Finally decided to update this blog after a long time and moving. I recently moved so a lot has changed and I made the executive decision that it was long since overdue to downsize on how many fish tanks I was running. We were running 10 fish tanks simultaneously at one point which just about became a full time job between feeding, water changes and full blown cleaning and started to become overwhelming! As such we eventually collapsed all the fish tanks into one 46 gallon bow front tank which looks very active and fun. Over the last month though we decided to go to the fish auction just cause it was fun and after five hours ended up with about 10 new plants and 15 new fish which of course necessitates setting up another tank. Needless to say we now have 3 tanks running again (a 10 gallon saltwater gig that Jerry runs) a 30 gallon fresh water heavily planted tank for an endangered species, and the 46 gallon which has been re-aquascaped and which many of the bottom dwellers have undone a couple of times now. 

More pictures to follow in a bit here along with some new and helpful remedies that'll help fellow aqua hobbyists with fish ailments, plants, sustained growth, filtration technology and updates on equipment and maintenance tips to keep those tanks happy, healthy and with sustained growth. 

Thanks for reading! 

Shark Problems!

Below are the most recent pictures of the sharks for anyone who might have an idea as to whats wrong. Hopefully these help.

Sorry about the water on the glass haven't cleaned it off yet. Been more worried about the sharks.

Update: So I'm happy to let people know that the real problem why my sharks were becoming sick wasn't an issue with stress or foreign diseases it was a matter of not having the right water parameters. Something that petsmart should be shot for. They market these sharks as a purely freshwater species! This is NOT the case. After a certain point usually past 4 inches of growth these sharks need an infusion of brackish water to supplement their immune systems and keep them healthy and happy. 

Also people need to be made aware that these sharks will get huge given the proper environment and should not be purchased by anyone incapable of keeping them in the proper tank. I was doing quite a bit of research on them to resolve their problems and found that in the wild these sharks often grow upwards of 3-5 feet each! As such you'll need a serious tank down the road to support them. Diet is also essential for these guys as they are more carnivorous than other fish. At one point we bought 12 additional small sword tails and zebra danio's to keep with them to liven up the tank and in the span of 30 minutes out running errands to our surprise all 12 of them were gone by the time we'd gotten back since Pavlo and Sauka had eaten them all lol. 

They will require a very high quality diet of live fish supplemented by sinking carnivorous pellets (I recommend the excellent Hikari ones, they're expensive but your fish will love you for it and look positively stunning) and a varied diet of occasional algae wafers and greens as they are not strictly carnivorous. Its most important though that these fish have a tank big enough to support them. I would suggest nothing less than a wide and open 40 gallon breeder or larger tank for them as they are very active swimmers and very fast. Anything smaller and they have a tendancy to hurt themselves by banging into the glass. 

Another thing they will also need are good water currents (mimiking the mango groves where they come from in south america) a nice rocky and sandy bottum, with a safe heater to keep the temps from getting too cold as these are a tropical fish and need stable temps from 72-78 degrees and I wouldn't recommend anything warmer than this. If housed properly these fish will get huge and be some of the most active and gorgeous fish you've ever seen. Just be aware that'll you'll eventually need to get them larger and larger tanks as they grow, eventually you may need to donate them to your local aquarium where they'll have enough space to thrive or return them to south america and the mangrove inlets where they live and spawn. 

Sadly when I purchased these fish I (like almost all other people that buy them) was completely unaware of this despite researching them initially. Anyone unable or unwilling to provide them with the proper and long term care (plus huge tank and brackish water) should NOT purchase these fish. The two pictured here lived happy and peaceful lives in my 40 gallon breeder tank I bought for them up until my poor quality heater developed a crack and promptly electrocuted them. I must say though they were some of my favorite fish ever and by far some of my most rewarding next to my brackish water puffers who would come and great me and listen to me when I would talk to them. 

Some new pictures from the tanks

Fish pictures to the right: I was finally able to get a good picture of the newer little guppies only one of which is visible in the picture. They're very fast and were completely translucent for the first week and a half.

Next is a good shot of the puffers together, Julio & Miu. Both of which are very smart and interesting fish who seem to have a lot of personality but are also very reserved and seem to stay on the opposite side of the tank a lot of the time. It should be interesting to follow these two and see what develops with them, I have to admit I was never sure about getting them but now that we have them they've already proven to be some of our most distinct and fascinating fish.

Below the puffers is a good shot of the high fin tetra's which are incredibly camera shy and seem to make it a point to be skittish and hide whenever anyone approaches the tank. Thus I can never seem to get a good picture of them as my camera is rather slow on the draw.

Momo is on the left with the two loaches, which is rather funny considering we’re fairly certain she ate the other two!

Below is the silver tipped sharks just a really good picture of them that I didn’t know I got with the camera.

Below the sharks is a funny shot of Sid staring at this new creature that was just dropped into the tank debating if he should eat him or not or even how to handle this situation. We went and added ghost shrimp to the tanks, Sid obviously had no idea what to do with him so he watched him and followed the shrimp for over 2 hours.

All of our little fish

Below is a complete listing of all our fish in their perspective tanks and what species of fish they are:

Fish Names:
35 Gal

Yuna & Rikku ( Hi-Fin Black Tetra )
Setsuka & Sakura ( Black Khli Loach)
Sarendok ( Common Pleco )
Maria & Zoie ( FAncy Tail GoldFish)
Pav ( Dwarf BLack Moore)
Aphrodite ( Female Betta )
Cherry ( Red Rosey Minnow)
Coke & Fix ( Tiger Barbs)
Momo ( Stripped Raphael Catfish)
Hades & Dante (Bumble Bee Catfish )
Ghost Shrimp

5 Gal (1)
Alexander (Male betta)
Dover ( Long Fin Rosey Barbs)

5 Gal (2)
Moe, Larry, & Shrimp (Zebra Danio)
Skipper ( Long Fin Danio)
Spit ( Yellow Tail Guppy)
Sprinkle & Spangler ( Delta Tail Guppy)
Some Baby Guppies
Black Mystery Snail

10 Gal (Brackish Tank 1)
Pauvlou & Sokka ( Silver Tipped Sharks)
Ghost Shrimp

10 Gal ( Brackish Tank 2)
Julio & Miu (Spotted Puffer Fish)

10 Gal
Cid & Irska ( Golden Wonder Killifish)
Pogo ( Male Betta)
Leon & Rhizchinko ( Stripped Raphael Catfish)
AL (Chinese Algae Eater)
A ghost Shrimp
Ivory Snails

20 Gal
Jasper, Michelangelo,& Angstrom (Red Cap Oranda Fantail Goldfish)
Individual, Current, & Thatch ( Common Goldfish)
Sparkles, Moraine, N'navene, & Edgwene (Diamond Tetras)
Tiny ( Lemon Tetra)
Pepper ( Long Fin Pepper Cory Cat)
Salt ( Albino Cory Cat)
Ezmorra (Emerald Cory Cat)
Chaz (Panda Cory Cat)
Kari & Melon ( Female Betta)
Slacker (1) & Slacker (2) (Otocinclus catfish)

Some better pictures of my fish

These are some pictures of the other fish in the 35 gallon.

The first one is one of the Loaches we have 4. Without a doubt they’re some of my favorite fish to watch. Its really neat watching them come out at night and swim in a group of four in the currents.

The second is my favorite goldfish, Pav who’s actually a dwarf Blackmoore and has remained the same size since I bought him almost 8 months ago.

The next one is Maria who only continues to get bigger and bigger. And is probably the single biggest cause of my frequent water changes to keep the Ammonia level down. Her and Zoie (the other goldfish) are by far the most veracious eaters of all the fish in the tank.

And the last one is Momo my boyfriend’s favorite catfish by far. She’s also quite the personality and will come out during the day or at night and look for food, wait for her mate, or have fun swimming in circles amongst the current. She loves her head that you can see in some of the pictures and often won’t budge even when you trying to remove her. She always a lot of fun to watch and also acts as my first indicator telling me when its time to do a water change as her colors will turn more pale.

My fish in the other 10 gallon and 5.5 gallon tanks

From top to bottom:

Irska

Sid

One of the albino snails

Pogo

and the last two are of the 5.5 gallon tank with the danios and guppies.

Shark 10 gallon

These are pictures of my favorite sharks and their 10 gallon tank.

Pauvlo is the older darker shark even thought they both look almost identical now. Sokka is the younger lighter one.