New to keeping

malice

malice

Member
I've been in the hobby for a little over a month now. I had been keeping 2 betas in an aquaponics experiment for the last few years, so my trip to the LFS for their food resulted in picking up some impulse mudskippers before I even had a tank. Within the week, my efforts to keep them happy blossomed into a full blown obsession.


1 month old 90g brackish:

60g of tap water in a 48x21x20 treated with 40ml of prime & 5ml of flourish
2g of filter sand 20/40
3g of black diamond 20/40
1g of quartz mixed with .5g of fluval stratum
4g crushed coral
3x local beach driftwood
2x fingerwood
1x malaysian driftwood
6x java ferns


circulation:
2 airpumps with 2 AC/wool filters,
1 airstone
& a 800gph sump dry filter

stock:
3x fancy guppies
2x mollies
3x monos
2x mudskippers
1x flounder
1x figure 8 puffer
1x fiddler crab
2x dragonfish
10x purple shore crabs
~10x ghost shrimp

2 week old 55g fresh:

45g RO water in a long
3g black diamond 20/40 mixed with 2g fluval stratum
1g river rock gravel
1g black diamond 30/60 cap
2x water hawthorne
4x water onion
6x hornwort
10x dwarf hairgrass
6x baby tears
frogbit


circulation:
2 HOB filters
1 DIY yeast co2 @ 1 bubble per second
1 small airstone
1 desk fan

stock:
3x axlotls
4x oto catfish
5x zebra danios




I also have 2 20g tanks that I originally tried to put the mudskippers in that are now dry, but I hope to do shrimp in one, and a nano reef in the other.

attached is the only pic I have, it's of the 90g brackish. I took it immediately after setting up and the tank has changed quite a bit since.

hG20ZpG.jpg
 
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Loren

Loren

Well-Known Member
Welcome to WaFishBox. This is the perfect place for you because most of us are hopeless fish addicts as well. ;)

When it comes to brackish tanks though @Keefe is the only other person I know that has one.
 
Mike16T

Mike16T

Well-Known Member
Welcome! ^_^
For someone who got hooked in the hobby for a little over a month, you sir definitely are going to be like @Loren soon... :rofl:rofl:rofl Except Loren is coming back from the hobby when we met.. 1 year from now, you will end up with 15+ tanks in your place!! :lol:lol
 
Loren

Loren

Well-Known Member
Mike16T said:
Welcome! ^_^
For someone who got hooked in the hobby for a little over a month, you sir definitely are going to be like @Loren soon... :rofl:rofl:rofl Except Loren is coming back from the hobby when we met.. 1 year from now, you will end up with 15+ tanks in your place!! :lol:lol
Click to expand...
I wouldn't recommend that you follow my lead unless you want to have ZERO life outside of fish.
 
Keefe

Keefe

Well-Known Member
Welcome I cannot wait to hear more about your brackish tank adventure. As loren said I am one of the few people who keep true brackish aquariums (even though its flirting with saltwater), but I do have a lot of experience and have a solid list of plants I have had success with if thats something youre interested in.
 
VickiK

VickiK

Member with a lot to say
@malice
1) I love your avatar pic! I love fish, birds AND butterflies here at Casa Vicaroo.
2) PICS OR IT DIDN'T HAPPEN

lol

Can't wait to see your tanks! Comon Malice - feed us tank lookin' junkies a FIX!
 
malice

malice

Member
Loren said:
I wouldn't recommend that you follow my lead unless you want to have ZERO life outside of fish.
Click to expand...

This is filling the space in my heart world of warcraft left. I don't intend on having a life regardless.


Keefe said:
Welcome I cannot wait to hear more about your brackish tank adventure. As loren said I am one of the few people who keep true brackish aquariums (even though its flirting with saltwater), but I do have a lot of experience and have a solid list of plants I have had success with if thats something youre interested in.
Click to expand...

The big tank is at .008 and I have yet to watch a java fern not turn black. For each one that goes turns black I just replace with plastic, I'm really not proud of the look, so I'd definitely be interested finding something that works. I saw your shark egg on GSAS home show vid, did it ever hatch?


VickiK said:
@malice
1) I love your avatar pic! I love fish, birds AND butterflies here at Casa Vicaroo.
2) PICS OR IT DIDN'T HAPPEN

lol

Can't wait to see your tanks! Comon Malice - feed us tank lookin' junkies a FIX!
Click to expand...

okie Vicaroo here's a pic of the elusive Veronica the African mudskipper, she's an extremely timid and small escape artist.
Inside the terracotta is Mushu, the more docile of the 2 dragonfish so he spends most of his time in the cave. They both came from the pet stores extremely emaciated and they're finally now starting to fill in in the face.
Finally is the 3 guppies & my black sailfin mollie, Obama. Obama is a huge surfer and does full speed laps against the glass around the tank all day. The female guppies have both given birth recently and with the extremely predatory monos, the fry did not last long.

uy8ZoEV.jpg IMG_1715.JPG IMG_1674.JPG
 
malice

malice

Member
In the FW tank here's the Albino of the Axlotls, my girlfriend who got them off craigslist named them and this one is Van Winkle. The other 2 axlotls are a wild type and leucistic.



IMG_1672.PNG IMG_1660.JPG
 
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malice

malice

Member
VickiK said:
I love the IDEA of having mudskippers.
Click to expand...

I'll sell you the bigger one that I finally had to quarantine last night due to agressiveness.
Veronica evacuated herself to my sump for the 5th night in a row and he had pulled one of the adult guppy up onto land. :| Will try to eat empty fingers and tweezers.
 
VickiK

VickiK

Member with a lot to say
malice said:
I'll sell you the bigger one that I finally had to quarantine last night due to agressiveness.
Veronica evacuated herself to my sump for the 5th night in a row and he had pulled one of the adult guppy up onto land. :| Will try to eat empty fingers and tweezers.
Click to expand...

Oh nooooooo. I like the IDEA but the practicality is beyond my skill set.
 
Keefe

Keefe

Well-Known Member
malice said:
The big tank is at .008 and I have yet to watch a java fern not turn black. For each one that goes turns black I just replace with plastic, I'm really not proud of the look, so I'd definitely be interested finding something that works. I saw your shark egg on GSAS home show vid, did it ever hatch?
Click to expand...
20170421_185730.jpg
Meet Freckles :D

also the trick to getting plants to grow in brackish conditions is to do a slow acclimation over the course of about a month upping the salinity by 0.001-0.002 SG per week until you get to your desired range, or buy some mangroves lol.


I am also currently in the process of hatching out some cuttlefish eggs :D
 
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Loren

Loren

Well-Known Member
Keefe said:
View attachment 3959
Meet Freckles :D

also the trick to getting plants to grow in brackish conditions is to do a slow acclimation over the course of about a month upping the salinity by 0.001-0.002 SG per week until you get to your desired range, or buy some mangroves lol.


I am also currently in the process of hatching out some cuttlefish eggs :D
Click to expand...
He sure is growing fast. It will be a sad day when you need to move him to bigger digs.
 
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