# Hello from Austin, TX



## makemineirish

I keep a couple of large (150, 240g), planted, Amazonian community tanks. There are a few of the "standard" stock in my tanks such as cardinals and rummynose. However, I prefer those fish that are a little less commonly seen in my LFS. The larger tank sizes allow me to do fairly decent schools or groups of social fish. I am thinking of doing a 50g short (100g footprint, but 12"h) that I would stock with interesting nano species in groups that they are not kept in due to tank size restrictions.


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## Reefing Madness

*welcome w-smiles


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## snail

Welcome!

I'd love to see pics of your tanks and hear more about the fish you have. I love to see large schools of smaller fish in large tanks. I think it is an interesting option people rarely go for. I saw 200+ cardinal tetras schooling together once and thought it was probably the most beautiful tank I've ever seen.


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## makemineirish

snail said:


> I'd love to see pics of your tanks and hear more about the fish you have.


I am not that stellar of a photographer with regards to my fish as I do not own any macro photography equipment. I am still in the process of stocking the tanks.

Here is a photo of the 240g that I took with my phone (hence the low quality) before adding any livestock:










These fish do not *ALL* exist in the tanks yet as I am still waiting on availability, searching for a supplier, or deciding between some of these species. The ones whose names are in bold are existing fish, rather than planned fish. There may yet be interesting options that I come across that necessitate omitting one or more of the choices below. 

In addition to the two large tanks, I keep one 36g quarter-round corner tank as a hospital/growout/quarantine/breeder. I am trying to time things such that I do not need more than one incubation tank, but may be forced to do a couple of more as I am genuinely committed to trying to breed many of the species on my stock list. However, I am hoping to hide any additional small breeder/growout tanks in the oversized cabinets of the larger aquariums. It is an attempt to avoid the crazy garage fish room that a lot of people in the hobby resort to.


*In the 240g:*

7 Discus (Heckel wild type)









*2/1 Pair Zebra Acara (Ivanakara adoketa)*
male:








female:









2/1 Pair (_Nannacara aureocephalus_)









*11 L134 Leopard Frog Pleco (Peckolita Compta)*









*14 Candy Stripe Goby (Awaous flavous)*









*52 Rummynose Tetra (Hemigrammus rhodostomus)*









*47 Weitzman Tetra(Poecilocharax weitzmani)*









*151 Cardinal Tetra (Paracheirodon axelrodi)*









12 Coral Red Pencilfish (_Nannostomus mortenthaleri_)









*5 South American Puffer (Colomesus asellus)*









3/1 Trio Royal Farlowella (_Sturisoma festivum_)










*In the 150g:*

*5 Discus (Fire Red x Tefe Green wild)*









*9 L260 Queen Arabesque Pleco (Hypancistrus sp)*









*4/2 Pair 'Buckelkoph' (Laetacara araguiae)*









12 Lyretail Checkerboard Cichlid (_Dicrossus filamentosis_)









*15 Green Fire Tetra (Aphyocharax rathbuni)*









12 Dwarf puple pencilfish(_Nannostomus rubrocaudatus_)









9 LaCorte Sunset Tetra (Hyphessobrycon sp)









*9 Columbian Tetra (Hyphessobrycon colombianus)*









*5 Orange Laser Cory (Corydoras CW010)*









*5 Amano Shrimp (Cardina japonica)*










I did purchase the 50g short today. The dimensions are 48.5"w x 18.5"d x 12"h. The person I bought it from had it built to use as a refugium for his 300g saltwater. I will need to build a cage-like stand to frame the bookshelf that I intend to place the tank on top of. The outer frame will serve as the stand for the tank as the bookshelf is not designed to bear that much weight. However, putting it over the bookshelf will mean that the tank fills unutilized space rather than taking up a large footprint of the floor. It will also raise the tank height to 54" above the floor, putting the short tank a eye level when standing for greater visibility. I intend to use an old Fluval 4+ internal model that I have laying around for filtration. I am going to try regular soil in this tank rather than the expensive products sold in aquarium stores that are currently in my other tanks. It will be densely planted with a number of hidey-holes. I am still formulating a stock list, but I intend to do larger schools of nano-fish and a variety of crustaceans. I have not seen anyone do something like this before and thought it would be an interesting project.


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## snail

Your tank looks great. And some lovely fish there, thanks for sharing the pics. 

I have found puffers difficult to mix with tankmates, they can be bad fin nippers but are also easily intimidated by other fish. Have you had any problems?


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## makemineirish

snail said:


> I have found puffers difficult to mix with tankmates, they can be bad fin nippers but are also easily intimidated by other fish. Have you had any problems?


The South American Puffer (Colomesus asellus) is a bit of a different breed. They are not the most attractive, but are by far the most peaceful and feasible to keep in a community tank. Mine are roughly 2"-3" now and have not been a problem with anything yet. A number of somewhat aggressive fish are more feasible to keep communally if they get interaction with conspecifics by keeping a school. The South American Puffers are somewhat unique in that they are found in large schools in the wild. While many puffers are territorial, this particular species is often nervous if kept singly. They are a true freshwater puffer that is surprisingly hardy for a pufferfish as they travel up and down estuaries of the Amazon. The puffers WILL rip into snails or shrimp, and invertebrates cannot be kept in my 240g unless I intend for them to be food.

No discus have been added yet (as I am still debating whether I want to give up the tank space for them), but the adoketa are similarly slow,graceful swimmers and still have full finnage. The gobies are still fairly small at an anemic 2", yet have been unmolested. I do not have a full school of cardinal tetras in the tank yet, but I did throw in three as a test run (of both the puffers and my water-they're very sensitive to water quality). While I do not want anything to perish, I would rather find out my mistake with $12 of fish than a $400 all you can eat buffet  So far, so good.

That being said, there is still some variability among individuals. Puffers, cichlids, or golden retrievers: species' temperaments are generalizations that do not apply to every individual. I have had a large true Parrot Cichlid (_Hoplarchus psittacus_) with much smaller fish simply because it was exceptionally lazy. It is still possible to end up with a South American Puffer that is more aggressive than the standard or has a culinary appreciation for tetra meat. Careful monitoring and a willingness to yank any problem fish out of the tank is necessary. The quarantine tank or an incubation chamber can be used until I can return the fish to the store for a partial credit.

I am by no means an expert, but one of those OCD people that researches things to death and annoys my favorite local fish store often enough with incessant questions that every employee can correctly identify my voice over the phone (not something I am proud of). I hope this is helpful.


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## ElChef194

go with the dirt. i have been doing a lot of research on it and am going with a small (6 gal) dirt tank to feel it out. it will be a bamboo and betta tank. i do know that you absolutely need to get organic chem free dirt. my friend did dirt and bought plain potting soil. all of his fish died within 3 weeks due to chemical seepage form the soil.


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## makemineirish

ElChef194 said:


> i do know that you absolutely need to get organic chem free dirt. my friend did dirt and bought plain potting soil. all of his fish died within 3 weeks due to chemical seepage form the soil.


Understood. Austin, like most liberal towns, is hippie-friendly. Virtually every garden center caries organic soil. Everything I have read lately implies that I can do a nicer planted tank with soil than aquarium plant substrate, and it is a heck of a lot cheaper. I already have a shrimp bucket with a homemade sponge filter planted with potting soil as I am trying to start raising live aquatic foods in preparation for spawning. The plants in there are doing phenomenal.


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## Summer

welcome, beautiful fish!


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## Rob72

hello and welcome


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## Big Dog

Welcome to the forum. Great looking pictures.


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## makemineirish

I am not entirely sure that this belongs in my introduction thread, but falls under the heading of "what's in my tanks". The pictures are quick and dirty cell phone photos. I promise to pull out the real camera (uploading from the ProDuo card is what I find annoying) for better quality pics. 

A semi-local fish store (three hours away counts as semi-local in Texas) called to let me know that they had gotten in a shipment of candy striped gobies. I had three, but wanted a dozen. These are a little hard to get in quantity as they seem to disappear as soon as they come in. Apparently, I am not the only one that likes them. They agreed to drop the price form $15/ea to $10/ea for 10+ and I hopped in the car. They threw in an eleventh for my trouble, dropping the price to $9/ea (Importers usually still charge $15/ea + shipping), and bagged my gobies. $108.25 for 11 gobies with no shipping...$50 in gas, but no shipping. 

A YouTube video (not mine) illustrates why I am so enamored with them:

Awaous flavus (Schmetterlingsgrundel) - YouTube

Photos of a few juveniles that went into the tank today:


















I then stood staring at the cardinals. I wanted 100 for my tank, but had been unwilling to fork over the $4/ea my LFS charges when they are readily available. Importers will sell 100 for as little as $90, but it is a bit of a crapshoot as to how many will survive the second shipping on the tail end of heir jaunt from South America. Standard practice is to order twice as many as you want and hope for a 50% survival rate or better. This store was willing to do $2/ea for 100+ on cardinals that had been in their tanks for a week. It seemed like a good compromise, but the fish just did not look spritely.

While I vacillated, someone suggested I try a local importer known for having quality South american tetras and discus. After extensive help from my smartphone and navigation, I found the place tucked away in an industrial complex. It was an un- air conditioned warehouse, a step up from the garage fish room that so many hobbyists resort to.

The 1" cardinals and 2" rummynose loved fantasic. The proprietor claimed that they had been in their tanks for four weeks and offered me $1.75/ea for 100+ cardinals and $2/ea for 10+ rummynose. I purchased 100 of the former, 30 of the later, 6 amano shrimp at $4/ea, and 50 ghost shrimp at $0.10/ea. 

If you do the math, you can understand my surprise when the total rang up as $242.42. I politely pointed out that it should be $285.78 ($264.00 + $21.78 tax). He stated that he had thrown in an additional discount to cover my gas. I thanked him. He just smiled and told me to come back. Whether he is just an exceptionally nice individual or the magical power of boobs compelled him, I was thrilled.

Until I got home. 
Then I was elated. 
I have a ridiculously OCD method of transferring fish to my tanks. I transfer them to a holding container, run a drip hose from the tank, and slowly combine the water. A second container is filled with tank water. The fish are poured into a net 2-5 at a time and transferred to the second container before the entire school is dumped into the aquarium. This acclimates the fish to my water chemistry as well as temperature and ensures that none of the foreign water mixes with mine. The point (I swear I have one) is that this provides me the opportunity to check the count.

I had 148 cardinals and 52 rummynose. I am not sure that I need that many but am truly appreciative of the generous "pour". For those of you interested in the math, it means that I nabbed spritely 1" cardinals for $1/ea and vigorous 2" rummynose for $0.86 each without the stress of shipping. Holy Smokes Batman! 

These guys have not even had a chance to color up yet, but here are some tetra photos:


















Some fish already in the tank that wandered in front of the lens:


























P.S. - I feel a need to explain the shabby condition of the plants. My regulator went out last week and the flora has been going downhill while waiting on the new regulator to arrive. However, the shrimp love the piles of mulm.


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## navigator black

The weitzmani are what have my eye. Not many people can keep them. They're tough once they acclimate but that first couple of weeks are difficult.
And adoketa too! Nice tanks.
Watch the dirt with cichlids. I wouldn't do it myself, but I'm not you in Austin Texas. I'd look for chemically neutral sand. That's what I try to use with South American rainforest fish.


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## snail

Very interesting tank. Will be watching for updates. Are you not concerned adding so many fish at once might not cause a 'mini cycle'?


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## makemineirish

navigator black said:


> The weitzmani [are] tough once they acclimate but that first couple of weeks are difficult.


No joke! My LFS won't even bother to order weitzmani as they are so sensitive during shipping and acclimation. However, I found an importer who had had these sitting in his tanks for FIVE MONTHS. I thought that he might be misrepresenting them, but there was an online stocklist calendar that backed him up. As a result, I paid a little more than I would have liked per fish. My hope is that it will up the odds considerably.



navigator black said:


> Watch the dirt with cichlids. I wouldn't do it myself, but I'm not you in Austin Texas.


My problem with conditioned sand is the limitations that it imposes on the plant species. The existing tanks actually have Eco-Complete as a substrate. I am currently contemplating doing two tanks with soil. 

I am re-imagining the 46g short (48.5w x 18.5d x 12h) as a densely planted tank for six (2m/4f) red eye puffers. I may add some other fish from the same area. There are four different species referred to as red eye puffers. Males are fairly territorial, but I know someone who has kept _irrubesco_ communally for years. 

There is a 124g of odd dimensions (55.5w x 15.5d x 35.h) that I may be getting off of an associate when he moves. He had it custom-designed to fit a carved stone table that he liked. It is a bit deep to light effectively. My tentative plan is to thickly plant it with low light plants and stock it with a variety of small crustaceans, nerite snails, and schools of nano fish. I always think nano fish species are cool, but most people are limited in number as they are stocking a six-gallon desktop tank. I thought it might be interesting to do larger schools of them. I am still doing research on which species I could keep in conditioned tap water (pH 7.6) with enough calcium to make the the invertebrates happy. The "vision" may not be feasible.

I am aware that I sound insane. I have two decent sized tanks that are still in the project stage, and I am already contemplating two more. I swear that I am done if I do those. After that, I do not have any more aesthetically sensible locations to put them. The 240g is against the wall in the kitchen. The 150g is against a wall in what is supposed to be a dining room, but I use as a home gym. The 50g is planned to sit over a 54"h bookshelf that edges my office area that also holds the 36g quarantine tank. The, as yet, completely imaginary 124g is intended to serve as a room divider between the living area and the rest of the house along the side of an L-shaped sectional. 

As for the dirt, I ran into someone potentially more insane than I am who converted his swimming pool into an outdoor pond/aquarium. He runs it with no filtration, but has everything planted sufficiently to provide a self-sustaining ecosystem. Cool, right? He uses Black Kow, a manure compost additive that feels like clay. He does this by putting it in large barrels, filling them with water, and pouring off the detritus that floats to the surface a few times. The resultant "clay" is what he uses as a substrate.


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## makemineirish

snail said:


> Are you not concerned adding so many fish at once might not cause a 'mini cycle'?


YES. 

While I am excited at the bonus fish, my request was for 100 0.75" cardinals and 30 small rummynose. 

I DO have two South American tanks and could have opted to split the fish between them, maybe even thrown some in the incubation tank. 

But...
I hate to put fish in tanks other than their intended home as I will never be able to catch the damn things without tearing the plants apart and/or draining the whole thing (catching a few tetras for breeding, a pair of large cichlids, or adult plecos, sure...but not a freaking school!). Once they go in, they live there. Cardinals are fairly sensitive to begin with. I was afraid that throwing them in an unplanted, bare-bottom incubation tank would lower my survival ratio. 

This is quite a few fish, but it is a large space. This tank has been established for six months and the bioload of a school of small fish is comparable to that of adding a few large ones. Once I got home to find that I had 50%+ more than the number of fish that I had intended, a dilemma was posed. However, I have roughly 200g of water, assorted plants, and a nice floating cover of hornwort and duckweed to act as a "sponge". 

It is still a bit risky for me. To compensate, I am adding bottled bacteria to help the tank keep up with the bioload. I am also going to check my water parameters daily for the next couple of week so that I can offset any nitrogen/ammonia spikes immediately.

I am reasonably confident that this will be a manageable solution for the bioload that I added.

Any other opinions on this?


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## snail

It makes sense to me. I think a well established planted tank should catch up quickly. As you say the bioload your adding is not as big as it seems and the tank is large... of course the other part of me says that's soooooo many fish to be adding at once. Interested to hear what the test results say, as long as you keep on top of it should be okay either way.


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## snail

> I am not entirely sure that this belongs in my introduction thread


It would be nice if you started a tank build thread with some of this stuff... it was my fault for keeping this going here, I was just really interested in your tanks and didn't wan't you to disappear before I got a chance to see more


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## Aquasafe

*w2


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## snail

Any updates? How have the fish settled in?


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## makemineirish

snail said:


> Any updates? How have the fish settled in?


I added Stability brand liquid bacteria to the tank and have largely ignored it since. Everything has been great. I lost one cardinal and one rummynose within 24 hours. This was more likely due to transport stress than anything else. One water change later, all is well.

Closer inspection revealed that two of my rummynose are actually _Hemigrammus hyanuary_ hitchhikers.

Now, I just need to add something that will make all these tetras school


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## snail

Wow, I think only loosing 2 fish is great going!

What do you think you'll add to get them school?


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## makemineirish

snail said:


> What do you think you'll add to get them school?


I am not sure yet. I wanted to throw in a quartet of _Geophagus sp. "Tapajos"_ that was at the LFS.










The SO, who is largely in charge of the aquarium flora, was concerned that anything referred to as an "eartheater" would disturb the plants. I was also a bit worried that they would hang out near the bottom. I already have a number of bottom dwellers in that tank.

For the time being, I threw in a juvenile pair of _Laetacara sp. "Orange-Fin"_ simply because they are difficult to find. I have been unsuccessful in finding a decent online photo to share. However, they should have the typical Laetacara body shape with a turquoise body color and orange-tipped fins when mature. This is the only photo online photo thus far with any merit.










The proposed discus might induce schooling, but I am undecided as to whether I really want to include them. They are pretty, but not all that interesting to watch. It has been suggested that adding another male _adoketa_ might increase the social behavior of my existing pair, but...I'm not sure that I want to do that.

Feel free to offer any suggestions that meet the criteria:
- Amazonian
- attractive 
- interesting to watch
- mixable with the current inhabitants
(I realize that all but the Amazonian requirement are incredibly subjective.)


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## ElChef194

so, i added a marbled angel to my 29g SA biotope which includes black neon tetras, and they are schooling wonderfully now. beforehand, they would only school when my rams were getting rowdy. that might be an option that occupies the mid to upper level of the tank which also won't destroy your plants and will provide entertainment.


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