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THF13 posted:I am looking for some goon input on a small planted cubicle tank. I don't expect to put any fish in it but I think a small shrimp only setup could be doable. From googling around here is what I expect to do. I'm running a 5 gallon that's set up similar, but that being said, I'm still learning so someone else is welcome to tell me I don't know what I'm talking about. I'm also going out of order, because that's how I do. 2 gal might be small, doable, but at that size the filter takes up a lot of space. I started with a 1 gallon and within a week went to a 5 gallon instead and its perfect for a planted shrimp tank. Yes, you'll want a filter. If you go with plastic decorations you could probably rely on the shrimp to keep it clean, but with a full spectrum lamp running, plus co2 additive to make the plants happy, it'll take about 3 days before you can barely see through the algae. Don't go overboard with plants. I did at first and I couldn't actually see the shrimp, which defeats the purpose. Right now I just have 1 parrot's feather, 3 java ferns, and some java moss (+spider driftwood, the shrimp need somewhere to hide to molt and this driftwood is awesome). Don't pay for an aquarium lamp. I bought a $3 table lamp from target and got a 6500k cfl bulb from Home Depot and saved about $50. Add in a timer (12 hours of light with a 1 hour break in the middle has worked great for me) and you're good to go. You do want to let the tank cycle with just plants for at least a week before adding shrimps. Feeding: I use sinking algae pellets. The shrimp really don't eat all that much, so I'm breaking them down into quarters. There's still some left after the feeding frenzy, so I stir that up with a stick and the shrimp love picking through the sand for it. With RCS you don't need to worry about checking water quality. They're super hardy, but I do add a bit of stress zime and stress coat when I do a water change (2 weeks per change should be fine, I just do about a quarter). Snails: just no. But I have issues with snails that I didn't want to begin with, so I'm an unabashed snail bigot. Hopefully your shrimp will breed and fill out the tank. They spend most of the time hiding, so with only a few you won't see them often. I originally ordered 6, and 2 of them came with eggs already, so they've been multiplying happily, probably close to 40 total after 3 months. Doing 2 separate shrimp orders isn't a bad idea to keep the gene pool from getting too shallow. I'm planning on ordering a few soon from a different seller to avoid that myself. Reccomendations: Filter I use: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B005VEWCMO?pc_redir=1398659544&robot_redir=1 It has a flow control knob, silent, and not expensive to replace sponges and whatnot. I have the 5 gallon tetra cube, but get whatever tank you like. It's hard to go wrong with something this small. I also recommend Fluval Stratum for the substrate. Good stuff. Hopefully that helps.
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May 1, 2014 03:43
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| # ? May 12, 2024 23:40 |
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Man, my 15 year old dojo loach finally died this morning. He got some kind of horrible cancery growth on his tail that's been steadily getting worse over the last few months. He sure was a trooper right up until the end though. Sure gonna miss that little wiggleworm. I only got 2 dojos left. I'm gonna try to find another weird brownish spotted one like my old man. 
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May 1, 2014 05:02
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THF13 posted:I am looking for some goon input on a small planted cubicle tank. I don't expect to put any fish in it but I think a small shrimp only setup could be doable. From googling around here is what I expect to do. This is pretty much my small tank, a dymax iq5 except mine's a 3.5 gallon with built in filtering.  There's also the 2 gal baby version, the dymax iq3  Put a lid on them and you're cutting down evaporation to a minimum. Be aware that the shrimp are pretty prolific breeders and you may end up with a whole lot more than you intended. Have a plan for getting rid of excess population, either culling, selling or giving them away. Stuff on your first list looks fine. I'd recommend a filter. I'd avoid snails unless they're a non breeding type in freshwater, like a nerite. Snail populations can rapidly zoom out of control if there's too much food around. As for feeding, you can manage with a small pinch of food every few days for that population size. Otherwise they can start feeding themselves with biofilm. Plants and driftwood give a pretty good surface for it to grow on and keep your shrimp fed. I only throw in food once a week in my tank, there's so much surface area that they can stay pretty healthy just scavenging off it.
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May 1, 2014 05:12
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Lacrosse posted:Man, my 15 year old dojo loach finally died this morning. He got some kind of horrible cancery growth on his tail that's been steadily getting worse over the last few months. He sure was a trooper right up until the end though. Sure gonna miss that little wiggleworm. Sorry, but at least you gave him a nice long life.
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May 1, 2014 13:38
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THF13 posted:I am looking for some goon input on a small planted cubicle tank. I don't expect to put any fish in it but I think a small shrimp only setup could be doable. From googling around here is what I expect to do. I'd say that a 5 gallon would bring more enjoyment in the long run, easier to skip a cleaning on it too! If your lfs/plant outlet is anything like mine your snails will hitch a ride free of charge lol... Mystery snails are cool but lord do they cause a stink.
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May 4, 2014 12:40
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What's the most humane way to euthanize a fish? Last night one of my swordtails' started acting off and I notice her eye seemed a bit odd so I put her into quarantine. Today her eye is bulging and her swimming is very lathargic.  
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May 5, 2014 01:13
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Anesthetic overdose with clove oil is a popular method. Otherwise, a hammer to the head if you've got a steady hand and arent squeamish.
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May 5, 2014 01:22
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I've heard of people using a bucket of ice water, though I'm not sure how humane it is. Clove oil is the way to go if you have it.
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May 5, 2014 01:36
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Clove oil is always sold out at my local pharmacy. People must have a hell of a lot of toothaches, or a lot of fish to kill.
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May 5, 2014 01:37
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SynthOrange posted:Clove oil is always sold out at my local pharmacy. People must have a hell of a lot of toothaches, or a lot of fish to kill. Clove oil is one of those things you don't think you need until it's too late. That being said, overnight it from Amazon and keep it for when you need it again. Keep it out of sunlight and it won't go bad. I've put down an oscar with clove oil and followed these directions, but my oscar required about 10x the amount of oil listed required to actually KILL the drat thing. I've heard that you can anesthetize the fish first, then follow up with vodka, but that's a waste of perfectly good booze. 
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May 5, 2014 02:29
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I recommend Tricaine if you want to send your beasts off in style. It also doesn't have solubility problems like clove oil. It's essentially morphine for fish. The times I have had to use it, I mixed it up in a 1 to 2 gallon batch (I deal with pretty large fish). 1/32 teaspoon per gallon to sedate, then 1/4 teaspoon per gallon to euthanize. There's also mg/L tables in the material information sheet that is included. They're high as a kite, and about the best send-off I can think of. 5 grams will last a while. Sorry about your swordtail. They are fun lil' fish, always very active in the water column. I actually got a batch of them yesterday, females were dropping babies right in the bag!e: just read that page for oscars. An HOUR? Eeesh! I realize a lot of that time is spent watching for gill movement (15 minutes of nothing is generally considered dead). I used the goldfish/carp dosing tables when I had to bid Sloth (an oscar) adieu. Fusillade fucked around with this message at 03:44 on May 5, 2014 |
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May 5, 2014 03:41
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Where's a good place to get some crushed coral?
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May 6, 2014 04:05
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Niel posted:Where's a good place to get some crushed coral? For what? Crushed coral is bad for most freshwater applications.
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May 6, 2014 15:55
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I have had a 1.5 inch fire mouth in my office tank for months now, with just a clown Pleco as a tank mate. In that time I have seen him outside of the PVC pipe I put in as shelter a grand total of two times. He doesn't even come out for food. I can only assume he eats the sinking pellets when nobody is around because he hasn't died, but he's also not growing. Anyone deal with a scared cichlid this long? Should I add dither fish? Never seen a fish refuse to come out for more than a few weeks before. I thought about taking the pipe out but then I'm sure he will just hide behind the driftwood.
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May 6, 2014 16:14
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Dantu posted:For what? Crushed coral is bad for most freshwater applications. I've got some sort of Psuedotropheus or Metriaclima or something in a tank, and I'd like to get some to harden up the water a bit.
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May 6, 2014 23:50
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Dantu posted:I have had a 1.5 inch fire mouth in my office tank for months now, with just a clown Pleco as a tank mate. In that time I have seen him outside of the PVC pipe I put in as shelter a grand total of two times. He doesn't even come out for food. I can only assume he eats the sinking pellets when nobody is around because he hasn't died, but he's also not growing. Anyone deal with a scared cichlid this long? Should I add dither fish? Never seen a fish refuse to come out for more than a few weeks before. I thought about taking the pipe out but then I'm sure he will just hide behind the driftwood. What size tank? What else does he have to hide in? What decor is in the tank?
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May 7, 2014 00:36
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Dantu posted:I have had a 1.5 inch fire mouth in my office tank for months now, with just a clown Pleco as a tank mate. In that time I have seen him outside of the PVC pipe I put in as shelter a grand total of two times. He doesn't even come out for food. I can only assume he eats the sinking pellets when nobody is around because he hasn't died, but he's also not growing. Anyone deal with a scared cichlid this long? Should I add dither fish? Never seen a fish refuse to come out for more than a few weeks before. I thought about taking the pipe out but then I'm sure he will just hide behind the driftwood. This reminds me of how I discovered cichlids, or rather learned to understand them. Back when I was dumping my allowance into the family 75 in the living room I'd buy random fish because that's what you do right? The store I went to was a real poo poo heap but that's south Georgia. Anyway, I saw these awesome little green fish with red gills and I bought one. He was an inch, maybe inch and a half, and he went into the tank with everything else. For a while he constantly hid. I'd move rocks around and stuff just so I could see him dart around, to know he was still alive. Thought he was such a little pansy. Then he got about two inches or so and became tank boss. The toughest thing in the tank was a single female pearl gourami (side note: I don't think I had two of the same kind of anything. I was a bad fish person) so he just rode roughshod over everything. Some got killed, the rest knew to hide. Eventually my dad tossed him into the pond behind the house  And that is how I learned fish.
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May 7, 2014 01:05
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I have a 5 gallon with a betta and a couple pathetic little plants, a crypt and a java fern. Once I get a chance to pick up some old tanks for quarantine I'm going to be buying a lot more plants and turning it into a pretty heavily planted tank. What I'm wondering is what I can add to the tank to do some cleanup. I was planning to get a nerite snail to clean up dead plant bits and algae, but I've started giving my betta frozen brine shrimp/bloodworms/etc and he makes a huge mess and wastes a ton of food so I'm wondering if there's anything I can get that will feast on the food my betta is too precious to eat. Or will a nerite eat that too? I only hear people talking about them eating algae and plants. I would kind of like to get some shrimp but my betta is pretty feisty and I wouldn't be shocked if he ate them. If anyone has suggestions I would be grateful; I've never had inverts before and I'm sure the tanks I had as a teenager were way overstocked just with fish so I feel totally clueless about what I can reasonably put in a 5 gallon.
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May 7, 2014 03:54
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Could use some Malaysian trumpet shell snails. They're great cleanup but they also reproduce like nothing you have ever seen if they're given the resources.
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May 7, 2014 04:51
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Feed him live worms and any survivors will clean up after themselves!  Ghost shrimp are dirt cheap and sold as food/cleanup. Try those out too if you're unsure if your betta will just make snacks.
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May 7, 2014 06:08
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So I picked up a new test kit just to make sure the old one wasn't making false info, and sure enough, it wasn't. 0 ppm ammonia 0 ppm nitrite 0 ppm nitrate  0 ppm copper I guess my shrimp problem was all just temp. TDS meter showing around 200-300 though. Local lfs place I checked, has his tank at around 30. That is the only thing on the water side left that could be the issue at this point. Also, I need more fish in general if my plants are keeping it at 0ppm nitrate.
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May 7, 2014 06:21
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Cowslips Warren posted:What size tank? It's a 20g long. There's also a piece of driftwood that the clown pleco calls home and two little stands of plants. Last week one of the assassin snails cruised into his pipe and it was the first time I've seen him do anything besides sit in the pipe. There was much gill flaring and he bit the snail (on the shell) until it left. 
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May 7, 2014 11:31
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Niel posted:I've got some sort of Psuedotropheus or Metriaclima or something in a tank, and I'd like to get some to harden up the water a bit. Crushed coral seems to have fallen out of favor with the hobby, even with saltwater enthusiasts. When I was setting up a saltwater tank a few years ago the person working in the store said "Oh, we don't use THAT anymore" and acted like I asked if could use crushed panda bears as substrate. That said, the other store I go to still carries it.
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May 7, 2014 11:35
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So weird thing going on in my planted tank right now. I've had this dark green algae forming on the ground cover at the front of my tank edging slightly onto the glass at the front. Any idea what this is? Seems different than the other algae in my tank and I'm not exactly sure how to get rid of it as if I try to do so I'll tear up my ground cover...
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May 7, 2014 14:52
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w00tmonger posted:So weird thing going on in my planted tank right now. I've had this dark green algae forming on the ground cover at the front of my tank edging slightly onto the glass at the front. Sounds like bacterial algae. I usually get that stuff in new tanks. Supposedly CO2 fights it, but has always made yhe problem worse in my experience. Your best bet is to greatly reduce the amount of light the tank receives for a few days. Add some floating plants to soak up excess nutrients as well.
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May 7, 2014 20:45
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I used to use crushed coral when cycling to keep my ph stable (soft water/low KH), but I found that a steady source of carbon (like co2 or Flourish Excel) would keep my ph stable, and fluctuate much less than the coral.
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May 7, 2014 21:16
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Good morning!
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May 8, 2014 12:34
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JuffoWup posted:So I picked up a new test kit just to make sure the old one wasn't making false info, and sure enough, it wasn't. For your nitrate test kit, make sure you are inverting the reagent bottles and shaking the everliving poo poo out of them before adding the drops - I'm talking borderline tennis elbow business here. They will give false negative readings with no or gentle shaking. Also, hello shrimp!
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May 8, 2014 18:46
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Fusillade posted:For your nitrate test kit, make sure you are inverting the reagent bottles and shaking the everliving poo poo out of them before adding the drops - I'm talking borderline tennis elbow business here. They will give false negative readings with no or gentle shaking. Yup. Arm was tired by 30s in while the instructions said to shake for a whole minute minimum.
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May 8, 2014 19:44
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Time to play America's favorite game show! It's:    Having CO2 and LEDs doesn't suck.   Look at that lighting. 
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May 12, 2014 07:48
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Eifert Posting posted:
This is amazing. Those reds are crazy dark. And a shrimp!
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May 13, 2014 02:29
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question for you guys. I've been thinking about what it would take to get a little desk-tank for work, possibly with some shrimp and other lower maintenance creatures. I think I would go planted, and probably just something quite small as space is limited. Maybe 2-3 gallon? would it be feasible to get something working on that small of a scale?
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May 13, 2014 16:04
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Just stick to shrimp. I have 4 shrimp and one danio in this one and wish I had just stuck to shrimp. Tank is clearer than it appears in this shot, but it did take a good 7-8 weeks to get a nice balance, even in such a small tank.
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May 13, 2014 16:43
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Convicts must be the cats of fish, because I just had one bite me while I was trying to clean up their poo poo Does a shrimp tank need filters and other stuff like a regular fish tank, or is that just light and water changes?
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May 13, 2014 18:00
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Yes, you need a filter and such. For shrimp, as with fish, more filtration is always better, though you can get by with less (if you have to) due to the modest bioload.
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May 13, 2014 18:22
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Well, I don't know if I want to continue this fish tank thing. Even though I enjoyed it. I just accidentally bleached my tank, so it is fishless again. Accidentally as in after 2 days soaking in water with the proper amount of seachem prime, my purge beads were apparently still packed full of bleach which helpfully gave back. I dunno where to go now. One option is to toss the tank as I have been having nothing but troubles most likely because of the rear pump design. On the other hand, I'm wondering about cutting out the false wall and set up an external filter like a proper person. The other thought is just put in storage for a while till I have a better idea on what I'm doing. Good thing I didn't get those shrimp I was thinking of buying last week. I am mostly mad at myself for not doing another soak with a chlorine check to make sure they were neutralized.
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May 14, 2014 06:01
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mobby_6kl posted:Convicts must be the cats of fish, because I just had one bite me while I was trying to clean up their poo poo In all my years of fish keeping, a Convict remains the only fish that has ever bitten me in anger. He spawned with my firemouth and they had a eggs in the tank so I really couldn't blame him, though.
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May 14, 2014 13:12
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Dantu posted:In all my years of fish keeping, a Convict remains the only fish that has ever bitten me in anger. He spawned with my firemouth and they had a eggs in the tank so I really couldn't blame him, though. There's a reason that convicts have the reputation they do, yeah. Feisty little things. I will add that I've got a lavender gourami that definitely bit me at least a dozen times when he thought I was a trying to mess with his bubble nest. He's got no teeth, but he's got a lot of heart.
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May 14, 2014 14:20
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Dantu posted:In all my years of fish keeping, a Convict remains the only fish that has ever bitten me in anger. He spawned with my firemouth and they had a eggs in the tank so I really couldn't blame him, though. I had a tiger Oscar that attacked anything in the tank, and tried to attack anything close to it. Hands, siphons, nets, he didn't care. He also hated the cat and would have mouth opening contests with anyone who came to look in the tank. He was a mean fucker, but had loads of personality.
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May 14, 2014 16:49
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| # ? May 12, 2024 23:40 |
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http://i.imgur.com/YZotqUx.jpg So my scat developed this white splotch over night. There is a little bit of white around his lips too. I've been creeping towards brackish and I'm only at like 1.003 right now. Any insight, I think it may be fungal as it comes a little past the surface of his skin. Super worried though because I am out of town for the weekend. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks guys.
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May 14, 2014 21:04
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