I guess I didn't have enough hobbies...

[StraightForward]

When I was in college I managed the aquarium section of a pet store, and my roommate and I were pretty into fish. I even had a medium sized reef tank. I've missed the hobby and always wanted a large planted tank. Now that I'm working from home in our daylight basement, it seemed like the perfect time to go for it. Watching fish will be an excellent antidote to too many video conferences, and I can do the easier maintenance during my workday.

There are lots more choices out there now for lighting, online sources for livestock, and so many YouTube videos. Aquascaping has really increased as a hobby and people are building some really incredible tanks. I don't know how ambitious I'll get with that, but I did get my first 32 gallon aquarium set up and planted today. I have two 15 gallons that are holding fish and plants right now, and will get some more intricate design work later. Out in the shop I have a 1980's era 125 gallon that I'm working on restoring and resealing. That will be the real show piece as it's 6' long and will work as a room divider between my office area and the TV/yoga studio area of the basement. So that's my winter project!

Does anyone else keep fish or tanks?

Here is the 32 - I will probably start adding a few fish after Thanksgiving. Can't wait to see the plants start to grow in! The orangish stone left of center is a gigantic piece of amber I found when I was working for the Forest Service in college.

[texsuze]

Love fish and aquariums. Way back before we moved to the country, we had a 75 gal. freshwater 'community' aquarium in our living room. We were anal about water changes and maintenance, (thank you DH!) and being in the megalopolis we had access to large aquarium stores for fish and supplies.

We had a clown loach, Big Mamma, who was one of the test fish for our initial setup (expensive test fish!). When her best buddy passed away she actually went into mourning. We couldn't find her inside the aquarium to save our lives! Then one day she appeared after we added a couple more clown loaches and they brought her out of her funk. We are convinced she mourned the loss of her friend. When we made the move to the country we gave our entire tank setup to a friend, Big Mamma and all. Lots of enjoyment over the years! Good luck with the fishies!

[StraightForward]

Aww, I love clown loaches. The big fish store we used to go to in Portland had a huge one that would swim up the the surface of the tank to get petted. I'm going to put some zebra loaches in this tank. They stay smaller, but are really fun to watch!

[Wicky]

When I was working in NYC, I had a small tank at work and a 55 gallon at home. The work tank had aggressive fish, to match the atmosphere at work. The home tank had fish named after other animals - cardinal tetras, zebra, catfish, horse faced loaches... it was a well planted tank and a pleasure to watch.Very calming.

[PhoenixRising]

Me!! I was actually really involved in our local “fish club” or aquarium society back around the time I got Phoenix. At one point I had 25-30 tanks running at once and I was breeding some critically endangered species. I really really enjoyed it, and only got out of the hobby really because I moved into a very small space and couldn’t fit them in.
I’ve recently been trying to dip my toes back in and have a bow front tank going, but I’m having some issues I’ve never had before- I think maybe the water where I live now- and everything I try keeps dying. Currently I’m trying a planted tank instead of cichlids or goldfish and I’m doing everything imaginable to try and keep the 3 swordtails I have in there going.
I also have a small filtered ~2 gallon with a single koi betta in it that seems to be doing well.
If I can figure out why I’m having such a hard time, I’d love to have a handful of tanks going again.

[StraightForward]

Wow, you have a lot of experience! I hope you can get the water situation figured out; that sounds frustrating.

I've been admiring some of the fancy bettas that are out there now. I'll probably set up one of my 15s for a betta once those tanks are freed up from quarantine duty. I'm thinking the other will be a light brackish tank for bumblebee gobies and Endler's livebearers. Right now I just have some rummy nose tetras, panda cories and ottos that will all go in the 125 South American tank once it's set up.

Yesterday I got the 125 moved into the house, but still have work to do polishing out the scratches and getting it resealed.

[Sue B]

I love fish tanks and fish (fresh water only, salt water fish too challenging for me); my sister and I used to breed Black Mollies and sword fish for the local pet store. For a couple of decades we had a nice one here at the clinic, but it just got to be too much to take care of well. That, and people would actually STEAL FISH from it!!! So weird. Anyway, much luck in your new endeavor, SF Maybe I'll start a tank too in awhile.

Phoenix, I had a smaller tank for ds when he was little. He was great at helping take care of it, but he did, one time, cook all his little friends when he knocked the hood into the tank. Just a heads up!

[StraightForward]

Phoenix, I had a smaller tank for ds when he was little. He was great at helping take care of it, but he did, one time, cook all his little friends when he knocked the hood into the tank. Just a heads up!

Yikes! One big advancement in fish keeping is LED lights. There are waterproof ones that are made to be submerged in the tank. I'm also a fan of the shatterproof heaters because I often forget to unplug them when I'm doing a water change.

Since I didn't want to spend like a million bucks getting the 125 up and running, I'm going to experiment with making a couple large internal filters out of beverage dispenser jars with power heads hooked to them. For lights I'm repurposing a couple T5 fluorescent fixtures that I used for starting seedlings. Maybe later I will go more high-tech, but I enjoy figuring out the DIY solutions and tinkering a bit. My boxes of 160# of substrate have started getting delivered. I'm afraid I'm not popular with the UPS guy.

[piedmontfields]

(I admire fish-keeping and aquariums--but have no expertise)

I love that piece of amber from your past/regional wanderings, though, Straightforward!

[StraightForward]

I love that piece of amber from your past/regional wanderings, though, Straightforward!

It is really something! My boss was the Forest botanist, and she was so jealous having never found anything like that in 20 years of exploring the forest. It's pretty clear amber without dirty or bubbly spots, but no fossils entombed in it either. I was just walking straight up a stream bed and there it was.

[StraightForward]

I have the 125 set up! I already had to tear down the smaller tank... I tried using some organic potting soil for part of the substrate, and was getting horrible diatom algae. Plus I had to rearrange everything because my initial location for the big tank turned out to have a big slope in the concrete slab and trying to shim a tank that size to level was beyond my level of risk tolerance. So after rethinking a few things, I have the 125 situated and up and running. It will have pothos and peace lily growing from the top of the tank on the right which will obscure my DIY filter and also help with filtration.

I'll probably start stocking it with a few fish soon, then let everything settle, and try to get my hands on some more plants.

[piedmontfields]

This looks really beautiful SF. I look forward to updates!

[StraightForward]

Things are growing in, and I have fish! I've mostly added a cleaning crew, and just a few tetras for interest. Hoping to get my loaches next week to control the little pest snails. When the weather is more moderate I'll order a few more plants, and then let everything settle in for a few months. I've got some pothos and peace lily cuttings rooting in water that will become part of the filtration system, and I added a neat CO2 generator that makes CO2 from citric acid and baking soda. I'm really loving watching fish TV with my morning coffee.

Slowly collecting the pieces I need to set up the smaller tanks, and I've also gotten a bit obsessed with some of the low tech/Walstad style planted jars people are doing, and will be tinkering with one this frigid weekend.

[Sue B]

Wow! That's beautiful, SF. Can't wait to see how it develops.

[Moutaineer]

So interesting! I know nothing of aquaria, so I shall follow along and learn!