Dioaquatics 75g Community Tank

[DioAquatics]

So I decided to start this thread to share pictures of my tanks, fish, and inverts with you all. Thanks to the many great members of this forum, I've been able to learn so much about the hobby and progress so much more than when I first started. I honestly can say that this is my favorite hobby, no matter how time/money consuming it is. The end result is always very rewarding. I hope on keeping this thread open and update you guys on the progress of my tanks and fish. Enjoy the pictures everyone

Here are some pictures of my Bolivian Ram. I don't usually name my fish but I've decided to name him Happy cuz of the adorable little smile he has on his face. It's still kinda small, maybe like an inch and a half to an inch and three fourths. If anyone can sex it for me that would be cool.

This is my favorite picture of Happy.

This is my first Swordtail, I'm not sure what type it is, maybe a koI or painted sword? He's absolutely lovely with the contrast of the black and red/orange.

And this is the smaller of my 2 Amano Shrimp. I added these guys to my tank today. The larger one is maybe an inch and a fourth of an inch. The smaller is about an inch. This is my first time ever having amano shrimp.

 

[Coradee]

Nice pics, I love the marking on your swordtail

 

[Megg01]

Wow, beautiful ram, and that sword tail is absolutely stunning! I'm also admiring your photography.

 

[DioAquatics]

Coradee Thank you, I found out he's a painted swordtail. He is one of my favorite fish in the tank.
Megg01 Thank you, I took these pictures with my iPhone. Ive got a couple better pictures that I took with my Canon T5i. Happy is my first ever Ram. I want to get it a mate once I can get it sexed.

 

[Phyllie]

So I decided to start this thread to share pictures of my tanks, fish, and inverts with you all. Thanks to the many great members of this forum, I've been able to learn so much about the hobby and progress so much more than when I first started. I honestly can say that this is my favorite hobby, no matter how time/money consuming it is. The end result is always very rewarding. I hope on keeping this thread open and update you guys on the progress of my tanks and fish. Enjoy the pictures everyone

Here are some pictures of my Bolivian Ram. I don't usually name my fish but I've decided to name him Happy cuz of the adorable little smile he has on his face. It's still kinda small, maybe like an inch and a half to an inch and three fourths. If anyone can sex it for me that would be cool.

This is my favorite picture of Happy.

This is my first Swordtail, I'm not sure what type it is, maybe a koI or painted sword? He's absolutely lovely with the contrast of the black and red/orange.

And this is the smaller of my 2 Amano Shrimp. I added these guys to my tank today. The larger one is maybe an inch and a fourth of an inch. The smaller is about an inch. This is my first time ever having amano shrimp.

Those are some pretty and very confident looking fish!

 

[DioAquatics]

Phyllie thank you. Yes my fish are very confident. They come right up to the tank when I come around

 

[Phyllie]

Phyllie thank you. Yes my fish are very confident. They come right up to the tank when I come around

KingD, I was just mentioning to Brassfinger how amazed I am with fish "personalities". They truly do act like little puppies! I would like to add, "but easier to take care of", but I am so obsessed with water quality and keeping them healthy and happy which does use up quite a bit of energy. The other day my husband gave "that look" when I wondered aloud if the fish were mentally stimulated enough.

 

[DioAquatics]

@ they really are like puppies. They all have their own personalities and cliques and stuff like that. Water quality is probably the most important part of it. If my water is good, than so are my fish and if the fish are good, I'm great haha. My familygives me "the look" every time I mention anything about my fish. I think they think I have a problem haha they just don't understand the hobby so I play along with the jokes

 

[DioAquatics]

More pictures of my fish. Happy is going great along with my swordtail and all the other fish and inverts. Would anyone be able to sex Happy for me? I'm thinking its a male but I'm not sure as it's still pretty small, it's a little smaller than my DG.

Happy and the swordtail.

Heres my DG, he's earned the name Grumpy since he always has an upset look on his face lol.

My male rainbow platy.

This is one of the 4 Blue Wag Tail Platy I have in the tank, the other 3 aren't as blue as this guy so I call them platinum platies haha.

Here are 2 of my 3 Otos.
1a.

2a.

2b.

Full shot of my 55 gallon that I'm in the progress of upgrading to a 75g.

 

[DioAquatics]

These are a couple of my male guppies. Not the prettiest in the tank but they are very nice.

After not seeing them for a while, I found both of my amano shrimp, alive, at the other end of the tunnel decoration I have.

Lastly, this is my female Mickey Mouse platy. Not sure what her color is classified as but she's a cutie.

 

[DioAquatics]

Went to PetCo yesterday that's about 35 minutes from where I live and found some amano shrimp. I bought 4 to bring my total up to 6 in my 55 gallon. Really happy I found them, if not, my LFS would have charged me 3.50 a shrimp. I got them for 2.50 each. I drip acclimated them yesterday and found some molts. I'm hoping that's a good thing. I've only seen 3 of the 6 in the tank though.

Thier molts scared me at first because I thought They were dead shrimp but after I realized what it was, I thought it looked pretty cool.

 

[DioAquatics]

I was able to snap these pictures right before feeding time. So many fish in one picture lol

 

[DioAquatics]

During feeding time this morning, my Amano shrimp were very courageous and 4 of the 6 were out and about exploring the tank. I was about to get pictures of 3 that were out. I love these guys so much I'm planning on getting more once I have my 75 gallon set up.

 

[Five 97]

I really like your stocking, might as well use it when I stock another tank
"Happy" is a male Imo.

 

[DioAquatics]

Thanks Five! I'm planning on doing some small changes to my stocking. And cool thanks, I'm going to be getting 3 more BR and hope for at least one pair

 

[Five 97]

Thanks Five! I'm planning on doing some small changes to my stocking. And cool thanks, I'm going to be getting 3 more BR and hope for at least one pair

What kind of changes are you thinking about? if you don't mind me asking....well, sexing a single BR and bringing it home is better if all you want is a single pair, and if you know how to....but yeah, between 4 BRs they should form atleast one pair. maybe even two pairs! if not, you'll just have a nice couple of bachelors...

 

[DioAquatics]

I'm going to rehome all my female guppies and some males. I'm going to keep my favorite males. I'm giving my 4 not-so-blue platy to my grandma. I'll be keeping my oranger Mickey Mouse platy. I've added another 2 hopefully female tricolored swords (picture attached) to breed with my painted male. Then the 3 BR will be added along with more otos, amano, some nerite snails and a shoal of about 10 false juliI Cory cats.

I'm not the best at sexing Rams so that's why I'm just going buy 3 more and hope for the best. If I get 2 pairs that would be amazing but like you said, if not and I only get 1 pair, than I got some bachelors in my tank along with 1 pair like you said haha

Sword #1

Sword #2 (on the left)

Both swords

 

[Five 97]

I totally agree with your plan, because I absolutely love koI swords, their one of my favorite fish since they remind me of koi/ shubunkin, which I enjoy, but can't accommodate. lol
did you order them online or buy them locally?
(great fish, and pictures btw).

 

[DioAquatics]

Yea I'd like to get some really nice swords in my tank so I'm hoping my male will breed with the 2 females I got. I would love some trI colored swords with the deep orange my male has.

I bought all 3 of my swords locally. My LFS gets them every now and then. Thanks for the compliment!

 

[Five 97]

Yep, no problem! I really hope my lfs gets them in sometime soon, haven't seen them anywhere around here yet... I'd like to breed them as well, just imagine all the colors....and swords

 

[DioAquatics]

This is my first time ever breeding swords so I hope all goes well. I really would love to see what I get with the pairing of my painted red male with these tricolored females.

 

[Five 97]

Since swordtails are livebearers, I'd expect breeding them to be fairly easy... but I haven't bred them either so keep me updated.

 

[DioAquatics]

I would hope they are haha I want swordtail babies. Will definitely keep you posted

 

[Five 97]

Thanks, me too. btw, what size tank is this?

 

[DioAquatics]

Your welcome. It's a 55 gallon but I'm upgrading to a 75 this weekend

 

[Five 97]

I thougtht so, are you planning on doing something with the extra space?

 

[DioAquatics]

Well once I get everything moved over into the 75 gallon this weekend, I plan on buying a lot more plants to fill it in. and make it look "fuller" lol

 

[Five 97]

Well once I get everything moved over into the 75 gallon this weekend, I plan on buying a lot more plants to fill it in. and make it look "fuller" lol

Oh, that's a good idea....

 

[DioAquatics]

Yea I want to add lots of plants and maybe a pice of driftwood, if I can find a nice piece lol

 

[Five 97]

trying to make it have a jungle like appearance, eh?

 

[DioAquatics]

Honestly I'm not sure what I want it to look like. Right now I just want more plants and more fish lol

 

[Five 97]

What kind of fish are you interested in?

 

[DioAquatics]

As of right now, I'm just going to add more of the fish I already have. I'm really into my swordtails now, that's why I want them to breed lol

 

[Five 97]

As of right now, I'm just going to add more of the fish I already have. I'm really into my swordtails now, that's why I want them to breed lol

Yeah, I'll have to order online to get some painted/ koI swordtails, because my lfs doesn't carry them. but I think it's worth the shipping cost.

 

[DioAquatics]

I've never had to order fish online. I would like some regular koI swords for my tank

 

[Five 97]

I've never had to order fish online. I would like some regular koI swords for my tank

Me neither, I meant koI and painted, not a cross... because I really like the coloration of your male painted sword, and I also like the two koI females coloration as well, so...

 

[DioAquatics]

Yea I know lol I want to get a cross from my swords to see what colorations I get from them. I'm not sure what color I would consider my females

 

[Five 97]

Yea I know lol I want to get a cross from my swords to see what colorations I get from them. I'm not sure what color I would consider my females

That would be interesting. are you talking about the breed? well, I looked them up your females are koI swordtails.

 

[DioAquatics]

Yea I want to see what I get from them

 

[Five 97]

I'm guessing some kind of starling assorted colors'll show up...

 

[DioAquatics]

Most likely

 

[JFreshwater]

Sexing rams is fairly easy considering how some other fish are very difficult. In your pictures of Happy, I was looking at the rear tip of his dorsal fin (just above his tail) - a pointed tip indicates male, rounded is female. I've learned this is typically an accurate way to sex rams.

I read through some posts on here and instead of bring home multiple rams and seeing if they pair off (likely resulting in some cichlid brawls), try to do a little research and sex the rams yourself in the store. It took a little practice but I got pretty good at it when I started getting into rams.

 

[DioAquatics]

JFreshwater I thought Happy was a female but I determined that from the shape of the body on the analfin. It doesn't taper down like the sticky on here suggests for males. But then the analfin isn't round or very large like a female would have.

 

[JFreshwater]

@ I thought Happy was a female but I determined that from the shape of the body on the analfin. It doesn't taper down like the sticky on here suggests for males. But then the analfin isn't round or very large like a female would have.

The most accurate way to sex is seeing the breeding tubes when they're low enough to tell - a more rounded open tube is F and a more pointed tube is M. Sometimes their tubes come down even if there isn't a mate around, but sometimes they don't.

I've looked closely and I still can't tell for sure whether Happy is male or female. In picture4 of post#1 its dorsal fin tip looks rounded but in picture5 of post#9 it looks pointed. I'm sure it's just how the fin is angled in each picture. A clear side shot of Happy with its dorsal fin perfectly extended would be best for me to take a guess at sex.

 

[DioAquatics]

JFreshwater yea that's what I read, that the rounder breeding tubes are females and the pointy ones are males. How do I know when their breeding tubes come down?

Happy is still pretty small. S/he is only about 1.5-2 inches in length. I will try to get a clear picture of Happy when I get home.

 

[Five 97]

I've found sexing them by their breeding tube to be the most effective way...I zoomed into some of the pictures of Happy, and he looks like a male to me... can't be sure though, since it's not so easy to see it. I could barely make it out myself.

 

[DioAquatics]

Yea I'm definitely going to get a better side shot of Happy

 

[Five 97]

Good

 

[DioAquatics]

Warning picture over haul lol

I got a more pictures of the fish in the new 75 gallon. They seem to be loving all the extra swimming space!

So I'm almost 100% sure that Happy is a male. Looking at him is this photo, although he isn't fully flared, you can see that his breeding tube is very small and not rounded at all.

A group shot of some of my fish, mainly guppies

Heres one of my favorite guppies. His tail is a beautiful ombre blue.

Heres one of my very pregnant female guppies, she's been isolating herself and kinda lethargic lately so I think she's going to be giving birth again very soon.

I ended up lucking out and both of the tricolored koI swords I got were females aNd they are now pregnant! My painted red male has taking a liking to the bigger of the 2 females

One of the many baby assassin snails in my tank. It's so tiny and adorable!

Here are a few pictures of my tanks clean up crew. This is one of my 3 otos, I will be getting 7 more hopefully soon.

And here are 3 of my 5 Amano Shrimp lined up and ready for work haha

Last but not least, Grumpy

Now I've realized that I haven't really shown you guys any good pictures of my plants so here they are. This is my forest of Hygrophilia Corymbosa

My jungle Val that I'm waiting to grow in more. Before I upgraded to my new T5HO light, I only had one plant and it was dying. After I upgraded, I got this many lol

I've got my new Java ferns just wedged between some rocks

Now I've got 3 different type of anubias in the tank, I was wondering if anyone can help me ID they types.

#1 this one has the smallest leaves out of all 3

#2 this ones leaves are slightly bigger than the first and are a lighter green

#3 lastly, this one has the largest of leaves and is pretty darn big if you ask me

Finally, a picture of my planted 10 gallon tank that is under the 75. My nerite snail uprooted some of my bacopa caroliniania but I'll replant them soon.

 

[Five 97]

Glad everything's going along nicely for you there....I actually found some trI colored swordtails, but their not as well colored as yours. I also picked up a male BR. I was going to get a female too, but they were out of them, so I'll go next time.
I think the last anubias in your plant pictures is an amazon sword. not sure about the rest though, but I'm pretty sure your right about thinking their different types...