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Freshwater Rams, Angelfish and Cichlid Tank!

Discussion in 'Freshwater Aquariums & Fish Photos' started by williemcd, Dec 15, 2012.

  1. williemcd

    williemcd Thread Starter New Member

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    Sorry about that..
    I'm somewhat retired at 60 and have jumped back into the hobby after a 30 year hiatus. Been back in about 20 months.
    At one point over the last year and a half, was approaching 900G under my keep but have since rolled back to about 650 or so.
    I'm keeping:
    14 Discus - 6 Scorpions, 2 Cobalts, 6 Firques (My name for a cross of solid fire red / blue turq)
    6 German Blue Rams in a 33L.
    6 Bolivian Rams in a 75G with a half dozen Angels (Cross between Gold and Plat pearl Scale)
    Ummm. Another 155G staffed with about 10 F1 and F2 Silver Angels and 2 pair of golds.

    This post is somewhat haphazard so I'll do it by tank:
    155G with 6 scorpion Discus, 2 cobalt breeder Discus, 6 Leopard Veil tailed Angels (Yea, they are soon to be pulled from the Discus tank). umm.. assorted cory's, 1 std pleco and 1 gold-spot sail-fin pleco, 1 SAE.
    155G with 10 Silver Angels, 2 Golden Angels, a couple of marble Angels, and a few Koi Angels.
    75G with 6 bolivian Rams, 6 gold/pearl plat Angels one of which is showing the veil trait.
    33L holding 6 GBR's 2 M's, 4 F's.
    29G holding quarter to half-dollar sized blue / silver Angels.
    29G holding 6 assorted grow-out Angels that I just adopted.. about silver dollar size.
    29G Assortment of 6 Angels...Gold, Silver.
    135G holding 6 Firques.. (the cross between Solid Fire Red and Blue Turquoise).
    5G fry hatching tank.
    (2) 10G Free-swimmer tanks.

    Oh and two bearded Dragons!

    Each tank has an assortment of Albino Bristle Nosed Plecos..

    For the life of me I cannot keep f/w shrimp.. I've tried 3 times just to watch them waste away.. I think my water is too soft.
    All my tanks except for the egg/free swimmer tanks are heavily planted and in fact some of them are veritable jungles. I've sold or given away 100's if not 1000's of plants
    GBR-habitat&Vals 003.jpg
     
  2. williemcd

    williemcd Thread Starter New Member

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  3. williemcd

    williemcd Thread Starter New Member

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    You can see I spare NO EXPENSE building stands! <grin>
     
  4. HBIC

    HBIC Need help??? That's what we're here for :)

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    Wow nice tanks, I would love to keep discus but unfortunately do not have the time it takes to keep the little boogers lol
     
  5. williemcd

    williemcd Thread Starter New Member

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    Thanks.. but you'd be amazed at what little time I spend on them.. Say an hour a week for all!
    I also co-founded a fish club based in Richmond, Va. with a pretty active forum and 260 members.. I do fish rescues on behalf of that.. plus I was asked to establish a FaceBook fish club covering the Virginia area... only about 50 members on that one.
     
  6. HBIC

    HBIC Need help??? That's what we're here for :)

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    Interesting, you must have some pretty powerful filtration?
     
  7. williemcd

    williemcd Thread Starter New Member

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    Plants plants and plants.
     
  8. 3ndler3nvy

    3ndler3nvy New Member

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    Young discus are more work than adults.
     
  9. williemcd

    williemcd Thread Starter New Member

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    The Scorpions: I bought a dozen of them about nickle sized. Reared them for 6 weeks, sold off half after doubling in size for 75% of my investment. The same with the Firques. Sold off 6 after 8 weeks for what I paid for the dozen. I took the chance on the travel to and fro, transport, and luckily didn't have any fatalities during the time I've had them. The Scorpions were spawned on Feb 10, 2011 and the Ferques on 1/1/12. I've been fortunate. The cobalts were adoptions. I've had more issues with the German Blues than the Discus!
     
  10. williemcd

    williemcd Thread Starter New Member

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    Filtration:
    155 w/ a big AquaClear HoB, Rena canister and of course Kens largest sponge filter.
    155 w/ 2 hobs and again Kens largest sponge filter.
    135, 1 large HOB and 2 large sponge filters.
    I am a strong believer in organic bio filtration.
     
  11. buzz4520

    buzz4520 Well-Known Member

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    Tanks look really good.
     
  12. williemcd

    williemcd Thread Starter New Member

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    Thanks for the acknowledgements. There are some reconized experts that go contragry to what is accepted opinion as to tank maintenance. i.e. The Diane Walstad Method. She goes to the extreme to suggesting NO water changes are required if the proper balance is maintained between plants/substrate and the volume of fish waste. I don't go that far but do lean that way. It's my personal belief that some folks are too focused on micro-managing their tanks rather than enjoying the fruits of their labor! But then again, opinions are like butts, everyone's got one!
     
  13. williemcd

    williemcd Thread Starter New Member

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    Sorry to have high-jacked the thread from an intro to a philosophy on tank management. Bill in Va.
     
  14. Alleycat

    Alleycat Member

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    Opinions are like Butts, everyones got one !!! Excellent line, and great philosophy too. Some folks starting out need some advise, and we give it based on our experiences, and opinions. As we ..ummm...mature, we realize what works for us, may not work for others. Your shrimp analogy is like mine. I can't raise shrimp longer than a few weeks, but my water is rock hard.
    Nice looking plants, fish, and lay out in your tanks Bill. I can't raise a discus but I have no problems with hard to spawn africans. :)
     
  15. mancave1

    mancave1 Member

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    Nice looking tanks , I like the Angels .