What to do now?

[rasmusW]

beautiful mess, you got there.

-r

 

[MacZ]

Well...

Life sucks lately.

Due to prices for energy and water exceeding my budget and me being away for ever longer periods of time, I'm giving up on my blackwater tank come January.

The fish and plants will be given away locally, the tank itself will be put in storage at a good friend's place until I can afford it again.

Meh... It's a shame.

I'll be taking a lot of pictures until the holidays if I can and then I'll say goodbye to all of it.

 

[Yvonne G]

Yeah, you're right - IT'S A SHAME!

 

[Mazan]

Yes, definitely a great shame, a lovely setup and well established. However, I understand the issues.

 

[rasmusW]

Sorry, to hear Sir. I hope you’ll get it back within a short period.

Ohh! But please don’t stop commenting on this board.

-r

 

[MacZ]

Ohh! But please don’t stop commenting on this board.

I'll be honest: For the first part of 2025 I plan on keeping my distance to the hobby, because it's already depressing to go on hiatus, I don't want to make myself miserable watching all your nice tanks and fish while I'll be left with a blank wall and an empty spot in my room. I'll be back after some time, for sure, but in the beginning I'll need to get my head clear.

 

[martin_c]

That's sad to hear.
If it's mainly about the money, I wonder if you could have saved quite some money for heating by just covering the tank with a glass sheet?

 

[MacZ]

Probably, but the plants have overgrown the whole tank. The whole concept is an open tank. Now it's done, the tank is going one wax or another.

 

[martin_c]

Then have a good aquaristic detox, and next year you'll have a fresh start with an all new concept.

 

[MacZ]

Then have a good aquaristic detox, and next year you'll have a fresh start with an all new concept.

That's the plan!

 

[MacZ]

Well, I'm officially out of cichlids in my tanks. Just found the D. filamentosus dead on the bottom of his tank. Lately he got injured and the wound got infected. All measures had no effect.

Well, at least he didn't suffer much, it all went quickly in less than 10 days.

Makes it easier to rehome the Nannostomus eques, which are now the only fish in that tank. 3 of them, old and big specimens.

 

[Mazan]

What happened to the tetras you had?

 

[MacZ]

Old age, months ago.

 

[Mazan]

Old age, months ago.

Ah..time flies I suppose…

 

[MacZ]

Aye, it does.

 

[Samala]

The wonderful thing about this hobby is the ability to walk away and come back to it fresh later; it may be months, it may be years.

I'm grateful you've shared this tank with us and hope you'll be back soon.

 

[MacZ]

And Game over:








This is all the salvageable material. The aquatic plants will be picked up tomorrow morning, the sand is going to a neighbour and the Pothos is going to be distributed all over, and I'll keep one or two myself.


This is just depressing. This morning the whole wall was still green.

Adíos amigos.
I took the last three Nannostomus to the store. When they heard the water parameters they immediately got a bee shrimp tank evacuated as they had no other softwater tanks free.

 

[rasmusW]

I hope it won’t be long before you are back in the game.

-r

 

[martin_c]

Those wavemaster 120 give me nostalgia. I'm suprised they still work, they must be like 25 years old.

 

[MacZ]

Those wavemaster 120 give me nostalgia. I'm suprised they still work, they must be like 25 years old.

They work excellent. And over 25 years, bought 1998.