Multiple Tank Syndrome Strikes Again

A quick pause in the details of the office 55 gallon take for a weekend update. More tanks and fish coming! They are coming faster than I can type about them all.

Friday I got a quick chance to pick up some pure bred angels from a friend in town. She helped introduce me to the world of angelfish and has easily 15 tanks with nothing but angels, bristlenose plecos, and a couple of SAEs. She does have one cichlid tank with a blood red parrot and some beautiful white labs, but really she is an angelfish specialist.

I bought three new angelfish from her, two that are bigger than a silver dollar and one that's about quarter-sized. And for the record, when we discuss angelfish size we refer to their body size without their fins.

I'm looking to add some BNPs myself and there is a guy with a great reputation that breeds them on a pretty large scale and is semi-local. He's down in Cleburne, which is really too far to drive for a couple of fish. It turns out Nancy, my friend with the angels, is driving down to see him today so she is going to pick some up for me. I'll swing by her house on Monday on the way home from the airport to pick them. Thanks goodness for the great friends that I've met through the local fish enthusiasts group - they save me a lot of money and help get much better quality livestock.

I also have a shipment of Red Cherry Shrimp (RCS) coming next week. I ordered them from an online auction site, aquabid.com, and they'll be shipping from Florida Friday. I got screwed over recently in my first purchase from aquabid - the jackass who sold me some RCS from Chicago screwed up on the packaging and they all got cooked in the heat before they got here. This seller has assured me that he can get them here alive, so my fingers are crossed. Since then, another kind member of the local club has offered me some for free, so if these don't make it I'm going that right. She also has offered me a marbled crayfish, which look and sound very cool, so I may go that route. That will be an interesting post as that's an invertebrate that can clone itself without a mate. I'd really like to get one, I just need to make sure that I've got a tank to put him in where he'll be happy and he won't eat the other fish or plants.

Now for the Multiple Tank Syndrome (MTS) attack. MTS is what we call the overwhelming desire to get more aquariums, often at great expense to your finances and living space. I've got it bad, that's how I ended up with seven tanks in less than a year. Well, one of the local club members is unloading a bunch of tanks and is offering some twenty long tanks very cheaply - ten dollars a piece if you buy five. I couldn't resist, as Stephanie and I are starting to talk seriously about converting our barroom into a fish room. I figured we could throw them in the attic if we don't use them right away and have them when we are ready for our next tank. They are a nice size - 30" x 12" x 12" deep, I think. We have one now that we use for breeding and growing out guppies. I'm going to pick them up today.

Then another friend, Tony, is selling a 5.5 gallon setup with everything -filter, heater, light, top, the whole bit - for $40. I'm very tempted as that would be a great shrimp tank. I've got a ten gallon that I'm using for RCS and plant grow out now, but I'd love to get another shrimp species. They come in a rainbow of colors and are very, very cool. I haven't made up my mind on that one, but it's tempting. Maybe I can talk him down to $30. Even at $40 I think it's a pretty good price considering everything that's included.

If you know anyone local that might be interested in buying a beautiful, custom-built pool table send me a note via comments - I need room for tanks!