About : My Tanks

I started with aquariums when I was 11 (around 1969) with the plan to own every kind of tropical fish there is (our choices were more limited then). My home tanks have varied over the years, never more than 7 of them, with a 108g and a 66g as my main tanks, and then 40g, 32g's, 20g's etc. I always have at least 2 running (I find that just one is too much trouble), and I'm always trying new things. My 2 main interests are cichlids and live plants, which is a combination filled with trial & error. Sometimes I'll start with rock-only tanks and plant/wood-only tanks, but then I'll start mixing back & forth.

Currently I have Julidochromis marlieri in a 40g grow-out tank, with Guppy dither (planted with Hornwort, Echinodorous tenellus and a funny plant from Malaysia). My 66g is a community tank with Guppies, Clown Loaches, Yoyo Loach and Bushynose (planted with Amazons, Madagascar, Crypts, Java, Nyphoides sp, Frogbit and duckweed). All my other tanks are empty, including my 108g whose silicon gave out and dumped half the water in my basement (I saw this coming, but procrastinated too long). The occupants (which all survived and I moved to work) were Frontosas, C.mooris, N.leleupis, Pictus, and the biggest red Platys I've ever owned. Like many hobbyists, a complete list of fish I've owned would be too long to remember (in the 70s, I did start a log book with a list, and to keep track of spawns, but didn't maintain it).

Seven tanks is a nice number to work with. It's enough to automate or have an efficient routine to maintenance, and not so much that it becomes a life's work. I think that it also covers all your bases.

1. The beautiful living room tank (which if you are married, should be filled with all the fish & plants your spouse wants, on the colour substrate she wants, - trust me on this).
   
2. The downstairs community tank (which acts as a huge buffer for odds & ends and fish that just will not die, a revolving door retirement home). Typically running a large canister filter which you peek into whenever you start feeling guilty.
   
3. The experiment tank (here is where you are babying some fish to maturity, for breeding or just jaw-dropping show fish). The experiment tank often include exotic plants and where your DIY filter theories are tested.
   
4. The ISO tank (isolation), used for quarantining, medicating, isolating and occasionally fry. Typically a bare-bottom tank running a sponge filter.
   
5. The grow-out tank. All hobbyists occasionally find themselves with fry that they will want to keep.
   
6. The mean tank. Well known by cichlid owners, where to put that alpha male who is intent on causing death & destruction, when the ISO tank is occupied or too small.
   
7. The breeding tank (self-explanatory).

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I've reduced the number of tanks running at home because of all 'my' tanks at work. They are not actually 'mine', as they are owned by the corporation I work for, but I take care of them as if they were mine. When the store was built, I helped assembly wire and plumb them together. I've ordered every fish in them for over a year, and with an enthusiastic staff of 5, we try to make each one as nice as any tank you would find in a house.

We vary the set-ups frequently, as this promotes customer interest, lets us experiment with new fishes, takes advantage of seasonal fish availability, and helps controls diseases. Here is my list, mostly from memory.

For African cichlids (Malawi, Tanganyikan and Victorian) I use eighteen 20g tanks for juveniles and two 100g tanks for display of adults (Haps above and mbuna below in what I think is a representative environment).

UTAKA TANK

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• For Discus, Apistos and Hatchetfish, I use six 20g for juveniles and a 100g for my Discus community.
• For Angelfish, I use a 55g and scatter a few breeding pairs around to the plant tanks.
• For all other cichlids, I have six 20g tanks for juveniles and a 100g for adults, with a 60g for those in-between.
• Goldfish occupy eighteen 20g tanks.
• Another three cold water 20g for snails, Kuhlis, White Clouds etc.
• Five or 6 types of Plecos across three 60g tanks.
• Juvenile herbivores (Tinfoils, Silver dollars etc) in a 60g tank.
• Tiger barbs in three 20g tanks and a 60g species tank (with Rainbow sharks).
• Otos, Loaches, Corys, Tetras, Danios and misc. barbs are scattered across fifteen 20g and five 60g (the Cardinals and the Neons get their own 60g tanks).
• Monos in a 60g.
• Rainbowfish in another 60g.
• Gouramis in two 60g (juveniles and adults).
• Featherfins, Chocolate gouramis and Altum Angelfish in a 32g hex and a 42g hex used for odd projects.
• I rotate stock through a heavily planted 135g and a non-planted 108g.


135G PLANTED TANK

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There are six 30g biotope tanks, where I try to copy a piece of nature (ie: South american black water, African Rift lake, Australian lake, Asian swamp etc) with signs indicating the occupants and their origin.

I have seven 60g plant tanks, one with some permanent residents (2 Columbian needlenose) and one running as a paludarian (with Cherry barbs, Newts, Paradise fish and Dwarf African frogs).

My iso tanks are three 14g and two 20g. There is also a 800g pond and a seasonal 250g pond operating.

THE MAIN POND

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My 'office' is just to the left of the pond. After a few days of listening to the running water, you get used to it enough so that you're not constantly going to the washroom ;~). Sometimes I sit on the pond wall, listening to the birds in the next dept (it's like a jungle in here) and make my fish orders.

That should add up to about 108 tanks. Imagine having 100 tanks to stock, and a staff to do your gravel vacuuming *woo hoo*.

Current future plans are for a Killifish tank, expanding to about 20 types of Plecos (the Royal Plecs have been very nice this year), a wild Cory tank and a South-east Asian loach tank.

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Update. I've now left the store to run my own business (not aquaria related).
cheers
NetMax


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