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Post by devonjohnsgard on Jun 6, 2014 3:03:04 GMT -5
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Post by Carl on Jun 6, 2014 10:50:06 GMT -5
Great Pictures Devon! Your aquarium, fish, plants, etc. are coming along well! Carl
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Post by alasse on Jun 7, 2014 17:37:31 GMT -5
Looking great!
Loving the black angel
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Post by Ameenah on Jun 8, 2014 9:13:34 GMT -5
Looking good Devon!! Did you keep the 20 going? Or just move all to the 40?
You mentioned your "bully of the tank" as caption on photo of a Golden Gourami. I enjoy my Gourami specimens which I keep in a tank with my Freshwater Clams (the Filter Feeders). I had several Dwarf Neon Blues and Red Flame Dwarfs and Neon Tetras. They got along great. I mistakenly added a trio of Golden Gouramis and within a day I had less Neon Tetras and within 5 days Some of my Dwarf Gouramis were missing.
I deduced that the Goldens were eating my missing fishes so I moved the Golden Gourami trio into The Big Tank with the Cichlids. The trio have been doing well and now my Dwarf Gouramis and Tetras are not disappearing. The larger species of Gouramis are definitely BULLIES in my experience. They should come with warning labels! Even the "Kissing Gourami" are mean! Their name is very deceptive - when 2 of them "lock lips" (kissing) they are really fighting! What the heck! Again, they should come with warning labels too.
Rehousing my Goldens to the Cichlid tank gave them a taste of their own medicine as the Cichlids chased them around for a few days, but all 3 survived and now are doing well in that tank. The non- dwarfs are the aquatic version of little dogs thinking they are big and vicious - in my opinion and not meaning offense to the small canines.
Keep count of all your specimens and if they start missing I'll be 99% certain that they are "hiding" in your Gourami's stomach.
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Post by parker002 on Jun 9, 2014 7:51:18 GMT -5
I like your setup, especially the red stem plants (are those Ludwigia?)
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Post by devonjohnsgard on Jun 9, 2014 10:28:12 GMT -5
Looking good Devon!! Did you keep the 20 going? Or just move all to the 40? You mentioned your "bully of the tank" as caption on photo of a Golden Gourami. I enjoy my Gourami specimens which I keep in a tank with my Freshwater Clams (the Filter Feeders). I had several Dwarf Neon Blues and Red Flame Dwarfs and Neon Tetras. They got along great. I mistakenly added a trio of Golden Gouramis and within a day I had less Neon Tetras and within 5 days Some of my Dwarf Gouramis were missing. I deduced that the Goldens were eating my missing fishes so I moved the Golden Gourami trio into The Big Tank with the Cichlids. The trio have been doing well and now my Dwarf Gouramis and Tetras are not disappearing. The larger species of Gouramis are definitely BULLIES in my experience. They should come with warning labels! Even the "Kissing Gourami" are mean! Their name is very deceptive - when 2 of them "lock lips" (kissing) they are really fighting! What the heck! Again, they should come with warning labels too. Rehousing my Goldens to the Cichlid tank gave them a taste of their own medicine as the Cichlids chased them around for a few days, but all 3 survived and now are doing well in that tank. The non- dwarfs are the aquatic version of little dogs thinking they are big and vicious - in my opinion and not meaning offense to the small canines. Keep count of all your specimens and if they start missing I'll be 99% certain that they are "hiding" in your Gourami's stomach. Yup, I know what you mean. I had three tetras and ended up having one after the first night of bringing them home. I'm pretty sure it was the Golden Gourami. I've watched the guy case around others. I even had a guppy die, pretty sure just from stress. The 20 gallon is taken down, but will be putting up soon with a Tiger Oscar. Maybe I'll out the Gourami with him? I know the tank will be a bit to small for them, but they are both mid size right now. They would be about the same size. So interesting to get to know your fish personalities.
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Post by devonjohnsgard on Jun 9, 2014 10:32:05 GMT -5
I like your setup, especially the red stem plants (are those Ludwigia?) Ya, and it's just exploding! It's one of the fastest growers in the tank. I think it's the Flourite and Excel. I'm not dosing Iron, but the plant is staying super red. I'm excited to have the tank fill in! This plant is exploding too. I'm not sure what it is. It has great green color.
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Post by Ameenah on Jun 9, 2014 14:46:49 GMT -5
Interesting indeed studying their personalities
My trio of Golden Gourami are doing fine with my Cichlids - not being chased around as much and I hope your Golden will do well with your plan for a Tiger Oscar. The Tiger Oscars seem to have accelerated growth genes as my 3 went from about the size of a 1/2 dollar (coin not paper) to about 5-6 inches in just over 4 months! Yep seriously.
Have you given any thought to converting your bathtub into an Oscar Tank?
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Post by devonjohnsgard on Jun 9, 2014 16:24:14 GMT -5
Interesting indeed studying their personalities My trio of Golden Gourami are doing fine with my Cichlids - not being chased around as much and I hope your Golden will do well with your plan for a Tiger Oscar. The Tiger Oscars seem to have accelerated growth genes as my 3 went from about the size of a 1/2 dollar (coin not paper) to about 5-6 inches in just over 4 months! Yep seriously. Have you given any thought to converting your bathtub into an Oscar Tank? Bathtub! Never thought of that. I'm actually going to be giving that 20 gallon to my cousin and will be helping him set up the oscar tank. He's going to start with the one, but now I'm considering giving him the Golden Gourami, just so I can add some smaller life in my tank. I would love to have some tetras schooling. Maybe some shrimp. Do you think those FW claims you have would do ok in my tank? The floor is SeaChem Flourite. Or do they need sand?
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Post by parker002 on Jun 10, 2014 9:14:33 GMT -5
I think it's the Flourite and Excel. Flourite is a pretty good source of iron all by itself. I also noticed high doses of excel brought out more red color in my red plants (when I had them).
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Post by Ameenah on Jun 10, 2014 9:36:23 GMT -5
Hi Devon
Putting the Golden Gourami in with an Oscar would permit you to put additional community fish in your tank but in a small tank fish -especially Cichlids - makes the fish far more aggressive.
I would strongly encourage your cousin to give up the Oscar idea until he has a tank that would accommodate their 12 to 14 inch size comfortably. There are hundreds of Cichlids available that max out at 6 inches - and they are beautiful too. I view species info at Live Aquaria website because they summarize water parameters and max size plus provide a basic description of each. Then going off in search of additional species info to determine the species I will purchase. It is enjoyable to learn a species, acquire a "baby" and watch it grow up healthy - IMO. None of my local LFS purchase or barter Cichlids and selling them on sites like AquaBids is very difficult too. So to me housing any species in a tank that is too small for it does not make sense. But to each his own of course.
As for Freshwater Clams, I think they would do well in your tank. They just need sand substrate that they can bury themselves in. I have heard of people putting a bowl of sand into their tank and placing the clams on it so they can easily burry themselves. Its not like they go exploring tanks - they stay in place and put their feeder tube up to collect food from the water. If you want to give some a try let me know and I can ship some to you. I have no idea if your substrate is something they can bury in. They dont mind water temp or pH but I encourage use of Wonder Shells to help them keep strong. And #1 importance is to remove them - to a bowl of water and sand - anytime you use medications containing Copper.
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Post by devonjohnsgard on Jun 10, 2014 18:04:03 GMT -5
Hi Devon Putting the Golden Gourami in with an Oscar would permit you to put additional community fish in your tank but in a small tank fish -especially Cichlids - makes the fish far more aggressive. I would strongly encourage your cousin to give up the Oscar idea until he has a tank that would accommodate their 12 to 14 inch size comfortably. There are hundreds of Cichlids available that max out at 6 inches - and they are beautiful too. I view species info at Live Aquaria website because they summarize water parameters and max size plus provide a basic description of each. Then going off in search of additional species info to determine the species I will purchase. It is enjoyable to learn a species, acquire a "baby" and watch it grow up healthy - IMO. None of my local LFS purchase or barter Cichlids and selling them on sites like AquaBids is very difficult too. So to me housing any species in a tank that is too small for it does not make sense. But to each his own of course. As for Freshwater Clams, I think they would do well in your tank. They just need sand substrate that they can bury themselves in. I have heard of people putting a bowl of sand into their tank and placing the clams on it so they can easily burry themselves. Its not like they go exploring tanks - they stay in place and put their feeder tube up to collect food from the water. If you want to give some a try let me know and I can ship some to you. I have no idea if your substrate is something they can bury in. They dont mind water temp or pH but I encourage use of Wonder Shells to help them keep strong. And #1 importance is to remove them - to a bowl of water and sand - anytime you use medications containing Copper. Thanks for the info. A little background. The reason my cousin and really sister in law ever wanted the tiger oscar was because, my sister in law had her husband pass away last Dec. Only 31 years old. His name was Tyson, but everyone always called his Tiger. When my sister in law found out there was a tiger oscar, she was all set to get one. She's the type of person though that just takes fish and puts them in water and never really thinks much more about it. And she doesn't put to much money into it. So, I was thinking I could help and give them some supplies to get the process going, but the only thing I have is the 20 gallon. I just keep thinking the tank would have to be upgraded when the oscar gets larger. I know what you are saying about smaller tanks and more aggression, so the Golden Gourami doesn't seem like a good idea. I did always think it would just be the one oscar in the 20 gallon until it was upgraded. The clams would be awesome and I would love to get some from you. I would pay, I just need to know how much. I need to wait a little while though cause I'm so busy with two jobs, school, and family. I have my last final tomorrow but graduate with my BS in psychology Saturday Lots going on and even going to Disney Land at the end of the month. I will talk more about it later with you when I have more time. I still need to do the tax stuff too. Thanks for everything!
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Post by devonjohnsgard on Jun 10, 2014 18:07:17 GMT -5
I think it's the Flourite and Excel. Flourite is a pretty good source of iron all by itself. I also noticed high doses of excel brought out more red color in my red plants (when I had them). Oh yea, it's doing the trick quite well. All of my plants are doing great. There are a couple of ticker leaf plants in the tank that are not growing at all though. I'm wondering if they are getting to much light?
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Post by Ameenah on Jun 13, 2014 11:25:37 GMT -5
Devon
Congrats on the Bachelor Degree! Planning Graduate School now or taking a break before GREs?
E-mail me when you are ready for some FW Clams and I will give you some and you can cover the shipping cost. The last count I have 20 - they do multiply without any special requirements too!
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Post by devonjohnsgard on Jun 18, 2014 7:33:41 GMT -5
Devon Congrats on the Bachelor Degree! Planning Graduate School now or taking a break before GREs? E-mail me when you are ready for some FW Clams and I will give you some and you can cover the shipping cost. The last count I have 20 - they do multiply without any special requirements too! Taking a well needed break! In psychology, to do what I really want I will need a masters degree, but I've been doing school for a while and I just dream about coming home without having to do homework. The break will be nice. I just having to give a 25 mintue presentation to sum up my degree. It was about a internship I got and how it related to my degree. Afterwards, the professor asked if I would consider the masters program at the school. Then at the end of the class before we walked out, she said how serious she was about me going into the masters program and even said to use her as a reference. It was pretty exciting to get such great responses to my presentation. So, yes I'm considering it, but I'm going to get some experience for a while then go back for my masters! My internship turned into a great job, so I'm going to see what happens with at for a while. Thanks for asking.
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Post by devonjohnsgard on Jul 21, 2014 17:15:25 GMT -5
So I want to do a tank update. I took some pictures about a month ago, which I'm just now up-loading. This just means I'm going to have to take some more pictures, because plants in my tank have exploded and there are some fish that really have grown in size. I also have a few videos I'm going to be working on to get up-loaded. There are issues I've had with my tank, that I wanted to describe in a video, so others can learn from them. They mainly focus on the filter set-up. I'm also going to be doing a video on the growth of my plants, along with how I set-up my tank. It's just all for others that want to take some time out of the learning curve that goes into setting up a thriving tank. These videos will be coming soon. So here are the picture of my fishy friends. I find myself staring at the tank and loosing myself in my own thoughts. I enjoy having this tank right in my living room where all my friends and family can see it. People usually come in the house and walk right to the tank It's very eye catching. On to the pictures: This is the best shot I can get of the whole tank with my camera. I have one lens for the camera and it's not the best for shots like this. Non-the-less, here it is. Like I said, this is a older picture and since this picture, I've actually rearranged some plants and the growth on some of the plants is much larger. You'll know what I mean when I get the new pictures...The tank looks much fuller. Here is the classic eel hiding spot. I had one eel pass away sad sad day, and recently got a new one. He went right to the same spot. Here is the BBA algae I have on some of my plants right now. This is something I'm going to address in a video I do because I know the cause of the alage and what I'm going to do to fix it. I've already cut my lighting and I need to address some filter issues I'm having. These series of pictures are fun cause one my my favorite additons to the aquarium are some little aquarium frogs I picked up. They are so fun to watch. They come to the surface about once every 20 mintues to get air. For fun, they will go to the top of the aquarium, sink to the bottom, then spring off the bottom and fly to the top of the way. They will do this over and over. They have a blast. When they sleep, they float on the top of the way on some plants and just spred all four legs. No fish bother them. I think they really like their new home. Some pictures of the fish. Angle, groumis, guppies, and platies, mollies Here is one of the rainbow sharks. These guys are great. First, they feed on algae in the tank! They also swim low on the ground, like a shark would. They both are getting bigger and bigger. They should get like 7-9 inches. Some plant growth, though this plant is much larger now. Don't mind the blue, I was messing with my white balance on the camera. The shark whole We have lots of rocks we have collected over time in this tank. All of our favorites are in it. It's nice too cause the GroBeams give such great color, it really shows of the rock. I wish I could get some better pictures to show of these Grobeam LEDs better. They look good in the picture, they just look better in real life. Some color shells my family added. Also, one of the reasons this posts have been delayed is because of the move that AAP had to do. Before it was school, now it's moving an entire warehouse. If it's not one thing, it's another. Here's the new shop! You guys get the first look. It give AAP a lot more room and some more possibilities on growth. It's exciting to see what the future holds. Thanks for checking it out guys. Lots more updates to come, along with videos Feel Free to comment or make suggestions.
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Post by Carl on Jul 21, 2014 18:48:52 GMT -5
Great Pictures!!!
Carl
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Post by devonjohnsgard on Jul 29, 2014 17:34:36 GMT -5
Some updated pictures. This is after some rearranging I did and was just about to do some vacuuming and topping off.
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Post by goldenpuon on Aug 11, 2014 0:21:56 GMT -5
Gorgeous setup devonjohngard! The fish look very colorful and healthy and so do the plants. The lighting really brings out the color in the tank as well. I think my goldfish might want to move in! Thanks for sharing! Renee
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Post by devonjohnsgard on Aug 11, 2014 17:14:30 GMT -5
Gorgeous setup devonjohngard! The fish look very colorful and healthy and so do the plants. The lighting really brings out the color in the tank as well. I think my goldfish might want to move in! Thanks for sharing! Renee THANKS! The lights are working wonders for the tank. They are the TMC GroBeam 600. I've been very happy with them. All my colors are easy to see. I have nice rock on the floor of the tank and they really stand out. Tell your Goldfish they are welcome to stop by and make themselves at home. Can't be to messy though
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