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my new project-Aquarium keeping part 2

YAY!!!!!!!

so i'm getting my 5 exochochromis anaegyns and syndontis poli cats tomorrow.

now that i have the KH sitting right at 18 and the pH at 8.2, i can rule out water chemistry if anything else is to happen with my next shipment coming in.

so here is the game plane:
1. i will have a small bucket inside a larger bucket setup with the Innovative Marine drip acclimator.
2. i will release the fish with the bag water that they were shipped in into the smaller bucket.
3. i will then drip acclimating them for probably about an hour.
4. after an hour i will then just net the fish and gently release them into the tank.

if anything happens to the fish after acclimation, i can rule out that i did not acclimate them properly or the shock from going from dirty bag water to very clean water.
 
so my new fish made it thru the next day. i am super stoked. they was sent thursday morining and arrived at my house friday around 4:30pm.....just 15 minutes before i got home....such great timing!!!!

i dripped them for about an hour and a half, just to be on the safe side. i had to empty some of the water in the bucket a few times just so that i know that they will eventually in 100% of my tank water.

after the hour and half was done, i scooped them out with a net and gently released them into the tank. at first they were all silver, but over time they started to get some color. if you see the video above, they have turned a nice yellow. they will get more yellow as they get older. after being in the tank for a few hours i then decided to feed my other fish......low and behold all the new fish were eating!!!!! that is a fantastic sign. usually traveling across the country in a bag is very stressful on fish and they usually do not eat. so going to bed last night i felt confident i will see them in the morning.

woke up and everyone looked happy. i love how they are schooling together. as they get more comfortable with the tank i think they will abandon the schooling behavior.....but i do not know for sure....i never kept torpedo's in a group like this before.

i think sunday i will get some algea eaters for the tank. i know i already ordered some, but i'm not exactly sure when they will ship. so tomorrow i will travel to a fish store that i know will have some cool algeaters for my tank.....the more i have the better.....probably will only get 2 or 3.
 
just went to my LFS and bought 2 of this:
green_phantom_pleco.jpg

a green phantom plecostomus.
 
dontpanicbobby said:
Good choice cutting down on maintenance through species selection. Real colorful too.

And yes the Star Trek vibe is a good thing. Very original series looking.
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that's the plan. i will still need to scrape the glass as they will not 100% get all of the algae and i will still need to do water changes. but my cleanup crew will keep the glass and rocks cleaner while looking good at the same time.
 
ocnbrze said:
that's the plan. i will still need to scrape the glass as they will not 100% get all of the algae and i will still need to do water changes. but my cleanup crew will keep the glass and rocks cleaner while looking good at the same time.
Click to expand...

Not to mention they add beauty as well . Did the fish with the babys in its mouth survive?
ocnbrze said:
here is some videos of my new fish and how i acclimated them via drip acclimation:

and my new fishies!!!!!!!!

Click to expand...

Looking good my friend :)
 
I see this is a capital H hobby @ocnbrze. I still haven't picked mine yet other than reading but everyone does that so no capital H yet for me.

You need a time travel arched rock in there somewhere to really, really go full Star Trek TOS. In my 10 gallon tanks it was called an arch. It was plastic though not real rock.
 
dontpanicbobby said:
I see this is a capital H hobby @ocnbrze. I still haven't picked mine yet other than reading but everyone does that so no capital H yet for me.

You need a time travel arched rock in there somewhere to really, really go full Star Trek TOS. In my 10 gallon tanks it was called an arch. It was plastic though not real rock.
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i'm going the natural route. arches are to man made looking.

on that note i did order some more fake rock from Universal Rocks. i should have them by next week.
 
I blame it on Orange Sunshine. Aside from that though. If it matched your diorama without the lights would you put something like that in? You have way more space than I ever imagined in a tank just lengthwise.
 
ok so an update to the 180....
i finally got the rest of my cleanup crew delivered by UPS on Friday......but damn they came super small. so far i only see two of the 4 i ordered. hopefully all will live, but if not the two green phantoms should be fine.....we shall see.

well that's about it for the 180. i'll post some updates, especially when Butch from SEC gets more star saphires in for me.

next week i need to find the price of the stand for my lagoon mangrove reef. once i know the price, i will most likely order that and the tank. i want to get the stand in first and the tank in afterwards. the equipment will then soon follow.

here is another video of how i want the look of the tank to be:
i like the simplicity of the tank. i also like how there is not much really coming or hanging on the back of the tank. i want a clean look like this. i'm not to much of a fan of the rock design though. i think i could do better. i really like how the lights hang from the ceiling.
 
so i walked into my room and saw this. i managed to get my phone without disturbing them. they were in a mating ritual. but it looks like this was just practice or something as nothing really happened. they just kept going round and round for 10-15 minutes. i left them alone after i shot the video and came back later to see if they actually did mate......nope.....nothing.

usually the male will flash his anal fins and the female will then drop her eggs and the male will circle round to fertilize them. the female will then circle around and scope them up in her mouth.

so in the above scenario the larger fish was acting as a male and the smaller one, the female. i cannot tell or sex them yet.....so i could be wrong
 
ok so i have some updates and plans for my 180. i have not thought about the future reef tank just yet.

so first off i just now noticed a tiny space on the sides of the tank and i think the algea eating crew and catfish are sneaking in behind the background. so i bought some black pond foam and aquarium grade black silicone. i am gonna take all of my fish out and put them temporarily into a separate 29 gallon tank i have laying around. then i will drain the tank all the way down. i will then remove the background and catch any fish behind and put them in the 29 gallon tank. i will then use the foam first and then if need be i will silicone the background to the sides of the tank. refill the tank as silicone and the foam can cure in water.....and since they are non-toxic, i can then add the fish back in.

now for the second update i have an exo that is not eating. he is also withdrawn from the other fish. and now he is just starting to breath a little harder then normal. in general African cichlids are really tuff fish. but the one thing that they are susceptible of getting is something called Malawi bloat caused by a little tiny guy called heximita. it affects their digestion. it can be a hard thing to treat and there is a relatively high death rate. they key is to not let your fish get it in the first place. but there are some things i'm willing to try and see if i can get this guy to eat again. so as i'm removing the fish to re-install the background, i will separate him and treat him.....and we shall see how that goes.

and finally.....Butch from SEC just emailed me saying that he just decided to sell his breeding group of star sapphires seen here in his video:
jump to 12:19 in the video to see the group.
he is asking for $650 for the entire group!!!!!!!!!!! now i have the money, but that was going to go to the future reef tank. but now that is going to be put on pause for a bit while my finances recoup from my spending spree.

......but i think i going to take him up on that offer. there are two males in that video that are just stunning.
 
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i just bought Butch's breeding group of star sapphires!!!!!!!

should be picking them up sometime next week. i'll keep you guys posted on when i will get them......so excited!!!!!!!!

now of course i will drip them like i did last time.

now saturday will be my project day. i'm installing a ceiling fan for my room and then if i have enough energy after that i will be sealing up the sides of the 3d background. and since it is the 4th of July celebration, i will be grilling up some food as well.....GONNA BE A BIG DAY!!!!!!!!!!!
 
ocnbrze said:
ok so i have some updates and plans for my 180. i have not thought about the future reef tank just yet.

so first off i just now noticed a tiny space on the sides of the tank and i think the algea eating crew and catfish are sneaking in behind the background. so i bought some black pond foam and aquarium grade black silicone. i am gonna take all of my fish out and put them temporarily into a separate 29 gallon tank i have laying around. then i will drain the tank all the way down. i will then remove the background and catch any fish behind and put them in the 29 gallon tank. i will then use the foam first and then if need be i will silicone the background to the sides of the tank. refill the tank as silicone and the foam can cure in water.....and since they are non-toxic, i can then add the fish back in.

now for the second update i have an exo that is not eating. he is also withdrawn from the other fish. and now he is just starting to breath a little harder then normal. in general African cichlids are really tuff fish. but the one thing that they are susceptible of getting is something called Malawi bloat caused by a little tiny guy called heximita. it affects their digestion. it can be a hard thing to treat and there is a relatively high death rate. they key is to not let your fish get it in the first place. but there are some things i'm willing to try and see if i can get this guy to eat again. so as i'm removing the fish to re-install the background, i will separate him and treat him.....and we shall see how that goes.

and finally.....Butch from SEC just emailed me saying that he just decided to sell his breeding group of star sapphires seen here in his video:
jump to 12:19 in the video to see the group.
he is asking for $650 for the entire group!!!!!!!!!!! now i have the money, but that was going to go to the future reef tank. but now that is going to be put on pause for a bit while my finances recoup from my spending spree.

......but i think i going to take him up on that offer. there are two males in that video that are just stunning.
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Their beautiful but $650 , WoW!!! How much is that per fish? I mean, who am I to tell you what to put in your fishtank or how much you should sprnd but dam that alot of cigars :) If some go into shock and die? OUCH!!#

At the same time, Im assuming their not easy to come buy. Seems like a different decision. Do you see income potential breading star sapphires? I think if it makes you happy , go for it. :)
 
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