Kenny's FW adventures

Apr 14, 2008
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#1
I'm not exactly starting anew. I've had these tanks forever with so many different fish and looks but now I've finally let them go to their own devices.

40gB with tetras & cories + some other fish who I always forget about:

It may look pretty, but it lost all of it's centerpiece fish so it's just that ... no real purpose or anything really keeping it alive. It's got an AC50 filter with a dual bulb T5HO light. Plants are swords, java moss, rotala, red lotus, crypts and java ferns.

55gal with 4 goldfish, an angelfish and some catfish/other odds and ends[a SAE, some loaches and betta I think?]:

It's got a dual bulb T5HO fixture, a sunsun canister filter and an aqueon 30 filter. Plants are jungle val, crypts & anubias.

Basically this journal will follow these two tanks being combined as I've already got approval from my mom who actually owns the 40gB but is tired of it's upkeep. The tetras have lived with angelfish and the goldfish for several years[I live in Florida and my tanks stay temperate so I don't mess with heaters anymore] so that's going to be nothing new. I plan to let my FM betta[and possibly my HMPK] live out their lives before the change and probably the rainbow shark as well if not just taking him to a petstore.

I'm thinking the new tank will be atleast 75 gallons[but if I go with that footprint, I could get away with a 90gal] and will combine the plants and driftwood using gravel from both tanks[since the 40gB is mostly plant substrate, that'll stay on the bottom]. I'm not yet sure about keeping the HOB filters or just replacing the two with a canister but that's probably the best bet.

Once the new tank gets established, I'm going to either sell both the 55gal and the 40gB or upgrade the 15gal reef to the 40gB and still get rid of the 55gal.
 

FreshyFresh

Superstar Fish
Jan 11, 2013
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East Aurora, NY
#2
You don't usually see fancy goldfish along with angels and whatnot in a warm-water application, but whatever works for you!

I've always liked the overgrown look, but it can work against you sometimes. I've got a planted 10g (overgrown) that contains 8 celestial pearl danios.. Atleast I put 8 in there months ago. You barely catch a glimpse of one or two and they dart for cover. Tons of red cherry shrimp in there too.. A lone silver hatchet fish too.
 

Apr 14, 2008
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#3
Hehe, luckily my tanks tend to stay around 75 degrees so it *seems* to be pretty favorable for all my tanks. The biggest reason for combining the tetras and goldfish at this point is a simple matter that most of the tetras are 8-9 years old[same with the cories and my 40's resident evil, Iblis the BN pleco :p ] and I figure their time is up. Unfortunately, they had other plans and bred leaving me with THIS:

So I wanted to kinda bring the two tanks together to end the reproduction of the tropicals once and for all. The cories go at it every spring and fall so we constantly have an influx of those as well.

I'd love to see a picture of your 10gal! Jungle tanks are my favorite types.
 

Apr 14, 2008
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#4
Well, it's time to update this.

Things didn't go so smoothly and to plan as one would have hoped. I had my hand forced to tear down the 40gB. I figured "Oh, I'll pull out the java moss and atleast get a feel for the true work that needs to be done." That was the truth, after 4 years of this tank being stable, ironically, after some major jerks left my house the tank had went belly up. A lot of my old oldies[a 3YO neon is fatally sick, the 2 zebra danios died, the glowlight tetra & my molly] had died, my pearl gourami, Razr died, my giant fm vt betta was very lethargic and what was this? Fin rot. Infecting EVERY fish -- fin rot.

Frantically, I started scooping fish out and ended up netting everyone to put into the 55gal. Along came issues with the goldfish being in there, so those guys ended up in another tank.

All in all we ended up with:

gold marble angelfish
fm giant betta
Australian rainbowfish[last one]
panda platy[last one]
white cloud mountain minnow[last one]
congo x2, neon x5[down to 4 soon], diamond x4, von rio x3, widow x3, phantom x3, Buenos Aires x5[ugh] & Colombian x3 tetras
black kuhli x3, dojo & yoyo loaches
bristlenose x3 & clown plecos
San Juan x2, bronze/albino x7 & leopard x3 cories
synodontis, raphael & SA bumble bee catfish
rainbow shark

in a 55gal planted with a canister filter and Aqueon 30. You can tell my numbers are all over the place. A lot of species won't be refreshed in my tanks but keeping them is easier then dooming them to a pet store when they're this old & frail.

The HMPK betta and 4 fancy goldfish ended up into my planted 20gH with an AquaClear 50.

Since the 40gB was officially emptied and sanitized, the turtles got a bigger environment[as they NEED one xD]. When we get the turtles a bigger environment, I'm taking the 40 for my goldfish.
 

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CAPSLOCK

Elite Fish
Jul 19, 2004
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#5
Sorry to hear about the outbreak in the 40B. I would suspect some stuff was stirred up moving the established java fern.

How is everyone integrating into the 55g?
 

Apr 14, 2008
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#6
I would have agreed, but it started before I messed with the tank. I was actually going to clean it up to try to fix the issues and make the 40 last until Spring but I didn't have a choice. Anyways, everyone is adapting amazingly well! The first day, the shock of being moved and lethargy of being sick set in and I thought I was going to lose some in the transfer, but within that day, they started getting better. The fin rot is gone and everyone is doing great! They're making the tank look more overstocked then what it has to[although I realized in addition to the list, I forgot my SAE ... I know it's truly overstocked, but I'm unable to get rid of fish due to higher orders]. haha



Now with the goldfish, they're just big and overstocked to begin with ... I'm debating what to do with the turtles cuz I think I want the goldies to move up within the next 6 months if possible. Although I'm not quite sure why ... when these guys are gone[not that I'm saying I want to force a hand though], I want to have a shubunkin and move AWAY from delicate fancies.

 

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Apr 14, 2008
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#7
At this point, my fancies spawned and their babies survived. I upgraded all of them together to the 40gB after upgrading the turtle to the 100gal pond, of course after restarting the 50gal pond for the gambusia left from that pond[from my idiot brother who also hurt the 40gB]:



It looks kinda crappy right now, but eventually, I'll redo it "right".
The 55gal is full of plants:

and has been slowly losing fish ... the rainbow shark[who jumped, same with my also deceased yoyo loach], fm betta, panda platy, wcmm, 3 neons, 1 von rio, 1 buneos aires tetra. The 2 banded kuhlis came out of hiding so we still have 5 kuhlis all in all. I know it seems like a lot of fish, but considering that the tetras and the platy were/are between 2-5 years old each[not including the neons] ... they're about at their life spans.