Fish gone now what do I do with the 25 Gallon

[F-18 TECH]

Well some bad news; My Juli's are dead. I have been having a string of bad luck lately and am beginning to have doubts about my abilities as a fish keeper. This time however I think it is not my fault. The heater , an ebojager 100, was knocked by a large rock in the tank cand caused a thermal overload of the element in the heater. So several days later the fish succame to the stress of having a tank temperature of almost 100 degrees F. Well this loss bummed me out until I thought HEY I have an empty tank to do with as I will. So what do I will . I am thinking of mabe planting the tank or mabey something else. Give me some Ideas please I am bummed and need something to occupy my time.
Thanks

 

[joannde]

Oh my - how horrible - I'm so sorry for your loss.

I've finally decided to plant my tank and it certainly does give one alot to think about and toy with. It will definitely keep your mind busy. I've finally finished my aquascaping plan and should be buying the plants within a day or two. This is definitely going to be different than anything I've ever done.

Planted is definitely an option.

Go read some of LoneWolfBoy's posts about breeding rams - that would be different also ! and it sounds highly interesting.

Hope you feel better soon !

 

[Alshain]

Pick yourself up and try again. Mistakes like that happen unfortunately. Planted tanks are nice because they help avoid the ammonia spikes.

 

[F-18 TECH]

Sounds great guys keep the ideas coming. Planted sounds interesting, I have attempted this before with bad results, however now I can take my time. Keep the ideas coming I am already feeling better.

 

[joannde]

How about we start with something that interests YOU ? give us a start and we'll take off from there

 

[Alshain]

Yeah the most important thing is if it intrests you. But, if you are interested in trying plants again, check out some of the links in the planted forum. You may have not had success due to lack of light for a strong light plant or even lack of light for a low light plant. Thats usually the culprit, also take a look at the threads on fertilizers and CO2 injection.

 

[Burks]

You could do a heavily planted shrimp tank, if you like shrimp that is.

 

[Alshain]

yeah I hadn't thought about it but you could do a non-fish tank too. Turtles, crabs, frogs. Or if you want a low water terrerium, hermit crabs are fun.

 

[joannde]

Funny - I was going to say "how about an all invert tank" - shrimp, snails and plants .... I'll bet that could be cool. You could even breed the shrimp. There are so many different types of interesting varieties of fw shrimp - I'd bet that would be VERY interesting. In fact, I was thinking that maybe I'd give that a shot myself since I recently found a 20 gal in the attic.

 

[F-18 TECH]

My intrests in aquaria include the all the african ciclids, some of the south american cichlids, planted tanks however I have had almost no luck with this. I have many interests in all fish and have had good luck with most types. I posted this thread to get some different ideas that all of you have wanted to do in your aquariums but have not had the room or time. So go nuts I espically like the last few posts very creative. Keep it coming!
Thank you

 

[joannde]

How about just playing with the decor ? Instead of artificial items that are made to look real just go WAY artificial and put some really colorful fish in the tank - flashy guppies or dwarf neon rainbowfish or just a single "more unusual" fish (we'll think of something !).

I'm thinking things like ceramic vases or ceramic dollhouse furniture - or something that looks like an office - something totally off the wall and (frankly) WEIRD ! You'd just have to be careful with the ceramics to make sure they they are all safe - anything that's made with food safe glaze will work.

You could also do something similar with blown glass items - you could call it "the ice castle" or something like that ! I can't imagine glass items not being aquarium safe but you'd have to do some research to confirm.

 

[F-18 TECH]

I was also thinking about doing something with concrete and tubes. Molding the concrete around the tubes making a funky design. Include this with live plants may make something cool

 

[joannde]

that would be cute - but I think concrete will raise the pH so you'd need to be careful. You could certainly do something with PVC pipe and tie java moss or use aquarium safe silicone to "glue" on pebbles. You could use endcaps to close off the pipes so that the fish don't get lost in them.