my 55 gallon Tank

[Swifterz]

4" ID Shark...

recently had an ich outbreak, so the tank was just thoroughly cleaned ...

the new guy, a 3" rainbow shark my son has named "Ember"...

added a background and a lot of plants, and back in business!

2 Iridescent Sharks
3 Bala Sharks
1 Rainbow Shark
6 Tiger Barbs
4 White Skirt Tetras
2 Red Wag Platys

i am leaning towards returning the ID sharks to my friend who gave them to me, becuase the barbs keep picking at them, and all of my sharks are going to be getting pretty big. will probably take out the platys too, they are just boring imo.

plan to create some rock formations and/or caves on one side with all the foreground plants surrounding it on one side, and have the other side have the majority of the larger plants. i have 3 more large plants to add so i'm trying to figure it all out as far as how to arrange everything. i like the way it looks now, but it looks forced with all the plants/decor symmetrical.

any ideas or suggestions on how to set everything up would be aprpeciated? this is my 2nd tank, but the first one i've taken really seriously.

 

[HN1]

Nice progression!

My only suggestion would be to place the DW about 1/3 of the way in the tank instead of directly in the center. You could also angle it so that it's slightly angled versus perfectly lengthwise. Maybe put some of the tall plants behind it and use the smaller ones in the foreground and open area of the tank. Hope that made sense.


Welcome to AA!

 

[Tank2379]

Hey wheres the Salt?

 

[Swifterz]

Nice progression!

My only suggestion would be to place the DW about 1/3 of the way in the tank instead of directly in the center. You could also angle it so that it's slightly angled versus perfectly lengthwise. Maybe put some of the tall plants behind it and use the smaller ones in the foreground and open area of the tank. Hope that made sense.


Welcome to AA!

that's a good idea. i am wanting to get some rocks and was going to have one long rock slanted in there with plants behind it. it also helps hide the base of the fake plants. i can never get it anchored in there 100% where you can't see any of it.

i'm not good at photography, but here's a couple pictures i took today.

the bala sharks hanging out

my rainbow shark and one of the tiger barbs

 

[Swifterz]

update. pretty much everything has changed. out is all the old decor. in is natural driftwood, lots of slate rock and my substrate is now play sand.

i don't have any pictures (i just switched to the sand 2 days ago), but here's a video...

YouTube - 55 Gallon Community Fish Tank

current stocking:

3 Bala Sharks
1 Rainbow Shark
10 Tiger Barbs

will be adding about 8 cherry barbs and 3 yoyo loaches today after work. also going to pick up a second piece of driftwood for the right side of the tank.

thinking about trying some live plants, never done it before though so i would appreciate some suggestions.

 

[Aquarium1]

Nice tank. I hear java ferns and anubias are almost impossible to kill. However I did have some java ferns and they got brown spots. Don't know what caused them. I moved them to a qt tank. They aren't supposed to b buried, but to b attached to driftwood and rocks. I just left mine floating in the qt and theyre still alive after 3 months. Keep us updated.

 

[Swifterz]

YouTube - Tiger Barbs

YouTube - Rainbow Shark

YouTube - Bala Shark

^^ you can see the new driftwood i added in the tiger barb video.

also today i added two firemouth cichlids into the community.

so far no signs of aggression at all towards any of the other fish.

 

[Aquarium1]

You might not have it n e mor but whats that one blurry fish at the top of the first post?

 

[Swifterz]

that's an iridescent shark. sadly i gave them back to my friend because of how large they will become.

 

[mfdrookie516]

when i saw those pics, my bala sharks started flailing... finally figured out that they knew that used to be their home

 

[mfdrookie516]

oh, and so did the tin foils lol

 

[Swifterz]

haha yo!! how are the tinfoils?

 

[mfdrookie516]

well, i didnt ever anticipate that they would eat as much as they do!!! i can put a huge pinch of flakes, pelets, granules, pretty much anything, and a minute later they have eaten it all... i find it cool that they swim right with the balas, just looks like one silver flash going from one side of the tank to the other... i feed them twice a day and they eat way more than all of my other fish combined... i fed them 3 times today and they acted like they had never eaten... then i did a gravel vacuum and the water was crystal clear.. never happened before... i want more

 

[Swifterz]

yeah i saw some pretty big ones at petsmart in hamburg today when i went to get my firemouths. first time i had been to that one. they had some that i'd say weren't more than 5" long but they were thick too. they were $13 each! made me realize just how huge those fish are going to get, and fast! that location said their max size is 8" but google searches and even other pet stores say they get 13". i kind of miss them already. i just can't have that many fish in my tank that are all going to get 10"+.

 

[mfdrookie516]

yeah, well i have plenty of tank space lol... i think petsmart just puts that stuff there so people will buy them... i had a girl today at that same petsmart tell me that i could put an oscar in with guppies and mollies because they were all "tropical" and preferred warm water lol... i just had to run in and grab a veggie clip for my aunt, and i cant pass up at least looking at the fish... needless to say, i kept my mouth shut, paid for the clip, and walked away laughing deep inside lol... im going to figure out how to breed the tin foils... somehow... btw i got that tank sealed up, filled it up to test it, and somehow i managed to do a good job lemme know if you want another 55, ive got plenty to share... and once again, you have a very nice looking setup...

 

[Swifterz]

thanks man. i would love to have another actually because i'd do an all african cichlid tank! but sadly i don't have the money right now.

here's a clip showing off the new driftwood (on the right)i used the tinfoil money for!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92RQRSIiE48

 

[mfdrookie516]

nice dw.. have you ever thought of being a camera man? lol... again, im going to make the comment that your tank looks so blue and pretty, mine is just clear... my fiance even said how pretty yours looks... is it just clear glass or acrylic or what? i want mine to be that blue, without having to use a blacklight

 

[Swifterz]

see that's the thing. my water isn't even 100% clear yet after switching to the sand!

check this out...

that's how it looked right before the switch. i dunno why it is just so clean and clear. my lighting is ordinary... just whatever came with the tank. and it's all glass as far as i know.

 

[mfdrookie516]

so wierd... in all of your videos, your water looks so blue and "oceany"... mine just looks like a bottle of water i started to think it was the blue rock, but it looks even more blueish after the sand switch... it has to be the way it looks where you turn off the lights and just have them on, even though mine looks pretty much the same at night unless i turn on my blacklights, then they glow purpleish... idk... it doesnt look so much that way in the picture up there... and it also looks quite longer than a 55 imo in that picture...

 

[Swifterz]

it's 48x18x13 i believe. at least it's close to that.