First time going "solo"

[Rosebud]

Hello everyone!

I stumbled onto this site on Sunday while researching the many species of Cory cats. This is a wonderful forum!

First warning - I tend to be long-winded, LOL!

I am returning to the hobby after 13 years and this will be my first time flying solo. My husband and I started out back in 1976 with a 20 gallon aquarium of fancy guppies and raised many generations for years. After that (if memory serves) we went to mollies and platys for a short while. We then went to a planted tank (forget the size) with all types of Tetras. That was a fun tank but we got inundated with snails from the plants and then switched to plastic plants and gouramis. After that my husband wanted to go "big." He had always wanted an Oscar. I thought they were ugly but I gave in. We started with a baby about 1.5 inches in a 30 gallon and ended up with a 12 incher in a 55 gallon. He had quite the personality. His favorite "treat" was "Crave" cat food. He would get all excited when my husband would walk toward the tank with kibble in his hand and shake his hand back and forth. And he splashed a lot, LOL! Next were a pair of Jewel Cichlids and Convicts. Their behavior was very entertaining to watch - courtship, egg laying, male defending the eggs, etc.

We gave the hobby up for a while due to our work schedules. We moved into our house in 89 and before we could get our tank set up we had a breakin and they stole the 55 gallon. It was very disappointing because it was an old one with thick glass - you can't find them that thick anymore.

Fast forward to the late 90s. We bought a new 55g with cabinet/stand and 10g setup as a QT. We had problems getting the water right - kept getting excessive bloom and the LFS were not much help. We gave up. My husband was DXd with cancer and passed in 99.

So, I have been out of it for a long time and am not up on current products, methods, etc. and look forward to picking your brains and getting advice. About 5 years ago I thought I was going to set up the 55g and try again and I bought some new equipment but life happened and I never got to it. When I had a yard sale a few weeks ago and my 10 gallon did not sell, I decided it was a sign that should get back into it.

My 55g has been sitting on a dolly with equipment inside, covered with a sheet for several years. I started to paint the stand/cabinet and never finished due to a bunch of other life stuff I won't bore you with.

So, I would like to get started small with the 10 gallon and then when I am ready to set up the 55g I'll use the 10g as a QT as originally planned.

I printed out the fishless cycle document and will study that. I also plan on using sand instead of gravel - never did that before - and have live plants.

For the 55 I am hoping to have:

6 cory cats - liking the looks of trilleatus, sterbai, panda, and paleatus but still looking/researching/reading about.

1 Zodiak loach
2 (?) Clown plecos

2 schools of 2 different/small species Rainbows maybe - still not sure.

Suggestions welcome

And what can I keep in the 10 gallon? I'd like to enjoy some fish before the 55 is ready to go. Can I put in 6 of the cory cats? and the loach or a pleco?

I have a Penguin mini bio-filter for the 10g.

I have to do an inventory of the equipment I have for the 55 and will write that in another thread.

Thanks in advance for your advice.

Roxi

P.S. See, I warned you I was long-winded

 

[bruinsbro1997]

to AA!

Sounds like an awesome experience you have there!

Small rainbows that I look personally are dwarf neon rainbows and threadfins rainbows. IMO any loach or pleco is too small for a ten gallon tank. You could try pygmy cories in the ten gallon or panda cories. Along with that and some nice centerpiece fish like a betta, dwarf gourami or killifish I think it would look pretty nice!

Good luck!

 

[BBradbury]

Starting Again for the First Time

Hello Roxi...

Great story. If you find you don't like new "water keeping", you can become a writer.

Anyway, my suggestion is to use the 10 G for a doorstop and fire up that 55. It will be much easier then trying to get plants into that 10. There's no room to work and the fish will thank you a million times for not subjecting them to living in the "bathroom" when they can live in a big house.

I have several 55 Gs, I love em. I like to try different substrates and liquid ferts to see what I can grow in low tech (no CO2) and low light tanks. If you don't mind, I'll attach some picks of some of my experimental tanks.

Good luck and please keep me posted.

B

 

[Rosebud]

BB, so, I just added my comments in between yours....
Roxi

Hello Roxi...

Great story. If you find you don't like new "water keeping", you can become a writer.
LOL! I may write a comic memoir one of these days!

Anyway, my suggestion is to use the 10 G for a doorstop
Oh, now, you went and hurt the poor little guy's feelings!
and fire up that 55. It will be much easier then trying to get plants into that 10.
OK, so I'll forego the plants for now. I am antsy to get something going NOW! Major fault - when I decide to do something I want to do it right away

I like to try different substrates
what's your favorite substrate?
I'll attach some picks of some of my experimental tanks.
Beautiful!

Good luck and please keep me posted.
Thanks, and I will.

 

[Clynnking]

Welcome to AA Rosie. You aren't solo when you are here so lean on all the expert advice you will find here! I'm kinda a newbie too but wanted to say welcome. I totally agree with "jumping in head first' (well not literally) into the 55!! Skip the door stop idea-you'll stub your toe!
I'll be lurking along your way!

 

[Rosebud]

Welcome to AA Rosie.

Skip the door stop idea-you'll stub your toe!

Owwwwwwww! I do that way too often!

 

[o.jonathan.o]

Welcome to AA.
Sounds like your gonna have some fun. For the 10g it will be much more difficult to keep going due to the small amount of water, but you could do a school of neon tetras and some ghost shrimp. That would look nice and maybe a small plant in there with a nice driftwood

 

[Ickletas]

Hey and welcome I went the other way round to you, my first tank was 260 litres/ 68usg and then set up a 35l/10usg when mts got a grip of me lol. It won't take you any longer to fishless cycle the larger tank with the bonus of being able to take some of the mature media from it to "instantly" cycle your 10usg for when you want to use it as a qt. Whichever route you decide to take, best of luck and you'll get some amazing advice here.

 

[BBradbury]

BB, so, I just added my comments in between yours....
Roxi

Good morning...

I've found the plants do best with a combination of standard pea gravel and organic potting soil. The nice thing about using the pots is you can move plants around or stack them to take advantage of the lighting.

Anyway, that's just one "old waterkeeper's" opinion.

Keep pluggin' away and have some fun.

B

 

[Deckape]

Welcome and we will help anyway possible. Nice story. Thanks for sharing.

 

[redsea]

Welcome to aquarium advice! Good luck with your tank!

 

[redsea]

Oops, repeat post

 

[Rosebud]

set up a 35l/10usg when mts got a grip of me lol.

Thanks for the welcome. What is "mts?"

 

[Ickletas]

Multiple tank syndrome

 

[Rosebud]

a school of neon tetras and some ghost shrimp. That would look nice and maybe a small plant in there with a nice driftwood

Ghost shrimp creep me out, lol. They look too insect-like and also I occasionally eat shrimp......

In one of our tanks we had a couple of these tiny crabs - they were red. They were fun to watch, except sometimes they would go down the UG filter pipe. We would tie a piece of raw liver to a string and dangle it down in the pipe, in essence "fishing" for them. They would grab on, eat the liver, and we could get them out of the pipe. I have no idea how we came to use liver

One day we couldn't find one - not in the pipes, not under rocks, etc. Nowhere to be found. We were living in a little apt. that was a "mother-in-law's" quarters split into two apts. It was an old adobe with Mexican tile floor in the living room/kitchen - one big room. The entry was a set of glass french doors. We had several large plants sitting on the floor by one side of the doors. I was washing the floor one day and moved the potted plants aside and lo and behold, there was the poor little crab, dead of course, but that little guy climbed out of a 55 gallon tank and walked across the room about 14 feet. It was very sad, sniff.

 

[Rosebud]

BB,

So you're using the pean gravel and organic soil in the pots, right? And regular gravel as your tank substrate.

 

[Rosebud]

thanks for the welcome, Deckape and redsea.

Deckape, I see you are in Virginia Beach. Did you get damage from Irene?

 

[Rosebud]

BB,

So you're using the pean gravel

Uh, that was supposed to be "pea." Haven't' had my coffee yet.....

 

[BBradbury]

Pea Gravel Substrate

BB,

So you're using the pean gravel and organic soil in the pots, right? And regular gravel as your tank substrate.

Good morning...

Yep. Nothing fancy. I use plastic pots I get pretty cheaply at the local hardware store. I get the pots with the holes in the bottom to accomodate the plant roots.

I use the standard pea gravel substrate and put a little of that in the bottom of the pot. Then, I pour in some organic potting mixture and put in the plant and then a little more potting mixture and then top everything with more pea gravel. I press everything down a little to make sure the plant is secure and it's ready to go into the tank.

You have you ease the pot down into the tank water and let the pot fill slowly or you can have a real mess on your hands. Anyway, I just place the pot on the bottom or sometimes stack them to get plants closer to the light.

The potting soil fertilizes the plant for months and really gives them a head start growing. I see very few plants die back. Anyway, that's what I do.

B

 

[Rosebud]

Thanks for all the welcomes from everyone. I have been reading many of the posts in both the "General" and "Getting Started" sections for the last couple of days. I am going to begin my own thread in the "Getting Started" section. Please look for me there. I will be needing lots of advice!!!!