First Major Mistake

Okay. So I have to admit to my first major mistake. I guess in the long run it isn't that large of a mistake since I have two filters.

Anyways here is the mistake. I have not had filters in one of my filters from day one of this tank. You see I went to change it yesterday only to find it empty. Maybe that's why I have so much algae in the tank.

I was going to change the water in the tank today, but I have decided to wait at least a couple days to allow beneficial bacteria to establish in the new filters. I don't think it is necessary, but I might as well.

New Fish Boesemani Rainbowfish

So I bought 2 Boesemani Rainbowfish. Today. This should wrap up the buying of new fish for this tank.

They are fairly small right now so they lack much of the color that caused me to pick them in the first place, but that's part of the fun - Watching the fish grow up. They seem fine right now but I can't really tell since we are having a electrical issue in my house where the first flow has no power (Until it gets fixed I am running a extension cord for a hour each day to make sure the filter can at least mostly keep things in check).

New Fish - Rainbow Shark

So on Thursday I got a new fish. It is a Rainbow Shark.

So quick story about the purchase. I went and without looking around asked the sales guy if he had any rainbow sharks. He said he only had one left so I decided to buy it. Honestly I wasn't very keen on this, and looking back it was a silly knee jerk reaction, but I took the fish. I asked if they tend to keep them in stock, and she said yes and that they put new fish out on Thursdays.

Now I didn't have any issues with the fish, beyond the fact I like (and should) only buy fish that are in the tank with other fishes. The idea being that if one fish is sick but not showing symptoms there is a high chance another one is that does show symptoms.

So as always I started looking around. That's when I spotted a tank full of brand new rainbow fish. Now two things struck me from the get go.

A. These fish were about 1/2 a inch longer
B. They had much better color

Now I don't want to say there was anything wrong with the first fish, at least from a health standpoint but with so many reasons to prefer the other fish I asked if he would mind me switching it (he already had it bagged and with newspaper on it). He said that would be fine, but I felt bad, because I had wasted his time, but more importantly stressed the fish. He quite nice about it though while I apologized many times.

So I got home and put the fish in the aquarium. While he was still in the bag he was freaking out swimming back and forth in the bag, but seemed *very* happy (very dark color I have yet to see again).

So I took him out and he quickly faded in color (but same color he was when I bought him) and hid behind a plant. Up until today I have yet to see him leave the safety of the plant. Honestly despite reading that these guys will do this hiding thing for long periods of time he was starting to scare me (I doubt he was getting any food). My worries were kind of put to rest because I did see him eating algae off the side of the tank though.

I started staring at him a few days ago, and while he didn't come out from behind the plant he was poking his head out. He clearly was still scared, but also at the same time curious.

Today though when I turned on the light I saw him run from the other side of the tank back to his plant's hiding spot, so at least at night he was getting out.

Later today when I came home I saw him swimming about the tank! When he saw me though... You guessed it... Right back to the plant...

I then went downstairs, and when I came back he was out again! But when he saw me he... Got nervous and *slowly* made his way back to the plant.

I then went downstairs and then back up, and he was out again. This time though he isn't running away!

All the while my cory fish, and one of my swordtails (pregnant female) would hang out with him in the plant. I think they convinced him it was safe to come out. So what did he do it return? It seems he taught the swordtails that the algae on the tank walls was tasty. He even seems to have taught the cory fish that they are not limited to the substrate, and plants for algae. After seeing the cory fish only swim parallel it is kind of funny watching them swim up and down the glass. Now all the fish in the world won't solve my algae problem, but its nice to see them eating it anyways. He went from a very nervous fish to the least nervous fish in half a week. He right now is even playing with my angelfish (which BTW in a very peaceful tank are the least aggressive in the tank).

And the rainbow has the most strange swimming pattern. The best way I can describe it is saying that he looks sick, but he isn't (it mostly looks like a sick swim because he is eating algae all the time swimming up and down and sideways).

Honestly this fish surprised me the most. All my fish have turned out better then I had hoped in their behavior. And with a tank full of so many "semi-aggressive" fish the most aggressive fish I have seen is the male swordtail chasing the females sometimes. Well that and the frogs which are now both in the downstairs tank.

Aggressive Frog

So one of my albino clawed frogs seems to be quite aggressive. For the most part he is pretty laid back and doesn't bother anything, but do not get in his way because he will show you no mercy.

Really I have had issues with him quite a bit in the past. He is very nasty when it comes to feeding time. He will chase any of the fish (including the larger ones) and bat at them with his hands. He kind of scares me because I'm worried he would accidentaly (or perhaps inferentially) kill one or more of my cory catfish. So I have thought about moving him sooner rather then later, but I didn't see the need.

Well just now I saw him attacking one of my swordtails. Let me tell you something. He chases off the other fish, but I have never seen him catch anything (or even come close) other then my cory.

I was quite upset. Even more upset when I realized he wasn't attacking the swordtail but rather had already killed it, and was eating him. I became quite furious to be frank, and I think the only thing that saved him from me not killing him was the fact the swordtail wasn't one of the pregnet ones.

Honestly I'm not in a good mood to start off with. I have a cold (in the middle of August for crying out loud), and am on medication. This frog really was very close to being killed.

Instead I caught him, and toss him into my tank downstairs. I may move the other one downstairs too - Not because he is also causing issues, and not because I care the one now downstairs has no frog company, but instead because the one upstairs now has no frog company.

New Fish: Anglefish

New Fish - Anglefish

So I got Angelfish about a week ago. They seem pretty happy in the tank. They are very interested in what is going on outside the tank.

1 was white/tannish with back strips and the other is black with with/tannish stripes. Their very cool.

The black one though is kind of afraid of the other fish during feeding time. Especially around one of the frogs - But I'll talk more about that frog in my next post.

New Fish: Albino Cory

I got 3 new fish. They are Albino Cory. Poor things had a hard time just at the fish store. The guy nearly caught one of them when he was tying the knot in the bag. Needless to say they were not very excited to be in the bag.

When I got home I had them in the tank acclimating for about 20 minutes. This is actually a bit longer then I typical acclimate (typically 15 minutes), but I figure as long as they are not in any longer then 25 minutes it's a mute point.

Now that they are in the tank though they seem quite content. They fly all over the tank, and in general just have fun. They also seem to have made the Trillneatus Cory much more comfortable in the tank! Beyond that they also seem to have made the frogs more comfortable! Ya... The frogs that are the bosses in the tank... Which is crazy because they are by far the smallest creatures in the tank.

I knew that I wanted this fish. I just had no idea how much.

More Fish

I got 3 Corydoras Trilineatus fish today. I wanted to get the Albino Cory, but the LFS keeps not having them. I guess it doesn't matter because when the tank is done being stocked I want to have 6 cory - I guess I'll just get 3 Albino later.

They are pretty active fish. I always thought cory spend all their time on the bottom of the tank, but I already so one checking out to top of one of my plants.

They also seem to hand out pretty far from each other in the tank. However when I went to try and get the pregnant fish out of the tank all 3 grouped up very quickly until they realized they were not the target of the net.

Fish in breeding box

So I just moved two of my pregnant fish into a breeding box. Let me be perfectly honest. I don't like the breeding box at all. My largest issue is the way it attaches to the tank - Which is to say it hardly attaches at all. I have half a mind to just weigh it down to the bottom of the tank and secure the lid on it tightly. As it is I wouldn't be shocked to find it sitting at the bottom of the tank in the morning with nothing in it.

My other problem with the breeder box is it is tiny, which I suppose is a issue with most or at least nearly most breeding boxes. Right now I have 2 pregnant fish in the box together. I have two more roaming free in the tank. I just could not bring myself to put all 4 into the same breeder box even though it is designed to hold at least that many fish.

I guess it is actually kind of good that I don't want to put all 4 fish into the box. This way I will see what works best. If in 30 days my free roaming fish's fry live then I will know that I don't have to use this silly box ever again.

Oh and one other thing. Trying to catch 1 much less 4 swordtails in a 90 gallon tank... Ya... It's not easy what so ever.

Part 4 - Pregnet Fish

So today I was looking at my tank and noticed something. My male swordtail was chasing one of the female swordtails around the tank.

And boy was he intent on catching her. However upon closer inspection the male seems to have been around the tank quite a few times already. 1 of my females was quite plump. Even more inspection reveled that perhaps only 1 swordtail had not been caught yet by the male.

I suspect at this point it would be much easier on the last female if she would simply allow herself to be caught instead of getting chased around the tank all day long.

I will be sure to update this as needed.

Hopefully the LFS wants some swordtails to buy.

Step Three Part B - Buying More Fish

So I have been kind of lacking in keeping this up to date so it is time for some catch up.

If you see "---" it means that time has past (typically about 6-10 days) between events.

I have 3 new species in my tank now, and 3 new plants. I also have substrate now.

So I bought Gold Tux Swordtails. I got male and 6 females. They like to swim all over the tank and at least 2 are always out in the open.

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I then got substrate. I decided on pool filter sand because I have heard the fish tend to like it, and it's easy to plant with since the plant roots can easily dig into the sand. Sadly I wasn't paying much attention when I put the sand it, and choked out one of my swordtails. Thankfully though this is the first and only death in the tank, which puts me way ahead of where I was at this point in the previous setup.

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I then bought a Amazon Sword. I had this plant in my previous tank and I loved it. This one though is a lot more healthy then my last, and seems to be on the verge of flowering.

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I then bought Red Eye Tetras. These were by far the most expensive because of where I bought them, but well worth the purchase. I have one that will just float right under the heater. He must feel safe there because the heater has been on a total of maybe 10 hours in the past month.

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I then got two more plants. The first one is a "green hedge". Don't buy this plant. From everything I am reading it isn't meant to be underwater and will eventually drown and die.

The second plant I got was Wisteria. It kind of looks like parsley. More on this plant in a moment.

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I then bought 2 Albino Clawed Frogs (image). These guys are fun little critters. At the moment they are much smaller then the gouramis in the tank, but don't tell them that - During feeding time they will chase off the other fish, and whey they are not eating (they are slow to take bites) they will sit on top of the food. But when they do decide to eat they are very quick and use their hands to hold the food and chow down. They also love to lounge away in the Wisteria plant in the corner of the tank.

When I first put them into the tank they would intentionally get themselves lodge between the HOB filter and the tank glass. They days it isn't shocking to see them lodge between the plants and the glass. When they do this they look dead because of the really strange ways they will position themselves, but their not - Their just chilling.

They also don't seem to move around a ton, but don't let them fool you. They might tend to move slow, but when they decide to put the pedal to the metal they easily are the fastest species in the tank.

Third Step - Buying First Fish

Yesterday I bought the first fish for the tank.

They are 3 Blue Gourami's. I made the choice based off of this site. After getting out of the bag (where they were flipping out) they seem very content. And I would hope so - Using the 1 inch rule I could nearly put another 20 of them in the tank with them still being content.

Of course the 1 inch rule needs to be used with a grain of salt.

I'm pretty sure my next fish purchase is going to be a bunch of albino cory (which is effectively this fish).

Step Two - Resetting Up

Now it was time to set the tank back up.

First I put the filters back on. Then the heater. Then the hood.

Then I started filling.

Then I put in the water conditioner.

I decided to put in cold water. I figured with the 90+ degree heat this would be the most cost effective way to get the tank where I want it temperature wise.

I then put the air line back into the tank. I forgot about it. Not that it mattered - The water line was still not above the tube's bottom.

I then put the thermometer back in. The reading was 60 degrees straight out of the tap.

And now it is full.

I turned on the filter (without media), heater, and air pump.

Next is to let the tank cycle, which is step three.

First Step - Clean Up

The first step was obvious. Get every ounce possible of chaos out of the tank. The first step however involved a lot more then 1 step.

First I used my "No Spill Clean & Fill Python" knockoff to drain as much water from the tank as possible.

To do this I pushed as much of the gravel as I could up against one side so it would be easier to get as much water out as possible.

As I was removing the water I was also vacuuming the gravel. I figure that when I get around to cleaning the gravel it will be much easier to clean vacuumed gravel then 100% dirty gravel.

I then starting cleaning the sides with a clean dish sponge with the dirty water (bear with me). While doing this I was picking up the rest of the water I could not get with the sponge and putting it in a bucket to throw away.

I then removed the gravel with a 16 oz cup one scoop at a time.

After that I got any left over dirty water out for the final time with the sponge.

I then washed my two hang on the back (HOB) power filters, heater, and thermometer. I also of course cleaned all the suction cups.

I then took very hot water and cleaned the sides of the tank.

After that for the final time I removed the water with the sponge that was from the hot water cleaning.

I started at around 10:30 am and finished around 2:30pm. Mind you it was 93+ degrees and felt like (according to Weather.com) 96 degrees. I also took around a hour and a half break total so it took me about 2 hours to clean up the mess - Draining time included.

Chaos

I had a 90 gallon fish tank set up, and sadly it went from great, to a pure disaster in less then 24 hours.

I don't know if it was the heat. I don't know if it was the new fish in the tank. I don't know if a existing problem suddenly decided to manifest. I don't know if I disturbed a air pocket of toxins when I cleaned the tank. Heck, I don't know if I managed to kill to much beneficial bacteria when I cleaned the tank.

All I know is that a great tank with two peaceful oscars, and a bunch of goldfish all died within 48 hours.

So what do you do when your favorite fish tank goes belly up? You write a blog about the after math of course. This blog will in the first post go from what I did to clean up the disaster to what I did to restart the tank with new fish and beyond. I will talk about all the equipment I have, and all the fish I have. But most of all - I will be honest. Hold nothing back, even if I know I am a fool for doing something. This blog will be as much a reference for myself as I hope it will be for other people.

I have no plans for exact fish yet, but I highly suspect this will be a community tank, instead of the semi aggressive tank it was previously. It is a 90 gallon tank so there is quite a bit of room for a very interesting tank.

Wish me better luck this time around.