45g High Frankentank Build

Had to move my 3 tanks due to renovations but the shelving they were on gave out. So I combined all 3 into one 45H. I'm moving into a nicer apartment soon so this works better anyways. Can't really have a bunch of fish tanks in the new place.

I have it in the dining room for now and the kids are loving the interaction. It's working out pretty well.

For now it isn't looking exactly how I want it and I still need to upgrade some things, namely lighting and maybe one of the filters. I have to disassemble it again so it's not scaped perfectly but the fish are loving the space.

Stocking:

5x Honeys
6x Otocinclus
7x Beckford's pencilfish
2x Peacock gobies
1x Spixi snail
4x Amanos
10x RCS

Obviously understocked so will be adding more. Will post updates as things get changed and rescaped. I'll probably switch that 36" Nicrew to a Chihiros WRGB II 90 and replace that Topfin 40 on the right to another AC 50 to match the one on the left.

Enjoy

 

I like 45s big enough for some decent volume, tall enough to spread out the different levels, not too much of a pain to clean!

 

I like 45s big enough for some decent volume, tall enough to spread out the different levels, not too much of a pain to clean!

I agree. I usually like tannins but not in this setup. Once the water is clear and I have proper lighting this thing will look fantastic with the extra height Btw, any centerpiece ideas? Looking for a larger fish (or two or three)

 

I agree. I usually like tannins but not in this setup. Once the water is clear and I have proper lighting this thing will look fantastic with the extra height Btw, any centerpiece ideas? Looking for a larger fish (or two or three)

pearl gouramis?

 

pearl gouramis?

Already have honeys in there... might work but I don't want to try anything too crazy with this one. I know for sure that I'll probably add 3 more peacocks and 9 otos. I've always had good luck with otos and they do better in large numbers

 

Already have honeys in there... might work but I don't want to try anything too crazy with this one. I know for sure that I'll probably add 3 more peacocks and 9 otos. I've always had good luck with otos and they do better in large numbers

well thats good that you have luck with otos many dont lol, i want to get some otos or SAEs but im hesitant theyll die or the sae will not be a true sae.

 

Most of what i got in my 45 are schools of fish, though the school of serpaes do catch your eye with all that red. Unless you want to think of plecos as a centerpiece? Lol

 

Most of what i got in my 45 are schools of fish, though the school of serpaes do catch your eye with all that red. Unless you want to think of plecos as a centerpiece? Lol

Lol probably won't do a pleco again but I actually was thinking about twig catfish. Apparently they're largely inactive so a 45 is perfect even though they reach 6" (depending on species)

 

This tank has been fun so far. All my fish are gravid and spawning aside from the peacocks who don't have a male yet. Even the amano shrimp are berried (sorry shrimp)

Two of my honeys were embracing for 3 or 4 hours today and the male is defending his nest. I think I'll have honey fry within a few days I was going to do a cleanup today but I'll wait a bit now

For stocking I was thinking about Indian Glass Fish but it turns out my tank isn't wide enough for them. I'm considering a large school of Glass Catfish, more otos, and more peacock gobys. If I do go with that my stocking will be:

9 Beckford's pencilfish sp. 'red'
5 Honey gourami
5 Peacock gobys
12 Otocinclus
12 Glass catfish
4 Amano shrimp
10? RCS
1 Spixi snail

I'm not totally decided yet though. For now everyone is happy with the tank understocked so maybe I'll just leave it and let them reproduce until its fully stocked Might be cool to have a bunch of honeys and pencilfish

More to come soon

 

Stocking can be such a fluid thing!

 

Rescaped last night




Looks great atm.. when I move this thing upstairs I'll probably move the sponge filter to the other side and that's about it. Switched out my nicrew for the chihiros and even though it's a 60 cm light it's doing the trick. My filtration right now is 1x AC 30 and 1x topfin 40 with the sponge filter so I will need to upgrade if I stock heavier

 

Lost a honey gourami this morning. She had clamped fins and a degraded tailfin. I checked my parameters and they were sitting at 0,0,1 with pH 6.5 so pretty ideal for all of my fish. Gave her a few days and she just got worse so ended up euthanizing

There was a red squiggly thing visible just under the skin on her stomach and her anus was red. No prolapse or worms sticking out though. I'm thinking maybe early stage callamanus from the dehydrated copepods I used to feed them. None of my other fish are affected so hopefully whatever it was doesn't spread.

Speaking of pH though I'll be removing the peat from my filter. 6.5 is too low for my snail

 

Took the peat out of my filter but that weird disease has spread to another gourami. Starts with "fin rot" and clamped fins. I put that in quotations because it doesn't actually look like fin rot- more like the actual structure of the fin is degrading as opposed to that bright white film you see forming at the tip

Anyways I'll have to order some Supratect. I've heard good things and its the only thing available here. The issue is that I have no idea what it is. Will post results

 

My gourami improved after a good cleaning and water change which helped me narrow down the diseases somewhat. I decided to dose with Supratect alone instead of using Flubendazole + Supratect. Hopefully the things I've read are true.

I'm thinking either Epistylis or some kind of microscopic parasite. One of my pencilfish has a few white lumps characteristic of epistylis, ie. raised instead of flat, not uniform in shape or color, etc. I'm gone for the next 6 days starting tomorrow so I guess I'll know if it worked when I get back

 

Got my wife to do another full dose of Supratect while I'm away at work. I'll know if it worked by wednesday morning

Anyone have any ideas on fish for a 3 foot tank that would be okay with smaller fish? I'm pretty understocked atm

 

Hmmm...my bn plecos are the biggest in my 3 foot tank. They pretty much ignore all the smaller fish. The smaller fish are mostly in there because well, danios and black phantoms tend to enjoy that extra length before needing to turn.

 

I definitely plan on getting more red pencilfish, otos, and gudgeons... Just need one larger fish or two at this point

I was thinking maybe an Empire gudgeon but I can't find info about compatibility with them... apparently they eat smaller fish but its hard to find personal accounts

 

I definitely plan on getting more red pencilfish, otos, and gudgeons... Just need one larger fish or two at this point

I was thinking maybe an Empire gudgeon but I can't find info about compatibility with them... apparently they eat smaller fish but its hard to find personal accounts

Something like a bolivian ram might work

 

Something like a bolivian ram might work

That's very true actually. I could even do a pair if I choose my stocking carefully. My tank is actually warm enough for GBR as well, my fish seem fine at 80-81. I see a lot of people on here keeping them way high but everyone I've spoken to in Canada keep theirs between 78 and 81 so I'm not sure why the difference in opinion

 

I came home to find that my honeys had improved. However I found an oto stuck in the outflow of my sponge filter. I guess his head got stuck when he was looking for algae. Anyways he was covered in sores and lesions from trying to escape so I had to euthanize

 

I came home to find that my honeys had improved. However I found an oto stuck in the outflow of my sponge filter. I guess his head got stuck when he was looking for algae. Anyways he was covered in sores and lesions from trying to escape so I had to euthanize

Good about the honeys, though!

I have actually removed the tubes on my sponge filters in my tanks with plecos in them, just recently....they had that habit of scooting down in there for algae as well. Luckily they never got stuck, but i decided to prevent for one less thing to deal with.

 

Unfortunately mine got stuck in one of the triangular holes where the bubbles flow out of so removing the tube wouldn't have helped hopefully my honeys pull through though. I added another dose of supratect so I'm hoping for the best

 

Well after 3 full doses of Supratect my honeys have improved but they now have fungal infections on the affected tailfins. This weird disease seems to only affect the females. Same exact symptoms as iridovirus but that isn't supposed to affect honeys. I have no clue what's going but I'm assuming that I'll need to euthanize eventually. I have a couple otos with clamped fins now too.

I'm in Canada so there are no medications for this sort of thing. Just your basic dewormer and all-natural remedies. So I can't do a darned thing unfortunately

 

Well I messaged a nice gentleman from a local group and he decided to share some metroplex with me, without hesitation too. I'm very relieved. I think this disease is likely protozoan/bacterial in nature so the metro should do the trick. Fingers crossed!

 

Yesterday both of my female honeys were hiding. One had the fungus on its tail fin and the other was having swim bladder issues. I dosed metroplex and this morning both of them are out, the tail fungus is gone and the other is swimming properly. I'll need to run the full treatment because my fish are still flashing and the one honey still has a weak fin but it's looking a lot better at least!

 

My fish all recovered thanks to the Metroplex (thanks to A201 for helping me narrow it down to protozoan parasites) but I got so busy at work and I just didn't have time for my tank. Then I upgraded my apartment and didn't have room. My fish went to a nice gentleman who has 22 tanks and has been fishkeeping for 50 years so they are definitely in good hands. I'll be getting a 7.5g nano tank for my bedroom after the holidays but I'm out of the hobby for now

I haven't been posting but I still lurk from time to time. Hoping to have more time for my hobbies in the new year

Mods can close this thread, and Happy Holidays to everyone who reads this