I’ve been keeping fish for about 3 years now, and have slowly expanded from a single 10-gallon tank in the downstairs living room to a dedicated fish room, with a 75-gallon, a 55-gallon, and a 36-gallon tank.

The largest is a tropical community tank, comprised of the following:

  • An albino bristlenose plecostomus
  • 6x glass catfish
  • 4x harlequin rasboras
  • 12x kuhl loaches
  • 2x otocinclus catfish
  • 12x albino corydoras catfish
  • 6x zebra danios
  • 3x zebra nerite snails
  • An unknown number of red cherry shrimp

a left-side view of 75-gallon aquarium a right-side view of 75-gallon aquarium a center view of 75-gallon aquarium

I have it heavily planted with golden pothos and peace lilies, to act as a filtration system (removing nitrates and reducing the required frequency of water changes).

a right-side view of 75-gallon aquarium plants a left-side view of 75-gallon aquarium plants a close-up center view of 75-gallon aquarium plants a close-up left-side view of 75-gallon aquarium plants a close-up right-side view of 75-gallon aquarium plants

Here are a few photos of its various residents:

two albino corydoras catfish and a red cherry shrimp a glass catfish, with several danios and rasboras in the background a zebra nerite snail grazing on cholla wood nerite snail eggs on aquarium glass an otocinclus catfish grazing on pothos roots a red and a yellow cherry shrimp on dragonstone several greenish and blue cherry shrimp on mopani wood close-up view of a various colors of cherry shrimp and nerite snail eggs on mopani wood two harlequin rasbora and five zebra danios swimming in a school a black kuhli loach hiding under dragonstone

Next is the 55-gallon tank, which is really just the catchall tank that has become overrun by black mollies. The population varies wildly, but currently it contains:

  • ~12 black mollies of various sizes
  • A single otocinclus catfish
  • 2x zebra nerite snails
  • 3x rusty crayfish, one full-grown and the other two juveniles
  • A few assassin snails
  • An equally unknown number of red cherry shrimp

a greenish cherry shrimp standing on an empty assassin snail shell an adult black molly stirring up the sediment while foraging for food an adult black molly swimming face to face with a red cherry shrimp a juvenile black molly swimming nearby a red cherry shrimp a juvenile rusty crayfish climbing on an algae-covered piece of mopani wood

As before, a bunch of plants help keep things (relatively) clean. You can likely tell by the amount of black beard algae that this isn’t quite as well maintained as the larger tank.

a right-side view of 55-gallon aquarium plants a center view of 55-gallon aquarium plants

The final tank is specifically designed for algae-eaters, and requires by far the least active maintenance.

Its residents are:

  • 2x redtail hillstream loaches
  • 3x reticulated hillstream loaches
  • 8x cherry barbs
  • 12x pygmy corydoras catfish
  • An essentially infinite number of red cherry shrimp

a school of cherry barbs swimming in front of a column of bubbles a redtail hillstream loach clinging to aquarium glass with algae-covered rocks in the background a blue cherry shrimp clinging upside-down to a tiger lily leaf on the water’s surface

In addition to the usual pothos, this has a bunch of duckweed (hated by most aquarists, but a great filter plant) and some tiger lotuses (lotii?), though only one of those has started growing so far.

duckweed and a tiger lily leaf floating on the water’s surface, among reflections of multicolored lights a cluster of tiger lily leaves which haven’t yet reached the water’s surface a zoomed-in view of a tiger lily leaf surrounded by duckweed

More photos are still uploading, and I’ll update this post as they arrive!

(I’ll also try to take photos of the nocturnal residents tonight or tomorrow, when they’re feeling less shy)