Larry Little
Aquarium Advice Regular
- Joined
- Feb 18, 2017
- Messages
- 98
Hello;my name is Larry Little (yes, really). I'm 62 years old, married with 3 kids and 5 grandkids. I began keeping aquariums when my mom gave me my first 5-gallon tank at age 4. I had a female Betta named Betty (remember, I was 4 years old). My mom began keeping Tanks in 1935, so you couold say it's in my blood. I have a bachelor's degree and a Master's degree, both in Zoology from Oklahoma State University and worked for the Tulsa Zoological Park for the first 5 years past college in Aquariums and Reptiles. After I left the Zoo, I dropped aquarium keeping for more than 30 years and am just now starting again. In addition to my aquariums, we have two dogs, three cats and four tortoises (2 adult red-footed, one juvenile leopard, one juvenile marginated). I took up scuba diving several tears ago which I love. There is nothing like being 60'underwater and seeing animals on their terms rather than on mine.
In the time since I last kept tanks, it seems like the technology has left me in the stone age. When I quit, UV sterilizers were just coming on, no one had ever heard of LED lighting, and Bio-whee filters were the new and coming thing. I knew nothing about CO2 injection for plants until I began researching for getting back into the game.
For the record, I HATE artificial plants and decorations; I won't even let my wife put a little "Gone Fishing" sign in the corner of a tank.If anyone takes offense, please forgive me. I've always kept live plants, real rocks, and now wood in my aquaria.
Speaking of which, the variety of plant species for aquarium keepers has exploded since I last kept them. I spent almost 6 months just trying to figure out what plants I wanted to try in my tanks.
I have 3 tanks set up now, all within the last 2 months. My 65-gallon tank houses 6 plant vatieties; "Kleiner Bar"swords, "Rubin" swords, pygmy chain swords, water sprite, Staurogyne repens and one other upright plant whose name escapes me. I also have some "Italian" vallisneria, but it is struggling (falling apart and melting). The fish species include Corydoras sterbae - 3, otocinclus - began with 6, but only reliably see 3, banded plecostomus - 2, angelfish - 3 silver, 1 black, rams (both blue and Bolivian) - not certain of current numbers, bloodfin tetras - 8, and swordtails - two males, 3 femles. I've in the last week had an interspecies die-off due to putting several new fish in the tank at once. It's my own fault; just got too greedy. It seems to be settling down now. The numbers I mentioned are the most current.
My 35 -gallon tank contains water sprite, Java ferns, and Cryptocoryne wendtii "red" plants. animals include dwarf gourami - 1, espie rasboras - 10 (small school), zebra danio - 8 (small school), glass catfish - 6 (small school, and banded sucker-mouthed catfish - 4. Both tanks have suitably sized submersible heaters, Bio-wheel filters and double-bulb t5 light fixtures.
I have one other tank on my desk. it's a 15-gallon tank that is 48" long, 6" wide, and 12" tall. It is divided into thirds and contains 3 Male Bettas along with JAve ferns, floating water sprite and starts of green C. wendtii. Oh, and I have some banana plants just for fun.
I plan on repopulating my 65, just doing so more slowly and patiently (not my strong suit). I know going forward I'll have questions as I get back into this crazy hobby, And, even though it's been so many years, I may even chime in with a few answers, opinions, etc.
Actually, while I'm thinking about it, I do have a question about a plant species. We had it growing up and just called it "cryptocoryne". It was a short plant, maybe 4 - 6", with narrow leaves that were medium to dark green on top and red to maroon on the undersides; if memory serves, the leaves were sometimes slightly ruffled. They grew quickly and reproduced by runners. I haven ot been able to identify them as to species, but would love to do so. They grew so profusely that we were able to periodically take some to our local aquarium shop and trade them for fish and supplies. Starting out with 3 or 4, the bottom of a 20-gallon tank could be carpetted inside 6 months. If anyone has any ideas what this plant might be, could you please let me know?
Thanks, y'all.
In the time since I last kept tanks, it seems like the technology has left me in the stone age. When I quit, UV sterilizers were just coming on, no one had ever heard of LED lighting, and Bio-whee filters were the new and coming thing. I knew nothing about CO2 injection for plants until I began researching for getting back into the game.
For the record, I HATE artificial plants and decorations; I won't even let my wife put a little "Gone Fishing" sign in the corner of a tank.If anyone takes offense, please forgive me. I've always kept live plants, real rocks, and now wood in my aquaria.
Speaking of which, the variety of plant species for aquarium keepers has exploded since I last kept them. I spent almost 6 months just trying to figure out what plants I wanted to try in my tanks.
I have 3 tanks set up now, all within the last 2 months. My 65-gallon tank houses 6 plant vatieties; "Kleiner Bar"swords, "Rubin" swords, pygmy chain swords, water sprite, Staurogyne repens and one other upright plant whose name escapes me. I also have some "Italian" vallisneria, but it is struggling (falling apart and melting). The fish species include Corydoras sterbae - 3, otocinclus - began with 6, but only reliably see 3, banded plecostomus - 2, angelfish - 3 silver, 1 black, rams (both blue and Bolivian) - not certain of current numbers, bloodfin tetras - 8, and swordtails - two males, 3 femles. I've in the last week had an interspecies die-off due to putting several new fish in the tank at once. It's my own fault; just got too greedy. It seems to be settling down now. The numbers I mentioned are the most current.
My 35 -gallon tank contains water sprite, Java ferns, and Cryptocoryne wendtii "red" plants. animals include dwarf gourami - 1, espie rasboras - 10 (small school), zebra danio - 8 (small school), glass catfish - 6 (small school, and banded sucker-mouthed catfish - 4. Both tanks have suitably sized submersible heaters, Bio-wheel filters and double-bulb t5 light fixtures.
I have one other tank on my desk. it's a 15-gallon tank that is 48" long, 6" wide, and 12" tall. It is divided into thirds and contains 3 Male Bettas along with JAve ferns, floating water sprite and starts of green C. wendtii. Oh, and I have some banana plants just for fun.
I plan on repopulating my 65, just doing so more slowly and patiently (not my strong suit). I know going forward I'll have questions as I get back into this crazy hobby, And, even though it's been so many years, I may even chime in with a few answers, opinions, etc.
Actually, while I'm thinking about it, I do have a question about a plant species. We had it growing up and just called it "cryptocoryne". It was a short plant, maybe 4 - 6", with narrow leaves that were medium to dark green on top and red to maroon on the undersides; if memory serves, the leaves were sometimes slightly ruffled. They grew quickly and reproduced by runners. I haven ot been able to identify them as to species, but would love to do so. They grew so profusely that we were able to periodically take some to our local aquarium shop and trade them for fish and supplies. Starting out with 3 or 4, the bottom of a 20-gallon tank could be carpetted inside 6 months. If anyone has any ideas what this plant might be, could you please let me know?
Thanks, y'all.
