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TCool

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Mar 4, 2010
Messages
166
Location
Madison, WI
Hi everyone,

I stumbled across this site while doing some research for my aquarium. I have had a tank for about 6 years now; started with a 20 and about 4 years ago got a 55 gallon. I have to admit though that I never really took the time to educate myself and learned things the hard way (losing fish). I haven't lost a fish in quite some time, but after really getting back into the hobby (as opposed to neglecting my tank as I have done quite often in the past few years) I realize how lucky I am. I haven't kept up on water changes and testing, so now that I've finally educated myself I can't believe that my fish are still alive. I guess I just got lucky.

I just about got rid of my tank a couple weeks ago, but decided instead to drop about $300 into it and now I'm hooked again. :p I got a new hood that covers the entire tank because some of my fish liked to splash the wall (and me) through the holes in the back where my HOB filters were. So, since I got that new hood I had to buy a new in tank filter and got a Rio 2100 that filters 690gph. I knew a little bit about bio filters so the reason I started researching more was because I was worried about how to switch filters and not destroy my bio filter (which I think I ended up doing anyway, but not sure because I don't have the proper test equipment because I've been dumb the past few years). I took my bio sponges out of one of my old filters and wrapped one around my air stone and jammed the other between my internal filter and the side of the glass in hopes that this would help to boost the bio filter.

Because of the valuable information I've gotten from this site I learned enough that I have an AP master test kit on the way and a cheap version of the python (aqueon-I hope this works). So, thanks for that info.

Anyway, the reason I'm telling all this is(besides introducing myself) because I'm hoping to get some input into how I'm starting to do things now. I probably should've looked into all this before purchasing my new equipment, but like I said before I'm dumb sometimes. So, anything anyone sees that I'm still doing wrong, please let me know, I can handle it. :)

Oh yeah, here are the fish I have and how long ago I got them (and hoping its not too much for my tank):
2 Silver Tipped Sharks (4 years)
2 Bala Sharks (4 years)
1 Angel Fish (4 years)
1 Pleco (At least 6 years)
2 Rainbow Sharks (4 years)
1 Knife Fish (about 1 year)
2 Pictus Catfish (about 1 year)

And my new fish I got less than a month ago(yeah I was dumb enough to start looking into this stuff after putting in new fish):
1 Peacock Eel (at least I hope he's still in there, bugger is good at hiding).
1 African Leaf Fish (I think that's what its called)
3 Silver Dollar Fish

Now, what I don't want you to do is tell me my tank is so overstocked that I have to go out and buy a 200 gallon tank. ;)

Here are some pictures of my tank. All the ones in this album are old pictures.
Fish Tank pictures by tcoltz - Photobucket

Here are a bunch from today:
3-04-10 pictures by tcoltz - Photobucket
 
Welcome to AA! Can't say much as to stocking as I'm more a salty, but the pics are pretty good. I would switch out the gravel for sand though.

Thanks! I'm glad you think the pics are cool. I actually think my tank looks kind of lame because I don't have any really cool stuff for aquascaping or the creativity to come up with something cool. I'm gonna try to hunt down some cool rocks at the local state park some time this spring and see if I can spice it up a bit.

I had sand when I had my 20 gallon tank, but got rid of it because it was constantly getting kicked up and causing the filter to get loud. But, since I got my internal filter I was thinking about going back to sand because it looks really cool. I'd imagine sand would be better for plants. Am I correct? I'm sure it'd be better on the eel that likes to bury itself in the gravel. I've read that can cause the slime coating to be rubbed off and can cause injury. I've tried to build hiding spots for it so it'd stop doing that, but been unsuccessful so far at making something it likes. My only issue with switching to sand is that the last time I bought the stuff it was fairly expensive, and that was only for a 20 gallon. I'm kinda low on money right now, so switching back to sand will probably take a while.
 
Welcome to AA :)

Oh yeah, here are the fish I have and how long ago I got them (and hoping its not too much for my tank):
2 Silver Tipped Sharks (4 years)
2 Bala Sharks (4 years)
1 Angel Fish (4 years)
1 Pleco (At least 6 years)
2 Rainbow Sharks (4 years)
1 Knife Fish (about 1 year)
2 Pictus Catfish (about 1 year)
1 Peacock Eel (at least I hope he's still in there, bugger is good at hiding).
1 African Leaf Fish (I think that's what its called)
3 Silver Dollar Fish

The fish in bold should be rehomed. The bala sharks, well they get huge and a 55g is just not big enough for them. They need lots of swimming room and lots of water volume. Same goes for the pleco, assuming it is a common pleco. Ill dig up a pic of one about 3' long if I can find it. The knife fish, assuming you're talking about a black ghost knife, will also get huge, and should not be kept in anything smaller than a 75g. The silver dollars, well, they get huge too. All these fish are really neat when they're little, but if you keep them in such a small tank, they will eventually, if not already, outgrow the tank, causing lots of problems. The bioload these fish produce is also quite large, especially compared to other fish of similar size. HTH
 
Welcome to AA :)



The fish in bold should be rehomed. The bala sharks, well they get huge and a 55g is just not big enough for them. They need lots of swimming room and lots of water volume. Same goes for the pleco, assuming it is a common pleco. Ill dig up a pic of one about 3' long if I can find it. The knife fish, assuming you're talking about a black ghost knife, will also get huge, and should not be kept in anything smaller than a 75g. The silver dollars, well, they get huge too. All these fish are really neat when they're little, but if you keep them in such a small tank, they will eventually, if not already, outgrow the tank, causing lots of problems. The bioload these fish produce is also quite large, especially compared to other fish of similar size. HTH

They are all still fairly small and haven't grown in some time. I'm assuming it is ok to keep them in the 55 until they get bigger if I can keep the water quality good (correct?). I do plan on getting a bigger tank (hopefully this summer). I'd like to move up to at least a 100 gallon, but probably not any bigger since I still live in a pretty small apartment.
 
hello and welcome here. i saw your knife fish or black ghost knife.its colour is vanishes,now it is *** colour...
 
Welcome to AA!

Since you asked us not to, I won't comment on your stocking. I will say, however, that you should go buy a 200 gallon tank anyway whether you're over- or under- stocked! Bigger is Better! haha!!!
 
Welcome to AA!

Since you asked us not to, I won't comment on your stocking. I will say, however, that you should go buy a 200 gallon tank anyway whether you're over- or under- stocked! Bigger is Better! haha!!!

LOL, some day I'll have a bigger one than that. :p

But for now, I barely have enough room in my apt for me, so I think I'll stick to a 100 gallon (as soon as I have money to get it). :lol!:
 
Welcome to AA! Can't say much as to stocking as I'm more a salty, but the pics are pretty good. I would switch out the gravel for sand though.

So, I took your advice and swapped out the gravel and replaced it with sand. I decided to go with brown play sand because it was cheap. I like how white looks better, but you can't argue with 50lbs for $3. :p
 
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