Newbie finally got the tank up & going (pics)

[fzfile]

Hello all. After lurking a while here and other places I finally got my 36 up and going. I used to have a couple of tanks back in my college days (cichlids) but had forgotten most of what I knew (or thought i knew) then.

I had intended to have 1 Krib as the "big fish" in the tank but after putting down the red gravel carpet decided against a digger.

After a 2 week fishy cycle (with 2 apparently indestructible Danios that my fiancee & her daughter have had forever) we finally got the water good to add some tankmates. (it took 11 days with the Danios in and zero nitrites ...then BAM they spiked on day 12 and did a 50% water change and 1 more 25% change and it leveled...is that normal?)

So off to the local shop we went with water sample in tote and we each picked 2 fish to add (plus two more ...we couldnt help it. They were soo cool). We will be adding a few more tetras, maybe 1 more cory and hopefully a snail when we get some algae.

And here is the gang so far. (anyone have a Canon L macro they want to part with?) :)



The gang. Shurburt (pink tetra), Cool (blue tetra), Molly Hatchet (top), Maggie Hatchet (bottom), Lucky & Spot (long finned Danios) and you can barely see Frick (one of the older Danios). The dog in the glass is Dook. He passed last year. Its inscribed Swimming with the Fishes. :)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v469/fzfile/Fishies/IMG_0217_5x7_filtered.jpg

IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v469/fzfile/Fishies/IMG_0219_5x7_filtered.jpg[/IMG]

Goldie

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v469/fzfile/Fishies/IMG_0247_5x7_filtered.jpg

Coroline
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v469/fzfile/Fishies/IMG_0284_7x5_filtered.jpg


Shurburt & Frak
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v469/fzfile/Fishies/IMG_0313_5x7_filtered.jpg


Cool (and Frick and Shurburt)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v469/fzfile/Fishies/IMG_0314_5x7_filtered.jpg


Coroline
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v469/fzfile/Fishies/IMG_0340_7x5_filtered.jpg


Molly Hatchet
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v469/fzfile/Fishies/IMG_0344_5x7_filtered.jpg


Cool again
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v469/fzfile/Fishies/IMG_0356_filtered.jpg


Coroline
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v469/fzfile/Fishies/IMG_0377_6x4_filtered.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v469/fzfile/Fishies/IMG_0382_5x7b_filtered.jpg

The last one is a terrible pic but a good smear of Goldie's colors. Man the little ones are hard to take pics of. lol

Cheers

-Mike

[mandyaj_25]

Nice loking fish!

[Paladinpress]

It took 11 days with the Danios in and zero nitrites ...then BAM they spiked on day 12 and did a 50% water change and 1 more 25% change and it leveled...is that normal?

What did the NI spike to? Really cool tank setup. I'm due a 50% WC on my 29 while we are on the subject . . .

:werd:

[fzfile]

Thank you.

To be honest I dont recall the exact numbers here at work. I use one of those 5 in one test strips (Nitrates, Nitrites, PH, Alk, Hardness) and it was completely clear (zero) then it went up 2 notches ...which the chart shows as the last SAFE level before going to STRESS levels. Its like Defcon 3. lol The Nitrates had aslo been low but showing. They also went up a bit.

Ill check the exact info when I get home.

-mike

[AshK]

Nice pics.

Kudos for having a test kit, however test strips are regarded here as highly inaccurate. What ever levels they are reporting can be dangerously wrong. I suggest you get a liquid test kit and be prepared for daily water changes.

What are your final stocking plans? Are you aware that Shurburt and Cool have been artificially dyed?

[Bubbles2112]

Very nice pictures! The dye will fade as the fish gets older.

[Mokomon]

Why do some people always have to throw a negative in there?? :(




Beautiful pics!

[lorindaleigh]

Beautiful tank! I love the ball thing, also very cool idea on the picture. I'm sorry to hear about your baby. I can't imagine how hard its going to be on us when we lose our sheltie.

I only have one thing to add, I read on here that cory's (or is it cories) should be kept in a school of 6 and it looks like you only have 1. U should get some more cories.

[jpappy789]

Why do some people always have to throw a negative in there?? :(




Beautiful pics!

Because the world isn't just rainbows and fluffy bunnies...



Keep a close eye on the params with a liquid test kit instead (I highly recommend it) and do water changes when ammonia or nitrite are present. With fish cycles, you cannot call your tank finished cycling until your stock is complete. Otherwise, your bacteria has to play catch up with the new bioload.

Nice tank though! :)

[fzfile]

Ahhh that's good to know about the test strips vs liquid. I did have the lfs test the water and he said it was good to go. I will definitely pic up a better test kit.

I did not know that they were dyed....but the weird thing is that young shop girl (who i thought was very helpful) had kinda warned us about the neon glass fish being dyed ... I got the impression she kinda frowned on that .... I wonder why she didn't tell us about those two being dyed.

Frankly I'm kinda of annoyed now because I wouldn't have purchased them had I known. There were many many very cool looking choices that Im reasonably certain weren't dyed ... I guess looking at Cool & Shurburt now it really should have been fairly obvious. :headshake2:

Thanks for the heads up.

-mike

[lorindaleigh]

Very nice pictures! The dye will fade as the fish gets older.
if your inexperienced like me, how do you tell if the fish have been dyed or not, if you don't know much about that species? I guess thats why you should always research though but I know that I would pick up those 2 fish on an impulse if I saw them because of how pretty they are. I would never want dyed fish though....so how do you tell?

[fzfile]

Keep a close eye on the params with a liquid test kit instead (I highly recommend it) and do water changes when ammonia or nitrite are present. With fish cycles, you cannot call your tank finished cycling until your stock is complete. Otherwise, your bacteria has to play catch up with the new bioload.

That definitely makes sense. I actually wondered how the adjustment was going to be with the additional load. Thanks.


Beautiful tank! I love the ball thing, also very cool idea on the picture. I'm sorry to hear about your baby. I can't imagine how hard its going to be on us when we lose our sheltie.

I only have one thing to add, I read on here that cory's (or is it cories) should be kept in a school of 6 and it looks like you only have 1. U should get some more cories. Thank you for the condolences. He was great. 10 years old.
Thanks also for the bit on the Cories. :) She has definitely become the tank star and has great personality. I definitely have no qualms about getting a few more.

Thanks to everyone for the comments. Good and bad are all appreciated. No worries. :D

-mike

[jpappy789]

if your inexperienced like me, how do you tell if the fish have been dyed or not, if you don't know much about that species? I guess thats why you should always research though but I know that I would pick up those 2 fish on an impulse if I saw them because of how pretty they are. I would never want dyed fish though....so how do you tell?

Glassfish are the most often dyed fish and they are usually more transparent. I personally haven't seen any other ones except blood parrots, and those were pretty obvious to me as the tattoos and such were made into funky shapes/words. Others out there are gouramis, mollies, oscars, corys, and whiteskirts. I'm sure there are more as you can see here:

http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/pages/show_article.php?article_id=72

I guess the only way to prevent yourself from buying dyed/tattooed fish is to research before buying and familiarize yourself with what a heathy specimen should look like. Flashy colors such as purple and pink are big indicators that something isn't natural about the fish. The best preventative measure is knowledge ;)

[ChrisK]

Nice tank, fish and pics. Good job

[fzfile]

Thanks for that link jpappy.

-mike

[Mokomon]

Because the world isn't just rainbows and fluffy bunnies...



Keep a close eye on the params with a liquid test kit instead (I highly recommend it) and do water changes when ammonia or nitrite are present. With fish cycles, you cannot call your tank finished cycling until your stock is complete. Otherwise, your bacteria has to play catch up with the new bioload.

Nice tank though! :)



Because the world isn't just rainbows and fluffy bunnies...

Believe me, I realize that :(

[Arturo]

nice setup.

[JennLy]

Really nice pictures, mine always turn out blurry and vaguely fish shaped. I am jealous!

[smoochxoxo]

great tanks. The dyed fish are beautiful (yes I know not fluffy bunny like) but they are cool looking in that pic! I don't think I have ever seen a dyed fish in person. I think though it would be hard for me to distinguish unless I looked it up. And actually I would have thought that GBR's were dyed if I didn't read about them myself. lol So that tells ya that people make mistakes!
Anyhow looks like you are on a great track with making your tanks look amazingly beautiful!

[serissime]

Even with your "crappy" camera, your fish and tank look great! :dance:

I'm glad you decided to get more cories for Coroline! I have a trilineatus just like her and they are SO beautiful! a nice big school like 6+ would be stunning. (I WANT!)

Did you know that all your fish would be happier in schools? FORTUNATELY, you have a nice big tank!!!! :thm::thm: Maybe your dyed fish could be the colorful leaders of otherwise natural schools :)

Man, I wish I had a tank as big as a 36 for schoolers... (my biggest is a 20H...)

Oh, and is the memorial for your dog IN the tank? (What a great idea!)

[fzfile]

Thank you very much all. The fish are doing as well (if not slightly irked).

Holy water changes batman.

As mentioned would happen above... I have been doing about two 50%ers a day.... I believe I added too many fish at once.

They arent bugging out but the water changes do incite a bit of aggression in the danios. No nips, just bullying but still.

Its getting better with slower Ni rises but next time we're only gonna add 1 or two fish at the most.

That said, no new tank-mates for Coroline and the gang. I did plan to have a tank of about 20-or-so fish total (long fin danios, teteras, & cories).

The owner of the lfs said with them I could have 30-35 fish (danios,tetras) in a 36G tank. Looking at the tank set up now though that seems like an awful lot.

I was thinking more like 6 tetras, 6 longfin danios, 4 cories,4 hatchets the 2 old danios, and the one glassfish ...Goldie.(errr i forgot what kind of fish he is. Thats terrible), and a snail.

Does that seem ok??

... and about snails. Are they really like Tribbles?


-mike

[Coler]

Nice fish !

I think your stock plan is much better than your suppliers thoughts on it - I reckon you could actually go up to another 2 or 3 corys in fact and ditto on the hatchet fish in fact.

I don't know much about these fish though so see what anyone else says.

Keep up with the changes - when you've held 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites for a week, tested with a liquid drop test kit you can add more fish - as you've noted, a few at a time, then test daily again to make sure everything is caught up before adding more.

Oh and welcome to AC :)

[bushwhacker]

i think frak looked pregnant or maybe shes just fat and sassy...lol great lookin tank... and one thing to look for about dyed fish especially tetras names like blueberry, fruit, or mixed fruit tetras... my wife brought 6 of em several months back

[serissime]

hatchets are supposedly easier to keep in groups of 6ish and more.... but I don't think it will be much of a bother to have less. Otherwise, sounds like things are doing great. More cories = ALWAYS better. You think she's lovely now, wait til she has a big family!!!

[Wateveryousay]

How about a full tank shot??? :)

[7itanium]

nice tank....

in reguards to the died fish-- keep an eye on them and make sure they stay healthy... if they dont you might wanna add some melafix to help them heal.

aside from the many moral issues, died fish tend to be a bit unhealthy and sometimes they dont make it through the first month

other than that.. great tank!

[sheiman]

Pretty! Really nice photos too.

[fzfile]

So the water has been 0 Ammonia and Nitrite for 2 days.

Probably 1st pick up 2 or 3 more corries.

Apparently Hatchet fish are jumpers. During the last water change I had the lid open for draining and the smaller one was hovering at the surface and then suddenly BAM!!! it popped sraight up, slammed off of the light cover (about 1 inch inside of the open tank cover) and then straight back down into the water ....seemingly none the worse for wear.

I had to laugh although it jumped up with such force that it made a very loud sound when it hit the light cover.

Hasnt done it since. Seems to still be ok a couple of days later.

To Bushwacker .... Frak does look pregnant but alas is just fat. lol.

The Tetras seem healthy ....I think they are already losing a little bit of color .... although they may just be getting healthier as they dont have as much of a chalky pastel color. They are more transparent and shiny now.

Cant wait to give them all some more tank mates.

-mike

[skye144]

Beautiful tank! I love the ball thing, also very cool idea on the picture. I'm sorry to hear about your baby. I can't imagine how hard its going to be on us when we lose our sheltie.

I only have one thing to add, I read on here that cory's (or is it cories) should be kept in a school of 6 and it looks like you only have 1. U should get some more cories.
this is right, in the future check out how the fish like to live before purchase. Some do better alone but some, like corys, are better off in a group

[fzfile]

So Coroline has some new compadres. We got 2 more Julies and one Punky. To me one of the new Julies looks more like a Punctatas.

They are now the Gang of 4. They buddied up right away.

One really awesome thing is that previously the two Zebra Danios (who'd been the cycling fish and previously around forever) were being little bullies to everyone else ...in particular to the Long Fin Danios. Chase chase chase. I was going to remove them.

Well as soon as ...and I mean like within 30 seconds ... they saw the Cories get chummy ... suddenly the Zebras got all friendly with the Long Fins. They immediately started rubbing and bumping and swimming in thier little weaving formation. No more chasing. Wierd but really cool to watch happen. Totally changed the social dynamic of the tank.

Fish are so cool. lol.

Heres some pics.

The full tank
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v469/fzfile/Fishies/IMG_0209.jpg


the punc ....I call him Flash Gordon bc he busts out with these really fast bursts of speed. Really fast.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v469/fzfile/Fishies/IMG_0353.jpg

Coroline Jr. Shes a little runt.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v469/fzfile/Fishies/IMG_0316.jpg


3 of the 4

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v469/fzfile/Fishies/IMG_0278.jpg

punc

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v469/fzfile/Fishies/IMG_0265.jpg


The noobs

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v469/fzfile/Fishies/IMG_0261aa.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v469/fzfile/Fishies/IMG_0247.jpg

Coroliine leading the pack
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v469/fzfile/Fishies/IMG_0246.jpg

Coroline staying back letting the noobs explore

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v469/fzfile/Fishies/IMG_0245.jpg

The Gang of 4

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v469/fzfile/Fishies/IMG_0244.jpg



Next up will be prollly 4-6 more long fins. Then the hatchets.

Still no algae so still no snail.

Cheers

-mike

[colinsk]

Beautiful Cories!

[serissime]

beautiful!!

[dalton]

those are some of the better looking fish ive ever seen

[fzfile]

First ....thank you guys very much for the kind words.


Thought I lost one of the new corys this morning. :confused:
Poor guy got wedged between the heater and the glass.

I thought he was already dead bc I didnt see any movement in the gills or anything so I used my net to push him out as I pulled the heater away.

He wasnt dead and weakly swam to a spot with the rest of the cories.

But his dorsal fin was all mangled and it almost looks like his "snout" is bent... if thats possible.

Poor guy. Im working now and my fiancee said he was ok a little while ago but I cant check on him throughout the day so Im a bit nervous. Have to keep my fingers crossed.

-mike

[katschamne]

:welcome: by the way, I know a little late to the game. I do hope that your new guy pulls though. I'm pulling for him.

I'm glad someone was a buzzed kill about the dyed fish because you didn't know that they where dyed. I try to be honest with people about the how big the fish will get and their requirements, maybe the sales person didn't know that they were dyed either. With that being said they are cool looking. I almost bought the jelly bean parrot years ago until our friend who owns a LFS told us about them. When Glo-Fish came out I had to do research on them because we got them in at work and I wanted to know what I was selling. I was relieved to a point that they aren't dyed.

I'm glad that you found us because I have to tell people all the time at work that just because it's a 36 gallon tank doesn't mean you can put 36 fish in there. You have to look at the adult size of all the fish, not what they are now and go from there. You can read up on all the minimum tank requirements before you add a bunch more fish. They say at LFS that an inch per gallon per adult size is what needed but they say that is only true to fish up to 3" but that's not accurate either, look at the dwarf Indian puffer. They need 5 gallons per fish, and believe me they do. Then look at red devils, oscars or any large fish, if an inch per gallon per adult size, that means I could put a 12" fish in a 10 gallon tank right? Believe me I feel like doing that right now with my bully of the tank. He may end up with a new home if he doesn't stop bully everyone.:mad2: Everyone makes mistake it's learning from them that makes us a better person, my favorite saying is research, research, research.

[fzfile]

Im glad I found this site also. I found a little appp somebody posted to figure out stocking. You punch in the # and type of fish you have with the tank size and it tells you how many more fish you have room for. I am figuring about 22-23 fish total.

The trapped cory seems to be just fine. His fin no longer looks bent and hes very active again. I was nervous about him.

Had a Ni spike ...to .50. Did a 40% water change and its a tad below .25 now. Am about to do another change.

Throughout the last cycle and this time my Ammonia has stayed consistently at 0. How is the Nitrite spiking if theres no Ammonia??

[serissime]

Maybe you didn't catch the ammonia before it became Nitrite? I don't know.... I would continue doing daily/twice daily changes and tests to prevent health concerns just in case you're in a mini cycle...

I'm glad to hear the cory is looking okay... anyways, keep up updated?

[fzfile]

Levels are back to zero. (2 water changes for 2 days at about 30-40% each)

BUT ..... :confused: ... I lost one of the long fin danios. He was sucked up against the filter. Even with the bump in the Nitrites the fish were not acting noticeably stressed. No panicking or spastic swimming.

He did appear less active than the other long fin (than all of the other fish actually) and he was much less colorful than the other one .... but I didnt think too much of it since he was like that right from the LFS.

I am really bummed about that. Its been a long time since I've had a tank but I thought I was being quite diligent and careful. I hate losing fish.

Everyone else in the tank is doing great though. The cories are soo awesome. They have TONS of personality.

...and so much for quick alliances ... the other long fin and the zebras ...no longer all buddy buddy like they were when the cories ganged up. The zebra are not being aggressive like they were but they are also not being very inclusive of the long fin.

Funny thing that makes me wonder .... the long fin that died ... he never buddied up to any of the other fish. Even the hatchets moved away from him. Can scholling fish get "depressed" or have ill effects if they are not socially integrated with the other fish in their enviornment ??

-mike

[fzfile]

So finally added a few more fish. Was going to school up the Long fin Danios but the LFS wont have any spotted ones in till next week.

So instead I picked up 4 Red Eyed Tetras, 1 (albino?) white long fin Danio, and one awesome looking Green & Gold Cory.

Unfortunately the cory got super duper freaked out when I transitioned him into the tank. He was darting violently all over and would bash himself into the glass with total panic. Fortunately he calmed down and hid out under the plants for about 2 hours and today he seems normal and integrated .... although hasnt really "schooled up" withthe other cories. I wonder if the fact that he is very different looking makes a difference.

The Red Eyes seemed to find a friend in Cool (the blue Tetra).

The albino Long Fin is too busy bodied to buddy up to anyone it seems. That fish will not stop moving .... not paniicked or anything but definitely makes it impossible to take a good picture of.

So here's a few new pic's.

The Green & Gold Cory ... i think I will name him Chi.
(the 1st pic I ran through a Photoshop action and it kinda messed up the color ... but the stripiing looks cool.)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v469/fzfile/Fishies/IMG_0804_filtered2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v469/fzfile/Fishies/IMG_0814_filtered2.jpg

2 of the Red Eyes buddying up to Cool
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v469/fzfile/Fishies/IMG_0794_filtered.jpg

Loner Red Eye

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v469/fzfile/Fishies/IMG_0800_filtered.jpg

and a great shot of Frank .... the punc.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v469/fzfile/Fishies/IMG_0819_filtered2.jpg

and one more of Sherbert
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v469/fzfile/Fishies/IMG_0821_filtered2.jpg

-mike

[serissime]

your pictures look so nice! I hope your stocking issues get resolved soon.