Show me your aquarium
Discussion
I know there are a few fishy types on here, but I don't recall seeing many aquarium photos.
Got any pics? I'm sure some of you have some beautiful aquariums. Do you have a favorite type of fish? Do you name your fish?
Mines only a 64 litre bow front with an external pump/filter and inline heater unit. I wanted to keep the tank free from pipes and wires where possible. All artificial plants apart from the marimo moss balls as my light set up is not very good and the tank is on the opposite side of the room from a window.
The tank is stocked with two cardinal tetras and four honey gouramis. I did have 6 cardinals and 4 marbled hatchet fish about four years ago, but over a period I lost them one by one until a few weeks ago when I was left with just two cardinals. I had planned to shut the tank down when all the cardinals went, but I had a change of heart and bought the four honeys a few weeks ago.
The gouramis seem to have settled in. It took them a few days before they were confident to come swimming up when I approached the tank.
Honey gouramis are the smallest gourami, even smaller than dwarfs, and should only grow to 4 or 5cm. They are a more peaceful than other gouramis, so hopefully I won't have any territorial problems. I think the one you see on the right might be a female as the body and fins are more rounded.
They have these funny hair like tentacle/feeler pectoral fins that they use to touch things with. Whilst they tend to ignore the cardinals, when they approach each other they lift up their "feelers" and touch each other in a way that reminds me of those little animations where people have drawn stick arms onto animals
I think they appreciate the tall plants and the floating plants as they like to sleep/rest amongst them at night.
Got any pics? I'm sure some of you have some beautiful aquariums. Do you have a favorite type of fish? Do you name your fish?
Mines only a 64 litre bow front with an external pump/filter and inline heater unit. I wanted to keep the tank free from pipes and wires where possible. All artificial plants apart from the marimo moss balls as my light set up is not very good and the tank is on the opposite side of the room from a window.
The tank is stocked with two cardinal tetras and four honey gouramis. I did have 6 cardinals and 4 marbled hatchet fish about four years ago, but over a period I lost them one by one until a few weeks ago when I was left with just two cardinals. I had planned to shut the tank down when all the cardinals went, but I had a change of heart and bought the four honeys a few weeks ago.
The gouramis seem to have settled in. It took them a few days before they were confident to come swimming up when I approached the tank.
Honey gouramis are the smallest gourami, even smaller than dwarfs, and should only grow to 4 or 5cm. They are a more peaceful than other gouramis, so hopefully I won't have any territorial problems. I think the one you see on the right might be a female as the body and fins are more rounded.
They have these funny hair like tentacle/feeler pectoral fins that they use to touch things with. Whilst they tend to ignore the cardinals, when they approach each other they lift up their "feelers" and touch each other in a way that reminds me of those little animations where people have drawn stick arms onto animals
I think they appreciate the tall plants and the floating plants as they like to sleep/rest amongst them at night.
Edited by AlexC1981 on Sunday 4th August 14:12
I thought we'd have a page of lovely pictures by now. Cheers, yes the honey gouramis are a pretty little fish. The cardinals must be four years old now and their numbers reduced slowly, so they haven't suddenly been plunged into isolation. I'm just guessing, but it might stress them out adding a fresh young school whilst they are in their autumn years!
When they go belly up I'll get a school of something else in. Maybe six rummy nose tetras or forktail rainbow fish.
Really want to avoid stocking too many fish at one time as I kept it more heavily stocked in my first year of fish keeping and I ended up with a pretty bad turnover of fish.
I planned to get just three honey gouramis originally, but I thought that four would reduce the chance of one fish getting singled out and bullied.
When they go belly up I'll get a school of something else in. Maybe six rummy nose tetras or forktail rainbow fish.
Really want to avoid stocking too many fish at one time as I kept it more heavily stocked in my first year of fish keeping and I ended up with a pretty bad turnover of fish.
I planned to get just three honey gouramis originally, but I thought that four would reduce the chance of one fish getting singled out and bullied.
Finally got some fish back in my tank after shutting it down when my eldest arrived. But now he's into Octonauts so it seemed like a good time to get back in to the hobby.
First time round I was keeping Lake Tanganyika cichlids which are amazing fish to watch from a behaviour point of view but the tanks can look a bit boring- sand and rocks only- so fancied a change. Have gone for low tech planted, probably a big group of corydoras and a nice shoal of rainbowfish. My lad loved neons/cardinals so will probably end up with a bunch of them too once the tank has matured a bit. I actually got the substrate and hardscape in back in April but due to work and holidays had to delay getting fish, so the tank has been fishless cycling for about 4 months
Tank is about 350 litres, running 3x eheim externals and a UV (probably not needed but was a gift from a relative who gave up fish keeping so thought why not plumb it in). Had to upgrade the old T8 lighting after the ballast gave up, so got a nice iQuatics 2x 50w T5 setup. Built an undergravel jet system with 5x nozzles hidden behind rocks for better water circulation which seems to be working really well.
Substrate is water lilly compost capped with fine gravel and sand. Re-used some of my old rocks and got hold of some nice bits of driftwood. Got a jungle plant bundle from Aquarium Gardens online, really good quality plants which have grown loads since I planted them 10 days ago.
First inhabitants are 3x Emerald Brochis/Corydoras- lovely iridescent green on their sides and will get a bit chunkier than most cories- up to 7-8cm. Will be getting some more when my LFS gets them in so they will have a group of 7-8. Good fun watching them digging around in the sand.
Had just moved things around a bit hence the cloudy water, crystal clear now
the kids have been loving giving the fish their breakfast and dinner, even my 2yo daughter spends ages watching the fish, so really pleased about that
First time round I was keeping Lake Tanganyika cichlids which are amazing fish to watch from a behaviour point of view but the tanks can look a bit boring- sand and rocks only- so fancied a change. Have gone for low tech planted, probably a big group of corydoras and a nice shoal of rainbowfish. My lad loved neons/cardinals so will probably end up with a bunch of them too once the tank has matured a bit. I actually got the substrate and hardscape in back in April but due to work and holidays had to delay getting fish, so the tank has been fishless cycling for about 4 months
Tank is about 350 litres, running 3x eheim externals and a UV (probably not needed but was a gift from a relative who gave up fish keeping so thought why not plumb it in). Had to upgrade the old T8 lighting after the ballast gave up, so got a nice iQuatics 2x 50w T5 setup. Built an undergravel jet system with 5x nozzles hidden behind rocks for better water circulation which seems to be working really well.
Substrate is water lilly compost capped with fine gravel and sand. Re-used some of my old rocks and got hold of some nice bits of driftwood. Got a jungle plant bundle from Aquarium Gardens online, really good quality plants which have grown loads since I planted them 10 days ago.
First inhabitants are 3x Emerald Brochis/Corydoras- lovely iridescent green on their sides and will get a bit chunkier than most cories- up to 7-8cm. Will be getting some more when my LFS gets them in so they will have a group of 7-8. Good fun watching them digging around in the sand.
Had just moved things around a bit hence the cloudy water, crystal clear now
the kids have been loving giving the fish their breakfast and dinner, even my 2yo daughter spends ages watching the fish, so really pleased about that
Edited by lufbramatt on Wednesday 7th August 10:37
I haven't seen green corys like that before. Very nice. I like the natural look to the tank. I bought some driftwood from The Range to put in my tank, but even though I soaked it in a tub for months and changed the water regularly it kept staining the water dark brown. Eventually I gave up on it and didn't put it in the tank.
Yea the tank water is still coming out a weak tea colour despite those bits of wood being soaked in the water butt outside for about 6 months, don't mind it though as it gives the tank a bit of a blackwater look a bit like the rivers the fish come from and the tannins are supposedly meant to be good for the fish.
I keep contemplating removing the internal filter but part of me feels it doesn't hurt to have a backup in the event the external fails. I'm not keen on the blue background now though, I redid the tank a month or so ago, originally I had a black background but felt it was too dark.
I went to Chester Zoo yesterday, they had this pool underneath where the sloth lives which had a glass front and it looked incredible. From the surface it looked like a calm, serene pool of water and then you crouched down and underneath the surface was this massive planted tank with shoals of Cardinal Tetras and loads of other stuff. There's a video here that shows some of it although there aren't as many plants when this was filmed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBme8VaAG-Y
Good pic of it here:
I went to Chester Zoo yesterday, they had this pool underneath where the sloth lives which had a glass front and it looked incredible. From the surface it looked like a calm, serene pool of water and then you crouched down and underneath the surface was this massive planted tank with shoals of Cardinal Tetras and loads of other stuff. There's a video here that shows some of it although there aren't as many plants when this was filmed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBme8VaAG-Y
Good pic of it here:
Edited by Oakey on Sunday 11th August 18:21
What size tank would people say is a decent size for a tropical tank? First time having one other than a few gold fish a few years ago.
Might sound stupid but do i need to be wary with placement within a flat (second floor). Just thinking if it's a 100L tank that's 100kg+ with stand etc.
Will be a while as it's a house move so money is going to be tight.
Might sound stupid but do i need to be wary with placement within a flat (second floor). Just thinking if it's a 100L tank that's 100kg+ with stand etc.
Will be a while as it's a house move so money is going to be tight.
Larger water volume tends to be more stable so easier to look after- within reason- id aim for 120-250 litres. My 350l tank takes about an hour a week to clean out.
Have a look and try to work out what way the floor joists run and put the tank at 90 degrees to the floor joists to spread the load over as many joists as possible.
Have a look and try to work out what way the floor joists run and put the tank at 90 degrees to the floor joists to spread the load over as many joists as possible.
1200litres of natural seawater in my kitchen/dining room...
Not my channel, but this is my tank with a close up of some of the inhabitants -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvRtnTFWkHQ
I'd agree with above - the bigger the volume of water, the more stable it is - but it can become expensive and hard work, especially for waer changes.
Not my channel, but this is my tank with a close up of some of the inhabitants -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvRtnTFWkHQ
I'd agree with above - the bigger the volume of water, the more stable it is - but it can become expensive and hard work, especially for waer changes.
I think you've mentioned this one before - it's 1050ish display and 150 ish in the sump. - 6ft wide, 3ft deep and 26" front to back.
I've got a bit of a cyano bloom at the moment, likely a combination of the afternoon sun being lower and catching the tank for a few hours, and an Orange Shoulder Tang that is needing extra feeding at the moment.
I've got a bit of a cyano bloom at the moment, likely a combination of the afternoon sun being lower and catching the tank for a few hours, and an Orange Shoulder Tang that is needing extra feeding at the moment.
Looked like tea yesterday, thanks to the immense bit of bogwood - however one night running purigen and it's crystal clear... Magic stuff.
Aqua Oak large cube, 160l, fluval aquasky 2.0 light and fluval fx4 filter (an utter beast, and a doddle to maintain/do water changes). Four fancy goldfish, lots of different Anubias species, a Java Fern and some Java Moss along with a Marimo ball.
Small tank not looking at it's best, did a major clear out last week and things are still annoyed. Taken during feeding, as Blue the betta is a moody bugger sitting in some moss most of the day!
Fluval Flex 37l, running biomax and zeo carb in the stock inbuilt filter chamber. Want to get the acrylic canister that slots in, but it's a pain to get from the states.
Thai import Betta Splendens, a small shoal of Celestial Pearl Danios (needs replenishing), four massive Amano shrimp and a couple of Otocinclus algae eaters.
Aqua Oak large cube, 160l, fluval aquasky 2.0 light and fluval fx4 filter (an utter beast, and a doddle to maintain/do water changes). Four fancy goldfish, lots of different Anubias species, a Java Fern and some Java Moss along with a Marimo ball.
Small tank not looking at it's best, did a major clear out last week and things are still annoyed. Taken during feeding, as Blue the betta is a moody bugger sitting in some moss most of the day!
Fluval Flex 37l, running biomax and zeo carb in the stock inbuilt filter chamber. Want to get the acrylic canister that slots in, but it's a pain to get from the states.
Thai import Betta Splendens, a small shoal of Celestial Pearl Danios (needs replenishing), four massive Amano shrimp and a couple of Otocinclus algae eaters.
Gassing Station | All Creatures Great & Small | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff