I was actually visiting the parents from Wednesday, came back Saturday afternoon. It’s a good thing I did. The plane was way late leaving Trenton due to thunderstorms, and I walked in to check my two tanks. Notice a little water around the edge of the 10 gallon, a nice Marineland with the day/night type light. Looked great. Moved it to look under, and saw a leak. Thought I could get away with it till Sunday, but, not, leak became worse and worse, had to put the fish in a tiny tank and put the other one outside.
I had only planned on getting a 20 gallon, but, this one is on sale at Petsmart for $78, 29 gallons.
I went from 20 inches wide, 12 width, 12 height to 30x12x18. I like the width, didn’t necessarily need it so high. To build one would have cost a whole lot more. Light covers are not cheap, add in about $38 for a 20 gallon wide tank, filter, wouldn’t need another heater, though. Now I have to get a few bigger decorations, though I’ll have to see how the plants grow. Also, a background. And I’ll have to get a bunch more Fire Gouramis and Tiger Barbs, down to 2 and 3, respectability. My pleco, which had gotten a bit big for the 10, will love it. Only downside is there is no moonlight, and, perhaps it might be a little too bright. Of course, without tall decorations, the light doesn’t get diffused much.
Have to move the painting above it up a bit.
I can’t move the Blue Gourami from the small tank on the right, though. Only fish he gets along with are Mollies, especially the reddish/orange ones. The whole purpose of that tank was for that one fish, which chased all the others around. No nipping, just chasing. Petco has replaced the 6.6 gallon with a 6.8, it’s a gorgeous tank for a shelf. You have to be reeeeealy careful with live plants, though, because they can foul the filters fast.
Sweet!
I always wanted to get an aquarium that was more centered the plants than the fish. I think they are called “aquascape tanks.
The fish moving in and out of the tall plants always fascinated me.
Good luck with the new tank. Looks like you are off to a great start.
Very cool.
We had a 29 gal for a long time and they are very much the way to go.
I know someone with a heavy live plant tank, and he and his wife spend a lot of time with it. It’s gorgeous, but you also have to be very careful with the types of fish, as some love to munch plants. I had the same problem with Gouramis and one plant, they decided to eat it one night. A couple live plants are great for reducing algae and putting oxygen in the tank.
I’m still a little unsure of the size, mostly the height, but, I’ll get used to it. I’ll have to see how my favorites do with moving up and down in the tank.
When I was a teenager, I worked at a tropical fish store, and had multiple tanks. I had all kinds of fish, including saltwater, but I gravitated to cichlids.
Now we have a 52 gallon tank that someone gave me years ago, and it’s full of highly inbred Blue Zebra cichlids from Lake Malawi. I started with a dozen or so Malawi cichlids of several species about 5 years, but only a pair of blues survived the civil war, and they started breeding. I’m now into the 3’d generation, and I found a new baby just a few days ago. The only other thing in the tank is a pretty large Synodontis catfish.
The cichlid are algae farmers in the wild, and so they’re death on plants. Sometimes I put a whole lettuce leaf in the tank, and it takes them a few hours to tear it up and eat it.
One thing I did was to switch the light out with an LED that fits in a fluorescent tube. It took a little rewiring, but it’s a great light.