Boyfriend tank build

Looking good! Where did you get that amazing piece of driftwood?

 

Looking good! Where did you get that amazing piece of driftwood?

I picked it up on the side of the road on my way down to my boyfriend's house. Lol benefits of living in the middle of a forest, right? I'm not sure what it is... possibly manzanita or scrub oak. I really need to start collecting more and selling it. A lot of unique pieces by me, I use them in my own tanks all the time. Actually ALL of the wood in this tank was collected locally.

Anyway, here's what the tank looks like with water and plants in it. ALL of the driftwood started floating when we added water, despite how heavy it all was, so we weighed it down with the decorative rocks in the tank and one from my boyfriend's yard. We're both really happy with how it turned out!

Sorry for the bad flash, it's dark in his living room right now, even with the ceiling lights, and the camera got a little overzealous.

 

take the from an angle. this will help reduce the flash and point the flash away instead of reflecting it back to the camera. also turn off the lights in the room before shot.


although your love of cpd is amazing, they will be highly timid in such a tank. rummynoses tend to be fast. most cpd tanks are nano sized and are usually species tank due to their size, food competition and timidness.

 

take the from an angle. this will help reduce the flash and point the flash away instead of reflecting it back to the camera. also turn off the lights in the room before shot.


although your love of cpd is amazing, they will be highly timid in such a tank. rummynoses tend to be fast. most cpd tanks are nano sized and are usually species tank due to their size, food competition and timidness.

I've read many mixed reviews of CPD behavior in community tanks. Theoretically when we complete the school of CPDs up to 15ish, they should be just fine. I've read everything from they are the most timid fish ever to they are nippy little jerks who can't be kept with longfinned fish lol, so we'll just see how this goes behavior-wise.

I'm not too worried about food. My boyfriend is new to fishkeeping and will likely be putting too much food in the tank, so I'm sure there will be enough for everyone. That said, there is enough decor in this tank that it only took about 35 gallons of water, so there are plenty of hiding places and such for them if they feel like getting away.

Speaking of which, I need to locate a good sinking pellet for him. Will probably do OmegaOne, for the cories, unless anyone knows of a sinking powder that would work better for them lol.

 

whats the size of the pleco?

 

Very nice

 

Take pics with tank lights on at night without flash will come out better usually

 

whats the size of the pleco?

Likely 6-8 inches full grown, but we can't be 100% sure of that since we haven't been able to verify species of the "Trinidad Pleco" I was given.

Take pics with tank lights on at night without flash will come out better usually

I would but the tank has no lights yet. BF is supposed to be fixing them this week, so we'll see. I did manage to take some shots from an angle that didn't yank out a giant flash spot, but that's about the best I can do until we get the lights on and operational.

 

Sigh. Well the fish arrived today. Everyone looks amazing, EXCEPT the CPDs which are my boyfriend's only requirement for the tank. They all died in transit.

If the next batch dies too, we'll probably just look for a reputable local source.

Will take pics once I get them to his house and in the tank

BTW Pygmy cories are the cutest things EVER.

 

Picture Time!!!!

Okay, there's one Rummy who's being a turd, kinda shocky, and isn't schooling with the rest. Other than that, I added everyone about 30 minutes ago and everyone is doing well, exploring the tank and seeming to have some fun. A few pygmy cories think they're tiny rummies, which is funny.

The gudgeon cave sunk sometime today, and hopefully will soon be pressed back into the gravel where it belongs (just waiting for one spot to get waterlogged enough to stop being floaty.



Two of the gudgeons, showing off



Rummies and a few stray c. pygmaeus







c. pygmaeus schooling in the sandy half

I can't wait to get the tank lights in order so the flash stops being evil.

 

Looking great June! Too bad about the cories

 

It's coming along well! Can't wait to see the tank with lights.
Sorry about the CPD.


xx

 

One rummy died during acclimation. He/she was shocky after addition to the tank and didn't make it through dinner time. Other than that, everyone looks great

 

I recommend ordering the CPD'S from bobs tropical plants. Mine came in yesterday and look great all arrived fine.

The tank looks awesome!

 

The batch of CPDs we got came from a friend of mine. Unfortunately due to trying to coordinate the shipping of approximately 50 fish and having them arrive on a day when I'd be around to get them, they had been in three different waters, all within a week.

The next batch she's going to send to us will be straight off the shelf from her source. So fewer acclimation fails.

Since added to the tank, the boyfriend has lost one more rummy and another one isn't doing great (I suspect damage from an injury from the symptoms he described. The rummies at one point thought that throwing themselves against the driftwood was a brilliant plan). I had him pull the one that's acting weird out of the tank, just in case, and he's holding the lil guy in a tupperware to see if he recovers.

He reports that the gudgeons have been out exploring a bit, which is great because it means they like all the caves I put in for them (gudgeons don't come out much if they don't feel they have enough caves). And the cories are reportedly doing splendidly, exploring, darting about, and apparently randomly ricocheting off the surface just for the fun of it. Oddly enough, I'm pretty sure the cories are going to end up being his favorite fish in the tank. They have such charming little personalities... it's easy to understand

 

Wow. Hopefully it works out this time

 

I love this thread! You are so knowledgeable.... I'm looking forward to seeing pics of the completed tanks as well!

Liza

 

Best of luck with the new CPD's. They are gorgeous little fish, mine shoal together and are with my 4 sparkling gouramis and the 2 amano shrimp in an 8g tank. I would like to get about 6 more just so that they come out even more, but right now, they are in the open part of the tank 75% of the time.. the rest of the time, they look for the sparklers which hide a lot in the plants.

I love the sound of your tank! I am sure the pictures aren't doing it justice because your descriptions are fabulous!

 

I only had my night vision camera lol. My mom got back from vacation today, so hopefully she returns the good camera soon x.x And hopefully the boyfriend has done his homework and fixed the tank lights, though I sincerely doubt that to be the case. I may just go get some cheap fluorescent fixtures from home depot and a brinks timer to hook them up myself.

 

Photodump

Updated pix! We added mystery snails, MTS, and some more plants. The rotala wallichiI isn't making it at all, so I've ordered another red plant to try in its place. Think the tank bulbs need replacing with something better. We also need to make reflectors for the fixtures, so any ideas on what to use would be appreciated. I'm thinking they make a tape that does that, so that's what I'm planning at this point.

CPDs should be arriving in a few weeks, and we're looking into getting some more rummynoses tetras, as only four survived out of the ten we ordered (still not 100% sure what happened to them, but it seems acclimation can be really hard on them). We're also getting one more male peacock gudgeon, as one of the males in the original group went "poof" before we could even have them shipped to us, and another turned out to be a girl. The remaining male is having fun terrorizing the pygmy cories, so hopefully another male will give him someone to pick on who's his own size

The cories have taken up residence in the E. Bleheri. Rummies are all over the place, including one that is madly in love with one of the gudgeon girls and is constantly following her around. Gudgeons OWN this tank LOL. My favorite of them is the largest female, she has great black banding and more color than even the male.

 

This is really cool, love the dw