Post by koffee on Jun 4, 2006 15:07:33 GMT -5
We (my wife and I) currently have 5 aquariums:
29g with 3 large goldfish and a small sailfin pleco in the living room. There are no plants.
An Eclipse 6 in the master bathroom with a clown pleco, a badis badis (the other one recently died) a wood shrimp. Plants in this tank are: a lot of java moss, anubias barteri v. nana, and crypt wendtii (bronze, I think) in a sand substrate.
My wife has a 10g "community" tank, with platys, two dwarf puffers, an otto, an aquatic frog, a zebra snail, and maybe something else. This tank is in the living room. All plants are artifical. I maintain this tank, and have veto power over what she can put in. She scares me. <grin> Washing decorations in the dishwasher as part of once in a while maintenance and still having critters that survive for quite a while in an over crowded tank. Now she has a decent tank she is happy with, and has critters that are in a decent environment.
This is her tank:
I have a 20g which is actually underneath the stand for my 29g in my bedroom. I am incredibly pleased with how this tank is doing, athough one of the anubias is looking a bit sad, so I probably need to work on the fertilization. This is a very recent picture of that tank:
Now, I don't think you have to know anything about fish to see a basic difference between those two tanks. That's why my wife's tank is my wife's tank, even though I take care of it.
The 20g was actually Chica's home when we first got it, and was already too small for the iguana. Now it is home to a small school of Choprae Danios, some Rosey Barbs (still small) and Cherry Barbs, a true SAE, an Otto or two, a Zebra snail (da bomb!), and a clown pleco. You can actually see a bunch of these fish, though they are mostly blurs and reflections. Plants are wsteria, a bit of java fern, and anubias (nana and coffeefolia). There are also a bunch of lilly bulbs in there, but they never really took.
This tank started as a 10g, and has the light raised up because of the location. The whole short story is here: www.bodiless.org/aqua/10g-planted.htm.
The guppies went long before I got rid of my carniverous fish and the tank grew into a jungle. It was wild but, I think, successful. Because of the open top, I thought lilies would be perfect once I aquired the 20g. So, I redid it switching to Flourabase (or something like it). I put in a small bunch of wisteria just until the lilies took.
Well, they didn't, but you can see that the Wisteria did. It is spreading out wonderfully on its own, albeit slowly since this is a low-tech tank. Lighting is one standard 10g flourescent hood and one standard 10g dual-screw-in hoods with coil-type flourescent bulbs.
Last but not least, here is my "main" 29g tank. This is the one that started it all, and has been through quite an evolution. Currently, it has taken a down turn, but I'm working on that. This pic is from last November:
That's when I still had my green terror. I knew they would eventually dig up plants, but when I got her, I had no idea that I would enjoy and do so well with plants, and one day move to soil substrate and low-tech, etc.
The tank currently holds a koi angel, a school of rasboras, a couple of true SAEs and a few ottos, a zebra snail (you saw that one coming by now), 2 sterbae cories (just lost #3), a clown pleco, a starynight (or starlight) pleco, and a pair of badis reuber. Plants are in actual soil, with some gravel to hold it down, and include numerous crypts and anubias with a few miscellaneous things.
Soil substrates and breaking the inch-per-gallon rule of thumb are advanced concepts and not for beginners. So please do your own research before using my tanks as an example. I would be happy to answer questions, of course... simply saying just don't take my word for it. I'm far from an expert!
29g with 3 large goldfish and a small sailfin pleco in the living room. There are no plants.
An Eclipse 6 in the master bathroom with a clown pleco, a badis badis (the other one recently died) a wood shrimp. Plants in this tank are: a lot of java moss, anubias barteri v. nana, and crypt wendtii (bronze, I think) in a sand substrate.
My wife has a 10g "community" tank, with platys, two dwarf puffers, an otto, an aquatic frog, a zebra snail, and maybe something else. This tank is in the living room. All plants are artifical. I maintain this tank, and have veto power over what she can put in. She scares me. <grin> Washing decorations in the dishwasher as part of once in a while maintenance and still having critters that survive for quite a while in an over crowded tank. Now she has a decent tank she is happy with, and has critters that are in a decent environment.
This is her tank:
I have a 20g which is actually underneath the stand for my 29g in my bedroom. I am incredibly pleased with how this tank is doing, athough one of the anubias is looking a bit sad, so I probably need to work on the fertilization. This is a very recent picture of that tank:
Now, I don't think you have to know anything about fish to see a basic difference between those two tanks. That's why my wife's tank is my wife's tank, even though I take care of it.
The 20g was actually Chica's home when we first got it, and was already too small for the iguana. Now it is home to a small school of Choprae Danios, some Rosey Barbs (still small) and Cherry Barbs, a true SAE, an Otto or two, a Zebra snail (da bomb!), and a clown pleco. You can actually see a bunch of these fish, though they are mostly blurs and reflections. Plants are wsteria, a bit of java fern, and anubias (nana and coffeefolia). There are also a bunch of lilly bulbs in there, but they never really took.
This tank started as a 10g, and has the light raised up because of the location. The whole short story is here: www.bodiless.org/aqua/10g-planted.htm.
The guppies went long before I got rid of my carniverous fish and the tank grew into a jungle. It was wild but, I think, successful. Because of the open top, I thought lilies would be perfect once I aquired the 20g. So, I redid it switching to Flourabase (or something like it). I put in a small bunch of wisteria just until the lilies took.
Well, they didn't, but you can see that the Wisteria did. It is spreading out wonderfully on its own, albeit slowly since this is a low-tech tank. Lighting is one standard 10g flourescent hood and one standard 10g dual-screw-in hoods with coil-type flourescent bulbs.
Last but not least, here is my "main" 29g tank. This is the one that started it all, and has been through quite an evolution. Currently, it has taken a down turn, but I'm working on that. This pic is from last November:
That's when I still had my green terror. I knew they would eventually dig up plants, but when I got her, I had no idea that I would enjoy and do so well with plants, and one day move to soil substrate and low-tech, etc.
The tank currently holds a koi angel, a school of rasboras, a couple of true SAEs and a few ottos, a zebra snail (you saw that one coming by now), 2 sterbae cories (just lost #3), a clown pleco, a starynight (or starlight) pleco, and a pair of badis reuber. Plants are in actual soil, with some gravel to hold it down, and include numerous crypts and anubias with a few miscellaneous things.
Soil substrates and breaking the inch-per-gallon rule of thumb are advanced concepts and not for beginners. So please do your own research before using my tanks as an example. I would be happy to answer questions, of course... simply saying just don't take my word for it. I'm far from an expert!
Thanks again!
