Mommalake's Fish Tanks

HI Fishlore
It's been a while since I shared any of my tanks so I figured I'd make thread to show what I've got going on and see if anyone has any opinions/suggestions for improvement. Just for background info, I started keeping fish March/April 2016, so me and my tanks have come a long way. I have 7 of my own tanks and my two sons each have a tank, all freshwater. I'll list them all with pics and stocking. My stocking is almost done but I have some in quarantine til next week so I'll list stocking as it will be next week after everyone is in their proper tank.

Here goes:



55 gallon South American
1 keyhole, "Chubbs"
2 Bolivian Rams
11 aeneus Cory
6 albino aeneus Cory (still in quarantine)
1 BN pleco female, "momma"
2 clown pleco females
16 neon tetras
8 pristella tetras
10 or so BN pleco fry (will be moved and eventually sold to my LFS)



29gallon
12 tiger barbs
1 convict, "Elvis"
* I am aware that this arrangement may not work long term but they're doing extremely well for now so I'll address any issues as they come.



10 gallon
1 Betta male, "Merlin"
1 big yellow snail
5 ghost shrimp







My newest setup 20 gallon long
10 panda Cory (favorite fish ever ️)
5 platys
2 snails (1 ivory, 1 blue)





135 gallon
7 giant danios
6 yoyo loaches
2 pictus
1 gold severum, "Clegane"
1 firemouth, "Smog"
1 electric blue acara, "Grumpy Bear"
1 sailfin (about 5 inches; I have an arrangement with my LFS, they are looking for a unique appropriate pleco for me at which time I'll likely trade my sailfin in *unless you think she could stay. She's beautiful and I hate to give her up but for her best interest...)



29 gallon
8 harlequin rasboras
1 BN pleco male, "baby daddy"
5 trilineatus Cory (will be moved in next week from my 55, then I'll get one more when quarantine opens up)
3 cherry barbs (I haven't had much luck with these, I've tried to up their school 3 times now and they don't last more than a couple weeks. I'll either rehome these last 3 females or let them live out here. They like the tank and the rasboras. Idk)
3 honey gourami (I had four but lost one of my females-Sugar. So now I have Honey-original male, Pooh-2nd male & Piglet-remaining female. Pooh and Piglet have decided they are a pair and since Sugar died, now they pick on Honey I'm thinking of moving Honey to my 55.



10 gallon quarantine
6 baby albino aeneus Cory
10? Guppy fry-> going to my friend and rest will be fed to cichlids.
*I was going to temporarily breed the guppies for treats for my cichlids but I have no luck with guppies so these won't be staying long.

My oldest son has a 10 gallon tank with a male betta, a big yellow snail and 5 ghost shrimp

My youngest son has a 20gLong with 9 tetra glofish, a little black stripey snail and 7 ghost shrimp

*ill post pics of these tanks later.

So yeah, these are all my tanks. I know some might be oddly stocked but I'm taking everything slow and quarantining every newcomer, I've learned my lesson the hard way.
If you have any thoughts or recommendations for moving fish around that would be better please feel free to say so. The only ones that won't be altered are the betta tanks.

 

This is where all "my" tanks are. I have my cozy chair here so I can sit and watch all my fish with my dogs in their beds at my feet and I have a cat-tree behind my chair for the kittens and my sons are always all over the house. But it's really nice in the evening when the world is dark and quiet and I have all these little glowing mini-worlds around me. I love it ️

 

Ok, here's my sons' tanks:



Home of Diamond, he's a very shy blue butterfly male betta



Glofish Central (9 skirt Tetra)

 

Wow beautiful and amazing tanks!! Also how do you keep the water so crystal clear!!?

 

Wow beautiful and amazing tanks!! Also how do you keep the water so crystal clear!!?

Thank you!
These tanks consume my life! lol.

I don't know exactly what I do to make the water clear, but I have at least 2 filters on every tank (excluding the 2 betta tanks). The gph total vs volume is at least 10x on each tank. I don't do water changes every week but I at least do every other week, and every month on the big tank. I have to top off all tanks every few days. I clean all filters regularly. I keep a log on every tank, who's in there and what I've done and when. I know when I need to do water changes by smell. If it has a smell it gets a water change whether it's scheduled in my log or not. I have OCD so my water changes are involved, I take everything out, and clean the substrate. I don't scrub the decor at all but I make sure there's no gunk on it. My filters are all packed with sponge and ceramic media, as much as I can fit.

 

Wow what gorgeous tanks! That room must be so peaceful with all the sounds of water

 

wow that's a lot of tanks! i'd love to have a room like that. I'm a fan of natural looking so I love ur 55!

 

Thank you both!

Yeah, I love the natural look best too. Sand, rocks and drift wood and real plants. Unfortunately my OCD gets the best of me and I keep tinkering until things end up all or somewhat symmetrical. And I had to get some color scattered about because they were all dark water style for a while and it was too much brown.
But I feel like now they are each growing a bit of they're own personality.

I just bought 4 new pieces of mopanI wood today and some java fern. So, there will be more tinkering to come, as always. The little albinos finished their quarantine. So, I also picked up four very young trilineatus cories so they can have a proper school and a new female honey so hopefully Honey won't be the odd man out anymore (when she gets out of quarantine obviously).

 

Where do u buy your decor from? Everything looks so amazing and thought out

 

Absolutely beautiful!! And your puppyfriend is gorgeous, too!!

Just out of curiousity, where are you located?
Are you one of the ones fortunate enough to have free water?

How significantly would you say such beautiful setups affect your utility bills?

Also, and backtracking a bit... I love the sort of open floor plan you have there where the fish are.

 

Where do u buy your decor from? Everything looks so amazing and thought out

Thank you!
I get wood, decor, plants etc from petsmart, petco and my local LFS. I also pull rocks out of my back yard. I get random ceramic "caves" (ceramic pots or tea-light candle holders) from thrift stores. I like to take some things apart and re-do it to suit the needs/design of the tank. I took pieces of fake plant and tied it to cholla wood I got from Amazon.com, for my quarantine. I get Indian almond leaves from Amazon too. I use reptile decor too but I sand it all down to make sure it's smooth. Oh and ceramic pots from Michaels.

Absolutely beautiful!! And your puppyfriend is gorgeous, too!!

Just out of curiousity, where are you located?
Are you one of the ones fortunate enough to have free water?

How significantly would you say such beautiful setups affect your utility bills?

Also, and backtracking a bit... I love the sort of open floor plan you have there where the fish are.

Hi, Thank you!
I live a little inland from Ventura, in California.

Our water isn't free and we've been in a drought until this winter. We have tiered water bills and allotted amounts depending on idk what lol.

My husband actually asked our water company if we were doing ok and they said we're totally fine because we turned our pool off for the drought (been about 2 years now).

And I use all LED lights except for the newest 20 long as I'm trying to make that one a more planted type.

To be honest I'm not sure how much the tanks affect our utilities because my husband handles those and he just tells me it's fine lol. I don't go out and party and I'm not a shopper or big spender, just my tanks. So he doesn't mind. He did however say I've hit my tank limit

The floor plan, yes, I kind of set up my "fish-room" right in a big conjunction area of our house. But it was the only spot not on carpet and big enough to hold the 135. Then I gradually moved all the other tanks there too. We have concrete slab foundation on this part of the house too so we knew the floor could hold all the weight.

 

Well it's working out beautifully!!

Your husband is either a good liar for the sake of your passion, or they must not draw too much!!

I saw something that said that a 55 gallon with fluorescent hood draws like $140 annually (heater, filter, etc).
So it's prob significantly less with LEDs.

I, too, am in the States (SWPA) and our "commonwealth" is not the most favorable.
Not the worst, but not the best in utilities.

 

Hey Momma, nice tanks!! I wouldn't worry about the power bills, aquariums are good clean fun. You do know that you have another problem besides OCD, called MTS.

 

Hey Momma, nice tanks!! I wouldn't worry about the power bills, aquariums are good clean fun. You do know that you have another problem besides OCD, called MTS.

Thank you!
Hahaha yeah... MTS hit me pretty hard!
I'd fill the house with tanks if I could. Quit my job and just breed fish or something so I can still buy food and gas etc.
I still have an old 135 in my garage that I was originally going to use but the seals were so old I didn't trust it in my house and I didn't trust that I could re-seal it properly. Some day I'm going to set it up in my garage, but I have to clean and reorganize my garage first.

I seem to be obsessed with catfish specifically. Cories and Plecos.
Plecos I really want are blue phantom, sultan and blue panaques. If I can get my hands on a m/f pair of blue panaques I will try to breed them for sure.

 

Cories remind me of little fat happy piggies. The L239 Baryancistrus begginI or blue panaques are very cool fish, a pair would do well in you 135! But if you do find some, quarantine them for several weeks. Make sure they're eating and have a full looking belly, and they're eyes are not sunken. They're a bit tough to get acclimated. I'm glad to know I'm not the only fish crazy person in the world.

 

New pleco!
I'm absolutely giddy right now.

So, when I was doing my pleco research to find appropriately sized Plecos that matched the parameters of my tanks one pleco struck my heart but I figured it was pretty rare and I'd likely never get one so I scratched it off my list so I could focus on more attainable goals.
Well I went to my LFS today just to check in and see if they got in any of the Plecos I was looking for, namely a blue panaque. No luck. But they did have this little beauty:










It's a ghost pleco L141
Gets to about 5.5"
Temp range 73.4-80.6 F

This is the exact pleco I wanted most and figured I'd never find!

Seeing as I have 3 baby trilineatus cories and a little female honey in my 10 gallon quarantine I couldn't put him/her in there. Also with this baby being already about 3" I didn't feel that would be big enough for a month long quarantine. I decided since the platys and the pandas, in the 20 long, were still relatively new I put him/her in there. I set the temp to 75 for now. I added 2 pieces of the new mopanI wood I got in there to give him/her some cover.
* temporary 20 long stocking 1 ghost pleco, 5 platys, 6 baby/young pandas.
(4/10 pandas mentioned in my original post are my adults from before and are still in my 55 which I hadn't moved over yet and was going to do so this week.) But now I'll hold off and reassess the situation.

Anyway, that's my big news!
If anyone has ever had a ghost pleco and has any advice for me to ensure his health, comfort and happiness please share!
Oh and, does anyone by chance know the sex from the pics?
Thanks!

 

Little update:

New pleco didn't make it she barley made it a day. I narrowed the cause down to her being wild caught and my tanks having hard water, too much stress etc. long story short, I was very upset by her death and have decided I won't get anymore wild caught fish. In my case it would be endangering the poor fish and so feels it would be irresponsible and cruel for me to keep trying.

In more positive news, the new female honey I got fixed my honey aggression issue. The dominant pair have stopped harassing Honey I also added all 8 of my trilineatus cories to that tank and it completely changed the dynamic. The honeys come out now and grace me with their presence. I rearranged the decor a bit and added a new tall piece of drift wood. The water has a nice warm tannin look to it and all the fish seem to really appreciate the new set up. yay!

Since I had to re-quarantine my 20 long, I purchased a new baby albino BN pleco and put it in there.

My pleco plan is still to rehome my sailfin (in my 135, unless someone by some miracle tells me she's fine in there LOL). Then I will move Momma and maybe 1 of her daughters in there (when big enough of course). I'll sell the rest of the babies to my LFS. Then I'd like to try for a batch of babies with the new albino and keep one of those babies. Ideally ending up with four female BN Plecos in the 135.

Lastly, I've been considering something for my 55. When my BNs are out of there, I will have a stock of 2 clown Plecos, 7 Pristella tetra, 17 aeneus Cory (11 bronze, 6 albino), and my school of neons, my keyhole and 2 Bolivian Rams. Question, if I moved my neons, keyhole and Bolivians out, could I add a pair of angels and 7 platys in there?
Final stock would be:
55g standard
2 angels
2 clown Plecos
17 aeneus cory
7 Pristella tetra
7 platy

* if 17 is too many cories I could move the 6 albinos to my son's 20 long glofish tank. I've been wanting to redo his tank and that would be a good excuse to change the substrate to black sand and add drift wood and real plants

What do you all think?

 

Here's the before and after for the 29 honey tank:
Before:



After:



The wall in the back is a hollow ceramic tunnel and there is a ceramic pleco cave on either side tucked behind the big plants. The drift wood also has a nice cave under it. So there's lots of great hiding spots for everyone. Eventually I'd like to glue some anubias to the wood.

 

So sorry for the loss it was such a beautiful pleco

 

the tanks are amazing. but I am sorry for loss.

 

Thanks to both of you. ️

 

Holy jeepers! I just scored a 65 gallon tank (36.5"x18.5"x25") with glass canopies and a fluorescent light for $60. Squeee!

I'm going for a pair of angels and move my aeuneus cories, Pristella tetras and platys in there. Then I'll see how full it looks and go from there.

I got a bunch of CaribSea black sand and I'd like to have it fairly planted with low tech, low light plants-in planters so I can move them around and clean without disturbing them.

 

your tanks look amazing... well done.

 

your tanks look amazing... well done.

Thank you

 

HI All,
Update time.

A lot has happened since my last update. We had to tent our house for termites I had read a lot about different things to do with your fish. Also considering we have dogs and cats and reptiles... we decided to use our fifth wheel camper and stay on the property. My son's stayed at their dads house. Dogs, cats and reptiles were brought in the camper with us.

All fish were moved to tanks set up in the "front" yard. I tested my old 135 (which does still hold water, yay). And I bought two new 55 gallon tanks at the $1 per gallon sale. Those three tanks and a 15 gallon tall for all my fry was what I had to work with.

I set up all my filters (some consolidated) into those tanks and set them up with all my heaters to help maintain temp. I moved all my drift wood, live plants and some fake plants and caves so they would still have plenty of cover.

On the first night I lost one glofish and my precious Merlin (my purple vt betta) originally I thought I could keep the bettas in our heated trailer in temporary 1 gallon tanks as it would only be a few days. But after I lost Merlin I felt horrible and knew I had to move Diamond (my son's betta). So I decided to add a breeder box to one of the 55 gallon and placed it right next to a heater. He perked up and did great there. I felt really dumb that I didn't do that for both in the first place.

Upon waking the second morning, I had to go to work but checked on the fish first of course, realized the power to the tanks was off. No filters running, no heaters, nothing. I freaked out but had to go to work so I left my husband in charge. The tenting manager guy came and turned the power back on for us, yay!

Over the duration of the tenting I believe I lost 8 fish total. The tenting was three days but I moved them out a day early-bettas day of start, and all fish were back inside about a week after they first moved out. Of course I was not happy about any losses, especially my Merlin. But it was done and I began the long process of moving everyone back into the house.

 

Update Part Two:

Shortly after moving the fish in, I then lost Diamond, despite all my efforts to keep him safe. He was put into a 10 gallon planted with black back ground and black sand. Nice and quiet. I think all the stress of everything just took its toll.

When I had all my fish out I decided to redo the substrate in my 135 to sand and pull the UGF. This was the one good thing that came from the tenting.

Also since I had some losses and new bigger tanks to work with I decided to change out some tanks.

To make a really long story a bit shorter I'll skip to what I now have:

My oldest son inherited one of my stacked stands for his current leopard gecko and the baby one he will be getting in August for his birthday. My youngest son's (8)glofish got a 29 gallon and (9) kuhlI loach friends and 1 baby BN pleco (from my momma/daddy pair).

In my front/dining room-fish room I now have:

55g with all my little schoolers and panda and trilineatus cories, Bolivian ram, honey gourami etc. this tank is still a work in progress for stocking.

55g on the peninsula kitchen counter (no backing so it's viewable from both sides) with my tiger barbs, yoyo loaches, convict and firemouth. This tank will not have anyone added. It has lots of rock work, drift wood and fake plants. I'll be tweaking the decor as I can to make sure the two boys have their own areas. It's going well for now but I don't think they are fully grown yet.

135g with my severum, EBA, keyhole, pictus, pleco, aeneus cories, giant danios, 3 golden weather loaches and a peacock eel. It's a weird mix but oddly they all are getting along great and no one shys into hiding. I love the dojos but I think the tank might be too warm for them. I don't have the heater plugged in and it stays 75-77F. I'm considering rehoming them or idk. If anyone has input on them being in this temp long term please say, thanks.

65g 1 striped angel, 2 marble angles, 1 blue pinoy angel, rosy tetras, albino corys, clown Plecos, livebearers, a leopard cactus pleco (2")

I still have my 15 gallon empty, a 20 gallon long empty (saved for quarantine) and a 10 gallon that I'm moving my pacman frog into.

I sit and look at my fish all the time and try to think if they are where they should be. Some I'm waiting for them to grow out so I can reorganize a little. Just takes time. Anyway, if you took the time to read all that, thank you.