220g New Start
- Thread starter Sy229
- Start date
Second Anniversary
I can't believe it's been two years already since tank start-up. I've had remarkable good luck over the last year, with the only loss of fish among the new 'litter' of red swordtails that we raised from fry after finding ten of them in the bottom sump - only five of them remain. Otherwise, all the others are as healthy as I can image fish can be. By the numbers:
6 Tiger Barbs. The one I thought was pregnant for so long - turned out just to be 'big-boned'
5 Red Swords. 4 males and 1 tired female. The 2 smallest males remain in the 10 gallon tank where they grew up.
5 Tin Foils. Now 7 - 10 inches long.
4 Silver Dollars. One notably larger than the rest.
2 Bala sharks. 4-6 inches long. The jumper (see previous entry) is doing fine. The smaller of the two has partially cloudy eyes, but seems to find food at lunch time ok.
2 Spotted Cory's. Slow to grow, but healthy.
1 FeatherFin Cat. 5 inches long, beautiful fins, shy.
1 Pictus Cat. 5 inches long. Also shy.
My maintenance routine consists of cleaning the sump every 2 weeks, and a 1/3 or 1/2 water change w/ gravel vacuuming every month. I haven't done any water testing for ammonia, nitrates, nitrites, ph, etc, for the last year and a half. I guess I'm fortunate to have access to fish-friendly well water.
Most recently added some new driftwood and shale rock to the tank. My attempts to maintain live plants have all failed (the Tin Foils are fond of uprooting them), so I have just a few of the silk variety left. Here a few pictures from today:
I can't believe it's been two years already since tank start-up. I've had remarkable good luck over the last year, with the only loss of fish among the new 'litter' of red swordtails that we raised from fry after finding ten of them in the bottom sump - only five of them remain. Otherwise, all the others are as healthy as I can image fish can be. By the numbers:
6 Tiger Barbs. The one I thought was pregnant for so long - turned out just to be 'big-boned'
5 Red Swords. 4 males and 1 tired female. The 2 smallest males remain in the 10 gallon tank where they grew up.
5 Tin Foils. Now 7 - 10 inches long.
4 Silver Dollars. One notably larger than the rest.
2 Bala sharks. 4-6 inches long. The jumper (see previous entry) is doing fine. The smaller of the two has partially cloudy eyes, but seems to find food at lunch time ok.
2 Spotted Cory's. Slow to grow, but healthy.
1 FeatherFin Cat. 5 inches long, beautiful fins, shy.
1 Pictus Cat. 5 inches long. Also shy.
My maintenance routine consists of cleaning the sump every 2 weeks, and a 1/3 or 1/2 water change w/ gravel vacuuming every month. I haven't done any water testing for ammonia, nitrates, nitrites, ph, etc, for the last year and a half. I guess I'm fortunate to have access to fish-friendly well water.
Most recently added some new driftwood and shale rock to the tank. My attempts to maintain live plants have all failed (the Tin Foils are fond of uprooting them), so I have just a few of the silk variety left. Here a few pictures from today:
How to Edit Post?
Realized I forgot 2 fish in the list on my previous post (duh), but I couldn't figure out how to edit the original post, so here's an addendum:
Two Pleco's, one 'regular' and one bristlenose.
And a few more pics:
Realized I forgot 2 fish in the list on my previous post (duh), but I couldn't figure out how to edit the original post, so here's an addendum:
Two Pleco's, one 'regular' and one bristlenose.
And a few more pics:
Checking in again after a 6-month hiatus. Our tank continues to be going on very smoothly, with only a few changes from the original fish stock that we started with some two and a half years ago now (can't believe its been that long).
The biggest changes were with the Red Swordtails. We had rescued 10 fry from the sump and raised them separately in a 10 gallon aquarium until they outgrew it. Returned them to the large tank and one by one they disappeared..along with their dad. A single female remains, and she's been doing fine for months now. Which has me wondering whether she was responsible for doing her siblings in..
The only other loss to report is one of the two Cory's went missing (I've never seen any remnants from any of the fish losses - apparently when one of them so much as sneezes then they're on the menu.
On the hardware side, I finally decided to replace the main pump. It was a Little Giant that I got used along with the tank, so I knew that it was at least 3-4 years old. Whenever it shut down, either because of a power outage or for tank cleaning, it didn't want to start again. I was spending hours trying to coax it into starting again. I replaced it with a new Little Giant, which starts right up each time, and also runs much cooler than the old one. I also decided to put the pump on a UPS to keep the pump running during our frequent short power outages (we live in a rural area outside Tampa, lightning capitol of the world). The UPS works great - the pump switches over to battery and back without missing a beat, and can keep running for 45 minutes before the battery gives out. I would recommend an UPS for anyone who lives with frequent outages.
A few pics taken today:
The biggest changes were with the Red Swordtails. We had rescued 10 fry from the sump and raised them separately in a 10 gallon aquarium until they outgrew it. Returned them to the large tank and one by one they disappeared..along with their dad. A single female remains, and she's been doing fine for months now. Which has me wondering whether she was responsible for doing her siblings in..
The only other loss to report is one of the two Cory's went missing (I've never seen any remnants from any of the fish losses - apparently when one of them so much as sneezes then they're on the menu.
On the hardware side, I finally decided to replace the main pump. It was a Little Giant that I got used along with the tank, so I knew that it was at least 3-4 years old. Whenever it shut down, either because of a power outage or for tank cleaning, it didn't want to start again. I was spending hours trying to coax it into starting again. I replaced it with a new Little Giant, which starts right up each time, and also runs much cooler than the old one. I also decided to put the pump on a UPS to keep the pump running during our frequent short power outages (we live in a rural area outside Tampa, lightning capitol of the world). The UPS works great - the pump switches over to battery and back without missing a beat, and can keep running for 45 minutes before the battery gives out. I would recommend an UPS for anyone who lives with frequent outages.
A few pics taken today:
Last edited:
