|
I had my first tank catastrophe in my 20g. I was doing a huge water change (30%) to vacuum up snail corpses and get rid of the snail zap before replacing the carbon. Left for work, and when I came back I had some sort of tank overflow and half the water was all over the floor. I panicked and replaced all the water not remembering that our city water has about 1.0 ppg of ammonia naturally. All of my white clouds were dead or dying today - stuck to the filter intake. Did a water test. 1.0 ppg ammonia, 0 nitrites, 40 nitrates. Literally recycling the tank all over in less than a year. I am crushed. I should have just slowly added water to the tank and used water that was ammonia free from my 55 gallon. My entire school (10 fish) of minnows are gone and its all my fault. I can barely look at the tank anymore. Even my 55 doesn't make me feel great since now I'm worried I'll do something more to gently caress it up. I see my lovely betta Ru flashing his fins at me and begging for food and I'm just so concerned about how close I came to killing him.
|
#
?
Jul 7, 2013 19:24
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 5, 2024 17:28 |
|
|
I bought two 5 gallon water containers, the kind you get at the supermarket or big box store like Wal-Mart.. I have those filled and treated, ready to go for water changes or in your case emergencies.
|
|
#
?
Jul 7, 2013 19:28
|
|
|
Sorry to hear that. What caused the overflow in the first place though?
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2013 01:02
|
|
|
The hose for my air pump fell off somehow and acted like a tiny siphon.
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2013 01:38
|
|
|
After a many year hiatus of the wonderful world of african cichlid keeping I think it's time for me to come back. After having spent years mourning the loss of my paired frontosas to their wonderful ability to break my loving tank hood and escape in a horrible suicide pact I wish to try again. This time with a smaller tank and smaller fish. I got a 45 gallon tank and a stand for super cheap and am hunting down lighting and such now. I also plan on doing a planted cichlid tank this time, never could manage it before when I was a teenager but maybe this time I'll get it right after reading all the forums on how to get away with it. Worse comes to worse I'll just end up with a demolished attempt at a plant tank and some very happy fish. Any suggestions for a group of african cichlids that would be perfectly happy in a 45 gallon tank and wouldn't outgrow it in a week or two? Preferably not vegetarian ones that will instantly destroy this tank idea.
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2013 02:21
|
|
|
dirtycajun posted:After a many year hiatus of the wonderful world of african cichlid keeping I think it's time for me to come back. After having spent years mourning the loss of my paired frontosas to their wonderful ability to break my loving tank hood and escape in a horrible suicide pact I wish to try again. This time with a smaller tank and smaller fish. I got a 45 gallon tank and a stand for super cheap and am hunting down lighting and such now. Bolivian rams stay smallish and do pretty well with plants in my experience.  DSC_0093.jpg by MrDespair, on Flickr
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2013 02:25
|
|
|
Man, that fish has some full, pouty lips.
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2013 02:28
|
|
|
Mr. Despair posted:Bolivian rams stay smallish and do pretty well with plants in my experience. Thanks for the quick response, I'll look into them! Any others you can think of that I can sort through by chance?
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2013 02:28
|
|
|
dirtycajun posted:After a many year hiatus of the wonderful world of african cichlid keeping I think it's time for me to come back. After having spent years mourning the loss of my paired frontosas to their wonderful ability to break my loving tank hood and escape in a horrible suicide pact I wish to try again. This time with a smaller tank and smaller fish. I got a 45 gallon tank and a stand for super cheap and am hunting down lighting and such now. Could try some kribensis. They've been pretty bullet proof for me and spawned pretty easily, and the only plants they've shredded of mine were some cabomba that was right next to the hole they dug out to spawn. My big male was just shy of four inches and was tank boss, females are a bit smaller. Mine nip at my hands when I give them tubifex cubes, the lovable little scamps. If you're wanting happy cichlid and plant times though, maybe look at the new world and get some apistos? They're a bit more on the delicate side, but there are some absolutely stunning fish to be had. Cacatuoides and agassizii are probably the easiest to find and come in all sorts of colors. Oh, and that Bolivian ram is a South American cichlid, too. I've a school of six of the little guys and they're a blast. They're solidly plant friendly, and so are blue rams.
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2013 06:06
|
|
|
Checked on the tank this morning and saw one of the guppies was in the process of having fry. Little baby fish in the breeding trap  Edit: I know breeding guppies isn't the hardest thing in the world but this is the first time I've actually seen the babies. I've had 2 pregnancy cycles so far and assume the fry fell prey to either the danios or the filter  When does coloration start to manifest? I'm curious about guppy genetics. Nostalgia4Infinity fucked around with this message at 15:10 on Jul 8, 2013 |
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2013 14:35
|
|
|
Actually it's probably mom that's chowing down on them. Gotta recover that lost calcium, yannow.  You may want to get floating plants like frogbit and hornwort to give them some cover. They tend to lie on the bottom at first, but they will spend most of their time up top after they have absorbed their yolk sac. Feeding is pretty easy. Frozen baby brine shrimp, or finely ground pellet and flakes will do. As far as colors go, I find that they will start coloring up at about a month.And re: small cichlids in tanks -- definitely check out the dwarf cichlids (African riverines like the P. kribensis) and the South American dwarf cichlids. They have a lot of personality without destroying things like their vastly larger cousins. If you are really interested in hard water lake cichlids, you might enjoy shell dwellers (Neolamprologus species). Good luck!  Fusillade fucked around with this message at 00:08 on Jul 9, 2013 |
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2013 00:03
|
|
|
I've spray painted my 30 gallon and got everything all set up now. I only have a few pieces of Ohko stone so far, but I like what my scape looks like at the moment. I'm going to pick up some more pieces when I'm in the Bay Area next week, assuming they have some. The pictures look a little washed out thanks to a quick point and shoot, but the rocks and substrate are much redder in real life. The Ohko stone is particularly attractive with shades of orange and yellow all throughout it. I will be back in San Jose next week, so when I get back I would like to begin my dry start of the HC. If anyone else has found a good FAQ for how to do a dry start I would love a link to it.   This is the spray paint I used. Don't buy it. The spray is uneven and chunky and no amount of shaking helps. Avoid at all costs.   The stand isn't amazing, but it has a cherry finish which goes with a lot of the other furniture we have. Please excuse the mess, we are still in the process of unpacking. So any recommendations for the rocks? I don't have a real plan for them yet, and if any are still in the Bay Area when I get up there next week I will add more. But for now I think this is an interesting scape. I plan on doing a carpet of dwarf baby tears through the center of the tank with some taller plants on the left and rear of the tank. Beyond that I haven't really decided on much.
|
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2013 04:10
|
|
|
Chichevache posted:I've spray painted my 30 gallon and got everything all set up now. I only have a few pieces of Ohko stone so far, but I like what my scape looks like at the moment. I'm going to pick up some more pieces when I'm in the Bay Area next week, assuming they have some. The pictures look a little washed out thanks to a quick point and shoot, but the rocks and substrate are much redder in real life. The Ohko stone is particularly attractive with shades of orange and yellow all throughout it. I will be back in San Jose next week, so when I get back I would like to begin my dry start of the HC. If anyone else has found a good FAQ for how to do a dry start I would love a link to it. You sprayed the back of the glass? Speaking of I want to refinish my stand. I suppose laminate is a bit delicate.
|
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2013 04:27
|
|
|
Chichevache posted:I've spray painted my 30 gallon and got everything all set up now. I only have a few pieces of Ohko stone so far, but I like what my scape looks like at the moment. I'm going to pick up some more pieces when I'm in the Bay Area next week, assuming they have some. The pictures look a little washed out thanks to a quick point and shoot, but the rocks and substrate are much redder in real life. The Ohko stone is particularly attractive with shades of orange and yellow all throughout it. I will be back in San Jose next week, so when I get back I would like to begin my dry start of the HC. If anyone else has found a good FAQ for how to do a dry start I would love a link to it. Next time try acrylic enamel paint and a mini-roller. Goes on smoother and you have more control.
|
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2013 04:45
|
|
|
Or just clip on a black card stock rectangle to the back!
|
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2013 04:48
|
|
|
Eh, uneven paint on the back isn't a huge deal. If people are spending more time looking at the paint than what's in the tank you've probably got other issues.
|
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2013 05:17
|
|
|
Shakenbaker posted:Eh, uneven paint on the back isn't a huge deal. If people are spending more time looking at the paint than what's in the tank you've probably got other issues. It is still a pain in the rear end doing six coats when two or three should suffice. When I pay for it I want it to work.
|
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2013 05:54
|
|
|
dirtycajun posted:Thanks for the quick response, I'll look into them! Any others you can think of that I can sort through by chance? Apistogramma are pretty cool.
|
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2013 10:02
|
|
|
Chichevache posted:It is still a pain in the rear end doing six coats when two or three should suffice. When I pay for it I want it to work. Six coats? Yeesh. Can see why you'd be irked by that then.
|
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2013 13:38
|
|
|
I have three German Blues in my 55 and they are very personable.. they don't tear up the plants and get along with all the other inhabitants. No experience with the others but I heard Electric Blues will work also.
|
|
#
?
Jul 9, 2013 13:54
|
|
|
My Betta hits floating pellets like a tarpon taking a fly and it's adorable He think he fierce. 
|
|
#
?
Jul 11, 2013 13:16
|
|
|
I went to A+ Aquarium today, and got an anubia and 4 Endler's livebearers today  . that store seems ok. they have some really pretty tanks in the front, and i didn't really see sick or dead fish in most display tanks. I'm not sure, but it seems they put the sick and/or dead fish on tanks on the floor, though. I'm not sure if it's for quarantine, but my brother (he took me there), saw about half a dozen dead fish in one of the floor tanks.Edit: Here's a video of my tank. Sorry for the quality, I had to use my phone. It doesn't look great, but it's better than before. I think I won't be able to add amano or cherry shrimp since I probably maxed out how many fish I can have in this tank. I wanna change the center piece for real driftwood, but the pieces they had at A+ were just too big. I also saw this tiny plant, dwarf baby tears, in one planted tank and it looks gorgeous. Now I want to get some! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xktkiK3aefc This is getting a bit addictive. Chido fucked around with this message at 23:15 on Jul 11, 2013 |
|
#
?
Jul 11, 2013 21:51
|
|
|
Current project: Bedroom 10 gallon for guppy fry grow-up and place to move some of my boring neons and corys from my 20 gallon in the living room.
|
|
#
?
Jul 11, 2013 22:50
|
|
|
So I went to live aquaria today just to look over their plant selection again as I have been pondering a small rescape. The dwaf baby tears is cool to look at, but the algae that still remains have entered a symbiotic relationship with the plant that makes the whole thing look terrible. I was going to go with dwarf hair grass in replacement which I could get some tissue cloned stuff from petsmart. However, it is a toss up on getting about one bag a week to do this as that is about the number of bags that actually look decent at any one time. The other thing I wanted was some color. The java fern has been doing nothing for me and I just don't enjoy it. The crypt wendtii (also a clone from petsmart) has been doing great, but is shorter than I expected and is starting to get shadowed by the amazon sword next to it (another tc). So off to liveaquaria to take a look again at perhaps some colored live plants I could put in here such as a red flame to compliment the regular sword that would be its neighbor. I have been lucky so far in that none of the plants I got from liveaquaria came with snails or any pests. To my surprise, they now offer tc plants as well. This includes not only dwarf hair grass, but also a red plant (something petsmart didn't have) in the form of Alternanthera reineckii var 'roseafolia'. Or at least, that is what they are claiming. The picture shown doesn't match other pictures I have seen of the same name, so I don't know.
|
|
#
?
Jul 12, 2013 02:44
|
|
|
My crypts started off as tiny 1" tall plants so I planted them in the foreground. They're 5" now a few months later and probably could do with being pushed further to the back. Ooops. In the last week though they've sprouted lots of tiny babies, so they must be happy in there.
Synthbuttrange fucked around with this message at 02:51 on Jul 12, 2013 |
|
#
?
Jul 12, 2013 02:48
|
|
|
Chichevache posted:I'm going back next week topics up the tank, so I'll look again. But I was shocked by the health of the fish I saw. I didn't notice a single dead or underfed fish, even the nicest stores I have been to have some with concave bellies. The shop is absolutely covered in dust and the algae on the tanks is pretty bad, but what I noticed was the healthy live stock. If you go in let me know what you see on that front. Because it did not look like the owner was just cleaning the dead out before I saw them, it looked like they were actually cared for. I stopped by Fumi's yesterday, Only dead fish I saw was in the feeder tank. It was a bit dirty, but much much better than last time I was there. I'm taking them off my bad list. I stopped at Exotic Life on Topanga today, it looks like they're finishing up a bit of a remodel. The reptile section was great. The fish side was a little light, but they had a ton of empty tanks that looked like they were getting ready to set up for display.
|
|
#
?
Jul 12, 2013 05:40
|
|
|
Anyone near Pasadena want to pick up 3 cardinal tetras, 3 pristella tetra, and a half dozen or so orange cherry shrimp? Trying to sell off my cube and most people don't seem to be interested in it with livestock.
|
|
#
?
Jul 12, 2013 05:48
|
|
|
Anyone want to add Roborovski Hamsters to their stock? http://hampture.blogspot.com/?spref=fb
|
|
#
?
Jul 12, 2013 09:28
|
|
|
My angels are being turds. I bought 4 ottos and 4 nerid snails to replace my deceased bristlenose and they are abosletly kicking rear end cleaning up the tank. But now the angels are stressing out each other and the ottos when they attempt to clean the filthy sword plants that are their layer and egg spawning patch. JUST LET THE drat OTTOS CLEAN YOUR FILTHY "ROOM"!
|
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2013 06:09
|
|
|
I finally got plants and stuff in for my 40 breeder, now I just need to figure out what kind of fish I want...    I really love this tank, the size is amazing, having all of the depth in the tank makes it look awesome. Any suggestions on livestock? I think I want to do single large school maybe celebes rainbows,furcata rainbow, or something that isn't a small tetra like cardinals or neons. And then just a large colony of cherry shrimp (100 or so), a few otos, and some amano shrimp.
|
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2013 19:10
|
|
|
My giant orange fantail died last night. He was fine 2 days ago then bam; dead. I don't know what happened but I suspect fecal impaction, possibly due to swallowed gravel. I guess this is why fancy goldfish keepers have bare bottom tanks.  I want gravel because I have plants. What kind of substrate can I use? Sand is out; I need something larger than Petco gravel.
|
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2013 20:23
|
|
|
Aw im sorry what about plant gravellike ecocimplete. I find that its pretty fine. But not sand fine. Or those giant river rocks, larger than dime sized.
Malalol fucked around with this message at 21:18 on Jul 13, 2013 |
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2013 21:15
|
|
|
The alternative is to have pots for plants. Keeps gravel to a minimum. What kind of plants are you planning to grow though? As far as I know, goldfish devour most plants that grow in substrates.
|
|
#
?
Jul 14, 2013 02:28
|
|
|
My angels layed there second clutch! Hope they don't eat this one.
|
|
#
?
Jul 14, 2013 08:08
|
|
|
Thanks to sushi, I'll always wonder what my fishes eggs taste like. Not game enough to try it out though!
|
|
#
?
Jul 14, 2013 08:15
|
|
|
I really, really like this layout. You sure you don't want tetras? Most other schooling fish are gonna go after shrimp. Maybe Loreto tetras or something else that's rare and not just a cardinal? Eifert Posting fucked around with this message at 14:13 on Jul 14, 2013 |
|
#
?
Jul 14, 2013 14:03
|
|
|
i wanted to pick up a "shallow" tank that's similar to the ADA 60-F. i recall someone posting a link to a site that had one that was just perfect. does anyone remember the link to the site or have any recommendations? (pic for reference.)
|
|
#
?
Jul 14, 2013 16:10
|
|
|
LingcodKilla posted:My angels layed there second clutch! My angelfish have been laying eggs almost every other week this summer, usually on the terra-cotta pot. I'm pretty sure the kuhli loaches are getting them, though...
|
|
#
?
Jul 14, 2013 16:16
|
|
|
Toussaint Louverture posted:I really, really like this layout. You sure you don't want tetras? Most other schooling fish are gonna go after shrimp. Maybe Loreto tetras or something else that's rare and not just a cardinal? Thanks! I'm not set against tetras as a whole, and those Loretos are pretty neat. I was also looking at celebese, forktail, and gertrude rainbows, but I've never kept small rainbows before any opinions on them? I just want something small, uncommon, and neat to look at really. I do have a question about ordering shrimp online. Does anyone have any personal recommendations for large quantities of shrimp? I'm looking at either blue pearls or tigers, but I want like 50-100 and most of the prices are like 2 or 3 bucks a shrimp which is just out of my price range right now. I found one guy with really great prices on aquabid, but he ships from Hong Kong which makes me pretty nervous, if anyone has any experience with that I'd love to know.
|
|
#
?
Jul 14, 2013 19:45
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 5, 2024 17:28 |
|
|
Gertrudaes are awesome I love em. But they are so tiny. Hard to see in my tank. Furcatas are significantly larger. But also pretty!
|
|
#
?
Jul 14, 2013 19:57
|
|