Pics and a video of my aquariums

Let’s start with this 30 gallon tank filled with very active fish. Zebra Danios, Odessa Barbs, Tiger Barbs, an Opaline Gourami, Harlequin Rasboras and 3 Kuhli Loaches hiding under the rocks.

Here’s a little 10-gallon tank with young Red Swordtails and a Betta. Since I took this picture I have added 3 Marigold Variatus Platies and some more plants.

Here’s another 10-gallon tank with Silver Mollies and Endler’s Livebearers. Lots of baby fish are starting to show up.

I moved my 3 Pictus catfish into this 29-gallon tank with 3 green Swordtails and my Firemouth Cichlids. In real life this tank looks very nice and I get to see the Pictus Cats a lot more than I did in their previous tank.

When I found the 6-inch Bullhead in the turtle pond I had intended to release him in a nearby creek but instead I put him in the tank with the “bad boys”, the African Cichlid and big Red-tail Shark. The Bullhead just goes about his business, big mouth gulping and gaping as he cruises along. The Cichlid and Shark ignore him. Now the Bullhead has found a place to sleep during the day and I don’t expect to see him too often. This tank is crowded with rocks, wood, and plants (Java Moss).

The Bullhead is in here but he’s hiding.

Here’s the 55-gallon community tank with mostly large Tetras, Angelfish, and Corydoras.

Fast and easy freshwater aquarium

Some of my older Neon Tetras and Harlequin Rasboras have died , so yesterday I bought 4 Neons and 3 Rasboras. I want to quarantine them for a few weeks so I set up a simple 10 gallon tank.

Also, my male Betta was getting beat up by the large Marble Angels that have been spawning in their 29 gallon tank. I need a new peaceful home for the Betta.

I washed some sand that I bought at Menards, a "home center". This is probably $1.50 worth of sand.

Here is the heater and a sponge filter. The sponge filter was in another tank. I washed it out but it has a nice bacterial colony going

I caught the Betta in a net but when I can I prefer to use my hands to transfer the fish.

The water is half "fresh" water and half "used" water from the Bettas tank.

I planted Watercress that I got at the Asian market. A bunch cost $1.10 and I used about a third of it in this tank.

After one day the water is clear and the Neons are looking good.

I hope the Betta gets his blue color back. Those Angels kept him in hiding and he certainly looked unhappy.

I left the water level down an inch or so. I expect the Watercress to reach up and come right out of the water. The tank should have a “jungley” look to it. I’ll take some pictures in a week or so.

The only way this “instant tank” works is because I pulled the sponge filter from another tank.  Don’t set up a brand new tank and throw Neons in there. Start with guppies and wait 6 weeks, then add Neons or whatever you like.

The Baggy-shorts Tetra

After posting two unusual pictures of a very egg-laden Black-Skirt Tetra I thought that I should show her in action.  She lives in a 55 gallon tank with 5 others of her species.

It’s still hard for me to call these fish Black-Skirt Tetras. I always want to simply say Black Tetras, which is what they were called for many, many years. But I have to agree that the large anal fin does have a resemblance to a Skirt!

Should we call the males Black Baggy-shorts Tetras?

It wuz a Black-Skirt Tetra

Justin figured out right away that the strange overhead picture was a Black-Skirt Tetra. I thought she was so fat with eggs that she looked like a female guppy but Justin could not be fooled.
The Black-Skirt Tetra has a unique shape combined with hardiness and longevity. Buy them in groups, they school well, are fun to watch when they eat (they dart to the surface like little Piranha).
I prefer to buy the normal short-fin tetras, not the long-fin. I don’t want any nipping issues among themselves or the other fish.
The Black-Skirt Tetras can handle being with almost any other fish. They are peaceful yet they don’t take any grief from bad neighbors. They do their thing and I highly recommend them to anyone. There distinct black markings fade as they age but their body shape is so interesting that I really think you will like having them in your tank! (when they are on sale at PetCo and PetSmart they are very cheap.)

Look at this Black-Skirt Tetra, ready to explode with eggs! (That fish in the upper left is a Colombian Tetra, and if you look close there are THREE Black-Skirt Tetras in this picture)

I once had a small community tank of fish. I gave the fish and tank to a friend. TWO years later the friend gave it all back to me, and there was one old fish, a Black-Skirt Tetra. I’m pretty sure that fish lived a total of 5 years.

Bleeding Hearts for bigger tanks

The Bleeding Heart Tetra is named for the distinctive marking on the side of it’s body that resembles it’s  “heart”.  But as my Bleeding Hearts grew bigger, and BIGGER, the markings on their fins became more impressive than the “heart”. They get to be nearly 3 inches long, which is big for a Tetra. They are a great community fish and if you like the way they look , get some.  I can’t think of a single bad thing to say about them.

I bought 3  that are now in my 55 gallon community tank. One of them developed a problem with an eye. It became enlarged and cloudy.  I wonder if it ran into something during the night.

I decided to concentrate on making extra water changes and within a few weeks the eye had completely returned to normal. Sometimes sick fish just need a little boost by improving their environment, like cleaner water or warmer water.  You can also focus on feeding the fish a little more often, and giving them the best foods available, not just tossing in some flake food whenever you get around to it. Maybe this fish would have gotten better without any help, but if you can look at your tank and think, “How can I make things better?” you might make a big difference to your fish.

Bleeding Heart Tetras are great for tanks bigger than 10 gallons.

A Practical Fishkeeping Blog

My 29 gallon tank with Angels, Neons, Glowlights and others.

Hello everyone.  I’d like to tell you about the fish species and the fish tanks I have.  MY experiences with them.
My plan is to post a new article every week or two. I’ll pick a fish and try to give you some interesting and helpful information about that fish.  Maybe a page, maybe a paragraph, we’ll see. The fish I choose are fish that I have experience keeping.
Also, I’ll talk about aquatic plants and other topics.

I have one salt-water tank that I set up four years ago, and I have, let’s see, TEN freshwater tanks, some are just 10 gallons but it keeps me busy. So the topics will lean toward freshwater fishkeeping.

And if you like reptiles and amphibians, there will surely be some posts about my turtles and tortoises, salamanders, frogs, and one snake. BUT, I will mainly talk about fish. I named this A Practical Fishkeeping Blog so I had better try to stick to it.