# A couple of my tanks to show off.



## Cory1990

I'm going to post my tanks/progression pictures in this thread so I will be updating as the time goes by. I know they are not the best tanks out there but in my eyes they look nice. Let me know what you guys think, or what should be added! I love new ideas.

First I'm going to post my 10g community tank pictures.
In here I have plattys, guppies, mix fruit tetras(got them before I learned the truth of how they are made and I strongly suggest you do not buy dyed fish!) and one common pelco




























Night time lights (led strip lights! Look great to me)



















Now my 55g (cycling with common goldfish that will later be put in my pond)















































My favorite picture of the 55 is this one so far, I know I seriously need plants  











Alright leave me some feedback!!:fish:


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## Cory1990

Hmm I'm now a senior Member!! Awesome


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## OhYesItsMe

What is going in the 55 ahhhh the senior member disease is spreading!


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## Fish chick

Looks really nice! What are you going to have in the 55 gal when the goldfish are out?


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## jlpropst00

The 55g looks kinda like cichlid setup. Any plans to go that route?


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## pinetree

I like your community tank, but I'm not a fan of the colorful gravel. Otherwise, looks good. The other looks like it could be a nice African cichlid tank.


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## Cory1990

I know a lot of people don't like my rocks and I agree with them. But the 10g tank is more for my kids. I was talking about getting rid of the rocks a few weeks ago and putting in sand. My girlfriend said that's a no go.

As for my 55, I do want cichlids. So after I add a few more things I'll be adding some. I'm by no means a fan of the goldfish in there. I was at the lfs yesterday just looking around in there and I got my eye on a few that I like.


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## Cory1990

Any ideas to what I should add since im putting in cichlids? 

I'm going hiking this weekend where there are a lot of freshwater ponds in some vary deep woods in going to be looking for nice driftwood/ rocks with big center holes stuff like that.


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## Cory1990

Here's the pond my last set of goldfish went into! There is about 40-50 goldfish in there most are about 6-8 inches big. I hate goldfish (sorry goldfish lovers!) but they are good out door fish. I'll be getting rid of the goldfish within the next couple weeks from my tank.


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## lohachata

cory..do you have many streams around you..cause i am gonna mess up your head a little maybe....
instead of neat stacks of rocks just lay them out and make natural looking piles.....no heater..get some mosses and other live plants....and then go get some of these............

https://www.google.com/search?tbm=i...n&biw=1680&bih=867&sei=fEjqT_XhB6716AH0qJnRAQ


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## Cory1990

I like my rock stacking lol. I know it does not look super natural but it looks alright to me. As for that fish... I have never seen anything like that before around here. The closest thing to a stream around me is the Milwaukee river. And it is so gross in there I wouldn't jump in that water if I lost my tackle box. I got a rash the last time just from grabbing a fish out of the water. 

Also I'm adding a few rocks today so I'll add another picture of that, but they are going to be stacked also lol. 

As for the plants I needed something low light and can not find any at Petco that ate low light


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## Cory1990

Also forgot to add I have my heater pulled way up like that because the goldfish in there I had to turn it off. I'll try hiding it behind some plants when I find some.


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## iheartfish:)

Those tanks look really nice! I, for one, really like his rock piles. They look well balanced between natural (using natural rocks and piling them) and man-made. You have sand in there... have you considered shellies yet? I'm sorry if it's getting annoying, but I think I'll recommend them to everyone going the route of cichlids  Wonderful fish. Also, are those plants fake in the right corner of the ten gallon?


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## Cory1990

Here's the added rocks to my 55g tank 










Now I'm done with rocks in there 

Also in the 10g they are all fake plants. No one really asks if they are fake. At the baby shower we just had here people aske how I kept my plants alive in there lol. 

But they are all fake 
I went to hobby lobby and found silk plants and I pretty much went to town with a hot glue gun. The stems are plastic rods for each plant (I had to pull every leaf off and glue them to plastic) and after I did that they looke great. The bushy one was easy to do silk leafs all glued together or to the plastic rods. And it covers my heater and filter from the front view. And my fish love to hide in there. I'm vary proud of it and all the plants in there cost me less then $5 to add them all and look much better IMO then the fake plants sold at pet stores.


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## Cory1990

Also what are Shellie's?

Googled it. I didn't know you were saying shells laying around lol. I have a bunch of small shells in the 10g tank. I thought of maybe putting a few in here


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## Cory1990

I was messing with my cam and snapped this one of a goldfish in my tank just for fun.










I thought the picture looked good, to bad it's a cycling fish. Not the one I want in there.


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## Cory1990

Also grabbed one of my plattys

If you look into the plant you can see another eye peeking at me lol


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## Fish chick

I really like your goldfish pond!!!


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## DrMiller357

Awesome rock work, you should look into julies, they would love the rock work in there. Iv'e got some ornate julies right now they are great to watch always swimming through my rocks.


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## Mystery snail

Have to agree... Awesome Rock work.. African Cichlids are going to look dynamite in there.


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## Cory1990

That's my plan is to get cichlids for this tank, can't think of there name off the top of my head but the yellow ones and maybe some jacks Not sure yet.

Anyways thanks for te complements everyone


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## iheartfish:)

It looks even better now with all of those rocks. I can only imagine how beautiful it's going to be once all of the fish are in there! Julies are very pretty and have giant personalities. They would also be a great choice.


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## Cory1990

I have thought about them, they are vary pretty. Only problem the closest place by me that sells fish is Petco.... They have such a small section to choose from. Then I met a breeder online that I've sent about 100 emails to and he tells me he has them but never wants to meet up or have time. So keep my fingers crossed on that lol. There is another fish only store about a hour away from me that I've got fish from before and they have a vary nice selection but vary vary messed up hours. I've gone there 2 times to find out they are closed. It's a small mom and pop store so I guess that's why they can do that.


I should add that loha said he would help me to decide good sellers from bad ones on aquabid so maybe I'll give that one a try I'm not sure yet


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## jlpropst00

Have you ever considered LiveAquaria.com or Aquabid.com? Sometimes its worth the extra cost in shipping to get fish you actually want. Nothing worse than putting time & money into a tank and have to settle on fish you don't love.


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## jlpropst00

Also I feel like I might get hanged for suggesting this, but your local Petco will order fish for you.


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## Cory1990

jlpropst00 said:


> Also I feel like I might get hanged for suggesting this, but your local Petco will order fish for you.


I was there a few days ago asking for javamoss and the guy (never seen him there before) was so rude to me. I asked what cichlids he recommends to put together and the guy laughed at me and walked away. I couldn't believe it. I'm pretty good friends with the manager there and I'll be telling her about there new guy next time i go there. 

Anyways back to the point I asked if he could order me some and he flat out told me what they have is what they got. I'm not sure if it's because he was a a hole or if that's true

So I may be leaning to aquabid for my plants also because that's a huge thing im missing right now in this tank.

I've put the last picture of the tank in totm since I had so many of you guys like it. I was kind of embarrassed to show it but now I feel so loved lol


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## jlpropst00

I've had my store offer a couple times to order whatever I wanted. They even have a sign that says they will order for you if they don't have it. I'm pretty sure the guy you talked to 1)knows nothing about fish and 2)is a lazy bum and did not want to take the time.
I have a Petco here in Memphis that has a huge fish section in fact its almost a separate store with in a store. The guys that run it actually know fish. I know that is not every Petco. I would always choose a LFS over Petco but like you said sometimes its not an option.


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## Cory1990

Yea I'd love for that fish store to have normal hours but try are so crazy I never know when it's open. I have a friend that lives in that town so I always tell him to check for me lol. 

Also Ill have to ask them again when that guys not working.


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## Cory1990

Also the selectin at Petco here is maybe 40 tanks with basic community fish. Nothing fancy at all here. And they sell nothing for saltwater. The majority of the store is for dogs that's about it.


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## Cory1990

A few fake plants I'm not sure if I like them. What do you guys think??


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## lohachata

ok...a little advice and maybe a couple of ideas.....
the plants are ok as they give a color contrast and also some verticality...some driftwood and a bunch more plants would look great...

if you want to have a great planted tank then cichlids are pretty much out of the question...at least with live plants.....dwarf cichlids such as apistogrammas are ok ; but most others will destroy them...
why not try for a planted community tank..congo tetras..odessa barbs...corydoras..
small loaches..bleeding heart tetras...lemons...silvertips...von rio...
maybe some scissortail rasboras or harlequinn...
this could be a beautiful show tank for you and would probably make the wife happy as well....maybe....lol.


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## Cory1990

Lol if only she enjoyed fish! I swear no matter how I set up a tank in our house she almost shows 0 interest unless it has big sparkly gravle colored plastic plants. You get the idea. Natural is almost completely out of the picture for her. 

As for the chichlids I did read that they rip up plants so I'm thinking my best bet is fake ones now  maybe I can find some realistic ones that I like on the Internet. Nothing at Petco grabs my attention as for the fake plants. 
I was looking into stocking it with jack DempSeys, convicts, and maybe electric yellows if I can find some.

As for driftwood I am planning on going hiking this weekend on a trail by my house (lots of ponds and deep woods) im hopping to find a nice big peice of driftwood for the tank. I have my fingers crossed on that so far. Maybe I'll get lucky and find something perfect for it. 

Also I have gave some thought to another community tank but I really want to try chichlids in this one because there a little bigger and they have some great color.


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## Cory1990

Moved the 10g tank and stand to a different room do I could take better pictures of it to show potential buyers. 










Found this little girl trying to get into one of my tanks, I could have died laughing when it looked up at me with a soaking wet face lol


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## lohachata

no mixing cichlids......dempseys and convicts might be ok as they are both south american...but the electric yellows are rift lake fish and need different conditions.....


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## Cory1990

See that's why I need this forum lol. I really like the DempSeys so what could go well with them?


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## lohachata

hmmmmm..texas cichlid....probably even severums....all these guys get pretty big..so numbers would have to be limited..total of only 4-5 fish..


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## Cory1990

I have thought of size being a problem, my plan is to be getting the fish then when they start to get bigger to re-home them. Also are there more colorful cichlids I could go with instead maybe? Im not sure I've never had cichlids before this will be my first shot at them. What type of water conditions should I have also?


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## Coolfish

Tank look nice.


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## Cory1990

Thank you, i always love the complements


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## Cory1990

Update!! Here she is and now I'm done adding until my driftwood can sink.

My plants are all fakes, because loha was nice enough to let me know my fish would pretty much kill them, but I still wanted color and a realistic looking plant so I went to hobby lobby (craft store) and found a plant that I liked. They are perfect in my eyes and are 100% plastic. 



















Hes still new and Didn't want to come out, there's one more "African cichlid" but I lost him in the rocks. 









So far so good!


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## Cory1990




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## Cory1990

Changed up a few things in my 10 gallon to steal some stuff for another 10g also convinced my other half to let me get rid of them super ugly colorful rocks. They were so bad I hated to look at that 10g 

Before 










And so happy 
After










Also put in some life plant bulbs can't remember what kind but it says it grows in 15-20 days there two different kinds and supposedly you get your money back if they down. I'm not holding my breath... 

New salt set up 

Before









I'll add after pictures tmro after I get live sand and rock.


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## Cory1990

Alright I grabbed another 10g tank to add to the mess of 10s I already have I'm not sure what I'll put in this thing yet. I got the tank free with a set of lights I brought for my saltwater tank. Also got this light from craigslist its a coralife 50/50 that I'm going to try growing plants with. I grabbed 2 plants I can't remember what they are called but oh well. I also have some plant bulbs in there that I think are going to be Lilly's.



















I still need a filter for it, so im Not sure when I'll grab that oh I also need a heater  blah fish stuff can be so spendy 

I added salt and live sand to my bow front tank today but it still has not settled so maybe pics tmro


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## Cory1990

Another thing I did to my other 10g today... I'm to lazy to post a DIY so I'm just throwing up pictures 

Old hood with a t8 light I found sitting outside at my dads friends.










Split apart




























Now t8 lights instead of a lamp behind there an there was no way I would use the ugly light cover on any of my tanks so I stripped it and put it in one of my hoods










Looks better IMO


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## Adam

I'm a little late for the Petco convo, but for what it's worth, Any Petco should be able to special order fish for you. We have about 3 or 4 vendors that we go through for fish. You should find out who the Aquatic Specialists are, and get to know them. If there are more than one figure out who does the fish orders. Don't talk to a regular associate about ordering because most of the time they know nothing about fish or how the store works. I had a guy tell a customer a week or two ago that they could set up a saltwater setup for around $100.. i wanted to kill him. Anyway, I hope I don't get flamed too much around here for working for Petco, It's kinda a stepping stone, eventually one day I want to own my own LFS that doesn't have so many policies and procedures like we have at petco.  Oh btw Your tanks look great!


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## Cory1990

Thank you, also the one person who I know there and have become good friends with shes never working anymore to help me out or I always come in and miss her. Grr I wish the nicer fish stores were closer to me so I didn't have to go there. And I have ran into one guy there who said he would order me any fish I wanted but it would be cheaper to drive to another fish store. Also I wish I could set salt tanks up for 100$ I think that guy wa talking about freshwater lol. Iv spent so much this past week setting up two saltwater tanks and I'm just getting started. The $100 Was almost blown on salt,live sand,water reader thingy, filter put me over 100$ skimmer still haven't grabbed one :/ and the live rock I'm picking up tmro.

Anyways back to freshwater so I don't get blasted for saltwater.

Put a few things in the new 10g

So far iv got live plants and wood tied down to a bag of rocks because this bad boy wants to float...









Can add another filter and 2 more heaters to the list of stuff I need for all these tanks. I wish I could just win the latto and pay people to do my shopping for me.


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