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He's defnitely paralyzed. He was just in a spot where he wanted to back up and his tail got caught on a rock and he just kept pushing with his pectoral fins until it got unstuck. 
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Feb 18, 2014 04:34
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Jeez. Does he respond to contact on his rear end at all? Signs arent looking good for him.
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Feb 18, 2014 04:36
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SynthOrange posted:Jeez. Does he respond to contact on his rear end at all? Signs arent looking good for him. If he's unable to feed tomorrow I'm putting him in a quarantine tank. I'll see then if he is able to move at all when a net him.
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Feb 18, 2014 04:53
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That sucks. Hopefully he pulls through.
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Feb 18, 2014 04:58
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SynthOrange posted:Macro shrimp often do get mixed up as ghost shrimp. Pretty aggressive and opportunistic feeders that'll grab anything in sight that isnt fast enough. Yeah, it's very likely that it was a macro. I returned it to the fish store as soon as I realised it wasn't just scavenging on dead fish but actively catching them. Cool little shrimp but pretty deadly to guppies.  I'm planning to get some peppered cories as they like the same temp range as my minnows and they're loving awesome little fish.  I'll probably put them out in the pond with the minnows over the summer too, weather permitting.
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Feb 18, 2014 08:33
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Weebay the Betta died. Worst part is it happened while I was on vacation and my GF was caring for the tank. There's no way it could be her fault but she's torn up. Oh well. Think I'm gonna get some schooling fish. Thoughts on good schooling fish that can live in a high 20 lidless with ottos and shrimp?
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Feb 18, 2014 15:27
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Eifert Posting posted:Weebay the Betta died. Worst part is it happened while I was on vacation and my GF was caring for the tank. There's no way it could be her fault but she's torn up. Neon tetras are pretty hardy once they get acclimated. Since they are tiny you can get a nice sized school, even in smaller tanks. Bonus points for you is I've never heard of them jumping out of tanks. Whatever you do, don't get hatchet fish. They managed to jump out of my covered tank through a pretty small opening, those poor, crazy bastards.
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Feb 18, 2014 16:04
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SynthOrange posted:Macro shrimp often do get mixed up as ghost shrimp. Pretty aggressive and opportunistic feeders that'll grab anything in sight that isnt fast enough. They have little red pincers... that is how I was told how to ID them. Aside from them going after your fish of course.
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Feb 18, 2014 16:17
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Dantu posted:Neon tetras are pretty hardy once they get acclimated. Since they are tiny you can get a nice sized school, even in smaller tanks. Bonus points for you is I've never heard of them jumping out of tanks. Whatever you do, don't get hatchet fish. They managed to jump out of my covered tank through a pretty small opening, those poor, crazy bastards. I'm a fan of mixing Harlequin Rasboras with Neon Tetras.
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Feb 19, 2014 02:58
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So my new Bolivian Rams have an interesting behavior. Whenever one chases another out of its territory, it will swipe its side on the substrate after its done chasing. I've seen unhealthy fish do this, but I see no signs of disease and my water parametets are pristine. Is this just some odd trait they have? I've watched them for awhile now, and they only do it after they chase. Could it be similar to how my dogs kick dirt around whenever they see my neighors horses?
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Feb 19, 2014 03:38
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This morning my firemouth looked a little perkier. His color was great but he was still acting paralyzed. I just checked the tank before shutting the lights off and he was floating at the top, gasping. I setup the hospital tank after work, was planning on transferring him in the morning. I just moved him into it and he's no longer floating but can't stay upright. gently caress. Poor little guy. What's strange is you google "paralyzed cichlid" and you get tons of reports of this. Seemingly healthy fish that suddenly can only use their pectoral fins and just drag their tails on the bottom. However, it's mostly just forum posts and they all end up reporting the fish is dead with days and nobody really has an explanation. Some blame nitrate/nitrite/ammonia poisoning, others blame trauma, TB usually gets throw around too. It's just so strange. Are fish that easily paralyzed by running into things? Bulky Bartokomous fucked around with this message at 05:34 on Feb 19, 2014 |
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Feb 19, 2014 05:30
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It could just be a freak thing. I did the same google search after your post yesterday, and there were a few people who said their fish was back to normal after a week or two in the hospital tank. I've had some Cichlids come back from some gruesome injuries, so don't give up hope yet.
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Feb 19, 2014 05:39
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My frontronners are CPDs, dwarf gourami, a danio subspecies, or threadfin rainbowfish. My 45³ cm tank is probably a bit small for the last. Anyone have opinions re: pencilfish? Always liked the look.
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Feb 19, 2014 07:14
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I personally like CPD's and if you can get them from a reputable source then go for it. I have seen some that are in really bad shape a couple of times and they never make it according to the LFS.
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Feb 19, 2014 14:21
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demonR6 posted:I personally like CPD's and if you can get them from a reputable source then go for it. I have seen some that are in really bad shape a couple of times and they never make it according to the LFS. Yeah, for small tanks, cpds are great. My tank has kind of stabilized right now with 6 cpds and a dwarf gourami. Still not completely sure if the gourami is to blame for the pop crash to this point or something else. Water parameters are amazing (every time I test, I have 0 nitrates and nitrites). I had 3 otos, but even with algae wafers and all the algae on the glass (and plants they weren't touching), they still died of starvation. That is another factor in making me think they weren't able to eat because the gourami was chasing them around. Now that I think about it, I should get a new water testing kit just to verify on those nitrate/nitrite levels. I can believe to some extent as the tank is pretty heavily planted, but at the same time, I've had this kit for a year now (api's master test kit).
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Feb 19, 2014 15:59
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possibly due to the stress of that.. not out of the realm of possibility though.
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Feb 19, 2014 16:20
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If there's one thing I've learned since I started keeping aquariums, it's that there is an amazing number of things that can go wrong enough to kill your fish.
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Feb 20, 2014 02:18
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Sostratos posted:If there's one thing I've learned since I started keeping aquariums, it's that there is an amazing number of things that can go wrong enough to kill your fish. That there is. It very well could be stress, as my CPDs are still very skittish and shy, despite living in a very heavily planted aquarium. I actually lost one a bit ago to a mystery disease. It looked like its skin was seperating from the rest of its body. All the others were fine though, so who knows.
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Feb 20, 2014 04:47
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Bait and Swatch posted:That there is. It very well could be stress, as my CPDs are still very skittish and shy, despite living in a very heavily planted aquarium. I actually lost one a bit ago to a mystery disease. It looked like its skin was seperating from the rest of its body. All the others were fine though, so who knows. That sounds like a CPD thing because over the last two years I have lost a couple to a disease that I can only explain as wasting away. They are in a school along with another of Cardinal Tetras and they are the only fish affected in the tank.
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Feb 20, 2014 14:39
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Does anyone here have any experience with using soil in a planted tank? I just got 'The Ecology of the Planted Aquarium' and it's got a lot of good information in it. I've got a 55 that I'm thinking about tearing down and rebuilding with the methods described in the book, but it never hurts to hear from others that may have experience.
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Feb 20, 2014 15:43
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Sostratos posted:Does anyone here have any experience with using soil in a planted tank? I just got 'The Ecology of the Planted Aquarium' and it's got a lot of good information in it. I've got a 55 that I'm thinking about tearing down and rebuilding with the methods described in the book, but it never hurts to hear from others that may have experience. I don't know if it counts as soil per se, but I use the fluval plant stratum stuff and it's pretty good and relatively painless to use.
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Feb 20, 2014 16:42
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Got soil in all of my tanks right now, all capped with various types of sand. I tend to use Miracle-Gro organic potting soil that I sift through some mesh to get the big chunks out of. Make sure you use something that's just potting soil and not a mix, because mixes have whatever fertilizers in them and while your plants may love it your fish and other critters may have different opinions. I also like to include a little bit of montmorillonite in with the soil. It's kind of like a backwoods laterite that you can buy a lifetime's supply of for like  . It's got some iron content which your plants will like plus it has a pretty high exchange rate so that soaks up all the goodness it can hold which the plant root systems can then extract from the clay. If you live near a Tractor Supply or something similar Safe-T-Sorb is exactly what I'm talking about.As far as actually putting it in you'll want probably two inches of soil in the tank. I like to keep it about an inch from the edges of the tank so I can more easily hide it with the sand but that's kinda obvious. I'd recommend planting heavily before you add the water because of the possibility of making a mess does go up. Uprooting can be a shaky business too, lots of dirt on top of your nice, clean rocks/sand. Swamp gas buildups are also a thing, which you can help by jabbing through the soil from time to time, or taking the hands off approach and tossing a few Malaysian trumpet shells in if you like swarms of things.
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Feb 20, 2014 16:58
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Anyone know the name of this little ray of sunshine?
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Feb 20, 2014 18:32
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Eifert Posting posted:Anyone know the name of this little ray of sunshine? Looks kind of like a red tail barracuda, but I think the shape of the mouth is a little different. Got a better picture?
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Feb 20, 2014 18:35
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Fresh water, around 18 inches. My dad thinks it's some sort of trout, and I think he's right. Dude sent me that idea like 30 seconds after I messaged him. I actually had to tell him I was impressed, which is something either one of us would gloat about for weeks.
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Feb 20, 2014 18:45
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Can't confirm/deny trout ID without a picture of the rest of the body but I'm leaning towards not a salmonid. There's something "trout-y" about it but I'm not wholly convinced.
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Feb 20, 2014 18:53
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I've definitely seen and owned a younger one of those before, I just can't find a proper name for it. If it helps anyone else with identification they have very large fangs that curve inwards.
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Feb 20, 2014 18:58
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Looking at the rest of the tank I'm guessing it's something South American. Beyond that I'm drawing a blank.
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Feb 20, 2014 18:58
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I think I found it. Sabre tusk barracuda, aka Vampire Tetra. http://bluegrassaquatics.com/barracuda-saber-tusk-reg.html *edit* I'm looking around more and it seems like there may be two unique fish going by this name. The vampire tetra appears to be a different species and for some reason some sites are listing the sabre tusk as a vampire tetra as well. Chichevache fucked around with this message at 19:03 on Feb 20, 2014 |
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Feb 20, 2014 19:00
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Chichevache posted:I think I found it. Sabre tusk barracuda, aka Vampire Tetra. I don't think that is it. The mouth shape on the one linked there is similar to a hatchetfish where the mouth points straight up with the upper lip also serving as the upper line to the body. The mystery fish however, has some body mas above the upper lip of its mouth. And that doesn't include the pink/silver skin. Edit: Looked again, and there is some, but not the extent of our mystery fish. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWNPKYsqtII Nah, don't think its the same fish. Really need a full body shot though. JuffoWup fucked around with this message at 19:21 on Feb 20, 2014 |
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Feb 20, 2014 19:14
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JuffoWup posted:I don't think that is it. The mouth shape on the one linked there is similar to a hatchetfish where the mouth points straight up with the upper lip also serving as the upper line to the body. The mystery fish however, has some body mas above the upper lip of its mouth. And that doesn't include the pink/silver skin. The one I linked is a baby. Google image search Sabre tusks and you'll find some photos that look a lot more like the mystery fish.
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Feb 20, 2014 19:18
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Shakenbaker posted:Got soil in all of my tanks right now, all capped with various types of sand. I tend to use Miracle-Gro organic potting soil that I sift through some mesh to get the big chunks out of. Make sure you use something that's just potting soil and not a mix, because mixes have whatever fertilizers in them and while your plants may love it your fish and other critters may have different opinions. I have two dirt tanks as well and used a similar setup with MGOCPS sifted but my sand cap is actually Zerobrite which was something I picked up on after a discussion with a friend of mine who works in the marine area at Sea World here in Orlando. TLDR they use it in larger aquariums as a sand substrate and two years plus in both my aquariums.. it works. Just like Shakenbaker mentioned only use Organic Choice Potting Soil because there are some that include extra 'things' that can be fertilizers and that is a recipe for a terrible things ending with dead fish. I dampen my soil and let it sit for a couple of weeks covered under Saran Wrap to help it get through the initial process and I did not have any algae blooms whatsoever. Also agreed that heavily planted from the get go is the best idea including throwing in as many floaters to absorb the initial excess nutrients etc. that occurs during the process.
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Feb 20, 2014 19:21
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Shakenbaker posted:Got soil in all of my tanks right now, all capped with various types of sand. I tend to use Miracle-Gro organic potting soil that I sift through some mesh to get the big chunks out of. Make sure you use something that's just potting soil and not a mix, because mixes have whatever fertilizers in them and while your plants may love it your fish and other critters may have different opinions. MTS are loving awesome.
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Feb 20, 2014 19:59
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Eifert Posting posted:Anyone know the name of this little ray of sunshine? Looks like Hydrolycus armatus.
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Feb 20, 2014 20:14
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My main tank's dirt with a gravel cap. I used Yates potting mix for the soil, sifted for large chunks. It was my first dirt tank so I made things a bit messy to start with, and it took about a week to stop being cloudy. Also for the longest time, about nearly a year, it pretty much inhibited my shrimp from breeding at all for some reason.  I was still experimenting with all sorts of setups trying to get a look I liked, going through a lot of rooting plants, but in the end, i think the only things I have now using the dirt are the back row of Vals and my driftwood mounted Anubiases, who're going crazy with root growth in that tank compared to my others. Compared to my nano tank, the dirt tank is more prone to bacterial and algae explosions, but I do keep it more heavily stocked as well. Nothing a quick salt dose or light cut wont fix though, but I cant really say if it's my stocking levels or the dirt doing it.
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Feb 21, 2014 01:04
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I have a co2 setup on the 55 right now, so what I might do is rebuild the whole thing with dirt and supplement a little co2. Hair algae took over my tank after an ammonia spike caused by a hidden dead fish, so a fresh start is looking really attractive right now. After setting up a 40 breeder, I'm not too crazy about the dimensions of a 55. Still, there's no sense in not using what I have. I might even go with some leaf litter and make it a tank for apistos since I've grown really fond of cichlids. To do all this I'm going to have to move my prize Phillipine blue zebra angel to a new home, though. Do you think there would be any issues housing him with a pearl gourami in a 40b?
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Feb 21, 2014 02:55
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My 20L ironically has had zero algae issues since day one but I stocked it with 50 red cherry shrimp and in its hey day I think it was well over 300 in there.. I was a carpet of cherries come feeding time. Somewhere along the way there were scuds introduced and they have decimated the shrimp population.
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Feb 21, 2014 03:31
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Chichevache posted:The one I linked is a baby. Google image search Sabre tusks and you'll find some photos that look a lot more like the mystery fish. Desert Bus posted:Looks like Hydrolycus armatus. Looking at pics yeah I think y'all are on the money. Thing is downright intimidating in person, more so than great barracuda even cause it looks so pissed. Silver toothy fish are so much more mean looking than sharks.
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Feb 21, 2014 06:47
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I have a 37 gallon aquarium. I don't want to completely break it down, but I would like to move away from fish to something that is perhaps a little easier. I hope that doesn't sound awful. I am a senior in college and my year has been crazy, I am going to enter grad school when that is over, we have a house we are doing work on, we are planning a wedding, and starting fertility treatments soon. So yeah, it's a bit crazy. I already checked and know that I can take my fish back to the store where I bought them. I do pretty large weekly changes and have some delicate fish (chain loaches) that don't really leave room for slacking off about it. What sorts of things would be a little easier to maintain that I could do in a 37 gallon? I was thinking about a live plant tank with some larger snails? But I honestly don't know anything about that. Any and all ideas are welcome. Thanks for the help!
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Feb 22, 2014 03:40
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My 4g tank is a tiny version of what you're describing. Lots of plants, snails and shrimp. I can forget about feeding them since they're all biofilm grazers and all that does is slow down population growth. Light helps the plants and the biofilm grows off nutrients from the animals. The only maintainence I do on that tank is to clean out the filter sponge every 2 months or so. That tank's water is absolutely pristine. The only issue is that I occasionally have to cull some MTS snails, but that's easy as getting a pair of solid tongs and squashing them, then that feeds the shrimp.
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Feb 22, 2014 03:51
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