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Thanks to Desert Bus for getting the old thread started waaay back in 2008 (?!), and getting us started on a new thread. This OP is a collaborative and evolving thing, the work of Cowslips Warren, Fusillade, Desert Bus and myself, and hopefully it'll be updated with materials, corrections and FAQs that keep coming up.  Welcome to the Freshwater Aquarium Show and Tell thread! This thread is for keepers of Freshwater fish, invertebrates, and plants. It doesn’t matter if you need advice, or just want to share some pictures, that’s what this is here for. In the almost five years since the creation of the original Aquarium Show and Tell thread many many people in here have gone from having no fish to being excellent aquarists. You can too. First up, we have Pet Island's very own Saltwater thread, Saltwater pics and general discussion." If you need help with a saltwater tank, that's the thread you want! Fish Forums:: Aquaria Central - Focuses mainly on smaller FW tanks and fish. Monster Fish Keepers - Focuses mainly on larger fish and tanks. The Planted Tank - Focuses on planted tanks. PlanetCatfish - International and focuses on any and all catfish. Cichlid Forum - Focuses on New and Old World Cichlids Quality retailers:: Doctors Foster & Smith - Excellent for things such as Eco-Complete and other heavy items, as they charge a flat fee for shipping. Big Al's Aquarium Supplies - Has a different selection of products than Foster & Smith and seems to be generally slightly cheaper. AquariumPlants.com - Just as the name implies, lots of plants and plant related stuff. Kens Fish - Sells fish food and supplies. The main advantage is that they sell food in bulk. _____  Tank Setup and Filtration WHOA look at all those beautiful tanks! Look at all those neat fish! This is really awesome! Ready to go? A little planning will help you and your fish further down the road. First off, what size tank do you want to get? Fish tanks are HEAVY -- water weighs about 8 pounds per gallon. Make sure your stand (and your flooring!) can handle the weight being applied to one spot in the room. The size of the tank you purchase will dictate what fish you can keep. Another way to look at this question is: do you have a fish, or a type of fish, that you want to keep? You will then need a tank that can support it. Or do you have a tank already, or can only keep a tank of a certain size due to budget/weight/volume concerns, and want to know what you can put in it? Filtration is another factor that will affect the health of your livestock. Overfiltration is not possible in freshwater aquaria, other than in terms of unwanted electrical cost. When aquarists talk about "filtration," they’re mainly referring to biological filtration, bacterial processes that consume dangerous chemicals and excrete less dangerous ones, not so much literal filtration as you’d find in a car’s oil filter or the dust filter in your home’s air conditioner - this second kind is distinguished as mechanical filtration. There’s also chemical filtration, performed by active minerals and chemicals. Biological filtration - This is the bio part of filter brands like "bio-wheel" or "bio-ball." Such filters don’t do anything themselves but present water to the filter media,which is really just a high-surface-area matrix which makes a good home for beneficial bacteria. This is largely why a new tank needs to cycle in; these bacteria, either introduced along with "live gravel" or bacteria-in-a-can or else hitchhiking on fish and plants, need time to grow to a sufficient colony size to be able to process the excretions of the tank’s expected mass of fish. The bacteria themselves should appear as a dark discoloration or a slime layer on the matrix, whatever form it might take. Do not wash this! New fishkeepers often see their filter has become slimed with nasty muck and fastidiously scrub it all off in the sink, then wonder why their fish died. Without that slime the rest of the filter is basically useless. Mechanical filtration - Something with holes in it to let water go through and catch gunk. This Includes sponges (which second as Biological filtration), filter pads, and filter floss. Chemical filtration - Very messy fish like goldfish (and all the other cyprinids, who lack true stomachs and therefore have inefficient digestion), plecos, and carnivores will produce more waste, and require higher filtration turnover rates, upwards of 6-8 times the volume of the tank. Aquadvisor is a website that estimates, based on the size of the tank and the filtration, how much of a load your stock represents on the tank. I’d aim for about 80%. This site works best for ESTABLISHED tanks (see the section below about cycling). Whether it's an internal filter, a hang-on-back, a canister or other filter types, they all perform one or more of these filtration functions, depending on how their media is loaded. Lighting Do you want a fish only, or a tank with both fish and plants? That will affect the intensity (and cost!) of the lights you will be purchasing. The addition of thriving live plants is arguably the single best thing you can do for freshwater fish as they oxygenate the water and take up animal waste. Unless you mean to keep voracious herbivores (like goldfish) or you want to prevent livebearer young from surviving to keep their reproductive rate down, there is no good reason not to plant the tank at least somewhat. _____ CYCLING and you You’ve got everything set up, and now you’re ready to get this thing looking like an Amano tank! But hold up! Before you start cramming fish and plants into a tank, there’s a bit more work involved. This usually requires a week or two of running the tank without fish in it (or with a very, very small amount of fish relative to the water) to allow your tank to cycle. Cycling your tank is VERY important! It is possible to accelerate the cycling process by adding the bacteria directly from a bacteria-in-a-can product like Seachem’s "Stability," and if the volume of water is great enough relative to the size of the first fish or two, they may well survive the process. Overstocking the tank by adding too many fish too quickly will not end well. It is nearly impossible to keep alive the intended "finished product" animal population if you add it all at once to a tank you’ve just set up. The fish will tell you if there are too many -- by dying back to the number that that your current tank husbandry practices permit. Let’s avoid fishy deaths as best we can! Please keep in mind that some lead time is needed for nitrogen waste (such as what comes from fish food and poop) to be introduced in sufficient quantity to establish healthy colonies of beneficial bacteria. The process proceeds from protein > ammonia > nitrite > nitrate > nitrogen gas released to the atmosphere. Most beneficial bacteria cannot process nitrates to nitrogen gas, requiring the presence of plants (which consume the nitrate, among other things) or water changes (which dilutes the nitrate, along with everything else) to make that final step. Here is an excellent site about Fishless Cycling: The Nitrogen Cycle Maintenance Keeping a tank running once you’ve got your tank cycled isnt that hard. For the majority of tanks, it’s just a matter of replacing 25% of the water and giving the filters a light rinse in the removed tankwater or in dechlorinated tapwater (so that you dont kill off the bacteria you’ve been working so hard to cultivate), to remove excess gunk and keep decent flow through your filtration system. The purpose is mainly to remove the stuff that cant be broken down any further by bacteria, i.e. nitrates, and keep them at levels that are healthy for the livestock in your tank. _____  GOOD beginner fish: Knowing is half the battle! Before you get a fish, any fish, be sure to do some research on it. Find out the max size of the animal, any specific dietary needs, requirements for temperature, if it needs more of its same species. Do not always trust what the store tag says.  Male Betta - these gorgeous and varied fish work great as a single centerpiece, but can also work in a sufficiently spacious community setting as long as there are no fish that nip fins, or fish that have long fins. Some male bettas, like the plakats, are bred to be fighters, so keep a good eye on them, or really any betta. The common pet store ones are veiltails, but other varieties are becoming available. As they’re usually kept in poor conditions in pet stores, ensure the fish you’re buying is responsive and active. Lids are essential for these jumpers. Female Betta - works in a community setting as a single fish or in groups. Multiples will help spread the aggression. Three might be ok, but I'd try for a minimum of five.  Corydoras Catfish - I'd recommend a group of at least 6, but the more you have the happier they will be. They prefer schooling with other cories of their own color pattern. They require a softer substrate that won’t harm their whiskers/barbels, like sand or smoothed gravel.  Kuhli loaches - Look like little eels or shrunk down dojo/weather loaches. Scaleless fish that prefer sand to gravel. They will not go after snails, unlike most loaches. Will stay hidden most of the time unless there’s abundant cover to help them feel secure.  Bristlenose Pleco - Tops out at about 5", and eats algae its whole life. Will happily munch on other food if algae is low, and will also eat away at certain types of driftwood. Danio (any type) - works best in groups, and there are multiple available species, including genetically modified UV reactive Zebra Danios. Avoid Giant Danios unless your tank is 30" long or more. White Cloud Minnow - Schooling fish, so you need 7 or more for them to be really active and happy. Can handle colder water temperatures. Guppy - the males can be extremely pretty, and the females give birth to live young. Guppies are often found in two types, the "fancy" guppy, which has a rippling iridescent caudal fin and is well-colored all over, and the "Endler’s Livebearer," a guppy-like fish which is very much smaller and silver with brilliant gem-like color spots on the adult males. Be careful of having too many males; they will fight each other, tear fins, and stress out the females. Fry will usually be eaten by any fish in the tank. Note: for the common livebearers of the guppy, platy, molly, and swordtail, you want 1 male per every 3-4 females. The females can store sperm for up to three months from one breeding. The male will harass a single female to death, so multiple females is a way to spread out his stalker love. Neon/glowlight/head-and-tail-light/cardinal/rummynose Tetra - All of these small and glimmering fish are broadly similar in behavior and needs. They school tightly in large numbers and are stressed otherwise. The cardinal looks almost exactly like the neon but grows much larger and its red line runs the full length of the body. Minimum school should be 6 fish, but more is better.  Gouramis - Gouramis are reasonably tough, colorful, appealing, and can sip air from the surface to make up for poor oxygenation (not that it’s good to have poor oxygenation, but it matters less to them than to most others). They are semi-aggressive and should be kept in small groups. One might be bored by itself, two may fight, three or four should be fine. They can keep up with barbs (such as cherry barbs but beware of tiger barbs or tinfoils) and usually don’t mind other nippy fish. Gold, opaline, and blue gouramis are common in chain stores, as are dwarf gouramis. Males are everywhere, females are usually harder to find. Invertebrates Ghost Shrimp - Very active. Excellent at cleaning up, but not so great at algae removal. They will eat anything, including the fins of long-finned fish, such as male bettas and guppies. Sold as feeders for the most part, bred in large ponds in Florida, so if your ghost shrimp ends up with longer ‘arms’ you don’t have a ghost shrimp, but a larger species of macrobranchius that will eat your fish. Flower Shrimp - Will find the best spot to filter feed and pretty much stay there. If it’s not successful in the tank, it will escape looking for greener pastures. Best in a well established planted tank with a lot of circulation. Amano Shrimp - Great algae eaters. Not super active, but extremely useful. Do not successfully breed in freshwater but the females will carry eggs.  Cherry Shrimp - Great clean up crew and a very hardy shrimp, suitable for a beginner. Not a great algae eater. Will breed prolifically if given the chance. Other Ornamental Shrimp - Some are similar to the Cherry Shrimp, some need more specific water parameters.  Snails - Some people love them, others hate them. The main problem with many snail species is that they will rapidly reproduce and can overrun a tank. Not feeding an excess of food and having fish species that do prey on snails, like loaches, can help control this issue. Some species dont have this problem like apple/mystery snails which are single sex, or nerites which require brackish water to reproduce. But in a tank with a food chain, they make great snacks for snail-eaters. Clams - Freshwater Clams are a terrible idea for any aquarist. The first thing they do is bury themselves. This makes it very difficult to judge their health. They are filter feeders, so they work best in established aquariums. If they happen to die, be prepared for surprisingly large amounts of water fouling, and hope (since they’re buried and invisible) that you notice quickly. Not recommended. Also many are considered invasive species and their offspring larvae can pass through waterways. TERRIBLE beginner fish (by terrible, we mean ‘will meet an untimely end or cause another tankmate to meet an untimely end’ or ‘gets fuckin’ huge’) Flowerhorns - Flowerhorns are brutes and during puberty and maturity will sometimes beat other fish to death just for something to do. Their provenance is sketchy, being a hybrid of several American cichlid species, making their behavior unpredictable. One individual might have negotiated a peaceful understanding with its tankmates but kill anything new added, another might kill only other cichlid competitors, another might defend a territory (of variable size) with deadly force but not seek trouble otherwise, another might kill for thrills. Oscars - Oscars are the American cichlid most likely to be found in chain petstores, and the American cichlids are on a whole other level aggression-wise from community fish, even from nippy community fish like tiger barbs. They have great personality but are best for a single-specimen tank, and when a 55 is the bare minimum, they are usually overcrowded, leading to more aggression issues. Misc African Cichlids - In many stores you will find a mishmash of General African Cichlids, which usually means hybrids of already aggressive fish. These fish cannot be kept with the standard community fish, and even among each other will wreck havoc. Convict cichlids - Cichlids that reproduce faster than guppies, exhibit aggressive parental care to the point they will attack your arm, breed in anything that holds water, and have up to a hundred fry at a time? What’s not to love? Oh, and if you keep them in a tank with large cichlids like Oscars, they will maim and beat the Oscars to the other side of the tank, if not kill them for being a danger to their fry. Common Plecostomus/Sailfin/Gibby Pleco - Often referred to as "algae eater fish." They do technically eat algae, but not all species are thorough about it, preferring things like vegetables and the slime coats of slow-moving fish. Even a pleco who does scrape your glass is not "cleaning the tank." He’s just turning the algae into poop. Also some pleco species grow to enormous size. Many other algae-eating fish are better, but if you must have a pleco, get the bristlenose species. Let’s put it simply: common plecos are sometimes food sources in their native environment. See your forearm? That is how big they will get, regardless of your tank size. Other Plecos - sometimes you’ll find an awesome pleco that costs some good $$. It isn’t gray or black like the common or gibby pleco, perhaps it is green with stripes (like a royal pleco or royal panaque). Or it’s a fine green-yellow or even blue. Before you grab up the cool fish, ID it first: panaques grow to a thick 14 inches and need hard wood to chew on, and will destroy an acrylic tank. Green phantom plecos are feisty, blue phantoms need high oxygen in their water, and other plecos simply require softer water, or riptide-like current. Or, like the royal pleco, will reduce driftwood to sawdust poo poo in a matter of days. Yes, they will die without driftwood to demolish. Rubbernose/Thomasi Pleco (Chaestostoma sp.) - You’ll see these quite commonly at PetsMarts and various other chain stores. They need lower temperatures than most other tropical fish and don’t do much good against most algae anyway. Males can be somewhat aggressive. Redtail/Tiger Shovelnose/Lima/Gulper/Giraffe Catfish - These catfish will reach sizes the average fishkeeper can not handle. When buying a Catfish, DO YOUR RESEARCH! A lot of them can reach sizes of four to five feet, and will eat all your other fish along the way. There are a lot of Catfish choices out there, so do your research. Chinese Algae Eater: Sold in brown and ‘gold’ forms, these are not catfish at all, will not eat algae, you will destroy your tank trying to catch them, oh, and they get about a foot long and suck off the slime coat of every other fish you own. If you can’t find bristlenose plecos and still want an algae eater, go for a trio of otocinclus. Leave the CAE at the pet store. Clown Loaches: Also called ich magnets, these high-stress fish max out at a thick and girthy foot long. Yes, they take time to grow, but they require pristine water and need to be in large groups, as they are very social fish. Piranha - Yes, some pet stores sell these large tetras. They are related to pacu, but don’t grow as large. They are a very specialized fish and extreme care has to be used at all times when working in their tank. Not for beginners or even most advanced fishkeepers. Pacu - Are you ready to take care of a 3-4’ long fish weighing 50+ pounds? Do you enjoy making your own aquariums using 1" acrylic and plywood? Then Pacu are the fish for you! Also, they need a lot of buddies to be happy, so you’re looking at 10 or more! Arowana - Let’s say a pacu isn’t enough for you. You want a fish that can get to four or five feet, is strong enough to knock the lid off your tank when it leaps out, and will eat almost anything you put into the tank with it? Sold! Also several species are CITES registered and can only be kept with a permit. Dragon Goby - These long fish need brackish water and are sift feeders. jadebullet's posted more about them: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?noseen=0&threadid=3554965&perpage=40&pagenumber=1#post416548419 Green Spotted Puffers - Super cute, but love biting things. Will eventually die if not converted to brackish or saltwater as they get older. Excellent at destroying pest snails, but smaller loach and botia species are more appropriate for a community tank. Puffers do not inflate in captivity unless very ill or scared shitless, as in how a human might urinate in a state of mortal terror. Keep them for their appealing pertness and intelligence, and don’t expect the inflation trick to ever come up. There are a few fully freshwater puffer species, such as SA Dwarf species,Fahaka, and Mbu, but these are best left for more experienced fishkeepers. Black Ghost Knife: You know how some guys get huge lifted trucks with spinner hubcaps to make up for micropenises? That’s what a BGK does for your tank. But unlike the truck, this fish stays hidden much of the time. But they still grow almost 2 feet in length, will usually only eat frozen or live foods, and if they can’t find food they like, will tear the fins or eyes off other tankmates. Bala/Redtail "Sharks" - These cyprinids (the carp/minnows) will get upwards of a foot long, and are very energetic. Adults will injure themselves and destroy plants if not housed comfortably in a 100+ gallon tank. They need to be in groups, and a group of large bala sharks can easily damage your aquarium. Iridescent "Shark" - Another catfish sold for very low prices at chain stores, that can get to four feet long. They are schooling fish, and are caught for food in their native waters. Pangasius cats should be avoided unless you have a swimming pool and plan on a fish BBQ in a year or two. Tinfoil Barbs - Not actually related to smaller barbs. Another tank-buster. Very skittish, will grow at least 8 inches long and out-eat other community fish. Sold alongside things like tetras and have some similar behaviors, but grow to a hundred times the mass. Goldfish - Goldfish are a tragedy and almost no one who keeps them should be allowed to. What most new hobbyists think of as a goldfish is only an infant. Goldfish are a foot long (at least) carp with a lifespan of fifteen to twenty years. In addition to their great size they are also one of the most demanding freshwater fish chemically because of their oxygen needs and waste production. They absolutely cannot be kept in a "goldfish bowl." They will quickly die. A good way to think of it is to imagine a scenario where almost no one knew that dogs were any bigger than a human hand, or lived longer than a few days, because so far as they knew the normal, traditional way to keep a dog was to seal it in a plastic bag as a puppy and leave the bag in the trunk of their car. If you do want a goldfish, each one needs a minimum of a 20 gallon tank, with a heavy filter and daily or every other day water changes. They’ll devour almost every live plant, need cool water, and cannot be mixed with hardly any other fish. Koi - These fish belong in ponds, not aquariums, unless you are growing out fry. Bred to be viewed from above, koi need large ponds or swimming pools to accommodate their high waste output and need for swimming space. Eels - What is commonly sold as the ‘freshwater moray’ needs brackish water. ‘Peacock eels’ will get about 10 inches long and will eat any fish they can catch. All eels are great escape artists, and the crack at the back of your aquarium lid is perfect for them to squeeze out of. _____ Food and Feeding There are about as many commercial fish foods as there are goons, but the most important part of feeding your fish is limiting what they get. Feeding once a day for the standard community tank is plenty; many aquarists feed every other day, or six days a week, and fast the last day. Feeding depends on what you have in the tank; a tank full of guppy adults and fry will need more food than only adults, but keep in mind the more you feed, the more the fish will prove why you don’t drink aquarium water. In short, more feeding equals more poo poo, equals more water changes. A fish’s stomach is roughly the size of its eye. But larger predatory fish (like that giraffe or shovelnose cat you didn’t research before you bought) will often eat one large meal and then need to fast for a few days. Breeding fish will require more food, and fry will require even more. Types of Food Flake: standard commercial blends good for a mixed community tank. Pellets: better than flakes in that they pack more of a punch in a smaller size food. Come in a variety of sizes. Wafers: algae wafers are the most common example and good for grazing fish, like plecos. Frozen: ranging from beefheart to mosquito larvae, great treat and overall a good diet for almost any fish. Freeze-dried: dried forms of frozen worms and shrimp. All right for treats, not for a steady diet. Live: ranging from blackworms to shrimp (such as ghost shrimp) to goldfish. Used to condition fish to spawn. A note about live feeders: goldfish are not the natural diet of any other fish, and feeder goldfish are ripe with disease and parasites; they are bred by the thousands in large vats and the fish are given the most base of care to move from the wholesaler to the pet store. If you do have fish that are piscivorous, or you want to feed live fish to yours, small livebearer fry are fine, but the key is to know where they came from; if you have a tank of tiger barbs who love guppy snacks, keep a spare tank of breeding guppies, and that way you control how the feeders are fed and treated and the risk of parasites and disease spreading is low. The same holds true for ghost shrimp; buy several and keep them in a QT tank, monitor their health, and ensure what you are feeding is getting good quality feeders. _____  A little greenery for your tank As touched on earlier, plants provide many benefits to a tank. They oxygenate the water, soak up waste products and turn them into more plants, provide cover for your fish to help them feel more comfortable and they’re just pleasing to look at and provide a great backdrop for your fish and other water-dwellers. Here’s a few beginner plants to start off with. These are easy to care for and grow in practically any fishtank as long as you have light. Mosses (Java, Christmas Moss, Peacock moss, fissidens, many others): Slow growing and tolerant of low light conditions. About exciting as watching paint dry but they’re hardy. Java moss has been reported growing back off dessicated driftwood after being stored for years! Tied to driftwood or rocks, they’ll grow slowly but surely and form dense bushy growths over time, perfect for foragers and fry. Anubias A slow growing leafy plant, comes in many sizes, shades and shapes. Another plant that does well in low light and neglect. Best grown anchored to rock or driftwood or loosely covered in substrate. Burying it will kill the rhizome. Hardly anything ever eats this plant due to its toughness. Floaters (duckweed, frogbit, hornwort, water sprite, etc) There are many types of floating plants, and all are very fast growing due to easy CO2 access at the surface of the water. They’ve all got great reputations for soaking up plant nutrients and out-competing algae. Java Fern Java ferns are another rhizome based plant, and should be treated much like anubiases. They come in many varieties from narrow leafed to broad or even lacy forms. Cryptocorynes These mid-sized bunch plants are great in the mid-ground of a tank. They require substrate of some sort to anchor their roots in. Vallisneria Another plant that requires substrate, these have long elegant leaves. Planted en-masse, they form stunning, wavy backdrops. There are many other plants that can be grown in an aquarium, but they will require more effort and preparation, which may or may not include high level lighting, carbon dioxide systems, fertilizers, both liquid, solid and substrate based, root heaters, actual dirt, etc. The Planted Tank is probably one of the more comprehensive forums dedicated to the topic of fishtank based plants. Links to Planted Tank's galleries thanks to demonR6: Java Moss Christmas Moss Peacock Moss Fissidens Fontanus Taiwan Moss Willow Moss Anubias Lesser Duckweed Amazon Frogbit Tropical Hornwort Water Sprite Cryptocoryne (Crypt) Wendtii Vallisneria (Jungle Val) Java Fern _____  The Rogues Gallery of Fish Disease In short, the best way to avoid diseases is to quarantine, quarantine, quarantine. A basic QT tank can be as small as a 5 gallon, as long as you have a filter and heater. QT every fish you bring home, and if you bring home a few from different sources, in the ideal world, you QT them all separate. Quarantining your new fish in a 10 gallon tank for 2 weeks insures any disease can usually be found, and a 10 gallon is a lot easier to medicate than a 55 or 100 gallon tank. But sometimes you bring home sick fish. It’s the way of the game. Little opaque white spots: "ICK!" you say! Well, you’re not too far off the mark. Ichthyophthirius multifiliis, also called ich, is one of the most common parasitic diseases encountered in the hobby. Here is an excellent article for identifying, treating, and preventing ich. Hazy!/It’s fuzzy! In most cases, this is a fungal infection, which usually arises as a secondary infection after an injury. However, this may also be an infection with Flexibacter columnaris (aka Flavobacterium columnare), a VERY aggressive bacterial infection that can wipe out entire tanks in a few days. The treatments for both are different, so choose wisely. This article helps you tell the difference between the two. Injuries: Is your fish knocking into poo poo? Is it getting shitbeat by one of its tankmates? It’s time to redecorate, get a bigger tank, or separate. Wounds can be topically treated by irrigation with household (3%) hydrogen peroxide, taking care to not let any get into gills and eyes. Add a water conditioner like Stresscoat. These will help your fish from getting attacked by secondary infections. My fish is too skinny.  Internal gut parasites should be treated with medicated food. Isolating the fish so that it does get the food will help. Bullying by other fishes in the tank could also cause it to be feeding poorly, so observe your tank to make the right call. My fish is too fat! Quit overfeeding him! However if its being sluggish and unresponsive, the culprit may be constipation. The recommended course of action here is feeding it a fishy laxative, a mashed, boiled and shelled pea. Getting fish to eat these is much easier if they're exposed to them when they're healthy, rather than when they fall sick. Ulcers - On head and lateral line: Tiny little pinholes with red interior, possibly oozing white goo. This is an advanced, exterior manifestation of what is likely a systemic infection caused by parasitic diplomonads like Spironucleus or Hexamita that starts in the upper intestine. There’s some controversy if hole in the head disease and lateral line disease is caused by the exact same organism, but their treatment is the same. Requires advanced care and possible FORCE FEEDING HORRORS. -On body: If you fish looks like it’s been shot, it’s probably an ulcer caused by some sort of gram-negative bacteria, most likely Aeromonas hydropilia or A. salmoncida. Here’s how to better diagnose and treat. Clamped fins Internal parasites and general discomfort. Treat with anti-parasitic medication. Breathing hard A sign that your fish is struggling for oxygen. Causes could be water parameters going off, water contamination, gill parasites, or decreased oxygen in your tank.Only the first can be easily assessed, the others will have to be arrived at through careful examination of your fish and routine. High ammonia and nitrites can very quickly be diagnosed with a test kit. Gill parasites can cause inflammation and redness in the fish’s gills, if you can examine them and should be treated with anti-parasitic medication. Low oxygen levels can be treated with increased aeration, with an airstone, aiming your filter’s outflow so that it breaks the surface or plants. Setting up a Quarantine Tank: Setting up a quarantine tank is highly recommended, and relatively easy if done right. A quarantine tank is a place to house new fish until you’re sure they’re disease free, or to house a diseased fish so you don’t have to medicate your entire tank. At minimum you need a ten gallon tank or rubbermaid tub, a heater strong enough to raise the temperature to at least 90f, a thermometer, and a filter that will accept filter media from your main tank. Running an extra sponge filter in your main tank is a great way to always have a seeded filter for your quarantine. Other tank issues Help my tank is overrun with algae! Algae is a sign of too many nutrients and lighting. You could keep cleaning it up manually, but ideally you'd also be reducing lighting and nutrients available to the algae. Try reducing your lighting hours, introducing a break in your light timing (the theory is that algae do not handle lighting changes as easily as plants), reducing nutrients by making sure you're not overfeeding and keeping up with your water changes. Excel is great at staving off algae, but this will depend on how well the rest of the tank tolerates it. Invertebrates and mosses will come off worst during high excel doses. If you're considering biological control, amano shrimp, nerite snails and various algae eating fish are available, but please do research before picking anything up, or you might end up with a 1 foot long pleco poopmonster in your tank eventually. Help my tank is overrun with snails! Like algae, snails are a sign of too many nutrients in your system. Nothing to do with lights though. Notorious hitchhikers, but they can be dealt with. Make sure you're feeding the right amount for your fish, remove uneaten food, clean your substrate and you should put a stop to snail population booms. Removing them is more of a chore. There are snail traps, from simply putting a lettuce leaf in and hauling it out along with the snails in the morning, to more expensive mechanical traps. Biological control is an option, with many species of loaches enjoying snail meat, as well as assassin snails being good options. Synthbuttrange fucked around with this message at 09:14 on Jun 18, 2013 |
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Jun 16, 2013 10:08
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Troubleshooting Continued: Anyway, if you're having problems and want us to help out, letting us know as much about the tank as possible will help. How old's the tank, what lives in it, frequency of water changes, test your parameters and post them, the more the better! And now various PI Fishtanks! from the last thread: Lacrosse   fknlo  Kharnifex  demonR6  Synthorange   Mr Despair   Fusillade  Now back to staring at tanks full of water and bloopers. 
Synthbuttrange fucked around with this message at 10:27 on Jun 16, 2013 |
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Jun 16, 2013 10:08
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Thanks! Linked your post for now, and if you decide to write up a more detailed one, I can update to that as well. What a face on that goby. 
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Jun 16, 2013 13:44
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After all that work on that OP, with its very own plant section, Chido how could you!  I get most of my plants through ebay or ordering direct from stores. Which ones are probably not relevant though, since I live in Australia. Go easy first, it's tempting to get a whole lot of plants at first, but ease in step by step and make sure you've got enough space in your tank. Start off with floaters, like frogbit, and anubias, java fern or a mossy bit of driftwood for your main feature. None of those require planting, just securing to a heavy object. Synthbuttrange fucked around with this message at 03:41 on Jun 17, 2013 |
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Jun 17, 2013 03:38
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Just depends on how densely planted you want stuff. If you're buying online, most will have descriptions of exactly how much plant you're getting. If you're planning on planting in the gravel, you should have it at 2 inches deep to ensure the plants can root properly. Otherwise it's mostly an aesthetic choice. Any of the listed plants will grow fine in a 5 gallon tank. The weights are pretty common. I've seen them used a lot. I dont think they're harmful, but I remove them and plant in gravel anyway. Synthbuttrange fucked around with this message at 04:15 on Jun 17, 2013 |
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Jun 17, 2013 03:50
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Chido posted:So I don't need substrate, regular aquarium gravel will do? also, for tank cleaning, once I the plants growing I shouldn't move them, right? Usually I clean my whole tank every 4-6 months and rinse everything, but save at least 50% of the water to add it back once everything is done. You could use regular gravel with rooting plants, just add root fertilizer tablets. Makes sense if you're only planting a few small areas of the bottom. Why're you cleaning out the whole tank every few months? Algae/poop buildup? But yes, once plants go in, they stay there unless you're replanting.
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Jun 17, 2013 04:21
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Ah, if poop buildup in the gravel is bothering you, then you have various gravel vacuums that you can use to clean them out. They come in gravity, faucet or battery powered, and are designed to suck debris out of your gravel at the same time you're siphoning out water for water changes. Why you do this is to prevent decaying matter from producing lots of trapped gas in the substrate that could potentially bubble out all at once and poison your fish. Quite a few fishkeepers here dont though, because we've got ways around it with plants and creatures that live in the substrate, stirring it, like trumpet snails and worms. If you've planted some plants, you can still use a gravel vacuum in areas around the plant without harming it.
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Jun 17, 2013 04:55
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demonR6 posted:I made some links to the plant profiles on TPT if you would like to update the OP. I will edit this if you choose to use it in the OP (or not) to remove all the clutter. Thanks! Did have to use an edited down version to keep the whole post in the limit, but the plants have picture links now!
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Jun 18, 2013 09:56
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Have you already tried blackout and cutting down lighting times? Otherwise, edit: The fish might get too big for a 10g sorry. Chido: I'm more a fan of daylight bulbs, dont really like the blue cast seawater tank lights give everything. No real experience using them, so no idea how they'd affect plants or fish. Synthbuttrange fucked around with this message at 01:38 on Jun 19, 2013 |
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Jun 19, 2013 01:30
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What a cutie. Get a net over the thing though! http://animal.discovery.com/tv-shows/animal-planet-presents/videos/most-outrageous-largest-home-aquarium.htm Also possibly the largest home aquarium? Something in the order of 10,000 gallons. 
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Jun 19, 2013 09:26
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That's a top down shot of corkscrew vals and duckweed. Sure duckweed looks cute at first, then you notice it's covering your entire tank! It's fine if you dont have to do any tank work, but if you do, you'll end up covered in it.
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Jun 20, 2013 03:48
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I prefer frogbit to duckweed. Same benefits, just larger plants that are easier to handle and dont stick to you.
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Jun 20, 2013 04:18
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Just to add to that, try approach the whole tank as a picture composition. Right now it's doing okay, but not very structured. If you're just shuffling plants around, you could have a descending order going from tall to short, or a valley with the tall plants on the outside, coming down to the shorter plants with a wide open gravel area.
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Jun 23, 2013 03:05
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My cherry shrimp are my drop checkers. They start acting like they're about to drop dead, it's time to turn down the co2 a bit. They really dont handle co2 well.
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Jun 23, 2013 06:14
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Indirectly. The theory: CO2 and lighting are limits on non-algae plant growth in most aquariums. Increasing CO2 and lighting will boost plant growth so they'll use up the nutrients before algae can get to it. You can get the same effect by adding floaters or plants that root in water (like pothos), which arent limited by dissolved water co2 and get theirs straight from the air and get better lighting.
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Jun 23, 2013 09:55
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Shakenbaker posted:I had no idea what this was so I looked it up and I think it's growing all around my house: Yeah, that looks exactly like what I have. I just cut off a little bit, enough for 4 leaves, then immersed one end of it in a high flow area. Should see roots starting up fast. GIS pothos filter and you'll see a lot of people using it. Synthbuttrange fucked around with this message at 00:10 on Jun 24, 2013 |
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Jun 24, 2013 00:08
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I put mine in a few weeks ago and it's got about 6 inches of roots now. Grows in light or shade, in lovely conditions, no wonder it's an invasive species in most places it's brought to. Also found this: 
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Jun 24, 2013 01:22
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You've only got yourself to blame for that poopy mess. And the fish too I guess.
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Jun 25, 2013 02:20
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Non-khuli loaches pretty much devour snail meat. I'd to help out and give my chain loaches a little taste first by cracking a bunch of snails open for them, but once they figured out they were edible, they did the job really well. Unfortunately they're probably also keeping my shrimp numbers below what I'd like, but it's better than being overrun I guess.
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Jun 25, 2013 03:02
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Shakenbaker posted:Thanks. I knew that they'd eat snails but I kept seeing "not an obligate snail eater" so I wasn't sure if some were just difficult or what. Chain loaches were actually the other kind I was thinking of, so maybe them. Kinda wanting to stay away from yoyos since they get a group of them would eat up a whole lot of bio-mass in that tank when they're grown. Well, it just means that they dont require snails to eat. If there's plentiful and easier sources of food around, the snails might get ignored.
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Jun 25, 2013 03:58
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Aw, baby shrimp! You're going to enjoy them! Also holy cow I had no idea about carbon rili or blue diamond cherry shrimp! Those look like amazing colour morphs! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZR_8NQ2VoA0 Synthbuttrange fucked around with this message at 02:32 on Jun 27, 2013 |
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Jun 27, 2013 02:29
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I love those filter types. Mine's worked pretty well and is pretty low maintenance compared to HOBs or internal power filters. I've arranged it so it goes through a small filter, then a large block of coarse foam and then a porous ceramic bag and the water comes out pretty clean and the powerhead that runs it almost never needs cleaning. I've only had to scrub the impeller once in the last two years I've run it. For comparison the powerhead on my HOB has to be scrubbed out ever four weeks. Just watch out for the filter inlet if you've any fauna that can squeeze in. I've put a foam block directly behind the grill on mine so it keeps out all but the most determined baby shrimp and snails. I will say its a gigantic pain whenever livestock gets in the back though, since you cant just tip the whole thing over. Get a baster or wide tube for suction if that happens.
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Jun 27, 2013 02:41
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If they havent become any more fragile due to breeding for the trait, you should be fine. Neocardinias are pretty fecund as it is. Unfortunately I cant get any; I live in Australia and they are a prohibited import.
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Jun 27, 2013 04:31
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Oh god that danio. Hope it pulls through, but realistically that looks pretty drat bad. Quarantining it?
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Jun 30, 2013 23:32
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Some have returns on the bottom, others have a pump that just pushes water back out over the top.
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Jul 2, 2013 04:59
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Nice eggs Lingcod! They'd appreciate a dab of egg-safe antifungals. Chichevache: Is flourite really that sharp? What else do you have in your tank?
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Jul 3, 2013 01:45
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I've got a ton of greenery in my tank. Mosses, vals, anubias, water sprite, crypts. Where does my betta choose to lounge? In the gear corner, jamming himself behind the water heater. 
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Jul 4, 2013 00:26
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One of the things my LFS has right is accurate info cards for each fish. That and juvenile clown loaches next to the tank with the full grown adults.
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Jul 4, 2013 23:43
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Thread title aside, nerites need brackish water to reproduce. Amano shrimp are a good algae eater as mentioned. Oto catfish are another algae eater suitable for a tiny tank, but they've got an earned reputation for being somewhat fragile. How long are you keeping the lights on for anyway, and what was it at before? Does your tank get natural light? Hornworts are a really easy plant to keep and you dont need lights for very long, especially if you've got natural light. Did a water change, clean up and rearrangement today. I think the shrimp population in the 10g are a distant memory, from the amount of algae everywhere. Still dont know if I should blame the loaches, betta or the co2.
Synthbuttrange fucked around with this message at 04:22 on Jul 6, 2013 |
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Jul 6, 2013 04:15
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Thats a fair bit of light. I run a low-light plant tank and its only got a total of 6 hours a day, 2 in morning, then 4 in the evening. That keeps most low light plants pretty happy. Hornwort should be fine with less time.
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Jul 6, 2013 04:31
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What the hell?  Oh come on, I totally feed you guys enough, no need to climb out of water and scrape for algae there too. 
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Jul 7, 2013 05:03
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Sorry to hear that. What caused the overflow in the first place though?
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Jul 8, 2013 01:02
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Man, that fish has some full, pouty lips.
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Jul 8, 2013 02:28
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Or just clip on a black card stock rectangle to the back!
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Jul 9, 2013 04:48
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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 |
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Jul 12, 2013 02:48
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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.
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Jul 14, 2013 02:28
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Thanks to sushi, I'll always wonder what my fishes eggs taste like. Not game enough to try it out though!
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Jul 14, 2013 08:15
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How's your sponge set up? I've got a similar overflow setup, and I used to find shrimp in the back all the time. They're just small enough to fit in the grill if they're determined. I tried many different ways to block them, but this is what worked in the end: Extra-thick block of sponge cut just over the size of the space at the back so it pushes up against the grill. Water still gets through fine, just take the sponge and squeeze out during cleaning.
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Jul 15, 2013 12:07
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Wait, so you mean you're just finding them in the middle sections here? Well that is a mystery. Maybe set out a net? No wait, that'd certainly just result in dried out fish, even though you'd satisfy your curiosity. http://i.imgur.com/2oHLdPN.jpg
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Jul 15, 2013 12:23
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Yeah, if you intend on housing fish, bigger is better. That said, my first tank was only 5 gallons, but it only housed snails and shrimp which are fairly light on their environment and can do quite well in small tanks. As for those tanks, they certainly look great, but I'm having trouble seeing them as being easy to maintain. The Fluval Chi has a small opening, and the Biorb looks like it has a substrate level filter, and both look like they take their own filter cartridges. My personal preference is to just go with a nice tank with separate filter and heater, rather than built in ones like on the above tanks. Built in parts make maintenance more fiddly and you cant really upgrade or tinker with them much. Synthbuttrange fucked around with this message at 01:21 on Jul 16, 2013 |
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Jul 16, 2013 01:14
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