okay... today is the day!

today is the day. our 125g tank has arrived... the stand is under neath it (a good place IMO) - and so, today i move all the fish from my 135g in the front entranceway into the new 125g in my living room.

all the fish from my 77g in the kitchen go into the 135g.

and my new fish which are being held for me... will be brought home soon to be housed in the 77g.

it's going to be a long day... moving substrate (sand), rocks, setting up habitats for the different fish within the tank before moving the fish over... we have around 100 fry in the 135 who need to be moved as well...

so... send me some happy, giddy, fun fun fun vibes to make this day more fun than work - i have no helpers... i'm doing it alone. :rolleye2:

so once i get some :coffeemac going and http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x...s/36_11_11.gif i'll have a little :bounce: in my step and get to work.

when i'm done i'll be sure to take some http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x...s/36_13_13.gif and upload them to my :gallery: so you can all see how gorgeous they are!

i've been waiting so long to get this done... and i'm sooooooooooooo :sunny: happy the day has come to set up this new tank!

so... i'll stop :blahblah: and start :juggle: some substrate and rocks up the stairs.

oh ya... did i mention the stairs? i have to move everything up the stairs and then the other tank stuff down the stairs... so i should loose about 30 lbs today as well! (yup we are looking for the perks here folks) :yes:

ROFL Aleesha, you sure do know how to make the most mundane of tasks sound interesting. Well, best of luck in having little to no glitches that'll slow you down or cause any extra frustration. Perks are always a plus!:)

I bet you could use some help. :D it sure is nice here...i think i might grab a sweet tea, head out to the patio and bask in the sun for a while and pretend i'm helping you so I won't feel so bad :rofl:

sounds like a busy day for you...I can't wait to see some pictures :gj:

thanks guys :rainon: aren't you both ever so helpful! :giggle:

it's hot hot HOT here as well... which may make this better (having my hands in water all day) or worse (humidity of said water and heat of said water)

but... we ARE looking at the positives not the negatives! :P

I feel like I was reading one of those stories from those Highlights magazines as a kid. Have fun today! Fish tanks are gorgeous but I don't have the patience to deal with them

that will be so great when it's done!


my back aches just thinking about it...moving substrate is about the worst pain in the lower back you can have!

looking forward to pics when the dust settles!

My only words for you dear friend are...

LIFT WITH YOUR LEGS NOT YOUR BACK! :D

If I was closer I'd love to come help. I spent the other hot as hades day here shampooing carpets if that makes you feel any better LOL. Can't wait to see the pictures when all the tanks are set up and the fishies are settled in.

no need to wait any longer!!!!!

and yes, i did lift with my hubby's legs rather than my own :rofl:

I'M DONE!

whew... my hubby was a GREAT help! normally he doesn't assist at all but today he was wonderful!

so.... here's the pics.

starting off... so many people forget the number one most important part of setting up a tank... make sure it's level! the stand may be level... but the floor may not be... so always check!!!

http://www.timelessspirit.com/images/tanks/level.jpg

and filled...

http://www.timelessspirit.com/images/tanks/125g.jpg

the tank is a little high for me... it was tough reaching the bottom... okay i can't but i almost can :D

and then the move of the oscars... oh man are they grumpy now! you can see brindi in the right hand corner (white and orange) and felix is behind her (black and orange). they are mad... hey refuse to leave their corners!

http://www.timelessspirit.com/images/tanks/oscar135.jpg

and... my first ever DIY project. i went to home depot and bought some of the grating for ceilings ($19 for the two pieces)... and i cut it to size and made a lid... and then used a flourescent lighting fixture ($34) and a set of daylight tubes from home depot ($9) and voila! a tank lid!!!

http://www.timelessspirit.com/images/tanks/diy.jpg

the fluval fx5 is great. it is working like a charm... very pleased with the flow so far. :D it has a dual direction head... my absolute favourite part!

of course the tank stand will be finished with a hog island boa enclosure on one side and a set of shelves for our tarantulas on the other side... and behind it - the fluval fx5 will reside!

and yes... as i get more done... i'll update with pics!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tmlowe5704

I feel like I was reading one of those stories from those Highlights magazines as a kid. Have fun today! Fish tanks are gorgeous but I don't have the patience to deal with them

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i looooved that magazine! LOL

Wow that's a huge job undertaken! Good job Leesha and her hubby! I must say though dear I've never seen pouting Oscars before LOL.

If you would have let me know in time I would have been right there!!!:D :D


You did such a great job without me !!:P :sweeet:

jo,

then you've never truly met an oscar! they are the sulkiest... poutiest... most 'personality' fish.

if you do a water change... they pout.

if you change their tank around... they pout.

IF you miss feeding day OR you feed differently than they like... they pout!!!

I realize that moving day is over but....ALL BY YOUR SELF? :eek:
You're nuts woman!!!!!!

Just out of curosity, why are the fish in the 135 going into a smaller tank?
You might have explained that elsewhere (I haven't looked, yes, I'm lazy :D) or did they start sending you hate mail for not putting them into that cool looking 125 with the disco ball that they emailed pictures of to you? :carrot: :P

hahahahaha no the reason i moved them in two-fold

first my area is expecting a flood. i doubt it'll be much but they are concerned that it could be quite significant. so... i looked at my home and thought, "okay what's on the lower levels of the house that need to be put into a safer area"... all i came up with was my son's guitars and my bismarck frontosas.

so, since we were setting up the 125g in the living room (and in the past i had wanted to move them upstairs to enjoy them more) i thought this is a good opportunity to make them safer plus this way i can view them more often (as i'm in the living room more hours a day than in the front entranceway of our home).

second... the bismarck tank is more esthetically pleasing than the oscar tank. (sorry felix and brindi). so it makes more sense to have them up in the living room.

a 135 and 125 isn't all that different. the 125 is 1/4" less wide and almost 2" less high. different companies make different 'sizes' of tanks. this is a higher quality tank than the one downstairs. (135 is allglass - 125 is perfecto)

the move went very smoothly, never lost a single fish (which is typical when we move our fish around). AND my hubby was absolutely wonderful... he totally pulled his weight so now, when it's time to move around tanks... he's going to have to do the same *menacing laughter* no more sitting on the sidelines only setting up the filteration for him for now on LOL

oh and update on the oscars...

they are flaring their gills at the tank, at each other, at their tank mates... and whenever i come to sit with them they stare at me for a few minutes and then hightail it into the corner and stay there till i leave LOL - not eating... they are sulking BIG time! felix will go down and look at the sand and look back at me as if to say, "and what the heck is THIS??? where's my gravel? i didn't ask for sand!"

Love the animated storyline!


That was a big task, and looks beautiful!

Congrats

thanks Heather!

What do you mean you spend more time in your living room than in the front enterence? :O
I thought ALL moms spent the majority of our time in the front enterence....waiting for our opertunity to run out the door in an effort to avoid the next barrage of "MOM, SHE HIT ME...MOM, HE SAID I'M A JERK!!" :lol:

Pouting oscars...that would figure! We had an oscar at the school I went to and it was the same way. It pouted over every little thing, even if the amount of food put in was not perfect. :rolleyes:

the two of them ate today... but not as much as usual. they started eating and then they remembered they are mad at me so they stopped LOL

WOW Aleesha!!! The end results are amazing.... Grab a good cop-o-jo and enjoy the fruit of your labors!!!! (and your hub's) lol


I LOVEEEEEEEEE Frontosas.... :D

thanks :hug: laura. i am gaga over the fronts as well. this grouping of bismarcks is beautiful. they are very rare here and so it's such a treat to have them in my home... and of course, having something no one else has is great fun!

Nice!! I love the 125g size; it is just right. I like you, have Oscars in mine.. but are those Livingstoni in there too?? I would die, because I have one too, and they are one of my favorite fish! But I know that there is a species of cichlid that look similar but they have more yellow; maybe that is what you have. Awesome!! I always look forward to seeing your tanks.

it's a venustus... and i have a male coming for her ;)

the 125 is a nice size... not too big but not too small. our 210 is such a handful to maintain. i prefer to deal with the depth of the 125.

i wondered when you would chime in as i know how much you love your oscars as well!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by recycling goddess

the 125 is a nice size... not too big but not too small. our 210 is such a handful to maintain. i prefer to deal with the depth of the 125.

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I agree; my friend has a 220 at her store, and it is a bear to get fish out of it.. especially since they are all fast-moving cichlids and someone has to have a certain one; she has been known to hand over the net to the customer who wants the fish!

omgoddess i would never house any fish which need to be removed in a tank that large! my friend comes over whenever i have a 'problem' fish in my 210. she's amazing. give her about 5 minutes and it's in the net. she has the patience of a goddess i tell ya! :bow:

today i'm setting up the 77 gallon... i'm hopeful the flood won't come... so i'm getting prepared for the fish who will reside in here soon enough. i won't bring them home till the flood threat is over... which will be three weeks from now. the first rise in the river is this weekend. if the ****s hold and the water flow isn't too fast, then we'll be okay (faster flowing water erodes the ****s faster)... then there will be two more 'swells' of the river to deal with and hopefully we will make it through dry. :please:

well there was no flood and the alerts were removed... so i brought home the new fish for the 77 gallon.

i also brought home a few new tank mates for the 135g which houses my oscars. after 2 weeks... they were still sulking!!! i added in their new mates and they seemed to cheer up. we pondered if they were happier because now their tank didn't seem so large having more friends in there with them...

but within 30 minutes they turned aggressive. i had to remove the oscars and put them into a 46 gallon for a couple of days... so they could forget they were king of the tank and accept their new tank mates (they've always had tankmates)

less than 72 hours in the 46 gallon and they are dead. i'm devastated. i can't believe this has happened. i loooove my oscars and now they are both gone. they just laid on the bottom of the tank and died. no signs of any disease... nothing.

i will always miss brindi and felix... they were more than just fish to us... they were part of our family! :hug:

Aww, so sorry to hear that! :( :hug:

I used to have a little catfish that I was really attached to. You really get attached to the little guys.

Oh,:(



I'm so sorry to hear that - they are such personalities you can't help but get attatched.:(

Do you have any idea what caused it? Was it just a huge P party and they overloaded the filter?


dr del

I'm so sorry Aleesha. :hug: It's always a bit harder to take, when they go so suddenly and without explanation.

Although at least you didn't get the floods, which is good. :hug:

So sorry to hear Aleesha. I had Oscars (as well as many other fish) and was very attached to all of them, but especially the Oscars. One of mine died tragically a few years back and it still makes me sad. Hang in there!

i hear ya jamie... they are amazing fish. like pet dogs of the fish world... such huge personality in those eyes...

derek, i have absolutely no idea what in the world happened. there's no reason for them to have died. the water quality was great... the tank is a bow front and they had lots of space. they were large oscars but not fully grown yet...

christie, i am so thankful the flood didn't come...

sausage... thank you

:hug: