Well hello MFK! I guess I'll share our story as my introduction. This past year, we decided that we wanted to build a small pond in our backyard with a couple of pond liners and old retaining wall blocks we actually had laying around. By the end of the summer, the pond was built, filled, and I had built a small (too small) skippy-type filter for it. Then I built a bigger filter that worked amazingly. We added a few comets, gambusia, and rosies. Then we found three baby red eared sliders on CL that we added as well.
As the fall season came upon us, we realized that one of the turtles had gone belly up and we freaked! Brought the turtles inside and had them in a bin for the day while we searched for a tank set up to put them in. We finally found a cheap 30 gallon tank with the full set up, but with the water low (as one does for a turtle tank) it just didn't seem like it was a big enough tank. Eventually we came across a 60 gallon tank that was a full set up as well and a great deal, but there was a catch. The tank came with a red belly pacu. We decided we would get the tank, and try to re-home the pacu, but after getting everything set up and the pacu in the first 30 gallon tank for a temporary home, we decided that we really liked him and wanted to keep him. Then began the search for a much larger tank for pacu.
We found another deal on CL for a 120 gallon (4'x2'x2') and stand with canopy and snatched it up for pacu. With everything going so fast and being stupid, as we've never really had more than a tank larger than 10 gallons when we were kids, we made quite a few mistakes. The tank was not cycled, we added too many other fish too fast, we didn't have nearly enough filtration, and we didn't have an ammonia test. One night as I was driving to California for a work conference, I started getting text messages from my partner back home who was freaking out because the two bala sharks we had just purchased were going vertical in the water, the pacu was becoming extremely lethargic and ghostly white, and the rest of the fish in the tank weren't looking the best either. Long story short, the entire tank suffered a major dose of ammonia poisoning, and after figuring out what went wrong, QTing and treating most of the fish, pacu is the only one who survived the chaos. Once pacu's burns had healed, and the ich had finally subsided in a 30 gallon HT, we moved him back in to the 120 gallon. At this point, the 120 gallon had been sufficiently cycled (the entire month and a half pacu was in the HT), I had built a 30 gallon sump, and we added a canister filter. Suddenly he was happier than ever, started getting a lot of his color back (more than he even had when we got him) and seemed to be healthier than ever. We've now added 4 large silver dollars and a 12" pleco to the tank (after a period of QT and proper acclimation of course).
What started as a belly up turtle, has now turned into:
120 Gallon
-12" Red Belly Pacu
-12" Pleco
-4 x ~3" Silver Dollars
Running on a 30 gallon sump with FW refugium containing live plants, LOTS of snails, and two ghost shrimp (one with eggs). Also running on a Magnum 350 canister filter.
30 Gallon QT
-2 x Male Guppies
-2 x Female Guppies (all prego)
-1 x Bamboo Shrimp (will be added to the sump under the 120 Gallon)
30 Gallon
-11 Comets (from the pond)
-3 Rosys (from the pond and might be spawning as I type)
20 Gallon
-Gabusia (um a bunch? All pregos of course!)
60 Gallon
-3 x ~3"-5" Red Eared Sliders
-3 x ~3" Koi
-3 x Gambusia (sprisingly NOT prego)
-1 x Chinese Algea Eater
10 Gallon
-3 x ~1.5" Blood Parrots
10 Gallon - Empty and cycled for HT.
120 Gallon - Super cheap deal on CL, back started coming off while filling, so we learned how to repair it. Then came the holidays and have yet to water test so it's currently sitting empty in the garage. We'll keep our fingers crossed on that one!
So yeah, a belly up turtle has turned our house into a rag-tag aquarium extravaganza! Hopefully we can share some of our experience (the massive amount we've acquired in a short few months) and gain lots more!
As the fall season came upon us, we realized that one of the turtles had gone belly up and we freaked! Brought the turtles inside and had them in a bin for the day while we searched for a tank set up to put them in. We finally found a cheap 30 gallon tank with the full set up, but with the water low (as one does for a turtle tank) it just didn't seem like it was a big enough tank. Eventually we came across a 60 gallon tank that was a full set up as well and a great deal, but there was a catch. The tank came with a red belly pacu. We decided we would get the tank, and try to re-home the pacu, but after getting everything set up and the pacu in the first 30 gallon tank for a temporary home, we decided that we really liked him and wanted to keep him. Then began the search for a much larger tank for pacu.
We found another deal on CL for a 120 gallon (4'x2'x2') and stand with canopy and snatched it up for pacu. With everything going so fast and being stupid, as we've never really had more than a tank larger than 10 gallons when we were kids, we made quite a few mistakes. The tank was not cycled, we added too many other fish too fast, we didn't have nearly enough filtration, and we didn't have an ammonia test. One night as I was driving to California for a work conference, I started getting text messages from my partner back home who was freaking out because the two bala sharks we had just purchased were going vertical in the water, the pacu was becoming extremely lethargic and ghostly white, and the rest of the fish in the tank weren't looking the best either. Long story short, the entire tank suffered a major dose of ammonia poisoning, and after figuring out what went wrong, QTing and treating most of the fish, pacu is the only one who survived the chaos. Once pacu's burns had healed, and the ich had finally subsided in a 30 gallon HT, we moved him back in to the 120 gallon. At this point, the 120 gallon had been sufficiently cycled (the entire month and a half pacu was in the HT), I had built a 30 gallon sump, and we added a canister filter. Suddenly he was happier than ever, started getting a lot of his color back (more than he even had when we got him) and seemed to be healthier than ever. We've now added 4 large silver dollars and a 12" pleco to the tank (after a period of QT and proper acclimation of course).
What started as a belly up turtle, has now turned into:
120 Gallon
-12" Red Belly Pacu
-12" Pleco
-4 x ~3" Silver Dollars
Running on a 30 gallon sump with FW refugium containing live plants, LOTS of snails, and two ghost shrimp (one with eggs). Also running on a Magnum 350 canister filter.
30 Gallon QT
-2 x Male Guppies
-2 x Female Guppies (all prego)
-1 x Bamboo Shrimp (will be added to the sump under the 120 Gallon)
30 Gallon
-11 Comets (from the pond)
-3 Rosys (from the pond and might be spawning as I type)
20 Gallon
-Gabusia (um a bunch? All pregos of course!)
60 Gallon
-3 x ~3"-5" Red Eared Sliders
-3 x ~3" Koi
-3 x Gambusia (sprisingly NOT prego)
-1 x Chinese Algea Eater
10 Gallon
-3 x ~1.5" Blood Parrots
10 Gallon - Empty and cycled for HT.
120 Gallon - Super cheap deal on CL, back started coming off while filling, so we learned how to repair it. Then came the holidays and have yet to water test so it's currently sitting empty in the garage. We'll keep our fingers crossed on that one!
So yeah, a belly up turtle has turned our house into a rag-tag aquarium extravaganza! Hopefully we can share some of our experience (the massive amount we've acquired in a short few months) and gain lots more!
