Okay so I haven't been posting for over a year (maybe two?) but finally felt the urge to do so.
After three years of running my 39 gallon aquarium with an extra ten gallon that I've used for a myriad of random stuff, I felt like sharing my experiences with everyone!
My 39 gallon was from the beginning destined to be a freshwater community tank as I travel a lot on holidays and prefer something that doesn't require as much maintenance as a reef (although reefs are awesome). What I started off with was gravel, plants, bog wood, a lava rock, filter, lighting, ect. Basically a good cycle setup. I added some platies to the tank and monitored the conditions daily (the platies are the best cycling fish a tank can have-advice from my first lps). After a week everything was ideal. I added some bacterial boost to the water every other day (as directed) and kept monitoring conditions. I later added some zebra danios, more platies, three corydoras and a ton of plants. About a month into the cycled tank's lifetime a swarm of tiny 2mm snails appeared. These have been living in the tank ever since. They can multiply rapidly if I overfeed but I tend to only see a few nowadays (which is good).
My tank didn't change much for a long time. I added the glass catfish, a few things died now and then but the tank was very healthy all along.
I recently added a bunch of new stuff (including three apple snails that started multiplying like crazy) and thus I end up with this list of things currently in my tank:
39 gallon freshwater community tank
Critters:
0-1000 random mini snails-species ?:/
~60 apple snails
~3 assassin snails
2 red claw crabs (pair)
3 glass catfish
9 platies (4 juvenile, 4 adult females, 1 male variatus)
4 silver hatchet fish
2 zebra danios
6 celestial pearl danios
2 bushy nose plecos (males)
1 bronze cory
2 Siamese fighting fish (pair)
4 African dwarf frogs (3 male, 1 female)
Plants:
1 giant sword plant
1 smaller swords
3 medium anubias sp.
1 large anubias nana (w. Some terrestrial growth-light green leaves)
Java Moss
1 semi-aquatic anubias sp.
A lot (occupies at least two gallons uncompressed) water valisneria
Sparse algae growth (some on plants)
Other:
Oak leaves
Dead moss with algae
(the others section refers to things I added to the tank to make it more natural)
Please leave a comment. I am always happy to hear from someone! :hi:
After three years of running my 39 gallon aquarium with an extra ten gallon that I've used for a myriad of random stuff, I felt like sharing my experiences with everyone!
My 39 gallon was from the beginning destined to be a freshwater community tank as I travel a lot on holidays and prefer something that doesn't require as much maintenance as a reef (although reefs are awesome). What I started off with was gravel, plants, bog wood, a lava rock, filter, lighting, ect. Basically a good cycle setup. I added some platies to the tank and monitored the conditions daily (the platies are the best cycling fish a tank can have-advice from my first lps). After a week everything was ideal. I added some bacterial boost to the water every other day (as directed) and kept monitoring conditions. I later added some zebra danios, more platies, three corydoras and a ton of plants. About a month into the cycled tank's lifetime a swarm of tiny 2mm snails appeared. These have been living in the tank ever since. They can multiply rapidly if I overfeed but I tend to only see a few nowadays (which is good).
My tank didn't change much for a long time. I added the glass catfish, a few things died now and then but the tank was very healthy all along.
I recently added a bunch of new stuff (including three apple snails that started multiplying like crazy) and thus I end up with this list of things currently in my tank:
39 gallon freshwater community tank
Critters:
0-1000 random mini snails-species ?:/
~60 apple snails
~3 assassin snails
2 red claw crabs (pair)
3 glass catfish
9 platies (4 juvenile, 4 adult females, 1 male variatus)
4 silver hatchet fish
2 zebra danios
6 celestial pearl danios
2 bushy nose plecos (males)
1 bronze cory
2 Siamese fighting fish (pair)
4 African dwarf frogs (3 male, 1 female)
Plants:
1 giant sword plant
1 smaller swords
3 medium anubias sp.
1 large anubias nana (w. Some terrestrial growth-light green leaves)
Java Moss
1 semi-aquatic anubias sp.
A lot (occupies at least two gallons uncompressed) water valisneria
Sparse algae growth (some on plants)
Other:
Oak leaves
Dead moss with algae
(the others section refers to things I added to the tank to make it more natural)
Please leave a comment. I am always happy to hear from someone! :hi:
since my tank is very dense with vegetation there is almost no aggression. All my mystery snails are between 0.5 and 5 cm and so do not really overload the system. I had 6 corydoras but one of them was always solitary and hated the others (freak of nature) and when the others died and he was left I bought him new friends but they didn't do well and I gave them to a friend. I don't question that the crabs prefer brackish water but the last pair of crabs I had lasted two years until my tank heater broke and they died. I had the female berried four times but the water wasn't saline so no larvae. If you honestly think I would overstock a tank you don't know me. I carefully think everything through before I buy anything and I know how the new critters are going to fit into the system before I buy them. If they don't fit they go back to the store. Okay so after having said that I will take some pics and set them on soon. Also, I never change my filter cartridges (one of the things I've found to actually HELP the system convert wastes into nitrates... if you have enough plants to handle the extra load). Oh and before I forget the frogs do get a bit thin if I don't hand feed them (with a glove of course) so I take my time to do that. There are many YouTube tutorials if you want to see what it looks like 