my aquarium

Lucky_13 · 09-29-2007, 07:03 PM

I'm very lucky to work across the street from one of the best local fish stores ever. it is owned by one of the most respected and knowledgeable fish people on several of the boards i frequent. it means she always has the coolest, hardest to find fishes that none of the chain stores carry. in my 20 gallon tank, i have 3

Here is the whole tank after a recent rescape. the water is yellow because of tannic acid released from peat moss i keep in the filter, and my change water. I keep a 5 gallon bucket beside the tank filled with tap water and a few handfulls of peat moss with a heater and air stone in it to keep it circulating. the peat moss lowers the pH because all the fish in this tank prefer a lower pH.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...s/SANY0941.jpg

here is my male Checkerboard Cichlid (Dicrossus filamentosus). My female died and I'm waiting for a new shipment to get another one or two or three..... the male is still young, so he's not nearly as pretty as he will be.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...s/SANY0927.jpg

These little buggers are Ember Tetras (Hyphessobrycon amandae) they're really hard to photograph and my camera took so long to take a picture with the flash off they were out of the picture or blurry by the time it took the picture, so i had to turn the flash on so they're kind of washed out.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...s/SANY0936.jpg

and finally, my giant blue fan shrimp (Atya gabonensis) this is a shrimp that gets about 6" long. it is a peaceful, harmless filter feeder with fan-like apendages in place of claws that filter tiny particles out of the water column.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...s/SANY0838.jpg

Durbkat · 09-29-2007, 08:38 PM

Awesome tank! I'm a fish lover as well, I got a 55g, long 20g, 10g and two 2.5g tanks.

But those are pristella tetras not Ember Tetras.

But I guess they go by different names. I know what you mean about how hard they are to take photos of. I spent 30 min trying to take pics of mine! lol

This is the best picture I was ever able to take of them. lol

rosemaryninja · 09-30-2007, 07:49 AM

I love your tetras. I'm very interested in aquariums as well; I have two 2.5 G tanks as well as a 5 G. No big tanks for me anytime soon.

Lucky_13 · 09-30-2007, 08:48 AM

believe me, i do NOT have pristilla tetras. the photos do not do them justice. they won't get bigger than 5/8" long and become a bright red/orange all over their bodies. pristilla tetras get much larger, almost 2" and are silver with a yellow and white tipped dorsal fin.

here is a better picture of an ember tetra

Durbkat · 09-30-2007, 08:51 AM

Oh, the pics made them look like pristella tetras because they looked silver and looked like they had a yellow fin tip.

War · 10-01-2007, 09:01 AM

Very nice setup! I used to have an aquarium years ago.I had Oscars and Jack Demseys in there . It was enjoyable but when I relocated to a different state, I had to rehome them so my brother got the entire crew.
Now that my roots are planted firmly here I may get another aquarium but I'm in no hurry to do that just yet .

BellaPup · 10-06-2007, 10:40 PM

I used to have 4 freshwater tanks…if you count the quarantine tank.

I had (before our landlord sold the house) a 55 long, a 29 high, 10 gallon and a 5 quarantine.

The fish I loved the most were my Cichlids. They have so much personality! I had 3 African’s and 3 Tanganyikan’s (sp?) (they said it couldn’t be done, but they lived in healthy harmony for 5 years). I also had 2 Blue-eyed Pleco’s…they were SO neat!!

Unfortunately, I came home from work one day and half the tank water was on my floor. I saved as much as I could (even took some out of the 29 “Tetra Tank” in desperation before running to WalMart for the biggest container I could find!), but some didn’t make it after the new water was added. I lost one Pleco, and two Tanganyikan Cichlids.

Then our landlord decided to sell the house we had been in for 20 years (new house couldn’t fit a 55 gal tank). So, my manager at the time said I could bring the tank to work! Cool!! All the fish made it (one person had to get rid of his fish after a move, so those got a new home, too!)

But the fish got The Pink Slip from the new CEO a year later. I had to give them away. I hear they are doing well, though!

I still have a 29 where I am, but it isn’t the same…I miss my Cichlids

workingdog · 10-11-2007, 06:41 PM

I'm a fish keeper too, right now i have fancy goldfish but next summer want to get another tank.Here are my fish black moor, lion head and red cap oranda.