time I moved the Balck Molley pair into the tank and that should help stop the fungus problems thay have been having and the harrassment issues. I also hope it will calm down the scat a little. There are also 3 MTS that are surviving in full salt go figure.....

So there you have it a full account of what is running at Guru Aquatics at this time. Currently on the shop bench is the 5 gallon Shrimp tank that should come out and be cycling in my sons room in the next few days. That will be followed by the dual 10's. In the wings I have 2 29's, 1 55 glass that needs an end repaired, 55 acrylic that needs a serious buffing, and the 75 long acrylic.

Oh yea I almost forgot in the Laundry room I have my MTS, Pond Snail, and Ramshorn grow out tank this is my feeder tank of snails for the Assassins (If they ever decide to actually eat a snail) and to stock other tanks as I see fit. I also have several plant cuttings just to see how they grow in a non heated and unfiltered tank. I am also using it as my Java moss holding tank until used in other tanks.

So that is all until the next update good luck and enjoy.

I will post pictures of tanks as they get rebuilt and try to keep up on this journal..... I like it better this way than a Blog because I can get instant feedback..

[Boertjie]

10331 Your wife's gonna scream some more......
Sound like you have your hands full.
Good luck..........I am waiting in suspense on the update.
10332

[angelcakes]

http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh47/angelfishe/smiles/36_1_33.gif

look forward to more updates:19:

[Gemstone]

*smiles prettily @ sounguru*....tanks...in the laundry...room???...........*

>>>>>>*glares at own husband....watchit...watchit...I know what you are thinking...the answer is...NOOOOOO*

[NickFish]

LOL, love your posts guru.

Keep updating!

[Lady Hobbs]

It never fails to amaze me how a person can totally destroy their home moving tanks and fish around. Getting the job done is not nearly as bad as the clean up after.

You have a pretty good project going, I'd say. Pictures we gotta have!

I have given you a box of tissues that you can share with the wife!

[ladyoutlaw50]

I am looking for pictures!!! My bf is already abit annoyed as half the living room has gone to the "tanks" and now I am redoing a spare room that is already been dubbed "The Fishroom"
I am moving his playroom to the back of the house so I will have more room for a big tank!!
Good thing he is good natured!! or is he????

[Sounguru]

I will post pictures as I move the tanks ino their final positions. Right now it is a jumbled mess of mismatch stuff.

[Sounguru]

Well since I took second on the quiz I figured I had better put my skills to the test....so to speak...

I also want to add one thing here I will not spend a single $ on my tanks unless I produce the money from one of my 2 hobbies. So I either have to sell some fry or sell some minis to make any changes. This does 2 things keeps the wife happy because no money is coming out of the house budget and keeps it fun for me because if I want new toys I have to build or scrounge for it if I don't have the funds. I have also agreed as has my wife that our hobby money is a 50/50 split. 50% to the house to help pay a few bills and retirement and 50% to the earner to buy more stuff. Helps keep it fair and we don't spend more than we make. Thank god or my house would be overun by scrapbook stuff and there would be no place for my tanks....

So suggesting anything that cost money right now ain't gonna work.... Because the fund is $0.

Now back on track

So I finally pulled out my test kit and blew the dust off of it....http://www.stopactionphoto.net/images/110104emot30_astonishe.gif

Here are the results...

Tap Water:

PH 7.4
AM 0.0
NI 0.0
NA 0.0

So all good nothing I really need to look out for... Now for the 2 established tanks.

29 WTF Tank:

PH 7.2
AM 0
NI .5
NA 80

So I have a couple of critical area here I need to do one of these three things. Increase the filtration, cut back on feedings, or cut back on occupants. Well since I have fry cutting back on feedings ain't gonna work, Already reduced the # of occupants, so that just leaves filtration so I will have to run down to the shop and see if I can find a small filter to add on until I can order/build the canister and rebuild this whole tank like I want or if I don't have one I will have to do more frequent than when I get around to it water changes...... More than likely a combo of things filtration to bring down the nitrite reading and water changes / more plants to bring down the nitrates. So I think a trip to the lake is in order before it gets too cold.

18 Gallon

Now this tank is in a serious bind so don't jump in until you read the whole thing....

PH <6.0 Danger Will Robison Danger
AM .5
NI 0
NA 20

Okay now remember this tank has 2 filters and one is just for water movement so it make making it easy to fix this tank. With Cherry Shrimp and Molleys both liking hard and higher PH water I have room to tweak. I seem to hold on to some weird stuff and now it is gonna pay off. I held on to the crushed coral substrate from the 75 long aquired so there is my PH raiser right there. Bundles some of that up in a stocking throw it in the empty filter BAM more filtration and raises the PH at the same time. I know what is causing the PH drop but I'm not going to correct that since it is part of keeping the shrimp happy so I need to work on bringing it up without changing anything. Plus the Calcium will be a boost to both the snails and the shrimpies in shell production, also as I decrease the bioload of the baby mollies since I'm setting up a dedicated fry tank that will help too.

So anyway there is where we stand and the proposed fixes for the tanks. Next update will include the 5 gallon and possible rehoming of the Goldfish.....

[MrDrums]

I can honestly say that one my fish were in I have never tested my water at all. I know my PH is high - 7.8-7.9 - but could not tell you any other number. Don't even own a test kit, and never felt I needed to spend the $ on one. Might be foolish, but the fish are thriving, colorful, lively. I keep the filter in order and do water changes every 7-10 days.

I think if I ever tested my water, I'd probably obsess over it constantly. At least this way I don't spend $$ on unnecessary chemcals.

[Sounguru]

I can honestly say that one my fish were in I have never tested my water at all. I know my PH is high - 7.8-7.9 - but could not tell you any other number. Don't even own a test kit, and never felt I needed to spend the $ on one. Might be foolish, but the fish are thriving, colorful, lively. I keep the filter in order and do water changes every 7-10 days.

I think if I ever tested my water, I'd probably obsess over it constantly. At least this way I don't spend $$ on unnecessary chemcals.

Well I need to test out my tanks now since I am moving them over to live plant tanks and breeders..... To get some shrimps to breed you have to have pretty accurate water conditions....:hmm3grin2orange:

[MrDrums]

Yes, I suppose if I ever get to the point of trying to breed fish, I'd have to be a lot more particular and careful. As long as I have had fish, I have never tried to get them to spawn. I think some day I'd like to try to breed severum or geophagus. And you're right, I'll have to be very careful with the water parameters. At that point, I'll be on here asking you A LOT of questions! :c3:

[Sounguru]

Okie Dokie time for another fun filled update of the antics and utter chaos called Guru's Aquatics.

Let's start by actually showing pictures of all the tanks now because there are so many it will be spread over 3 post so hang on and keep reading....

Okay here is the 29 WTF tank as you can see not much to look at.....
http://www.stopactionphoto.net/Fishpics/Alltanks2.jpg

18 Gallon on the kitchen counter........
http://www.stopactionphoto.net/Fishpics/Alltanks3.jpg

The acrylic 55 Goldfish tank..........Got to love the pink plants.
http://www.stopactionphoto.net/Fishpics/Alltanks4.jpg

62 Gallon SW tank that none of the fish actually come out to be seen.
http://www.stopactionphoto.net/Fishpics/Alltanks5.jpg

[Sounguru]

Okay here is some fun the 75 before I cleaned it out....
http://www.stopactionphoto.net/Fishpics/Alltanks7.jpg

And the 75 after cleaning....
http://www.stopactionphoto.net/Fishpics/Alltanks6.jpg

Now this one is for Gemstone and Boertjie ..It just goes to show with enough begging by the husband anything is possible.... 10 gallon snail tank in the laundry room...
http://www.stopactionphoto.net/Fishpics/Alltanks1.jpg

So there you have all of the tanks in the house that are setup minus one and I will get to that in a moment, but first what has happened in the last day or so..........

On the 29 WTF tank I added another filter and did a 25% water change figure I will give it a day or 2 then retest to see if the levels change at all. I may have another problem I thought of and it maybe my substrate that is putting the nitrate into the tank. So if levels do not change I will have to look at ripping it out.

On the 18 Gallon I put the crushed coral in the filter and again did a 25% so in a couple of days we will see if it made a dent into the PH. I still need to come up with some funds or scrounge up the parts to make some sponge filters to place in the 29 gallon tanks so I can set up some grow out tanks. Also I had to move the largest Black molley fry over to the 62 SW tank since he had developed a little fungus from running into something it looks like.

Now I did water changes on all the tanks and will continue to do so until I'm sure all are cycled. For those of you that missed the whole Freecycle thread where I picked up all of htese tanks I had to set them up and get them running because they came with fish..... Nothing on any of the tanks but the 62 and i will get into that on the next post.................

[Sounguru]

Okay now where was I oh yea the 62.... This is a fun tank as you remember from the first post (okay if you don't go to the first page and start there or you are gonna be more lost than a blind eskimo looking for his polar bear coat in a white out) The Salinty of this tank was PPT 36 Specific Gravity 1.027 so higher than a standard SW tank. Now if you remember the whole black molley move get ready because it just became more fun.....

So I'm sitting there watching an episode of Stargate Atlantis when I look over and see the always hiding scat cruising along the surface.. I think that is weird. So I look a little bit ahead of the scat and realize he is herding a school of baby molleys about 10 into a corner for dinner. No I do not mean to enjoy dinner with them, but to make dinner out of them.... So I hit pause say a few word that really shouldn't be repeated on a family forum and go running for the collection jar and the long handle net... I know a few of you are going why save them, well they are my meal ticket for new fishy stuff. So I set the lights across the filters to hold it up and remove the top fill the jar and start scooping. About 20 fry later all is well no more small ones that I can see. So I start a drip into their jar from the 18 to climatize them and go pop some popcorn to finish watching my show... Now this is about midnight, I'm a night owl. So about half way thru my popcorn and right after the next commerical break I glance over and what do I see... At least another 10 of the little buggers swimming around. Now I know they weren't in there before she is dropping them as I watch.... Man I hate this molley if she wasn't my son's she would have been put into really large holding tank out back and undergorund (for those of you completely lost that is a septic tank... AKA a poo recycler). So to cut a long story short 2:30 I finally give up and go to dump the first jar into the tank only to realize that my drip line had come loose and I have about 2 gallons of water on my counter top.... Arggggh...

So I say to heck with it I dump the buggers into a net with the new jar and place all 40 or so in the 18 gallon and say good luck.. and go to bed...

Next morning I have to fish 5 more out and over the next 12 hours I find another 6 ... I think I have them all but it was straight out of the SW straight into fresh.... in among this I discovered the problem with the largest black molley fry and plop him straight into the 62 30 minutes later the white puff is gone and he is swimming like nothing was ever wrong.... All this and I only lost one fry and he was weak from the get go.....:hmm3grin2orange:

Okay now some real fun I finally built a tank the way i want minus a few tweaks... So let me set the mood.

Think of a photo of an old car stiing in a field in the middle of winter when all the grass is brown and the leaves on the trees have fallen off. The only color are some evergreen bushes and the moss on the car and tree. Kind of a cool picture................. Well here is my aquatic version of that photo...

http://www.stopactionphoto.net/Fishpics/Son53.jpg
http://www.stopactionphoto.net/Fishpics/Son52.jpg
http://www.stopactionphoto.net/Fishpics/Son51.jpg

Fun and easy to setup....

Mulm down first, followed by Shultz Aquatic Soil and topped off with play sand. Glued some screen to the car with super glue placed java moss in the middle of the screen folded over and tacked it down to hold the moss. Did the top of the roof and the hood. The wood is a tree root that I know will put tannins in the water but that is fine with me, that I silconed to the bottom of the tank to make sure it stays in place. I stuck a little more moss in the nooks of the tree and planted a quilwort up front and some crypts around the rock. CO2 will be DIY on a nano diffuser and the filter is a little over kill HOB but with shrimp it shouldn't make much difference.... I will need to put in some leaves in about a week or soo and then start testing the PH to see if I can balance it out with crushed coral. I just know it is gonna drop like a rock because of the leaves and the wood so I will need to bring it back up. Since I have a sponge over the intake I can remove the cartridge to load the filter with crushed coral...... Well that is about it don't know when the next post will be because I need to gather up supplies and make some fishy cash before I can move on to the next project....

[angelcakes]

good transformation of the 75g!!!! tanks are looking good:19: :19: :19:

[Sounguru]

Thanks I really love the little 5 gallon setup I did for my son and he loves the old car..... I can't wait for the moss to grow out so I can trim it and get it to look like it is growing over the sides of the car.

[angelcakes]

Thanks I really love the little 5 gallon setup I did for my son and he loves the old car..... I can't wait for the moss to grow out so I can trim it and get it to look like it is growing over the sides of the car.
thats would look awesome and your sons tank is coming on nicely:19: :19:

[Sounguru]

Well just a quick update with my son's surgery not much is going on in fishy world....

5 gallon the ammonia is so high it turns my test kit black... and I didn't even add any to it....

29 Gallon is now running 2 fitlers dropped the last bit of nitrite out of the system and the nitrates are starting to drop a little with more water changes.

18 Gallon The ph is up to about 7.2 and the ammonia is non existant so the addition of the crushed coral is doing the job.

Other than that just regular maintance today... I have started on so plans that once I get them hammered out I will fill you in on the details.:14:

[Sharkman]

Nice job with all of your tanks Guru. I like the tree roots and can't wait to see what the 5g looks like with the moss grown in.

[ladyoutlaw50]

First I would like to say -- I hope all is well with your son!!!

second I see by the photo with the 18 gallon tank on your counter - -your family likes Dr. Pepper ---- Nice choice -- Diet Dr. Pepper == my favorite!!!

I would also like to add - -Love the tanks -- alot of work and it looks nice

[Sounguru]

He is fine he had to have his tonsils out

I'm the only one that drinks Dr. Pepper

Only one tank is staying up the 5 gallon the rest are coming down and getting redone soon so I still have a long way to go.

[Sounguru]

Well A lot of fun here at Guru Aquatics today.....

First off I have snail eggs. Yes I know most of you are in a panic going crush them they are not a good thing, but I want as many snails as I can get my hands on. You see the eggs I found are Assassin snail eggs about a dozen or so in the temp holding tank I had them in. Problem being that there are a lot of other residents since it is my 29 WTF tank. Good news is it has been 2 days since the discovery and all are still present and accounted for. I did move the Assassins over to the 18 gallon which will be their home until I can get the 10 gallon tanks setup for them.

Now this move has brought about a couple of other major moves.....

First was clearing space so all of the goldfish were taken to the local LFS and will be sent out to new pondy type home soon. So I added a 300 watt heater and cranked the temp up to 82 will have to keep an eye on it though I think the heater maybe busted it doesn't cycle off. So now I have an empty needing to be polished 55 acrylic tank that I just bet you are wondering what is going in there.... Well here we go.

As you know I breed Molleys and as it stands with the new batch I have over 200. I would say around 100 in the 29WTF tank with monday night's drop and 125+ in the 18 gallon. So I want to get the assassins into the 18 and make sure nothing will eat the eggs.... plus i need to let my Cherries start breeding. So I start moving all of the fry to you guessed it 55.

Now as it stands there are still about 40 of the little buggers in the 18 I haven't been able to catch and at least 5 of the suckers in the 29... I also discoverd there is one at least ity bitty fry still in the 62 with the scat.... We will let nature take it's course on that one.

So no tank testing will do that in a couple of days after I get all the fry moved over to the 55.

I have also seeded all of the tanks with MTS and 1 tank with pond snails too make sure I can keep up with the population of assassins I hope to have. I'm looking into the possibility of making a 29 gallon snail tank just for having enough feeder snails. I hope the very few ramshorns and the very few ponds I have start to become a lot real quick because MTS are great but sloower to breed out.

[angelcakes]

looks and sounds like all is doing well keep updating:19: :19:

[Sharkman]

cool stuff guru. How much do you gat at your lfs for mollies? Enough to buy some cool fish or cool equipment?

[Sounguru]

cool stuff guru. How much do you gat at your lfs for mollies? Enough to buy some cool fish or cool equipment?

Well I get $1 per fish... at last count I was over 200 in the grow out tank.

[Sounguru]

Okay I just broke every rule I have ever preached......:14:

The blinkin fry in the 18 were driving me nuts there were about 40 of them and they had figured out what the nets looks like. Then top that off with the fact that it is heavily planted and well they weren't coming out.

So I Drained 3/4 of the water into buckets and removed all the plants and decor of the tank. Netted all of the shrimpies and put hen in one container and the remaining fry in another... So as I as doing this I figured what the heck I have the tank torn down...

So I wandered out into my yard and picked up some rock and as I was wandering in I saw my pile of sundried tree roots that have not been fully cleaned or check out yet...but one looked really cool. So I grabbed it too.

Now this piece of wood was not soaked, boiled, or even identified as being safe, but into the tank it went...along with the rocks after quickly washing them.... Replanted the plants rotated teh tank refilled with old water let shrimpies go and prayed to the gods to let them live.

http://www.stopactionphoto.net/images/4_17_11.gif


Yes I'm expecting a big PH drop
Yes I'm expecting a Tannin problem
Yes I know I will have a fungus an alage problem
Yes I know I'm an idiot
Yes I know the wood could be deadly
Yes I repeat I know I'm an idiot


But other than that it looks cool........... Will get pictures after the sun goes down...

[Sounguru]

Well I rebuilt this tank not following a single thing I preach but it has been 2 days and no deaths yet as a matter of fact the Assassins are droping eggs all over the place.

Only weird thing is the MTS after 2 days are still all over the glass even in the daytime.
They say this is a sign of bad water but it test out fine for the basics, so only thing I can figure is when I redid the tank and stired up the substrate they just went bonkers and haven't settled down. I do wonder if it the fact that there are no fish to annoy them now.

http://www.stopactionphoto.net/Fishpics/18gallonredo.jpg

[Sounguru]

okay here is a pic of one of my assassin snail eggs the only one that was out in the open enough to grab a shot of....

http://www.stopactionphoto.net/Fishpics/egg1.jpg

[angelcakes]

you snail tank looks nice.........and what a shot of the baby snail woohoo:19: :19:

[Sounguru]

Well it is a good day I woke up this morning and made some mesurements only to find out my 18 gallon was really a 15 tall... Oh well it still holds water.

So while doing that and checking all the tanks to make sure everyone was still alive I spotted something moving in the 15 and here is what I found.

Okay here is a the entire shot so you can get an idea of these size...

http://www.stopactionphoto.net/Fishpics/babyshrimp2.jpg

And now here is he baby shrimp less than 5 hours old....

http://www.stopactionphoto.net/Fishpics/babyshrimp1.jpg

Whoo I guess this means that the water isn't too bad if I'm getting baby shrimpies... I'm so stoked.

[angelcakes]

congrats on baby shrimp:19: :19: :19:

[troy]

Congratulations!:19:

[Sounguru]

Thanks Guys I was really http://www.stopactionphoto.net/images/WOODYA~120.GIF after I broke every law of fishkeeping but now I'm doin a http://www.stopactionphoto.net/images/CHAPLI~118.GIF

[Sounguru]

Okay figure I would do a fun little update called what is in my tank....

So I will start with the 15 Gallon (used to be an 18 until I measured it).

The cool stuff

Cherry Shrimp 20 or so adults
4 Confirmed Cherry Shrimp fry
250+ Malyasian Tunneling Snails
5 Assassin Snails
25 Assassin Snail eggs confirmed
5 Corckscrew Vals Wild collected
1 Amazon Sword
1 Crypt of some type
3 Bog plants that I got at petsmart that are doing beautiful
Piece of a root


Now the not so fun stuff depending on how you look at it....


Detritus Worms - Normal in every tank but a small infestation often called Planaria
Planaria - I have counted at least 20 or so...
Hydras - I have found 3 so far
Some large Grey Worm - No idea what he is but shys away from light and is at the bottom under all the substrate


Now I believe in naturally balanced tanks so I'm not surprised by the pest in the tank. I will admit there are a little more than there should be because it was a fry tank fed 5 times a day until recently. I also can't vac the gravel because it is a larger sized rock and little baby shrimp can get sucked down among the rocks just by the water movement.

Funny thing is I find the pest to be just as interesting as the things we consider our pets.... So I will keep them as long as they don't become a problem.

http://www.stopactionphoto.net/images/fantastic_new.gif

[Sounguru]

Here they are on day 2

Theses guys are lesss than 1/8th of an inch long.....

http://www.stopactionphoto.net/Fishpics/Contest1.jpg

http://www.stopactionphoto.net/Fishpics/Contest2.jpg

[Sounguru]

Okay before I start into a really long boring update I have one question...

If someone post in a journal and no one reads it did he really post?http://www.stopactionphoto.net/images/EVEDA2~110.GIF

So anyway now that really deep thought is off my chest back to my usual be boppy self. So what do we have today from Guru's Aquatics for you well quite a lot today was testing day and there is some good news and some really hosed up news.... There will aslo be some thoughts on what I may do in the future and what my grand plans are...

So let's get started with a tank by tanks break down:

__________________________________________________ _______________

5 Gallon (The Car Under the Tree)

PH 7.2
AM 0
NO2 0
NO3 40

Okay so we have finished the cycle so this will make my son happy. Cool thing is I did not have to add an ammonia source the root did that for me. So first plan is a 25% water change which I did and brought the NO3 down to 20. So I added in a couple of Cherry Shrimp since that is the same levels as the tank they are in now. I will do a 25% water change every day until the NO3 is down and then monitor it closely.

Future Plans: This tank will get a reworked hood with LEDs. This will be my test bed tank so I don't go and drop a lot of money into something bigger only to find it doesn't work. The Cherry's I put in are the 2 reddest I have I know one for sure is an unberried female the saddle is real clear but the other I think is a male. If this turns out to be the case I plan to line breed a really red line of shrimp where both the males and the females are dark solid red. Someone somewhere called them supperreds but I think that is a load of carp. So if all goes well I plan to have some of those up for sale soon and if not he super reds at least some nice red Cherries anyway. I also plan to add about 6 to 8 Celesital Pearl Danios and a Mystery or nicely colored Ramshorn for my son since he really wants some fishies and an snail.

PS: I can only find one of the shrimp the Female, I think the male either jumped ship or actually never made it in the tank. The tanins in the water make it diffucult to see so I will wait a few days before getting the other really red male out of the 15 gallon.
__________________________________________________ _______________

15 Gallon ( Quiet Death )

PH 7.2
AM 0
NO2 0
NO3 20

Okay I did a 25% water change but made little dent into the NO3 so I will continue to do that daily until down. With this being the heaviest planted tank I hope that I can find the balance to where the plants wlll suck the NO3 out of the water. Now I have 5 confirmed baby shrimp probably more and over 40 confirmed Assassin snail eggs. I have added a pond snail to start a colony of those because if all 40 of these hatch they will do so all about the same time and the babies will wipe out the small MTS I have in the tank in no time. The 5 larger snails have definatly made a dent into the larger MTS so I'm hoping I can get a colony of larger pond snails ready to transfer over in the next month along with some of the larger MTS in the snail tank. I also added a power hear to the sponge filter and that has made a hude difference in the levels and flow of the tank. One funny thing about this tank I have over 200 MTS of varying sizes and I would say 100+ are all up at the top going around and around the tank all in the same direction, almost like they are migrating. I have read that when you have that many MTS on the glass during the day it is a sign of poor water quality. So I hope that when I get the NO3 under control they will move back down. If they don't I will have to assume it is either normal or there is some unknown factor I can't see like something leaching from the log or lack of food.

Future Plan: This tank is gonna be a decorative tank on our kitchen bar so once I get the 10 gallons up and running I will move the shrimp out and give the tank 2 months to make sure all snail eggs and baby shrimp have grown up. Then I will build an LED hood and a back area so that all plumbing will be hidden. I will aslo be adding in CO2 injection and will probably make this a home for either Cherry barbs or CPDs. Kind of leaning towards the chery barbs at this point along with some Cherry Shrimp and some red Ramshorns.. seeing the theme yet. I will be switching to a canister filter for this tank along with an inline heater and inline CO2.
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10 Gallon ( Snail Breeder )

This is a temp setup to see which type of snail works best as food for the Assassins and which breeds the fastest. So what we have in the tank is some common ramshorn that aren't really doing anything just growing slowly, some MTS not real sure how many there are but I do know there are some new ones, and the pond snails who are huge and have at least 5 known egg sacs down and one has already hatched. So it looks like the ponds are gonna win the who can breed the fastest race. My next step is to add a heater and sponge filter and see what happens to the MTS population when the tank is heated. I would prefer to feed MTS since I like those snails and they are useful in the planted tanks but to be honest I kind of grown fond of the pond snails too. I figure once I get enough assassins to go in every tank I could keep both and everything will stay in balance.

Future Plans: I have a really scratched up 55 acrylic and I may set it up in the shop and add 3 heaters to keep the temp up thrown some snails in it with a couple of sponge filters and an auto feeder. That should give me plenty of snails to raise the assassins for sale in about 4 months and allow me to break down this 10 and make a tank for my daughter. Which of course will mean that I will also have to get a 10 for my son so they are even....
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[Sounguru]

Okay let's continue on.

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29 Gallon ( WTF )

No readings on this one it has an outbreak of Ich just like it does every time a momma fish drops her babies. This is probably caused by the fact that the male harasses her right after dropping, but oh well it will have to stay that way for a while until I can make some changes I will mention later.

Speaking of Ich the fact that I get a breakout every time makes me wonder if you have a sand substrate if it makes it harder to kill off the Ich. Now here is my reasoning for that, Ich drops off the fish gets buried in the substrate you medicate and there is no water movement through the sand like there is though gravel so it never reaches the Ich. So once it is ready bang out it comes and new infestation. Just some food for thought.

So anyway I have one more female silver to drop her babes in the next week then I should have a month reprieve before it starts again. Ohter than that we are gonna find out if the 9 assassin snail eggs I know of survive the medication or not.

Future plans: Total rip down and addition into a breeding setup I will go into later.
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55 Gallon ( The Wiggle Tank )

PH 7.5
AM 1.0
NO2 1.0
NO3 10

Okay this tank is still going through its cycle and with 200+ fry in it I wouldn't be surprised if it is starting all over again after the removal of the goldfishand addition of he heater. I will do a 50% water change in the morning. I have one batch of about 30 fry that will be ready to go to market here in the next week or so. I know at least 2 are males so I should be able to sex at least half of them by that time. I will be adding some sea salt to this tank because it is over crowded and my black molley fry seem to do better with a little salt. i know that mollies don't need the salt but I find it helps when you can't keep the water perfect.

Future Plans: Not real sure I will keep this tank I'm not wild about acrylic tanks, but if I do I continue to use it as a grow out tank until the breeder setup is done. After that if I keep it I will polish it out and make it into a Live planted tank or a african cichlid tank or move it out to the shop and use it along with the other 55 and the 75 acrylic as grow out tanks.
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75 Gallon ( Severum Paradise )

PH 8.2
AM .25
NO2 0
No3 40

Okay I think the PH is real high on this because of salt creep from the gravel. I did not have a chance to swap out the gravel before having to put it back into use. This tank went though a small bloom but cleared in a coupleof days so if I can bring the PH under control and the little bit ammonia down by adding sponges to the filters it should hold up fine until I can rehome the large cichlids and move the Rainbow Shark out to the 55 hex once it is rebuilt.

Future Plans: This tank is gonna be the showpiece of the house fully planted high tech tank. I'm thinkin of going for something like large schools of CPDs or another type of micro fish along with several varities of shimp and snails.
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62 Gallon ( Scat Tank)

PH 8.2
AM 0
NO2 1.0
NO3 5.0
Salinity 1.020

Okay I have borught the salinity down quite a bit but have a little more to go. I'm aiming to bring this back down to a brackish tank. Looks like the cycle is on it's last leg because it cleared up today and the ammonia is down to zero. I moved one of the solid black fry over so that gives me 4 solid black 2 male and 2 females to work with on line breeding. I will go into detail on that more later. I also removed 4 more fry I missed from the last time she dropped and then found another one still in there. Oh well he/she will just have to survive on their own, they have done well so far. I have decided to rehome the Scat after all because I just really don't have an intreast in running a full Sw tank.

Future Plans: Because this tank is taller than a regular 55 but with the same foot print my thought is to use this tank as the divider to the entry and the living room. If I do then it will be a high tech wonder built into a cabinet. I will probably go with angels for that tank since they would make such a nice fish to see when you first walk in and aren't as spookish as discus.

[Sounguru]

And on again....


55 Hex drained and getting moved to the shop for rebuild.
10 Gallon #1 rebuild going slowly
10 Gallon #2 Same
55 Acrylic not real sure what is gonna become of it because it really needs a good polish to be worth anything as far as a fish tank goes may use it as a grow out for snails or plants.
55 Glass broken end just needs repaired and I will pobably switch the 55 acrylic in the house out for the glass one that way all tanks in the house are glass.
75 Gallon acrylic I'm really thinking of using this as a plant grow tank to supply plants for the rest of the tanks and maybe throw snails and shimp in there to sell also. This tank being a long makes it perfect for a plant gow out because it is rather shallow.
29 #1 Breeder
29 #2 Breeder


So over all here is what I have planned as far as things I want to do:

Assassin Snails : I would like to breed these and put them up for sale it looks like I have at least 2 confirmed females out of the 5 I got originally so that helps the odds. If even half of the eggs hatch I'm on my way. I will first make sure a couple of peole have a small colony for themselves and I have them in every tank before palcing then out on the open market. I figure at about $3 a piece, which is what I figure they will go for by the time my colony gets large enough to thin will still be a nice bonus without a lot of effort on my part.

Mollies : When I was a kid I remember solid black sailfin mollies in the 4 to 5 inch range, Not the smaller ones we see today with the orange stripe. I know I could probably find some if I looked hard enough, but after a little chat with Dave66 I think I will try and line breed my own. So I have started looking for the starters and I have 4 set aside. My plan is to find some really large male/ Female Sailfins with a large percentage of black in them and breed out a few starter large mostly blacks and then breed back into the velvet blacks I know and love until I get the large size and the smoth velvet black. Should be a fun little project in genetics... plus I will keep breeding some other strains for the local LFS and fun.

Now to do this I want to get a series of 6 29's and 6 10's. Since the males will just harrass each other I will probably have to keep them seperate, but if they don't I will keep all of them in one 29 and the females in another. Then I will use 2 of the 10's to allow breeding and 4 of the 10's as isolation tanks to allow the females to drop the young. the 4 remaing 29's will be done by month so all the fry from 1 month will be in one and so on and at the end of 4 months they will be big enough to go to market. Makes it easy to keep them seperate and fish out when the time comes. Now all this will be in the shop so I need to aquire 3 more 29's and 5 more 10's freecycle here I come. I will run this all on a compressor for the sponge filters so easy to maintain.

Shrimp: Again I'm gonna line breed to try and get a really dark red shrimp. Fun and joy... May pick up a few other species to raise also.

So that pretty much covers it...

[Sounguru]

If they all hatch I will be sitting pretty this is just one of 5 plants covered and probably just as many scattered on the gravel. Funny thing is they have not at this point laid any eggs on the larger rocks, wood, and only one on the glass and I think that was an oops.

http://www.stopactionphoto.net/Fishpics/planteggs.jpg

Also found the missing shrimp in the 5 gallon so I have both I just hope the one is a male not an immature female.

I have also gone to feeding all but the cichlids my own special food so I will see how it goes. I have noticed a growth spurt in the fry but now the tank smells like Garlic. I will soon make a cichlid food also.

http://www.stopactionphoto.net/images/120104laughter01.gif

[Sounguru]

Well been a little bit since I updated so here goes....

I have been working on an article that covers all I have learned about Assassin Snails here (http://arizonainverts.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=204), and because of this sites restrictions on images in a post no it will not appear on the AC so please don't ask, sorry.

As you can see from the article the babies have started to hatch and finding them has been real fun they are as small as the smallest MTS when they are born. So IDing a baby assassin among 100's of MTS, PS and Rams is a real chore.:hmm3grin2orange:

I have found leeches in one of my tanks probably came in on some wild vals I collected. I also found 5 dmasel fly larvae that have been removed so far. Once those guys were removed then my baby shrimp #'s went thru the roof. Which makes trapping and removing them even more fun. I'm trying to move the shrimp out of the 15 into a 5.5 for right now until I can get the 10 aged. I then plan on stripping down the 15 to the bare bones once I figure I have all the snails out of it. Now that will make it a few months until all of the assassins have hatched and are big enough to remove.

The Silver scat found a new home and the big boys in the 75 will be moved out this weekend for new homes at the LFS. I will then move the mollies in the 62 to the 75 so I can break it down and move it out until we are ready to build the entry way stand.

So other than that no really sweet news at this point.

[Sounguru]

Man I must have a whole clutch of damsel fly eggs in this log I put in the tank I am now up to 7 and one of the suckers was huge.....:hmm3grin2orange:

I am also up to about 6 leeches but I have not noticed a drop in the # of baby shrimp so I'm not sure they are feeding on the shrimp. I hope that in a few months when I strip this tank I will be able to take pics of these guys for photo record in a pest article.

[Sounguru]

Well a new little critter poped up his ugly head in the 15 gallon critter delux hotel.... It is a scud or a primitive freshwater shrimp.

http://www.dkimages.com/discover/previews/951/55073042.JPG

Neat littel sucker except it looks just like a giant aquatic flea. I will try and get pictures when I see more and if they hold still long enough. not dangerous from what I can find..... The more and more critters that show up the more tempted I am to start a large El-Natural tank just of fun using all the critters i have collected so far.

Also I have been working on another little project for you folks and here it is not complete yet by any means...

Aquatic Photo primer. (http://www.stopactionphoto.net/Photoprimer.html)

[troy]

I think I might have some of those scuds in my tank. I think I got them when I collected plants from a lake nearby.

[doug z]

Nice pic!!

[Northernguy]

Man,Outstanding as usual!
You get the most incredible shots Guru.:22:
Its too bad you live so far.I would love to help or build you a stand!
lol That way I can get a good look at your tanks!

[Sounguru]

That pic isn't actually mine I forgot the disclaimer whoops... My scuds stay hidden 99% of the time I see them for like a second every 2 weeks or so.