|
As frustrated as I am with my snail infestation in the tetra tank I'm really debating introducing them into my goldfish tank. Its a gamble that the snails would manage some of the algae problems I'm having, the goldfish would cull the snails from getting out of control, and maybe the combined would mean my goldfish spend less time, energy, and veracity destroying half the plants in there. I dunno.
|
#
?
Nov 24, 2018 23:45
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 10, 2024 01:53 |
|
|
Just from this thread Goldfish seem like a huge PITA
|
|
#
?
Nov 25, 2018 00:05
|
|
|
They've actually been my easiest fish, I think. They seem like tough bastards who can weather poo poo. They'll eat anything. When a snail did show up in their tank an infestation never happened and one of them in my infested tank culled the herd and got things under control in just a day. They don't gently caress with any other fish I put in the tank with them. They don't need a heater (I'm gonna get an adjustable one for them now that its winter anyway, since I'm thinking of introducing other fish/stuff in). I can even be kind of lazy with them and not be super diligent with cleaning the tank. Obviously its not something I set out to do but they don't suffer the negative affects as quickly as the rest do. And the one time one of them did get hurt he recovered completely. I haven't even had to deal with ich or any of the diseases everyone says are inevitable with them (knock on wood). Every other fish I have has picky eating habits or harasses others or gets harassed or needs to school or can't school or something. The glofish tetras have fought and gotten fin damage and react really hard to changes in water quality or neighbors. The molly is a massive dick I can't find a home for. The betta is a diva I'm considering moving to the 5G alone. And I've lost angelfish and neon tetras. The only problem I have with the goldfish is I had to upgrade their tank size and I have no idea what I'll do when I have to do that again. These fuckers grow fast. And they're dicks about the plants but I think that's mostly a problem in my lack of knowledge of what to plant and how to plant. I was just adding stuff I liked and that were available. With experience I realized I didn't bury/root some of them deep enough and some stuff like broadleaf anubis plants are good for the goldifsh because they don't care and some stuff like ferns and moss are bad because they'll rip them to shreds. And honestly they're my most fun and rewarding fish. They react and play with me and I can like feed them directly or I could probably pet them if I wanted to. If I stick my hand in there to do something they'll all but snuggle. They're the most "pet like" of any of the fish I got. Everyone else is kind of a high maintenance decoration. STAC Goat fucked around with this message at 00:18 on Nov 25, 2018 |
|
#
?
Nov 25, 2018 00:13
|
|
|
Fuego Fish posted:So recently we moved house and discovered that the previous owners had left behind their aquarium. Along with all their fish. VelociBacon posted:Just from this thread Goldfish seem like a huge PITA If you go in aware of and prepared for the reality, then they're really no worse than other fish of that kind of size class. Sure, they'll eat all the softer plants so you can't get super-fancy with that (it's not like heavy controlled planting is particularly low effort either), but they're not willful redecorators like, say, cichlids.
|
|
#
?
Nov 25, 2018 03:09
|
|
|
I think Bloop (my black moor goldfish) has something wrong with his swim bladder. He's swimming heavily sideways and from my googling it seems like that's a swim bladder thing and a lot of fancy goldfish get it. I'm just wondering how I fix it? I want the little guy to be happy and healthy. Also I've seen like, bamboo/charcoal filters that people have made for big ponds- would it be possible to set one of those up under neath his (30 gallon) fish tank? I live in a studio apartment so I don't have a ton of room.
|
|
#
?
Nov 25, 2018 04:16
|
|
|
^ "Fancy" goldfish are really prone to stuff like that more so than regular. If you look at medical pictures of them you have the same amount and size of internals other goldfish have, but they're crammed into a smaller space to get that round look. Personally me, filter wise, I'd never want to build a filter that sits lower than my tank because if there is a power outage it can siphon your tank empty and pour the extra water on the floor. If I hadn't found the hob canisters I did I'd have built one of those overhead sumps out of a flower box so if power went out a) the pump would be submersed in the tank so it wouldn't run dry when the power came on and b) the only water that drains doesn't exceed the capacity of the aquarium VelociBacon posted:Just from this thread Goldfish seem like a huge PITA If you want them to last longer than a ten year old's attention span, yes, yes they are. Don't get me wrong though, should my tank clear out I'll prolly bet a couple Shubies or veil Comets SocketWrench fucked around with this message at 13:03 on Nov 25, 2018 |
|
#
?
Nov 25, 2018 12:50
|
|
|
Lost another neon today. I know the water parameters are fine this guys been pretty bloated for a couple of days so I knew it was coming. I still think I’ve done decently well to only loose 3 of them in the 12 months since I got them though
|
|
#
?
Nov 26, 2018 08:25
|
|
|
Was just catching up with this thread and read the post about the fish left behind. That seems pretty cruel and inconsiderate as well. Hopefully they get a nice home as well. So, the new filter is great and is clearing everything a lot better. I had an issue with the stock Juwel filter keeping a lot of dirt and stuff trapped underneath it, and it's really hard to get in there to clean. The new replacement has done everything, though we're still struggling to get the stock one out of the tank. It's siliconed on and everything and that just seems really dumb to me? Like, it's the bare minimum filter with an equal flow rate to match the one I used in the 120 litre tank, but this tank is three times the size. I feel like most fish, not even goldfish, would probably require an upgrade? Well, whatever the case, it's acting as an additional pump to disturb the surface, but the new filter does everything. I also discovered some weird slime with red dots inside the stock filter. I thought it was snail eggs, but I'd been removing them for 2 - 3 weeks and saw no other snails. The stock filter is deep so I expected to miss some. It mystified me. Today, it's finally happened. I've discovered a pond snail within the tank, about half an inch in size. The goldfish don't seem fussed with it either, but I'm guessing they're the reason we only have one right now. It also vanished somewhere before I got to it yesterday, and I haven't seen it since so I guess there's still a possibility our biggest one got it, but I'm not convinced yet. Keeping an eye out.
|
|
#
?
Nov 26, 2018 09:05
|
|
|
CrashScreen posted:I had an issue with the stock Juwel filter keeping a lot of dirt and stuff trapped underneath it, and it's really hard to get in there to clean. The new replacement has done everything, though we're still struggling to get the stock one out of the tank. It's siliconed on and everything and that just seems really dumb to me? Like, it's the bare minimum filter with an equal flow rate to match the one I used in the 120 litre tank, but this tank is three times the size. Yeah I think I'm going to get a secondary filter for my juwel tank as well. I have my substrate right up to the bottom of the filter so nothing goes under, but the side where it's against the glass has a nice coating of mulm. I usually squirt that out with a turkey baster when I do water changes. I think the media chamber is nice and big and it is keeping the invisible nitrogen wastes under control, but it really can't pick up gunk from the bottom of the tank like a filter with an inlet on a pipe could do.
|
|
#
?
Nov 26, 2018 11:04
|
|
|
Stoca Zola posted:but the side where it's against the glass has a nice coating of mulm. That's also been a huge problem, and I was surprised the new filter cut that down a good bit as well. Honestly though, I'm disappointed with the filter. I know it's stock, but I expected it to at least do a job keeping the tank it was designed for clean. I'm hoping to eventually remove it, but it's pretty stuck on. I didn't think about using a turkey baster though. We've got some really long pipettes that could have probably done the trick.
|
|
#
?
Nov 26, 2018 23:28
|
|
|
Time to meet the gang. We gave them all names so we know which ones we're talking about. If any of these require special treatment, please let us know, because right now we're just giving them food every day and hoping they don't die. "Vaporwave", the largest of the bunch. Ａｅｓｔｈｅｔｉｃ as gently caress.  "Teriyaki", who has a flamboyant tail and some interesting markings.  "Bug-Eyes". This shot does not fully emphasize just how big and bulbous their eyes are. It's honestly a little creepy.  "Lumpy", for obvious reasons.  "Ginger".  "Chubbs".  "Son of Chubbs" aka "Chubbs Jr." aka "The Second Chubbs". Ever so slightly smaller and slimmer than Chubbs Sr. so it's kinda hard to tell them apart without a closer look.  "The Mystery Fish". There's two of them and they mostly just hide under this piece of scenery all day. We don't know much about them.
|
|
#
?
Nov 27, 2018 10:02
|
|
|
Your mystery fish are dwarf chain loaches as far as I know, and loaches are social fish that like to be in groups of 6 or more. As non-botid loaches they have an anecdotal reputation for sometimes having a mean streak - they'll eat the eyes of other bottom dwelling fish while they're asleep for example, if the whim takes them. But they'll also destroy snails in a tank, which is a good thing if you have an out of control snail explosion, or a bad thing if you want snails to eat your algae. They're hard to get here, prices from $20-30 per fish but the hobby and industry are completely different here vs UK vs US vs EU so who knows. So my theory is they're just hiding because they aren't in a large enough school to feel confident. I think Lumpy looks like he might have Lymphocystis which is viral and pretty harmless; much like a wart it can go away by itself or it might stick around but as long as it doesn't get too huge, it isn't hurting the fish. It could also be some other kind of growth, goldfish do get tumors but in any case I don't believe either would have any particular care apart from keeping the fish in clean water and fed with quality food, in a stress free environment. My only other comment would be that goldfish need food which contains more vegetable matter than protein, and loaches need food that contains more protein than vegetable matter, but a community type food is probably fine for both really. Are there some live plants under that algae after all? Looks like maybe some moss and anubias.
|
|
#
?
Nov 27, 2018 13:05
|
|
|
I feel kinda bad for those fish as well, so I'm pretty happy to see you taking this seriously for as long as you have them. If only I had the space, I'd just take them off you. In the mean time, I'd imagine it's probably been a little while since their last water change, so if you hadn't already done that then I recommend you change about 20 - 30% of it for now. They look healthy, so like Stoca said before, the instructions will probably cover everything you need to know there. I also notice Vaporwave looks pretty slender compared to the rest? I don't really know fancies very well, but Vaporwave looks more like they might be a white comet? Someone else in the thread would probably identify better than I can since I'm still pretty new to this, but it doesn't look like they have twin tails either.
|
|
#
?
Nov 27, 2018 23:21
|
|
|
Stoca Zola posted:Your mystery fish are dwarf chain loaches as far as I know, and loaches are social fish that like to be in groups of 6 or more. As non-botid loaches they have an anecdotal reputation for sometimes having a mean streak - they'll eat the eyes of other bottom dwelling fish while they're asleep for example, if the whim takes them. But they'll also destroy snails in a tank, which is a good thing if you have an out of control snail explosion, or a bad thing if you want snails to eat your algae. My dwarf chain loaches happily coexisted with my tank full of cories and cherry shrimp for a year. I didnt notice the shrimp population declining, then the corys started sleeping on high ground and had shorter fins. Then the corys started disappearing. No problems with snails at all though. 
|
|
#
?
Nov 27, 2018 23:48
|
|
|
Noticed my temps are down around 71F now that's its winter - guess I'll throw my heater in and see if I can get it stable around 74-75C. I'm getting the itch to try another round of snails, maybe I'm a sucker for punishment. I just want healthy happy ones.
|
|
#
?
Nov 28, 2018 00:06
|
|
|
VelociBacon posted:Noticed my temps are down around 71F now that's its winter - guess I'll throw my heater in and see if I can get it stable around 74-75C. If you want healthy happy snails get pond snails.  So many happy healthy snails. So many.
|
|
#
?
Nov 28, 2018 00:26
|
|
|
I've been trying to introduce the snails from my tetra tank into my goldfish tank for a few days now and half the time the snails don't even hit the substrate before they're food. I've taking to trying to trick the goldfish and distract them. Even still I'll be watching a snail chowing down on some algea and SWIPE here comes a goldie. I love those gluttonous bastards.
|
|
#
?
Nov 28, 2018 00:33
|
|
|
Facebook Aunt posted:If you want healthy happy snails get pond snails. I just want something else in the tank besides my 2 amanos, and I want something that will eat the algae on the glass and leaves. My tank is too small (5.3g) for catfish of any sort so two snails it is I guess.
|
|
#
?
Nov 28, 2018 00:33
|
|
|
One of my amano shrimp molted! I had just added a heater and changed the temp from 73 to 76 over around 24hrs, I wonder if that triggered it. They're both hanging out close to the heater (and the molt) now. Eat that algae you gently caress don't just stand on it  You can see the molt in the background here. I'm not sure which one molted, this shrimp in the photo is the other one from the pic above 
|
|
#
?
Nov 29, 2018 05:24
|
|
|
So I decided since my air stones have been getting kinda meh I'd change them out today. Started by pulling out the uplift tube on the one that wasn't working only to find the moss had firmly attached itself and was unwilling to surrender it. So the other tube I just snaked the airline up and changed the stone. 5 minutes later shrimp loving everywhere. Also decided to renew my war on duckweed. Pulled all the water lettuce out, saved like eight and chucked the rest, then spent 20 minutes skimming the surface. This was no easy task as the betta was super interested in what was going on and was skimming the surface with me. Most of the original amazon sword leaves have died off, but there's tons of new ones but they're all about half sized. I assume this is because the lighting is bright enough they don't feel the need to grow further?
|
|
#
?
Nov 29, 2018 17:09
|
|
|
SocketWrench posted:Most of the original amazon sword leaves have died off, but there's tons of new ones but they're all about half sized. I assume this is because the lighting is bright enough they don't feel the need to grow further? Probably submerged growth vs emersed growth, I think they're propagated for sale above water because that way, they grow faster but convert to submerged style leaves once used in the aquarium. Mine are slow growing and a bit stunted looking and I'm not sure if it's lighting or feeding related, but the leaves are green and mostly healthy looking just the same even if they aren't big. I don't know what people to do end up with the huge sword plants I often see in tanks. Maybe they really appreciate aqua soils? Mine get root tabs every couple of months.
|
|
#
?
Nov 29, 2018 17:46
|
|
|
I've put the whole tank and everything related to it (nets, snail-b-gone, whatever else is in the cabinets underneath), including the fish, on sale for £400 ($500 US) or next best offer. If nobody takes that within a week or so, I'm going to step it down to £300 and see if that's more amenable to UK fishkeepers. Thanks to everyone for your advice, and if I could ship this drat thing to any of you without it costing me an arm and a leg, I totally would.
|
|
#
?
Nov 29, 2018 17:49
|
|
|
FluxFaun posted:I think Bloop (my black moor goldfish) has something wrong with his swim bladder. He's swimming heavily sideways and from my googling it seems like that's a swim bladder thing and a lot of fancy goldfish get it. I'm just wondering how I fix it? I want the little guy to be happy and healthy. Our fantails would sometimes bloat and start swimming on their side. Feeding them only peas for a few days helped - they would have a huge poo and then swim like normal. They lived in the pond outside, though, and were massive and very happy until a heron ate them. We dug the pond down another foot and a half, and haven't had heron troubles since, but I miss our softball fish.
|
|
#
?
Nov 29, 2018 18:48
|
|
|
I’ve found that an afro pick is really handy for removing duckweed, if that helps.
|
|
#
?
Nov 29, 2018 19:36
|
|
|
SocketWrench posted:So I decided since my air stones have been getting kinda meh I'd change them out today. Started by pulling out the uplift tube on the one that wasn't working only to find the moss had firmly attached itself and was unwilling to surrender it. So the other tube I just snaked the airline up and changed the stone. This is something I've been wondering - how essential is adding an air stone to the tank? I have a heavily live planted 5g with a couple amano shrimp (might get a couple more, there's a ton of surface area and places to hide and they don't seem cramped). I always figured the plants give off enough O2 but should I be running an air line to the tank?
|
|
#
?
Nov 30, 2018 01:49
|
|
|
Air stones help more with circulation than with direct aeration. The surface area of the bubbles does add a bit, but they're not in contact with the water for that long - unless you get an airstone that makes superfine bubbles that flow around longer in the water. Where it makes more of a difference is that it has a lifting effect and pulls water up from the bottom and at some other point in the tank surface water will be pulled back down. So its another way to move water around, with the bonus that there are no moving parts that can harm shrimp or fish fry. It also causes a disturbance at the surface of the water which helps oxygenation as most oxygenation happens at that water/air interface. The more disturbed that surface is, the higher the surface area is. I find mosses grow better when they are in moving water too. I like using air stones or extra sponge filters in my tanks and I try to place them in areas where the main filter might not be providing enough circulation. Lastly you can get a small cooling effect from using air stones so they can help in smaller tanks that might be getting too warm. You don't necessarily need airstones since not every tank needs extra circulation and there are other ways of achieving it like using powerheads, surface aimed spraybars or lilly pipes, dropping the water level in the tank so a hang on back filter can splash water in, etc. To me it's very useful to have an independent source of circulation in case the main filter pump dies. Circulation doesn't replace filtration but it at least keeps the water moving.
|
|
#
?
Nov 30, 2018 02:15
|
|
|
Stoca Zola posted:Air stones help more with circulation than with direct aeration. The surface area of the bubbles does add a bit, but they're not in contact with the water for that long - unless you get an airstone that makes superfine bubbles that flow around longer in the water. Where it makes more of a difference is that it has a lifting effect and pulls water up from the bottom and at some other point in the tank surface water will be pulled back down. So its another way to move water around, with the bonus that there are no moving parts that can harm shrimp or fish fry. It also causes a disturbance at the surface of the water which helps oxygenation as most oxygenation happens at that water/air interface. The more disturbed that surface is, the higher the surface area is. I find mosses grow better when they are in moving water too. I like using air stones or extra sponge filters in my tanks and I try to place them in areas where the main filter might not be providing enough circulation. Lastly you can get a small cooling effect from using air stones so they can help in smaller tanks that might be getting too warm. Ah great that makes sense. I can see evidence of flow everywhere in my small tank from my in-tank filter so I don't think I need to worry about it. My other shrimp just molted! How nice of them to both molt one day after the other so I can not worry about doing water changes at an inopportune time.
|
|
#
?
Nov 30, 2018 02:23
|
|
|
Did you get to actually see them moult? For cherry shrimps it happens so fast that I've only ever seen it twice. Even dwarf crays pop out of their old skins pretty quick, blink and you'll miss it. I've seen a sick looking cray hanging upside down off a plant so many times now, glanced away and looked back to see an empty shell hanging there with no cray in sight. It's like they wait until your attention is elsewhere before doing the deed.
|
|
#
?
Nov 30, 2018 02:31
|
|
|
No I didn't see it. I'd be too scared watching it anyways to be frank.
|
|
#
?
Nov 30, 2018 03:25
|
|
|
So, a few questions: Can I put my bucephalandra green wavy into substrate? If not, can I attach it to a log where I have Christmas moss growing? I have been doing a fishless cycle, and my betta is being shipped Monday. Will my bacteria hold out for a few days? Should I feed them more ammonia?
|
|
#
?
Nov 30, 2018 04:14
|
|
|
When I still had a bunch of shrimp, they'd usually molt after a water change. They like the change in water apparently.
|
|
#
?
Nov 30, 2018 04:41
|
|
|
Synthbuttrange posted:When I still had a bunch of shrimp, they'd usually molt after a water change. They like the change in water apparently. How were you doing your water changes? I've been taking readings of TDS (usually 330 or so when it's time for a water change) and temp and then adding seachem equilibrium to bring the TDS to around 260, getting the water to the same temp, and doing around a 25% change. Curious if that makes sense for Amanos.
|
|
#
?
Nov 30, 2018 06:39
|
|
|
Aerofallosov posted:Can I put my bucephalandra green wavy into substrate? You can attach it to the log and it'll probably be fine? It certainly won't be okay in the substrate. You need to treat it like anubias, and I don't really see the moss affecting it much. Just keep in mind that they may have different lighting conditions, so take that into consideration with what you do. You could always get another bit of wood or rock and attach it to that? As for the ammonia question, do a reading in your tank. If ammonia is empty then I suppose there's no harm in feeding it more. I've only had fish prepared to go in when the tank is done cycling, so I've not left them fishless for long like that before. I'd need someone else in the thread to back me on that one, but again, you probably should to sustain it?
|
|
#
?
Nov 30, 2018 09:11
|
|
|
Stoca Zola posted:Probably submerged growth vs emersed growth, I think they're propagated for sale above water because that way, they grow faster but convert to submerged style leaves once used in the aquarium. Mine are slow growing and a bit stunted looking and I'm not sure if it's lighting or feeding related, but the leaves are green and mostly healthy looking just the same even if they aren't big. I don't know what people to do end up with the huge sword plants I often see in tanks. Maybe they really appreciate aqua soils? Mine get root tabs every couple of months. Yeah, mine look perfectly healthy, just short. Luneshot posted:I’ve found that an afro pick is really handy for removing duckweed, if that helps. I have stainless screen I slosh around. It works great and I get a free supply from work when I need it VelociBacon posted:This is something I've been wondering - how essential is adding an air stone to the tank? I have a heavily live planted 5g with a couple amano shrimp (might get a couple more, there's a ton of surface area and places to hide and they don't seem cramped). I always figured the plants give off enough O2 but should I be running an air line to the tank? Mine runs an undergravel filter mostly and helps keep the surface agitated as well. CrashScreen posted:You can attach it to the log and it'll probably be fine? It certainly won't be okay in the substrate. You need to treat it like anubias, and I don't really see the moss affecting it much. Just keep in mind that they may have different lighting conditions, so take that into consideration with what you do. You could always get another bit of wood or rock and attach it to that? I don't think the lighting would be an issue. I've got Christmas moss and Anubias in my tank and both grow just fine. The moss I need to trim every few weeks or it starts to grow like crazy. For example I attached all of it to lengths of cholla wood and it's completely covered all of it except for one facing the glass that the betta has claimed as his little hidy hole. But I need to rake the moss back every so often or it grows till he can't get in any more. Gonna charge my phone and see if I can get a shot of him in there SocketWrench fucked around with this message at 10:03 on Nov 30, 2018 |
|
#
?
Nov 30, 2018 09:52
|
|
|
SocketWrench posted:For example I attached all of it to lengths of cholla wood and it's completely covered all of it except for one facing the glass that the betta has claimed as his little hidy hole. But I need to rake the moss back every so often or it grows till he can't get in any more. Gonna charge my phone and see if I can get a shot of him in there That actually sounds pretty neat. I'll look forward to the photo. I've been thinking our tank needs to be a bit more green. I miss how dense the 120 litre was, but the plants from there make the 350 litre look so sparse. We've got a couple of tunnel structures, and maybe christmas moss might actually look good on them. I wonder how goldfish compatible they are? If they grow fast then they're probably okay.
|
|
#
?
Nov 30, 2018 22:31
|
|
|
Fuego Fish posted:I've put the whole tank and everything related to it (nets, snail-b-gone, whatever else is in the cabinets underneath), including the fish, on sale for £400 ($500 US) or next best offer. If nobody takes that within a week or so, I'm going to step it down to £300 and see if that's more amenable to UK fishkeepers. Just discovered my for sale ad wasn't accepted on Facebook, not that they told me at the time, because it's not permissible to offer live animals. I'm really starting to worry I might never rehome these poor dumb critters.
|
|
#
?
Nov 30, 2018 23:27
|
|
|
CrashScreen posted:That actually sounds pretty neat. I'll look forward to the photo. Not fast enough to beat out goldfish, I don't think. Last ones I had I had eight of those golf ball sized moss balls and they were gone in a week. Even the duckweed didn't stand a chance
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2018 09:30
|
|
|
Fuego Fish posted:Just discovered my for sale ad wasn't accepted on Facebook, not that they told me at the time, because it's not permissible to offer live animals. I'm really starting to worry I might never rehome these poor dumb critters. Try a UK fishkeepers forum? I know plantedtank.net has some UK denizens.
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2018 09:35
|
|
|
Here's that pic of the betta in his hidy hole. I had to move quick with my potato because he watches for movement from the Grand Food Wizard and immediately makes a dash to the surface Bonus twig catfish that came out  And the tank itself 
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2018 10:20
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 10, 2024 01:53 |
|
|
SocketWrench posted:Even the duckweed didn't stand a chance We eventually looked to duckweed, thinking it would last okay. Haha, nope. It didn't last at at all and since then we've just stuck to plants like swords, java, and anubias. Those three tend to last, though admittedly, the fish have managed to destroy an anubias and a sword before. I still can't get over how aggressively they rip plants apart. SocketWrench posted:Here's that pic of the betta in his hidy hole. I had to move quick with my potato because he watches for movement from the Grand Food Wizard and immediately makes a dash to the surface It somehow took me a while to spot him. That's a cool little feature.
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2018 15:04
|
|