Ohio Themed 75-gallon...

Well I finally got my aquarium up and running and while I can take a pretty decent photo of a herp out in the wild my in-tank fish photography leaves a little to be desired. The white balance is totally out of whack, but I think it is due to flash and a mix of different temperature fluorescent lights. Either way you get the idea. The tank is Ohio themed.

Whole tank shot. The background is Great Stuff with silicon and sand/gravel. I am still waiting for the plants to grow in a little.



Here is a shot looking longways down the tank.



All the plumbing is behind the background and I used to have the Maxi-jet modifier thing but the propeller cracked and it doesn’t move the water little it used to so I currently have just a regular powerhead going.



And the fishy inhabitants.

I have 2 of these which I think and hope are young Northern Longears (agree?).



I also have a Logperch who I didn’t know how much I would like in the tank but he settled under some driftwood and watches me until feeding time and now I love the thing (but how can you go wrogn with any darter anyways?).



Redside Dace, Blacknose Dace, Fathead Minnow and Bluntnose Minnow.



Bluntnose Minnow, Fathead Minnows, Blacknose Dace, Blackside Darter and either a Sand Shiner or a doubtful Mimic Shiner.



I have also now decided I need a bigger thank to keep all the fish species I would like.

A list of current inhabitants are:

Bluntnose Minnow – 1
Fathead Minnow – 3
Blacknose Dace – 2
Redside Dace – 4
Rosyface Shiner (or Silver) – 1
Sand Shiner (or Mimic) – 2
Silverjaw Minnow – 3

Longear Sunfish – 2

Greenside Darter – 3
Logperch – 1
Rainbow Darter – 3
Fantail Darter – 1
Johnny Darter – 5
Blackside Darter – 4


Andy

WOW! That really is spectacular! The background blows my mind. Can you show some closer shots of it?

Not anytime soon. I am at work and I am off for the next few days (won’t be around a computer) and I would have to take some more pictures of it. I'll try nad remember for next week. There are definitely things I would do differently to the background on the next tank I design but I like it. Especially the overhanging bank with the roots coming through.

But to appease you Mike, here are some pictures on two of my last fish/herp outings…





Andy

Cool. I'll look forward to seeing close ups of the background. I'd be interested to hear what you did and didn't like about the process.
Nice sallies. I still haven't seen either of those in the wild.
I just realized, the stream tank would be perfect for that H-bender! That would make a very cool display!

Yeah, that looks like a northern longear. That is a very authentic, natural looking tank. Maybe I missed it, but has there been any discussion about how you created that background? What is that black and white salamander? Was that in Ohio? please excuse my ignorance. _Very_ nice tank! My compliments! Would like to see more photos as things develop. I've found it difficult to maintain attractive plantings in my tanks. Thanks for posting these!

Mike and itsme,

The background was created by taking two pieces of Styrofoam and caddy-cornering on each side of the take after laying a piece of PDC piping along the back edge. You can kind of get an idea of this in the 3rd picture. This is to try and create a one way flow (didn’t work as well as I hoped with just a powerhead). I then applied Great Stuff (spray foam in a can) over the whole background and layered and cut into my desired shape. A hole was cut into the lower left corner as seen in picture 1 and 3 where the powerhead shoots the current out. On the right side a long slot was cut under the overhanging bank (just Great Stuff piled up) and the bank is hollow inside. This allows for water to flow into it and down to the PVC pipe. These holes were too big and fish can get in so I have to block them with black sponges (can’t see them in the tank though) and that slows my flow. This is the part I would engineer differently. I have a canister filter with the intake on the right side of the tank and it spits out on the upper left corner in the same direction as the powerhead. This can also be as seen in picture 1 and 3.

After the basic design was down I then covered the whole thing in brown silicon and pressed sand and small gravel into it. I gave it a long time to cure and added gravel, driftwood, plants and fish. I then found a driftwood root mass and pulled pieces off of it and stuck them into the Styrofoam under the overhanging bank to look like a root wad.

The plants aren’t doing great but I need to rework my lighting system. Either way all the plants are Vallisneria and I only want them in the one corner under the bank, somewhat ala a Todd Crail design.

The black and white salamander is a Marbled Salamander (Ambystoma opacum) and was found in NE Ohio. The other is a Hellbender and was found in NW PA.

Andy

Wow! That tank is amazing. You did one fine job on that, it looks really, really, natural. Keep the photos coming!


Blake

Were the longears from up in the grand river? They seem to be some what rare in NE Ohio but are much more common in tributaries to the western end of lake Erie.

The tank looks awesome, very natural looking. Was the silicone you used for aquariums or just from a hardware store?

That is a beautiful tank.

I would also like to see more pics of the background and pics of the construction if you have them.

Thanks Wolfie

Awesome tank! I love it! I really like the way you stuck the roots in the background. I might try that.

Logperch are one of my favorite darters. I almost typed "they are my favorite" but then I thought, "what about . . ." I guess I don't have a favorite darter. I caught a couple of 5"+ logperches last week. I'd never seen any that big before. They are so handsome.

Beautiful tank, I love that background.
I've always seen pictures of marbles and I still think they're amazing.

Glad everyone enjoyed the tank. It still has a few bugs that I am working out, but that is part of the fun. I still need to get more pictures of the tank for ya'll.

I just used hardware store silicon. After reading Dart Frog forums, not because I have Darts, but because those keepers are fanatical, I learned that as long as it is 100% silicon without any mold inhibitors it should be safe. Silicon II is sold with Bioseal which seems to be just a skin that keeps back mold and is safe. Keep away from the bathroom/kitchen silicons.

smbass, the Longears are from the dam on the Grand, along with alot of the other fish in there. The one pictured also bullies the heck out of the smaller one and though they are calming down some I am probably going to find another home for it soon.

schambers, when I first put in the Logperch it contantly tried to swim out of the tank, just up and down and up and down in the corner. Took about a week and now I really like the fish. Very calm and VERY alert to feeding time.

Andy

schambers, when I first put in the Logperch it contantly tried to swim out of the tank, just up and down and up and down in the corner. Took about a week and now I really like the fish. Very calm and VERY alert to feeding time.

Alert is a great word to describe them. They watch me when I'm near their tank. When it's quiet, I can sometimes hear them turning rocks over looking for food. Cool fish.

Awesome fish and tanks!! Thanks for sharing!

Andy,

Great tank! You have done a wonderful job. We will have to get back out in the water with Jeff again some time soon. Jeff and I netted some eastern sand darters last week. Hopefully we can get out and net you some spotfin or steel color shiners.

But to appease you Mike, here are some pictures on two of my last fish/herp outings…




Andy

Great marble salamander. When I lived in Athens, Ohio during the fall we would witness HUNDREDS of these migrating across roads, lawns, hill sides ect... at night. It was quite awsome.