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kontona posted:i wanted to pick up a "shallow" tank that's similar to the ADA 60-F. i recall someone posting a link to a site that had one that was just perfect.
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Jul 15, 2013 01:32
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DenialTwist posted:Thanks! I'm not set against tetras as a whole, and those Loretos are pretty neat. I was also looking at celebese, forktail, and gertrude rainbows, but I've never kept small rainbows before any opinions on them? I just want something small, uncommon, and neat to look at really. You could probably get a good deal on tigers if you don't care what colormorph they are. The dark blue ones are the expensive ones but they don't breed true. Odds are there's someone who's gonna be culling the ones that aren't   Special Here's an example of the inferior specimens. 
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Jul 15, 2013 03:24
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Alright, this is irritating the heck out of me, so I'll ask and see if anyone has ideas. As you may or may not remember, I set up an aquarium using an innovative marine nuvo 16 (switched out lighting and pump). Current stock are cpds and 3 otos. I can't say on number because they dart around and hide a lot. I've counted to 12 a few times which is right where they should be. Anyway, I have been finding one in the back of the tank almost daily. My first reaction was that it had leaped and got lucky so I pushed the glass hood back against the divider. I'm still seeing them back there though. The overflow isn't enough to put them in water or get out of the sponge. This leaves a possible gap in my divider which is also possible I suppose even though I specifically tested for it in a leak test when I first set up the aquarium. My other idea is, can fry if they get lucky subsist back there to a more mature state that I notice them? I can't imagine so, but who knows some times. It should be noted that I haven't seen a dead one on either sponge media so if it is through the overflow, they all have succeeded at landing in water. No dead ones on the floor either which rules out suicide attempts. And yes, I have seen assume the position along with seeing a free swimming fry at least once.
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Jul 15, 2013 11:22
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How's your sponge set up? I've got a similar overflow setup, and I used to find shrimp in the back all the time. They're just small enough to fit in the grill if they're determined. I tried many different ways to block them, but this is what worked in the end: Extra-thick block of sponge cut just over the size of the space at the back so it pushes up against the grill. Water still gets through fine, just take the sponge and squeeze out during cleaning.
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Jul 15, 2013 12:07
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SynthOrange posted:How's your sponge set up? I've got a similar overflow setup, and I used to find shrimp in the back all the time. They're just small enough to fit in the grill if they're determined. I tried many different ways to block them, but this is what worked in the end: There is no sponge actually blocking the overflow right now. I just didn't think the fish would be able to get themselves out of the basket into the water is all. Especially in that none have flopped themselves the wrong way and ended up on the carpet yet.
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Jul 15, 2013 12:12
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Wait, so you mean you're just finding them in the middle sections here? Well that is a mystery. Maybe set out a net? No wait, that'd certainly just result in dried out fish, even though you'd satisfy your curiosity. http://i.imgur.com/2oHLdPN.jpg
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Jul 15, 2013 12:23
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SynthOrange posted:Wait, so you mean you're just finding them in the middle sections here? Well that is a mystery. Maybe set out a net? No wait, that'd certainly just result in dried out fish, even though you'd satisfy your curiosity. Yeah, sometimes I'll see them in the refug area where the heaters are as well (there is a 100w heater in both the right and left side instead of just the right side as shown there). And the flow has dropped from that 200+gph monstrosity to a cool 80gph. So it isn't like I'm flinging them into the back area. I can only guess they are somehow riding the overflow over and missing the basket every single time. Or, as I mentioned, it is the little fry making the ride and then growing up in the back (feeding on the bacteria there?).
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Jul 15, 2013 12:35
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I found two fry when cleaning out my ZooMed 501 canister once. Since it is a smaller filter I would clean it out every two to three weeks so that gives you an idea how long they were in there. They were fine, I threw them back into the main tank and no harm, no foul.
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Jul 15, 2013 13:23
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Hey guys, potential fish newbie here. Lately I've been wondering about getting some fish since that's pretty much the only living things I can have in my apartment, but I don't know squat about this stuff. Never had fish, never knew anyone who had fish. I admit that looks do matter to me, and I've been looking at stuff like the Fluval Chi and the Biorb Flow. Are these good looking but bad for the fish, or are they all around great? Also wondering how many or how big the fish can be in these. QuasiQuack fucked around with this message at 22:21 on Jul 15, 2013 |
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Jul 15, 2013 22:05
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Beginners should get as large a tank as they can. If it's less than 15 gallons and your first tank it's a deathtrap.
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Jul 16, 2013 00:45
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Yeah, if you intend on housing fish, bigger is better. That said, my first tank was only 5 gallons, but it only housed snails and shrimp which are fairly light on their environment and can do quite well in small tanks. As for those tanks, they certainly look great, but I'm having trouble seeing them as being easy to maintain. The Fluval Chi has a small opening, and the Biorb looks like it has a substrate level filter, and both look like they take their own filter cartridges. My personal preference is to just go with a nice tank with separate filter and heater, rather than built in ones like on the above tanks. Built in parts make maintenance more fiddly and you cant really upgrade or tinker with them much. Synthbuttrange fucked around with this message at 01:21 on Jul 16, 2013 |
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Jul 16, 2013 01:14
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QuasiQuack posted:Hey guys, potential fish newbie here. You pay for the name with biorb and you'd have to get the bigger fluval because: Toussaint Louverture posted:Beginners should get as large a tank as they can. If it's less than 15 gallons and your first tank it's a deathtrap. This is so incredibly true. Do you not like plain old glass boxes from petco or petsmart? I think petsmart is still doing their $2 per gallon sale, even. You could pick up a nice 30 or 40 gal for what you'd probably pay for either one of those.
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Jul 16, 2013 02:57
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QuasiQuack posted:Hey guys, potential fish newbie here. As far as the size of fish these things can keep, it's going to be fairly small. The Chi is a small, tall tank (for it's volume) tank so fish that don't swim much like Betta is what it's designed for. The flow is a little bigger at 7.9gal, you could probably get some guppies in there, or a Betta and some neon tetras. Do you measure gallons or liters in your part of the world? Toussaint Louverture posted:Beginners should get as large a tank as they can. If it's less than 15 gallons and your first tank it's a deathtrap. I agree totally with this. The key for keeping fish is consistency in the water. A larger volume of water is more resistant to changes in the water. A great place to start is the nitrogen cycle article posted in this fine OP.
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Jul 16, 2013 03:44
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SynthOrange posted:Yeah, if you intend on housing fish, bigger is better. That said, my first tank was only 5 gallons, but it only housed snails and shrimp which are fairly light on their environment and can do quite well in small tanks. That box on top of the chi is removable, so it's not that bad to clean. I agree with the rest of your post though. It does take proprietary filter cartridges and the filter mechanism isn't really changable while keeping the aesthetic of the thing.
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Jul 16, 2013 03:51
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Zaffy posted:As far as the size of fish these things can keep, it's going to be fairly small. The Chi is a small, tall tank (for it's volume) tank so fish that don't swim much like Betta is what it's designed for. I'm in Norway, so liters. Part of the reason I'm looking at these tanks has to do with space concerns, so I don't really want to go over 30 liters / 7.9 gallons. I don't mind having just one or two small fishes though. I've also considered just having plants in it. QuasiQuack fucked around with this message at 14:23 on Jul 16, 2013 |
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Jul 16, 2013 09:04
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Bettas are fine beginner fish, and a single betta usually does well in a nice small tank with plants. Getting it set up first with just plants is a good step anyway though.
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Jul 16, 2013 09:17
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Shame that the ebi isn't available in europe. That is one of the better fluval kits right now. Sponge filter making it safe for shrimp and the substrate (you would need to get a second bag) is good enough to grow plants. Plus, it is 7.9 gal. I've been eyeing the little fluval spec 5gal tank. However, like my current tank, I wouldn't recommend shrimp in it. Overflow style tanks are very much not shrimp friendly.
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Jul 16, 2013 10:54
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JuffoWup posted:Shame that the ebi isn't available in europe. That is one of the better fluval kits right now. Sponge filter making it safe for shrimp and the substrate (you would need to get a second bag) is good enough to grow plants. Plus, it is 7.9 gal. I've been eyeing the little fluval spec 5gal tank. However, like my current tank, I wouldn't recommend shrimp in it. Overflow style tanks are very much not shrimp friendly. There is actually a store here in Oslo that has the Ebi.
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Jul 16, 2013 12:24
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most people who have ebi's seem to really like them. i have an eheim aquastyle. thought it was a really good beginner tank.
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Jul 16, 2013 14:27
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If you're looking at a betta and considering can get an ebi, you might want to consider that over a chi. I've heard reports that bettas with bigger fins have a hard time with the downflow of the chi, and that some will constantly hide at the bottom of the tank. Others are fine, but why take the risk? While I'm posting here: Right now we have a 20gal with plants, some pond snails that came with the plants, and two assassin snails. We're going to set it up this fall with a pack of pygmy corys, red cherry shrimp, and possibly other shrimp. We've heard reports of assassin snails eating shrimp and attacking corys, so I'm thinking of getting an ebi for the assassin snails and a betta. Will the betta harass my snails? Will my snails attack a betta? How do a get a betta without buying one that's been kept in a tiny cup? I want happy fish. When we set up the planted tank we didn't initially cycle it. Should we cycle it now (even though there are snails living in there?) Should we set up the other tank first, cycle it, put the snails in there, and then cycle the 20gal? Or will nine months of snails, sporadic snail food, and plant growth/death/debris have cycled it naturally?
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Jul 17, 2013 02:22
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I'd imagine it has a healthy colony of bacteria. I'd watch the levels on adding fish though.
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Jul 17, 2013 02:25
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I picked up a bristlenose pleco over the weekend to keep my overactive algae at bay, and he's set to work on it and the tank is looking great. However, when I drop in algae wafers to make sure he's getting proper nutrition, his tankmates (tetras and danios) go crazy over it and chase him off. I feed them at the same time, so I know the pleco is at least getting some of the wafer before the other guys head down to the bottom to see what he's got, but I am concerned about long term nutrition, and just his general state of welfare if he gets harassed every time he gets fed. Does anyone have any suggestions for how I can feed him without the other fish bugging him?
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Jul 17, 2013 05:31
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Can you feed the other fish before, or will they still go after the wafer? Got any rocks or driftwood you can hide it under where he'll usually go? You could also try boiled veg like zucchini and peas that wont attract the other fish.
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Jul 17, 2013 05:36
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My bristlenosed pleco was extra active at night - so I would drop in a bit of wafer once the lights had been off in the tank for a while. I'd try to drop it near to where he was chilling out. My tetras would almost always ignore food once the lights went out.
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Jul 17, 2013 05:36
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I am going to second the suggestion that mindofme made. I have a rubberlip that is afraid of its own shadow. He sees us from a distance and darts under his hiding place and feeding him in the day is almost pointless so I drop his wafer in right before I go to bed in front of his cave. He is always out at night because I did a ninja mission one evening and found him out and about.
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Jul 17, 2013 13:55
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I swear the only way I ever get to see my upside down catfish is if I hold a flashlight to the tank after lights out. 
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Jul 17, 2013 15:44
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I put some frogbit from my goldfish tank into one of my fishbowls. It must've had eggs from my big orange goldfish's last mating because now there's 3 tiny goldfish fry in my fishbowl. I'm still raising 2 babies that are 2 months old at this point in another tank. One has a single tail but by the time he was big enough to catch, I didn't have the heart to cull him. He's got a big fat belly and is pretty cute. I've read that single tailed egg-shaped body goldfish are known as nymphs, but that's unofficially because usually the single tailed ones get culled. The newborns are too small to tell, but it looks like only one may have a double tail. I might end up culling the other two if necessary since I won't have enough room for 6 adult goldies. Meanwhile, my male flagfish is guarding eggs on a patch of willow moss. He's a huge dick and has shredding the fins of a couple fish in the tank. I took a few strands of moss with eggs on it and stuck it in another fish bowl I have full of plants just to see if I can get flagfish fry. The ones the male are guarding will certainly get eaten or sucked into the filter the moment they hatch. I hope the eggs hatch soon so that half of the tank stops being off-limits to everything else that lives there. I am also hoping that I don't need to separate the pair due to non-stop fishy sex.
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Jul 18, 2013 05:51
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JuffoWup posted:Shame that the ebi isn't available in europe. That is one of the better fluval kits right now. Sponge filter making it safe for shrimp and the substrate (you would need to get a second bag) is good enough to grow plants. Plus, it is 7.9 gal. I've been eyeing the little fluval spec 5gal tank. However, like my current tank, I wouldn't recommend shrimp in it. Overflow style tanks are very much not shrimp friendly. I bought my Ebi on Ebay (I'm in the UK). There seem to be a few of them on there at the moment. Mine is currently housing a Betta and a small colony of cherry shrimp for him to terrorise. I'll second the fact that Fluval is a bit stingy with the amount of substrate they supply, but apart from that it is a nice little tank. The first thing you should do too is get rid of the filter. We're experiencing a bit of a heatwave over here, and I just got back from work to find the thermometer on one of my tanks off the scale, and all my Rosy barbs floating at the top  . The tank is on a windowsill in direct sunlight, and I recently put a black pvc backing film on it to cut down on algae growth. This seems to have been very good at absorbing heat, and has boiled the poor creatures.
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Jul 18, 2013 19:08
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Topping off and pruning the tanks tonight and realized my female apisto was throwing some funny color. Watched her a bit and then: Eggs! Eggs in a very messy tank. Why couldn't she have done this like tomorrow or something once everything's settled? Oh well. I have no idea if the male did his job or not, but still cool all the same. I went ahead and added some anti-fungal to the tank so here's hoping. It's just the two of them, a bunch of snails, and plants out the wazoo so I shouldn't loose any fry to predation that isn't parental. Would really love to raise up a batch of babies, both for learnin' and for spreading the apisto joy.
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Jul 19, 2013 02:19
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Good luck with those eggs! I tried my hand at apistos, but our water is too hard for them. Anyone else get constant lowballers from people who want to buy your fish or fry? Every time I post on another board with my blue-eyed bristlenose fry, the same fuckstick replies I STILL WANT TO KNOW YOUR SALE PRICES FOR ZEBRA PLECOS TELL ME. Zebra plecos are extinct in the wild, and even before that, adults were over $200 each. Average was $100 an INCH. And the price goes up now. I really should ask the fucker why I should sell him one (yes, he wants just ONE) of my zebras and what price he would offer. I somehow think he might dare offer the high price of $80 if I twist his arm. In other news, any goons going to the ACA? I always want to go to a fish convention but I can't imagine the total cost.
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Jul 19, 2013 23:46
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I'm getting a small airpump and airstone for my tank. I've been reading the Op for days now and I feel bad at how little I've done for my fish so far. I'm also buying a small piece of driftwood and I'll buy a testing kit with my next paycheck. I'm also considering getting a Aqueon 26 gallon tank that I saw at petsmart, but I'll probably do that at the end of the year, depending on how I'm doing with money and if there are good sales during the holidays.
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Jul 20, 2013 00:00
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My Walstad has blue-green algae. I've read that a BGA infestation is due to low levels of nitrate... but I have an inch of miracle gro organic potting soil in it. I've removed a lot of it manually and with an H2O2:H2O 1:1 dip. Light are on from 7 am - 11 am, then 2 - 6. Bioload: 1 male betta, handful of MTS. Plants: 1 stumpy wisteria (lol ), 3-4 stems of red ludwigia, some corkscrew vals, a 3"x3" carpet of Marsilea minuta, a little bit of guppy grass, some anacharis, hornwort.All the new growth leads to me to believe that there's plenty of nitrates in the tank but not enough water movement. I performed a 30% water change and lowered the water level so the filter-without-any-filter-media-in-it makes more splashes on the surface. I still have the outflow buffer in place so my betta is happy. Any suggestions as to how to get rid of the BGA are greatly appreciated.
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Jul 20, 2013 15:52
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Okay so I got my water circulating and the new hotness is set up for now, I am going to start actually planting and decorating this beast. Any recommendations for how to get some good quality driftwood sticks? I am trying to make a heavily planted maze of moss and sticks and I want to make it look like a tree fell into the swamp. So are any branches okay to put in or do I look for something specific..? edit: Can you guys recommend me a good water testing kit from amazon with a semi reasonable price range? dirtycajun fucked around with this message at 16:41 on Jul 20, 2013 |
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Jul 20, 2013 16:37
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http://www.amazon.com/API-Freshwater-Master-Test-Kit/dp/B000255NCI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1374335069&sr=8-1&keywords=aquarium+test+kit API test kit
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Jul 20, 2013 16:45
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durrneez posted:My Walstad has blue-green algae. I've read that a BGA infestation is due to low levels of nitrate... but I have an inch of miracle gro organic potting soil in it. I've removed a lot of it manually and with an H2O2:H2O 1:1 dip. How old is your light bulb? As they age they start putting out different wavelengths of light. BGA loves older bulbs in my experience.
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Jul 20, 2013 16:47
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Zaffy posted:http://www.amazon.com/API-Freshwater-Master-Test-Kit/dp/B000255NCI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1374335069&sr=8-1&keywords=aquarium+test+kit Thanks. Now to learn about sticks and fish tanks.
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Jul 20, 2013 16:49
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Cowslips Warren posted:I really should ask the fucker why I should sell him one (yes, he wants just ONE) of my zebras and what price he would offer. I somehow think he might dare offer the high price of $80 if I twist his arm. I can understand your desire to hold back your zebra stock for people who intend to breed them, but what generation are these that you have? How certain are you that your original zebras are from different wild or captive stock? Why is the fate of an individual intended for show or collection purposes worse than the production of genetically flawed stock? I know that livebearers like Endler's can get to about.... F7 before inbreeding becomes really problematic, but I still make an effort to separate males and females so that anything I sell off will be less likely to breed amongst itself. That aside, re: lowballing -- there simply may not be any local keepers that are as interested in this specific fish as you are. It took me over a month to sell off some extra peacock bass I had, and two 13"+ males went for $40 apiece to someone who had a general interest in large CA/SA cichlids. They literally do NOT value the fish in the same way that you do, and most likely won't if you don't talk up your creatures! I'd think that the total costs of attending a specialty convention like that would depend on hotel location, car rental, airfare, special shipping arrangements (are there special licenses require for interstate transfer, for example?), and what sort of stock you intend to TAKE to auctions and BRING back from auctions. Assuming a 4-5 day excursion to a convention, using official convention hotels (3+ stars), and airfare for let's say.... halfway across the country, you'd be looking at about $1000-$1500 before even getting to the fish-specific costs! Speaking of loving your fish more than anyone else, it's photodump time! My current grow out batch consists of two little Cichla ocellaris brats, one Florida C. monoculus/ocellaris hybrid, a complete MYSTERY pale silvery pbass, and leader of the pack, the inimitable C. orinocensis, Princess Bloop! Now that they are all cruising around together, it means I am doing two 50% water changes weekly to keep up with all the nitrogen these monsters are making. Can't wait til they're ready for the 300.  ----- Silvery oddball:  ----- Bloop cruising ahead of all the others:  ----- Bloop, left and right profiles. I am really happy with the iridescence that's coming in on her tail margin. She's about 7.5 inches now, which is a little less than 1/2 the length and 1/10th the mass that I hope she'll top out at:   ----- Peacock bass overwatch! I like how they will circle the wagons and make sure every angle is being watched while they're chilling out.  ----- Bonus shot of Clarkson, the JAAAAAG, with Butterscotch, the severum I saved from advanced hole in the head, in the back. I might be going down the terrifying road of breeding her, I currently have a male jaguar cichlid in quarantine right now. I'll keep you guys posted so you can point and laugh when things go horribly awry.  -----
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Jul 20, 2013 19:09
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drat those are some fat and sassy bass. I don't think I could offer much to such a smart fish though. I know oscars can go nuts and destructive from boredom, and bass too, I'd imagine? As for the zebras, if I posted my adult group for sale, there are at least six people I know who have already told me they will pay $X for them and to contact them asap if I ever decide to sell. Most of them have experience with hypancistrus; these are not your common bristlenose. The lowball guy just wants one, as he'd told me, because they are so rare and it would go in his planted tank and would be happy with his other fish. So he has no experience dealing with zebras, and he turned down my offer for a snubnose juvie (not a genetic abnormality, and that I offered at the going price for that size because I know he'd never pay it) because he 'wants an adult.' I'd love to go to the ACA next year, or the catfish convention in Maryland that happens every two years, but unless I win the drat lottery, I doubt it will happen. We don't get that many conventions in AZ; in fact the only one I am aware of is the SAKE, held by the killifish club, and I help set that one up every year!
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Jul 20, 2013 20:17
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Moved my fish into a rubbermaid for a bit while I give my tank a thorough cleaning (and probably switch back to the canister filter because this aquaclear clogs up really fast in comparison), and I have no drat idea where the ghost shrimp is. Is he still in the tank? Did I net him with one of the other fish on accident? Did he hitch a ride out on a plant when I moved those to the rubbermaid? Is he behind a bookcase somewhere? I'm not sure I'll ever know.
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Jul 20, 2013 22:15
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I've had my tank for 4 months and its been perfectly stable, I started getting some green algae about a month and a half ago and added an algae eater to it, no algae since. Well 2 days ago the water started going from perfectly clear to really yellow and cloudy today. The fish were at the very top looking like they were gasping for air. I can only assume this is a nitrate spike right? I did a 30% water change, changed the filter (which should have been fine) and vacuumed the gravel. The fish look better now and do not appear to be on the brink of death at this point. From what I understand the way to deal with this is to continue to vacuum the gravel and do water changes until its cycled again. The water is still pretty cloudy but not as bad as earlier. Is it ok to do water changes every day until its stable again? More often? Less often? How much water? Or am I totally wrong and handling this the wrong way entirely? Also what did I do wrong that it would suddenly got all out of whack like that? The aquarium is small, 10 gallons, and has 3 really small fish and the algae eater.
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Jul 20, 2013 23:02
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