I finaly got a tank again!!!!

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Fish Kid

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Jan 16, 2007
Messages
73
Location
Bellbrook OH
im realy rather excited.... i havent had a fish tank in a long time due to the move from minnesota to Ohio..... so just about a month ago, i set up a 30gal hex tank. (just to get ready for my big one) Lately ive started stocking it and im realy quite impressed with how good its doing... For those of you who dont know (im sure very few of you have read my past topics) im in the prosess of building a realy big tank.... (8 feet long, 4 feet tall) out of plexy with a steel frame. and anyway.... im making it a native Ohio stream tank... and i set this hex tank up with similar stocking plans as the big one... just obviously scaled down a bit :)

I currently have

4 rainbow darters (3 female 1 male)
2 barred fantail darters (very young and of unknown gender)
2 central mottled sculpins (of unknown gender)
2 crayfish (i dont realy have the patience to figure these out) both under an inch long
est* 20-30 bluntnose minnows, that are all about a half an inch long

I have caught all of these in small nets in several local parks. (yes ive checked to make sure this isnt illegal) So far ive had these fish for about 2 weeks... and im happy to say i have no casualties... im feeding them blood worms every other day to every three days (depending) and they all seem to be getting along great... im realy sorry to say that i cant show you pictures at the moment (trust me i have plenty) because i seem to have lost my USB cable to plug in my camera.... :oops: sooo... that kinda sucks...

well i dont know exactly why i posted this topic... just felt like talking about my new tank... so bye! if you have any questions about anything... im always happy to.... well ramble about random things... so just yell at me!
 
Congrats on the tank and I (and many others) are very interested in seeing your huge tank once built and setup. Now a couple questions:

- Is the tank cycled? Do you have a reliable liquid reagent test kit for ammonia, nitrIte, nitrAte? If not get an Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Fresh Water Master test kit. Should be between $12-20 and many of us use it for quick reliable results.

-What is your water change schedule? You have quite a large number of fish in there and probably will require more frequent water changes (especially as the minnows get larger). If you are not cycled, I'd seriously consider putting most/all back where you got them from, cycling the tank and then restocking. Since you didn't purchase them its another excuse to go fishing!

-Crayfish are crafty hunters and climbers. Make sure your top is sealed well or you will find them on the ground. They will probably over time eat/wound a good number of the fish in the tank. If you decide to keep them together with the fish constant monitoring for wounded/dead fish is needed (otherwise disease and toxic build up could wipe out your tank)

HTH
 
Well sorry it took me so long to respond... but i was a little busy the last few days... so well here it goes... (i found my camera cable btw)

yes the tank is (or was) cycled... i know all about the cycling prosess... so yes that was done before i introduced any fish to the tank. I do not however have a liquid test kit, i just use a quick dip test strip set...... yeah i know its not as reliable... but it'll do.... i'll probably buy one within the week though....

well right now im just doing a 50% water change weekly.... i think thats enough? becuase the fish in ohio streams (or at least the ones that i have) are very tollerent of... well anything.

yes i know the risks of having the crayfish..... and well im actualy very suprised that they are doing as well as they are..... i mean..... the only problems ive had with them is when i first put them in the tank they killed one of the smallest minnows in there....but since then ive kept them fairly well fed... and they seem to be much more interested in the bloodworms sitting on the bottom than the fast swimming minnows and even faster darters..... so i hope that i will not have any more problems from here on out!

well i believe ive answered your questions...... um about the large tank im making.... (just an update) the guy that's making it for me has FINALY found the time to do it..... and the frame and tank should be constructed by the end of next week!!! ive been waiting for a long time now.... and i cant believe the end is now in sight! so ill let you guys know if anything happens with that soon...
thanks!
 
50% water change per week is definitely enough.

Since your crayfish are so small, they probably won't do any damage yet. That won't always be the case when they get larger.

(btw, could you calm down with the ellipses? :mrgreen: )
 
ok im sorry its became a habit. yeah, i just about did it again. when ever i'd pause if i were talking, i do the whole ... thing. so, im sorry if its annoying, ill try not to do it so much. k? k (im slightly OCD) so when i do something like that for a while, it just becomes something i always do. what i mean by that is, im pretty sure i dont ACTUALY have OCD but i do have many signs that would point to it.... so i'll try

oh yeah! im trying to upload thoughs pictures, but it says they're all too big. So i need to resize them, and then ill put them on here.
 
Be a bit careful of the sculplins. I'm keeping them (and can connect you with someone who keeps many and regularly breeds them), but they can go long term without eating and can be slow to figure out that anything that isn't crawling may not be food...if you see them eat it's probably ok though.
 
When full grown those sculpins could be problems with eating some of your darters. Most sculpins I have kept were in species only and really ate about anyting they could. All those fish are really going to love current. You plan on using several powerheads.

On fish selection you are going to have some fun if you want. I would rather select other fish than the bullnoses for color reasons but part of the fun is collecting what you can. What fish are you planning on adding to this Ohio stream tank? The Southern Redbelly Dace or Black Dace would be nice to add for the breeding male colors. Cenral Mudminnows are a keen litle fish also. Black stripe topminnows and brook sticklebacks could also be added. With that big tank what big guys are you looking to add. The problem is that all the big guys for the most part are going to eat everything that they can so you end up with essentially a predator tank. Some of the "sunfish" will do but even they will snack here and there on smaller fish.
 
Fish Kid said:
oh yeah! im trying to upload thoughs pictures, but it says they're all too big. So i need to resize them, and then ill put them on here.

I like www.photolocker.net for my pictures. I put all my pics there and then just copy the link with the image button:

 
sorry it took so long for me to respond. (i went to Norris Lake Tennessee for the weekend)

Well as far as the sculpins go, i dont know if im even going to keep them. Because, well i dont know from experience, but ive heard they may be aggressive? They seem to be very unfriendly with the minnows. (nipping at them as they swim by) And with about 30 little minnows in there. They swim by often. lol. Im sorry, but Sidi i didnt quite understand what you were saying there. Were you saying that they DO eat anything that crawls, or that they WONT eat anything that crawls??? Im going to guess that its the first choice.....

Yes i will have PLENTY of current in my big tank. I appologize for not exlpaining in this topic, but the tank is actualy a lot smaller than I made it seem. You see, it is in fact 8'x4' but the tank is actualy in an "L" shape, well if you rotate it 90 degrees to the right. so there is actualy only about a 4'x2' area of water (the bottom part of the rotated L) and the top part (8'x2') is going to be land. So really I have a Paludarium type thing going on here.... So i will actualy only have about 70 gallons of water? (i dont know if thats right) because of the plans i have set out. I think i have the whole plan written out in my profile... so i guess if you'r really interested you could check there? O! or better yet, Ill copy past it.

well, never mind. I dont have a very good discription on that. Ssooooo, ill write a new one!

First off theres going to be a rather large pump (not quite sure on the specific gph yet, but upwards of 1000) that will bring water to an oak waterfall in the top right corner of the tank, this will come down about a foot to a little pool that will drain into rapids down to the main pool. (about 60-70 gal) against the back wall in the left corner will be a really big tree stump that i found near a river.... (i guess i need to put a picture of that up too) (dont worry im aware of all the proper safety messures to make sure the wood wont be toxic to the tank)

wow....... this is getting to be a really long reply. Well the reason im going with the fish i have now, is simply because at the moment. Thats all i can find. So, yeah. I will surely be adding much more colorfull fish (to the big tank) once they are found!! but at the moment thats all i can do, o'well.

Sorry but im still having problems with pictures, so ill get them on here as soon as possible. (i have some in my gallery)

Thanks to all of you replying!
 
Hey, I'd love to see any plans you have for your tank-in-the-making - any chance you can post any concept drawings or plans? Sounds really interesting (ellipsis deleted :D )
 
thank you! (for the complement and the idea)

here's a pic of the male rainbow

n603959992_81012_7964.jpg


this is when he was still in my little QT
 
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