My "new" aquarium

[luvabunny]

OK, so it's not new. Its the same 75 gallon bowfront I've had for a long time, several years even.
Some of you may remember my "mystery" illness from awhile back. Well, it finally destroyed the tank. I settled on some sort of weird fungus. Still have no idea where it came from, or why it presented itself.
So, after allowing the tank to set without fish for some time, I added a few "testers". Gone within days. So I tore the tank apart.
Threw all the live plants away. Took the gravel out and thoroughly cleaned it. Scrubbed the tank with elbow grease. Went over all deco with a toothbrush. Took apart and cleaned both canister filters. Filled it all back up and let it set. Tested, tested, tested. All OK. Added a few fish, all OK. Added a few more fish, all OK.

So today, while everyone was hiding up in the corners and behind whatever little bit of deco they could find, I text an old friend and boy, did he hook me up! He raises aquarium plants FOR FUN! He's good at it. Told him I had 40.00 bucks to spend and did he have any extra. He said he could probably come up with a few.

Well, I met him several hours later, asked him what I owed him and gave him 30.00. He gave me a paper grocery sack with the top folded down. When I got it home and looked, it had about 16 different bags in it.

Here is what it did to a 75g tank (4 ft long, 15" wide and 18" tall)!
One side:


The other side:


Those aren't even spread out or planted, just thrown in the tank to see what was there!

Oh, and PetSmart had a sale on neon tetras. I love neon tetras. Here is the dozen of them in their new digs. They are so comfortable with all the plants!


Of course, true to form, my one and only female guppy that I've had for all of 24 hours decided to give birth, so I also now have baby guppies.

The best part, my friend told me he was glad someone wanted the plants. He goes thru and throws about this many away every couple of months because his tanks get overrun! I certainly didn't mind giving him the 30.00. This sort of haul would have cost me hundreds online, and not been near as nice!
...Merry Christmas to me!... :lol:

 

[dayna]

That is really awesome!

 

[AmysMacdog]

That's a beautiful tank.

 

[ladysown]

very nice. I like neons as well.

 

[ottersatin]

GREAT tank set up and nice fish!
I was a live bearer fanatic myself many moons ago.
I have not had a fish tank in more years than I should mention,
but today my Daughter stopped by and gave me an early
Christmas present. A Siamese fighting fish [Betta].
with all the accoutrements. I am NOT going to get
tropical fish CRAZY like I was in my youth!
Anyway, I think you got a GREAT deal on those Plants!
Ottersatin. ldtimer:

 

[luvabunny]

Since I got back into rabbits, the saltwater enthusiasm failed. It was just too much work and too time consuming - nevermind the fact that every time I had to put my hands into it, my fingers swelled until they almost split and bled. And...it was taking way too much of my bunny money to keep it going.

But, I do enjoy the tank. It is in my bedroom at the foot of my bed. Since I had all the high powered lighting for the saltwater, it was an easy thing to change out a couple bulbs for plant bulbs. The bulbs were getting old and needed replaced anyway.

The tank now is mostly just a community tank. I don't foresee any baby raising adventures in my future. Truly, I just put females in the tank to give the males someone to show off for.

Ottersatin, two years ago Easter, I bought just one little dwarf bunny. I thought, it can live in the house and be a pet, and I'll just enjoy it. Today, I have 19 adult rabbits, 9 babies, 24 holes worth of cages and a brand new barn. Just sayin'...it only has to start with one....

 

[PSFAngoras]

Very pretty!

I always had a fish tank as a kid. That was one of the good memories I have of my father (unfortunately, there were few), we would go down to the pet store once a month or so and he would let me pick out a few more fish for my tank. I just don't have the enthusiasm to keep it up as an adult though, I need animals that want to interact with me.

I have thought about trying to breed betas (the only ones I still have a hard time resisting) for the local pet store, but I'm not sure what I would do with 500+ fry. I know half of them typically don't live, but I can't imagine trying to keep over 100 fish separate in my tiny little house!

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Wow, what a beautiful tank! Those plants are awesome.

I have a 100 gallon show tank and used to have cichlids, so no live plants for me- they would eat them or dig them up at the very least. I loved how territorial they were, and built extensive cave systems for them out of rocks.

I haven't had fish since we moved up here though. I'd really like to set the tank back up, but Hubs doesn't want to add to our electric bill.

I just don't have the enthusiasm to keep it up as an adult though, I need animals that want to interact with me.

I had two Tiretrack eels named Dunlop and Pirelli, and they would swim into my hands and between my fingers. Several of the other fish would let me touch them too. The eels were super tame because I hand fed them pieces of fish and squid. It was much more economical to buy fish at the supermarket and cut it into serving portions and then freezing it rather than feeding just fish food or live fish.

 

[LilacGal]

It's lovely, and peaceful looking.

 

[ottersatin]

In my Room,
my Brother and I had 27 tanks with a vast variety of Fish.
My Father called it the Pet shop! We spent most of our days
traveling to all the Fish stores we could get to, By Train.
The hobby did keep us busy and out of much trouble.
When I moved upstate the Rabbits became my hobby.
Ottersatin ldtimer:

 

[luvabunny]

There was a time, once, when we had a 40g octopus tank with its 10g crawdad food supply in one corner of the living room, a 60g cube reef tank in another corner, a 75g saltwater along one wall, and a couple of freshwater tanks in the bedroom.

Funny, how, once you begin moving a little slower, upkeep on those things, like lifting 5g buckets of water back and forth, tend to not be quite so much fun.

This tank is right around the corner from my shower. I've purchased a hose that fits on my spray nozzle and is long enough to drain itself into my shower. No more heavy buckets for me!

I fed everyone a treat of frozen brine shrimp this evening. Boy, looking at all the big bellies, I sure feel loved! Maybe later this weekend I can find some live brine shrimp, or some micro worms. Probably ought to get some plant tabs too. So much for easy...

 

[akane]

Cardinals look just as good and are twice as hardy with double the lifespan. We had cardinals and cherry shrimp in a 10g. It's a pretty combination. I like the black neons too. Sadly I can't fit my big tanks anywhere in this condo. There isn't more than 3' of continous space which lends itself better to the stacked hedgehog and chinchilla cages than fish tanks. I started to setup a 20g long on the bar we never use, keep meaning to take the bar stools down to the garage so they aren't in the way, but I couldn't find the fish I wanted so it's just been breeding guppies with a chunk of driftwood that won't sink and 1 java fern.

I love the labyrinth fish. I had tons of gourami species, paradise fish, and bettas in my community tanks when I had a big basement apartment with concrete floor. The sparklers were small but very pretty and cute. I got a female opal for my male blue 3 spot but he was too aggressive so she went in the 90g with the sparklers and moonbeam. Created about 300 paradise fish over one summer. I had a small tank with a breeding pair of rams. Congo tetras which spawned nearly weekly but I never could save the eggs to raise some. I also set up a 29g brackish with bumblebee gobies and a nano reef with a single goby until it jumped out one day. It was cool seeing all the stuff that came in on live rock. Some of it concerning though like the mystery crab. Some day I'm getting a predrilled 75 to use for saltwater. Sadly my 90 cracked and my 55 had the center brace warp from heat so those 2 big tanks can't hold water anymore. If I resealed the 40 breeder I could probably use it but it's hard to find tops and lights that fit an odd sized tank like that.

 

[luvabunny]

I prefer cardinals over neons too, but they have been amazingly hard to find. The big box pet stores have just about run all of the single owner pet shops out of business, and they carry what they carry, no special orders.

Myself, I just can't get into a fast moving, aggressive, always under construction tank, like you have with danios, cichlids, etc. I like my tanks to be calm, soothing, peaceful, and I like stuff to stay where I put it, until I decide I want to change it. It's my relaxation.

When I had seahorses, I was into saltwater in a big way. Seahorses have hundreds of live babies at a time, live brine shrimp must be hatched, water flow must be exactly right, etc, etc. Like Ottersatin, I had tanks everywhere for everything.

Now, not so much. This is the only tank in the house, and I'm good with just staring at it until bed time. Semi weekly or monthly water changes sound good to me. And like I said before, no more carry 5 gallon buckets. Too heavy and too hard on my back. Maybe today, I'll get a chance to separate and actually plant some of these plants. Maybe not...