# Looking for inspiration: can you ever love your unloveable tank?



## Morainy (Apr 21, 2010)

Have any of you ever had an ugly duckling tank turn into a swan? I have a 25 gallon (tall) tank that is always blah, no matter what I do to it. Plants survive but they don't thrive. The fish (corydoras) have always been healthy but they aren't particularly visible because they freeze when anyone approaches the tank. 

All my other tanks fill me with delight when I look at them. They're lush if somewhat untamed. 

I have recently changed the filtration and now I'm changing the lights to see if I can turn this tank around. (All of my tanks are easy care.) I want to give it one last chance before I move my corydoras into my 36 bowfront and give the 25 gallon tank away.

Have any of you had a tank that never seemed to fulfill its promise, then found a way to turn that tank into something that made your heart sing? 

I'd love to hear your stories and suggestions.


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## gklaw (May 31, 2010)

Hey. I want to buy a 25 gallon for breeding discus  Let me know if you want to sell it off. Just bough a new one for $40. Could use a couple more.

May be it just need to be revamped. The same is happening to my 75gallon. I was too cheap and used a couple bucket of free beach sand as substrate.


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## hgi (Jun 13, 2010)

I had it the other way around , a nice tank and all the plants decided they would all die.


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## roadrunner (Apr 25, 2010)

Have you considered 3D background? Maybe some contrasting colour of gravel/sand that will show your corydoras better. Also couple of easy low light plants (there are lots to choose from) oh and if you give a little nibble to your fish everytime you around for a couple of weeks, they will think that food is coming everytime there is movement around and will come to the front to wait and beg. They are almost like little puppies following me every time I go by.


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## neven (May 15, 2010)

Tall tanks are great for displays with lower water lines, you could only fill it 2/3rds and stock a few species that grow above water along the background of the tank, or you could go all out riparium, water at 1/3, light fish stock, but lots of tropical terrestial plants in magnetic planters you can buy especially for it.

example,








(from riparium supply's site)

They are not in the same boat as your typical reptile cage as there is no land mass for them to rest on. I plan on setting up one of these on day


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## Johnnyfishtanks (Apr 21, 2010)

neven said:


> Tall tanks are great for displays with lower water lines, you could only fill it 2/3rds and stock a few species that grow above water along the background of the tank, or you could go all out riparium, water at 1/3, light fish stock, but lots of tropical terrestial plants in magnetic planters you can buy especially for it.
> 
> example,
> 
> ...


wow.....................................


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## TomC (Apr 21, 2010)

Adding a timer (with a 4 hour lights out period sandwiched between two 5 hour lights on periods), and using Flourish Excel turned my bba infested failure into a really nice garden.

I am about to do a total cleaning, so took out nearly all the fish. The bronze corys are out far more often since sharing the tank with only a pleco and a dwarf gourami.


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## Morainy (Apr 21, 2010)

Thank you for all your thoughts and ideas, everyone. Neven, that half-filled tank (riparium?) is stunning. I am thinking about that. It might be beyond my abilities, though. What would I use to filter the water? 

Tom, my tank hasn't really had a problem with algae, including BBA, but diatoms seem to favour it even though it's been set up for nearly a year. Probably, the Eclipse filtration system wasn't powerful enough for it, since it's a taller tank. Maybe a total cleaning and even a change of substrate is in order, though, as you suggested (I have gravel mixed with Florabase, I think). 

Roadrunner, no, I have never thought of a 3D background and have never had one in any of my tanks all these years. I'll give that some thought.

Hey, gklaw, I'll definitely put the word out if I do decide to give the tank away. It now has 2 completely different light and filtration setups, so somebody should be able to do something with it if I can't make it work.


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## InfraredDream (Jun 24, 2010)

WOW, neven, that tank IS an inspiration, I hope Morainy will consider it and won't give the 25 g up 
Morainy, I was thinking for bamboo sticks maybe? They are easy and people say are great for water quality as well. 
Also consider a more colourful fish that goes well with the cories? Some male endlers for sure or something biger and gorgeous like a pair of angelfish maybe? Or some more dynamic cories, I have julii and they are awesome, we totally LOVE them! They move a lot and are fun to watch when going up and down the plants looking for food


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## Morainy (Apr 21, 2010)

Hey, Milena, bamboo sticks are a great idea! I have never tried any (not even in pots) but I think about them sometimes. I wonder if they are grown organically and are always safe to put into a tank? Or do you have to get them from an aquarium store? I have removed the lid, so there's room for plants to stick out.

I certainly have a lot of endlers and could move them into that tank. I could have endlers in every room if I wanted to. It turns out that if you feed them, they reproduce. 

My 25 gallon tall tank is only 24 inches long. I think that my bigger corydoras would prefer living in my 36 gallon tank. But my panda cories are quite small still and they seem happy doing loops around the 24 inch tank-- they truly grasp the three dimensionality of the space. I just haven't wanted to break them up as a group because they seem so happy together.


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## InfraredDream (Jun 24, 2010)

Not sure how big are these cories, my julii seem very happy in the 20 g
As for bamboo, I read people just get them from garden stores, even Home Depot, etc. I was considering that and still thinking on it for my betta tank. My place tent to have lots of dust and I was thinking of making a special plastic lid with some holes for the bamboo. I think that would work very well in your tank. With some colourful fish and the bamboo to such the bad stuff from the water it will be an easy one to maintain - imagine red fish and green bamboo and other plants  

I wish I had the time to come to your place this week and help you  Maybe we can do it next weekend as this one will be TOO busy with Halloween....


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## Mferko (Jun 8, 2010)

have you thought about shellies or gobies even?
watching shellies dig is pretty entertaining 





i tried bamboo but it didnt really grow too fast because all the leaves were out the top of the aquarium so not much light was hitting them. it stayed green though.


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## Morainy (Apr 21, 2010)

Mferko, are those your fish? They are beautiful! I don't think I've ever heard of shellies before, nevermind seen them. That tank looks like a work of art. Is 'shellies' short for anything, the way that 'cories' is short for corydoras? I will look them up.

Milena, it is so kind of you to offer to help me with my tank - lol - but you are the one with little kids to look after and get ready for Hallowe'en, etc, and I am the one with bigger kids who can lug water.... 

Thank you so much for the offer, though. That is so sweet! This is a wonderful community. Thank you everyone for your thoughts.


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## O.C.D Fishies (Apr 21, 2010)

Maureen I am down with the shellies after seeing that video. Mferko they are so cute I want some now. Maureen you better do shellies. Then I could come and visit and watch them redecorate after all your hard work. "shhhhhh mom always puts to much sand on this side, come guys lets move it'


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## Mferko (Jun 8, 2010)

yea theyre my fishies 
shellies is short for shell dweller, they like to live and breed inside snail shells, theyre only about an inch long.  they have alot of personality, the young work together to raise successive generations
check out the blue eyes


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## Morainy (Apr 21, 2010)

ROTFL, Candy! You are so funny!

Mferko sent me a link to an entire thread of his Tanganyikan community tank. It's just an amazing tank. I would love to have a tank like that. But -- could I pull it off? All of my current fish are easy care soft-water fish. I'd have to do some research about environment, temperaments, and so on. But the interaction in his tank is just fascinating. I loved watching Waldo! And the hiding shellies. Those beautiful yellow fish (Labs, I think?).

I am going to do some reading...



O.C.D Fishies said:


> Maureen I am down with the shellies after seeing that video. Mferko they are so cute I want some now. Maureen you better do shellies. Then I could come and visit and watch them redecorate after all your hard work. "shhhhhh mom always puts to much sand on this side, come guys lets move it'


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## ncutler (Apr 26, 2010)

+1 to shellies, I have 3 different species and each has it's fascinating component. Mferko's are Neolamprologus multifasciatus, great for digging behaviour and developing colonies. They are extremely prolific (I have 70+ in my 56G) all responding together; swarming for food, diving back into shells in fear etc. Very Entertaining. They're also small enough that they are perfect for a 10G, the larger the tank, the larger the colony develops.

Another popular shelldweller is the Lamprologus Oscellatus and Lamprologus Meleagris/Stappersi. Both are more aggressive/tougher like personalities. They lack the colony development, but make up with the constant chasing back and forth. The occellatus are the best diggers and have a "bulldozer" like behaviour where they open their mouth and bulldoze the sand away, sending sand everywhere in their wake. They also like to grab onto their shells and move/adjust them to the way they like it once they're big enough. They tend to cover their shells the most only to uncover them again a couple days later. Meleagris have the most pronounced pattern, and many people love the way they look.

Spencer Jack has Occelatus and I know there's someone in Vancouver with Meleagris. Multies are more common, Mferko, myself & thefisheswife have them.

shelldwellers.com is a great site specifically for shellies.

Tip: you really need sand as substrate to see them at their best.

(I love my shellies)

my 15G Occelatus Tank
my 56G Multies/Julidochromis/Cyprichromis tank
my 20G Ornatipinis/Paracyps tank
co-worker's 25G Meleagris/Caudopunctatus tank


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## Morainy (Apr 21, 2010)

Neil, thank you for posting those links. It's been extremely interesting reading the development of your tanks, your choices and periodic changes. Also, the discussions about water chemistry. I am going to spend some more time browsing your links.


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## Mferko (Jun 8, 2010)

thats cool neil, now you have me considering putting occies in the 10g instead of breeding cherry red shrimp, hmm, im going to have to look at your links again later 

Maureen, next time you go to the vancouver aquarium you can see the multi's defending their little area in the tanganyikan tank.


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## ncutler (Apr 26, 2010)

I definately recommend having occies in one tank and multies in another, each are completely different from one another and I spend hours at a time watching both of them. Occies and Meleagris are similar enough to each other that you would most likely go for what you think looks the best. There's others like ornatipinnis, which is my 3rd type, but they aren't as active I find.

Maureen, there's also simillis which are virtually identical to multifasciatus, but the striping is opposite (white lines on dark colour). I'm on a mission to try to bring in as many types of shellies into our area as possible, they really are underrated!


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## Mferko (Jun 8, 2010)

definitely underrated, esp since they do well in the small-medium tank sizes that the average aquarist usually starts out with.
gobies are underrated too!! id love to get a pair of wild gobies to breed one day. i just have one at the moment and hes great fun to watch.


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## Morainy (Apr 21, 2010)

I have learned so much from this thread! Thank you to everyone for your support and encouragement. And a big thank you to Neil and Mike for giving me so much information about shellies, gobies and cichlids with every complicated names. I've had fish for many years but have never ventured into the African cichlid area. It doesn't sound as far out of my range of abilities as I'd once thought!

Thank you, everyone!


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## user_error (Aug 15, 2010)

In general cichlids are very easy to keep Maureen, and I now have two different kinds of gobbies so I would say they are as well, but they do need some extra care and are not your introductory fish for most people... Still you since you've never ventured into that side of the hobby you should definitely go for it Maureen!

I have a few yellow lab babies you can have for free to start you off if you'd like. They would still be good fish for you if you ever want to get into keeping shellies and/or gobbies as well, they can all exist in the same tank

Here's a link on those yellow fish  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labidochromis_caeruleus


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## Morainy (Apr 21, 2010)

Oh my gosh, Tom, that is very generous of you! Wow! Those are gorgeous fish, too.

I am very touched by your offer and everyone's help. This is a kind community. I am still pondering what to do with my 25g but I also have other tanks that I can play around with. I do have many years' experience with aquaria and am probably ready to try something new.

Thank you for your offer. I will be in touch. ;-)



user_error said:


> In general cichlids are very easy to keep Maureen, and I now have two different kinds of gobbies so I would say they are as well, but they do need some extra care and are not your introductory fish for most people... Still you since you've never ventured into that side of the hobby you should definitely go for it Maureen!
> 
> I have a few yellow lab babies you can have for free to start you off if you'd like. They would still be good fish for you if you ever want to get into keeping shellies and/or gobbies as well, they can all exist in the same tank
> 
> Here's a link on those yellow fish  Labidochromis caeruleus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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## katienaha (May 9, 2010)

agreed - an extremely kind community. I had 2 people PM me today offering assistance in acquiring the size of tank I am looking for at reasonable prices. Difficult due to where I am located. Thanks to everyone for being fantastic.


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## ncutler (Apr 26, 2010)

It was Kim, thefisheswife that first got me into shellies. Without her, I wouldn't know anything I do now

As one of my client's would put it - "Thank you for saying thank you"


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