The Beginning of my 80g

[ilovemydragongoby]

well, there's a couple more of those spots going on on the glass and it's only where the snail touches so i'm assuming that theyre eggs.

i've had my 1st oto for over a month now and he's doing great. were yours in the tank with your puffer?

 

[ilovemydragongoby]

oh does anyone know anything about dwarf hairgrass? i found someone selling some really cheap, just couldn't find anything on it, like if it can thrive in brackish water or not

 

[JustOneMore20]

How much light do you have over the tank? Dwarf hairgrass needs quite a bit of light or it won't survive. I have looked at a few websites that have lists of plants that survive in brackish and hairgrass wasn't on them.

 

[logansmomma1228]

well, there's a couple more of those spots going on on the glass and it's only where the snail touches so i'm assuming that theyre eggs.

i've had my 1st oto for over a month now and he's doing great. were yours in the tank with your puffer?

If you want to get rid of those eggs you can just scoop them out of the tank when you see them. This sounds bad, but when I see baby snails I just squish them. I used to take them out, until there were about 30 a day that I was counting and removing. I am not even exaggerating, I literally count upwards of 30-50 snails when I check on the 29.

Anyways, my otos were all in a 5 gallon quarntine tank, only one made it past two weeks. I then moved him into the puffer tank (i was starting to wonder if the 5 was the reason they were all dying since there was no obvious cause and there wasnt that much algae in it). I thought he died last night, then he seemed fine, and I haven't seen him all day. going to do a PWC tonight and hopefully I will find him either way. It has been a month exactly today since I got the otos.

 

[ilovemydragongoby]

thanks for the info on the dwarf hairgrass, we probably wont get it. the lighting on the tank is a 40w nutri grow for plants.

thats weird with the otos, everyone tells me they are really hearty. i havent had a problem with mine.

and i think we're keeping the snails. I have a smaller tank that i'm going to be using just for snails for when we get our GSP. I figure they reproduce fast enough that i wont have to buy that many. About how many snails a day do you think your puffer eats?

 

[Crepe]

Java moss, some big java ferns and vals are all good brackish water plants. You can also ask around for some mangrove. People use mangrove as a nutrient suck in sw but it's roots like to grow down and form a really natural look in any tank while the top will become a tree but that takes a very long time to grow. After 3 years you may have a small bush but it will take at least another 5 for things to go out of hand.

 

[ilovemydragongoby]

thanks crepe, i also figured out that the other plant i have in there, ( i thought it started with a c but it doesnt) is actually anubias, which i also read can thrive in brackish, so i have about 8 shoots of val, 4 java ferns and 1 anubia. i've been trying to find some java moss, but the only place that i've been able to find it in my city, the guy is only open on the days that i work, and he makes appointments, but only for purchases over $250. I've been looking in for sale section in my city, but i havent found anything.

 

[ilovemydragongoby]

added some mollies (black, white and dalmation) and some swordtails.

mollies are still quite young, got them from a local breeder. its quite interested how they are black white and dalmations...the parents weren't. Well one was black the other was orange. we bought 15 of them so we split them up i have 8 of them in 80 gal, and 7 in my 20 gal.

i got 5 swordtails from my lfs. one is a confirmed male with his sword, 3 confirmed females, the 5th is still young so we're not sure if its male or female, the guy at the lfs said he may not even grow a sword if its a male. that way he doesnt have as much competition. thought that was interesting, can anyone confirm that?

 

[ilovemydragongoby]

 

[ilovemydragongoby]

more fry! i'm not sure if they're from the guppies or the swortails yet, i cant tell the difference cause they are so small. i figured that i cross out the mollies since they are still juviniles themselves. i think they are more guppies cause they have a hint of blue to them and the swordtails are all orange/yellow. So we have 10 fry now. exciting lol.

in a couple of weeks, after we come back from our holidays we are going to search for some bumble gobies. and then we'll be finished with stocking the tank. we are still going to be looking for more plants eventually. i think after adding my dragon and a few bumble bees, i think the tank will be at its maximum.

we're no longer going to go with a puffer, since they say they have to be moved into full marine water

 

[ilovemydragongoby]

we found 3 bumble bee gobies today, they seam to be loving it, and we have more guppy fry. the mollies, seem to like to cower together by the heater. we were told that when they are young they like more warmth and to hide in some plants so for now, until they are older we put three banana plants floating on top of the water. once the mollies are old enough, we'll start adding salt to make it brackish, and we'll put the banana plants in the 20gal.

 

[ilovemydragongoby]

we have made the big move! mr dragon goby is loving his new home. he's already dug him self a hole behind the drift wood and made walls of sand so no one can see him lol. he enjoys to swim up and perch on top of the drift wood, he's loving it!

 

[logansmomma1228]

Yay! I am glad he likes it in there Great looking tank so far! And IIRC, i do believe mollies and swords can interbreed. Once they are older

 

[ilovemydragongoby]

yea, i was wondering because they come from the same family...i think guppies are from the same family too...

i'll post some pics soon.

my next project on the tank will trying to build a lid that can lock or something...we found a kitten and she's been trying to get in the tank a couple times...she was sitting right on top of my 20gal this morning
and i'll have to find a another place to put my 15 gal (i was cycling it for a breeder tank) it was sitting underneath my 80, but i guess that wont work anymore with the kitten around.

oh and i finally understand how some of the ppl at fish stores really have no idea what they are talking about. like i said before i picked up some banana plants from the lfs and they said they cant tolerate brackish. however on the link that dragonfish gave me for brackish plants, they are on it. i understand they can only handle small amounts though.

I'll be starting a new thread my 20 gal because i picked up a black ghost knife for it, finding out later that they grow more then the lfs claims they grow. so after the 80 is full brackish i'll be looking for another larger tank. hopefully a 70-100gal for just freshwater.

i never thought 2 months ago that a 20 gal tank would get me so into aquariums. i'm loving it so much

 

[Aquarium1]

Multiple Tank Syndrome FTW haha

 

[logansmomma1228]

Yes! I picked up a 10 gal when I got my taxes back and now I have 4 tanks (if you count soon to be planted nano lol) and wanting more. Isn't it sweet?

 

[ilovemydragongoby]

haha i know, my boyfriend yells at me every time he sees me looking for more tanks...because he does the cleaning, i do the stocking.

i was on kijiji.com this morning looking for a larger tank. it's hard to find a tank that i like after only paying $200 canadian for the 80gal, 2 filters, 1 heater, 3 bags of sand, drift wood and rock and air pump. i guess i have to be more patient and accepting of what it would actually cost. lol

 

[maxima423]

haha i know, my boyfriend yells at me every time he sees me looking for more tanks...because he does the cleaning, i do the stocking.

i was on kijiji.com this morning looking for a larger tank. it's hard to find a tank that i like after only paying $200 canadian for the 80gal, 2 filters, 1 heater, 3 bags of sand, drift wood and rock and air pump. i guess i have to be more patient and accepting of what it would actually cost. lol

should wait for the 1$ for 1gal sales =]

 

[Aquarium1]

that's already done now max lol

 

[ilovemydragongoby]

should wait for the 1$ for 1gal sales =]

thats what the guy charged me for the 80 gal. he wasnt going to sell me all the other stuff at first but my boyfriend changed his mind.

right now, the one fish store that i go to was charging $2.68/gal for any tank shorter than 18" and $2.98/gal for any tank taller than 18" (that's in canadian dollars too)