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The rebirth of my 75 gallon

Started by Guest_lozgod_* , Jan 20 2010 12:30 AM

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15 replies to this topic

#1 Guest_lozgod_*

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Posted 20 January 2010 - 12:30 AM

Some know the story and some dont but this is the same tank as previous photographed and posted in another thread on this forum. From November to January the tank was unattended. The lights were left on the whole time. Filter running, plants grew out of control, and fish went unfed. I had to abandon it but won't get in to why.

Everything survived. Plants grew out of control and the surface had about an inch thick layer of duckweed and frogbit.

Last week I recovered the tank. It was a mess. I had to remove the soil/sand substrate to make it light enough to move. I put all the fish in a bucket. Several rainbow, greenside, darters, various dace, a sucker, and a few other species. The ride in the bucket to my dismay killed most of the fish. The sucker, 4 rainbow cloud minnows, 2 longnosed dace, and a couple unidentified darters survived. Oh yeah. One snail also survived.

Tonight my package of 60 pounds of Eco-complete arrived and all the inerts for my Fluval 305. A few plants managed to survive the week floating without substrate. Some were just so bad I trashed them.

Here are the pics of what it looks like tonight. So glad to have it back.

This is the original before I had to unexpectadely abandon the tank.
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My favorite fish. The Common Sucker. He has flourished since day one.
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Full Tank Shot Now. Shell of it's former glory but we will get back there.
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Driftwood Centerpiece w/Java Moss and Rainbow Clouds and Dace swimming around it.
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Unidentified Darter
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Dace and Rainbow Clouds
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Side view of tank. I need more fish desperately. Tank is bare.
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On a sidenote. I will never do another soil based/Walstad/El Natural type tank again unless it is 29 gallons or less. Very messy to deal with and I am assumubg the bigger the tank the harder to manager as far as the mess goes. But as I said. Maintanance wise, everything survived 3 months unattended and the plants flourished. So it is not a bad system. Just potentially too messy.

Edited by lozgod, 20 January 2010 - 12:39 AM.

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#2 Guest_Burbot_*

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Posted 20 January 2010 - 08:48 PM

still looks sharp to me!

Gotta love that sucker. Best of luck with starting over. What are your plans now (fish wise)?

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#3 Guest_CATfishTONY_*

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Posted 20 January 2010 - 09:05 PM

nice looking tank.
you could add some orange spot sunfish.
a pair would like in there.
and a small catfish.

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#4 Guest_lozgod_*

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Posted 20 January 2010 - 09:44 PM

Another pic of the sucker. He likes posing I think.
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Another darter pic. Out of nowhere I have discovered 3 in the tank. Pleasant suprise.
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What are your plans now (fish wise)?

Well I liked the Sucker/Darter/Dace combo but I am really wanting a madtom or two. I just fear it eating a smaller darter. I might roll the dice on it. I love my darters but also really feel I am missing out without the madtom.

I am thinking of getting a second tank for the bedroom. Probably go one species only with that one. Got an interest in the burbot or bowfins. Possibly a sunfish tank. Your burbot pics are pretty cool and that fish looks very exotic. Amazing people go tropical with so many interesting fish in their own backyards.

Edited by lozgod, 20 January 2010 - 09:45 PM.

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#5 Guest_BTDarters_*

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Posted 21 January 2010 - 05:51 AM

Nice new tank! It's a little hard to tell, but I am thinking that your unidentified darters are Fantails (Etheostoma fabellarae). Also, when you say "Common Sucker", do you mean White Sucker (Catostomus commersoni)?

Brian

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#6 Michael Wolfe

Board of Directors

North Georgia, Oconee River Drainage

Posted 21 January 2010 - 07:28 PM

I'm sure I've said this before, but I will again... don't fear the madtoms... they are not really darter eaters...I have had several that were small grow to full size without any loss of darters...

margined, ozark, speckled, tadpole, all fine with other fish...

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin

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#7 Guest_lozgod_*

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Posted 21 January 2010 - 08:55 PM

Nice new tank! It's a little hard to tell, but I am thinking that your unidentified darters are Fantails (Etheostoma fabellarae). Also, when you say "Common Sucker", do you mean White Sucker (Catostomus commersoni)?

Brian

Yeah it is a white sucker.

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#8 Guest_lozgod_*

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Posted 30 January 2010 - 12:31 AM

New addition to the aquarium. Meet the fire bellied newt. Been in there for 2 weeks. Haven't seen him eat yet. Any suggestions on what to feed him let me know. Going to try waving some frozen daphnia in his face next.
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#9 Guest_lozgod_*

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Posted 22 February 2010 - 11:09 PM

Plants are coming along nicely. No CO2, no more Flourish Excel (also no invert problems w/o the Flourish Excel)
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My driftwood is coming together sweetly. Has Java Moss and Fern rooted and multiplying nicely.
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#10 Guest_mikez_*

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Posted 23 February 2010 - 06:39 AM

Wow, we're in the same boat. I had six tanks go out of my control for a couple of months. I'm blown away by how many fish survived and how well. Mollies actually increased. Rainbow darter, SRBD and banded sunfish are colored and plump.
The only species that didn't come through OK was orangespotted SF. I lost six. They shared the tank with the bandeds who look fine. Go figure.
I recently rescued all the fish, one tank at a time and moved into an apartment.
I lost one saltwater fish in the move that had been beat up pretty bad.

All my freshwater tanks were crammed with java moss and various pond plants and scuds and snail were established in all.
Even my saltwater tanks apparently had enough algae to keep a large butterflyfish fed.
Evaporation got some filters that went dry. All lights were on timers with natural photoperiod.
I'm convinced you could have a 95% hands off natural system along the lines of the Berlin reef but even more hands off. As long as the lights and timers work, only evaporation would require service. That could be automated pretty low tech too.

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#11 Guest_BTDarters_*

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Posted 24 February 2010 - 03:35 AM

You might want to try feeding your newt some frozen adult brine shrimp and/or frozen bloodworms. I have a friend that has newts and I believe that that is what he feeds them.

Brian

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#12 Guest_lozgod_*

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Posted 03 March 2010 - 12:35 AM

Have a stoneroller, some greenside and rainbow darters, logperch, 2 more long nosed dace, and a few red shiners on the way. Thanks KN!

I really need to invest in a camera but here is an updated pic. Plants are doing great. Frogbit started as 3 or 4 healthy specimens 2 months ago.
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Driftwood becoming infested (in a good way) with Java Fern and Java Moss!
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#13 Guest_lozgod_*

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Posted 05 March 2010 - 11:06 PM

Added 2 new 10,000k bulbs. Brightened up the tank a lot. Plan on adding a 6500k bulb next. Money is really tight for the next couple of months. Well any-who. Some pics of my new inhabitants.

Greenside Darter
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