What happened to the Days...Weeks...Months?

*pokes in head, looks around for any signs of life*

So...yes, I disappeared for a while there, but I am back and will try to give a brief yet detailed update on the happenings of the Vintage Tank.

Boy have things Changed!

We moved in April of this year which precipitated the lack of updates to this poor neglected blog.
Mendal and I, our 5 cats and TVT are all now living in a spacious 4 bedroom home. In fact we have so much space I was able to convince Mendal we NEEDED more tanks. So I now have a 15 gallon High and a 10 gallon Metaframe (I stumbled upon it at a goodwill for only $4 and Mendal found a matching light at our LFS for $10). We also have set up the little mini me Metaframe that is nearly 2 gallons. I also have sold my Hex tanks...not a big fan of the shape or of Acrylic tanks.

So After moving to new house I tested the water and found the ph was a bit higher than our tap water at the old house. it is actually 7.0 instead of 6.8. I had to add the water back to the tanks slowly because of this. Also it must be said that The Vintage Tank is Freakin' Heavy! Mendal and I carried it in and it nearly killed me dead...or you know made me tired...

Also all of the fish in TVT were put into a 5 gallon bucket with lid and heater, while all of the Bettas were put back into the little containers they were purchased in for the actual move.

After the tank was set up I ended up deciding not to set up the 5 gallon Hex tanks, and but all of the girl Bettas into TVT with the corries and the Colombians. They LOVED it swimming like no tomorrow. And the Colombians liked them too and became much more visible.

Lenore was put into the 2 gallon Metaframe and then contracted Dropsy and died about 4 days after the move...we were very sad, and I felt responsible as I'm sure the stress from the move and the small cup and then the new water did not help matters.

After a few weeks TVT experienced a bad case of Green Water which took a week of daily water changes to combat. We ultimately moved the tank from its space in the living room near a window to the dinning room which looks much better. The 2 gallon is also in the dining room on a built in shelf/alcove thingy. The 15 Gallon is in the living room and the newest 10 gallon is in my Bead Room (my other addiction in life is jewelry making...but that's another long story).

I will update with pictures soon, hopefully on Saturday of this week and not 6 Months from now!

Also news on the Residents of The Vintage Tank! Not good news...my Stealth Heater mentioned some where in greater detail on this blog, over heated and killed all but 3 of my Colombians and 10 of the Neon Tetras that I had bought on a whim a few months ago (on sale 2 for 88 cents).

So The Residents of the tank are now one quite large Gold Angelfish (bought smaller than a quarter and is now about 3 inches not including fins), 4 Three Line Cories, 1 Neon Tetra, and the newest editions 6 Skunk Cories. I will post individual information for the Angelfish and the Skunk Cories soon.

Also more terrible news the 15 gallon was home to my Female Betta's and they loved it almost as much as TVT, I actually bought more and had 9 girls, one of which turned out to be a Male King Betta sold as a girl (found out when he started building a huge bubble nest and harassing the crap out of my dominant girls Shirley and Francis. He was moved to TVT. Well the terrible news is that due to a huge error on my part I spread a quick moving deadly disease or parasite to the 15 gallon tank that killed all of the girls. Never move a sick fish into a healthy tank no matter what your reasons are. Quarantine Tanks (QT) are a must and I wish so badly I had one...If I did all of my beautiful girls would still be here... :( Also it helps to have proper medicines on hand for any eventuality.

After dosing the 15 gallon with a CUP of Ammonia I waited 3 weeks for it to super cycle and then did a massive water change to lower the Nitrates. Mendal suggested we "rescue" some Rosy Red Minnows which are marketed as feeder fish. I was excited about this as they were cheap and matched our decor! We bought 14 and they were happy little cold water fish until one day they all but 1 suddenly died, in a matter of 4 days they were all gone but 1, with no outward signs of disease or parasites. I tried treating for internal parasites but it was too late. This is abbreviated I spent hours doing water changes and ended up turning a 5 gallon bucket into a QT as the newly purchased 10 gallon Metaframe needed to be resealed. So now the lone Minnow has the 15 gallon high to his self...and I don't know what to do with the tank, I'm afraid to add new fish without dumping ammonia in it, and I don't no were to put Minnow boy while I'm doing that as I can't keep in The Vintage Tank because A. he is a cold water fish and B. he may be carrying a quick killing disease.

So because of all this death and craziness I have decided to do a complete revamp on my tanks and fish residents. And because it has become obvious that I can not summarize anything quickly I am cutting my self off here!

Next Post Pictures of setup from over the last few months.
Upcoming Posts new fish on the scene...one hint Bolivian Rams...

I'll be back soon, promise!
Deese