Our Freshwater Aquarium Page

I had always wanted an aquarium, and when my wife was gone on a business trip it seemed like the perfect time to surprise her with a nice aquarium. It started with two whiskey barrel fish ponds outside. Then we setup the aquarium inside. Update... a lot of time has passed since I have updated this page and many fish have passed away. I have indicated which fish are no longer with us :(

First I built a stand for the 40 gallon 'long' tank I purchased on sale. I prefer to build my own stuff, and I figured I made this beautiful home-made piece for about 1/2 what you would pay in the store. Its solid pine with a maple stain and semi-gloss polyurethane. Its built on a 2x4 structure to make sure it will support several hundred pounds.	Here is the finished product so far. And aquarium with a wide variety of fish and plants.
One of our favorite fish, a marble angelfish. (Deceased)	An African Butterfly fish, my wifes favorite. Very interesting to watch it eat crickets!
One of our latest fish... an accidental cichlid (2 of them). It seems they get along fine in our community tank. Here you can see our green barbs and tiger barbs checking out the cichlid. (Deceased) More of the cichlid. It was sold to us as a Green Severum. We thought it was neat because it looked like a cichlid yet it was in with community fish. The sales person didn't realize it was in fact a cichlid.	Our first fish we bought were 3 Bala Sharks. They grew rapidly, almost trippling in size in a few months until they died from an outbreak of ick. (Deceased)
The larger of the two Green Severums. This pic was after we had them about 4 months. When new, this one was slightly larger than the other (other one being slightly larger than our green barbs) now its the biggest fish in the tank and about triple the size of the other severum. A really cool looking fish! (Deceased) Another shot of the bigger Green Severum	I really liked the 'eel like' fish, and at first, loaches were the closest thing I could get. This Dojo Loach (aka weather loach) is long a skinny and swims all around the tank very gracefully. You can also see the head of our Peacock Eel sticking out from under the driftwood. The loach is always hanging out in unusual places and positions. Here he is laying vertical!

Here is our first actual eel, a Peacock Eel. I have heard this is one of the better eels as it only grows to about a foot long whereas most eels grow two or three times that long. (Deceased)	Here is our oldest tank specimen, an African Dwarf Frog. We had him in a Betta bowl a year before we setup the aquarium. The Dojo Loach seems to always be annoying the frog, either laying ontop of him or trying to get underneath him looking for food.
A Gold Gourami, a free fish of the month that killed several of our fish by spreading ick when we first got it. This fish is also one of the meanest fish we have, chasing most fish relentlessly.	A Julli cory catfish. I wanted a scavanger / bottom feeder fish but I didnt like the look of most cory cats, until I found this one. Its a really neat looking cory.
We have a few swordtails, this I think is the most interestingly colored. A male Neon Swordtail. (Deceased)	The first loach I bought. Unfortunately I have never seen any more of this type for sale, nor I have ever seen this loach online anywhere's. It was listed as an Oscillated Loach. (Deceased)
Here is a Yoyo Loach (Lohacha Botia I think is the real name). We originally had a pair but one succumbed to the ick the gold gourami spread. These are great fish, and will enjoy the company of other loaches.	And what tank would be complete without a Plecostomus. We originally bought this as a tiny 79 cent monthly special that was barely 1.5" long. In less than 6 months he is now huge and is the biggest fish in our tank at about 6" in length! Very rapid growing fish. Our second pleco, a Clown Pleco.
Picture doesn't do it justice, but this is an Australian Rainbow. One of the cheaper rainbows (free fish of the month) but it still is very colorful when the light hits it right. 3 new rainbows, dwarf neon rainbows, with the Australian up front.	Rainbow Shark. Neat coloring but a mean fish. Constantly chases our barbs and most other fish all around the tank despite lots of plants and driftwood.
Red Glass Barbs. They will sometimes school with the other Green and Tiger Barbs.	Zebra Botia, the latest addition to our Loaches. It is very small right now but still very colorful and fun to watch.
Synodontis Lace Catfish. It likes to hang out upside down most of the time. Has grown huge (went from about 2.5" long to about 7" long in under a year). Another shot of the fella belly - up.	Skunk Loach. All white with a thin black strip down the back and also down the side ahead of the tail. The smallest loach I have so far, at around 1.25" in length. But despite its small size is the most aggressive loach in the tank, and always seems to chase the Zebra around.