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Fish shipment, and tanks (lots of pics)

9K views 66 replies 14 participants last post by  ladayen 
#1 ·
I is excited lol
 

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#2 · (Edited)
Pic 1-3 is is just me opening the box.
Pic 4 is a bag of 11 gold tetras. ( only ordered 7 lol:) )
Pic 5 is 2 peacock eels sold as Macrognathys Aculeatus
Pic 6 is 7 Sunshine Peacocks sold as Aulonocara Baenshi "Benga"(Only ordered 6)
Pic 7 is 3 flamebacks sold as Haplochromis sp. Flameback (only ordered 2)
Pic 8 is 13 striped loaches sold as Botia Striata (only ordered 12)
Pics 9 and 10 are a Royal Farlowella and a Butterfly Pleco, sold as Sturisoma Aureum and L52 - Dekeyseria sp. respectively.
Pics 11 and 12 is 2 Anubias Barteri v Round Leaf mother plants. (Upon opening there was a total of 6 individual plants)

Pic 13 is my 75g community tank still needing to be planted properly, everything is just floating at the top still.
Pics 14 and 15 are my 55g peacock tank.
Pic 16 is my 35g growout tank
Pic 17 is my 20g bristlenose tank.
Pic 18 is my 5g betta tank (I dont know what that black thing is lol.. it must be a reflection. There's supposed to be a ball of java moss there.)
Pic 19 is my 60g community tank
Pic 20 is my 20g Oto tank
Pic 21 is my 10g hospital tank.
Oops 22 was a misclick lol
Pic 23 is my 65g Hap/Peacock tank.
Pic 24 is my Mbuna tank

Whew lol.. so what do you guys think? :-D
 
#3 ·
Here are links to my Aquarium log

35g Dickfeldi tank Dickfeldi - 35 gallon Freshwater fish tank
60g Community Community - 60 gallon Freshwater fish tank
35g growout tank Fry tank - 35 gallon Freshwater fish tank
10g Hospital tank hospital - 10 gallon Freshwater fish tank
20g Bristlenose tank Bristlenose - 20 gallon Freshwater fish tank
55g Peacock tank Peacocks - 55 gallon Freshwater fish tank
75g Community tank Community 2 - 75 gallon Freshwater fish tank
65g Peacock/Hap tank cichlids 2 - 65 gallon Freshwater fish tank
20g Oto tank oto - 20 gallon Freshwater fish tank
5g Betta Tank Betta - 5 gallon Freshwater fish tank
80g Mbuna tank Mbuna - 80 gallon Freshwater fish tank

Sorry some of the tank dont have pictures or have outdated ones... stay tuned for updated pics :)
 
#4 · (Edited)
Talk about a gallery of tanks. Where do you find the space!

I think you can really go somewhere with that 80 gallon Mbuna tank. Personally I'd take the pots out and put more Driftwood or rocks in. I like that more natural look. More plants can go in that tank, it could really give it more dept if you take the tall plants and put them in the back and the short ones in the front. Also, maybe switch the backdrop to black to make those cichlids colors pop!! oh man that would look wonderful! I think mainly the background because you already have live plants so you have that natural beauty already. Colors pop more on black.

Good luck!
 
#5 · (Edited)
I'm going to be honest because honesty is what is needed right now. Please don't feel like this is a personal attack, this a constructive criticism so you can work on fixing the various problems with all your tanks.

The first thing I will target is the fact that you should have waiting on ordering those fish until after your tanks were all landscaped properly. Not that you can do much about it now...just know you created a lot of unnecessary stress for all your fish because you didn't have the tanks ready first. Next up you've several tanks with improper substrate colors. There is no beating around the bush here. Pet stores ought to stop supply brightly colored substrate. It pleases people...but it stressed out the fish. It's not natural. As you create an artificial closed environment it's your responsibility to try your best to recreate nature. Only then will you have happy and healthy fish. Each tank that has bright gravel needs to be changed. Swap it out with black, brown, tan...etc substrate.

Moving on you have several tanks that have a lot of unnecessary clutter. If you want to go with a pot route for making caves that's fine. Those pots are too big and cut down on swimming space available for your fish. You would be better off laying driftwood, larges pieces of slate, etc. At least that looks more natural. You have one tank second to bottom that looks like it has no floor space at all. Cut down on the clutter. Remove half the stuff and structure your bottom properly. Your biggest pieces go in the back, and leave swimming room towards the front by only allowing smaller pieces and even then don't make too excessive. If I were you I'd stay away from any ornament that is made to be a brightly colored eye sore commonly sold to please kids an no one else.

Now you have some tanks with plastic plants. I am hoping you will take all those plastics out and redistribute the live plants. Remember real plants grow. So it's okay if you have a little bit properly put together in each tank. Eventually things grow out. Divide up your plants so that you can plant just enough in each tank.

I don't know what to think about the one tank with the light bright blue gravel. There is weird trash on the bottom that needs to be pulled out of there. Each of your tanks look like they could do with a good scrub, and most of them have dirty looking tank water(course that could be a lighting issue). Also to note those fish that came in blue water should be warning sign. You should never have put that blue water into your tank. Do not put any new fish in any tank with the blue water. It's likely they were being treated for some form of illness before shipment.

You've got a lot of work to do with these tanks so please take my advice to heart. Replace your substrate where necessary, remove unnecessary clutter and reorganize what is left, replace those pots, divide your plants, scrub the tanks and work on improving the water quality(If that isn't just a lightening issue).
 
#7 ·
The first thing I will target is the fact that you should have waiting on ordering those fish until after your tanks were all landscaped properly.

That was the plan, we started prepping about a month ago but life happened. We felt comfortble that we and the fish would be fine at this point. If we waited longer some of the fish we wanted would not be available again until who knows when.


Next up you've several tanks with improper substrate colors. There is no beating around the bush here. Pet stores ought to stop supply brightly colored substrate.

Agree completly. Most of that gravel came with the tanks when we purchsed them. So it was a bit of a catch, replace the gravel and cause a mini cycle or leave it until alternate surfaces could be find to grow bacteria on it. We've been replacing the gravel over time.


Moving on you have several tanks that have a lot of unnecessary clutter. If you want to go with a pot route for making caves that's fine. Those pots are too big and cut down on swimming space available for your fish. You would be better off laying driftwood, larges pieces of slate, etc. At least that looks more natural. You have one tank second to bottom that looks like it has no floor space at all. Cut down on the clutter. Remove half the stuff and structure your bottom properly. Your biggest pieces go in the back, and leave swimming room towards the front by only allowing smaller pieces and even then don't make too excessive. If I were you I'd stay away from any ornament that is made to be a brightly colored eye sore commonly sold to please kids an no one else.

The tank second from bottom was designed to have lots of random stuff. It had smaller fish in it that appreciated the various hiding spots that bigger fish could not fit into. Everything in there is meant for the aquarium and is safe in that regard.I was thinking of the fish and not about how pretty it looked. As to brightly colored ornaments, I forgot I still had those 3 plants in the 80 galllon tank, I was going to through them out long ago but was setting up a tank at the time and used them as a bacteria base, and they just kept getting moved around. I'll throw them out later. The spongebob pineapple... meh it isn't that bright and fish seem to like it.I use driftwood when theres a benefit to it. Not all fish want driftwood. Slate can have sharp edges and it is possible for a fish to gut itself. I dont have the means to buff the edges or I would use some of the 30+lbs I have of it. I'm still experimenting with finding an affordable, fish friendly way to build caves. I just dont trust going out and gathering rocks from around here.

Now you have some tanks with plastic plants. I am hoping you will take all those plastics out and redistribute the live plants. Remember real plants grow. So it's okay if you have a little bit properly put together in each tank. Eventually things grow out. Divide up your plants so that you can plant just enough in each tank.

Again, not all fish do well with plants. Malawi cichlids dont really have plants in thier natural habitat and they tend to just rip them up and it makses a mess then it rots and causes ammonia. Aside from my hospital and cichlid tanks, they all do have plants.

I don't know what to think about the one tank with the light bright blue gravel. There is weird trash on the bottom that needs to be pulled out of there. Each of your tanks look like they could do with a good scrub, and most of them have dirty looking tank water(course that could be a lighting issue). Also to note those fish that came in blue water should be warning sign. You should never have put that blue water into your tank. Do not put any new fish in any tank with the blue water. It's likely they were being treated for some form of illness before shipment.

LOL the weird trash on the bottom is just a reflection of an airstone and some rubber bands outside the tank.The only decoration in the tank is the cave thing you can see in the bottom right corner. That whole black area is a mass of java moss. As to the blue gravel I was going to replace it a long time ago but the betta seemed to be happy at the time so I didn't want to change anything. Lately though he seems a bit stressed so perhaps it's time for it to finally go.

The "dirty" water is probably a mixture of lighting issues and tannins from the driftwood. To the eye they all appear clear. Otherwise theres a bit of algae on some of the tanks, water marks and/or hardwater stains on the glass.

Erm the blue water may be methylyn blue(spelling?) as a preventative measure. There are also several "transport aids" that color the water blue. I'd be concerned if the water wasn't blue honestly. Also we didn't put the water into our tanks, the water from bags should never be poured into the tank at all. Net the fish out and drop it into the tank.
yes I cut some of the original message out as it wasn't relevant to my reply.
 
#12 · (Edited by Moderator)
I simply refuse to pay $200+ per tank to upgrade to submersible heaters.

Seriously? $200. per tank? Where do you live? I know that equipment is expensive but that seems like a lot. I got this one http://www.drsfostersmith.com/fish-supplies/aquarium-heater/ps/c/3578/3743 I am with you, I wouldn't pay anywhere near $200. for a heater per tank. It is a costly hobby and changes sometimes need to be made one or two things at a time. Sounds like you are working to make those changes for the fish which is wonderful.

There are so many companies out there that sell good quality products for far less then some of the big box fish stores. Hope you can find something that will work for your needs.
 
#14 ·
Another Shipment.

Mostly plants this time :)
 

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#16 · (Edited)
Pics 1-2 are again just opening the box
Pic 3 -Apistagramma Cacaoides
Pic 4- 100 8x18" bags
Pic 6 - 2 Striped Peacock eels. (1 from the first shipment jumped out of tank.. still cant find it :xWent to order another one and they only had 2 left so I got them both.)
Pic 7 and 8- Madagascar lace plant. Sorry the quality on those was junk.I dont know if we'll be able to keep this one alive but figured we'd give it a try.
Pic 9 - 2 mats of Java Fern. I figure there are around 20 plants per mat.
Pic 10 - 5x windelov java fern
Pic 11 - 5x Crypt Spiralis
Pic 12 - 5x Narrow leaf microsword
Pic 13 - 7 Anubias Hastifolia. After reading some of the previous comments on this thread and doing some research these plants may work in my cichlid tanks, so we'll have to see what happens.
Pic 5 - 6 male guppies 12 females. There were a couple extra of each over that.
 
#18 ·
Since both shipments are new, I dont want to say who at this point. Everything looks great at this point but I'd like to see if everything is still good in a couple weeks.

They only ship to Canada however but if you notice the tags on the plants they order all from Florida Aquatic Nurseries.
 
#20 ·
Wait... this isn't facebook lol. Some local people I dont want to see who I get my fish stuff from lol.

The aFISHionados - Spencer Jack - Cichlaholic.com Click on fish list, then like I said he only ships to Canada. His stock is changing frequently though so you have to act fairly quick to make sure he still has what you want.

Really wishing he had water sprite in though :X
 
#23 ·
I just wanted to mention something, in case you order more fish in the future.

When fish are shipped, it's really best if when you open the box you do it in a dark room with as little light as possible. Just enough to see what you are doing. You should then keep the room dark (and the tanks) until the next day so they can adjust.

The inside of the box is 100% darkness. And to go from that, to a bright room, is quite a shock (and stressful).

The other thing is I hope you drip acclimated all the fish (or at a minimum few oz of water every 10-15 minutes). Total process of about an hour. Water parameters between your house, and wherever they came from are almost guaranteed to be very different. Plus being in the small bag for over 24 hours makes for wildly fluctuating parameters.

Just floating the bag for temperature isn't enough for a safe, minimal stress transfer.

If you did slowly acclimate them, then kudos!

Good luck with all your new additions.
 
#24 ·
I only do the float for 20min and release. I've read about drip acclimating and overall it seems it's really not necessary except for higher grade(inbred) shrimp. A healthy fish should have no issues adjusting to the tank. The warehouse the fish come from actually does have similar water conditions to my water though.

As to keeping the room dark... hmm that does make sense I suppose. I'll have to consider that in the future.
 
#25 ·
yeah lucky you how come we don't get extras when we buy stuff and congrats in beating my score of most tank in a house lol you've got it MTS bad babe
 
#26 ·
Heh. There were a few extra plants thrown in as well I didn't list and a few of them are ready to be split also. I'm really liking this guy, all of his fish and plants seem to be pretty good. I wasn't overly impressed with the quality of the java fern mats but there was alot of it. Have to see how it's doing in a month.

Check out the video I posted a couple posts up and tell me what you guys think :)
 
#27 ·
are those moss or roots? there's a lot of them in there and the tiger brabs look so cute
 
#29 ·
I'm not sure which you mean? In the video or in a picture?

Heh Assault yeah I'm working on getting the tanks pretty. I shoulld post some new pics of my 75 as well. I've been more concerned on doing whats best for the fish as much as possible and not all that worried on looks. With this recent batch of plants I'm working on making things a little more attractive. That was why I posted in the first place though was to get people's advice and critique.

OK so I just realized my supplier has heaters available. I"ll still have to spend over $250 but they can piggy back with another fish/plant order and I'll only have to pay normal cost. Has anyone used Hydor heaters before? What size heaters should I get for a 55g? a 60g? 65g? 75g? 80g?
 
#30 ·
in the video. looks like the roots.if it is the roots you have a very healthy plant
 
#32 ·
yup you got a really nice plants.love the roots on that thing.
 
#33 ·
Thought I'd throw an update out there. I tried adding 5 neons to get a small school.. they all died except for my original one. The last carcass I pulled out had tooth marks on it, the other ones did not. Shortly after The tiger barbs started acting wierd and 2 have since died.. As I'm writing this I'm being called to the basement. Something tells me there will be more dead. OK it was a guppy. Barbs are looking better. Only one is off now. I'm wondering if Neon disease is a blood born pathogen then.. ?

My 55g sprung a leak. We caught it pretty quick and transfered the males to the 65g and the females to the 35g fry tank. While draining the tank I found a single fry. So I put it in the guppy tank and it's swimming around with the guppy fry lol. We set up another 35g for now. Moving stuff around in the next few days. Sold all our juvie Otopharnyx Lithobates which was good timing lol.

Changed the betta tank and the fry tank to sand substrate as well. Fry and peacocks were confused at first lol. Getting another shipment in the morning :) Should be interesting.
 
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