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Fish Tank Thread

11K views 40 replies 19 participants last post by  dpangler21 
#1 ·
If you have an aquarium, please share.

* All fish were purchased through licensed dealers 8)

Did not know Blue Gills can change color in a matter of minutes. Thought it could be a light thing, but results vary in and out of light. This blue gill is occasionally black(dark blue) and sometimes hes bright yellow. Sometimes that happens in a matter of minutes.

Right now, we have just one trophy sized blue gill.
 

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#27 ·
Those Betta's are tough, durable creatures. They can actually survive okay in those cruel little cups, their natural environment is pretty much puddles. I had one in a 1.5 gallon for a couple years with just a snail. I decided to buy it a female mate and he murdered it. Some people manage to get them into community tanks. More power to em.

Here's my overdue pic of my setup.
20180624_172336 by Ryan Baranowski, on Flickr

55 gallon with an Aquaclear 70 over the back filter. Fantastic filter. Love the sand substrate too, but my recommendation is to get a canister filter if you go the sand route. One of the Bala Sharks is incredibly skittish and if you go anywhere near the tank at night it goes bonkers and kicks up a lot of sand. The sand in turn travels up the tube and goes into the impeller well. Over time, the sand cuts grooves into the impeller assembly and rod which causes a horrendous rattling noise. I thought I could put up with it, but caved and bought the 2 parts new for just over $20. It doesn't sound like much, but if you look you can find the filter for about 80 bucks so to think that a quarter of the price of that is in these 2 small parts is a little nauseating :lol:. Here's pics of the new parts next to the old worn parts.
2019-02-02_11-32-04 by Ryan Baranowski, on Flickr

I might take the misses to pick a new fish for the tank today. My luck, she's gonna pick an expensive piece of Gar food.
 
#29 ·
Woohoodude11 said:
Fantastic filter. Love the sand substrate too, but my recommendation is to get a canister filter if you go the sand route. One of the Bala Sharks is incredibly skittish and if you go anywhere near the tank at night it goes bonkers and kicks up a lot of sand. The sand in turn travels up the tube and goes into the impeller well. Over time, the sand cuts grooves into the impeller assembly and rod which causes a horrendous rattling noise. I thought I could put up with it, but caved and bought the 2 parts new for just over $20. It doesn't sound like much, but if you look you can find the filter for about 80 bucks so to think that a quarter of the price of that is in these 2 small parts is a little nauseating :lol:. Here's pics of the new parts next to the old worn parts.
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Used cannisters for years (fluval 404's & magnum 350's). Liked everything about them except cleaning them. Seemed to always end up a mess! Over time, I eventually replaceced my cannisters with aquaclear 500's for 30 something bucks each. Noisier no doubt, but not too terrible, if, ....you keep the water-level topped off
I can relate to the sand/impeller. 1 trick that made a huge difference for sand intrusion & maintenance-cleanings, for HOB or cannister, was cutting/carving a piece of sponge to fit over the intake tube. A removal/rinse of the intake sponge screen greatly reduced the need to do a full breakdown/cleaning of the filter itself. It also cut down on sand finding its way into the impeller.
 
#30 ·
cletedius said:
For years my mother wanted a koi pond in their backyard, but dad wasnt agreeable. 1st year after he passed, mom went and had one dug out :-D . Turned out very nice. A crappy partial pic that really doesnt do it justice.
Been meaning to say that in spite of your editorial about the picture this is the nicest backyard pond I think I've ever seen. Somebody did a great job on the plantings of native plants. Outstanding!
 
#31 ·
Was definitely eyeing the Aquaclear's but ended up going with a pair of Fluval (who now owns aquaclear anyway) C3 filters. There's about 300gph flowing through the both and if one takes a poop, I like the idea of a back up to hobble things along.

I actually did the sponge thing on the filter intakes for the first few days while all the sand dust settled from the new fill. Doesn't seem to matter how much I rinsed it, the water was C_L_O_U_D_Y!

Things have settled in the tank, amonia levels are looking good, nitrite is almost at 0, and the nitrates are picking up which means I am just about cycled. I have small school of black skirt tetra's in there just to keep the cycle going until the permanent residents come home later this week or early next week.
 

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#32 ·
B-field its funny you mentioned the sponge thing. I actually did the same about a week ago and the tank has been getting cloudy and a little smelly when I open the hood. Ended up doing an 18 gallon water change and its improved...although from the pic you wouldn't believe thats "improved".

I bought another Peacock bass today. It was a decent size (about 3" compared to the 1.5" they typically sell). Hopefully this one lasts.

They had 2 incredible 10"-12" long peacocks there, though they're a tad big for my current setup and well outside of my budget.

Sorry, posting here seems to get harder and harder for me via phone. Here's the pics.
20190205_181245-2016x1134 by Ryan Baranowski, on Flickr
Post water change, you can kinda see the new addition at the top left.

20190205_172028-2016x1134 by Ryan Baranowski, on Flickr
closeup thru cloudy water

20190205_140331-2016x1134 by Ryan Baranowski, on Flickr
The bigger peas at the pet shop. They don't take on their vivid yellow/green/orange colors until they're even bigger.
 
#33 ·
Nice cocks. I like to go down to Gills and Thrills in Lockport because they sell shit most places don't anymore. Big piranhas, knife fish, red tails, shovelnose, arowana, wolf fish, etc. It us fun just to look. Anyways, they put a redtail catfish/tiger shove nose hybrid in their tank with small peacocks. In one weeks time it ate all 10 peacocks and the other hybrid in the tank with it. I did some research and the hybrid variety gets even bigger then a RTC or shovelnose. If only I had a pond.
 
#34 ·
I'll need to check them out Matt. Aquarium Adventure in Hoffman Estates has a good selection and some oddballs, but they're expensive. Coral Reef in Norridge is great pricing and decent selection. There's also a place called Sho Tank in Mundelein that has phenomeonal pricing, but their freshwater selection is pretty slim. Saltwater though they can't be beat.
 
#35 ·
The Aquarium Adventure in Bolingbrook is my go to, but I have been to the Hoffman Estates one a few times. I ended up getting my male jaguar cichlid there and a few other things from time to time. They are expensive, but I do the fish club that gets me a decent discount. Starting this weekend both stores have a 50% off sale on fish and lots of other nice deals on equipment in decor. I'll be up by the Hoffman store Saturday and will most definitely end up buying a fish or two I don't need :D
 
#36 ·
Well, NOW you tell me lol. We want an Angelfish though. Something that takes up a lot of space and makes the tank look less empty. My 2 cichlids have been hiders lately, particularly the Blue Acara. I'd love if I could finally unload my big Bala shark, though.
 
#37 ·
I'm a new fish mommy, and I got my aquarium last week. From when I remember myself, I always loved fishes. That's why I wanted to provide them the best environment to grow healthy and safe. By the way, I found from https://portlandaquarium.net/planted-tank-substrate/ everything I needed to know about the types and what to choose as substrates for my planted tank. Well, my tank has not so many plants yet. But I still think they needed it. I wanted everything in my aquarium to be organic, and I did it.
 
#39 ·
If I could figure out how to post pictures here, I have a 29 gallon with 6 zebra danios and a multitude of Japanese trapdoor snails and ramshorn snails. The trapdoors actually came from a snail my little sister picked up at Beck Lake. I was originally going to keep fatheads in this one but one day my dad pranked me with a danio so I have a school of them now.

I also have a 75 which I got used from a friend, which needs some serious cleanup (previous owner was a heavy smoker and kept hundreds of guppies in that tank so it's really nasty) and in that I plan to have a green sunfish and a few craws.
 
#41 ·
RonG said:
dpangler21 said:
I plan to have a green sunfish and a few craws.
Maybe not a good idea. The green sunfish killed everything in my freshwater tank, even much larger bass. After the green sunfish killed all the fish, my crawfish killed the green sunfish.
It would just be a single green sunfish and no other fish, so it has plenty of room. The craws would get their own hiding spaces the greenie can't get into and I plan on starting with a little bit bigger size, like 4", so the craw can't eat the greenie.

I know plenty of people who have kept green sunfish with craws without issue but I know they don't do well with any other fish.
 
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