What a joy it is to have Multiple Tank Syndrome!

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MultipleTankSyndrome

Giant Snakehead
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Sep 25, 2021
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Loachaholica
I don't know how many other people have noticed this, but I recently did and it makes me all the happier to have this syndrome!
With it, I can have all 3 of the main aquarium schemes relating to fish size.
I can have a 473 liter tank dominated by a relatively low number of large fish, another 473 liter tank dominated by a higher number of medium fish, and a 110 liter tank dominated by an extra-high amount of small fish (as written in my signature).
Plus, I can have a ton of different species this way that would be incompatible with one another if all in 1 tank (some fish would become food for others or prefer different temperatures to others).
Anyone else feel the same way, that this is incredibly rewarding compared to just having 1 tank?
 
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I agree completely.
I have a (somewhat) peaceful planted tank, an aggressive tank, and a mixed bag community (pretty peaceful minus the krib cichlid wars), betta tank, guppy/gambusia/shrimp tank, and reef tank.
The whole multiple tank thing works really well considering you can’t exactly keep a clownfish with a convict cichlid (basically the freshwater equivalent)…or a Jack Dempsey with a zebra danio.
 
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Multiple tank syndrome is my preferred addiction
When living in the state I kept 3 biotope banks of tanks.
!) unheated for fish like Uruguayans.
2) a Central American bank, some heated, some on the end not.
3) a Madagascan group of tanks, heated (except in summer).
Totalling abobut 20 tanks.
Water changes could be done semi automatically on each bank of tanks, old water straight to the garden (semipermanent PVC), with planted tanks about 1 out of every 3 to help mitigate nitrate.
Some aquatic plantings for fish that weren't vegetarian, some overhead sumps for terrestrial and semi aquatic plants, often used as fry grow out tanks
 
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It's a joy for me, and a curse for my wife! And i've wimped out at double tank syndrome, she should think herself extremely lucky. lol.

Multiple tank syndrome is very much a work in progress project for many, forever evolving, where allowed!

You seem happy enough at three, which is also my next goal.
 
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esoxlucius said:
It's a joy for me, and a curse for my wife! And i've wimped out at double tank syndrome, she should think herself extremely lucky. lol.
Click to expand...

? ? Nearly exactly the same as my situation! My multiple tank syndrome is a curse for my housemate cousin, but it's fortunate enough that the 3 tanks are number and volume enough for all the fish I want, seeing as how that's where they drew the line.

Lol, agreed on that second part. I would have never considered having a 110 liter with neons and smaller loach species if I hadn't gotten mine free off Reddit, so definitely a big step in the evolution.

Good eye! I'm indeed very satisfied with the 3 I have, since it not only allows me to get every single fish I originally planned for that would seriously overcrowd just 1 tank (https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/...-up-my-second-loach-tank.743237/#post-8377219), but lets me expand my horizons (not just with the Reddit tank, but also with the pink tail chalceus. I never really realized how attractive they are until I had the tank for one).

Best of luck reaching that goal. With regards to being more happy with your tanks, I suggest rehoming all those 'big fish' filling up your 1363 liter that you didn't have much interest in, so you can make space for fish you want (like you mentioned in the Fishroom thread).
 
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I have 6 tanks, but nothing too big. Two 5 gallons, a 13.5 gallon, 36 gallon, 55 gallon, and 75 gallon. Also a 55 gallon in storage, but only because I replaced it with a 75 after the center brace snapped. It will make a good pauladarium one day.
My curse is knowing and loving so many species…
 
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MultipleTankSyndrome said:
Best of luck reaching that goal. With regards to being more happy with your tanks, I suggest rehoming all those 'big fish' filling up your 1363 liter that you didn't have much interest in, so you can make space for fish you want (like you mentioned in the Fishroom thread).
Click to expand...

A little foresight would have been wonderful when I came back into the hobby about 6 years ago. Instead i'm now cursed with hindsight lol.

Getting a few fish that grew big was an attraction back then, but I'm now heading in the direction of preferring lots of smaller fish.

The main problem I have is that my big fish are all long lived. I could have them for some time yet, an example being my RTGG, he's only 7 years old, and could very well achieve 20!

It's one thing sending unwanted smaller fish to your LFS, but a lot of them don't want to be burdened with big fish, understandably so.
 
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Like just about everybody here, I am blessed/cursed with MTS. The affliction has peaked several times during my life, as tanks mysteriously multiplied until I would wake up realizing that the fun was rapidly disappearing due to the volume of work required. I would slash my tanks down to the bare minimum...but a couple years later the cycle would be well on its way to repeating itself. There were periods of my life during which I didn't even acknowledge or admit that I was an aquarist...because I only had 2 or 3 tanks at the time...:)

As I approach full retirement, I am determined not to let it happen again. I only have 7 "permanent" tanks right now, not including things like quarantine tanks or fry tanks, as well as a growing number of outdoor stock tanks during the summer only. Two of my tanks, a half-filled 30g and a 20g, are located on the ground floor of my little bungalow, and those dang things consume far more of my time and effort than the approximately 850g in the basement; I am actually still using the stone-age technique of hoses and buckets upstairs, whereas the basement tanks are all completely plumbed so that I can change water simply by opening and closing the correct valves.

The upstairs tanks are scheduled to be incorporated into this DIY plumbing nightmare this coming summer. My wife would be very unhappy to learn that there will be holes drilled into the floor upstairs in two places to admit water lines. Since I love her and want her (and, by extension, me...) to be happy, my solution is simply not to tell her. I will likely be long dead by the time she discovers the discreet holes in the corners under bookshelves; or at least, I will likely be dead shortly after she discovers them! :) In the meantime, she is very fond of the turtle and the small fish inhabiting the upstairs tanks, and has no reason to think too hard on what their existence entails.

MTS; there is no cure, merely treatment of the symptoms. Don't get too carried away with dosage, i.e. don't overdo the work load. You are much better off limiting yourself to the number of tanks that you can comfortably maintain without the pleasant task morphing into unpleasant drudgery. And it isn't necessary...or desirable...to keep every species of fish in the world, or even every species you think you "must" have. I have a number of "favourite" fish species which I have never kept and never will keep. Having a moderate number of fish and tanks, and keeping them in perfect condition, is far more enjoyable on both an immediate basis and also a long-term one.
 
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jjohnwm said:
Don't get too carried away with dosage, i.e. don't overdo the work load. You are much better off limiting yourself to the number of tanks that you can comfortably maintain without the pleasant task morphing into unpleasant drudgery. And it isn't necessary...or desirable...to keep every species of fish in the world, or even every species you think you "must" have. I have a number of "favourite" fish species which I have never kept and never will keep. Having a moderate number of fish and tanks, and keeping them in perfect condition, is far more enjoyable on both an immediate basis and also a long-term one.
Click to expand...

^Definitely one of the more important things to know if you have multiple tank syndrome. I'm with you on it.
I wouldn't turn my nose up at a 3rd 473 liter with redfin tiger loaches, bucktooth tetras, a Borneo dragon catfish, and an Asian upside down catfish - based on the stocking. But I definitely would based on the maintenance (and my cousin, lol), since somewhere along the lines, things would be bound to get out of hand and lead to a tank crash.

Also +1 to the pleasure of maintaining those priority 'must-haves' and keeping them at their best being far more bang for your buck than taking care of each and every 'must-have'. As the saying goes, quality over quantity!
 
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