Day 505

Rob and I struck a deal a few days ago. I got an acrylic 280gal., glass 150gal., 6 canister filters and 2 AC110 filters. Thanks Rob!

25% water change in Arowana tank today and 40% water change in tanks #5 and#6 with vacuum of the gravel.

Oscar and Jack Dempsey's are on fourth day of doxy. treatment and showing some improvement!

503 continued

About two years ago Rob and I built our own stands, one of Rob's stands was not right. So we cut it apart yesterday. 1/2" needed to be added to the length, to fit a 90/75 gal. These are the pictures of what we had to do. This stand will hold two 90gals. at Rob's house, "Big Boy" Flowerhorn from tank#9 will go in the top 90gal.

503 continued

Got a call from Jeff who got my number from the girls at Petsmart, he had three fish and needed to get out of hobby for a while. Two Jack Dempseys and an Oscar, these fish were all put into a 29gal. hospital tank. This way I wouldn't have to medicate alot of water. The Oscar has hole in the head and ulcers on his body, I'm treating the tank with Doxycycline for 7 days, and added salt to water with temperature up to 86*.I will try my best on him Jeff. After the first night I observed the small Jack Dempsey was very aggressive, some of the marks on other to fish could be injuries. A divider was placed into tank and the aggressive fish was separated. I will keep you posted on fishes progress, thanks for the fish Jeff.

503 continued

This is Eric's Tiger Shovelnose Catfish...welcome to the monster fish keepers club! Now lets get a tank for this beast! Congrats! Eric bought a medium sized Red Devil out of 155gal. bowfront, and an African cichlid.

Day 503

Remembering the Melbourne, Australia Aquarium fire 59 years ago today...support you Firefighters!

Day 498

Did 40% water change with gravel vacuuming in 380gal. today. 50% water change and Fluval filter cleaning in Arowana tank. Bothers me that Arowana still not eating, could be a fast. I sat and observed this tank, making sure not to move...the Clown Knife was real aggressive towards other fish. The Arowana could be stressed out from this, he also has marks on his body. This could be from being spooked and ramming into side or bite marks, I will watch, and keep trying to feed. Clown Loaches were moved from tank #17 to #10(155gal. bowfront). This was Rob's idea from yesterday...thanks, great idea. They are adjusting great! The extra large Goldfish in 29gal. will be moved to my Daughter's room. All else good,working on other blog tonight, http://www.giantfishtanks.blogspot.com/ , just found this one for sale, in Florida, $20,000!

Day 497

This is tank#17, after it cleared up!

Tanks #1,#2,#3,and #10 were gravel vacuumed and 50% water change. Rob and Errin came by tonight to talk fish, Errin took 29gal. long in trade, and two Cory cats. Rob and I planned building of 220/180 stand.

 Last night 55gal. move went good with John, sorry no pictures. He also took to two Oscars off my hands and two 55gal. stands. Concerned about Arowana and RTC not eating, going to just wait it out and keep trying.

Maybe Rob's flowerhorn died of a condition called duckmouth, still looking into it.

Day 496

Errin's tank

Some of Eric's fish...

These are pictures of some of my fellow fish junkies tanks and fish. Errin and Eric, friends of mine who share the same passion for fish collecting. Clean tanks with healthy fish, good work guys!

John is picking up two 55gals. tonight and maybe some fish. I'll post some pictures of the move tonight.

January is ending up to be a rough month for fish. Came home this morning to find Rob's Thai Silk Flowerhorn on bottom of tank, mouth fully extended, and blood coming from nostrils?! Unknown why this happened. No trauma to body of fish. This fish was transfered to 5 gal. bucket with, filter off tank, heater, and a powerhead, medication added. Only lived for 3 hours, it was already in bad shape at the time of transfer. R.I.P.

Mayan in in 155gal. bowfront tank was beat up by Red Devil, he was transfered to tank#14. Vacuumed gravel and 50% water change in tanks#9,#14,#15 today.

Day 492

Cleaned tanks #6 & #7 yesterday, with a 25% water change in the 380gal. Over the past few days, did a 50% water change in 155gal. bowfront and Arowana tank, arowana still not eating. Checked my nitrates before I started, 80mg/L, that's kinda high, 40mg/L after. These numbers concern me, going to do another water change today and add a plant to the sump to absorb some of those nitrates. Cleanings of tanks #8 & #16 today also, tanks to Johns house tonight.

Day 489 continued

Got a call from Jim, got my number from Petsmart. Jim wanted to give me his long time pets. These are fish he has had for years. Extra large Pleco, two giant Goldfish, four Clown loaches, and two Cory cats. Once we talked he wanted out of hobby all together...back problems. I have to thank Jim for great healthy fish and 29gal. tank with all the accessories...I will take good care of them. Call me for updates! Thanks again! And thanks to the girls a Petsmart for giving out my number!

The Pleco has been moved to 380gal., fits in great. Cory cats were moved to 75gal. tropical tank.

Day 489

Rob's "Big Boy" Flowerhorn's head grew again overnight! This fish is a true trophy!

Day 488

Bad news...Clown Knife in tank#9 took a turn for the worse last night. Been having trouble last few weeks, laying on bottom, heavy breathing. Fish would only eat live goldfish, became thin no matter how many goldfish I fed him. Avoid live feeding because of disease and low nutritional value. This fish would not switch over to frozen shrimp, tried many times...doesn't look good...
*update-Clown Knife passed this afternoon...I still think it was live feeding him goldfish was his downfall. The tank he was in was #9, this tank was cleaned, with a 75% water change..Flowerhorn from Thailand(tank#6) is in it by himself, see if I can get him to grow!
Tanks #6 & #2 were completely broken down today, ready for John to pick up. I will renumber tanks today on this blog.  Found a 20" Pacu on craigslist, going to set up a pickup date for fish next week from Ron and Dawn, thanks!
8" RTC ate a pice of thawed fish 1/4 his body size last night, not hand fed, he found it during the nightly feeding.

Day 487

RTC-Red Tailed Catfish ate another half piece of shrimp last night, had to hand feed him again, the Pacu won't give him a chance to eat. He is really getting chased by Upsidedown Catfish, I'm going to have to watch. Not damage to his fins, keeps him active a guess. Arowana still not eating, but looks real healthy.
Going to do something related to 388gal. set-up, and some tank cleanings today. Also breakdown those 55gals. for John.
*Update-I had trouble with the ground fault in the new line, my Dad and Roger came over and figured it out for me. Think I had one ground that wasn't connected. Ground fault protected now!
Logged on to http://www.aquariumadvice.com/ posted for people to check out my blogs, moderator deleted my posts said I was plastering their site with blogs for profit...made me want to attack him! But I didn't...still a good site. Keeping a cool head is a good thing...
*Update- I waited for someone to post a response, and I posted "I agree. Good advice". Must have made someone mad, now I've been warned...no one liners allowed. Still staying calm...don't know how but I am...I didn't respond...
Tanks #2 & #6 will be sold to John, they are 55gals. with all the accessories.
Worked this afternoon moving tanks #3 & #4 into the fishroom and these are the pics...

Draining...

Moved and filling...

Done!

*update-Bree and her Mom dropped off three red eye or lamp eye tetras today. Thanks for the fish gals!

Tank #6

One of the Flowerhorn Rob and I ordered in a group buy out of Thailand, he's coming along nice!

388gal. Back in the day!

Too many electrical pictures, this is when I brought the 388gal. home!

8"RTC ate 1/2 of a shrimp last night also, after a 25% water change.

Day 486

Running power

15amp breaker to the box

More power!

Took today to finish power hook up. This is part of the hit list that have to set up 388gal., try to do one thing a day! Ran the rest of the outlets from back of fishroom to the main, put in 15amp breaker...and more power! Four 55gal. tanks will sit on back wall, where new outlet were installed. This will also feed power to second pump on 388gal.

Now I will get two 55gals. ready for John to buy, after that he will buy Arowana tank, once Arowana and tank mates are moved to 388gal.

Beat for tonight, will call Bree to see if she will drop off three Lamp Eyed Tetras, tonight.

Day 485

RTC did good through the night, swimming more now. Hand fed him half a shrimp...no problem, he went after it right away. Medication for tank#2, is done. Did a 50% water change, vacuumed gravel, and cleaned out filter. Old Flowerhorn had a bacterial infection on his head and into right eye, almost like hole in the head , but worse. He doesn't look good, but he is doing better than he was. I just want him to start eating again.
Arowana stopped eating five days ago. Got a little concerned, so I googled it. Turns out Arowana's have a slower digestive system, when they are full from eating...they fast. Site said don't worry it will eat when it's hungry again, this is common in Arowana's.
More tank cleanings again...try to run more power to fish room.

*update...more power! Ran three plugs on back of fishroom wall today, need to run four plugs in future bedroom then tie them together with these, then to main and drop in a new breaker.

Day 484 New RTC

On the ride home

With the big boys now!

In 380gal.

Good start to the day, contacted the guy in Burton,MI from craigslist with the 8" Red Tail Cat(RTC). Nice cat, got some gill curl but I think he will do fine, did 25% water change prior to his arrival. His new home is the 380gal., with the big boys. Thanks for the nice fish!

Acrylic Hex

The story behind this one is...I rubbed out this 50-70gal. acrylic hexagon tank,and black acrylic stand and hood, years ago for a guy. He paid me in tanks, two 55gal. and all the accessories. Years later he needed some painting done in his house, and wanted to pay me with this tank. Me having a paint business, and an aquarium nut, I agreed. This tank sat in my basement for awhile...empty, just never got around to filling it. In April of last year I sold it either on http://www.craigslist.com/  or http://www.michiganreefers.com/ , hated to see it go. Got a hit on a forum page from this guy...I'm bad with names. Turns out he set it up and did a great job! Thanks for the update and pictures, it looks alot better at your place than in my basement, empty. Great work!

Day 483

Jimmy called me...wanted to know how the fish did, he gave me,after the move, this is the video I sent him. Thanks for the fish Jimmy, they are doing great! These fish, plus giant Pacu will go into 388gal. when it's done.

Found an add on craigslist for an 8" Red Tail Cat near my house, going to look at it this afternoon, $20 seems like a good deal. More tank cleanings today.

Got a 400w heater replacement in the Stealth Pro recall from Marineland. It stopped working, contacted the company and those heater have a lifetime warranty. They are sending out a FEDEX tag for a replacement...nice to see such a quick follow through! The power of e-mail.

Day 482

Picking up light at 1pm from John. Treating tank#2 with sick old Flowerhorn, 1000mg penicillin for 3 days, then 60mg tetracycline for 3 days, then a 50% water change. This is the third day, seems good so far. Tank cleanings up to tank#7...more today maybe.


Update 9pm...388gal has been fully siliconed on the inside! I started tonight as just putting thin layer of silicone on inside to fill gaps from removal of old silicone, and got carried away, now it's done. Next step is to take tower in and have sandblasted, then silicone that piece in center of tank. I will update with pictures as it goes. Picked up light, great light thanks John! Cleaned tanks#1-7,15,16,&18.

Day 481

The story behind this fish is...A guy in the New Baltimore area got my number from someone, he had a Red Devil, an Oscar and about four fry(F1&F2). These fry were a result of the Red Devil and a Jaguar breeding. He wanted to give me the Red Devil, which killed the Jaguar after breeding. The Red Devil is currently in 380gal. doing great! About 6 months later he was selling his tank and wanted to get rid of Oscar and the Red Devil/Jaguar fry. This is one of the fry F1, this was the worst one...tail was bit off when it was small. It is turning into one of my favorites...yellow with black markings on it's back. It is about 4", and eats like crazy. It lives in tank #7 with the same large Oscar 12" divided with Red Terror. The other Red Devil/Jaguar fry is in 155gal. bowfront tank...both F2 fry perished, sorry to say. This would have been a fish that someone would just discard, because of the condition, no tail...but he is really turning into something to look at! Thank you to that guy...can't remember your name, but if you read this, drop me a response...Joe.

Day 480

The light! Nice tank John!

Picking up Coralife light from John Friday, this will replace shop light on Red Devil colony tank(180gal.). Shop light will go into fish room, running the electric to it today. Thinking about doing a fine strip of silicone in 388gal. along bottom to fill in any silicone that was pulled from underneath glass, I know silicone doesn't stick to silicone but it's not even going to stick to whats already there. This would be fine...like 1/16", pushed in, to fill any space that was created from cutting out old silicone. Start water changes and filter cleanings today...yea!Ugh!

Dream Bedroom!

Day 478

Ok...Happy New Year...back to the 388gal., removed the rest of the silicone in this tank. the bottom was a challenge...used razor blade, hard on the fingers.

Each side glass panel had two of these plastic pieces under glass, looks like a mini popsicle stick. This leads me to believe this is an older tank, when they built older tanks they thought a space between glass was good.

On left side of tank at bottom I heard a pop sound when I was removing silicone...seal ok?!!! 

This is the tank silicone free on the inside. Time to seal up the inside! And water test!

This is outer back corner of tank, there is a L-shaped metal piece on the corner. It was siliconed on for decoration, I assume there were four of these, one on each corner when the tank was built. I took some plastic shims(in picture,to left of metal piece), and pried this piece off, removed old silicone that was holding it on. Considering painting tank back and half sides black.