Staffylovers multiple tank thread

[Staffylover]

Since I have a new custom shallow tank I have emptied my large 340l 4ft Aqua Oak, the plan is to list it for sale replacing it with several other smaller tanks, it never really looked good without the lid and maintenance was too tricky with the lid on, also I like to have a change every year or so, this will be easier and less expensive with a smaller volume of water,
I did consider a rack of small tanks in the region of 60l for single species breeding but at the moment this doesn't interest me so much, although I might set up something temporary over the summer,
Back to current tanks the 4ft is all cleaned up



I still have the 40l in the kitchen for my black bellied Limia colony, here are a couple of pics from the front and side, it's doing well at the moment and ticking along nicely

[Staffylover]

The new shallow has been set up, it's 6ft long but only 34cm high, taking off space for substrate and glass sliders that makes about 30cm of actual water volume, I think the capacity is something like 230L,
I decided on an FX4 for the filter as I wanted a powerful pump so that I could put the intake and outlet at opposite ends, the substrate is Unipac Samoa fine sand, I really like it and think it's got quite a natural look but it looks a lot paler in the tank than it did in the bag, hopefully with more plants the effect will be a little darker,
A lot has been re used from the 4ft tank, the light has which I am undecided on but it will do for now, also all of the plants are from there so mostly they are Echinodorus, I will be able to add in some crypts soon as I change around the small tanks, I have tried to go for a shallow stream effect, the filter certainly creates plenty of flow, here is is a pic straight after set up, the cloudy effect was due to the bags of soil under the sand, as there is no fine floss in the filter I stuffed an old internal with fine floss, the second pic is after

[Sarah]

Looks great, a bit of tank envy going on here. I wish I had room for a 6 ft tank. I bet the fish are loving that swim space.

[Staffylover]

I have moved over a number of fish from the 340, those that I think will suit an active kind of tank, at the moment the stocking for this tank includes, Zebra Loach, Torpedo Loach, Inle Danio, Scissortails, Black line Tail Tetra and my candy stripe plec, plus the 2 Angel fish are in there for now as I have nowhere else, but they might not stay in there, I would definitely like to add some more loaches and maybe a type of Goby plus something for some colour perhaps Tiger Barbs, at the moment all the fish are sticking together and swimming up and down in a group as you can see in the video, the spots you might notice on fins are only air bubbles as I had just done a large water change

[Staffylover]

Thanks @Sarah I live on my own so I can add in tanks wherever I feel like, I have ended up with tanks all over no one to reign me in! I expect I will grow out of it at some point (perhaps)

[Staffylover]

On to future plans, I wanted several tanks in the 1-200L range, I have all my remaining fish currently in the 125L Fluval, it's overstocked, I have 3 filters running on it and am doing daily 40% water changes this is a powerful incentive to get on with things, it could take a while to sell the Aqua Oak so in the meantime I have finally got the 90L Fluval down from upstairs, I bought it months ago but I had the 50L grow out tank on the stand with baby BN in it, these have got big enough to move now, so the 50L is shut down and the the 90L looks like this,



Also I have a 180L tank getting delivered today I hope to get time to set both tanks up next week, that should take the stain off a bit, the 180 will be a Pantanal theme but not decided on the 90 yet, I will keep my signature up to date with these different tanks, and I will keep them all to this thread since when they are running and stocked there shouldn't be a lot to write about, I will just maybe update one of them a month as things progress.

[Staffylover]

Had a busy couple of days with the 2 new tanks, spent yesterday setting them up then today catching fish out of the overstocked Fluval, just had a look at the Fluval again recently when I switched the light on it's better, but depressingly still looks overstocked, I will have to decide what else can be moved, I will rehome fish if needed but would rather keep them if I can find space, still plenty of room in the shallow stream so think will try moving the blue danio next, I didn't do this straight away as they are only half the size of the Inle danio so thought they might look a bit lost, but I do need to try something.

Have used black sand substrate in both tanks that came out of the 340 so at least it wasn't wasted.
Found a few sparkly stones I must have bought ages ago and forgot about so thought I would give them a try,
This is a Roma 90, it is primarily for the leopard spilfins (goodeid), I have also put in the 6 albino cory, the Glass Fish, the 6 white widows and the few remaining Dadio, none of these are active swimmers so it should be ok, I will keep an eye on it, the Widows will be the first out if it's a bit crowded but it looks ok at the moment,

I direct transferred the U4 filter from the other Fluval but it's a bit temperamental to get turned back on so I have a Sicce Shark on order, they get good reviews so it will be interesting to see what it's like,

The idea with the scape is to use the height and get a jungle type of theme going, so I have used mostly stem plants, the largest one came out of the 340 and I still had to snip it down to get it to go in but the others were all new, I mostly use a local shop for plants, but when I want a lot at once like this I order online, this time with Pro Shrimp they were very good I must say.

hardscape only


with plants


with livestock

[Staffylover]

This is a Rio180, the idea with this is a Pantanal theme, it's a broad approximation not a biotope, the general idea is to get it to look like a flooded field, if the stems get over halfway up the height of the tank that would be good as the wood is quite low down,
for plants I have stuck to those that originate from America (but not necessarily Pantanal) Gone for quite a few varieties as I don't know what will grow well, the plant list includes
Echinodorus Horemanii
Echinodorus Uruguayensis
Lobelia Cardinalis
Ludwigia Glandulosa
Myriophyllum Mattogrossense
Bacopa Caroliniana
Sagittaria Subulata
For stocking I was lucky to find Ancistrus Rio Paraguay, so I have 3 juveniles, they are quite pretty really, hoping for a pair then the odd one can be rehomed, then I already had some Green Fire Tetra (Aphyocharax rathbuni) It was them that inspired this scape, plus I already have Beacon Tetra, these are not correct but look a lot like the Reed Tetra which I might replace them with eventually, I also moved over my larger Cory, Sychri and Septentrionalis, doubt they are the correct types but Cory are a bit expensive to be changing over, although I might eventually.

Hardscape only


with plants


One of the new Ancistrus, I have seen them out more this evening than the whole of the preceding 4wks so that's great, it also helps I can see this tank without getting off the sofa

[Stephen]

Black Phantom Tetra (Hyphessobrycon megalopterus) are also found in the Pantanal.
Another lovely tetra found in the Pantanal is the Broken-line Tetra (Hemigrammus ulreyi)

Corydoras ?
Tail-spot Pygmy Cory (Corydoras hastatus)
Fine Spotted Cory (Corydoras polystictus)

All the best

[Staffylover]

@Stephen Thanks for this, Black Phantom is definitely on the list they are lovely, I thought Ulreyi might get a bit big for a 180? They look amazing though only ever seen them for sale once so they might be a bit hard to find,
C.Hastatus has gone on the possible list for sure, but the fine spot would depend if it goes well with the ones I have already, I could take the existing Cory in for credit but I really like them and don't really want to rehome them. Hope the plans for your new tank are going well, it must be odd to be without a tank for a while.