Aquarists unite: fish are friends, and food

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Kobayashi

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
824
2,080
Petco is doing their dollar/gallon sale right now, so, I figured I'd start piecing together a tank and picked up a 40 gallon breeder tank for 50 bucks.

Any recommendations for a stand? I've seen some youtubers recommending shelving units, but I'm not sure if the wife is going to approve of that.

This metal stand looks decent, although there were a few mixed reviews regarding build quality and I sort of wish it had some doors in the front for storage and hiding things:


The only (cheapish) stands that seem to have doors I've seen are the ikea particleboard type, which I'd probably be ok with for a smaller tank, but make me a bit nervous for something that could be approaching 400 lbs.
 
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Sludig

Potato del Grande
10,040
10,709
If you are at all handy, a simple 2x4 stand has many plans out there on the fish forums. Pretty simple then you can just leave the wood stained/painted or create your own "skin" basically just removable panels.

If you are doing any kind of tank that uses a sump, most premade stands with doors etc suck for getting a decent sized sump or equipment in there.
 

Hateyou

Not Great, Not Terrible
<Bronze Donator>
16,926
44,403
Petco is doing their dollar/gallon sale right now, so, I figured I'd start piecing together a tank and picked up a 40 gallon breeder tank for 50 bucks.

Any recommendations for a stand? I've seen some youtubers recommending shelving units, but I'm not sure if the wife is going to approve of that.

This metal stand looks decent, although there were a few mixed reviews regarding build quality and I sort of wish it had some doors in the front for storage and hiding things:


The only (cheapish) stands that seem to have doors I've seen are the ikea particleboard type, which I'd probably be ok with for a smaller tank, but make me a bit nervous for something that could be approaching 400 lbs.
Maybe she would be ok with a Kallax from IKEA? They’re very nice looking/sturdy and you can add doors and cloth cubes to them too.

47CC92DA-7283-4DA4-8D26-38CDA333BF3F.jpeg
 
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Vepil

Gamja
<Bronze Donator>
5,849
24,529
Man you guys make me miss my saltwater tank. These are some old pics when I had it up. Sorry the quality isn't that great its early days of digital camera's.

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Kobayashi

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
824
2,080
Maybe she would be ok with a Kallax from IKEA? They’re very nice looking/sturdy and you can add doors and cloth cubes to them too.

View attachment 316182

I appreciate this suggestion as well as the 2x4 route. I've actually got one of those and considered it. I felt paranoid about those cam locks supporting all the weight. It probably would have held up just fine, but I didn't want to lose sleep over it. The breeder tank ended any possibility since it's about 3 inches too deep.

I ended up getting that metal stand. I can't say I'm too impressed with how it went together. I spent a lot of time trying to make sure I wasn't crossthreading the tapped holes as well as making sure the top surface was flush. Eventually, I'll maybe work on skinning the bottom or the wife might hide things underneath with some fabric.

So far I'm in for (following Acid's rough template mid-thread):
40g breeder tank: $60
Stand: $60
Versa-top: $30
Marineland C220 canister filter: $70
Pool filter sand: $5
2x 100W heaters: $60
Assorted tank stuff (chemicals, buckets, etc): $30

So, outside of a light, I'm getting close. Going to fill the tank in the next couple of days and hopefully not see any leaks, then, start working on the filter. If/when the water starts looking good, I'll start working on plants.

Piecing together this piddly tank really makes you appreciate how much work goes into some of the more complicated setups on here. It's been more fun than buying a turnkey setup I had in the past though.
 

fris

Vyemm Raider
2,184
2,548
Have 1 canister move to new system. I have another canister still on 2nd old tank that ill move once I shut that tank down. I'll get the sump going down the road.

Gravel was to get cheap height, will probably need a few more bags of aqua soil. This will be primarily a planted tank, shrimp and a few small fish.

There's 1 guppy in the now playing canary in the coal mine
 

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Dashel

Blackwing Lair Raider
1,835
2,931
My dog was barking yesterday and I went to see what happened.
One of the goldfish jumped out of the tank, or got pushed out by the bigger of the two.
He was lying there motionless, no idea how long he was there.
Picked him up, put his head in the water just to see what happened, and he started breathing.
He's fine now.
I'm pretty sure my goldfish are indestructible.
 
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Aamry

Blackwing Lair Raider
2,368
2,098
Have 1 canister move to new system. I have another canister still on 2nd old tank that ill move once I shut that tank down. I'll get the sump going down the road.

Gravel was to get cheap height, will probably need a few more bags of aqua soil. This will be primarily a planted tank, shrimp and a few small fish.

There's 1 guppy in the now playing canary in the coal mine

1 guppy won't even start an ammonia cycle on a tank that large lol, but I'm sure you knew that. Nice setup man.
 

lurker

Vyemm Raider
1,567
3,492
I've always had an aquarium for as long as I can remember, but I've reduced it down to this small 2 gallon tank where my last fish lives. He's a Black Skirt Tetra. When he goes, I'm done. I've always enjoyed keeping fish; it's just too much work for me now.

View attachment 179366
Well, this guy passed away today. I figure he was over 10 years old. So long, little buddy.
 
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Voyce

Shit Lord Supreme
<Donor>
8,459
30,511
30 gallon “Fish Bowl”, the second tank is the 100 Gallon they are in now

Also those are Prussian Carpe you posted not Crucian Carpe, Comet/Common Goldfish get way bigger than Fancies

Additionally the internet is a pretty retarded place, yes fish can grow very big, but they can also stay small - and be dwarfed by their tank's size. Is this a terrible practice? Anymore terrible than say breeding dorsal fins out of fish (the above Ranchu), bubbles eyes, et. al. ?

Arguably the most foolish thing I’ve done is invested in Fancies, simply on the grounds of their compromised health. Even the Orandas are more prone to Swimbladder issues than less modified species, with a naturally selected build.

 
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Haus

<Silver Donator>
13,054
50,937
Replanted my 20G tall and added decorative colored shrimp (Red, Orange, Blue, and some striped orange).. who promptly hid and I haven't seen them since...

Asshole shrimps..
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The tank...
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This tank has actually be running for almost 10 years now. The fish you see are like the great grandchildren of the original mollies we put in there.
 
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Haus

<Silver Donator>
13,054
50,937
Did you put like a 1 pound kettlebell in there for them to workout?
Since I have shrimp in there a bunch of those balls are tourmaline (which give shrimp beneficial minerals). That thing that looks like a kettle bell is actually a sentimental/historical thing. So it's aquarium story time with Haus!

When Mrs. Haus Mrs. Haus and I first started dating she had seen that I, at the time, had a massive 100G fully planted and C02 injected freshwater tank. She said "I have a fish that ate my other fish and it big and I don't know what to do with him". So I said bring him over and we can figure something out.

So she proceeds to drive over to my house. Calls me on her phone panicking because "his tank fell over and he's in the floor board, I think I killed him" She get's to my house, I run out with a bucket of water from my tank. This is the fishes tank :
1699019907290.png


Sharpie for scale... It's around a 1G desktop tank. One of those people get for a goldfish or a betta. I asked her what size his regular tank was, and she said "No, that's his tank and everything".... So this was a 1G set up. I'm looking in the floorboard for probably a Betta or goldfish....

I found "fishzilla" (her name for it) in the floorboard. It was a common Pleco. She had gotten it when it was tiny (an inch or two long) and it had grown to over 6" long. Consumed everything it could in the tank, couldn't even lay flat on the bottom or against the side. It survived the adventure on the floorboard and lived for several years after in my 100G planted as a happy part of the algae control crew.

The little pottery jug you referred to was the one piece of decoration in the tank other than some neon colored gravel. So I kept it around and it's moved tank to tank since. It's now the "Fishzilla memorial jug"
 
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Aamry

Blackwing Lair Raider
2,368
2,098
I set up a new 30 gallon. Something keeps killing off my guppies.

I have:
3 sumo loaches that I basically haven't seen since I put them in the tank, since they burrow under the hard scape (One of them actually hides inside of my heater)
1 kuhli loach, who noodles back and forth.
9 guppies (Formerly 15), currently 4 females and 5 males

I had a powder blue dwarf gourami, which was suspect number 1 since his stomach was always bulging, but I surrended him to the store. Replaced him with 10 jumbo neon tetras and a small koi betta female.

The betta has really been keeping to herself, and she was in a "sorority" tank at the local fish store. I'm wondering if the sumo's are the actual culprit.