Hello all,
I am a long time lurker, and a first time poster, so bear with me as I'm not comfortable in unfamiliar territories. A habit I got from spending too much time with fish. I'm also long winded, another result of too much time spent with fish.
First I'd like to say how impressed I am with this web site. Very well done.
I have learned quite allot from reading the forums. Considering I've been a fish keeper for over thirty years, I thought I was pretty well informed about the hobby, but you guys are taking it to a new level. I'm very impressed.
A little back ground is probably in order. I have been fish keeping for most of my life. At one point I had more tanks in my basement then the fish store had that I was getting my supplies from. Over time the number of tanks I have has changed, as well as the number of fish I keep, but as of now I have five tanks. One 65gal, two 55 gal, two 10 gal.
I use the two 10gal tanks to breed guppies that I feed to my Oscars.
I have one very spoiled, but surprisingly gentle male, long finned Tiger Oscar that is about 10 inches long in the 65 gal. We named him Hannibal the Cannibal for obvious reasons.
I have one totally jet black long finned Oscar in a 55 gal. We call her the Black B*#ch for obvious reasons. I bought her as a mate for Hannibal, but turns out she is a he, and he don't like Hannibal's company, go figure!
I really want to breed Oscars, and have had some success with other breeds of cichlids, but a mating pair of Oscars has eluded me. So I picked up three baby O's and put them together in the second 55gal and watched closely to see who would pair up. We call them Larry, Curly, and Moe cuz they fight constantly. After a few weeks two of the babies ( Curly and Moe ) are inseperable, and together beat the H#ll out of the third baby ( Larry ). I felt so bad for him that I took him out of the tank and put him in one of the 10gal tanks just to give him time to heal up. Well, he ate his way through the guppies in two days ( I kinda figured he'd do that ) but he couldn't stay in the 10 gal for long, he out grew it in a couple of months.
Not having many options, I put Larry into the other 55 gal with the much bigger Black Oscar ( 6-7 inches ) and built a cave so Larry had somewhere to retreat. Everything went well for a while, but Larry aint the smartest Oscar I own and won't stay in the safe cave I provided, and in turn, gets his butt kick every time he comes out.
Ok, so now what?
The Black he/she don't get along with anyone or anything in his/her tank.
Hannibal, although very sweet as Oscars go, don't like company either.
Larry is too big to go back to the 10 gal tanks, and Curly and Moe will not tolerate his presents in their tank......no way, no how!
The only thing left I had not tried was putting Larry in with Hannibal.
Larry is just a little bigger than a mouthful to Hannibal, but it was still risky. Desperate, I built a cave in the 65 gal tank, and introduced Little Larry ( about 3-4 inches long ) to big O Hannibal. I feared I was handing down a death sentence to poor Larry, but to my delight they are getting along just fine. I think Hannibal thinks of Larry as his pet. It's a very odd sight to see this huge, thick, old bruiser, gently swimming with a little tiny pup of an Oscar at his side, best of friends. Again, go figure!
So, now I have two O's in a 65gal, two hopefully soon to be mating pair of O's in a 55gal, and one mean black shemale in the other 55gal.
Life is good, and all is right in the world, right? NOT FOR LONG!!
Months go by and my O's are getting bigger + my whole family loves to feed them = Huge bio loads! I'm changing water weekly to try to keep up.
That's when my adult son surprised me with a gift. A used 125 gal tank!! It's monster fish time!!
I've never owned anything bigger than a 65 gal tank, and have wanted a big tank for many years, so this was awesome!
He got it from a friend cheap. It had been sitting outside for quite some time, and was very dirty. It had filters, lights, rocks and drift wood in it.
I began to clean it out when I discovered it had a half inch thick piece of glass siliconed to the bottom of the tank to patch a crack. Bummer!!
I've patched smaller tanks this way and have had very good luck in doing so, but the 125 gal will have a thousand pounds of water in it, and I have to wonder if it is safe to fill. It's winter here in Wisconsin so I can't fill it outside, and have no intentions of filling it in my house until I know it doesn't leak, or if it safe to do so. I could wait till spring and fill it outside then, but my O's are starting to get big, and could use the additional space as soon as possible. Hmmmmmm, what to do?
That's why I'm posting with this question,
Does anyone out there know if it's safe to use this tank with a patch in the bottom? Has anyone done this before on a tank this big?
Any ideas you might have to test it out are more than welcome. Even if it's just to tell me it's time to buy a snake or a lizard for my new used terrarium.
Looking forward to hearing your opinions,
Kelly ( Big "O" ) O'Haver
I am a long time lurker, and a first time poster, so bear with me as I'm not comfortable in unfamiliar territories. A habit I got from spending too much time with fish. I'm also long winded, another result of too much time spent with fish.
First I'd like to say how impressed I am with this web site. Very well done.
I have learned quite allot from reading the forums. Considering I've been a fish keeper for over thirty years, I thought I was pretty well informed about the hobby, but you guys are taking it to a new level. I'm very impressed.
A little back ground is probably in order. I have been fish keeping for most of my life. At one point I had more tanks in my basement then the fish store had that I was getting my supplies from. Over time the number of tanks I have has changed, as well as the number of fish I keep, but as of now I have five tanks. One 65gal, two 55 gal, two 10 gal.
I use the two 10gal tanks to breed guppies that I feed to my Oscars.
I have one very spoiled, but surprisingly gentle male, long finned Tiger Oscar that is about 10 inches long in the 65 gal. We named him Hannibal the Cannibal for obvious reasons.
I have one totally jet black long finned Oscar in a 55 gal. We call her the Black B*#ch for obvious reasons. I bought her as a mate for Hannibal, but turns out she is a he, and he don't like Hannibal's company, go figure!
I really want to breed Oscars, and have had some success with other breeds of cichlids, but a mating pair of Oscars has eluded me. So I picked up three baby O's and put them together in the second 55gal and watched closely to see who would pair up. We call them Larry, Curly, and Moe cuz they fight constantly. After a few weeks two of the babies ( Curly and Moe ) are inseperable, and together beat the H#ll out of the third baby ( Larry ). I felt so bad for him that I took him out of the tank and put him in one of the 10gal tanks just to give him time to heal up. Well, he ate his way through the guppies in two days ( I kinda figured he'd do that ) but he couldn't stay in the 10 gal for long, he out grew it in a couple of months.
Not having many options, I put Larry into the other 55 gal with the much bigger Black Oscar ( 6-7 inches ) and built a cave so Larry had somewhere to retreat. Everything went well for a while, but Larry aint the smartest Oscar I own and won't stay in the safe cave I provided, and in turn, gets his butt kick every time he comes out.
Ok, so now what?
The Black he/she don't get along with anyone or anything in his/her tank.
Hannibal, although very sweet as Oscars go, don't like company either.
Larry is too big to go back to the 10 gal tanks, and Curly and Moe will not tolerate his presents in their tank......no way, no how!
The only thing left I had not tried was putting Larry in with Hannibal.
Larry is just a little bigger than a mouthful to Hannibal, but it was still risky. Desperate, I built a cave in the 65 gal tank, and introduced Little Larry ( about 3-4 inches long ) to big O Hannibal. I feared I was handing down a death sentence to poor Larry, but to my delight they are getting along just fine. I think Hannibal thinks of Larry as his pet. It's a very odd sight to see this huge, thick, old bruiser, gently swimming with a little tiny pup of an Oscar at his side, best of friends. Again, go figure!
So, now I have two O's in a 65gal, two hopefully soon to be mating pair of O's in a 55gal, and one mean black shemale in the other 55gal.
Life is good, and all is right in the world, right? NOT FOR LONG!!
Months go by and my O's are getting bigger + my whole family loves to feed them = Huge bio loads! I'm changing water weekly to try to keep up.
That's when my adult son surprised me with a gift. A used 125 gal tank!! It's monster fish time!!
I've never owned anything bigger than a 65 gal tank, and have wanted a big tank for many years, so this was awesome!
He got it from a friend cheap. It had been sitting outside for quite some time, and was very dirty. It had filters, lights, rocks and drift wood in it.
I began to clean it out when I discovered it had a half inch thick piece of glass siliconed to the bottom of the tank to patch a crack. Bummer!!
I've patched smaller tanks this way and have had very good luck in doing so, but the 125 gal will have a thousand pounds of water in it, and I have to wonder if it is safe to fill. It's winter here in Wisconsin so I can't fill it outside, and have no intentions of filling it in my house until I know it doesn't leak, or if it safe to do so. I could wait till spring and fill it outside then, but my O's are starting to get big, and could use the additional space as soon as possible. Hmmmmmm, what to do?
That's why I'm posting with this question,
Does anyone out there know if it's safe to use this tank with a patch in the bottom? Has anyone done this before on a tank this big?
Any ideas you might have to test it out are more than welcome. Even if it's just to tell me it's time to buy a snake or a lizard for my new used terrarium.
Looking forward to hearing your opinions,
Kelly ( Big "O" ) O'Haver
