Edit (since from my experience, most of you won't make it to the bottom of the post, i've taken the liberty of copying and pasting my final remarks from the bottom of the post so you guys can see the main message):
"I'd like you guys of MFK to know that you guys have become a pretty significant part of my life and have impacted it in a beautiful way. I know that I can be a bit annoying and even immature at times, and sometimes try to give advice when i have no experience to back it up, but I just want you guys to know that you guys have always been there to support me in my unusual hobby. God bless all of you during this thanksgiving season."
Considering this is the season of giving thanks, I wanted to express my appreciation for all that MFK has done for me in guiding me through my fish-keeping hobby. I just want you guys to see my progression as a fish keeper, so here's my timeline.
Dec 22, 2008 - 10g novice tank. My first tank (not really, I had a goldfish tank when I was 5, but my dad set up that one and I wasn't really all that interested in back then). let's just say that quite a few fish died in this setup.
Jan 19, 2008 - Same tank, new layout. My first lava rock.... annnnd plastic toy.
Mar 1, 2009 - Same tank, new layout and my first live plants! And I lost the calcerous rocks that were raising my pH to crazy high levels.
Mar 7, 2009 - My first DIY background attempt.... I remember that this did not go too well.... yea, good experience though.
Jun 19,25, 2009 - Same tank, new setup for my first africans!... which i never got. and for some reason, my LFS told me to use a 5" koi as a seeder fish (? can't remember the term right now cause all i use now is superbac and mature filter media for new setups), but that did not end up being a good idea because the fish managed to jump out and cook in my room during our family vacation
Never making that mistake again. Oh, and the shells I received as donation from member, Pittbull, and I have to say that was the most gracious act of kindness I've received from anyone one MFK and I wanted to thank you again.
shells added right before vacation time.
Jul 18, 2009 - A monumental day in my fishkeeping life! The day I got my 40 gallon tank! of course, it didn't end up as well as I'd like in hindsight, but I still thank my parents for getting it for me for my birthday against their senses.
Aug 1,4,11 2009 - Plants (all live), and nicely aquascaped. This is really when I got into aquascaping. I was in there almost everyday rearranging stuff, sloshing water all over the floor and probably scaring the daylights out of the fish, but I loved it. of course that stirred up alot of dust in the water, so it was always cloudy.
Sept 12, 2009 - I made my first Craigslist find, a guy in Santa Monica who was selling his beautiful 80 gallon planted tank. And because I wanted a lot more plants, I gave him 40 bucks for all the plants in his tank along with some of the livestock (i think 8 cardinals, loaches, oh and some BBA!) Little did I know that these plants were carrying the plague (BBA) and because my lighting was ****e and I was running no C02, and no additives, it all went wrong very quickly. though I must say, it didn't look to bad for a while.
Sept 21, 2009 - With BBA ravaging my plants and my 40 gallon tank, I turned back to my 10 gallon tank, which I had taken apart after the koi incident, and created another planted tank, this time with better lighting. The plants were from the 40 gallon tank and I made sure to choose the ones that didn't show physical signs that they had been attacked by BBA yet... but like a tumor, they were there and I didn't even know it until it was too late. But again, it didn't look too bad for a while. I even used it as a QT tank for my shipment of rainbow cichlids, but they got ich and it was a disaster because as I added salt and raised the temp in the tank, the plants started to whither. Luckily, I was able to save most of the fish. (sidenote: those fish were my first fish order, just for the record. Good experience overall)
Nov 28, 2009 - I finally took apart the planted tank for good, stripped the tank, gave it a nice hydrogen peroxide bath, set it all back up and vuala! The plants also had a nice hydrogen peroxide bath, and though most died, I was able to save some of the java fern, which I kept, as you'll see later. I envisioned this tank to be a Central American themed tank, but because I had all the fish from my old tank (from all over the world), that dream was suspended for a while. And as you can see, I gave up on the plants.
Dec 12, 2009 - Pretty much the same setup, but another leap in my fishkeeping hobby... My first canister filter!!! Used, with a small leak, and some nasty smelling hoses, I cleaned that baby up and ignoring the bright greeness, put it on my tank, knowing that my fish will appreciate it.
Jan 9, 2010 - Remember those plants from the 40? Well, what I've managed to save all ended up in this small 10 gallon tank, creating a nice and rather eye-pleasing forest, where I was hoping to breed some fish. I thought, well, since it's mostly java-fern, which is a south eastern asian plant, I should try a biotope, so I bought 3 bettas. Knowing that bettas are notorious fighters, I took a chance and tried to breed them while letting the roam free in the tank, which wasn't a complete failure. Nobody died from harassment, and they actually lived peacefully up until I took apart the tank, which was astonishing. Though they never bred, the male built some amazing bubble nests. I really liked this tank because even though the snail population exploded, it was fun to watch the tank because you could always find an abundance of secretive life. Ghost shrimp would pop in and out of view, snails would crawl to the highest leaves and then just fall, spotting an Otto was like finding a treasure chest, and the bettas would play around the leaves. And best of all, no BBA, just a lot of green film algae, which was fine with me.
Jan 28, 2010 - My second ever DIY build. Managing to do it with the parents under the suspicion that I was doing homework, I managed to take apart two desk lamps and fit them into the hood of the 10 gallon tank. Now I had 52 watts of bright beaming light and I loved it.
Feb 15, 2010 - My biotope phase has taken full control of my body and I scooped up all the non-central americans and took them to the LFS for some petty store credit (they really ripped me off on that one cause I had some beautiful and rather "rarer" fish like an Indonesian sand loach).
Feb 28, 2010 - all non-centrals gone, nice green algae on the rocks, fish super healthy, and water pristine clean. This is the photo that won the April TOTM contest (which, not to complain because I know Neo was going to some rough times - my prayers to him and his family -, but I never received recognition as the winner nor any form of award, and they simultaneously stopped TOTMs). Oh, I also picked up 4 more Archocentrus multispinosus from another MFK member and they were a beautiful addition.
April 16, 2010 - MY FIRST SPAWN! It finally happened and I was so proud of myself and how far i had come in the hobby to have fish happy enough to spawn in my tank (i know, they're relatively easy spawners, but still). The first batch, the mother ate, but the second batch, I managed to keep alive and too this day, I have what few remains of that batch and the next one in the same tank as the parents.
Nice macro-shot of the 1 cm fry
Between April and August, I set up a grow out tank for the rainbow cichlid fry and for some reason I can't find any pictures, but it was a lovely tank, even for a grow out. It was also my first "bare-bottom" tank and I ordered my first live food for them, microworms during this time. Just thought I'd throw this bit in.
Aug 9, 2010 - Shelldweller virus had bit me again and I decided to take apart my planted tank, which underwent a mini-cycle disaster and killed most of the livestock. I found a great new site for cheap and quality 3d backgrounds, and for a time was "working" -though I never got any pay- as a PR agent for him in the valley, but he stopped responding to my emails after I received a box of samples from him. My dream for a 3d background came true (if you remember my first attempt at DIY background... yea)
Nov 1, 2010 - Shellies have arrived! My first shelldwellers, and within only a few weeks, they managed to rescape the entire tank (hence hte new sand arrangements) and actually bred and produce fry. To this date, I have two batches of fry still living with the parents. I must say, that the DIY light I am still using has been a bit overpowering and I'm currently in quite the battle of power with some serious green beard/hair algae, and it's winning, managing to take out two HOB filters in the same day.
Nov 10, 2010 - My 40 gallon as it is now. For a while, both of my lights blew out and being a student, I couldn't go and buy another one, so all the nice green algae that once detailed the rocks, turned brown and died off. So after nearly 4 months in total darkness, I managed to "borrow" my mom's living room lamp and put it over the tank for some nice "natural looking" lighting, which is bringing back their colors.
Nov 27, 2010 - The idea of a pond was always intriguing to me, so I built a nano one in my backyard from an old planter. Not much, but it's teaching me a lot about how ponds work (esp how cold they get even in socal). I also took apart the growout for the rainbow cichlid fry when they got big enough and set up a nice little tank for my brother since my mom said i couldn't have more than one tank in my room (sneaky huh?). BTW, I initially planned for the pond to be completely natural with only plants to filtrate and mosquito fish to close the link in the nitrogen cycle, but after checking the ammonia two nights ago, I was astonished to see that the water was far less than pristine and so I hopped on my backup HOB and hopefully that will put a dent in that problem.
THE FUTURE: I've been looking intensely into nano-reefs (notice that I'm not lloking seriously into larger tanks because I'm a senior in HS whose parents don't like my fish hobby in the first place, monster tanks, though a dream, will unfortunately remain a dream until I have a place of my own). I also feel that I've run my central american tank into the ground and am looking at stripping the tank to drill it now that I have a canister filter and add a 3d background. I want the tank to look nice for my parents when I leave, something show worthy, so i've been dabbling into that idea. If I do that, I'd move the breeding pair of rainbows into an empty 20 gallon tall that my friend gave to me because i bought him a movie ticket (quite the deal) and is just sitting in my room empty, if I don't go for the nano-reef idea cause that could end up being a lot of work and expensive.
I'd like you guys of MFK to know that you guys have become a pretty significant part of my life and have impacted it in a beautiful way. I know that I can be a bit annoying and even immature at times, and sometimes try to give advice when i have no experience to back it up, but I just want you guys to know that you guys have always been there to support me in my unusual hobby. God bless all of you during this thanksgiving season.
"I'd like you guys of MFK to know that you guys have become a pretty significant part of my life and have impacted it in a beautiful way. I know that I can be a bit annoying and even immature at times, and sometimes try to give advice when i have no experience to back it up, but I just want you guys to know that you guys have always been there to support me in my unusual hobby. God bless all of you during this thanksgiving season."
Considering this is the season of giving thanks, I wanted to express my appreciation for all that MFK has done for me in guiding me through my fish-keeping hobby. I just want you guys to see my progression as a fish keeper, so here's my timeline.
Dec 22, 2008 - 10g novice tank. My first tank (not really, I had a goldfish tank when I was 5, but my dad set up that one and I wasn't really all that interested in back then). let's just say that quite a few fish died in this setup.
Jan 19, 2008 - Same tank, new layout. My first lava rock.... annnnd plastic toy.
Mar 1, 2009 - Same tank, new layout and my first live plants! And I lost the calcerous rocks that were raising my pH to crazy high levels.
Mar 7, 2009 - My first DIY background attempt.... I remember that this did not go too well.... yea, good experience though.
Jun 19,25, 2009 - Same tank, new setup for my first africans!... which i never got. and for some reason, my LFS told me to use a 5" koi as a seeder fish (? can't remember the term right now cause all i use now is superbac and mature filter media for new setups), but that did not end up being a good idea because the fish managed to jump out and cook in my room during our family vacation
Never making that mistake again. Oh, and the shells I received as donation from member, Pittbull, and I have to say that was the most gracious act of kindness I've received from anyone one MFK and I wanted to thank you again.
shells added right before vacation time.
Jul 18, 2009 - A monumental day in my fishkeeping life! The day I got my 40 gallon tank! of course, it didn't end up as well as I'd like in hindsight, but I still thank my parents for getting it for me for my birthday against their senses.
Aug 1,4,11 2009 - Plants (all live), and nicely aquascaped. This is really when I got into aquascaping. I was in there almost everyday rearranging stuff, sloshing water all over the floor and probably scaring the daylights out of the fish, but I loved it. of course that stirred up alot of dust in the water, so it was always cloudy.
Sept 12, 2009 - I made my first Craigslist find, a guy in Santa Monica who was selling his beautiful 80 gallon planted tank. And because I wanted a lot more plants, I gave him 40 bucks for all the plants in his tank along with some of the livestock (i think 8 cardinals, loaches, oh and some BBA!) Little did I know that these plants were carrying the plague (BBA) and because my lighting was ****e and I was running no C02, and no additives, it all went wrong very quickly. though I must say, it didn't look to bad for a while.
Sept 21, 2009 - With BBA ravaging my plants and my 40 gallon tank, I turned back to my 10 gallon tank, which I had taken apart after the koi incident, and created another planted tank, this time with better lighting. The plants were from the 40 gallon tank and I made sure to choose the ones that didn't show physical signs that they had been attacked by BBA yet... but like a tumor, they were there and I didn't even know it until it was too late. But again, it didn't look too bad for a while. I even used it as a QT tank for my shipment of rainbow cichlids, but they got ich and it was a disaster because as I added salt and raised the temp in the tank, the plants started to whither. Luckily, I was able to save most of the fish. (sidenote: those fish were my first fish order, just for the record. Good experience overall)
Nov 28, 2009 - I finally took apart the planted tank for good, stripped the tank, gave it a nice hydrogen peroxide bath, set it all back up and vuala! The plants also had a nice hydrogen peroxide bath, and though most died, I was able to save some of the java fern, which I kept, as you'll see later. I envisioned this tank to be a Central American themed tank, but because I had all the fish from my old tank (from all over the world), that dream was suspended for a while. And as you can see, I gave up on the plants.
Dec 12, 2009 - Pretty much the same setup, but another leap in my fishkeeping hobby... My first canister filter!!! Used, with a small leak, and some nasty smelling hoses, I cleaned that baby up and ignoring the bright greeness, put it on my tank, knowing that my fish will appreciate it.
Jan 9, 2010 - Remember those plants from the 40? Well, what I've managed to save all ended up in this small 10 gallon tank, creating a nice and rather eye-pleasing forest, where I was hoping to breed some fish. I thought, well, since it's mostly java-fern, which is a south eastern asian plant, I should try a biotope, so I bought 3 bettas. Knowing that bettas are notorious fighters, I took a chance and tried to breed them while letting the roam free in the tank, which wasn't a complete failure. Nobody died from harassment, and they actually lived peacefully up until I took apart the tank, which was astonishing. Though they never bred, the male built some amazing bubble nests. I really liked this tank because even though the snail population exploded, it was fun to watch the tank because you could always find an abundance of secretive life. Ghost shrimp would pop in and out of view, snails would crawl to the highest leaves and then just fall, spotting an Otto was like finding a treasure chest, and the bettas would play around the leaves. And best of all, no BBA, just a lot of green film algae, which was fine with me.
Jan 28, 2010 - My second ever DIY build. Managing to do it with the parents under the suspicion that I was doing homework, I managed to take apart two desk lamps and fit them into the hood of the 10 gallon tank. Now I had 52 watts of bright beaming light and I loved it.
Feb 15, 2010 - My biotope phase has taken full control of my body and I scooped up all the non-central americans and took them to the LFS for some petty store credit (they really ripped me off on that one cause I had some beautiful and rather "rarer" fish like an Indonesian sand loach).
Feb 28, 2010 - all non-centrals gone, nice green algae on the rocks, fish super healthy, and water pristine clean. This is the photo that won the April TOTM contest (which, not to complain because I know Neo was going to some rough times - my prayers to him and his family -, but I never received recognition as the winner nor any form of award, and they simultaneously stopped TOTMs). Oh, I also picked up 4 more Archocentrus multispinosus from another MFK member and they were a beautiful addition.
April 16, 2010 - MY FIRST SPAWN! It finally happened and I was so proud of myself and how far i had come in the hobby to have fish happy enough to spawn in my tank (i know, they're relatively easy spawners, but still). The first batch, the mother ate, but the second batch, I managed to keep alive and too this day, I have what few remains of that batch and the next one in the same tank as the parents.
Nice macro-shot of the 1 cm fry
Between April and August, I set up a grow out tank for the rainbow cichlid fry and for some reason I can't find any pictures, but it was a lovely tank, even for a grow out. It was also my first "bare-bottom" tank and I ordered my first live food for them, microworms during this time. Just thought I'd throw this bit in.
Aug 9, 2010 - Shelldweller virus had bit me again and I decided to take apart my planted tank, which underwent a mini-cycle disaster and killed most of the livestock. I found a great new site for cheap and quality 3d backgrounds, and for a time was "working" -though I never got any pay- as a PR agent for him in the valley, but he stopped responding to my emails after I received a box of samples from him. My dream for a 3d background came true (if you remember my first attempt at DIY background... yea)
Nov 1, 2010 - Shellies have arrived! My first shelldwellers, and within only a few weeks, they managed to rescape the entire tank (hence hte new sand arrangements) and actually bred and produce fry. To this date, I have two batches of fry still living with the parents. I must say, that the DIY light I am still using has been a bit overpowering and I'm currently in quite the battle of power with some serious green beard/hair algae, and it's winning, managing to take out two HOB filters in the same day.
Nov 10, 2010 - My 40 gallon as it is now. For a while, both of my lights blew out and being a student, I couldn't go and buy another one, so all the nice green algae that once detailed the rocks, turned brown and died off. So after nearly 4 months in total darkness, I managed to "borrow" my mom's living room lamp and put it over the tank for some nice "natural looking" lighting, which is bringing back their colors.
Nov 27, 2010 - The idea of a pond was always intriguing to me, so I built a nano one in my backyard from an old planter. Not much, but it's teaching me a lot about how ponds work (esp how cold they get even in socal). I also took apart the growout for the rainbow cichlid fry when they got big enough and set up a nice little tank for my brother since my mom said i couldn't have more than one tank in my room (sneaky huh?). BTW, I initially planned for the pond to be completely natural with only plants to filtrate and mosquito fish to close the link in the nitrogen cycle, but after checking the ammonia two nights ago, I was astonished to see that the water was far less than pristine and so I hopped on my backup HOB and hopefully that will put a dent in that problem.
THE FUTURE: I've been looking intensely into nano-reefs (notice that I'm not lloking seriously into larger tanks because I'm a senior in HS whose parents don't like my fish hobby in the first place, monster tanks, though a dream, will unfortunately remain a dream until I have a place of my own). I also feel that I've run my central american tank into the ground and am looking at stripping the tank to drill it now that I have a canister filter and add a 3d background. I want the tank to look nice for my parents when I leave, something show worthy, so i've been dabbling into that idea. If I do that, I'd move the breeding pair of rainbows into an empty 20 gallon tall that my friend gave to me because i bought him a movie ticket (quite the deal) and is just sitting in my room empty, if I don't go for the nano-reef idea cause that could end up being a lot of work and expensive.
I'd like you guys of MFK to know that you guys have become a pretty significant part of my life and have impacted it in a beautiful way. I know that I can be a bit annoying and even immature at times, and sometimes try to give advice when i have no experience to back it up, but I just want you guys to know that you guys have always been there to support me in my unusual hobby. God bless all of you during this thanksgiving season.
