Howdy!

[ravvlet]

Hey y’all, I posted in the tank questionnaire thread but figured I’d post here as well.

I’ve been keeping freshwater fish on and off since I was around 10 years old. I’m 37 now. I’ve always had a soft spot for goldfish (poor fellas always get the short end of the stick), but after tackling hi tech planted tanks this year decided I wanted to move into something more challenging. I considered marine fish, but I have zero experience with them and it seems like a steep learning curve, plus I sort of hate the blue sheen their lighting setups require for successful coral! Maybe some other time.

I really love the warm light from a good planted tank, and discus are gorgeous. The only other cichlid I have experience with is angels, however, so I’m here to do my homework!

In the meantime here are some photos from my other tanks - a 20g L heavily planted that we are letting a little short finned black moor grow out in, a 5.5 that’s a hot mess and storage for extra plants but will eventually have a pea puffer, and a weird little aquaponic system I got for free with a betta and ghost shrimp.

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This is how the 20 started. Gosh; it was ugly, haha! Made a lot of mistakes and changes and added a lot more plants, then threw shrimp at it and let it sit. Here it is now:

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Pardon the mess; the desk it’s on is also my kid’s art table! Here are some close up shots of the residents:

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Not all my tanks are pretty; the 5.5 has pest snails and ghost shrimp to keep it cycled but is otherwise just storage for plants I’ve gotten on sale or free:
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I’m kinda proud of the little betta tank; it was real ugly when I got it, but I took some offcuttings from my tank plus some anubias and penny weed and it looks a lot better:
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Anyway, that’s it. Nice to meet yall! PS: no idea why some of these photos are upside down or sideways.

[LizStreithorst]

very pretty tanks. I'm surprised that your goldfish doesn't devour all the shrimp

[ravvlet]

very pretty tanks. I'm surprised that your goldfish doesn't devour all the shrimp

Everyone is! He has a little glass bowl in his tank to keep the mess isolated (I feed him 3x a day) and he will let both the shrimp and snails in there and eat with him without trying his luck. Don’t know how long that will last, but it’s planted out enough that the shrimp can run for cover. Tank is full of little juvenile shrimp that hatched a month or so ago, and he’s left them alone. Hornwort is a great cover plant!

His food dish-
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[ravvlet]

Actually I have some photos of him and the shrimp/snails “sharing”:
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Nothing like a little repashy gel to keep the peace!

My fav thing the little goldfish does is eat all the plant matter off the filter intake. I have a fine mesh sleeve on it that gets clogged easily but keeps the baby shrimp out of it - little guy really helps me out back there, haha.

[brewmaster15]

Hi,
Sorry about the images...its a quirk of when old tevh(the forum) meets new tech( modern smart phones) ..

This..
https://forum.simplydiscus.com/showt...sers-read-this

Explains how to fix it.. you just need to make a simple edit or crop and save it before posting to the forum.

Al

[ravvlet]

Hi,
Sorry about the images...its a quirk of when old tevh(the forum) meets new tech( modern smart phones) ..

This..
https://forum.simplydiscus.com/showt...sers-read-this

Explains how to fix it.. you just need to make a simple edit or crop and save it before posting to the forum.

Al

Thanks so much! I will do this next time. I think Backyard Chickens uses similar forum software, but my last forum (Parrot Forums) didn’t, so I forgot it could be quirky.

[AquaticNerd]

Welcome to the forum and I appreciate the pictures! Planted tanks are something I've always enjoyed looking at.

Also glad to see we have another Murphy fan on the forum as well.

[Spinning Blue]

Welcome, I just joined today.

[ravvlet]

Welcome to the forum and I appreciate the pictures! Planted tanks are something I've always enjoyed looking at.

Also glad to see we have another Murphy fan on the forum as well.

Heck yeah!! The kids love Murphy. He’s the only reason they agree to come with me to the co-op; that and the stickers haha!

[ravvlet]

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Cleaned up the puffer tank after transferring all the plants over to the 55.

And here is the 55, which I think I’ve already made a lot of mistakes on, but it’s a learning curve haha. It’s cloudy from planting in playsand (a fickle beast, but it does siphon).
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And as a bonus, here is my goldfish smooching a snail. Dude has doubled in size already. My next project is reinforcing the desk his tank is on so I can put a bigger tank on it (MORE ROOM FOR PLANTS!!). I am happy I started with the 20, because I think it really helped my carpeting plants develop, but I knew it wasn’t going to last forever as black moor get big.
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