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Robyn's 50 Gallon Aquarium Page

Last Updated: 9/26/24

Photos and Videos
Fish
Other Animals
Plants
Equipment

I need to update my tank pages. It is on my agenda!

The 50 gallon tank was redone (torn down, cleaned, etc.) on 3/17/07. See the tank redo page for more information.

50 Gallon Tank Photos and Videos

50 gallon glass tank with goldfish setup since 3/29/96 and redone in May of 2001 for smaller fish. It was redone again on 3/17/07. As of 8/13/20, this beautiful 24+ year old aquarium is still going strong but it is way past due for a total cleanout!

My 50 gallon tank on 6/19/05. You can see lots of rosy barbs and the real Siamese algae eater.

Photos and videos are listed from newest to oldest. To see a few older, short videos of the tank, go here.

50 gallon tank on 9/12/13. I took the photo for my cat, Tinkie, who likes to sit on top so this photo was not really meant to showcase the tank.

50 gallon tank on 5/24/13.

50 gallon tank on 7/3/10.

These photos are from 5/19/10:
Red ludwigia and rosy barbs.
Sign on my 50 gallon tank.
Anubius or are they crypts?

My cat, Tinkie, likes to sit on my 20 gallon tank and stick her foot in an opening in the 50 gallon tank. She is hoping to catch a rosy barb. Here she is fishing on 5/29/09:
Tinkie fishing in the 50 gallon tank

Fish Room - 4892 KB, mpg movie.
This movie from 6/21/08 shows all of the aquariums in the laundry room. It starts on the just set up 3 gallon tank which was cloudy as a result, then to the 12 gallon nano reef where most of the corals were closed because I had just changed the water out, then to the 20 gallon freshwater tank, then the 50 gallon freshwater tank, close up on a leopard cory, pull back and then walk back to the 12 gallon nano reef ending on Nemo and a hermit crab who was not in focus.

50 gallon tank on 1/13/08.

50 gallon tank on 1/8/08. This photo was to show the new Anubias barteri and baby tears plants.
Baby tears on 1/8/08. This photo was to show the new baby tears plants. My Queen Arabesque pleco is also in the photo in the upper right.

50 gallon tank on 12/29/07.

These photos are from 3/17/07 and 3/18/07 (the last two) when I redid the tank (emptied it, moved it out from the wall to fit a new filter, and set it back up again; see the tank redo page for more details).
Photo - 50 gallon tank before I started work on it.
Photo - another of the 50 gallon tank before I started work on it.
Photo - 50 gallon tank a few hours if it was done with the renovation. It was a little cloudy.
Photo - 50 gallon tank the next day, 3/18/07.
Photo - 50 gallon tank the next day, 3/18/07.

Photo of the 50 gallon tank fish on 2/28/04 - mostly rosy barbs and the real Siamese algae eater; to see more photos, go to the pages about the specific animals in the tank.

My 50 gallon tank on 9/22/03. You can see the real Siamese algae eater and some of the rosy barbs.

Photo of my 50 gallon tank on 10/14/01. The net breeder is in the upper left of the tank.

Photo of my 50 gallon tank on 6/3/01. See how much smaller the plant growth was!

50 Gallon Tank Fish

32 (counted 39 on 3/17/07, ~14 dead since then but at least that many born, not including young ones) Rosy Barbs from one father and about 20 of his fast-growing babies - a longfin male and regular female were added on 2/16/02 after a two-week quarantine. I got them to eat hair algae. So far, they mostly eat fish food. On 3/9/02, I saw at least two of their babies in the tank that appear to be large enough that they may survive on their own. On 4/6/02, I moved three of their babies from the five gallon fry tank to this tank. I left a smaller one behind. Plus, there are some dozen babies that have made it on their own. So, I now have a dozen rosy barb babies getting big fast in an already overcrowded tank! I am not going to try to save more but they are saving themselves (by hiding in the hair algae forest). The largest babies are almost the size you would buy at the store. On 5/9/02, I found the adult female dead. She showed no signs of any reason she should have died. I assume she suffered some kind of blunt trauma, perhaps from spawning. Her babies are growing fast. There are at least 15 of them. On 5/18/02, I added the last baby from the five gallon fry tank to join the others. By 7/10/02, a few of the 20 some babies had matured into males. By 8/17/02, now it is obvious which are males and females. A little more than half are males. On 2/22/03, I found one of the larger longfin male rosy barbs stuck in the window of a ceramic pagoda ornament. It had been dead a few days, and if I had seen his stuck when alive, I do not think I could have gotten him out alive as he was as wedged as any fish I have ever seen! Blood came out when I forced the body out of it. On 2/14/04, I removed a dead medium-sized male longfin rosy barb who had lost weight and had trouble swimming (my fish all were exposed to fish tuberculosis years ago). On 9/1/04, I removed a dead longfin male rosy barb that was floating in the tank. A few other fish are somewhat enlarged (tuberculosis, I hate you!). The largest (maybe original male that had bloating before) male longfin rosy barb got really bad dropsy and popeye quickly and died on 10/10/04. Treatment did nothing. I found and removed two dead rosy barbs on 3/21/05, a 2" male with no fins and a 2.5" female that looked fine (except she was dead). On 6/8/05, I removed a dead ~2.5" female regular-fin rosy barb from the tank. She had a little septicemia but she did not seem to have other obvious problems. I found a dismantled rosy barb in the tank during cleaning on 6/17/05. The other fish must have been eating it. I therefore do not know the sex or finnage of that one. On 6/25/05, a medium-sized longfin female rosy barb was dying. She was gone by the next day when I removed her. She was a bit anorexic and lost a lot of her color. A large longfin female rosy barb was found dead and partially eaten on 7/31/05. On 8/9/05, a dead 2.5" male longfin rosy barb was removed. There are probably 40 left. Parts of another rosy barb (female I think) were removed on 8/29/05. On 9/3/05, a dead 2.5" female short fin rosy barb was removed and, on 9/4/05, a 2.5" male longfin rosy barb. They must have reached some sort of threshold of overcrowding resulting in a small die off. The water quality is fine as far as tests can tell but the tests are only for a few things. On 10/16/05, I removed a dead 2.5" female regular-finned rosy barb. On 11/12/05, I removed a 2" female regular-finned rosy barb. On 12/23/05, I put seven newborn rosy barbs that I found in the canister filter into a net breeder in the 50 gallon tank. When I cleaned out the net on 12/31/05, I only found one which had just died. I had seen them eating on the side of the net through the week but they died at some point. On 1/21/06, a 2" female regular-finned rosy barb died (she had lost her dorsal fin previously). On 3/4/06, I found a dead 2.5" regular-finned female rosy barb. On 4/2/06, I removed a 2.5" male short-fin rosy barb that did not make it. On 7/7/06, I removed a dead 3" male longfin rosy barb that was anorexic. On 8/10/06, I removed a skeleton of a rosy barb, no details. On 9/23/06, I removed a female, longfin rosy barb that was only about 1.5" long. On 10/1/06, I removed a 3" male shortfin rosy barb. On 10/30/06, I removed a dead 3" female, longfin rosy barb. On 11/24/06, I removed a 2.5" female longfin rosy barb. While there seem to be many dying, in fact the tank is still full of at least 30 rosy barbs, most of whom are fine.

When I cleaned out the 50 gallon tank on 3/17/07, I counted the rosy barbs. The results were:
6 adult male longfin rosy barbs
15 adult male shortfin rosy barbs
1 juvenile male shortfin rosy barb
4 adult female longfin rosy barbs
9 adult female shortfin rosy barbs
3 juvenile female shortfin rosy barbs
1 rosy barb fry (too young to sex but appears female)

On 4/9/07, I removed what probably was my largest and oldest rosy barb, a 3 inch male longfin rosy barb. I think he had fish tuberculosis as his body was enlarged for a while. He was looking worse after the tank cleaning and finally died.

On 6/16/07, in the morning, I saw what I thought was a dead rosy barb. When I went to remove him, he moved. By the time I cleaned the tank that afternoon, he was dead. This rosy barb was a 3" shortfin male.

On 6/30/07, there was a dying rosy barb when I cleaned the tank, and she died that night. She was a 3" female shortfin rosy barb. She had popeye and a small protrusion on the side that resembled the boil-like things that fish tuberculosis causes. There are presumably 36 rosy barbs left.

On 10/13/07, I removed a dead female shortfin rosy barb. She had been very white the few days before and probably had an internal bacterial infection and seemed to have some internal hemorrhaging. There are a few new baby rosy barbs in the tank to make up for those that have died.

On 10/27/07, I found and removed a dead 2.5 inch female shortfin rosy barb. On 12/11/07, I removed a dead 2.6 inch female shortfin rosy barb. On 12/19/07, I removed a floating dead 3 inch female shortfin rosy barb. On 3/6/08, I removed a dead 3" male shortfin rosy barb. On 3/19/08, I removed a 3.5" male longfin rosy barb. On 6/7/08, I removed a dead 2.5" male shortfin rosy barb. On 6/30/08, I removed a dead rosy barb about 2" long. It was too decomposed to tell the sex or if the fins were short or long. On 12/25/08, I removed a dead 2.75" male shortfin rosy barb. On 2/9/09, a 3" male longfin rosy barb died. On 4/4/09, I removed a dead 3" male shortfin rosy barb who had been dead a few days. On 4/12/09, I removed an anorexic 2" female longfin rosy barb. On 4/18/09, I removed remains of another rosy barb, too decomposed/eaten to identify type or sex. On 5/11/09, I removed a dead 2" male? shortfin rosy barb. On 6/6/09, I found a dead 2" female shortfin rosy barb while cleaning the tank. On 7/31/09, I removed a dead rosy barb, too far decomposed/eaten to determine the length, sex, or type. When cleaning on 8/29/09, I found two dead rosy barbs! One was a 2 inch shortfin female rosy barb and the other a 2.5 inch longfin female rosy barb. A rotted 1.5" shortfin rosy barb of unknown sex was found dead on 10/12/09. I removed a dead 3" rosy barb on 12/23/09 and another on 12/26/09 I think. I had just gotten out of the hospital after major surgery, and the tanks went two weeks without any maintenance. I did not pay attention to what sexes they may have been since I was not functional. On 1/20/10, I removed a dead 2.5" female longfin rosy barb. I removed a dead 2" rosy barb of unknown sex on 3/6/10. A 2" male shortfin rosy barb died on 4/15/10. I removed a 2.5" male shortfin rosy barb on 7/10/10. I removed a dead 2" rosy barb on 8/11/10. It was too rotted to tell sex or fin type. A 2.5" female shortfin rosy barb died on 11/23/10. I removed a rosy barb on 1/26/11 that was too chewed up to determine type or sex. I removed a rosy barb skeleton on 2/23/11. I removed a dead, perhaps male, 2.5" shortfin rosy barb on 3/26/11. I removed a 2" longfin rosy barb of unknown sex on 6/20/11 that had been dead for days and partially eaten. I removed a 2" shortfin rosy barb of unknown sex on 7/3/11 that had been dead a few days. I removed a dead 2.5" male shortfin rosy barb on 8/13/11. I removed a dead rosy barb that was too decomposed and eaten to tell size or sex on 12/20/11. I removed a dead 2.5" male shortfin rosy barb on 2/21/12 and another on 2/22/12. I removed a dead maybe shortfin rosy barb of unknown sex on 8/31/12 that was partially decomposed. I removed another dead 2" rosy barb of unknown sex and fin length on 9/22/12; it was half decomposed. I removed a small, maybe 1" rosy barb of unknown sex and fin length on 11/3/12 that was partially decomposed. On 11/24/12, I removed a 2.5" shortfin, male rosy barb from the tank. On 3/20/13, I removed a dead 2.5" female shortfin rosy barb. On 12/14/13, I removed a dead 1.5" shortfin rosy barb of unknown sex. On 1/24/14, I found and removed the partially decomposed remains of a rosy barb, probably a few inches long of unknown sex and finnage. On 5/17/14, I removed a dead 2" shortfin rosy barb of unknown sex (maybe male). On 11/13/14, I removed a dead 2.5" female shortfin rosy barb. I removed a dead 1" rosy barb (unknown sex and finnage as partially eaten) on 2/8/15. I removed a dead 2" female shortfin rosy barb on 5/3/15. A dead 1.5" rosy barb was removed on 6/27/15. A dead, decomposed, about 1" rosy barb was removed on 11/21/15. I removed a dead 1" rosy barb on 3/12/16. I removed a dead 2" rosy barb on 3/26/16. I removed a dead 1" rosy barb on 4/15/16. I removed a dead 2" decomposed rosy barb on 7/30/16. I removed a dead 1" rosy barb of unknown sex on 11/26/16. I saw a dead 1" rosy barb in the tank on 12/13/16 and meant to remove it but kept forgetting, and it was gone in two days. On 2/10/17, I removed a dead 2" rosy barb. I removed the rotted remains of some rosy barb on 2/11/17. On 3/15/17, I removed a dead 1 shortfin rosy barb. I removed a dead 2" bloated rosy barb on 5/6/17. I removed a partially decomposed 2" rosy barb on 10/28/17. I removed a dead 1" rosy barb on 1/27/18 and a 2" rosy barb on 1/31/18. I removed one dead 1" rosy barb stuck to the filter intake on 3/13/18. On 3/26/18, I removed a dead 2" rosy barb, well rotted. I removed a dead barb on 6/23/18; there was almost nothing left so no information. I removed a dead 1" shortfin male (yes, he was red at that size) rosy barb on 11/17/18. I removed a dead 1 male shortfin rosy barb on 12/29/18. I removed a dead 2" male shortfin rosy barb on 1/19/19. I removed a dead 1" female shortin rosy barb on 3/9/19. I removed a dead and partially decomposed 1" shortfin rosy barb of unknown sex on 3/30/19. I removed a dead 2" shortfin rosy barb of unknown sex on 5/8/19. I removed a dead 2" shortfin rosy barb of unknown sex on 8/1/19. I removed a dead 1" shortfin rosy barb of unknown sex on 8/13/19. I removed a dead 1" shortfin rosy barb, maybe female, on 9/28/19. I actually do not see any more longfin rosy barbs! I removed a dead 1" rosy barb on 11/9/19 that was too decomposed to say more. I removed a dead 1" shortfin rosy barb on 1/25/20. I removed a dead 1.5" shortfin rosy barb on 2/6/20. I removed a dead 1" shortfin rosy barb on 2/29/20. I removed a dead 1" shortfin rosy barb on 3/30/20. I saw a 1" dead shortfin rosy barb on 4/13/20 but I forgot to remove it until the next day. On 7/22/20, I removed a dead 2" shortfin rosy barb. I removed a dead 1" shortfin rosy barb on 9/15/20 that I saw the day before and forgot to remove. On 1/30/21, I removed a dead 1" male rosy barb. You are probably wondering how I can keep removing dead fish and never run out?! The rosy barbs are a breeding colony, and there are at least as many survivors as untimely deaths. On 3/23/21, I removed one dead one inch rosy barb who was too rotted to tell anything else.

On 4/10/21, after I cleaned the 50 gallon tank, left the room, and came back, there was a horrible sound coming from the Emperor filter. I took it apart and found a poor rosy barb! The intake tube had fallen off, sucked him/her in, and cut the fish all up in pieces!

On 5/15/21, I removed a dead 2" shortfin male rosy barb. On 8/28/21, I removed a dead rosy barb stuck in the filter (the intake had fallen off the week before and must have sucked him in). On 12/26/21, I removed a dead 1" rosy barb that was too damaged to determine sex or fin length. On 2/26/22, I removed a dead 2" male rosy barbs (fins were eaten off). On 5/14/22, after I cleaned the 50 gallon tank, I heard a horrible noise. The intake had fallen in, a rosy barb went up the intake, and the poor fish was torn to shreds. On 7/2/22, I removed a dead ~1.5" short fin rosy barb of unknown sex that had died and rotted too much to tell more. On 8/13/22, I removed a dead 1.75" male shortfin rosy barb.

On 9/8/22, I heard a horrible noise coming from the 50 gallon Emperor filter. I took it apart. There was a 2" male rosy barb that had gotten sucked into the filter (the intake tube fell off by itself again). I was surprised when the fish jumped. I put him in some water but he soon died from his injuries. On 10/23/22, I removed a dead 1.5” male shortfin rosy barb from the filter (sucked in as tube came off). I would epoxy the tube together on 10/29/22 to prevent this from happening again! On 5/3/23, I found a rosy barb skeleton which I tried to remove but then it floated away from me. On 6/15/23, I removed a dead 1" female shortfin rosy barb. A dead 2” male shortfin rosy barb was removed on 9/16/23.

The number of rosy barbs seems to have suddenly declined to the point where I could actually get a head count. I counted 14 rosy barbs on 9/29/23.

A 2" dead shortfin rosy barb of unknown sex (too rotted) was removed on 11/15/23. On 11/21/23, I removed two dead 2" male shortfin rosy barbs, one in the morning and one after work. On 1/5/24, I took a dead 2" male shortfin rosy barb out of the tank. I removed a dead 2" shortfin male rosy barb on 2/14/24. I removed a dead 3.25" male shortfin rosy barb on 3/19/24. I think another rosy barb died a week or two after that but I accidently saved over my newer version of this file with an older one so I lost the details.

On 8/7/24, a female shortfin rosy barb died. There were seven males and one sickly female with tumors left.

On 8/26/24, a male 2" shortfin rosy barb with an abnormal mouth died. The last female rosy barb died on 9/16/24. Another male rosy barb was dying but I have not found the body. That leaves only five males left swimming around. The end of an era is coming which lasted 22 years with a self-replenishing population of rosy barbs started with a single pair!

-------------- On 4/24/21, I added two baby albino bristlenose plecos that I had bought on 4/19/21, and one died in just a few days. They were active and healthly for the first few days. I think the rosy barbs are carrying bad bacteria but I am just guessing. I treated the 50 gallon tank with erythromycin in early May in hopes that that would help. As of 11/1/22, the one bristlenose is still alive. There were a few sightings in early 2023 as well.

On 2/19/22, I moved the two clown plecos from my 65 gallon aquarium to my 50 gallon aquarium because someone was tearing my three discus up, and I could not figure out who. By 5/22/22, I had not seen the clown plecos in months, and they were presumed dead. Amazingly, I saw both of the clown plecos on 6/24/23!

Fish that used to be in the 50 gallon tank:

On 2/19/22, I moved Rammy (albino German ram) from my 65 gallon aquarium to my 50 gallon aquarium because someone was tearing my three discus up, and I could not figure out who. Rammy was removed deceased 10/15/22. I think he caught fish tuberculosis from the rosy barbs but Rammy did learn to get along with the rosy barbs who tend to kill other fish with them.

I added three peppered cories on 6/12/21. The rosy barbs killed them all by 6/19/21.

1 Queen Arabesque pleco - added 1/14/07. Died 3/1/21. See her page for details.

6 Leopard Cories - 6 were added 1/18/08. One died on 1/24/08. Another was removed dead on 5/21/11. I removed a dead leopard cory on 8/25/12. I found and removed a dead leopard cory on 1/12/13. There were at most two left. I last saw a leopard cory in the spring of 2013. They are presumed dead. See the leopard cory page for details.

My last otto was found dead on 6/13/09 after eight years. Eight ottos (short for otocinclus) were added on 6/1/01, most were missing the ends of their tails, and one was missing an eye! By 7/19/01, I could only see a few at a time. I think some of them must have died but unlike other fish, when ottos die, they vanish! The few I saw were plump as there was lots of algae to eat. Their tails all grew back. On 8/1/01, I saw five of the ottos at once (including the one without an eye) so I thought that was how many were still alive (in fact there had to be six then). Apparently, ottos do not last long after dying (unlike the other fish in the tank). They must be extra tasty to the other fish and shrimp for some reason. Thus, I had seen no dead ottos up to that point. On 9/1/01, I saw an otto with a huge gut (I suspected tuberculosis) that died immediately after I performed the weekly water change (when the oxygen levels drop for a short time since it is well water). On 1/02/02, I removed a dead otto. Another died on 1/22/02. Yet another with a huge abdomen (tumors) died on 2/2/02. There was one left by 3/12/02 that had fin rot. I do not know what happened to the other one or why only the ottos are so sick when the other fish thrive. Despite having little fins, that one surviving otto survived until 6/13/09 when I found its little body.

My 5" real Siamese algae eater died on 11/4/07. I had had him since 3/16/01.

The panda cories have all died except for one which I moved to the 20 gallon tank to join the other panda cory on 3/17/07. Here is the history of the panda cories in the 50 gallon.

Panda cories - original three females and two males as parents (some may have died) and about 9+ of their babies - adults added 6/1/01. By 6/20/02, I count just 15 (I may have missed some) cories (4 died soon after). I raised five of their babies born around 8/24/01 and 9/2/01 in a net breeder, and three made it to be released so far. These babies will be the first successfully raised panda cories if they make it. I had some live to about a month old years ago but never large enough to join their parents. The babies were raised on dry sinking foods including freeze-dried brine shrimp and sinking shrimp pellets. On 10/6/01, the baby born about 8/24/01 was released into the main aquarium. There was also another baby in there who made it on his own! Two more babies born about 9/2/01 were released on 10/13/01 at about half an inch long but after three days, their tails were bit off (probably by the rainbow shrimp), and both died. The net retained one baby born about 9/22/01 as well as four smaller babies and some eggs added weekly. I was surprised on 11/3/01 to discover three larger babies in the main tank at once! Since they all have tails, it looks like two of them made it on their own! I was even more shocked on 11/8/01 to see four babies in the tank at once! And, need I say it? I found five at once on 11/17/01! Then, I saw six at once on 11/28/01!! Oh no! I saw 8 on 11/30/01! Where are they coming from? It is a baby panda cory factory now, albeit slow! If only I can keep them from being eaten by the shrimp or squashed in the net! Then, I will have too many! By 11/16/01, the largest baby is now half as long as the parents and should live to full adulthood! On 1/26/02, there were 6-8 babies (well, they are full grown now) in the main tank and 9 babies in the net. The oldest babies are almost as big as their parents (at least the males)! On 2/9/02, I let five more babies out of the net. There were six more in the net still. On 2/16/02, two young dead cories were removed from the tank and only three babies were in the net. So, some are dying. I have lost track of how many I have! On 2/23/02, I put the remaining two in the net (the others must have died and disintegrated) into the five gallon tank which has three baby rosy barbs and/or longfin blue danios in it. I can now count about 12 adult and sub-adult panda cories in the main tank. Most/many of the small ones are now dying. I guess the tank has hit its threshold for panda cories! I moved five baby panda cories from the five gallon tank to this tank on 4/6/02. A young cory was found dead on 7/16/02. Another young one died on 7/20/02. A larger one died on 8/6/02. Yet another big cory died on 8/13/02. So, I need not have feared having too many! Another small one that had not been growing up as fast as it should have was removed dead on 1/11/03. Most of the cories have now lost their barbels. This started happening after the rosy barbs overpopulated the tank. I keep the tank clean but it is not good enough for them somehow. There are some 11 cories total left now (the most I counted at once in July 2003). Oops, another young cory died on 12/1/03 and another on 12/13/03 leaving 9 left. On 1/10/04, I found a baby cory in the water removed for cleaning! This is the first in almost two years. He went into the net breeder in my 20 gallon tank which has glowlight danio fry in it. A medium-sized panda cory died in my 50 gallon tank on 5/20/04. They have lost all their barbels. Even though the tank is well maintained, the overcrowding must have caused this. The baby is doing great by himself in the 20 gallon and has his whiskers. I removed a dead panda cory from the tank on 2/12/05. I removed a dead panda cory on 6/11/05 and just the skeleton head of another one on 6/17/05. I do not know if any remain. As of 9/24/05, I did see at least one left recently. I found and removed a dead panda cory on 7/30/06. I think there is one left. The baby is still fine in the 20 gallon. I saw the surviving panda cory in the 50 gallon on January of 2007. I am pretty sure there is just one left in the 50 gallon. The one in the 20 gallon is now three-years-old and yet I still think of him as a baby. He is fine. On 3/17/07, I moved the last panda cory from the 50 gallon tank to the 20 gallon tank.

These are the white cloud mountain minnows that I used to have in my tank. As of 9/24/05, there appear to be none left. So many died that were never found. I see no more but there could be one lurking somewhere.

21 White Cloud Mountain Minnows which were 7 males and 14 females and one baby distributed as follows from two different locations. Note: As of 12/3/04, only half a dozen or so white clouds are still alive and what follows below is a mess!:

Former goldfish in this tank:
My last indoor goldfish, Quinn, died on 5/3/01 from a tuberculosis infection and dropsy. For information and to see pictures of my deceased tank goldfish, go here. This tank was disinfected with bleach and re-set up as a tank for white cloud mountain minnows and other fish. Updates will be made over time.

Photo of my 50 gallon tank on 9/27/98. From left to right, the fish are Fair (died 4/17/01), Quinn (died 5/3/01), Ziggy (died 5/5/00), and Wade (died 4/12/01). For more goldfish photos, go to my goldfish pages.

50 Gallon Tank Other Animals

A total of 7 shrimp were in the 50 gallon tank by 6/16/01 and were distributed as follows:

Update 8/4/04: Boy, this is so out of date! I have not seen any remaining shrimp in my 50 gallon tank in over a year! They are all long gone!

I finally added some new shrimp to the 50 gallon tank on 11/25/16:

3 Wood shrimp added 11/25/16. On 2/15/19, I found half of a wood shrimp with flesh (not a moulting) so at least one of them has died. I hope I have at least one left! I have not seen a wood shrimp since 2/15/19.

On 3/23/19, I received two live and two dead Blue Velvet shrimp from Live Aquaria which are a color variant of the red cherry shrimp, Neocaridina davidi. I put the two live ones in my 50 gallon tank which is full of java moss and other plants. As of 3/29/19, I have not seen them again (and I never did)!

50 Gallon Tank Plants

I set the tank up for my other fish since the goldfish are gone. The following live plants were added on 5/13/01:
1 anacharis, 1 giant jungle val, 1 dwarf onion, 1 cabomba, 1 ruffle sword, 1 wendi green, 1 rotala indica, 2 dwarf sagittaria grass, 1 anubias nana, and 1 java fern. I also moved some java moss and Italian val from my 40 gallon tank and some java moss and hornwort from the basement pond. The anacharis and val died off mostly from the dilute bleach treatment to disinfect them. They may come back.

On 6/1/01, 3 rotala indica, 1 crypt red wendtii, and 1 anubias frazeri were added. The rotala indica does the best in my tank for some reason.

By 9/25/01, the tank is dominated by rotala indica and jungle val but the java moss, java fern, various crypts and anubias, and duckweed are also doing pretty well. The anacharis, cabomba, and sagittaria grass all died while the onion and sword are just hanging on.

By 7/26/02, the tank was mostly hair algae with a little rotala indica, crypts, anubias, java moss, and valisneria left. The surface is 90% covered with frogbit. On 7/27/02, I added two new rotala indica plants to the tank.

Update on 8/4/04: The tank is full of java moss and frogbit with a few anubias hanging on. That is it!

The tank has previously had anacharis, onion plant, dwarf crinum, and a few other plants but all were eaten and/or destroyed by the goldfish.
A bunch of anacharis was added to the tank on 3/16/01, and they had eaten it all within a week or so (there were still three goldfish then).

Update 9/22/07: After I put the new filter on the tank on 3/17/07, the frogbit which had covered the entire tank slowly died from the increased current. As of this week, not a single plant remains where there were once hundreds. I miss the frogbit! I tried to save it by putting some in another tank but it did not grow there. The tank now has a ton of java moss and a few anubias barely surviving.

On 1/8/08, I added two new plants to the 50 gallon tank. I put in a large Anubias barteri and a colony of baby tears attached to a rock. The rosy barbs immediately started picking on the baby tears (there were scuds in the plant bag and maybe some left in there that they wanted to eat) so it is falling apart. The Anubias is doing fine but does not want to stay put. The tank is full of java moss and not much else. By 1/13/08, the rosy barbs have removed all the baby tears from the rock so it is floating all over the tank in little pieces. That was an expensive toy for them!

On 5/19/10, I got an order of submerged plants for my ponds, and they sent one free plant. Since it was a red ludgwigia which I do not consider to be a pond plant, I put the red ludwigia in my 50 gallon aquarium. Here is a photo.

By 2011, that ludwigia was all gone, uprooted too many times.

On 4/14/11, I added a sunset hygrophila that another aquarist sent me.

50 Gallon Tank Equipment

Filter - Emperor 400 filter (replaced the Magnum 350 Pro canister system with two biowheels (350 gph) that had been running since 1996 on 3/17/07). The Emperor filter was having more and more problems so I replaced it with a new one on 5/11/19.
Heater - On 12/12/20, I put in a new Aqueon Pro 150 W heater. The one I had was not heating the water. On 5/13/17, I removed the heater as the tank was at 80 degrees F with the heater set to 65 degrees F, and the air temperature at 68 degrees F. Something was certainly wrong with it! It had condensate inside. This was a Visitherm so the last replacement was not noted. 150 W Aqueon Pro heater added on 4/25/13 and set to 72 degrees F to replace 250 W Visitherm heater added on 8/20/11 to replace recalled Stealth heater set to 75 degrees F (previously set to 66 degrees F for the goldfish). [On 2/24/07, I put in the new Stealth heater replacing a 300 W Visitherm heater that had condensate inside it.]
UV lamp with pump added 5/8/21 - 9 W Green Killing Machine - removed 8/6/22 as it did not seem to be doing much of anything (almost no flow), and I did not want to buy a new bulb which is supposed to be changed yearly.
Lid and Lighting - Glass lid with Aqueon Modular LED 36" aquarium light with three removable "bulbs". I changed to the LED lamps on 8/8/20. Formerly, a (added 5/12/01) double strip light holding two 30W fluorescent plant bulbs was used.
Gravel - Natural colored gravel- reset up with Flourite under the gravel for new setup on 5/12/01.
Aeration - Air bar run by half an Airpod (which has battery backup when the power goes off).
A few knick knacks!
Two pieces of slate holding a big piece of driftwood, a small piece of driftwood, petrified wood, and a small clay pot.

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