Aquarium pictures

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Last Black Friday Petsmart had a 60g tank ensemble on sale and I bought one. But due to much procrastination, I haven't set it up yet, and am just starting to now. So I thought I'd document it. Feel free to post your own aquarium pictures too!

I wanted to use sand this time instead of gravel, and of course aquarium sand is insanely expensive. So I got pool filter sand. I didn't know how much I'd need so I got 300 pounds, lol. Well, this is 100 pounds so I don't think I'll be needing the rest of it! Good thing it's cheap.
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Probably could have gotten by with 75 pounds but I didn't want a partial bag sitting around.

Petsmart was having a "buy one get the second 50% off" sale on decorations, and I had a 15% off coupon, so I splurged on ridiculously expensive decor. I got both for $120-ish, at full price it would have been $200 for both :/. But I wanted something that wouldn't leave the top half of the tank empty.

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Tomorrow I'll fill and empty it a couple times (I have a Python) to get rid of dust and stuff, and dig through my old decor to see if I have more fake plants to fill the gaps. I bought 2 internal canister filters but I'll only run one at first and see if that's sufficient.

For stocking, I was thinking of goldfish at first; that's why I got 2 filters, but now I think I'll go with a tetra tank. Lots of cories and otos, though! I love those little guys.
:lol:looks like somebody already found its new spot to hang out
 

Kieka

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Kieka Kieka

Are those real shells in the tank?
That can cause issues with your PH.
Real shells. The driftwood we are hoping will counter the shells and some Indian almond leaves. Plus the pleco needs driftwood anyways. The ph is just a smidgen on the high side right now.
 

Kieka

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Anyone know what this is? At first I thought it was some plastic that had gotten in the tank or flaking off the large shell in the back. But it is multiplying, its semi iridescent when it moves, clear and if I scope it out it becomes shapeless slime outside of the water. It looks like thin tube of plastic in the water. The fish absolutely ignore it and it doesn't seem to both them. I am thinking it is maybe a biofilm.... it started after I put in a piece of squash for the pleco (which he ignored).

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We did add in the harlequins almost a week ago. They did bring in ich (kicking myself for not quarentining, sigh). We are turning up the water slowly for treating the ich (up to 82F right now with a target of 86F). There is an Indian Almond Leaf in the water and we were going to add in a piece of driftwood tomorrow for the pleco. I am thinking I might just soak the driftwood for a few days and hold off in case it is something bad. I also have some moss balls on the way that I will probably hold off on until I figure this out. I know I am overfeeding right now, still trying to get the amount right for the group. Harlequins are pretty good about getting falling food but they don't get everything. I also have a 12 year old in the house who I discovered basically throws in the food and it all sinks (she was feeding when I went to work too early to feed them myself).

There is a part of me that wants to just throw everything in and see what happens. There is a part that wants to do a full tank change and start fresh. And there is a part who wants to do the 25% water changes every three days once its at 86F for ich treatment and see what happens when that is done.

Also, Willie was very curious as to what I was doing at the bottom of his tank so betta pictures.
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Willowy

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De-cycling it won't help anything. That'll just make things more unstable and the fish will be weaker and the ich will get stronger. . .etc.

My black skirts had ich and just raising the temp to 86 did the trick. Hopefully that works for you too.

I'm not sure about the stringy/tube stuff. If it is biofilm, that's necessary for shrimp, so don't try to remove it. Some bottom feeders will help to move things around.

I added some red fin cories and serpae tetras, but didn't get any pictures.
 

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Thanks, I'm hoping the 86F does the trick. I should be at that temp by Thursday. I've already seen the smallest ich spots fade off the two fish who just barely had any starting (I figure if I saw it starting on two it was starting on them all since I spotted it when it was just shiny spots). The one with the most still has his spots but we are only at 82F as of this morning.

I'll leave it be and hold off on changes until I get rid of the ich. Once I get the moss and driftwood in there I was going to give it a week or two before adding shrimp. Of the shrimp get eaten, I'll do three Cory's for bottom feeders. We do need something bottom feeding to balance it out, but my Mom wants to try shrimp first.
 

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Willie was very curious as to what I was doing at the bottom of his tank so betta pictures.
Hi! He looks thin. He should be getting a good food like New Life Spectrum, twice a day, as much as he wants to eat in about 60 seconds. It's somewhat the same as with cats, in bettas' food situation whole fish should be high in the ingredient list.

Here's a description and a photo of what he should look like; His body should look like a torpedo, or a carrot with no delineation between his head and his body.
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Willowy

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Hmm, he looks fine to me, for a betta. Isn't that a koi in the picture? They have a different shape.
 

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It's just to provide an example, that's all. Neither one of us is there to get a birdseye view, but nonetheless the point is to feed enough high value food, (along with a variety, frozen foods can be good treats), so that there's no delineation in the line from his head to his body. He should look like a carrot :).
 

Kieka

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It's just to provide an example, that's all. Neither one of us is there to get a birdseye view, but nonetheless the point is to feed enough high value food, (along with a variety, frozen foods can be good treats), so that there's no delineation in the line from his head to his body. He should look like a carrot :).
Working on him, he also was slightly flaring out his gills at me but he is a little guy overall. He's a PetSmart betta so wasnt in the best shape when I got him two weeks now. He's getting hikari micro pellets because he has a tiny mouth, my guess is that he didn't eat at all while at PetSmart because regular pellets were too big when he got to my house. I crushed the regular pellets the first few days until I found a small enough food. He also gets dried blood worms. Fed 2 times a day until he stops eating which is usually 1-2 minutes. The harlequins have some flakes, dried shrimp and granules that he also will munch on when they eat (and they end up grabbing some of his food). But each feeding I watch him to make sure he gets pellets and that the harlequins don't squeeze him out. He also has a leaf stuck on the side of the tank near the top and floating log that he loves to go through or lay in/on.

I dont mind buying him a different food. Never seen that brand at my stores but I can add it onto my next pet supply order or things not available locally.
 

Furballsmom

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I have a baby boi betta 😍, he's able to handle the New Life Spectrum Small pellets .5mm-.75mm👍
 
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Kieka

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I did it! Top photo of Willie. Luckily, he is really curious and follows me around when I am near the tank. Food also helped keep him nearby. He has become a much stronger swimmer in just the last two weeks. The first day he was practically passed out from the exertion of swimming around so much. Now he leasiurly swims from top to bottom and around things throughout the day.

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Willowy

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Got a BUNCH more fish, possibly too many at once, will have to keep an eye on water parameters. 6 more serpaes, 6 black phantom tetras, 12 more neons, and total 16 cories of 4 different varieties. Petsmart was having a sale and then I went to a local fish store and got carried away :paperbag: . Also a couple assassin snails to help with the pest snail population. This is an expensive hobby! Anyway, should be fully stocked now, maybe a few more otos but that's it.
 

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Rocket discovered the tank has fish again. Of course Grandpa accommodated the kitty desire to be able to see them.

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We are giving it a week at 86F for ich but I don't see spots after 48 hours.
 

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We added three nerite snails (2 red onion and 1 zebra) plus 5 orange rili shrimp. The snails are interesting. They've decided a driftwood is there home base and keep exploring and going back to the driftwood. Nerite snails since they dont breed in freshwater and we just wanted something to help with algae. The betta keeps watching them. The shrimp disappeared, but it was a small amount of shrimp to see if the betta would eat them and they promptly vanished into the decorations. If we don't see them for a few weeks we will call it a failed attempt. We did add some moss balls and driftwood two weeks ago. Partially for the pleco and partially to help balance out the real shell ph bump. I also have some Indian almond leaves which the pleco loves.

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Once again Willie was all about the camera. He does look likes he's gained some weight. I got the food recommended above... but he spits it out. I'll keep offering it to see if it grows on him but so far he is not a fan so I offer something else after he spits out a few pieces. He's an odd betta and spends as much time on the bottom of the tank as the top. Good appetite and good activity level, just likes going everywhere. He also like to occasionally dive through the harlequins when they decided to bunch up in the corner.

The bristlenose, Wonka, has doubled in size since we got it. Waiting to see if it is female or male, my guess is 3-4 months and we should know.

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I know we have two male harlequins, they have gotten a lot more color in the few weeks we've had them. Not sure if the rest are all female or those two are just the brightest.
 

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Once again Willie was all about the camera.
what a handsome boi 😍!!

Here are some other possibilities although I don't know the sizes of the pellet versions; Fluval Bug Bites (these come in flakes and a micro size that's almost dust - a food ring is almost a necessity depending on whether it decides to sink too soon), NorthFin Betta Bits, Omega One, Aqueon Color or regular Betta Formula (but not the "Pro" - this version/variety isn't a good food). Those are the most readily available but the best is Grain Free Bug (Black Soldier Fly) Formula. It has no grains but is only available from the makers.

Just to mention for any readers/lurkers of this thread -- with no intent to hijack it I promise but freezedried bloodworms are for treats now and then only :)
 
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I love how beautiful and creative the everyone's fish tanks are. W Willowy , neon tetras were my favorites when we had a tank. The pirate ships are pretty and so many places for the fish to hide. I've never had a salt water tank, my friend had two and they were amazing. (Amazing hard to take care of, too.) Sometimes, they even had little extra creautres that would come with the natural features they bought for the tank. Once, she bought something and was so afraid that a rock breaking shrimp would have accompanied it. Apparently, they can break the glass on a tank. She stayed awake all night worried about it.

My next step is a betta with a plenty of room for him to move around. I know someone who has one in her office and when she taps on the glass, he comes over to her. Getting a fish is harder than it looks in the movies. First I would have to convince DH. Then I would have to find a spot that none of the cats could reach. Probably the kitchen counters, because they don't jump on those. Elsie rules the house and does as she pleases, but she is too short for to jump that high.
 
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