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xxEightxx posted:Standard azgardens caveat here.
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Mar 11, 2015 00:37
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Fish Noise posted:I would like to know more They are stupendously incompetent. If and when they ship most everything will arrive dead. They don't charge for shipping until they ship and they charge as though they're doing a good job when really it's just norm fish bags tossed in a box. Google them and the reviews are harsher than this.
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Mar 11, 2015 05:22
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Desert Bus posted:They are stupendously incompetent. If and when they ship most everything will arrive dead. They don't charge for shipping until they ship and they charge as though they're doing a good job when really it's just norm fish bags tossed in a box. Google them and the reviews are harsher than this. This has been a thing for years. I don't know how they're still in business.
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Mar 11, 2015 05:51
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My roommate wanted to get fish, but didn't realize that all of their accessories are expensive if you want to do it correctly. And I insist that things are done correctly because I don't like things dying. So now I have a ten gallon fish tank! After one oto and one betta death, I've purchased some test strips, among 10 other things, and am hoping to change out the substrate to potting soil and sand so that I can grow plants more easily. The bright pink and green gravel isn't really my style. I would like to get another betta after planting and letting the tank cycle again in a month or two and currently just have 3 otos.  The light hood and gravel filter should be coming today so it can look less terrible! Also, where is the best place to buy specific plants? I want dwarf hairgrass/sword plant and dwarf baby tear, but I can't find them at local stores and shipping online is like $18.
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Mar 11, 2015 12:33
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I would advise against both those choices unless you have really good lighting planned and C02 if you want these to really thrive. It will grown w/o them but it will be slow and you may not get the results you expect. DHG takes a very long time to spread out even under ideal conditions. It needs really good water conditions and it is a pain in the rear being a magnet for some of the most stubborn aquarium algae out there and it is annoying as hell to remove once it gets it. DBT are even worse requiring high light and C02 if you want it to spread evenly and quickly. Like DHG it can be hard to take root and is pulled up easily from the substrate until it takes root. Without C02 aside from taking a long time to grow it tends to be leggy and not compact like what you have probably seen in the pictures. I took a shot at this plant in my 20L ignoring the advice of those who had it and not using C02 and my lighting was low-med at best and I got terrible results.
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Mar 11, 2015 13:54
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demonR6 posted:I would advise against both those choices unless you have really good lighting planned and C02 if you want these to really thrive. It will grown w/o them but it will be slow and you may not get the results you expect. I'm glad I posted here first then. I was going for a grassy look for the bottom and anchoring some to the driftwood to make it look like a tree. Would vallisneria and one of the mosses in the op be better (assuming I can find them)? I might just go by the local store this weekend and see what they have and their requirements.
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Mar 11, 2015 15:41
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Depending on the moss, but they tend to be much more easy to grow in lower lighting conditions and do not need C02 for the most part. Case in point, that is all moss covering the entire side of my 55, almost half the tank now. 
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Mar 11, 2015 15:50
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I've had loose/partially buried Java moss grip on to the substrate before and I've seen some decent pictures of it as a carpet. I don't do anything special with mine and I find it grows best where there is more flow so it might grow slower if you are trying to carpet with it but one thing is, the more you trim it, the bushier it grows and the more material you end up with to bury and spread your carpet wider. If my fish weren't so keen on ripping up plants I'd like to try a Java moss carpet myself. I've got some nice bushy clumps from tying it to rocks and I think it could work tied to a twig to make a tree but it would take a lot of growing/trimming/regrowing to get it to start looking sufficiently bushy instead of stringy. The fissidens moss I have looks really good on a twig though, the way the fronds grow looks much more natural and closer to leaves on a tree than anything I've managed to get Java moss to do. There are some good examples out there demonstrating all the different textures you can get using different mosses and I tried to paste one here but couldn't work out how to get around the image copy protection while tablet posting. I'm trying to grow out a few different types of moss to try something later on when I have enough to make it worthwhile. As well as Java and fissidens I have some stringy moss which was mixed in with the first Java moss I bought from eBay. It grows straight upwards in loose streamers and the leaflets are widely spaced, a small piece doesn't look like much but when more of it grows in a clump it has potential to look great I think. I saw someone selling "rare! Star moss!" on eBay and realised it looked exactly like submersed regular garden moss so I am trying some I found in the garden to see if that will grow. So far it is still green after a week underwater. I'd love to get some bushy Christmas moss but everyone who is selling it here has what looks just like lumps of Java moss without the characteristic bushiness so I have not been willing to get any. I think mosses are great and you should give them a go!
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Mar 11, 2015 16:13
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Thank you to those that helped with my lighting problems. I now have more questions. I have heard mixed things about Ghost Shrimp, are they okay with Bettas, or are they likely to try and eat his fins? My poor Betta has had enough fin tearing (hence the rest I switched to live plants), so I wanted to make sure. I hear it is difficult to tell the difference between them and Whisker Shrimp. On a somewhat different topic, for my 10gal, my hood came with an Aqueon fluorescent tube light, is the Aqueon "Full Spectrum" alright, or should I just get a new fluorescent from Home Depot?
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Mar 11, 2015 23:55
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I have keep a ghost shrimp with a betta without issues.. the betta will try to eat the shrimp most likely so that is a bad thing.
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Mar 12, 2015 01:21
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MrConfusedTurkey posted:On a somewhat different topic, for my 10gal, my hood came with an Aqueon fluorescent tube light, is the Aqueon "Full Spectrum" alright, or should I just get a new fluorescent from Home Depot?
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Mar 12, 2015 03:12
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Slugworth posted:The aqueon bulb will be fine for basic low light plants like anubias and java fern. There are bulbs that will fit your fixture that are labeled as being for plant growth that would work a little better, but probably not real noticeably. What should I use for quick med-high light growing plants like Amazon swords/compactas?
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Mar 12, 2015 04:13
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MrConfusedTurkey posted:What should I use for quick med-high light growing plants like Amazon swords/compactas? If you're a technical minded person, and patient, go crazy with lighting right off the bat. If not, I don't see any harm in sticking with easier plants and the fixture you currently have. And there's no harm in experimenting, throwing various medium-light and even high-light plants in there and seeing what happens. Every once in awhile, you'll find a plant that maybe doesn't end up growing and spreading under your light, but which survives. Of course, you'll also more often just kill it, but I'm able to muscle my way through the guilt of killing the occasional plant 
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Mar 12, 2015 04:29
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MrConfusedTurkey posted:What should I use for quick med-high light growing plants like Amazon swords/compactas? The problem with higher lights is that the plants get more demanding as well. They start harvesting more out of the water and need active participation in fertilizers and co2 to keep them going. If you just go high lights without the nutrients to help them along, algae could take over as well. Then again, they may not due to the aforementioned nutrient deficiencies. Also, in my case, I found that fish don't often like the higher lightning. My cpds would pretty much hide near the bottom of the tank unless the lights were off. Then I would find them mid swimming. Too much light for the tank I'm guessing (24" fugeray for a 16gal aquarium).
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Mar 12, 2015 04:44
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What is wrong with my friend's Cichlid? It has a growth on the top of its fin, and my friend has been using Mardel Biospheres(?) Maracyn Plus Antibacterial (he was suggested to use that at the fish store) to try and treat the tumor/cyst/hemorrhoid, he was using antibiotics before but he was worried how the treatment would affect the other fish since the tumor hasn't shed in about a month so far. He does water cleans at least once a week and he's treats his fish really well, if anyone has any suggestions thanks in advance. You can see it on the top fin of the yellow one  
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Mar 12, 2015 04:57
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Mystery fish tumor! Basically until you get a biopsy (and it'll be expensive) no one knows! If he wants to try the antibiotics though, setting up a separate hospital tank so the rest of the tank isnt subjected to the medication would be one way.
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Mar 12, 2015 07:41
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Just spent the last week catching up on this thread after a few years' absence. I've been out of the fish game for a while but just picked up a 5 gallon and betta from craigslist and set it all up with sand, banana plants, a cheesy bright orange fake plant (I like it, shut up) and a few ghost shrimp. I swapped out the way-too-strong-for-a-betta HOB filter for this one . I haven't seen much mentioned in the way of filters for small betta set ups but so far I have no complaints about this. It has an adjustable flow, agitates the surface of the water enough to prevent film, and you can change the direction of the spray bar which is fun. I also got a 25 watt hydor heater which is doing a good job of keeping the aquarium at a nice 78ish degrees.  Here he is harassing a ghost shrimp. I started with 7 and in the first twenty four hours he had killed three. The other four for some reason have made it a week or more.  Anyway, I need name suggestions. So far I'm debating between Cornelius, Finnegan, Socrates, or Nikolai. Thoughts? Also if I'm doing anything wrong/could do something better please let me know.
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Mar 12, 2015 15:59
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Battling the worst case of ich I've seen. One of the rams has died, but they are a pretty tough bunch. Hoping it breaks soon, and I don't lose any more rams or the two apistos stuck in the tank with them. bad case of ich.jpg by meramsey, on Flickr
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Mar 12, 2015 16:20
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OMG that is so sad I hope they all pull through. That is such a pretty ram too. FWIW I used API super ich cure to rid a bad case that was affecting everything in my tank. It did not kill off the cherry shrimp or snails even after two doses which surprised me considering the med and having to crank the heat up.
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Mar 12, 2015 16:40
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Enos Cabell posted:
Holy poo poo, godspeed man.
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Mar 12, 2015 19:26
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I've had the temps raised to 85 for the past week, and added 2tsp/gal of salt over the past several days. Everyone still has a crazy appetite, so that's a good sign. If things haven't improved over the weekend, I'll give the API stuff a shot. This is just crazy to me, I've never had to do more than raise temps to beat it in the past.
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Mar 12, 2015 19:33
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Enos Cabell posted:I've had the temps raised to 85 for the past week, and added 2tsp/gal of salt over the past several days. Everyone still has a crazy appetite, so that's a good sign. If things haven't improved over the weekend, I'll give the API stuff a shot. This is just crazy to me, I've never had to do more than raise temps to beat it in the past. I had a similar brutal case of Ich that ended up with me buying this UV Filter: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008ADUVWQ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 It worked like a hot drat with the temperature bump, which surprised me for a cheap as poo poo UV filter. It has some serious kick to it for the water flow, but as it is cheap and the instructions are terrible, it doesn't actually tell you before you plug it in/turn it on, you have to open it up and take out some plastic nubs that are sitting on the UV tubes themselves. Otherwise they melt and burn onto the tubes and then your filter is broke. Side Bonus - the water is crystal clear and algae blooms have stopped. Best $26 I ever spent on the aquarium.
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Mar 12, 2015 23:05
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JuffoWup posted:The problem with higher lights is that the plants get more demanding as well. They start harvesting more out of the water and need active participation in fertilizers and co2 to keep them going. If you just go high lights without the nutrients to help them along, algae could take over as well. Then again, they may not due to the aforementioned nutrient deficiencies. Also, in my case, I found that fish don't often like the higher lightning. My cpds would pretty much hide near the bottom of the tank unless the lights were off. Then I would find them mid swimming. Too much light for the tank I'm guessing (24" fugeray for a 16gal aquarium). I will stick with what I have and see what grows, then. I can always change my hood and go with different plants when I am not bound by money. I have nutrients coming tomorrow, and I will be getting ammonia soon (unless there is an easier way of starting a bio cycle). This is all in preparation for a 60gal I am going with in April, I figure a medium size tank would be good for some community/friendlier fish I can get at work. We have enough pretty schooling species that don't get big. Thanks for your advice!
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Mar 13, 2015 01:11
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A box of four fish arrived in the mail yesterday! Hemigrammus ocellifer - aka beacon or head and tail lights tetra. I'm hoping to add these in with my remaining solo tetra to make a little school.  Not my photo, it's quite hard to get their iridescent bits to show up properly especially from a dimly lit quarantine tank so I gave up. I would say they had close to 24 hours only in transit, definitely less than 36 so much faster than I expected. Three of them were quite feisty but one looked pretty limp and sad. They were shipped in a regular plastic fish bag not a breather bag and I don't think they had much water to spare. They definitely perked up once the bag was opened. I can see a few torn fins, minor damage probably from sloshing about during shipping or possibly they had a go at each other in the confined space. Once acclimated and settled in to the quarantine tank it was pretty clear that sadfish is also the smallest and quite a bit hollow bellied. They all have an appetite, sometimes all four school together and no one died overnight which I am taking as a good sign. I'm thinking about treating for worms just in case but to start with I want to just monitor and see whether the sadfish picks up with a bit of food. I noticed some mosquito wrigglers in the snail's tub so netted them out as a treat for the fish and they were very interested so I hope a bit of live food will be good for them. Going to be wary with the skinny fish since fish TB can show up as frayed fins and hollow belly, hopefully I won't get sloppy and cross contaminate my other tanks. But if he just has worms that would make him a bit small and malnourished too. My other fish are all dewormed and I have praziquantel to spare so I think that will be my next step after waiting to see how the skinny fish goes. I think I posted about some egg clumps from my other tetras - either the snails ate them or they were snail eggs all along, I had nothing but snails in the breeder box after a few days and never any sign of fish fry. But I've seen egg clusters from these snails before and they are usually flat not a stringy cluster. Perhaps none of the eggs were viable due to environmental factors? I don't need even more fish so I'm glad nothing came of that.
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Mar 13, 2015 16:36
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So I think after a solid 12 years of service including many, many moves, my 20 gallon tank is finally approaching it's lifespan. It looks like there is a fine crack starting to emanate from the bottom center of the trim. I think it's time to finally look at getting a new tank, so I did some digging around online and wow are there a lot more options than there were 12 years ago. I'm starting to possibly looking at some of the seamless corner tanks as I find those really nice looking. I'm thinking I might also upgrade to a 30 gallon tank as my stand has some room left on it and should be able to fit one, given the right dimensions. Does anyone have any good recommendations for tanks to check out? I'm not opposed to an all in one system as my wife is between fish right now on her tank is looking to upgrade to a canister filter and if I found a decent all in one, I could probably give her mine. I do have live plants so if I went to an all in one, it would need to have lighting that could work for plants too. Sadly all the aquaculture places here in Orlando are super salt water oriented and not many of them even stock tanks so I'll probably be ordering online unless there is a decent option at a chain store.
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Mar 15, 2015 05:29
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The roommate that I mentioned before wants to get two african dwarf frogs "because they are so cute!" Are three otos, a betta, and two adf's too much for a ten gallon tank? Only the otos are currently in there and I just changed to substrate Friday to sand so the water is see-through but yellowish. I suggested that we at least wait until the sand settles and to make sure there are no ammonia spikes.
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Mar 15, 2015 13:42
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Has anyone else ever heard of this, and how did it work out? Lady in one of the local aquarium clubs wants to open a pet store where a fish breeder, like, say, me, would get rack of tanks. I'd pay a portion of the electricity to run them but would sell my own fish, and also pay the store a fee to use their tanks. I asked the lady what would happen if a fish died in the store. IE, would the store pay for it? What if someone cross-contaminated nets and all my fish died or got the wrong food and got bloat? She proceeded to scream I was starting drama, but has anyone ever heard of a pet store run like this? In the past when I sold to stores, they paid cash or store credit and the fish were theirs. There was none of this 'well the tanks are mine but you're using them BUT we get a cut of the sale' poo poo.
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Mar 17, 2015 01:52
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Cowslips Warren posted:She proceeded to scream I was starting drama  Get out while you can!
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Mar 17, 2015 01:57
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Cowslips Warren posted:Has anyone else ever heard of this, and how did it work out? Instead of bothering with this (which is assuredly a very, very bad idea and not worth your time) you should post more pictures of your tanks (which is a very good idea and totally worth your time).
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Mar 17, 2015 02:31
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Cowslips Warren posted:Has anyone else ever heard of this, and how did it work out? 1. Fish 2.??? 3. Profit. You tried to fill in #2 and her "big picture" shattered. Stay away and tell everyone you know to stay away as well
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Mar 17, 2015 02:38
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Gibbo posted:1. Fish Agreed. There is drama already and the shop is just a pipe dream at the moment. One of my friends here locally was a breeder who ran a store selling mostly fish and inverts online mostly via Craigslist or Aquabid and made enough money at it to only have to work a part-time job. She opened a store front and two years later had to close shop because it was more of a hassle and she made less money so back to online sales.
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Mar 17, 2015 13:36
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I'm considering adding a couple of bumblebee gobies to my 30 gallon that only has 6 cories and a betta. I've heard they are fin nippers. Has anyone here had any experience with them? Edit Also considering Badis as well, but I'm concerned about buying one that won't eat. Chichevache fucked around with this message at 01:57 on Mar 19, 2015 |
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Mar 19, 2015 01:49
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I had some gobies in a brackish tank, and they didn't nip fins of the other fish... of course the competition was either a pleco 3x's as big as them, or a handful of fig8 puffers so YMMV. The best part was having overhanging rocks and watching the gobies park upside down.
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Mar 19, 2015 03:31
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CrazyLittle posted:I had some gobies in a brackish tank, and they didn't nip fins of the other fish... of course the competition was either a pleco 3x's as big as them, or a handful of fig8 puffers so YMMV. The best part was having overhanging rocks and watching the gobies park upside down. Apparently there are two types of bumblebee goby: a 100% brackish type and one that tolerates freshwater. I wonder if one type is worse than others at nipping. If no one else here chimes in with an opinion I will consider picking two up tomorrow and giving them a shot. Worse case scenario I either take them back or put the betta in a smaller tank.
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Mar 19, 2015 03:45
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CrazyLittle posted:I had some gobies in a brackish tank, and they didn't nip fins of the other fish... of course the competition was either a pleco 3x's as big as them, or a handful of fig8 puffers so YMMV. The best part was having overhanging rocks and watching the gobies park upside down. The pleco was fine in brackish and the f8 left it alone? I just lost one of my figure eights and I want to put something else in there, but they have already proven that they will murder mollies
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Mar 19, 2015 05:13
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I have had a fish tank for a month now and fish for two weeks. Things that have happened: Shrimp all died during molting. 2 tetras died soon after buying. Ich killed my oto, but suprisingly all my tetras that got it weathered it and are on the upswing. Now my background plants are turning clear and into goo. Any idea what this is?
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Mar 19, 2015 06:51
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Gibbo posted:The pleco was fine in brackish and the f8 left it alone? I just lost one of my figure eights and I want to put something else in there, but they have already proven that they will murder mollies Yeah, surprising I know. Of course the pleco was 4" long and the f8's were tiny in comparison... that might have had something to do with it. But of course those f8's ate three mini lobsters until I realized my horrible mistake.
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Mar 19, 2015 07:41
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Krataar posted:I have had a fish tank for a month now and fish for two weeks. Things that have happened: Did you do a cycle or just set up the tank and throw things in there? Tetras die, they're just fragile little fuckers. Plants "melt" to the stem when they're recently moved, then they'll start growing again.
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Mar 19, 2015 16:03
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Yeah, that sounds like a tank that didn't cycle properly. Had it a month and fish for 2 weeks, that's 2 weeks to cycle which is dangerously short.
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Mar 19, 2015 16:20
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| # ? May 15, 2024 01:38 |
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Koala Food posted:The roommate that I mentioned before wants to get two african dwarf frogs "because they are so cute!" Are three otos, a betta, and two adf's too much for a ten gallon tank? Only the otos are currently in there and I just changed to substrate Friday to sand so the water is see-through but yellowish. I suggested that we at least wait until the sand settles and to make sure there are no ammonia spikes. Nah. You'd just have to make sure the frogs are getting enough to eat since they tend to sit there and do nothing and the betta is faster than them. But yeah, wait until everything's settles. Chichevache posted:I'm considering adding a couple of bumblebee gobies to my 30 gallon that only has 6 cories and a betta. I've heard they are fin nippers. Has anyone here had any experience with them? My bumblebee gobies never had any issues with other fish so much as wish each other. They're a little territorial. They also did pretty decently in freshwater, but they won't eat anything that isn't frozen or live foods. I've never had a Badis that didn't starve or stress itself to death, unfortunately, so can't help you there.
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Mar 19, 2015 16:48
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