Johnson18's 55 Gallon German Blue Ram setup! (56K!)

[Andrew H]

Sick tank.

Congrats on the engagement.

[johnson18]

So it's been a crazy few months... Unfortunately it's been a bad crazy versus a good crazy....

The continued temperature swings killed all but one GBR. I was not a happy camper. This was followed by more algae, a problem which was left to explode due to a busy school/finals/work schedule.

Right as things started to slow down a few days ago, my fiancé left me... So it was a [censored][censored][censored][censored]ty end to 2012. Oh well, life goes on & it's easier now then later requiring a divorce. Haha...

The good side is now I can go back to focusing on what I wanna do! Fish!

The tank was a wreck. So many over grown plants, decaying plants, algae....you get the point. I worked about 4-5 hours on it today. It's not perfect by any means. I siphoned out a ton of debris, removed all the algae by hand, did a massive water change. Pulled out a ton of plants and replanted them. Trimmed the hell out of some if the plants split some of them apart. I'm gonna have to wait a few days and do another water change and siphon out more junk.

I have to get back on a regular dosing and light schedule. Like whoa! Hahaha...
A lot of the plants have done well but they all need regular nutrients to do much better like they should!
FTS


As you can see there is still some debris.


This sword has come a long way & now has all submerged growth.


I thought this was a pretty cool find! I'd never seen a leaf with so many young plants growing from it, I'm used to maybe a couple but not that many!

[The Dude]

Sorry to hear about your Rams. None of my tanks are heated since I had one cook a few fish when it broke a few years back. I've noticed my Rams aren't near as colorful as yours were. What temp do you keep them at? I'm thinking about one of the titanium heaters

[johnson18]

The tank usually stays about 80*F. When I lost the rams the temp was swinging from 75 down to like 55-60.

[johnson18]

The tank looks so much better after the cleaning it received a couple days back. I found the last ram floating a couple hours after I had the tank put back together. Bummer.
I've started dosing dry ferts again on a set schedule.
I'm gonna focus on getting the tank back to where it needs to be, and keeping it there... I will be looking to get more GBR's but I'm gonna make sure the tank is getting regular maintenance for a couple months before getting them.
I was at petsmart today for a harness for my new puppy, I always check out the fish section anytime I'm there, though I really buy anything. Well, I saw they had Otocinclus on sale for $1 they fish looked healthy so I picked up 10 of them. Awesome fun on the way home, as my puppy accidentally popped a hole in the fish bag... Nothing major just water in the shopping bag.

The fish are now happily in the tank. If they seem to do well, I'm probably going to get a few to go into my 20L!

[mitchfish9]

It sucks to hear about your unfortunate end to 2012. Hopefully 2013 will be great. The rams were coloring up VERY nicely before the temp swings. Hopefully you can buy from matt13 again as he sells great hardy fish! I can't wait to see the tank make a comeback... keep us updated!

[alipper]

First, congrats on the engagement. Secondly, sucks about loosing all those rams, they looked awesome. How did all of them behave together? I thought that would be too many for a 55?

[mitchfish9]

Originally Posted by alipper

First, congrats on the engagement. Secondly, sucks about loosing all those rams, they looked awesome. How did all of them behave together? I thought that would be too many for a 55?

They were juvies, so it would not of been much of an issue yet.

[alipper]

Originally Posted by mitchfish9

They were juvies, so it would not of been much of an issue yet.

I figured, then what do ya do with all of them when they mature ha?

[johnson18]

My plan with the Rams was, and will be, to achieve two breeding pairs in the tank. I originally ordered 6 and Matt being the great breeder he is, hooked me up with eight (4m, 4f)! Hoping that I might end up several pairs, allowing me to keep 2 pairs in the 55gal then either sell off the rest of the fish or putting a third pair in my 20L. We will see!

Otos are doing great so far! A bunch of little fatties.





Just a few pics!

[johnson18]

Just a few pics! The tank is looking much better. I am waiting for the weather to warm up just a little before I order some more Rams.


Some riccia that was tiny, seems to be doing well. I took part of this for the outflow of the planted HOB on my 20L.

[johnson18]

I added 10 more otos yesterday! I also tossed in a lone mollie that was in my 20L, as I've got 40+ PFR shrimp on the way this week. I've been thinking about getting some more balansae for the background. I'm going to buy some osmocote plus from my local hardware store and make a bunch of root tabs.

[johnson18]

So just a couple pics here

This is how the rank was looking a few weeks back.



Then I stuffed it full of 15 of the nicest, largest Cryptocoryne Balansae I've ever seen...
Here they are laying across the top of the tank!




There were still some floating in the tank...





Fully planted and about a week into the tank/melting... Hahaha

In these shots I've got some extra plants-amazon swords and some others, tossed into the tank..,

[johnson18]

Update time!!

I've got one of Colin's Ultimate PB co2 set up on the way for this tank! My plan is not to pump as much co2 as I can into this tank but to try to add a small amount into the system. I still want to keep this tank on a little more of the lower tech end of things!





Sorry about the horrible photos!! I'll try to get some better shots over the weekend, while I procrastinate my studying for finals!! Anyone have any suggestions on getting started with my co2 set up?

[johnson18]

Here is a shot I just got of this fat oto!! I've been trying to get a decent pic of this guy for about a week! This oto is at least a couple inches long!