Hello all!
I picked up some live rock & fish from a nice guy a couple of weeks ago and he told me all about this website! Â So here I am! Â I am in NW Houston and I'm a stay at home mom of two little boys, 4 years and 2.5 years. Â My kids know more about fish than most adults! Â
I have loved fish and ocean stuff for my whole life, but the most I've ever kept before last September was a goldfish in a bowl when I was a kid and a betta in a bowl when I first lived alone on my own. Â The hubby and I have always wanted to have a large fish tank, so we never got a small one because we'd always say oh, we don't want one until we can have a 100 gallons or more. Â Well, last Sept. I had some birthday money and was in Wal-Mart with the kids and we looked at the fish. Â Before you could say multiple tank syndrome, I had a 10 gallon kit and lots of accessories in my shopping cart and we headed home with our first fish tank! Â It took about 5 more minutes for us to acquire a 2nd 10 gallon, then a 28 tall, then we really hit the jackpot in December and got our hands on a really nice 110. Â I'm a Craigslist addict! Â If you have gotten messages from a girl wanting to buy your awesome setup for $200, that was probably me! Â LOL Â What can say, once I find a bargain, I try to stick with it! Â
 Then, out of the clear blue sky, a beautiful 105 gallon Oceanic RR system fell into our laps.  Pure luck and just a wonderful blessing as we'd never have been able to afford to start up a saltwater tank from scratch!  This thing came with everything but the powerheads.
Okay, so here is the list of our tanks & what's in them right now!
55 gallon planted community - driftwood - fake and real, lots of plants I don't know all the scientific names, I just know I think they're pretty. Â Opaline gourami who is the star of the show, blue male betta, 4 diamond tetras, 2 platys, 3 male guppies, 2 german blue rams, 5 mixed cory cats, 1 albino bn pleco, 1 ginormous gold apple snail, lots of ramshorns, 1 bamboo shrimp, 8 amano shrimp that disappear into a 2nd dimension of the tank unless they feel like being seen.
75 gallon - empty at the moment, might be trading it to a gal for a 135 gallon!
110 gallon - mixed African Cichlids - all juveniles, 1 daffodil brichardi, 2 mbuna - red & ice blue zebras, 1 gorgeous blue & black stripey one, 1 lavender & yellowish plaid looking one, 4 Jewels including 1 breeding pair that can't hatch an egg to save their lives, 1 bright yellow gold guy, several unidentified babies I adopted from Petsmart - think they're red snooks, 5 baby convicts I adopted from Petsmart, and a school of 8 rosy barbs as dither fish and they do a great job and are just as feisty as the cichlids, thank you very much. Â
105 gallon Saltwater - 150 or so pounds of live rock, 100 pounds live sand, 2 sebae clowns (about to be evicted for eating my yellow clown goby), 1 Scooter Blenny (dragonette - I'm breeding pods for him!), Pair of gold headed sleeper gobies, 1 orange diamond goby, 1 six spot goby (also being evicted for being ugly to pretty much everyone), 1 foxface (being evicted for taking up valuable space & I want different fish and he came with some of my rocks), 1 cleaner shrimp, multiple hermits and snails, 2 pom pom shrimp but I haven't seen them since I put them in last weekend.
Before anyone says WHOA, she's stocked that saltwater tank WAY too fast, I bought most of my live rock from well established tanks and it came with fish. Â I also bought the sand from a well established tank that was over a year old. Â I've got loads of pods in there. Â I also brought the water from the 1 year old tank we bought stuff from. Â SO, I basically had an established tank without all the waiting for the cycle! Â
Okay, this is probably too long. Â I'm chatty, especially about my fish. Â I know you understand. Â Look forward to getting to know you guys and buying many bargains off you! Â
 Below are some pics of my tanks!
Annette the bargain hunting fishymommy
salty tank

110g cichlid tank - been reaquascaped since this pic though

Don't have one of the 55 yet, but we're giving it to a friend when we get the 135 we're swapping for. Â Hopefully the 135 will become the cichlid tank and the 110 will be for my community fish. Â Or I'll be giving away my community fish so my husband can keep Oscars and other enormous mean fish in the 135 and I'll keep my Africans in the 110. Â
Okay, really done now! Â Time to start looking around and asking questions!
I picked up some live rock & fish from a nice guy a couple of weeks ago and he told me all about this website! Â So here I am! Â I am in NW Houston and I'm a stay at home mom of two little boys, 4 years and 2.5 years. Â My kids know more about fish than most adults! Â

I have loved fish and ocean stuff for my whole life, but the most I've ever kept before last September was a goldfish in a bowl when I was a kid and a betta in a bowl when I first lived alone on my own. Â The hubby and I have always wanted to have a large fish tank, so we never got a small one because we'd always say oh, we don't want one until we can have a 100 gallons or more. Â Well, last Sept. I had some birthday money and was in Wal-Mart with the kids and we looked at the fish. Â Before you could say multiple tank syndrome, I had a 10 gallon kit and lots of accessories in my shopping cart and we headed home with our first fish tank! Â It took about 5 more minutes for us to acquire a 2nd 10 gallon, then a 28 tall, then we really hit the jackpot in December and got our hands on a really nice 110. Â I'm a Craigslist addict! Â If you have gotten messages from a girl wanting to buy your awesome setup for $200, that was probably me! Â LOL Â What can say, once I find a bargain, I try to stick with it! Â

Okay, so here is the list of our tanks & what's in them right now!
55 gallon planted community - driftwood - fake and real, lots of plants I don't know all the scientific names, I just know I think they're pretty. Â Opaline gourami who is the star of the show, blue male betta, 4 diamond tetras, 2 platys, 3 male guppies, 2 german blue rams, 5 mixed cory cats, 1 albino bn pleco, 1 ginormous gold apple snail, lots of ramshorns, 1 bamboo shrimp, 8 amano shrimp that disappear into a 2nd dimension of the tank unless they feel like being seen.
75 gallon - empty at the moment, might be trading it to a gal for a 135 gallon!
110 gallon - mixed African Cichlids - all juveniles, 1 daffodil brichardi, 2 mbuna - red & ice blue zebras, 1 gorgeous blue & black stripey one, 1 lavender & yellowish plaid looking one, 4 Jewels including 1 breeding pair that can't hatch an egg to save their lives, 1 bright yellow gold guy, several unidentified babies I adopted from Petsmart - think they're red snooks, 5 baby convicts I adopted from Petsmart, and a school of 8 rosy barbs as dither fish and they do a great job and are just as feisty as the cichlids, thank you very much. Â

105 gallon Saltwater - 150 or so pounds of live rock, 100 pounds live sand, 2 sebae clowns (about to be evicted for eating my yellow clown goby), 1 Scooter Blenny (dragonette - I'm breeding pods for him!), Pair of gold headed sleeper gobies, 1 orange diamond goby, 1 six spot goby (also being evicted for being ugly to pretty much everyone), 1 foxface (being evicted for taking up valuable space & I want different fish and he came with some of my rocks), 1 cleaner shrimp, multiple hermits and snails, 2 pom pom shrimp but I haven't seen them since I put them in last weekend.
Before anyone says WHOA, she's stocked that saltwater tank WAY too fast, I bought most of my live rock from well established tanks and it came with fish. Â I also bought the sand from a well established tank that was over a year old. Â I've got loads of pods in there. Â I also brought the water from the 1 year old tank we bought stuff from. Â SO, I basically had an established tank without all the waiting for the cycle! Â
Okay, this is probably too long. Â I'm chatty, especially about my fish. Â I know you understand. Â Look forward to getting to know you guys and buying many bargains off you! Â

Annette the bargain hunting fishymommy

salty tank

110g cichlid tank - been reaquascaped since this pic though

Don't have one of the 55 yet, but we're giving it to a friend when we get the 135 we're swapping for. Â Hopefully the 135 will become the cichlid tank and the 110 will be for my community fish. Â Or I'll be giving away my community fish so my husband can keep Oscars and other enormous mean fish in the 135 and I'll keep my Africans in the 110. Â
Okay, really done now! Â Time to start looking around and asking questions!
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