OneWay's Thread

[OneWay]

Hello LOL,

I have been a hobbyist for as long as i can remember. I recieved my first fish tank from my grandfather when i was in 3rd grade. He started me off with a 20 gallon tank, but even before that I was keeping things in buckets, shoeboxes, and even drawers of my dresser.

My mom would tell me of the suprizes she would find in my sock drawer,, toads, frogs, snakes, salamanders, you name it and I wanted it as a pet.
It is little wonder I ended up with a BS in all things,,, Biology

I have loved keeping turtles, but currently I do not house any. I have a pair of bearded dragons (no babies yet), a double headed amazon, a jack russel, and lots of loaches.

I have kept/bred various fish over the years, but ended up with African Cichlids for years. Sadly I was both bored with them and had several ,, i know i know,, clown loaches. I kept clowns with them for several reasons, 1. they are just one fish cichlids ignore, 2. they grow large, and 3. they have great personalities and are fun to watch.

I do have one observation to make about cichlids and clowns. My clowns were never reclusive nor skittish until i removed the cichlids... I think the boldness of the cichlids made the loaches braver, and once those "brave" fish were removed the loaches went into hiding With cichlids, my loaches would go to the surface and feast on food; now just the little guys go to the top. To help them feel more at home, I added gaint danios, lowered the amount of light, feed mostly sinking food, and added treat skewers.

And like so many others, I find this site AFTER I decided to change the tank over to loaches. Well the site is just amazing and I am saddened i didn't find it sooner, but i am glad i have!

The tank i have now is home for too many loaches, but at this time they are small. As the clowns grow, I will be moving them over to a larger tank (greater than 150g) within the year. I have been finding large used tanks with stands for ~$400. I will be purchasing a tank to be a true river tank set up for the clowns alone. The current set up will be home for my smaller loaches.. Darios and Kubotias.. so it is all a work in progress.

I knew clowns had the potential to become very large, but never really encountered anyone with enough expertise to accomplish it. Every LFS near me is lacking in most knowledge of their pets. I was under the assumption that they would stay smaller regardless of what i could do for them,,, but with the likes of Emma and many others here ,, i find myself please to know what is possible.


The changes I have been making to my tank, have been done to an established tank with fish. I did not want to tear it down and redo everything. When I started looking at some of the time/cost of what i wanted to do, I decided to invest these items into a larger tank rather than this one. So these changes are easy, cheap, and ultimately for the benefit of the fish. My new tank will be better planned and not done in stages with fish already in it.

so far the fish are healthy, active, and interact a lot. I am doing lots of maintenance and working on improvements all the time. The tank is turning out fantastic. I will keep everyone up to date on any developments.

Peace,

OneWay

[OneWay]

I just took these today with my wife's camera, signed up for youtube, and posted them. They are not the best, but at least you can see some of the loaches. I am sorry you cant really see my 3 largest loaches,, but they grab a mouthfull then eat in shelter.

Videos
loaches eating 1

loaches eating 2

a closer look





here are some photos,, i have posted else where.

[OneWay]

From GPH thread - My tank Overview

i have giant danios and they love the current,, very fun to watch for dithers.


here is the list of my circulation: (diagram to follow)
600gph with sump, return and overflow both at top of the tank.
1200gph Hydor Koralia power head, near the bottom of the tank
300gph filter outlet on top, inlet near bottom.




The power head is at the bottom of the tank to add lower water
movement,, it was a dead spot,,,, lol not any more!


This tank has been in transition from an african chichlid tank to a loach
river tank and with the addition of the Korilia the changes were dramatic.

The sump return and filter return were ok for current and served its
purpose.. but the Koralia added vast amouts of water movement.

My sand is moving from one side of my tank to the other and into caves
and other nooks... it is very cool to see. My largest clown went right in
front of powerhead and just swims against the current,, I catch him doing
this several times a day... he is not in some panic to get out of the tank,,
but rather he seems to coast there enjoying the water movement. He will
sit on the bottom with the current flowing over him as well.

With the addition of more current, all the loaches are out a lot more
"playing" in the current. They are a lot bolder than before and seem to
enjoy the improved flow. I just feel real bad for my two otto's that have
to work so hard to find a slow spot

I am currently working on the sump. I had a buddy build a custom sump
that has a large middle compartment(~20gal) I used to raise baby
chichlids. This method worked fantastic and I want to raise other things in
it now. It has lighting on the same timer as the main tank, a powerhead
sponge filter w/ 2 biowheels for added filtration, and other more standard
gear. I am currently adding a baffle to make 2 compartments, one w/
bioballs and the other compartment is for raising shrimp and snails. I
currently have quite a few snails and some shrimp in there atm. Since
this is more of an experiment,, I will let everyone know of its success.

[chefkeith]

Nice story. That sounds normal to me. I use to keep hampsters in my dresser drawers. Nice loaches. So where did you get your Biology degree?

[OneWay]

Nice story. That sounds normal to me. I use to keep hampsters in my dresser drawers. Nice loaches. So where did you get your Biology degree?

In middle of the United States @ Iowa State Univeristy; I grew up outside of Boston and went to high school outside of Seattle. Obviously, my family moved a few times

[palaeodave]

Hi OneWay, welcome to the forums. We're always interested in seeing pictures and look forward to seeing how your new tank develops.

[Jim Powers]

Where is "Mid West USA"?

[OneWay]

Where is "Mid West USA"?

after going to ISU I was lucky or unfortunate to land a job in Ames,, so I am still in Iowa

[bslindgren]

I thought someone was writing about me there for a minute. But then I got to the turtles, which I never kept.

Welcome. Your clowns look nice. You are one of many who have seen the light after starting to keep loaches. Looking forward to more pictures and tales from Ames, Iowa! What kind of LFSs do you have there?

[OneWay]

I thought someone was writing about me there for a minute. But then I got to the turtles, which I never kept.

Welcome. Your clowns look nice. You are one of many who have seen the light after starting to keep loaches. Looking forward to more pictures and tales from Ames, Iowa! What kind of LFSs do you have there?

Indeed, I was misinformed about clowns from both LFS's and books that never went into any depth about individual fish. I have always liked clowns and was excited to get back to them.

As for fish stores near me.

-In town we have one local store that has a good selection of reptiles, rodents, birds, and other "college friendly" pets.... the fish.. are sadly the last ones I would buy. The store is more for getting pets in and out fast,, rather than high quality fish. Any fish you tend to buy from the store you can count on dieing shortly there after.
-We have an Earl May and a Wal Mart but these are low on the list of good fish.

-30 minutes away we have a Pet Smart that is suprizingly good. The fish are as healthy as can be expected and the tanks are clean. The store staff actually asks you a lot of questions about your tanks, other fish, and makes sure your set up is proper. Their selection is very hit or miss,, and most annoyingly they have started putting lone clowns in tank to eat snails and placing a single goldfish in the tanks with other fish.
I can not fathom what they think the advantage is to having filthy goldfish in all their tanks.

-45 minutes away there is another store that specializes in African Cichlids and has a good selection of them and synodontis, but the other fish are hit or miss.
-There is another store close to this one, but it specializes in saltwater and has limited selection in freshwater. I did find 2 Kubotias there that I snatched up. They were a little overpriced, but +3" and very heathly.

-about 1.5 hours away is the best store i have found in my area.. the store is ran by a fish lover who takes pride in his fish, he breeds a lot of fish to supplement his stock, but he also specializes in African Cichlids.

-other than these there is not much else, I have been to every fish store in 100 miles of here,, not very much else out there other than you common community tank fish.

-i have been ordering most of my fish from http://www.liveaquaria.com/ and have looked at http://www.azgardens.com/ for items as well.



One fish I felt I was getting close to breeding was Tilapia buttikoferi. I had 3 females and a male. These fish are nasty aggressive and are rough on everything in the tank.

Oddly enough I was watching discovery channel about river otters in Sierra Leone and my fish showed up. The show went on about how the rivers dry up and the otters have to go from pool to pool to catch fish... then there is the otter eating a T. buttikoferi.. i was like wow,, that is my fish

So, i had my male and female in the same tank with a 1/2" plexi glass devider. I lowered the water level and let is sit for several days, then added tons of fresh water... the male who my wife named Mr Blue lips,,, for his very metalic blue lips went through a dramatic change. I have never seen nor heard of this before, but this is what he did.

His color was alway vibrant, his anal fin was longer and pointy when compared to the female. He also has blue lips , but after this water change his 2nd ray of his dorsal fin grew about 3" longer than the rest and his first ray/spine of his ventral fins grew longer as well. The ventral fins grew past his anus, near 6" long when compared to normal or the female.

google search I found these:
male - you can barely see a little blue in his lips, but you can see the ventral fins are longer at the ends.


female- they seem to get bigger than the males and are nasty, mean fish to their own kind.


The male wanted to get with the female and was showing,,, when they got excited the female would show her ovipositer,, a fat grayish tube and the male would show his privates,,, a very small gray triangle. so i thought it is now or never. Well the introduction did not go well.. she nearly killed him in several minutes and i had to separate them. From that point on it did not matter how i introduced them, she wouuld attack him. After several years, I went back to a typical african cichlid tank. since with T. buttikoferi they will tear everything in your tank apart. It would seem the fish have a good memory of dominance and i could never get the male to assert himself.. and the female was relentlessly brutal.

I found these fish to be very smart, my largest female would come to my hand and be petted, she learned to leave other cichlids and clowns alone I had to build a rock pile on 1 half of my tank where all the little zebra cichlids and loaches could run in and out of the holes. The T. buttikoferi would play wack a mole for several days,, and slowly learn that she could not catch them,,, so i would slowly remove the rocks and the process would contiue. Until the T. buttikoferi stop chasing the fish and my tank could be landscaped like normal.

He a little off topic, but hey it is my thread alright good it is late here, so good night everyone.

Fred aka OneWay

[loachmom]

Very nice loaches, One Way.
Welcome again!

[OneWay]

The first full 5 mins of the loach frenzy

You can see the current really well and my larger loaches come and go as they grab bits.

enjoy

[OneWay]

Well I have a feeling that my loaches are finally comfortable with all the
changes with the tank In my tank, my largest 3-4 clowns were really
timid, but their behavior has improved in some dramatic fashion. They
are bolder now being out and about nearly all the time playing in the current,

But the single most enjoyable behavior is when I
get up in the morning and walk over standing in front of my tank,, the
Whole shoal, 12 members strong,, come out and school in front of me
playing in the current. It is quite amazing since; they are all off doing
their own thing and my walking over is a signal for them to all gather up
and get ready for the day. They tumble and rub up against each other in
the current, not at the glass. It is nice to watch

The darios and kubotias randomly join in, but I think they just like the
excitement and do not really know why they are swimming around. They
are usually busy doing something or other, but love to join in something
fun. Of course I feed them some food to reward them and re-enforce the behavior

Also, as I have recently read elsewhere, my largest clown has
been "yawning" now and then as well. I have caught, I’m guessing, her
doing it very casually when she is with others and not directed at me.


Just wanted to tell someone of the cool behavior of my shoal and here is
the perfect spot. I do not have video of it, but I will attempt to get some tomorrow morning

[OneWay]

as promised, I grabbed the camera before I walked over to my tank and grabbed some video of the morning greeting.

This one does not last as long as usual and none of the other loaches join in the fun this morning either, but it is full of clowns.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhnEYgCB-zg

[OneWay]

I am working on my upgrade tank for my clowns and wanted some feed back.

220 gallon tank, dimension 7'x2'x2', for $375 US.
Currently built into a wall, i can get the "wall" stand, but it does not come with a show stand.