New Tank photos

[crimson]

I just came home with some mystery snails for my new tank.(37 gal)

I'm enjoying puttering around with something else other than birds

we've added 2 african dwarf frogs, 3 shrimp, and now 3 mystery snails, over the past weeks

the tank is pretty much set up for now.

for 5 weeks my tank was spot on for nitrates,nitrites, etc....it never did spike, I was so very pleased, I took my time added new fish etc....to avoid it.

I gave it it's first water change 4 days ago, and now my nitrites are sky high

go figure, a water change is suppose to bring down nitrites,nitrates, and now it created it...ugggg.

I'll give it another minor water change tomorrow.

after taking some 80 shots, I chose the best ones. I sort of felt like being Jacque Cousteau ha ha

meet mr.snail


this opaline gourami is incredibly hard to photgraph, but I finally got him!


this one floated from the top of the tank from a piece of broken plant and is now safely near the gravel.....


one of my shrimp, he looks dead, but he's not, I had to lift a sea shell to get this pic.





we have 4 little angle fish-I just loves these!!

 

[Terry57]

I love your tank! It looks beautiful from what I can see of your setup
That shrimp is precious. I'm also partial to the marble mollie

 

[JerseyWendy]

GAAAHHH!!!! I'm drooling over here Miss Cousteau. :32:

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!!!!!!

I LOVE the critters you got in there!!! Makes it SO much more fun, doesn't it? Never know where to look to see what's crawling and slivering around.

And I LOVE LOVE LOVE Angelfish!!! They are SO graceful!!!

You did an amazing job putting that thing together, Beth!!! Now I must overcome the urge to go out and buy a fishtank. Someone...anyone, please talk me out of it. I have NO room!!!

That is SO very odd that your Nitrites are high after a water change.

 

[ruffledfeathers]

The baby angel!!! So cute! I had a baby angel years ago who became the gentle giant of the tank. I had a blue gourami who was my oldest but he was kind of crazy (LOL) and used to bully other fish.....until my angel baby grew. He became the peacekeeper. He would eat from my hand and if I held a mirror by the tank, he swam to it. The angel lived a long time!! I hope yours does too.

 

[MikeyTN]

Your tank looks wonderful!!!!!

 

[mrgoogls]

wow looks great!

 

[crimson]

It's been really fun getting it all together, and decorating it, trying this, taking out that....

I'll try and get better pics of my shrimp, I just love them, I'm amazed how they cage the particles with their claws and 'hairy things' ha ha.

my frogs are always hiding, so it's really difficult to get pics of those tiny little things.

I have 4 baby angels, I got one for free by accident(which made 5).....guess the girl didn't count correctly, but I found one that was dead....

as for my nitrites...yup kinda strange. I talked to them about it today at the fish store (it's Big Als) not sure if you have them in the states or not.....he said it's normal to have the nitrites/nitrates go up after the FIRST water change, everything has been stirred up, and should settle fairly quickly within the next few days.

I really despise those testing strips, they are useless. when I tested my water yesterday, it showed my nitrites in the pink area, so my tank is under 'stress'.

today I purchased a more definitive test, well I was shocked....my tank is a bomb waiting to explode, that test water turned so PURPLE it really surprised me....poor fish....
and I know what I'm doing with tropical fish.

I should have used this test when I bought the tank, and none of this would have happened cause I would have know to do the water changes per the results of the test, not from some stupid strip that doesn't give me proper readings......grrrrr

ah well, as my grandmother use to say "this too shall pass"

 

[Birdy916]

Nice Tank!!
I love gouramis!!

Even in saltwater, I never tested amonia or nitrite, a good nitrAte test should tell you everything you need to know.

Amonia and nitrite MUST be there in order for the process to happen, NO getting around it.
Testing for them will drive ya crazy....
And if you keep doing water changes the process will not happen

Even more than with birds, patience is key with fishtanks.
The only things that happen quickly in fishtanks are bad things....

Before you know it, youll be able to "test" your water just by looking at it...
I know it seems like its big, but 37g is not alot of water.... go very slow
You have aLOT of animals in a new tank, thats not going slow

 

[MarciaLove]

Nice tank love the fish selection!!! i have like 5 tanks right now love them!

 

[JennHacken]

careful with the snails! they're known to reproduce and take over tanks!

 

[lquan]

Like you, I was so concern about nitrite/nitrate level when I first setup my outdoor koi pond 17 years ago. I bought test kits from HomeDepot and went crazy over water quality daily. I got tired after a couple of months and left everything alone. My same 8 kois that I got 17 years ago are doing fine till this day. Koi grow so fast. They are over 10lbs each now. My water is so clear I can count the pepples 3.5ft below. I have 1 bio filter, 1 9W UV filter, and 1 large cotton filter that I built. I change the cotton every 2 months. Clean the bio filter every 2 months. I buy cotton from the fabric district in downtown Los Angeles - cheap, cheap, cheap.

I love the way you setup your tank. Nothing beats real plants. Maybe one of these days I will setup an indoor tank like I used to have one while in high school. I used to clean fish tanks for the biology lab while attending college. I got tired and never want to touch another indoor tank since.