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- 77
Hello all! I am a new member but have been learning a lot reading posts the last couple of months.
As the title says, this all started with a fish (and snail and a couple live plant cuttings - limnophila, java moss, maybe subwassertang) in a 2 liter soda bottle that my 5th grader brought home from school last winter break (December, 2019). They were learning about ecosystems and this was the culminating project that went along with the unit. I didn't know *anything* about fish keeping, but the fish kept on kicking. I think I changed the water (100%, with no conditioner) about once a month (poor fish). We lost a couple of snails (probably copper since I wasn't conditioning, or too little minerals...my snails get calcium supplemented Repashy sn'ello now) but the fish kept on living.
After about 8 months I upgraded the fish to a large glass vase (about 1 gallon capacity). Slowly but surely (and after an accidental trip into the ***thankfully not running*** garbage disposal during one of my monthly cleanings) I got sucked into the hobby, particularly the live plants aspect. Late last summer (August-ish, 2020) I bought a 2 1/2 gallon glass canister, gravel vac kit, windelov java fern, Marimo moss ball, Anubias nana petit, and a banana plant along with a nano filter and pump. The fish is still going! I also added 2 mystery snails and a horned nerite. Definitely overstocked but I do 50% water changes weekly to help. I am currently cycling a 5.5 gallon to move the fish that I now know is a pearl danio, the snails will keep the 2.5 gallon.
Also around Christmas, 2020 I bought a 20 long and started it up (like I said, I have been getting sucked into the hobby)! The tank is fairly heavily planted and over the course of the last few months I have slowly added stock to it. I now have 3 more (intended to be friends in the 5.5) pearl danios, 6 Otos, 1 reticulated Hillstream loach, 4+ Amano shrimp, and 1 nerite in it. I am working on balancing nutrients and lighting...have a bit of green hair algae at the moment and some GSA on a couple anubias...but overall I'm really pleased with how it's all growing and the livestock (aside from one skinny oto) is doing great. I'm running two sponge filters and an air pad, heater is set at 75*F, parameters are steady (using API master kit and extras) at 0,0,5-10ppm, pH 7.4, gH 7-9, kH 3-4, TDS 130-180. Along with the plants there are two medium pieces of Mopani, some "seiryu" (bought on amazon so not sure how authentic) stone pieces, and a single large Indian Almond Leaf. I add 1 or 2 small wonder shells once a month, feed a combo of pellet foods and dehydrated daphnia to the danios along with algae wafers or Repashy Soilent Green a couple of times a week for the loach (who basically bathes in the dish with it!) and Otos. I also have a fresh organic veggie slice (yellow squash, zucchini, spinach, cucumber, red pepper) available on a clip pretty much 24/7 for the Otos.
Along with the 2.5 that's been running almost a year and the 20 that's been up ~6 months, I have the 5.5 for hospital/quarantine/plant storage and have two nerites in there with a bunch of random plants. Eventually I plan to rehome the danios there - maybe sooner than later if I need to move a male who is scrapping over a potentially gravid female in the 20 (but I made another post about that). I also just started up a 10g waterbox that will be my first go at shrimp breeding in a few months when it's ready, and I'm pretty excited about that!
I think that's it. Glad to be here and while I research things pretty obsessively I am definitely a newbie who is always open to thoughts, suggestions, and help from others with more experience than me!
As the title says, this all started with a fish (and snail and a couple live plant cuttings - limnophila, java moss, maybe subwassertang) in a 2 liter soda bottle that my 5th grader brought home from school last winter break (December, 2019). They were learning about ecosystems and this was the culminating project that went along with the unit. I didn't know *anything* about fish keeping, but the fish kept on kicking. I think I changed the water (100%, with no conditioner) about once a month (poor fish). We lost a couple of snails (probably copper since I wasn't conditioning, or too little minerals...my snails get calcium supplemented Repashy sn'ello now) but the fish kept on living.
After about 8 months I upgraded the fish to a large glass vase (about 1 gallon capacity). Slowly but surely (and after an accidental trip into the ***thankfully not running*** garbage disposal during one of my monthly cleanings) I got sucked into the hobby, particularly the live plants aspect. Late last summer (August-ish, 2020) I bought a 2 1/2 gallon glass canister, gravel vac kit, windelov java fern, Marimo moss ball, Anubias nana petit, and a banana plant along with a nano filter and pump. The fish is still going! I also added 2 mystery snails and a horned nerite. Definitely overstocked but I do 50% water changes weekly to help. I am currently cycling a 5.5 gallon to move the fish that I now know is a pearl danio, the snails will keep the 2.5 gallon.
Also around Christmas, 2020 I bought a 20 long and started it up (like I said, I have been getting sucked into the hobby)! The tank is fairly heavily planted and over the course of the last few months I have slowly added stock to it. I now have 3 more (intended to be friends in the 5.5) pearl danios, 6 Otos, 1 reticulated Hillstream loach, 4+ Amano shrimp, and 1 nerite in it. I am working on balancing nutrients and lighting...have a bit of green hair algae at the moment and some GSA on a couple anubias...but overall I'm really pleased with how it's all growing and the livestock (aside from one skinny oto) is doing great. I'm running two sponge filters and an air pad, heater is set at 75*F, parameters are steady (using API master kit and extras) at 0,0,5-10ppm, pH 7.4, gH 7-9, kH 3-4, TDS 130-180. Along with the plants there are two medium pieces of Mopani, some "seiryu" (bought on amazon so not sure how authentic) stone pieces, and a single large Indian Almond Leaf. I add 1 or 2 small wonder shells once a month, feed a combo of pellet foods and dehydrated daphnia to the danios along with algae wafers or Repashy Soilent Green a couple of times a week for the loach (who basically bathes in the dish with it!) and Otos. I also have a fresh organic veggie slice (yellow squash, zucchini, spinach, cucumber, red pepper) available on a clip pretty much 24/7 for the Otos.
Along with the 2.5 that's been running almost a year and the 20 that's been up ~6 months, I have the 5.5 for hospital/quarantine/plant storage and have two nerites in there with a bunch of random plants. Eventually I plan to rehome the danios there - maybe sooner than later if I need to move a male who is scrapping over a potentially gravid female in the 20 (but I made another post about that). I also just started up a 10g waterbox that will be my first go at shrimp breeding in a few months when it's ready, and I'm pretty excited about that!
I think that's it. Glad to be here and while I research things pretty obsessively I am definitely a newbie who is always open to thoughts, suggestions, and help from others with more experience than me!
