Starting out with monsters!

[helfish]

Hi everyone! I've been lurking around here for a couple months looking at BGKs and I finally got a tank and a ghostie of my own, so I figured it was time to actually join.

I've only had the tank for about a month (got a great deal on craigslist), but it came fully up and running with 7 guppies and a lone neon (plus loads of slate, yay!), so I was very careful with rescaping to maintain bio filtration and so far so good! Readings of 0 across the board, pH at about 6.8.

40g TruVu tank with:
1 black ghost knife, about 4"
1 Senegal bichir, about 3"
1 peacock eel, about 5"
3 platinum gouramis, one male and two females
and 10 neon tetras which will probably become snack food at some point, but no one's touched them yet
Lots of java fern and a couple of some sort of anubias (not sure what, they came with the tank)

Once the BGK and bichir get bigger, I'm gonna get a 75g and eventually a 180g for them, but I figure they'll be fine here for a while yet.

Photos!

full-tank shot


peacock eel


platinum gourami


BGK and Senegal bichir


BGK in front of his cave

 

[Chrisplosion]

Tank look awesome but I hate to inform you that the black ghost knife will need a bigger tank down the road. Also did you cycle the tank first?

 

[helfish]

Tank look awesome but I hate to inform you that the black ghost knife will need a bigger tank down the road. Also did you cycle the tank first?

I'm already squirreling away money for a bigger tank. And yes, the tank is cycled, when I got it it'd been running for 2 years. (We moved it pretty much as it was, just drained most of the water and drove it home.) I was worried about the rescaping, but the filter is full of the old biomedia and I think the already-colonized rocks and plants are helping too. I've been doing water tests every couple days and have yet to get anything above 0 on ammonia or nitrite.

Nitrates were a different story - when i got the tank they were over 80 ppm, but major water changes and the rescape have brought them down to 0 and they've stayed that way. Don't worry, I did my research!

 

[Chrisplosion]

I'm already squirreling away money for a bigger tank. And yes, the tank is cycled, when I got it it'd been running for 2 years. (We moved it pretty much as it was, just drained most of the water and drove it home.) I was worried about the rescaping, but the filter is full of the old biomedia and I think the already-colonized rocks and plants are helping too. I've been doing water tests every couple days and have yet to get anything above 0 on ammonia or nitrite.

Nitrates were a different story - when i got the tank they were over 80 ppm, but major water changes and the rescape have brought them down to 0 and they've stayed that way. Don't worry, I did my research!

Thats great, your off to a better start than most.

 

[Cookie*]

Welcome to mfk. It sounds like you did all your research and are well on your way. Nice selection of fish and plants, I like it alot. I'm also a bit surprised at how well your pics of the fish came out. I can never get shots like those, I am impressed.

 

[helfish]

I was reading like crazy, as in literally every waking hour for weeks straight (even researching on my phone at work). I had fish dreams almost every night. It was kind of scary.

And a lot of my research was done on MFK, so it's thanks to you guys I know what I'm doing at all!

I broke out the fancy digital SLR for photos, but the light in the room is kinda low so it makes taking good shots difficult. These were the best out of 50-60.

 

[Red Devil]

welcome to mfk.. nice to meet you...enjoy this great forum.. share those monsters.

 

[Lupin]

to MFK!