AnnaEA'a Tank(s).

Only one tank, as of 3/30/07

10 gallons

6 white cloud mountain minnows
1 betta - George Gordon, Lord Byron. Byron for short.

1 plant (anunbias nana)

 

What happened after 3/30/2007

The shoal of minnows and Byron lived happily together for about (another) year - I don't recall exactly when in 2008 it was that Byron died. He was succeeded by a handsome blue and red betta whom I named Clark.

Clark and the minnows lived together happily until early 2009, when the last of the minnows died, and Clark moved into a 2.5 gallon hex tank on my kitchen counter, there to spend the remainder of his days. Clark died in the fall of 2009 (with impeccable timing, he died right before my birthday). Clark was succeeded in the hex tank by a fine dark blue fellow who was christened Zeus. Zeus died just two weeks ago, because I went through a bad spell (my health is erratic) and didn't take proper care of his tank for a while.

At the 2009 county fair, my daughter won a goldfish, and we set up the empty ten gallon tank for him. I didn't think he'd survive - he was a pretty sick little guy when we got him - but he did, and grew up into a fine healthy fish called Doodles.

Which leads neatly into my next post, wherein I show off the 50 gallon tank acquired this past week to house Doodles and the two new goldfish my daughter won at the fair this year.

edited for clarity: the minnows and Byron had been together for a little under a year when I made the original 2007 post.

 

50 gallon goldfish tank

This is the only tank I currently have with fish in it. It is currently home to three goldfish, and is a brand new set up for us - I bought the tank and got it set up on 9/3/2010.

Here are shots of the tank just after I set up yesterday, and then earlier this evening. The large mostly solid goldfish is Doodles, from the fair last year. The large sarasa is Blanco, and the little badly photographed one is Red. Blanco and Red came from the fair this year.

Doodles and Blanco are about the same size - roughly three inches. Red is about an inch and half, and much shyer. He hangs out in the plants at the back of the tank.

Tank stats - 50 gallon tank (48"x12"x21"), Marineland Penguin 350B filter, bubbling dragon, plastic and silk plants. 55lbs of gravel. Unknown manufacturer reef light with actinic blue, daylight, and moonlight bulbs, 260W.

9/5/2010
Added two new goldfish - Julia and Paul. Julia is mostly all white with a red dot on her head, and Paul is green/brown. Paul has ich, so now I am treating the tank for ich. I've updated the picture of Red - he's getting over his shyness.

 

Very nice! I am a fan of goldfish....I have 2 myself!

 

Paul and Julia - updated 9-8-2010

This Paul. Paul has ich. It didn't photograph well. He's also much less metallic looking in person - his actual color is a very interesting green/brown. It looks like a throwback to some of the wild fish I've seen suggested as the ancestors of domestic goldfish.

I've finally gotten some photo's of the elusive Julia. She's been very shy, and seemed pretty sick she first went into the tank. Have gotten a good look at her, I can see why - she looks like the scales on the one side got scraped off at some point -- possibly while the pet store people were pretty hurridly and carelessly netting out the 300 fish for fair person. We interrupted them to pick our two. She is not clamped up anymore, is eating, and is spending more time exploring the tank now instead of just hiding in the back of it.

I was also able to get a picture that shows Paul's color really nicely - Paul is the front, Blanco in the mid-ground, and Julia in the back.

 

Beautiful job on the tank. Lots of hiding spots, they must be really happy. Amazing how much we can spend on 20 cent fish huh? lol

This set of pics makes me want to put up some of my goldies; but that'll have to wait until I bring them in from the pond this fall

 

1 gallon hex - betta tank.

9/5/2010

This is my little kitchen counter betta tank. It's been running but empty for a couple of weeks, since Zeus died,, and I cleaned it up and put in a new filter and new fish today. I switched from the kit supplied UGF to an internal filter with replaceable cartridges and adjustable flow.

This is running a Tom Internal Filter, which is set to low flow. I stuck a plant to side of the tank as well to buffer the inflow current. It is heated by a Hydor minI heater, and light by a small incandescent light bulb in the hood.

The betta who has just moved in is Clavius. He came from Petsmart.

9/8/2010

No more hex tank - it cracked down the side when I put the hood back on after a water change yesterday. I've moved Clavius to the 10 gallon that was empty. I'll fix the 1 gallon with some aquarium silicone at some point, but for now it is empty.

 

Shine, yup! Fortunately for the fish, I found a really great deal on a used tank and gear - otherwise they'd all be living in the ten gallon still, and having their water changed every day.

And since I didn't have to spend a whompload on the tank and stand, I was able to really splurge on the decorations and stuff I'm pretty happy with how it came out, and it's gorgeous under the moonlights!

 

10g tank

9/8/2010

This tank is now set up for Clavuis, since the small tank broke. He now has a proper heater, and is very happy in the new set up.

Equipment in this tank: Tom MinI internal filter, 45gph. Aqueon 50W heater. Fluorescent light in hood. Gravel, plastic plants, and a rock. I had a lot of plants to spare, so at least Clavius has plenty of cover.

Here are some pics of the tank in it's new home -- I took it off the stand, and put it in the window between my kitchen and dining room. I really like it there -- the viewing is great both from the kitchen and the dining room.

I love the look through set up right now, and am going to plan a live planted aquascape for it. This current scape is okay, but it could be a ton nicer.

 

ooo I love your goldies and that's a really nice set-up you've got for them. Ditto on the 10g. All the plants in there make it look like an Amazon jungle after the rains. I bet he loves it!

 

Thanks, ilovengl ! I like the look of a heavily planted tank, and in my experience the fish are happier.

9/9/2010 Updates

I was able to get a heater for Clavius - my LFS is going out of business (weeping, moaning, gnashing of teeth), so they are offering massive discounts on everything in stock and I could afford it, instead of having to wait until next week. I hope nothing else happens though - my hobby budget for this whole month and mostof next month has been totally sucked up by all this upheaval. He is much happier now that his tank is temperature stable.

I also bought a clump of duckweed at the pond store - they gave me a soft ball sized bundle! About a ping pong balls size went into the gold fish tank, and I gave Clavius a pinch to play with -- he is having fun chasing it around in the current from his filter.

I normally wouldn't put duckweed in an aquarium, but I think it should be okay in with the goldies. I'm doing a water change today, and I'll pull out the clumpiest pieces, and just leave enough for a film over part of the water surface. I am hoping that it will establish, and provide some better shade cover for the goldfish from the reef lights. I also like that it gets plunged down into the tank by the filter inflow and is providing a food source at all levels of the tank right now. Julia is still pretty shy, what with her injury, and it's good to have food available that she doesn't need to compete for.

9/10/2010

The goldies *LOVE* the duckweed. And some hitch-hikers came with it - I've seen two tiny snails, and one large one (dime sized). They are very cool to watch crawl around, with their teeny tiny antenna waving. Red finds them very interesting, and won't let the big snail climb any plants -- any time it tries, Red head butts it until it falls off onto the gravel again.

 

hey anna,

I think your tank is lovley! at first I wasn't a fan of real plants but there really growing on me and I have to say your tank is really converting me! I have 1 or 2 plants but I like what you have done with planting the whole tank! works well

might have to steal your style LOL

 

Thanks TropiCOOL! I like the look of a heavily planted tank -- eventually I will have live plants in the 10g, but right now all the plants in both tanks, except for the bit of duckweed, are all plastic and silk.

Steal away!

 

there good fakes lol thought they were real! silly me! never the less its impressive

 

They all look great!! But the only thing I see as a potential problem is the stand your goldie tank is on. The stand must cover the entire base of the aquarium, all four corners, or you will have serious issues with leaks and cracks. It puts loads of pressure on the tank in places it shouldn't. I would highly suggest investing in a new stand, or you will have a 50 gallons of water on your floor, terribly unhappy or dead fish, a broken tank, and potentially damages equipment (if all your water manages to make it onto the floor... could kill your filter) and a massive headache.

 

Updates - the big goldie tank is on a new stand, and still a happy home to Red, Blanco, and Julia.

 

I like you see through both sides tank.Must be challenging to do landscaping that you see from both ways.I thought planning out my up against the wall one was hard enough.If you could fit the goldfish one in that space it would be fantastic.

 

Great looking tanks!