The Aquarium Thread: Get him an account he's ready for sea spam

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Pilfered Pallbearers: Aug 2, 2007

Any recs for online shops for live freshwater in the NE? Shipping is brutal from most of the recommended places I found and I�m not really happy with my local stores right now.

# ¿ Sep 4, 2023 23:47

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# ¿ May 9, 2024 15:54

Pilfered Pallbearers: Aug 2, 2007

Ok Comboomer posted:

that�s dummy expensive for a 10gal, but it�s a nice all-in-one.

If you�re in the States, Petco is having their semi-annual tank sale all month and you can get a lovely rimless 10gal (the ones with a plastic base are preferable, as they don�t need a mat to stop the bottom from cracking) for $27. Lots of other rimmed and cube rimless tanks too. You could go much bigger for less money than the all-in-one, which would 1) give you many more fish options 2) give you a buffer with regards to water parameters, which is always nice on a first tank.

I wouldn�t go smaller than 10 gallons for him, personally, unless he wanted to keep something specific like cherry shrimps, probably between 20-60 gallons is a good sweet spot for most beginners and it gives you the option to get fish that get bigger (most common hobby fish do, unless you�re sticking to danios and guppies, etc)

Depending on what you stock it with you could then add either a HoB filter (we like the FLUVAL Aquaclear, but there are other good ones too like the Seachem Tidal line, which is especially good for saltwater) or a sponge filter (or internal or canister, it�s really up to you and what you want the tank to hold).

I�d go with real plants instead of fake plants: those can be had at Petco for $6.50 with price matching to the website, or you can order nicer stuff from places like Buceplant.com.

Buceplant is also where I ordered my Blue Dream neocaridinia shrimp, which I�ve been extremely happy with.

Agree with this. I started with a 5 gallon and my current 29 gallon is so much easier. More work for a water change and setup, but it takes a whole lot more time to spiral out of control.

The Petco tanks can be quite nice if you pick the right one and have the space.

As far as getting started, a betta fish is a really nice starter, but it does limit you significantly for other fish to put in the tank. They�re very sensitive to other fish. If you�re fine with the betta and a couple of smaller schooling fish (neon tetras, rasboras, and like a bushy pleco), it�s a very beginner friendly setup.

Regardless of the stated above, if you have a decent, non-chain local fish store I�d go by yourself and ask for recs on starter fish and what fish will live well together. If they�re a good store, the employees should seem knowledgeable and since they likely care about fish will want to make sure they set you up with stuff that�s easy and can live together.

# ¿ Sep 11, 2023 01:35

Pilfered Pallbearers: Aug 2, 2007

Anyone have a light recommendation?

I have a 29 gal Topfin ( https://www.petsmart.com/fish/starter-kits/top-fin-essentials-aquarium-starter-kit-5262256.html ) and I�m going to start putting live plants in with my community fish. I�ve got a Java fern in there but it def needs better light and I plan to drop more in.

I�m going to replace the top with some acrylic pieces so the normal extendable lights can just sit on that. Any recommendations?

# ¿ Sep 20, 2023 23:11

Pilfered Pallbearers: Aug 2, 2007

I�ve got a betta in quarantine that�s had this weird scale spot since I got her. Hasn�t changed in the 12 days since. Any thoughts on what it is or if it�s a concern? Fish seems healthy and fine otherwise.

# ¿ Sep 25, 2023 22:13

Pilfered Pallbearers: Aug 2, 2007

Bad Munki posted:

Anyone have recommendations for an air diffuser? I have a Tetra whisper that claims it's good for 100 gallons, which is what I'm working with, I'm looking for a diffuser to match that. I grabbed a long stone one (18") but only half of it really goes, I soaked it and all, not sure if it's just too big for this pump or what.

This is for a few small koi to overwinter, I'll be letting it get cold enough for them to go into torpor.

You can run a bubble wand.

I have a pair of these and they�re pretty effective, although it makes tons and tons of noise & splash if you have the bubbles running directly under a HOB filter.

Aqueon Fish Tank Aquarium Flexible LED Accent Light and Bubble Wand, Multi Color, 14 Inch https://a.co/d/3GBropJ

Here�s one by hygger with no lights

hygger Bubble Curtain Wall Aquarium Air Stone Kit, Fish Tank Air Bubbler Dissolved Oxygen Aerator Stone with Air Tubing Diffuser Bubbling Decoration for Pond 16-Inch https://a.co/d/c1Lz553

# ¿ Oct 6, 2023 23:12

Pilfered Pallbearers: Aug 2, 2007

Mozi posted:

Heya folks - recently I've noticed that some of my rasboras seem emaciated, grey and have these little white dots on their sides. Does anyone know what sort of disease this might be and what treatment would work? There are also corys and shrimp in the tank (40 gal) and it would need to be treated as a whole tank.

I don�t know what the disease is, but most cures won�t be shrimp safe.

They�d be safer treated in a 5 gallon bucket. I�ve also had success treating individual fish in tall deli containers or those hang on specimen containers.

Even a cheap 5 or 10 gallon you buy on Craigslist or FB marketplace would be better.

# ¿ Oct 17, 2023 18:46

Pilfered Pallbearers: Aug 2, 2007

Stoca Zola posted:

If the new black sand coincided with the earlier two fish deaths, it could be that you have had a bad batch and it could have leached something into the water. The issue does seem to be fairly regional though, here in AU it was an actual aquarium product that had quality issues whereas people using sand blasting grit have had no issues. Or if you are using an Amazonia type sand, those sometimes leach ammonia since they are intended as plant food.

Overfeeding is less of an issue if you are vacuuming out uneaten food straight away, but it does tend to be the number one leading cause of fish deaths in my experience, right up there with failed heaters and forgetting to turn the filter back on after tank maintenance. On the filtration front, the recommended filter turn over rate is something like 4 times the tank volume per hour for regular fish, so 600gph. In practice I like to have two smaller filters instead of one big one and I like to make sure I have a mix of ceramic media, foam and mechanical pre filters. But I think a Oase Bio Master 350 is the right size for your tank, just worth checking the foams in case they are clogged (not with large waste that the prefilter has removed, but with overgrowth of beneficial bacteria). I usually tap my filter foams on the side of a bucket to knock the big pieces loose and don�t worry about rinsing them too hard. If they end up full of gunk the water finds paths around instead of through and you end up with not much filtering going on at all.

Absolutely everyone who keeps fish has something go wrong and it�s an unfortunate part of the hobby, I do hope your tank recovers and you work out how to get back into a healthy balanced tank and how to stay there. Slightly more water changes and slightly more careful feeding should help a lot.

To add to the Overfeeding, it isn�t just an issue of extra food waste, but of extra fish waste as they�ll eat far far more than they need. I kinda doubt this was a cause with such an understocked tank, but I guess it�s possible if you were low feeding, then overfeeding and the cycle just couldn�t keep up.

# ¿ Nov 5, 2023 02:49

Pilfered Pallbearers: Aug 2, 2007

Hadlock posted:

So I stumbled across $22 on Monday and was going to check out Concord aquarium and get some cherry shrimp since my local Petco has been out for the last couple of months

Well Concord aquarium had a bunch of cherry shrimp, but the tank was literally infested with planeria. Like, easily 50 adults and maybe a hundred juvenile planeria, just on the customer facing pane of glass. Not even counting other surfaces or gravel substrate. So that was a no go

By chance I called "J&J aquarium" in Antioch

Wow. These guys are pretty new, 8 months I think, they took over a long time aquarium shop in the same space and I was really impressed. They put a lot of work into the place. Really impressed

https://maps.app.goo.gl/5W61okM85h1y6m8HA

Anyways bought 5 cherry fire shrimp from them. I guess they also have a breeding program in the back for shell dweller multis? Will probably order three pair from them for that project

Anyways anyways. I murdered like, 4 or 6 cherry shrimp so far due to bad water parameters. Tank is finally cycled, got 5 more shrimp. I had one shrimp just... Sit in exactly the same spot for about 8 hours. Finally moved. Probably having a hard time acclimating.

Looks like after ~2 days all five are still swimming, but they're still low on energy. This is after a 90 minute modified drip acclimation. Hoping they all survive, and can make a dent in my string algae

Was looking at adding an amano shrimp but read one too many reports of amano shrimp attacking small fish and all my rice fish are juvenile so, yeah. Gonna roll the dice on Cherry shrimp

You can get very small amano shrimp. They�ll grow, but not faster than the rice fish.

I kept enormous amano shrimp alive for like 2 years. Rarely saw them all at the same time, and they never bothered any fish as long as the fish didn�t nip at them and they had enough algae. They do such a drat good job cleaning up, that when you don�t have much algae you gotta supplement with algae wafers and such.

The cherry shrimp never seem to be able to get big enough to make enough of a dent. I dumped like 30 in my tank recently, and I�d guess there�s like maybe 10-20 left after the slow ones got picked off, but they�re just so small they don�t have the same impact.

# ¿ Nov 10, 2023 16:17

Pilfered Pallbearers: Aug 2, 2007

Hadlock posted:

Yeah everything I read says amano shrimp are the way to go

My ricefish are still juveniles (the ones in the outdoor ~~pond~~ planter I hardly ever feed, are almost double the size) and only about 3/4 the size of the smallest amano shrimp that were available this week. I'm hesitant to introduce a shrimp that's notably larger than my fish into the tank. Maybe the fish shop has a tiny one. I'll call them. edit: they do not have any small ones

https://aquahuna.com/products/amano-shrimp-medium

Lots of other shrimp specific places sell em small too. This place is flat rate $12.99 shipping though which is rare.

# ¿ Nov 10, 2023 21:34

Pilfered Pallbearers: Aug 2, 2007

Anyone have recs to find used tanks/gear besides the standard craigslist/offerup/facebook marketplace?

Got a pin leak in my 29 gal and wanna go bigger with a better stand filter and light. Willing to be patient till someone doesn�t wanna sink more money.

# ¿ Dec 4, 2023 22:44

Pilfered Pallbearers: Aug 2, 2007

Stoca Zola posted:

Some of the best deals I�ve been able to get are from people getting out of the hobby, or from breeders getting too far into the hobby and needing to upsize. And those people have wanted to help out other hobbyists. So yeah I agree finding the local hobbyist scene or club or Facebook group or whatever and keeping a close eye on it because those opportunities for gear often do not last.

Thanks. I�ll take a look. I�m in NYC so most of those groups are watched like hawks but I�ll keep an eye out.

# ¿ Dec 5, 2023 20:00

Pilfered Pallbearers: Aug 2, 2007

Prof. Banks posted:

Came back from a shower to find one of my pygmy corys lying on its side/back and occasionally swimming around frantically for a few seconds before settling back down. The temperature has only gone up 4 degrees so far (in about two hours). They like to hide, and I've only seen two out at a time for the last few weeks and they've seemed fine. I don't know if this one has been suffering in the background or if I cooked him by increasing temperature too quickly.

Edit: I checked the parameters and they're normal. 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, between 5-10 ppm nitrate, and 7.8 pH (which, while a tad high, is just what the tap water is here and what these fish have always had).

I think you�re moving the temp up too fast. 2 degrees an hour feels aggressive. I�d probably max out at 1 degree an hour, and probably shoot for slower if possible.

The thing about ich is that it�s usually present in just about every tank; it just starts to outbreak once there�s significant stress on the fish for whatever reason. So there may be something else going on there that needs treating. Your test kits aren�t expired or anything, right?

Has there been any changes recently? New tank mates, big water changes, changes in feed habits or etc?

Salt may gently caress up your plants, but for ich you generally want heat AND salt. The other huge component is water changes. You want to be doing daily water changes (20-30% IIRC), reintroducing the salt you take out with the water change. This is in part because you want to get the ich after it falls off from the heat.

Ich-x is also generally considered safe for inverts. I�ve successfully used it on Amanos without impact, although I quarantined my vampire shrimp just in case, they�re pretty sensitive. It�ll probably wreck the plants though.

Do you have the ability to rehome the plants while you treat the tank? That might be worth considering. Without hosts the ich probably won�t be a huge issue re-transplanting the plants back in with minimal treatment, and you could always throw a single healthy fish in the plant tank after and see if it has issues.

# ¿ Dec 7, 2023 19:48

Pilfered Pallbearers: Aug 2, 2007

Prof. Banks posted:

I figure it is ich. I bought a new guppy and plant thanksgiving week. And they could have brought it in/stressed the neons.

I already cranked it up to max this morning, so it's too late to go slow. Unfortunately it's only getting up to 85. I have an old heater that I'm considering cleaning up a bit and putting in with the current one to see if I can get it higher. I also thought that I might be able to raise it by wrapping the tank in a blanket, but that seems fiddly and since the heater is thermostat controlled it would likely just mean that the heater turns on less.

I was considering pulling the plants/snails/shrimp out and putting them in a tub and treating with salt or even one of the non snails/shrimp safe medicines. But while the fish still have spots, they are duller than they were yesterday/this morning and there doesn't seem to be any new spots.

This is the worst one and the picture honestly looks worse than it does in person.

Did you not quarantine? Your risk here is there is some kind of disease you can�t see that�s stressing them and causing the ich to appear. Most of us have probably made this mistake, but this is why you always quarantine.

Ich is a cycle thing. The spots will halt, stay for a few days, then almost all disappear. But what�s really happening is they�re just falling off as part of their lifecycle, and if the underlying cause isn�t fixed they�ll reappear in a few days. IMO any fish showing any ich signs are at risk here. You could always attempt to fix it by quarantining only the fish showing ich.

# ¿ Dec 8, 2023 02:19

Pilfered Pallbearers: Aug 2, 2007

Prof. Banks posted:

I only have a single 10 gallon tank, so I don't really have a place for quarantining. I guess I could go buy another tank setup, but other than this guppy, I really didn't plan on getting any more fish until the residents of this tank died of old age.

Doubling my amount of home setups for quarantining a single fish didn't seem like a great buy/use of storage. In total, I have 4 neon tetras, either 2 or 3 pygmy cory cats (depending on the fate of the one having trouble yesterday), and a guppy. It's not exactly a big setup with expensive animals. So I didn't have much to protect. I guess I'm paying for it now. But, by buying the aeration setup yesterday I've already spent more on trying to save these guys than it would take to replace them all. And I don't mean to be callous, but as a teacher with a kid and a mortgage, I'm not exactly rolling in cash here.

With fish that small, take a larger food storage container or other bin, and just change the water more frequently and keep it in there 2 or 3 weeks. 1-2 tiny fish will be fine with no filter and reasonable, extremely easy water changes. If you�re extra worried, at the end of 2-3 weeks you can throw one other fish from the main tank for a week in there justttttt to make sure. poo poo even a clean bucket is fine.

A whole second quarantine setup would be for high stock tanks or when you�re buying a lot at once or breeding and such.

# ¿ Dec 8, 2023 04:49

Pilfered Pallbearers: Aug 2, 2007

Prof. Banks posted:

Very nice.

Hefty general aquatic hospital has been set up. They are really unsure about the sponge filter, but otherwise they seem to be doing fine.

I had to disassemble my hardscape a bit to catch them out, but the tank is not completely wrecked.

Nice job. Should be much easier to manage.

After you're done with it, if you give the sponge filter a good sanitize (to clear meds/disease) and keep it running in your main tank at all times, you now have an instant, cycled quarantine tank.

# ¿ Dec 9, 2023 19:47

Pilfered Pallbearers: Aug 2, 2007

DeadlyMuffin posted:

Does anyone have a heater they like for a 5-10 gallon tank? I have an aquarium co-op 50W heater that can't keep a 5 gallon bucket at 80 degrees. I'm trying to hatch clownfish in it and I can't keep it warm.

Heaters can only raise the temp a set maximum amount above non-heated water in the same space based on the wattage. If it�s winter where you are, consider locating the tank to somewhere warmer. Surface also matters. I crashed the temp of a 5gal plastic tank once (that had a small heater) because I had it sitting on my marble countertop.

You also want the water moving around to distribute the heat. Also make sure you have it set right. A 50w heater most of the time should easily heat 10-20 gallons.

# ¿ Jan 4, 2024 21:19

Pilfered Pallbearers: Aug 2, 2007

nwin posted:

What do you all use to scrape algae off the glass?

I�ve got a 13 gallon fluval flex and I started with one of those magnetic glass scrapers. This was a horrible idea because my toddler got hold of it, moved it into the sand, picked up said sand, and scratched the gently caress out of my glass.

The magnetic glass scraper is gone now.

I don�t have much algae, just little green dots that pop up on the glass. I time my lights so it�s only 7 hours a day. I�ve used paper towels in the past when I do a water change, but I�d like something a little easier to scrub. Maybe just a sponge?

They make long handled algae scrubbers with an abrasive pad.

This one is probably poo poo but you get the idea.

SLSON Aquarium Algae Scraper Double Sided Sponge Brush Cleaner Long Handle Fish Tank Scrubber for Glass Aquariums and Home Kitchen,15.4 inches https://a.co/d/0b3gBsR

I use a magnet scraper but I keep it high enough where it�s not an issue.

# ¿ Jan 15, 2024 19:55

Pilfered Pallbearers: Aug 2, 2007

Hadlock posted:

You definitely can't find them at Petco or whatever

Yeah I'd say they're moderately rare in the US. I think rice fish have been on the up swing in the last two years; two years ago you couldn't buy rice fish in the UK now they're getting common

Concord aquarium had them last fall.... Mixed in with similarly colored guppies, which was kind of weird. The way it was setup I think they were just trying to sell customers "small silver fish" which... I don't agree with

Outside of a handful of places they seem pretty hard to come by. They breed like crazy so it's possible to scale up production with demand on about a 6 week cycle

In Japan rice fish are sold as feeder fish like goldfish and rosy red are sold here, so it's not hard to import them.

When I was looking at online shops a few months ago nearly all of them had multiple rice fish colors.

# ¿ Jan 22, 2024 19:47

Pilfered Pallbearers: Aug 2, 2007

Sockser posted:

I'm at my wits end with bladder snails and scud in my shrimp tank.

I scoop out over a dozen snails every day, and somehow the next day there's three dozen more.

The scuds I have no solution for, they're hard as hell to catch, and they've completely eaten all my java moss

What's the optimal move here? Should I move all the shrimp + good snails into a quarantine tank and nuke this tank with copper or something?

You could throw some assassin snails in there, but you might want to do that after you pull the good snails out.

# ¿ Jan 30, 2024 23:15

Pilfered Pallbearers: Aug 2, 2007

Bollock Monkey posted:

Had a pretty catastrophic incident at home, which means we're likely without power for 2+ days. Any ideas for how to keep an established tank (with one axolotl) from getting hosed by having the filter off for that long? Putting the axolotl into a temp tank is tricky because we're also without running water for at least 24+ hours so no way to keep up with daily water changes.

2 days without a filter is likely fine as long as your tank was stable with no issues beforehand.

# ¿ Feb 11, 2024 18:11

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# ¿ May 9, 2024 15:54

Pilfered Pallbearers: Aug 2, 2007

a7m2 posted:

Thank you for the feedback. I found a tank that will fit that's 11.1G. If I want a betta and some cherry shrimp, is it going to be a problem that the tank is only ~10 inches/25cm high? I'm looking at a tank that's ~11 inches wide, ~23.6 inches long and ~10 inches high (28*60*25cm).

I'm also open to replacing the betta with some other fish if there are any good contenders for an 11G tank. I'd prefer fish + shrimp to a shrimp-only tank.

The betta will eat anything it can fit its mouth around that it can catch. They�re fairly aggressive and territorial towards smaller animals. This includes things it can bite in half if it in can catch em.

Generally big amano shrimp are your best bet for bettas cause they�re too big to eat.

However, if your tank has enough plants and hiding spaces (small tunnels or nooks that the betta can�t get into) cherry shrimp are usually fast enough and aware enough where they�ll get away. I have a ton of cherry shrimp in my community tank for cleaning purposes, and even with plenty of fish that would eat them it seems almost all of them survived because I have a lot of hiding space for them. I bought about 30 baby cherries and I still see most of them at full size 6 months later. I do have a 30 gal though.

# ¿ Feb 12, 2024 21:40

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