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Crocoduck posted:Got fish and an algae problem! Wow that's quite the algae problem. Are you running CO2? It almost looks like you're running way too much light or not enough CO2 to my untrained eye.
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Oct 28, 2020 02:00
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VelociBacon posted:Wow that's quite the algae problem. Are you running CO2? It almost looks like you're running way too much light or not enough CO2 to my untrained eye. No CO2 whatsoever. I'm not worried about it - the algae flared up only recently and I'm just doing consistent water changes.
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Oct 28, 2020 09:29
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Could just be too much light/not enough nutrient to match the light levels - It looks like green hair algae to me which I think is a "too much light" algae. It isn't too bad and it isn't hurting anything. You can manually remove it as it grows and see if the fish provide enough extra nitrogen for the plants to catch up and overtake the algae. The balance will slowly tip one way or the other and you've changed one thing by adding fish, I'd wait a couple of weeks to see what happens before changing anything else.
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Oct 28, 2020 16:33
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Freshwater is so weird. I get algae blooms after I do water changes because my water is too clean and I apparently don't fertilize enough. Coming from saltwater that's just wild
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Oct 28, 2020 16:39
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Stoca Zola posted:Could just be too much light/not enough nutrient to match the light levels - It looks like green hair algae to me which I think is a "too much light" algae. It isn't too bad and it isn't hurting anything. You can manually remove it as it grows and see if the fish provide enough extra nitrogen for the plants to catch up and overtake the algae. The balance will slowly tip one way or the other and you've changed one thing by adding fish, I'd wait a couple of weeks to see what happens before changing anything else. Yup, that's my strategy. Just testing daily and making sure that my chemistry is on point. The exclamation point rasbora are a joy. They're almost like rummynose tetra the way they school and swim from side to side. If anyone's doing a nano tank I can't recommend them enough.
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Oct 28, 2020 17:37
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Stoca Zola posted:Could just be too much light/not enough nutrient to match the light levels - It looks like green hair algae to me which I think is a "too much light" algae. It isn't too bad and it isn't hurting anything. You can manually remove it as it grows and see if the fish provide enough extra nitrogen for the plants to catch up and overtake the algae. The balance will slowly tip one way or the other and you've changed one thing by adding fish, I'd wait a couple of weeks to see what happens before changing anything else. Are those enough fish to meaningfully contribute? Asking for my own knowledge. OP what about just turning down your light duration? If you're going to have just those rasbora in there you're also safe (I think?) to pick up 6-10 amano shrimp for that tank which will take care of the algae.
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Oct 28, 2020 20:54
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VelociBacon posted:Are those enough fish to meaningfully contribute? Asking for my own knowledge. I can definitely try turning my lights down, and the plan is to pick up some amano shrimp. Future stocking will include some Betta albimarginata - I've got an importer on the line who can send me a couple pair. They should be able to cohabit alright. Honestly, right now I'm inclined to see what happens and let the tank kind of settle in. I've been seeing something of a succession of algae which I think is just related to the newness of the tank. I don't think that the fish are to blame - if you look I've got them in a little jar because I was acclimating them to the new tank.
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Oct 28, 2020 21:01
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If you have control for your light spectrum, maybe reduce the specific ones algae are mainly feeding on.
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Oct 28, 2020 21:07
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Crocoduck posted:I can definitely try turning my lights down, and the plan is to pick up some amano shrimp. Future stocking will include some Betta albimarginata - I've got an importer on the line who can send me a couple pair. They should be able to cohabit alright. Honestly, right now I'm inclined to see what happens and let the tank kind of settle in. I've been seeing something of a succession of algae which I think is just related to the newness of the tank. I don't think that the fish are to blame - if you look I've got them in a little jar because I was acclimating them to the new tank. Yeah I wasn't saying the fish are to blame, just curious if they represent enough biomass to meaningfully generate ammonia.
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Oct 28, 2020 21:14
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VelociBacon posted:Are those enough fish to meaningfully contribute? Asking for my own knowledge. Just from the point of view of some fish + uneaten food scraps >> no fish, no food scraps. To me it will tip the balance, maybe slowly, but more strongly as the fish grow and as their wastes build up over time. 25% water changes leave 75% of the wastes behind each time and that does add up. Edit to add: this is beneficial for the plants and in turn, detrimental to algae as plants can grow faster when presented with the correct conditions. Healthy plants in theory starve out algae, and plants seem to love having fish excreting ammonia all over them. Stoca Zola fucked around with this message at 21:32 on Oct 28, 2020 |
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Oct 28, 2020 21:29
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Alright, that makes sense. Could also add stuff like hornwort or limnophila sessiliflora, stem plants apparently super competitive for algae. Made a big difference in my tank.
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Oct 28, 2020 23:39
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So, our Betta fish isn't doing so well... we have him in a 1.5 gallon? Ecocube tank(hate it btw, we're rehabbing an old free 20 gallon tank and saving up for lights/filter/etc. for him now) and something strange is going on with his fins and scales. Has anyone seen this before? The scales are getting all silvery and reflective. We do a 50% water change at least once a week, have two small plants and a mystery snail to help keep the tank levels okay. Water testing has only revealed that the water is a bit on the hard side but nothing else stood out. Only thing my fiancé was thinking is that maybe the filter is too powerful for him in this small of a tank, as he only hangs out in this corner of the tank away from the output of the pump? TIA for any insight folks.  Enos Cabell posted:Donald and Suh are enjoying their spacious new digs. Your fish look so awesome!
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Nov 2, 2020 02:59
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I think the silvering of his scales is normal with bettas that have the genetics for that coloration, it does intensify over time as some betta types end up with metallic pigment over their eyes which blinds them. Your little guy looks safe from this. Your filter strength theory is pretty good I think, the tank seems small enough that he would have difficulty getting away from the flow. You could try turning it off completely since you are doing enough water changes to keep his water pretty clean, or if you've got an air pump try converting the filter to be driven by an airlift as it produces gentler flow (I did this for my fluval spec at some point). Another thing you can do is put sponge over the filter outlet to restrict and soften the flow. The damage to the bettas tail looks pretty severe, it looks beyond fin rot to me as there is damage to the rays, I wonder if he's chewing his own tail due to stress? The give away is that it's just his tail that is affected and the rest of his fins look pretty good. There's also no red or streaking or white or fluffy bits, so to me it doesn't look like bacterial fin rot, it looks like mechanical damage. The only other thing I can notice is your gravel size seems too big, that style of gravel has lots of gaps between pieces which makes it easy for wastes to become trapped. Your pictures look very clean though so I'm not sure if this is a problem in your particular situation - it is possible to over clean a tank too. When a tank is this small and you have to do lots of fiddling with it to keep it stable and clean that can be a source of stress for the fish. Getting him into a bigger tank is an excellent plan, and from there it's a matter of waiting to see if he perks up.
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Nov 2, 2020 05:31
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Is this normal pleco behavior? I noticed this morning that he dug a little ditch under some driftwood and now he's laying in it upside down and not attached to anything. He's breathing and definitely not stuck. It's freakin' me out.
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Nov 2, 2020 18:58
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We are going to move house in a month or so with a big, well established axolotl tank. I think it's 200l? But a bit underfilled. How's best to do this without upsetting the cycle? We will keep the old filter medium, won't wash any ornaments etc... We can probably transport some of the water but not much because, well, transporting water.
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Nov 2, 2020 19:01
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My 10g is in my office and it's on automated feeding so I don't have to look at it daily. It has an algae problem, but wasn't too awful. The tank light has a timer that goes off and on every 6 hours. It also resets the on/off schedule into the on position if power goes out. I didn't realize that. 3 days later I've got a really bad algae problem. Ugh...
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Nov 2, 2020 19:05
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Bollock Monkey posted:We are going to move house in a month or so with a big, well established axolotl tank. I think it's 200l? But a bit underfilled. Just a good bucketful (hardware store and get one of those big plastic paint/general liquid buckets with a lid, or a large hardware store storage bottle with a screw top, should do. The bacteria will proliferate quickly enough, but it’s good to have a nice amount of starter.
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Nov 2, 2020 19:10
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Schwack posted:Is this normal pleco behavior? If you didn't give him a cave to guard, I am thinking he made his own. He's waiting for a lady fish to swim past so he can chase her in and do what comes naturally.
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Nov 2, 2020 19:41
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Stoca Zola posted:If you didn't give him a cave to guard, I am thinking he made his own. He's waiting for a lady fish to swim past so he can chase her in and do what comes naturally. Hmm, he doesn't have a cave. I've been considering ordering the one from Aquarium Co-Op. Should I make him a little homemade one in the interim? I was thinking a piece of capped PVC would do it.
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Nov 2, 2020 20:07
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Schwack posted:Hmm, he doesn't have a cave. I've been considering ordering the one from Aquarium Co-Op. Should I make him a little homemade one in the interim? I was thinking a piece of capped PVC would do it. how big is he
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Nov 2, 2020 22:31
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Schwack posted:Hmm, he doesn't have a cave. I've been considering ordering the one from Aquarium Co-Op. Should I make him a little homemade one in the interim? I was thinking a piece of capped PVC would do it. I don't keep plecos or bristlenoses myself so I don't know if this is true but in my readings I think the males get territorial and behave badly more if they have a cave to defend. If he's a loner and you aren't breeding him he doesn't need one, but it could help to control him from digging where you don't want dug? Anyone confirm whether a loner Pleco can get aggressive or is that only when other males are around?
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Nov 2, 2020 22:35
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Plecos can get territorial no matter what. Also, you don't need a cave for him to get snippy or want to breed; a friend of mine got rid of his cave after his bristlenose pair went Duggar style reproduction, and now they just spawn behind a sponge filter.
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Nov 3, 2020 01:16
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https://i.imgur.com/2rcHVrU.mp4 This is how it goes trying to catch the little booger (source: Imgur, not mine). Actually, I have the hardest time wrangling plecos. I suspect they're smarter than me by a long shot.
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Nov 3, 2020 02:27
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Ok Comboomer posted:how big is he He's about 2" long. I don't mind him digging, it's not bothering anything. He and the Corydoras seem to have come to an understanding about who owns which parts of the bottom. He takes the biggest piece of driftwood and they take the thickest Java Fern.
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Nov 3, 2020 04:46
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Big Joe Hockey, my penguin tetra (or hockey stick tetra) died today, I guess to coincide with the death of any scraps of credibility that former Australian politician Joe Hockey had left (Joe the human being said some really dumb and uninformed things regarding the US Election today). I got Joe Hockey when he was adult sized, rescued from a turtle's tank where he refused to let the turtle eat him - the owner was going to get rid of him but my sister saved him and some other fish. He was one of the first fish I kept back when I only had 2 tanks. He was big, mean and kind of dumb (probably why I named him after Joe Hockey, not just due to the hockey stick marking) and this attitude persisted for his whole life, only toning down once he was put in a big tank with bigger fish than him. I think I had him for around 6 years and I figured out pretty early on that it wasn't worth trying to keep a big school of penguin tetras with him as he would just murder them one by one. I now only have 3 surviving penguin tetras from a school of 15+, they seem happy to school with the rasboras and rainbowfish so I am not going to replace the school even now that murderous Joe is gone. Joe was in pretty good shape, clear eyes, smooth gleaming scales, just dead and stuck up against the filter inlet weir so I am satisfied that he just reached the end of his life and died from some age related process rather than disease or injury. He's the oldest fish I've lost as his lifespan was longer than the generation of rosy barbs I've raised and lost to old age. And I even found him and got him out of the tank before the loaches got to him and ate him so that feels overall like a success. RIP Joe, I'll miss you even though you were objectively the worst fish I've ever kept.
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Nov 5, 2020 20:01
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Do CPDs mind strong currents? I heard someone breeds them in here. I'm really curious. Also, aq advisor just - does not want to work.
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Nov 6, 2020 00:05
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Aerofallosov posted:Do CPDs mind strong currents? I heard someone breeds them in here. I'm really curious. Also, aq advisor just - does not want to work. I breed them, but I've never had them in a tank with much flow. My grow out tanks have sponge filters and my display has a cannister filter and an airstone. Natural habitat is a lake, so I wouldn't think they want/need it like some river fish do.
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Nov 6, 2020 00:52
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Fair enough. I'm considering what buddies my rabbit snail, pack 'o green neon rasboras, and 3 blue gobies. I really oughta decide, some one of these days.
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Nov 6, 2020 03:51
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Stoca Zola posted:RIP Joe, I'll miss you even though you were objectively the worst fish I've ever kept. Awww, that sucks. RIP Joe. I get attached to my bastard fish too; I remember being super upset when my big angry male swordtail (that I named Anthony Weiner because he was such a sex pest) finally kicked the bucket after several years. It's especially sad when it's a schooling fish too. If one of those develops a personality strong enough to be notable in a school, you've got a really special critter on your hands... even if 'special' means 'awful horrible murderous bastardfish.' Did Joe ever breed for you or was he too busy murdering his schoolmates?
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Nov 7, 2020 02:43
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Stoca Zola posted:RIP Joe, I'll miss you even though you were objectively the worst fish I've ever kept. RIP Joe, may your refusal to be eaten by a turtle serve as inspiration for us all in these trying times!
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Nov 7, 2020 04:42
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Thanks for the condolences.Axqu posted:Did Joe ever breed for you or was he too busy murdering his schoolmates? I did get some fry which I am 95% sure were tetra fry and I saw spawning behaviour fairly often in the first year or so that I kept these tetras - as they mature they really don't seem to breed at all any more, I saw much more spawning before they reached full adult sized than afterwards. The fry had got to the stage of being wigglers that sat against the glass on the side of the tank, but at that point I didn't have enough experience to know what to do, or spare tanks or hang on boxes or even any fry sized food to try and raise them and I believe they were all eaten. Thayeria boehlkei have a reputation for producing up to a thousand eggs in one spawning and so much milt that it fouls the tank, requiring water changes (It was never that bad for me though). This is why they're a commonly available and cheap tetra, with green water and infusoria the tiny fry pretty much take care of themselves. Now that I think about it this was when I had the school in a seperate tank from Joe - Joe was in the 30g that I had my rosy barbs in, and I had the new ones in the 20g that I'd set up for corydoras as the juvenile size that these tetras were sold at were much too small and I grew them out for a few months before putting Joe together with them.
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Nov 7, 2020 05:19
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Took a short video of my oscars in shallow water during water change. They're really digging the longer tank. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7V-mehN6w4A Enos Cabell fucked around with this message at 22:00 on Nov 9, 2020 |
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Nov 9, 2020 21:52
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Petco's dollar a gallon sale came in handy when my axolotl tank decided to leak today.
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Nov 9, 2020 22:42
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Cowslips Warren posted:Petco's dollar a gallon sale came in handy when my axolotl tank decided to leak today. I've heard of these sales but I'm confused a bit about them. Obviously there are different value points for the same size tank from different brands, do they ignore this and just say that all tanks are priced according to gallon? Sounds like you can get incredible deals on curved glass built-in-sump etc tanks.
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Nov 10, 2020 04:49
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Wish I could take advantage of that sale, but it seems like finding a tank that's 36" long and less than 17.5" deep isn't super common. Some of the 29/30 gallons will fit, but they're really just adding a few inches of height over my 20 gallon long.
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Nov 10, 2020 07:31
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VelociBacon posted:I've heard of these sales but I'm confused a bit about them. Obviously there are different value points for the same size tank from different brands, do they ignore this and just say that all tanks are priced according to gallon? Sounds like you can get incredible deals on curved glass built-in-sump etc tanks. Petco wouldn't have that, I don't think, unless special ordered. Anything 10 gallons to...55, I think, are in the sale.
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Nov 10, 2020 13:55
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Cowslips Warren posted:Petco wouldn't have that, I don't think, unless special ordered. Anything 10 gallons to...55, I think, are in the sale. It's pretty much just 10s, 20s and 29s. Just the standard Aqueons. 40s and 55s are usually half price, though.
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Nov 11, 2020 00:53
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ChickenMedium posted:It's pretty much just 10s, 20s and 29s. Just the standard Aqueons. 40s and 55s are usually half price, though.
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Nov 11, 2020 19:19
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Bugger! I was giving the big community tank a deep clean and I came across a peacock gudgeon sitting on some eggs in a cave-tube, so I quickly set up a hang on box for him to sit on his eggs in so the loaches/corys didn't slurp them up. It's the first time I've seen actual eggs from that tank so I had high hopes. He's been in the box for a couple of days but tonight he started kicking the fry out prematurely. They don't look dead or fungusy to me and I don't trust him not to eat them - thought he was okay and not too disturbed by being moved but who knows. Maybe the fry didn't like the move and did die and he was just cleaning them out, maybe he's a new dad and he panicked because his nice clean cave is full of fry so he can't attract a new lady gudgeon. I have no idea. In any case I tipped him back into the tank and put the cave back into the box in case any fry survive. The way the eggs develop they stay attached to the cave by a thread until the egg sac is gone so the fry don't really emerge until they're very ready. These fry are all doubled up and still half egg looking, they might bust out and start swimming or they might be stuck and might die, I really don't know and although I've seen fry in this state before it's been too long so I don't remember if they can survive from here or not. They aren't moving though, not even a little bit. At least the snails I put in the hang on box don't seem to be eating them. Fingers crossed that some of them make it! If not, I'll keep a closer eye on the tank since it seems to be breeding season, there are sure to be more if I beat the loaches to finding them.
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Nov 11, 2020 20:11
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Fry update: I'm not 100% sure but I think we have a bit of movement! There's one, possibly two actual swimming fry, one that is out of the egg but not moving, and a lot less looped up ones at the bottom of the breeder box now. I'm going to start feeding because the ones I briefly saw don't look to have an egg sac any more. Yay!
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Nov 12, 2020 08:55
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