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Hello from Virginia!

Discussion in 'Introduce Yourself' started by anjl97, Jul 23, 2010.

  1. anjl97

    anjl97 Thread Starter New Member

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    Hi there! We live in Mechanicsville with 3 kids, 2 dogs, 3 cats, and a bunch o fish. There is a small freshwater tank of 12 gallons and a small saltwater tank of 37 gallons. We got the saltwater for the kids, but you know how that goes! :D

    Current residents are a diamond goby (he's kind of the boss of the tank), a flame angel, 2 clowns, a cleaner shrimp, a fire shrimp, some snails, frogspawn, torch coral, pipe organ, clove polyps, acan, blasto, mushrooms, a hairy mushroom (Ilove to say that!), some zoanthids, and a toadstool. A bigger tank is definitely in our future!
     
    anjl97, Jul 23, 2010
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  2. Anthony

    Anthony Active Member

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    Welcome fellow Virginian.
     
    Anthony, Jul 23, 2010
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  3. MOD_Dawn

    MOD_Dawn Active Member

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    welcome to the forum, whatcha got stocked in the freshwater tank??
     
    MOD_Dawn, Jul 23, 2010
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  4. anjl97

    anjl97 Thread Starter New Member

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    Forgot about that one. Oopsie! Let's see, we have same cardinal tetras (love, love, love these), a couple of penguin tetras, dwarf sunset platys that bred like mad - started as 2 and now have NINE :eek: (there were many more but they become treats), and one lonely little side sucker. I forget his name, but he's about a little over an inch with black stripes. Overstocked in a big way, but I do a 25-40% water change every 2-3 days. Everyone has been there for about 2 years, except for the platys! I had java moss, but got rid of it as much as I could when the platys made it an ideal incubator. That's what I get for buying fish on a whim, I guess. We are going to get the kids small tanks for their rooms (10 gallons or so) and do some shuffling. The water is clean, but they can't possibly be happy!
     
    anjl97, Jul 24, 2010
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  5. BobV

    BobV Member

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    Welcome to the forum
     
    BobV, Jul 24, 2010
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  6. buzz4520

    buzz4520 Well-Known Member

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    welcome.
     
    buzz4520, Jul 24, 2010
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  7. MOD_Dawn

    MOD_Dawn Active Member

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    Cardinals are pretty, I've become accustomed to the neons for that same reason and also have had penguins too :) Your side sucker sounds like it may be an otocinclus?

    yea, pretty much any livebearer will overrun a tank of that size in no time. If your in love with the livebearers I'd simply do males...that way you get the beauty/color without the babies :)

    for kiddo tanks I'd splurge and go a bit bigger if your lucky enough to have the space, everytime I tried to do a 10g for kiddos or nephews they'd always want fish that wouldn't do well in something as small as a 10g :rolleyes:
     
    MOD_Dawn, Jul 24, 2010
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  8. anjl97

    anjl97 Thread Starter New Member

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    Yeah, you're probably right on the tank size thing, Dawn. The hubby doesn't think they need a tank in there rooms, but let a 6 and almost 4 year old girl ask their daddy with those big blue eyes... let's just say he doesn't win much! The boy on the other hand, dad's not as much of a push over. Mom, on the other hand... :)

    What they really want is a fresh AND saltwater tank in their rooms. uh-huh. That's going to happen. I just can't take of all that. Not to mention the cost. And I'm really not up to having water spilled all over my house by letting them "help". Of course I could seriously feed my addiction and have different types of tanks/species tanks in their rooms, but that kind of defeats the purpose. I really want entire walls (top to bottom, side to side) for tanks that are plumbed and all set up automatically. THAT'S not expensive!

    I was thinking he my little fishy was an oto. He's been around for about 2 1/2 years, so I guess he's as big as he gets. Cute little fella!
     
    anjl97, Jul 24, 2010
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  9. FishVixen

    FishVixen Active Member

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    Welcome to the TEF. I'm from Richmond Va. Your tanks and plans sound great.
     
    FishVixen, Jul 24, 2010
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  10. MOD_Dawn

    MOD_Dawn Active Member

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    Lol, you sound as bad as my wishes...I just need a new house to fulfill them :)
    I've done numerous tanks and a single tank...I keep finding myself going back to the single tank because that leaves you only one tank to do partials, filter maint, regular glass cleaning, and bulb replacements on...but I am so with you on having them all plumbed for a auto water changer (my lfs has that and let's just say I'm jealous)!

    I'd do 1 nice big tank...if you run into issues with each wanting their own "type" of fish you can always use lighting diffuser as a divider leaving you with just one tank to maint cuz being a mom I know how hectic things can get with having kiddos ;)

    And the kids can help do the partials...use a python no spill clean n' fill that way they can turn the water on, turn the water off, and help drain the hose and hang it up which should mean no water on your carpets. Can also get them to help feed the fish...measure the food out into a dixie cup and let them tip the cup into the tank (dixies work great for any type of food...live, frozen, flake) and by premeasuring their's no worry of them feeding more than you want them to be fed. Same with tank dosing (if you do planted or need any type of chemical)...put it in the dixie first!

    I know when we started our first tank with the kiddos we had an "approved" list of fish and would show them the pictures of ONLY the approved ones. Saved the migraine of saying you can't mix this with that one... and you can't have that one in our size of a tank.

    Good Luck with it all, I know I get soo excited when it comes to new tanks/fish :)
     
    MOD_Dawn, Jul 25, 2010
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  11. GREENTEAL52

    GREENTEAL52 Member

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    HELLO FROM ACROSS THE CITY
     
    GREENTEAL52, Jul 27, 2010
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