TYPO's 55g!
- Thread starter TYPO
- Start date
Omigosh! I know exactly how you feel, I see those beautiful, dense green tanks and feel so hopeless. I've mostly haphazardly thrown things in, then rearranged as I needed to. This is going to be my first real attempt at having a planted tank, as opposed to just giving my fish some nice plants. Once I get a nice piece of driftwood or prettier rocks, I'll remove the ones currently in there. BTW, I grinned when I read your comment. I've muttered the same thing countless times...
Backgrounds have been low priority for me, but I think once I get some more plants in there, I'll choose a nice complimentary bg. I don't actually know what's best, to be honest =/.
I don't know about fish yet. Right now I have:
5 angelfish
1 odessa barb
6 ghost catfish (k. minor)
12ish zebra danios
pictus cat
marbled pleco (?)
3 nerites, with a 4th doing clean up duty elsewhere
4 neon tetras (being cured in old tank)
It looks pretty empty still. The pleco is probably going to go live with the turtle when I redo her tank (that's a project for another day). He's being bad and taking over all the hiding spots in the whole tank, and not letting the pictus have any.
That's the 2nd comment I've gotten on the stand! It's very nice, solid wood, not a veneer or anything. At some point, I'd like to stain it, and paint the tank rims a different color, but for now this is a pretty low budget tank and that will have to wait.
Just a couple things to note, at least for myself:
The Magnum 350 is my first canister filter I've ever had. I read about the Magnum being a pain to fill, and getting air trapped inside, and being pretty noisy in general. This filter is used, and I didn't really get a chance to hear it running when I picked up the tank. It has a small rattle, but nothing major; it's quiet enough to be drowned out by the tv. But as far as filling it goes, I refilled it numerous times when cleaning it, with varied success. When it came time to put it in the tank, I just put the intake in the tank, and (with the out nozzle off of the tubing) started a siphon. It filled up incredibly quickly, but I put the end over the tank to catch any that came out, and ended up with the entire canister filled with water, as well as both tubes. I didn't have to start it multiple times, and it worked out the tiny bit of air left over on its own.
It's probably old news, but it was nothing I ran across in my readings about it.
OK! For the plants, I know kinda what they are, but not specifically. So here's my best guesses. Some are kinda rough looking. Re-vamping the old tank was a project pending. I had an UGF (BAD!) that needed removing, so I upgraded tanks instead.
Anubias nana
Anubias barteri?
Myriophyllum aquaticum
Need help with this one
The lady called this a rose moss?
Riccia mat before it got a bit tattered in the move
The parrot feather plant I picked up today. It looks kinda shabby, but it was the best they had, sadly, and I haven't seen it elsewhere around here. I'll manicure it once I make sure that I can put into the sand. The lady told me to not plant it in substrate, but I've seen it planted in pretty much every picture. Also, am I correct in thinking I can trim off those little growths from the stem, and plant them elsewhere? If so I know I can clean it up nicely.
Tank looks great! 
Looks like the last pic of the stripey one is a zebra??
Not too sure about the exotic ones!!
Looks like the last pic of the stripey one is a zebra??
Not too sure about the exotic ones!!
Day 3 = Happy time!
Yesterday I added the last of my danios, including two very egg-laden females. This is today! All 12 having on danio lovefest. I have to chuckle at the barb staying in the group the whole time.
Ok, so I actually had to use my yt accout to upload this. This is my first try, hope I get it right.
Edit: Whatever, I'll have to mess around with the video thing someother time. Here's a direct link.
Danio Spawning
Yesterday I added the last of my danios, including two very egg-laden females. This is today! All 12 having on danio lovefest. I have to chuckle at the barb staying in the group the whole time.
Ok, so I actually had to use my yt accout to upload this. This is my first try, hope I get it right.
Edit: Whatever, I'll have to mess around with the video thing someother time. Here's a direct link.
Danio Spawning
Last edited:
Yesterday's project was pulling the UGF out of the 20 so I could get the last of the plants untangled and put into the 55, and moving 4 neon tetras.
Today I brought the male platties out of my bf's tank so they'd quit harassing the babies.
I need to upgrade the lights. The lights I got with the tank was a 30" long hood with a single 17w 10,00 K bulb. On the other side I have the light from my 20, 20w 6700 K. I'd prefer to keep this tank low light, low tech since I currently have a pretty limited budget.
Tetras
One of five
Whole tank. It's very messy at the moment. I chopped up my parrot feather, and giving the left over stems a chance to sprout new foliage. I've already seen new growth, so those that live will get replanted.
I had a single massive wine glass left over when I moved. A while ago I threw some eco complete, java fern fern, a small stem of pennywort, and netted riccia into it. To keep things fresh, I use my puppy's old medicine syringe to do water changes. It really was straight experimental, but so far so good. The riccia's been growing decently well.
Today I brought the male platties out of my bf's tank so they'd quit harassing the babies.
I need to upgrade the lights. The lights I got with the tank was a 30" long hood with a single 17w 10,00 K bulb. On the other side I have the light from my 20, 20w 6700 K. I'd prefer to keep this tank low light, low tech since I currently have a pretty limited budget.
Tetras
One of five
Whole tank. It's very messy at the moment. I chopped up my parrot feather, and giving the left over stems a chance to sprout new foliage. I've already seen new growth, so those that live will get replanted.
I had a single massive wine glass left over when I moved. A while ago I threw some eco complete, java fern fern, a small stem of pennywort, and netted riccia into it. To keep things fresh, I use my puppy's old medicine syringe to do water changes. It really was straight experimental, but so far so good. The riccia's been growing decently well.
A week!
It's been a week since I got the tank. Well, a week yesterday, but I was resting...
The danios have spawned three times (including right now!). My nerites are already laying. I've worked out hiding places for my pictus catfish and my pleco. So far things are running smoothly! I plan on doing a wc later and throwing in the micron cartridge afterwards. I haven't had a chance to try it out yet. Maybe if it makes a noticeable difference, I'll get a clear-water picture!
I've replaced most of the rocks with plants. Since I haven't replaced the lights yet, it's slow growing in here. The parrot feather definitely is having no problems with the light however, and I can tell the difference in growth when there's a while between observations.
Sorry for the loose IDs. Eventually I'll have to post some pics elsewhere for accurate identifications.
Stock list:
feesh
4 neon tetra
2 red wag platy (m)
6 ghost catfish (k. minor)
5 anglefish
1 odessa barb (m)
12ish zebra danio
1 pictus catfish
1 pleco (I still need to ID)
plants
Anubias barteri
Anubias nana
Microsorum pteropus
Myriophyllum aquaticum
Hydrocotyle leucocephala
aponogeton bulbs
marimo moss ball
crypts (need specific ID)
a moss (" ")
some sort of hygro I belive
It's been a week since I got the tank. Well, a week yesterday, but I was resting...
The danios have spawned three times (including right now!). My nerites are already laying. I've worked out hiding places for my pictus catfish and my pleco. So far things are running smoothly! I plan on doing a wc later and throwing in the micron cartridge afterwards. I haven't had a chance to try it out yet. Maybe if it makes a noticeable difference, I'll get a clear-water picture!
I've replaced most of the rocks with plants. Since I haven't replaced the lights yet, it's slow growing in here. The parrot feather definitely is having no problems with the light however, and I can tell the difference in growth when there's a while between observations.
Sorry for the loose IDs. Eventually I'll have to post some pics elsewhere for accurate identifications.
Stock list:
feesh
4 neon tetra
2 red wag platy (m)
6 ghost catfish (k. minor)
5 anglefish
1 odessa barb (m)
12ish zebra danio
1 pictus catfish
1 pleco (I still need to ID)
plants
Anubias barteri
Anubias nana
Microsorum pteropus
Myriophyllum aquaticum
Hydrocotyle leucocephala
aponogeton bulbs
marimo moss ball
crypts (need specific ID)
a moss (" ")
some sort of hygro I belive
*tl;dr- Nothing new! Pretty pics.*
Small update! Not much has changed. I had my bf move around the rock caves on the left and right. Petco was having a plant sale, so I picked up a big sword plant, a chain sword, and a crypt parva. I moved over bits of a microsword that had been floating in a different tank. The biggest leaves of the sword are pretty beat up atm, so that one was the freebie.
All of the parrot feather stem sections are sprouting, which will give me at least 17 whole new plants. Some are even sprouting two stalks.
I've read mixed things about the last chain sword and crypts, and low lighting, so we'll see what happens. If they start struggling, it'll give me an excuse to set up my 2.5 into a high light tank.
I'm not sure what to do with the driftwood on the left, since the bigger end is broken, not a straight cut. For now I tied some moss and suction cups to it and stuck it on the back of the tank.
I'm half-heartedly looking for a background. We're most likely moving in two months, and that will give me a chance to properly apply a real background. Otherwise I'll most likely just tape some on black cloth or paper. I've also been looking at this fixture at home depot: http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc...splay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053
I'd probably have to find or make a reflector, and remove the diffuser of course, but I'm still aiming to keep it lower light.
In non-aquaria news, I found a massive caterpillar outside made itself a cocoon nearly immediately. I'm almost 99% sure it's a polyphemus moth.
I guess today there's no real particular order to the pics.
Small update! Not much has changed. I had my bf move around the rock caves on the left and right. Petco was having a plant sale, so I picked up a big sword plant, a chain sword, and a crypt parva. I moved over bits of a microsword that had been floating in a different tank. The biggest leaves of the sword are pretty beat up atm, so that one was the freebie.
All of the parrot feather stem sections are sprouting, which will give me at least 17 whole new plants. Some are even sprouting two stalks.
I've read mixed things about the last chain sword and crypts, and low lighting, so we'll see what happens. If they start struggling, it'll give me an excuse to set up my 2.5 into a high light tank.
I'm not sure what to do with the driftwood on the left, since the bigger end is broken, not a straight cut. For now I tied some moss and suction cups to it and stuck it on the back of the tank.
I'm half-heartedly looking for a background. We're most likely moving in two months, and that will give me a chance to properly apply a real background. Otherwise I'll most likely just tape some on black cloth or paper. I've also been looking at this fixture at home depot: http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc...splay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053
I'd probably have to find or make a reflector, and remove the diffuser of course, but I'm still aiming to keep it lower light.
In non-aquaria news, I found a massive caterpillar outside made itself a cocoon nearly immediately. I'm almost 99% sure it's a polyphemus moth.
I guess today there's no real particular order to the pics.
