My first real photo of my new tank.

**Plant Man** · 04-08-2010, 07:46 PM

Hey guys I thought by telling you all my fish story you could get to know me better.

My aim has always been to make a truly beautiful Amazon style aquarium. I think I did it with my first tank a 29gallon. Which I actually let get away from me, sadly. It was just a bit more bloomy, then in the picture.

Then I went and bought a small 3in TIGER OSCAR. LOL The biggest mistake I’ve ever made in the aquarium hobby. I was straight out stupid and bought a fish I new NOTHING about besides how it looked! The tank went from just a bit greener then in the picture to a dark brown cesspool in 8-9 months! This, my first DIY Co2 project, held at below 5.0 Nitrate and 25ppm of Co2 for over 2 years, it had almost zero algae of any kind. The first thing the tiger did was eat all 15 of my 3 year old Cardinal school! In like 10 hours! LOL. Then, went eight Harlequin Rasbora’s, over the next week or so (a full grown healthy school). Needless to say I was crushed. I almost cried! LOL

Over the course of about the next month the Oscar ate EVERYONE including 10 regular very health Zebras! I mean, how did he catch them! Zebras! LOL. He seemed to almost grow overnight, He went from 3 inches to almost 5, in like just a few months. Once he hit 4 inches and most of the fish were eaten he started (for what seemed no reason at all) tearing up EVERYTHING! If I feed him like 3-4 cubes of bloodworms he would stop for 12 hours or so and then start up again. Once the plants were mostly dead I turned off the Co2 and the tank quickly went into meltdown, Bluegreen and BBA algae completely took over. I took back to the LFS a 7-8in Tiger Oscar and was out of the hobby for a few months. I think the only thing I’m proud of is getting the Oscar out of my hands before he got HIHD.

So, what am I trying to say? Well, I think that no matter how bad an experience may seem in this hobby, it’s still just a learning experience and you are better because of it!

This is a picture from my current tank. I am incredibly proud of it. Please, tell me what you all think. And PLEASE don’t be afraid to be critical, tell me what you really think.

**Northernguy** · 04-08-2010, 08:32 PM

Nice tank shot!

It looks great!So does the first one.

Glad to hear you rehomed the oscar.He must have thought the world of you for giving him all those delicious feeders!lol That would have definitely been an experience!

**fish00053** · 04-08-2010, 08:46 PM

Great job on your tank!!!!! Looks really good.

**Plant Man** · 04-08-2010, 08:48 PM

Originally Posted by Northernguy

Nice tank shot!

It looks great!So does the first one.

Glad to hear you rehomed the oscar.He must have thought the world of you for giving him all those delicious feeders!lol That would have definitely been an experience!

Oh man, was it ever! The day I took the Oscar back, I told myself "that was it, I'm out of the hobby!). But the more I thought about what happened the more I realized that I would NEVER do that again and I could still do something good.

In regards to new picture, I can't believe I caught for fan-tailed Leopards all going in the same direction at once! LOL Anyone who has had Danio’s (and who hasn’t) knows they are very chaotic swimmers. I think I took about 30-40 pictures. I didn’t even know I had it until I was going through them on the computer.

Thank you very much for the complement!

**HeatherH** · 04-08-2010, 10:16 PM

You know I think it's absolutely gorgeous.

Man I can't wait to get going and watch my algae-err,I mean plants start growing and spreading out.

**Plant Man** · 04-08-2010, 10:33 PM

Originally Posted by HeatherH

You know I think it's absolutely gorgeous.

Man I can't wait to get going and watch my algae-err,I mean plants start growing and spreading out.

Thank you heatherH, this hobby really can be very rewarding.

**EmmanuelJB** · 04-08-2010, 10:35 PM

It looks GREAT!! Very nice tank.

**Plant Man** · 04-08-2010, 11:50 PM

Originally Posted by EmmanuelJB

It looks GREAT!! Very nice tank.

Thanks man, that means alot to me. i find it's really hard to be objective with your own tanks because your staring at them so much.

**tori.lock** · 04-09-2010, 12:55 AM

I really love the look of your tank. Your plants are all looking wonderful, and that's a particularly nice piece of drift wood you got there. Not a huge fan of the reddish substrate, but it really makes your plants pop even more. Fantastic job.

**HeatherB** · 04-09-2010, 01:09 AM

I like it! Those plants look great! What is that green/red one inthe middle there? It looks awesome! I am always on the lookout for some plant that is not green to add to my tank to break it up!