canister filter and a Marineland Emperor 400
power filter. That was a pretty freaking good deal. So we piled everything into our Suburban, and drove home. Once I got it all out of of the back, I took a good look at what I had.
The gravel was that bright blue and green junk, and half of it was poop. Literally. Some of it even looked like rodent poo? I don't know, but everything was also covered in a bunch of lime and the bio-wheels on the Emperor were covered in hair. The Fluval was missing a few pieces, and one of the decorations was broken. But none of that really mattered to me; I got my tank. It took me about a week of scrubbing with Soft Scrub bleach and a copper brush to get most of the lime off; not all of it would come off though, even with a razor. I looked in the drawer and found two 200-watt heaters, a broken impeller for the Fluval, and salt wheels. Last I checked, salt wheels were for rodents. There was even a guinea pig on the packaging. Oh well. My mom took me to the Aviarium, a fish and bird store about 5 minutes from the Aquarium Store, and I got some new bio-wheels for the Emperor.
I set up the tank in the end of June and had to prime the Emperor manually. I set up that filter, since it's good for up to 80 gallons, because I couldn't find a place to get parts for the Fluval except online. Once the dust from the gravel settled down, I put Setsuki in the tank, to start the cycle of course. I still had the old filter cartridge from the ten gallon, so I put that in the new (oldddd) filter and let it sit for a week to try and seed the new cartridges with bacteria.
After about a week, I took four tiger barbs from the 20 long, and put them in the new tank. Since they were in such a small school now, they started harassing Setsuki, and I found her dead under a rock after three days. I was pretty sad, she had such a great personality. You might think I'm weird, because "it's just a fish" but you obviously don't understand that a fish is a pet, and pets are family. So with her gone, I added the rest of the barbs to the tank.
They were pretty excited to be a big group again. They love racing each other across the length of the tank, then begging for food after a few laps. It's the reason I got tiger barbs in the first place – they're very hardy, so they're great for beginners and they've got a great group personality. They don't do well in small groups (I'd say at least 6) and they terrorize slow fish and long-finned fish.
Anyway, I bought six otocinclus catfish (thought I'd try my luck with a bigger tank, and more knowledge about the species) and four green tiger barbs from PetCo. Of course some of the otos had ick, so I decided to use the recently empty 20 long as a quarantine. I threw all the new fish into the tank (which had algae covering everything), gave them a ten-day feeder block and left them for a week. I had one oto die during quarantine, which was expected. I moved the fish into the 55 once the ick was gone.
The green tiger barbs had been really pale while in quarantine, and after they moved into the 55, they colored up very nicely. All the tiger barbs (12 now) love eating frozen beefheart, frozen brine shrimp, and freeze-dried and frozen bloodworms. They also love algae wafers, which I think is really odd since they're carnivores.
I decided it was time to ditch another tank, so I moved my cory catfish to the 55 from the 20 tall, and posted an ad for the tank on Craig's List. The pleco had died since the cory cats were faster than him at getting to the food; Rowdy died on the same day, but I never figured out why. I sold the tank with the gravel, the wood decoration, the hood/light, and the filter. I always just keep my heaters. So I got $50 out of it, and the same day I had to sell it, it still had my swordtails in it. So I took them out, brought them over to the Aquarium Store, and sold them for $1 each.
I was looking through the fish that they had in stock, and I saw some Bolivian rams. I had always wanted some German Blues, but I decided I would get a pair of Bolivians. They were $9 each, so I tried to pick the healthiest ones; they were all really skinny. So I took them home and acclimated them to the 55 while the 20 tall was emptying. Later that day, I met the buyer and handed off my third fish tank near the middle of July.
I did a bunch of research on the Bolivians once I got home, and found out that they're really sensitive to nitrates. This may be a problem for me since I'm not too keen on weekly water changes, it's more a monthly hassle to me. So I moved the empty 20 long up to where the 20 tall had been, and I decided it was my time to try a planted aquarium.
Anyway, I bought six otocinclus catfish (thought I'd try my luck with a bigger tank, and more knowledge about the species) and four green tiger barbs from PetCo. Of course some of the otos had ick, so I decided to use the recently empty 20 long as a quarantine. I threw all the new fish into the tank (which had algae covering everything), gave them a ten-day feeder block and left them for a week. I had one oto die during quarantine, which was expected. I moved the fish into the 55 once the ick was gone.
The green tiger barbs had been really pale while in quarantine, and after they moved into the 55, they colored up very nicely. All the tiger barbs (12 now) love eating frozen beefheart, frozen brine shrimp, and freeze-dried and frozen bloodworms. They also love algae wafers, which I think is really odd since they're carnivores.
I decided it was time to ditch another tank, so I moved my cory catfish to the 55 from the 20 tall, and posted an ad for the tank on Craig's List. The pleco had died since the cory cats were faster than him at getting to the food; Rowdy died on the same day, but I never figured out why. I sold the tank with the gravel, the wood decoration, the hood/light, and the filter. I always just keep my heaters. So I got $50 out of it, and the same day I had to sell it, it still had my swordtails in it. So I took them out, brought them over to the Aquarium Store, and sold them for $1 each.
I was looking through the fish that they had in stock, and I saw some Bolivian rams. I had always wanted some German Blues, but I decided I would get a pair of Bolivians. They were $9 each, so I tried to pick the healthiest ones; they were all really skinny. So I took them home and acclimated them to the 55 while the 20 tall was emptying. Later that day, I met the buyer and handed off my third fish tank near the middle of July.
I did a bunch of research on the Bolivians once I got home, and found out that they're really sensitive to nitrates. This may be a problem for me since I'm not too keen on weekly water changes, it's more a monthly hassle to me. So I moved the empty 20 long up to where the 20 tall had been, and I decided it was my time to try a planted aquarium.
