Newby to here but not newby to fishkeeping

[wasme]

In a nutshell....been lurking a while and finally decided to take the plunge and join in here.

First fish was a carnival goldie when I was around 10 years old. My dad was a great fishkeeper, I used to help out with him all the time and gradually...once I had left home...had a few medium sized aquariums.

Fast forward 35+ years and I am still into keeping finned hooligans. Currently two aquariums (small flat, no space for more sadly), a 53 gallon with a mix of Neon Tetra, Rummynose Tetra, Rusty Corydora, Bolivian Ram and a BN and a 29 gallon with a mix of Purple Emperor Tetra, Blue Panda Apisto, Panda Corydora and a BN

Being a total imbecile with plants....ie...I look at the and the plants curl up and die immediately, my aquariums are largely artificial with a few bulbs thrown (literally) here and there that for reasons best known to themselves manage to take hold and live (Tiger Lotus and Apongetons). I use bottled water since the tapwater is 'orrible.

Maintenance wise...weekly water changes once a week in autumn/winter and twice weekly in summer....apart from that and the occasional sand puff & clean with turkey basters...both aquariums look after themselves. The fish are all healthy and need no encouragement to multiply, they just get on with it despite all requests by me not to

 

[Rbishop]

Welcome to AC!

 

[dudley]

Welcome to the forum!

 

[fishorama]

Welcome! I love that you have "seasonal" maintenance. It takes a long time to get there at different places sometimes.

So I want to give you helpful (or bossy?!?) hints about plants. Tell us more about your tanks, lights & water conditions, etc. There are always some easy plants you can grow. If I can, you can too!!

I'm going to have to think about "puff & clean" but I might get it...basters are not a part of my tank maintenance, lol. But I tend toward bigger tanks...

Can you post pics? We'd love to see!

 

[wasme]

Seasonal maintenance is normal for me, always done things that way....once the daytime weather stabilises in the summer months and the night time temps stay up too, I turn off the heaters. Then I water change on Saturdays and Wednesdays just to keep things fresher when the temps are higher than usual. Autumn/winter/early spring, its Wednesdays only and the heaters are on.

Plants are an absolute no-no unless they are bulbs and floating such as Hornwort, Tiger Lotus and Apongeton. I use Oase silicon plants and ceramic decor. Fish are extremely healthy. I tried Anubias and binned them after a week, all on stones....the fish suffered thanks to an issue with the plants. I also hate too may pest snails, I have a herd of Assassins in both aquariums to control them. I will not change my mind on plants.

About to start the water changes for today so everyone is a tad excited....they think its food time when water change day is no food time. The lighting is up higher than usual for that purpose (lights are on the braces not hoods, so they stay on during water changes and the fish think the hood is still on), water is a wee bit misty this morning which is normal when they get all excitable thinking food is on the way.

The 53 gallon...



The 29 gallon...with the Apongeton "kelp forest"



Not great photos I'm afraid....phone is not a flashy one cos I only use it for calls normally.

 

[wasme]

After water change.....with an added pic of the 53 from above

 

[fishorama]

Very nice pics! Your fake plants, wood & real bulbs look good. It's hard for me to not go with real. I will try to not nag you about them but no guarantees...It's kinda my "thing".

But so are bottom fish. I love your pandas all up in front & center, so cute!

 

[FreshyFresh]

Awesome looking tanks and welcome to the site!

I was the same way in terms of live plants as well. Nearly gave up.

Starting off with anubia can seem impossible since it may take so long to acclimate to your setup and take off. I nearly gave up on the pathetic, dried out java ferns and anubia I bought from PetSmart and Petco 10yrs ago. Now my tanks are full of what began from those plants alone, not to mention the bucket loads I've given away over the years. I do nothing in terms of adding ferts, supplemental CO2, etc.

 

[wasme]

The only plants I will let into my aquariums are the bulbs....Tiger Lotus and the various Apongetons.....since they go into mad growth mode almost immediately.

Houseplants, weeds....even grass...dies with me. Such a disappointment to my late Dad cos he grew prize winning carnations and chrysanthemums and he taught me how to grow those and take care of fish. The fish do brilliantly with me and always have (never had any illness/disease with any fish in almost 40 years) but the plants have never done anything apart from stress me out.

Artificial decor has changed so much over the years. It has gone from really cheap and tacky to very lifelike and expensive. My 53 decor cost around £200, the 29 cost around £150 - not including the bulbs, sand and fish.

I use old school filtration....Aquael Turbo internal filters.....1000 lph in the 53 and 500 lph in the 29. Cannot beat the Turbo, they give the infinite options in media plus fully controllable flow speed with and without venturi, and they don't cost the earth to buy or run. Heaters are standard JBL S Pro...300w in the 53 and 150w in the 29, they come with guards that prevent the nosiest of fish getting too close and are extremely efficient, again not expensive to buy or run. The aquariums themselves are Diversa (53) and Aquael (29).

I really like the Diversa simply due to the fact that the company delivers to the room of choice and not just dumping the pallet on the curb. Due to disability I have been unable to get the larger aquariums due to not able to get them from the curb and into the flat. The company based in Hemel Hempstead in the UK supplies aquariums and stands and their own driver delivers them and into where you actually want it. Absolutely brilliant firm and the aquariums are superbly made too. Diversa was merged into Aquael a few years ago but have been making aquariums for several decades.

 

[fishorama]

The UK is very different in places than in our many US areas. Now I better understand your "horrible" water...I've read about some of your issues. Many of us on AC are in the US but not all...& some us can speak metric if we have to, lol. But well, I'm going slow on your equipment, different brands & sizes of equipment. Go slow & be prepared to translate for (us? me anyway). Litres vs gallons, etc, we'll do our best but patience please! It's not our "first language" even though it's both English of a kind...

We also have different drugs etc. available to us than you may have. Our AC Canadian, Mexican, Asian, European & Australian friends have similar but different issues.

We'll try to help you as best we can...& I will not nag you about plants anymore...unless I forget...I may need a few gentle UK reminders. It can be hard to keep track of everyone's location, tanks & issues. If you put that info in your signature that will help us not asking everything over & over, but we might anyway...no promises, lol.