Photo #1 - This Is My 55 Gallon Tank With Live Plants. It H...

Submitted By: Zambize on
Photo Caption: This is my 55 gallon tank with live plants. It has been up since March with plants being added slowly since then. For decor I used driftwood and large black rocks. Filtration is an Aqueon 55 HOB and an extra Penguin 150 HOB. I keep the temp at 78 degrees. The lighting is Coralife CF at 5wpg on 6 hours per day. I use pressurized CO2. For livestock I have 1 angelfish, 3 pearl gourami, 7 tiger barbs (no, they don't bother anyone), a large school of neon tetras, 4 emerald green corycats, 2 yo-yo loaches, 7 amano shrimp, 7 otocinclus. Be gentle, I'm new at this!
10 gallons planted tank (mostly live plants and fish) - This is my 55 gallon tank with live plants. It has been up since March with plants being added slowly since then. For decor I used driftwood and large black rocks. Filtration is an Aqueon 55 HOB and an extra Penguin 150 HOB. I keep the temp at 78 degrees. The lighting is Coralife CF at 5wpg on 6 hours per day. I use pressurized CO2. For livestock I have 1 angelfish, 3 pearl gourami, 7 tiger barbs (no, they don't bother anyone), a large school of neon tetras, 4 emerald green corycats, 2 yo-yo loaches, 7 amano shrimp, 7 otocinclus. Be gentle, I'm new at this!
corals inverts - neocaridina denticulata sinensis - red cherry shrimp stocking in 10 gallons tank - A Red Cherry Shrimp -- up close.
freshwater fish - microgeophagus altispinosa - bolivian ram stocking in 10 gallons tank - One of my Bolivian Rams, being still for a fraction of a second...
freshwater fish - corydoras sp. - false julii cory cat stocking in 10 gallons tank - Three of my Julii Corydoras. Busy little guys, tough to catch 3 of them being still!
freshwater fish - betta splendens - crown tail betta stocking in 10 gallons tank - This is Finley, my beautiful 2.5" Crowntail Male Betta. He's very friendly and active. Little guy is always swimming and showing off. Update: He unexpectedly died about 2 months after this picture was taken, looks like it might have been a tumor. He was great, and this pic reached #2 overall. He's famous. :)
freshwater fish - betta splendens - betta - male stocking in 10 gallons tank - Meet Finley, my beautiful male Crowntail Betta in his 6.6 gallon, densely planted tank with driftwood. Update: Unfortunately he died suddenly, see his description up top.

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More Info

State: California
Country: United States
Description: I have 6 tanks, ranging from 7.5g to 80g, see below. All of my tanks are glass, except for one acrylic SeaClear tank. I use only *fishless* cycling methods and I can cycle a 20 gallon tank in about 10 days without fish. I prefer to use Eco-Complete substrate in my planted tanks, and in my non-planted tanks in case I should choose to plant them one day. My planted tanks use T5 lighting, 3-5 wpg, non-planted tanks use standard flourescent lights. I use only HOB filters, my preference being Marineland's Penguin filters, although I do use some others. I change my water weekly in most of my tanks, about every 10 days in my oldest tanks. I use a Python and it is done zippety fast! My water is very hard with a pH around 8.0. My parameters usually read Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 10-20 in all my tanks.
Advice: Start slowly, buy the biggest tank you can properly support (weight/dimension wise) in your home, thoroughly research the fish's wants/needs before you buy them, and consider fishless cycling as a humane option. Don't keep bettas in bowls and do keep schooling fish in *schools*.
Fish Kept: 7.5 Gallon Cube Planted 3 Female Bettas 80 Gallon Long Established March 2009. 3 Pearl Gourami, 1 Angelfish, large school of Neon Tetras, 6 Tiger Barbs, 4 Emerald Green Corydora, several Otocinclus, 1 Yo-Yo Loache. 29 Gallon SeaClear Tank 6 Blue Tetras, 4 Badis Badis, and 3 Bolivian Rams (Larry, Mo, and Curly). 20 Long Planted 2 Dwarf Chain Loaches, 3 Corydoras Pygmaeus, 3 Otocinclus, 1 Red Shrimp, 3 Amano Shrimp, 6 Black Neon Tetras, 5 Sparkling Gourami, a few Microrasboras. 10 Gallon Planted Red Cherry Shrimp Tank 10 Gallon Planted 1 White Crayfish (Snowball) 4 Zebra Danios
Tank Size: 10 gallons
Quote: If it can't be solved by talking to a fish, it can't be solved.
About Yourself: I live in Southern California and am a psychotherapist. My interests include golf, poker, my 2 dogs and 2 cats, and now my fish. I don't remember why I got my first Betta about 4 years ago, but that got me hooked on having at least one Betta nearby. In recently learning that keeping Bettas in vases is actually cruel, I was exposed to the fish/aquarium hobby, fell in love with it, and got a real tank. Now I can't keep my arm out of it or my eyes off it.

COMMENTS

this should be in the top ten fish avatar
looks good im also kinda new at this and love it i really like youre setup !! fish avatar
A lovely tank...well done. Thanks for the detailed specs and inspiration. fish avatar
Zambize!!!!!! Awesome setup!! you are doing an awesome job with the planted setup! I love the way you have your plants arranged as they would be in the wild, not scaped so much as some of the planted tanks i have seen. Keep up the Great work! hope all is well in your world! Brandon fish avatar
very nice tank, did you use black sand? fish avatar

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