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VelociBacon posted:Do Red tailed sharks eat plants? Your tank looks like the hardscape is positioned and you stopped before adding plants. I know some fish gently caress plants up pretty bad so there's no point. Not typically, and you’re right, I haven’t gotten that far yet. There are two little plans in there atm, you just can’t see them. It’s still a work in progress, I just wanted to post some pictures because I’m really excited about it.
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Sep 18, 2021 03:49
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It looks good so far! The plants would be the most exciting thing for me I guess.
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Sep 18, 2021 04:16
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VelociBacon posted:It looks good so far! The plants would be the most exciting thing for me I guess. Thank you! I'm really excited about getting some plants in there too, but I ordered the wrong light and this one isn't quite adequate for what I want to do. We are on a budget, so I'm going to see how these 2 do before adding much more. My son is DYING to get some fish in there, so that's next on the list, but then I'm going to pick up a proper light so we go nuts with some plants.
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Sep 18, 2021 04:41
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Happy Hedonist posted:Thank you! I'm really excited about getting some plants in there too, but I ordered the wrong light and this one isn't quite adequate for what I want to do. We are on a budget, so I'm going to see how these 2 do before adding much more. My son is DYING to get some fish in there, so that's next on the list, but then I'm going to pick up a proper light so we go nuts with some plants. Plants aren't always super cheap but low tech plants like the anubia family, and Limnophila sessiliflora, and various other stem plants, are super easy to care for and they help the health of the tank quite a lot. Stem plants also are extremely easy to propogate so you can just buy a few and then cut them and replant them to get more in a couple weeks. If you search by just my posts in this thread you'll see photos of my tank with the kind of stem plants I'm talking about.
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Sep 18, 2021 04:45
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VelociBacon posted:Plants aren't always super cheap but low tech plants like the anubia family, and Limnophila sessiliflora, and various other stem plants, are super easy to care for and they help the health of the tank quite a lot. Stem plants also are extremely easy to propogate so you can just buy a few and then cut them and replant them to get more in a couple weeks. If you search by just my posts in this thread you'll see photos of my tank with the kind of stem plants I'm talking about. Oh, that's awesome. Thank you! I spend a lot of time messing with succulents, cacti, and bonsai too, so I'm really excited to learn more about aquatic plants. This is the light I have, is it sufficient for those two species? If so I'm heading back to the store for a few more plants. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07V56LMBG/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_TFBZ320A04R7K7BQ2X28?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
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Sep 18, 2021 05:10
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Happy Hedonist posted:Oh, that's awesome. Thank you! I spend a lot of time messing with succulents, cacti, and bonsai too, so I'm really excited to learn more about aquatic plants. I'm not an expert on lighting but there's certain wavelengths of light that plants really appreciate and my LED lamp is purple/red/white in the visible spectrum, not sure if it even means anything to see the color of the light but yeah I'm sure it's fine. When you're looking at plants keep in mind that 'low tech' tanks (no CO2 injection) need low-tech plants and most places like Tropica will break the plants down into the same categories. Your local aquarium place probably has containers from Tropica with various plants in it - it's a good idea to use the website to see what you might like and then go over and see what they have. That site is actually good just to read about aquarium plants.
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Sep 18, 2021 05:14
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Things seem pretty stable in the new, bigger tank so I'm looking to add a bit of wisteria around the larger anubias to get a patch of dense shrimp jungle going on in that spot. Also adding a couple bamboo shrimp for my son and looking at rimless aquarium fan chiller setups to drop the temperature by 2 degrees or so to get the fish to color up more during the day. Speaking of shrimp - I've now got about 10 new red cherry shrimp up to about half an inch+ long now. The fish are still pretty happy to leave them alone, even when they're tiny as long as they stick to the bottom/decorations. I'm kinda surprised the central stonerollers don't bug them - those guys are always hunting along the bottom for juicy algae/diatom spots. The amano and red cherry shrimp in particular seem very happy with the tank conditions. So, I've got about 70 gallons of water with: 2 x Red Crystal Shrimp 1 x Blue velvet shrimp (now jet black) 6 x Amano Shrimp 12 x Red Cherry Shrimp 2 x nerite snails 6 x Southern Redbelly Dace 6 x Mountain Redbelly Dace 4 x Scarlet Shiner (lost the one that was super skinny - really looking forward to these maturing a bit so they get silvery blue!) 3 x central stonerollers Got a few more scarlet shiners with about a week left in quarantine (crossing my fingers they all make it so I get a healthy school size) and that should be it for fish. Warbadger fucked around with this message at 17:33 on Sep 18, 2021 |
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Sep 18, 2021 17:30
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Happy Hedonist posted:Whoa. I'll look into it more because that's not at all what I was told at Pruess pets here in Lansing, which as far as I know are pretty on top of their poo poo. For instance, a 75 gallon tank can house 2 anglefish, anymore and you run into problems with them bullying each other. Also, they've told me several times red tails aren't that aggressive if given the room and we only plan on having 1. Tetras are fine for the most part because they mostly dwell in the middle of the tank and are quick enough to get away from the red tailed especially if there are plenty of places to break line of site, which there will be. Yeah, go for it. I just had a couple of them in a 100 gallon and they ate anything that fit in their mouths, which may have been a problem with the pair and not the species. It was a sort of "came with the house" tank, with a strange assortment that didn't work together. It sounds like you have great local advice, and you've done a lot of looking into things!
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Sep 18, 2021 22:26
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Bonster posted:Yeah, go for it. I just had a couple of them in a 100 gallon and they ate anything that fit in their mouths, which may have been a problem with the pair and not the species. It was a sort of "came with the house" tank, with a strange assortment that didn't work together. It sounds like you have great local advice, and you've done a lot of looking into things! I did change my mind on the tetras after looking into it more, so thank you! From what I’ve read red tailed sharks become more aggressive if housed with another red tailed, even after being removed. They just don’t like each other lol I was looking at some black ruby barbs instead of the tetras and maybe some swordtails too. This is difficult, I already want another tank. If it was up to me I’d turn it into an mbuna tank! Haha
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Sep 19, 2021 01:26
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Happy Hedonist posted:I did change my mind on the tetras after looking into it more, so thank you! From what I’ve read red tailed sharks become more aggressive if housed with another red tailed, even after being removed. They just don’t like each other lol I know the feeling! I have three freshwater tanks and one saltwater and am sorely tempted to start a cichlid tank. I tend towards dwarf species, but those peacocks.... Black ruby barbs are so pretty when they relax and color out!
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Sep 19, 2021 03:39
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I apologize HelloIAmYourHeart, Hi, and DeadlyMuffin for not getting snails and plants out yet. Things have been weirdly hectic lately, I am NEVER this busy on weekends. I'm going to start harvesting them later this morning when I turn the lights on and hopefully have them in the mail Monday or Tuesday for y'all.Happy Hedonist posted:I forgot to mention what we are going to put in the drat thing. My son REALLY likes red tailed sharks, so we are building around that. I've been they'll get alone fine with a peaceful community tank as long as you pay attention to not get other bottom swimming fish. I'm thinking a big school of cardinal tetras, some dwarf gouramis, and maybe a couple of angle fish. We shall see! Red Tailed Sharks are jerks. Either get one or get 7+ to spread out the aggression. Other fish either need to be bigger or faster to deal with them. Gourami of any sort and Angels don't mix. Whichever is bigger will be dominant and probably kill the other. I suggest you look into the various Rainbowfish. They're fast, they're pretty, and different types will school together. They get bigger than most of the common Tetras and most of the common Barbs and they can handle anything a Red Tailed Shark or Angel can dish out. You can fit a decent number of them into a 75g. Wait a few months for your tank to really stabilize before you get any Angels, they can be temperamental regarding water quality. For a 75 I'd either aim for a pair or 2f/1m. In regards to bottom dwellers there are a variety of Synodontis Cats that only get to 6-8" and they tend to be relatively peaceful. You could also do a Polypterus senegalus or two, they won't go after fish too big to eat and they're both smaller and more active than most of the other Polys. Also far more easily available. It's not necessary, but it helps to have an algae clean up crew. Firstly is a Bristlenose Pleco or two. They come in all sort of colors and fin lengths these days. Secondly a single Siamese Algae Eater (they're schooling but get to like 6" and you need 7+ to spread out the aggression). If you're feeling fancy look into the Farlowella sp. AKA Stickfish. They eat algae and nothing bothers them ever because they are sticks. Thus ends my 4am drunken fish advice.
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Sep 19, 2021 09:50
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Desert Bus posted:Red Tailed Sharks are jerks. Either get one or get 7+ to spread out the aggression. Other fish either need to be bigger or faster to deal with them. Will the red tailed mess with the plecos or cats? Thank you! I'll definitely look into some rainbows and I'll leave the gouramis out. My local shop has a ton of them, I was just bound and determined to go with tetras, but that'll have to be another tank. I wasn't even planning on angels, but they are cantankerous and weird and I've sort of fallen in love with them over the last week.
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Sep 19, 2021 15:04
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Happy Hedonist posted:Will the red tailed mess with the plecos or cats? The Synos get too big for the Shark to mess with and the Bristlenose Plecos will be about equalin size. Red Tailed Sharks tend to target fish that are moving around in the water and the Synos will usually hang out on the bottom and the Plecos will stick to surfaces. Both of them are capable of handling anything the Shark can try to do. I'd also really recommend stocking everything you can and maybe growing them out a bit before adding in the Shark. Shark first it's going to claim the entire tank and make adding new fish a hassle.
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Sep 19, 2021 15:38
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I put two jawfish in the big tank yesterday - last night they dug their burrow under the rock at the back of the tank. I can only see them in the reflection on the back wall of the tank. It's been fun watching them - they've decided to share the burrow, so one is busily excavating and the other is keeping an eye on things. Hopefully they'll come around closer to the front when they get comfortable, one of them does come out a lot further than the other one. I'd take pictures, but, you know, back of the tank. ETA: These guys: https://www.aquariumdomain.com/SpeciesProfiles/MarineFish/YellowheadJawfish.shtml They're amazingly pretty when you can see them. Bonster fucked around with this message at 04:59 on Sep 24, 2021 |
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Sep 24, 2021 04:57
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I love Jawfish. They're adorable in their own way. Roommates even.
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Sep 24, 2021 06:20
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I'm hoping I have a pair. They do have slightly different head shapes, one being a little blockier than the other, but I have no idea.
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Sep 24, 2021 12:34
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Are jawfish the ones from the viral video where one buries the other, and the other brings the sand back and spits it in the first one's face? edit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnNmSLwXMzo one of those is a jawfish! I thought I recognised that awesome angry face 
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Sep 24, 2021 16:04
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This is kind of a loaded question, but hey it's a Friday so it might be fun. Has the experience of keeping fish and/or inverts changed or caused you to question your outlook on eating them?
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Sep 24, 2021 16:39
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Has anyone ever done a fluidized bed filter? I'm fantasizing about building a saltwater fish breeding setup with 4-6 tanks on a large common filtration system...Bulky Bartokomous posted:This is kind of a loaded question, but hey it's a Friday so it might be fun. Has the experience of keeping fish and/or inverts changed or caused you to question your outlook on eating them? No, but diving has. Seafood is one of the only things we eat that's taken from the wild rather than farms. Having been in those habitats I have a harder time eating things taken from them. DeadlyMuffin fucked around with this message at 16:57 on Sep 24, 2021 |
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Sep 24, 2021 16:53
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Bulky Bartokomous posted:This is kind of a loaded question, but hey it's a Friday so it might be fun. Has the experience of keeping fish and/or inverts changed or caused you to question your outlook on eating them? Not really. That said, it starts to hit pretty different when you read stuff about crustaceans feeling pain and extend that to, for example, how lobsters are cooked.
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Sep 24, 2021 19:24
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Bulky Bartokomous posted:This is kind of a loaded question, but hey it's a Friday so it might be fun. Has the experience of keeping fish and/or inverts changed or caused you to question your outlook on eating them? Seafood is one of my favorite things in the world, but I have really mixed feelings about actually eating it. Mostly from watching mission blue, but also from associating them with pets. I compromise by only eating seafood if im on the coast and that hasn’t happened in years.
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Sep 24, 2021 20:45
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Stoca Zola posted:Are jawfish the ones from the viral video where one buries the other, and the other brings the sand back and spits it in the first one's face? I love the clownfish just hanging around, like "whatcha doing, guys?" That is a blue dot jawfish, which are gorgeous and much more expensive! ETA: I'm thinking of dipping my toes into cichlid breeding with my 20 gallon tank, and I'm trying to decide between kribensis and apistos. Anyone with experience want to weigh in? I've been very successful with my two blackwater tanks, and both kribs and apistos seem similar in preferring softer water with driftwood and plants. Bonster fucked around with this message at 01:24 on Sep 25, 2021 |
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Sep 25, 2021 01:17
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Any good 5 gallon tank recs? Was thinking of doing a planted cherry shrimp set up.
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Sep 26, 2021 04:08
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Jump King posted:Any good 5 gallon tank recs? Was thinking of doing a planted cherry shrimp set up. I have a 5.3g shrimp tank (click the ? under my av to see my posts with it in the thread), it's a cobalt tank that I bought IRL at a pretty large aquarium supply place in Vancouver, I'm not sure it's available anymore but the light is perfect, the tank is a great size for shrimp, you can get some interesting scapes inside but it's serviceable by the filter, etc. To be clear - it comes with the light and the filter. I highly recommend a cube format tank at this size because even a tank this high struggles a bit with what plant options you have. If the tank was a couple inches shorter it would be a big PITA trying to find plants for it. I used to go out and grab beautiful plants and then find that they basically didn't fit in the tank.
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Sep 26, 2021 04:21
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VelociBacon posted:I have a 5.3g shrimp tank (click the ? under my av to see my posts with it in the thread), it's a cobalt tank that I bought IRL at a pretty large aquarium supply place in Vancouver, I'm not sure it's available anymore but the light is perfect, the tank is a great size for shrimp, you can get some interesting scapes inside but it's serviceable by the filter, etc. To be clear - it comes with the light and the filter. That's a cool looking tank... maybe too cool actually For plants I'm thinking java ferns and java moss, or maybe some anubias. IDK exactly but those are the three I'm considering. Haven't had an aquarium in over a decade so I'm trying to aim as simple as possible so it's not a source of stress. I recall those being pretty forgiving plants.
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Sep 26, 2021 04:41
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Jump King posted:That's a cool looking tank... maybe too cool actually Yeah those are super forgiving. I can't remember the name of the moss in my tank but I probably mentioned it here when I posted photos of it. I've found that moss health is basically 100% to do with flow, if you don't have good flow in the tank it really doesn't seem to grow well. If you live somewhere cold in the winter you'll also want a small heater - another bonus of the cube type of nano tank is they're tall enough that you can fit a normal cylindrical heater up and down in the tank, so you can hide it in the back.
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Sep 26, 2021 05:01
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Any recs for freshwater plants that will grow on rocks/gravel? In hindsight, I should have done some sand/soil/substrate under the gravel, but not sure I feel like draining and rearranging at this point. Pic for attention/reference:
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Sep 26, 2021 17:47
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Are those goldies or koi? Cause they will eat almost all live plants. YMMV with java fern and moss and anubias.
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Sep 26, 2021 18:02
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Cowslips Warren posted:Are those goldies or koi? Cause they will eat almost all live plants. YMMV with java fern and moss and anubias. Koi; didn’t know they ate live plants, guess I’ll pass on that then. Thanks!
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Sep 26, 2021 18:26
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https://www.brineshrimpdirect.com/hatchery-dish I tried this thing for the first time and it actually works. Awesome for making smaller amounts of BBS with minimal hassle. No air stones, no nothing. I'm not normally one to gush over something but I was really skeptical and I'm a bit amazed at how simple this poo poo is.
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Sep 26, 2021 20:23
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My planted tank is coming along pretty well. Added some smaller tetras today that I've had in quarantine for a while. Still going through the brown diatom phase, but feels like things are turning a corner now. 
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Sep 26, 2021 21:21
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Enos Cabell posted:My planted tank is coming along pretty well. Added some smaller tetras today that I've had in quarantine for a while. Still going through the brown diatom phase, but feels like things are turning a corner now. This looks fantastic and super natural. Good work!
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Sep 27, 2021 04:32
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Would a betta do ok in a tank with endlers? Thinking I need something other than a dip net to apply population control. My concern is water parameters being cool for the betta, not excessive predation on the endlers. Are bettas OK with hard water and 7.6 to 7.8 pH?
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Sep 27, 2021 05:34
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Bettas are tough fish, and it's safer to acclimate soft water fish to hard water than it is for hard water fish to be in soft water. I think endlers won't mind if the tank is warm enough for the betta too, although they will like more water movement than the betta will, and the betta in theory could just get mad and murder all of them. It's a situation that could work fine, or could go south! Worth a try if it would work better for you, as long as you have a plan B ready in case it all goes wrong.
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Sep 27, 2021 05:58
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Hey thanks. I had foolishly neglected to consider temperature. I'm not worried about losing one tank worth of endlers. I have too many as it is, and two other tubs with backups, should one population go wrong. I don't want to carelessly give a bad time to a new fish, I'd much prefer if I had a fancy boy with a belly full of fry.
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Sep 27, 2021 06:11
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Got my 5 gallon tank with a betta in it now and he seems to be happy. We have one java fern and one anubias planted in along with some silk flowers we still had in there. The anubias seems to have gotten a green hair algae infestation on its leaves. How much is this an actual worry? Should I be looking to scrub it out immediately before things get overtaken? Or if I don't mind the aestetics just leave it? How to fix? I keep seeing articles about CO2 systems but I'm not getting that just for this small rear end tank.
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Sep 27, 2021 12:26
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Chin Strap posted:Got my 5 gallon tank with a betta in it now and he seems to be happy. I really wouldn't get into CO2, it's going to be extremely finicky to dose it correctly for a 5g tank because you're dealing with such a low volume of water, and if you get it wrong it's going to stress your fish (yes Betta have labrynthe organs and can breathe air from the surface but still). You absolutely don't need CO2 anyways for those plants. The green hair infestation is almost certainly going to be because the lighting is on for too long, try knocking that down (you have it on a timer right?). If you leave it, it will spread and quickly become kinda annoying. You can take the anubia out (it shouldn't be buried - the rhyzome needs to get light) and gently scrub the algae off with your fingers in a bowl of water from the aquarium. I would also suggest some all-in-one fertilizers for the tank - plants need a variety of macro and micro supplements to actually compete with the algae so this will also help, counterintuitive though it may be to fertilize a tank with algae in it. Stem plants are a great addition to a tank like that - the betta will enjoy it and they grow really fast so they compete well against algae.
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Sep 27, 2021 12:52
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Not on a timer. Just been having it on during the day and off at night. Like 14/10 on/off. I have timers I can use though. More like 8/16 then? EDIT: also my light has a night mode where it just uses the two blue LEDs it has and turns off all the white ones. I've been using that for night mode but timer will just make it go full dark. Is that ok? What's a good fertilizer? Chin Strap fucked around with this message at 13:20 on Sep 27, 2021 |
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Sep 27, 2021 13:16
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Green hair algae is in my experience 100% from too much light. It should pull off your anubias leaves, and putting a timer on your lights will stop it from coming back in a big way. A little algae won't kill the anubias or harm the tank but a lot could tangle the fish. Another option if you live in an area where they are available is to get an amano shrimp or two, they are algae eaters and it's always good to have a clean up crew. VelociBacon is right about stem plants and ferts too, they will definitely help. Rotala rotundifolia, bacopa caroliniana, pearlweed, hygrophila polysperma, ludwigia, all are fairly easy and will grow from cuttings. It's a matter of picking which ones suit your tank, you don't have a ton of room to play with in 5g so you probably want to stick to small leafed plants to keep more space for fish movement and water flow.
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Sep 27, 2021 13:21
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Chin Strap posted:Not on a timer. Just been having it on during the day and off at night. Like 14/10 on/off. I have timers I can use though. More like 8/16 then? holy moly 6-8 hours a day is fine for aquarium plants - what works fairly well is half the time in the morning, then the other half of the time in the evening, so you can see the fish when you are home and that gap in the middle disadvantages the algae without hurting the plants. Night mode is for you, not for the tank; I don't think anyone inside the tank will mind it being dark at night time.
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Sep 27, 2021 13:23
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