Hello all! I live in Illinois... boring, ole corn fields 
We moved a few months ago and the larger of two tanks sat empty due to my lack of trust in the water quality here. Finally I just bought 30 gallons of filtered water and got it going again. It took a few weeks, but the bacteria finally bloomed and the tanks turned from extremely cloudy to just about crystal clear in a matter of just a day or two.
I have two tanks, a 55g in the bedroom and a 29g in a bathroom.
The 55g has 5 large goldies, 4 silver dollars (which do not eat the plants for whatever reason), two small and a med plecos, and a few small algea eaters. The goldies I bought from a mass retailer (shame on me!) as feeder fish (with no intended eater) and grew them over the last couple years to this size. They are not messy, as they eat everything in sight from the bottom of the tanks, quite piggy if you ask me...lol. The silver dollars started out about half-dollar size, and two of them are growing larger than the other two. Besides the color of the anal fin, is this a difference in the sexes? I could not find much info besides the size they would grow to.
The 20g sits in the corner above a garden tub (that is rarely used), and has two angels and another large goldie (been picked on over the last day or two so I moved it for it's safety, I think.. hehe).
Whether or not I should be, I am very proud of the size of my goldies, everyone who sees them finds it hard to believe how small they started out. A few have very long, flowing fins and are really pretty. They all seem to get along, no nipped fins or anything. Just the usual chase every now and then. I check the pH levels every few weeks in both tanks, and they are always great (even when it was cloudy.. wth?) so I am hoping I am not overcrowding the poor fellers.
In the past I had some dalmation mollies that bred extremely well in the smaller of the tanks. Was a little scary when I think about the possibilities of how many I *could have* ended up with had they not died in the move
Anyhoo, that's my history... thanks for reading!
We moved a few months ago and the larger of two tanks sat empty due to my lack of trust in the water quality here. Finally I just bought 30 gallons of filtered water and got it going again. It took a few weeks, but the bacteria finally bloomed and the tanks turned from extremely cloudy to just about crystal clear in a matter of just a day or two.I have two tanks, a 55g in the bedroom and a 29g in a bathroom.
The 55g has 5 large goldies, 4 silver dollars (which do not eat the plants for whatever reason), two small and a med plecos, and a few small algea eaters. The goldies I bought from a mass retailer (shame on me!) as feeder fish (with no intended eater) and grew them over the last couple years to this size. They are not messy, as they eat everything in sight from the bottom of the tanks, quite piggy if you ask me...lol. The silver dollars started out about half-dollar size, and two of them are growing larger than the other two. Besides the color of the anal fin, is this a difference in the sexes? I could not find much info besides the size they would grow to.
The 20g sits in the corner above a garden tub (that is rarely used), and has two angels and another large goldie (been picked on over the last day or two so I moved it for it's safety, I think.. hehe).
Whether or not I should be, I am very proud of the size of my goldies, everyone who sees them finds it hard to believe how small they started out. A few have very long, flowing fins and are really pretty. They all seem to get along, no nipped fins or anything. Just the usual chase every now and then. I check the pH levels every few weeks in both tanks, and they are always great (even when it was cloudy.. wth?) so I am hoping I am not overcrowding the poor fellers.
In the past I had some dalmation mollies that bred extremely well in the smaller of the tanks. Was a little scary when I think about the possibilities of how many I *could have* ended up with had they not died in the move
Anyhoo, that's my history... thanks for reading!
