Newer Home/Aquarium Owner in Nebraska

[ShadowFox]

Hey guys, my name is Jake. I recently (< 2 years ago) bought my first home, which included 2 built in fish tanks. The first is a 110g Freshwater that is mainly stocked with community fish, and the second is a 75g with mainly Convict Cichlids, and one bright orange Cichlid, but I am unsure of the type.

Growing up, my father had a 55g freshwater with basically WalMart community fish (guppies, tetras, silver dollars), but I never really had much interaction with it other than throwing tetra flakes in every now and again and watching my dog jump at the fish. Now that I have grown up and bought my own house with built in tanks, I am wishing that I had paid more attention to how my dad took care of the tank.

Everything I currently know about aquariums has been through trial-and-error and google searches. Unfortunately over my trials for the past ~2 years, I have lost some fish, but gained a lot of knowledge compared to where I was on Day 1. My reason for getting on this forum is to hopefully increase my aquarium know-how, be a more responsible fish owner, and hopefully take on some aquarium DIY projects that really make my tanks enjoyable for me and everyone that sees them.

Thank you for the patience in advance!

 

[Laeris]

Yay!! That sounds fantastic! I am so glad you decided to reg here

 

[Fresh2o]

Welcome to AA! Glad you found us.


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[coralbandit]

Welcome to AA!
You got two good sized tanks there!
We accept pictures in trade for advice....

 

[Brookster123]

Hello hi hey!

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[Laeris]

+1 on shameless pic begging.

 

[ShadowFox]

I don't have any good pictures of my aquarium yet, as learning what all the water parameters mean and keeping fish alive have been frustrating me through the first year or so, but here are a couple of the pictures that showed the house listing when I bought it:

 

[ShadowFox]

I appreciate the warm welcome, and I am sure that I will lean on you guys pretty hard throughout this winter and beyond. I have been exhausting the internet looking up DIY aquarium projects, and have even started making styrofoam/quickcrete decorations, and hopefully my sandfall idea will work. I would eventually like to switch my 110g in the kitchen/living room to Saltwater, but I would like to get freshwater figured out before I take the leap.

 

[Heck09]

I don't have any good pictures of my aquarium yet, as learning what all the water parameters mean and keeping fish alive have been frustrating me through the first year or so, but here are a couple of the pictures that showed the house listing when I bought it:

Super jealous of the built in tanks


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[ShadowFox]

Finally got a picture of my 110g today. Had a couple fluorescent bulbs burn out. Old bulbs were 40w T8s, but I didnt know the color...so I guessed 5000k. Also, I could only find 32w in my local Lowes. Different light than I am used to, but not bad. Old ones I'm guessing were 6000k.

 

[coralbandit]

Tank looks Great!!!
5-10k is all good for lights.
Most for plants are in the 6000(6500) range....
That clown loach looks super thin!!
Feed him more!!
Let some food sit on the bottom for him....
You'll know in a couple days if it is too much...

 

[ShadowFox]

Thanks! The clown caught some kind of sickness about 10 days ago. He thinned out a lot and got white patches on his sides. They didn't look fuzzy, but more like an old sweat stained baseball hat. I immediately went to my local nonchain fish store and asked for advice. They sent me home with some meds they gave me for free, with instructions to soak his food in the meds for 10 minutes, then feed him the meds for a week. I just finished that and did a water change. None of the other fish seem to have any issues. The clown has kept his same demeanor the entire time (very active) and eaten like crazy (I've tripled his feeding). The white patches are SLOWLY starting to fade, but he isn't gaining weight

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[sinibotia]

What meds did they give you?
Depending on what meds they sent you home with they gave you some FANTASTIC advice. I'm not used to saying this but keep going to that store, they sound great!

 

[ShadowFox]

I believe is started with a P, but we were treating for a parasite. It's a golden liquid. They only had the large $60 bottle in stock, so he gave me a enough of a supply for the week plus some.

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