Hello from central Texas
With how much time I spent on this forum recently reading the technical articles I figured I might as well join. I just found this a few weeks ago and it has been incredibly informative. I've always had aquariums but never anything bigger than a 20 gallon aquarium and a 50 gallon shallow plastic water trough. I've normally kept natives but have had gouramis and other easy fish.
Here's what I've got,
55 gallon aquarium with a 9 inch Tiger Oscar, a 6 inch bullhead catfish, a Rio Grand cichlid, a small bluegill, a small long ear sunfish, pleco , and a goldfish. This is the tank that landed me here. I had a Tetra 70 gallon HOB filter that had been working great until the impeller went out on me (first experience with sand as a substrate). Got another impeller but the tank never recovered. A friend of mine gave me his big penguin HOB so I ran both of them. It helped but I didn't like having so much junk hanging off the back. Over the last few days I built a 5 gallon bucket trickle filter that has made a noticeable difference just in the last few days. I didn't put any carbon into it but I used my established 20 gallon tank as a sump. I'm thinking adding 20 gallons of a very strong (biologically) water has been making the difference. Because I know it is outgrowing the tank I'm looking for a new home for the oscar, I'm not trying very hard though because so far it has been doing very well. It was given to me because someone bought a little 1-2 inch $5 fish and thought it could live in a 10 gallon tank. I told them to take it back asap but the LFS that sold it refused.
Next,
20 gallon long aquarium with a bunch of ghost shrimp, some mosquito fish, 3 tiny albino cory cats and a bunch of plants. These consist of water lettuce, hydrilla, coontail, and creeping water primrose. I've never done a planted tank so it is an interesting experiment that has been really fun so far.
A 50 gallon water trough that I'm growing hydrilla and water cabbage in for an experiment. It also has a breeding population of mosquito fish to eat bugs. Next time Petsmart has them on sale I'll be getting another opaline or blue gourami. I had one that was 6 inches long and was fun to play with. Somewhere around here I've also got a leopard frog but it must be out chasing flies.
I also have a 45 and a 10 gallon aquarium that are currently empty for some strange reason.
I'm toying with the idea of putting two angle fish in the 45 gallon with some low growing plants. I've never had any but they look cool. I'll be doing research on them soon.
I'm planning on getting much bigger aquariums, I just have to move myself into a bigger tank first.
With how much time I spent on this forum recently reading the technical articles I figured I might as well join. I just found this a few weeks ago and it has been incredibly informative. I've always had aquariums but never anything bigger than a 20 gallon aquarium and a 50 gallon shallow plastic water trough. I've normally kept natives but have had gouramis and other easy fish.
Here's what I've got,
55 gallon aquarium with a 9 inch Tiger Oscar, a 6 inch bullhead catfish, a Rio Grand cichlid, a small bluegill, a small long ear sunfish, pleco , and a goldfish. This is the tank that landed me here. I had a Tetra 70 gallon HOB filter that had been working great until the impeller went out on me (first experience with sand as a substrate). Got another impeller but the tank never recovered. A friend of mine gave me his big penguin HOB so I ran both of them. It helped but I didn't like having so much junk hanging off the back. Over the last few days I built a 5 gallon bucket trickle filter that has made a noticeable difference just in the last few days. I didn't put any carbon into it but I used my established 20 gallon tank as a sump. I'm thinking adding 20 gallons of a very strong (biologically) water has been making the difference. Because I know it is outgrowing the tank I'm looking for a new home for the oscar, I'm not trying very hard though because so far it has been doing very well. It was given to me because someone bought a little 1-2 inch $5 fish and thought it could live in a 10 gallon tank. I told them to take it back asap but the LFS that sold it refused.
Next,
20 gallon long aquarium with a bunch of ghost shrimp, some mosquito fish, 3 tiny albino cory cats and a bunch of plants. These consist of water lettuce, hydrilla, coontail, and creeping water primrose. I've never done a planted tank so it is an interesting experiment that has been really fun so far.
A 50 gallon water trough that I'm growing hydrilla and water cabbage in for an experiment. It also has a breeding population of mosquito fish to eat bugs. Next time Petsmart has them on sale I'll be getting another opaline or blue gourami. I had one that was 6 inches long and was fun to play with. Somewhere around here I've also got a leopard frog but it must be out chasing flies.
I also have a 45 and a 10 gallon aquarium that are currently empty for some strange reason.
I'm toying with the idea of putting two angle fish in the 45 gallon with some low growing plants. I've never had any but they look cool. I'll be doing research on them soon.
I'm planning on getting much bigger aquariums, I just have to move myself into a bigger tank first.
