Aquarium #1: 20-Gallon Planted Community Tank
Last year I restarted my 20-gallon community tank with the vision of creating a low tech aquascape and lots of peaceful nano fish. I started off with six albino cory catfish (who reproduced like crazy), 15 green neon tetras, a bunch of amano shrimp, and finally Pikachu the honey gourami as the centerpiece. The tank is located right near our entryway, so it’s like the first thing guests see when they come in and it’s a real crowd-pleaser. “Ooo I had no idea aquariums could look like this!”
Fast-forward to the end of the year, the tank become overrun with baby corys, plus the two additional female honey gouramis I acquired for Pikachu’s harem. So my plan this year is to rehome all the corys and gouramis, maybe even the tetras, and start breeding something else. I’ve never owned plecos before but two of my interviewees, Lily and Chris from Fish for Thought, said that was their favorite fish to breed so I wanna see what the big deal is.
Aquarium #2: 5-Gallon Planted Betta Tank
Soundwave the betta fish has been with me the longest, and halfway through the year, I upgraded him to this beautiful 5-gallon rimless glass aquarium. To be honest, I really struggled with some new planted tank algae issues for a while, which almost made me want to give up and go back to fake decorations, but… I’m finally balancing the light and nutrients so it doesn’t look terrible all the time. But yeah, Soundwave and my little office tank definitely get to stay.
Aquarium #3: 10-gallon Hospital Tank
Haha, I’m really not supposed to have more than 2 tanks (self-imposed limit from lack of time), but this was supposed to replace my quarantine tub because, honestly, plastic tubs are really translucent, making it harder to see any disease symptoms on new fish (which is the whole point). Now it’s become my fry grow-out tank, located next to the kitchen sink for easy, frequent water changes. Near the end of the year I successfully bred my honey gouramis, although these first-time parents only produced two healthy fry, so the babies totally glutted themselves on baby brine shrimp (told you it worked!) and grew like weeds. I mean, it’s only been two months and they’re totally at sellable size. So yeah, it’s time for them to leave the nest and make room for some new babies.
Kelbi the Family Dog
Our only non-aquatic pet is Kelbi, the world’s quietest, calmest, most submissive doggo ever. Seriously, she’s pretty much spoiled me from ever owning another dog again. So Kelbi, you have to live with us forever – promise!
Ultimately, for 2019, I want to keep things interesting in the fish keeping hobby by continually learning and trying new things for myself, and I want to bring you along on that journey, so we can experience the excitement of cool fish, interesting experiments, and learning from other FishTubers together! Anyway, I’m going to try a little experiment and post twice a week in the month of January. You’ll get my usual fish care tutorials on Saturday (which you can expect one this week) and then like a short, aquarium-related vlog or funny skit to help you get over Wednesday Hump Days. Leave me a comment to let me know you think of that idea. Take time to enjoy your aquariums and I’ll see you in the next video!
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