Reunited with My Favorite Fish After 2 Years

I recently completed this giant 180 Gall jungle aquarium with a hydro sump on top which is a front opening tank that houses terrestrial plants to filter the water all of this combined creates a system that's easily maintained regardless of bioload however I still haven't added the fish because I wanted it to establish longer meanwhile some bizarre life form that I didn't add took up residence and I was still unaware of the Mysteries I'd soon uncover in this tanon fill stock tub of fish however the thing I was most anxious about was seeing my favorite fish again you may be wondering though how did we get here their Journey began in the old 90 gon aquarium which I later repurposed as a front opening of bavarium for Felix the bearded dragon looking back it was no doubt hideous but its replacement the 150g cube aquarium was a slight Improvement funny enough that's also being turned into a fium as we speak but I digress they lived in here for years but some of the fish from that era didn't make it I had issues with a hose coated in an antimicrobial agent which caused some of them and fish from other tanks to pass away that said most of them were fine and eventually moved into the 350g palarum this setup finally allowed me to make something beautiful within the constraints of the silver dollars they're Avid Plante eaters so I stuck with synthetic plants before although the total volume of that setup was 350 gallons it only held 180 gallons of water which is the same as the new tank but with the rest of the space being a buffer zone for jumpers and terrestrial plants and the fish thrived in this setup for years a highlight that immediately comes to mind is that the Cory catfish that I had from the very beginning successfully bred several times I'd also be remiss if I didn't talk about Maxwell to keep it brief my absolute favorite fish are black goost KN fish it's been that way since 2007 when I first kept one but I only had it for a year because I was inexperienced I raised another one I made the 350 but unfortunately that didn't end well it caught a fungal infection or something of that sort and I Was Defeated that was until Nate offered to buy me a brown ghost knife fish which he assured would be easier reluctantly I said yes and the rest is history Maxwell quickly became my favorite fish the new additions did well too but like most things this had to come to an end while moving that tank broke which is why all of those fish have lived in this tank and filed stock tub for nearly 2 years I haven't seen much of them or Maxwell since what I will say though is that not all the fish fared well during the move which explains why I was able to make a planted tank this time sadly all the silver dollars passed away one by one in the months to follow they were well over 10 years old by that point which was a good run but I think the stress was too much for them additionally a few of the hotus jumped and I later found them dried up on the floor however from what I can tell everyone else appears to be well including the fish from that bygone era like the lace catfish the Pearl gami and the bristlenose pleco enough of that though let's catch some fish I think the best place to start is with the Cory catfish but looking at this now I know it's going to be easier said than done with the light overhead I was able to see the fish a little better surprisingly I even caught four Cory's as is but that was it I removed the branches to hopefully get a leg up on my fishy friends but I was only able to get one more I quickly realized this approach was not going to work and I needed a bigger net I wasn't able to get one till later though in the meantime I added the cories I was able to catch I really can't explain how satisfying it was to see them here they just look so right in here don't you think they settled almost immediately as well but you'll see that the display looks much different from last time it was looking good however the snails were taking over which I don't mind but they were pooping everywhere without other animals to Stir It Up So I scrubbed all of that off did a quick gravel V and water change I also sprinkled gravel over the plants which I meant to do earlier but honestly forgot although they rooted in by now and should hold up to the fish these will help and I think they look pretty cool however when I looked up at the hydrum I discovered something wild at first glance I thought it was fungus but I quickly realized it was something else slime mold this bizarre organism is a single celled mass that actually has the capacity for intelligence they can solve mazes remember patterns and more they're absolutely wild and luckily harmless in an aquarium either way it's fascinating to see how they move and interact with their environment a cool addition indeed and something that I didn't add to the tank anyway back to the stock tub with a larger knet I pulled out the Driftwood and attempted to catch the fish the key word there is attempted because I quickly realized this wasn't the answer either I only managed to catch a lone Corey catfish my Approach had to change again but I figured I'd add this fish as well it was quick to hide in the plants while the others stared from afar I added some pellets to help break the ice now I thought this was going to help out but clearly I need a more calculated approach my plan was simple fill buckets with water to gather the fish and drain the stock tub so they had less room to evade the net I would have done this earlier but I'm only getting some of the fish now and didn't want to unnecessarily stress the others out however as you saw I didn't have much of a choice so I got this down low enough that I should hopefully be able to start catching the fish but I've left this log in here cuz there's this pleco stuck in here I don't think I'm going to be able to get it out so I probably got to leave this in here but I know it's going to cause issues because fish are going to be able to hide in here so see what I could do but just as I set the log down I noticed someone I hadn't seen in a while sure I've seen his little racing strip from time to time but not like this so Maxwell is right behind the pump here I think I should be able to get him pretty easily if I just lift this up dang he's huge when I laid eyes on this F one thing was very apparent he was huge he'd at least doubled since the days of the 350 which was awesome to see and other than a slight tear on his bottom fin he looked to be in good shape that said I immediately got him trip acclimating which I only did for him because knif fish are sensitive and this had to go right all right so the temperature in here is exactly the same as in here this is the exchange I'm most nervous about but I think everything should be all right he's definitely stressed out Whited out colors and stuff but if he finds a hiding spot here soon which there are plenty of them you should be all right I shut off the lights to minimize stress that seemed to help because he quickly made himself at home in the Driftwood which made me so happy as before though I couldn't continue to look because I had to get the other fish I got the Cory with no problem but the hotus really tested my patience who they kept jumping with accuracy I might add clear out of the net nearly every time after a lot of trial and error I was eventually able to get them all and with that the Cory the hemis and the garami were ready to enter their new home I should mention that although this is a fully cycled tank at this point I added some Fritz turbo start nitrifying bacteria to help deal with the new increase in bolad I added the gourami first I'm not sure if it still has its eyesight so it may or may not know it's in a new setup as for the Cory's it was great to see them reunite with the rest of their friends many of them were still babies when I saw them last as well so it was cool to see them grown up and finally were the hems which were eager to enter the new tank but a little shy I guess that's understandable they've been through a lot I shut off the lights again and let everyone acclimate a few hours later when the lights were off for the evening I observed the tank with a childlike grin I don't know what it is but I'm just so captivated by knife fish I find their Elusive and bizarre habits fascinating and I can't tell you how happy it makes me that he transferred well if I look back and ask myself why this took so long truthfully I think I was dragging my feet because I knew he was doing well in the tub and I didn't want to mess things up it's the next day and stepping back from it all I'm pleased with the progress seeing the tank even with a fraction of the life it will eventually inhabit is incredible I'm sure the system could have handled everything now but why rush it I know the slow and steady approach is better for everyone involved plus the conditions must be favorable because the cories have been breeding and laid eggs only days later I know that's partly based on weather and temperature changes but it's awesome to see I made the selections I did to minimize bioload because there are fewer hems than Congos and I couldn't get the pleco out of the log I also don't know if I'll add the serpe tetos at all in favor of a tighter skulling option lastly are the lace catfish which I'd love to see in here but I don't know if I trust them I feel like they may uproot everything as I've heard mixed experiences if any of you have tried keeping them in planted tanks let me know I'm curious to know what happened that's where I'll leave this one off for now though I'll likely follow up near the end of the year with its progress and document everything else in the meantime a huge thanks to custom aquariums for providing the tank and corresponding items like the sump Fritz Aquatics for providing turbo start and other water supplements with a paid promotion and boost plant for for most of the foliage a reminder that code Sera will get you 10% off all plants and Hardscape on checkout anyway that's all for now I need to get back to watching Maxwell [Music]

Channel: SerpaDesign

Views: 244,347

Keywords: aquarium, aquascape, fish tank, paludarium, ecosystem, jungle, freshwater, nature art, nature design, planted tank, low tech

Id: uVaFybMJf4k

Length: 11min 1sec (661 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 01 2024