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Hooray, the new OP is up!  It was fun to contribute to a novella. Now, for some fishy content: I attempted to give (Princess) Bloop some company by adding several more Cichla to the tank to make a school for her. She was not having ANY of it. She turned all of her colors on, including the red in her eyes, and promptly thrashed them. She's fiesty, but still growing awfully slow, which I have been told is a trait of Orinoco peacock bass. Only at 7 inches at 7 months since I've gotten her, where other species I've kept would have been 10, 11 inches by now. Still, she is a gorgeous lady.  As it turns out, peacock bass aggression toward each other is so well documented that sports fishermen use lures painted to resemble peacock bass. They seem to work -- even if the bait is shaped like trout.  ----- Now for something that more of you can relate to: Mr. Freeze is maturing nicely!! I received him in May from a local betta breeder who could not show him because of a color fault (marbled varieties are supposed to have a 50/50 color split in ALL fins). He's become more and more blue over the past month and a half. Here are the before and after pics -- both times taken of him while he was chilling out on his water sprite up in his heated 5 gallon VIP lounge.   
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Jun 21, 2013 02:00
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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 |
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Jul 9, 2013 00:03
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Cowslips Warren posted:I really should ask the fucker why I should sell him one (yes, he wants just ONE) of my zebras and what price he would offer. I somehow think he might dare offer the high price of $80 if I twist his arm. I can understand your desire to hold back your zebra stock for people who intend to breed them, but what generation are these that you have? How certain are you that your original zebras are from different wild or captive stock? Why is the fate of an individual intended for show or collection purposes worse than the production of genetically flawed stock? I know that livebearers like Endler's can get to about.... F7 before inbreeding becomes really problematic, but I still make an effort to separate males and females so that anything I sell off will be less likely to breed amongst itself. That aside, re: lowballing -- there simply may not be any local keepers that are as interested in this specific fish as you are. It took me over a month to sell off some extra peacock bass I had, and two 13"+ males went for $40 apiece to someone who had a general interest in large CA/SA cichlids. They literally do NOT value the fish in the same way that you do, and most likely won't if you don't talk up your creatures! I'd think that the total costs of attending a specialty convention like that would depend on hotel location, car rental, airfare, special shipping arrangements (are there special licenses require for interstate transfer, for example?), and what sort of stock you intend to TAKE to auctions and BRING back from auctions. Assuming a 4-5 day excursion to a convention, using official convention hotels (3+ stars), and airfare for let's say.... halfway across the country, you'd be looking at about $1000-$1500 before even getting to the fish-specific costs! Speaking of loving your fish more than anyone else, it's photodump time! My current grow out batch consists of two little Cichla ocellaris brats, one Florida C. monoculus/ocellaris hybrid, a complete MYSTERY pale silvery pbass, and leader of the pack, the inimitable C. orinocensis, Princess Bloop! Now that they are all cruising around together, it means I am doing two 50% water changes weekly to keep up with all the nitrogen these monsters are making. Can't wait til they're ready for the 300. ----- Silvery oddball:  ----- Bloop cruising ahead of all the others:  ----- Bloop, left and right profiles. I am really happy with the iridescence that's coming in on her tail margin. She's about 7.5 inches now, which is a little less than 1/2 the length and 1/10th the mass that I hope she'll top out at:   ----- Peacock bass overwatch! I like how they will circle the wagons and make sure every angle is being watched while they're chilling out.  ----- Bonus shot of Clarkson, the JAAAAAG, with Butterscotch, the severum I saved from advanced hole in the head, in the back. I might be going down the terrifying road of breeding her, I currently have a male jaguar cichlid in quarantine right now. I'll keep you guys posted so you can point and laugh when things go horribly awry.  -----
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Jul 20, 2013 19:09
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Cowslips, re: peacock bass and entertainment: they tend to not be destructive like a lot of other bruiser type SA cichlids. No digging, redecorating, etc. I do occasionally spoil them with television intended for toddlers -- they really enjoy the bright colors and moving objects, they will all cruise over to the laptop and just stare raptly for a good 20-30 minutes at a time. Also, I'm so excited! Those of you familiar with the previous thread may remember Clarkson, the JAAAAGuar cichlid. She's currently about 8" long based on my best guess comparing her to my hand (I have lady hands which are about 7"). I usually don't stress my fish out by measuring, but I know people tend to overestimate because of image distortion from glass or acrylic. For those of you unfamiliar, here's a reminder:  I've had her for nearly a year and a half now, and have occasionally entertained the idea of breeding her, but the adage that you 'have either a show jaguar or a breeding jaguar' turned me off for the longest time. I eventually concluded that the aggression and shitbeating that jags give each other (most breeders advise that the fish mate through a divider!!!)  was probably the result of 1.) difference in size, since the males of most pairs I have ever seen photographed usually have a good 2" on the females, and 2.) being crammed together in a tank space really only appropriate for a single fish of their kind. After observing the behaviors of fish that I have in my CA/SA community tank, I've concluded that a lot of it really does have to do with the combination of size and space. The oscar is probably the longest and most massive at 12", and everyone else in the tank (gold severum, male Mayan, male jack dempsey, male green terror, johanna pike cichlid, Clarkson) ranged between 8-10" and have plenty of room in the 300 gallon. With that in mind, I felt more confident about proceeding with the project. I found Jaeger at a LFS. He's about the same length as Clarkson, but leaner. After he came out of quarantine, Clarkson was in looooooooooooove.  He returned interest, and they began courting. It was no where near as violent as I've seen recorded. Lots of head-shaking, posturing, and as things got more serious, a few SHORT lip-locks. Perhaps there's a reporting bias in jaguar cichlid husbandry!!! They starting working together as a unit to clear out one half of the tank for themselves.Here's Jaeger reminding Sloth (the oscar) that the back corner is OFF LIMITS!!!  This past weekend, the sneaky bastards laid their eggs on the background (a few infertile ones turned white from fungus). Here, have a horrible picture!!! Jaeger glares at the camera while Clarkson keeps bulldozing the sand around their nesting spot.  Anddddd a second, slightly less awful shot.  This evening, I looked around the side of the tank, and could see the bottom of the tank writhing!!! The clutch has hatched! There are sooooo many of the little guys! Jaeger and Clarkson are herding them to keep them in their nest -- which is damned impossible to photograph because there's not enough room to squeeze between the wall and the tank on that side. I've already set up a 20 gallon with filtration media from one of my other established tanks, and a half and half mix of water from the 300 gallon and fresh. Still need to get some baby brine shrimp going, and add sponge around the filter intake to keep them from being sucked to their doom. About a week after hatching, the parents start cannibalizing! If these fellows survive the transition from yolk sac to eating foods, they will be old enough for the big semi-annual auction our aquarium club has.
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Aug 7, 2013 03:06
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The fry are free-swimming! There's... so many! @_@ My first attempt to feed them went okay. Parents were wary of the pipette, but I definitely need to invest in a second turkey baster for the house. A few of the fry have already blundered into the lair/mouth of the pike cichlid, but there's plenty more where those came from. I may move them to that 30 gallon this weekend if too many more get snatched up. Have some more pics!  
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Aug 10, 2013 16:04
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Eifert Posting posted:Guess who's rocking a Fluval 106? This guy. Fluval makes wonderful canister filters, I have two of their FX5s on my show tank. Did you get yours new? The packaging and engineering is really nice! They have installation DVDs, haha. My own jaguar cichlid brood has shrunk considerably, either from them swimming into the mouths of otherwise nearly stationary tankmates, or wasting away from not learning to eat the foods I offered them. The current progeny are much larger, and you can see details like their horizontal stripe and orange eyes! Feeding them is still harrowing, since the parents always see the dropper coming, and they want a piece of my fingers! A squirt of fry food to their face usually confuses them long enough that I can escape unscathed. Edit to add picture!!! They're actually starting to look like fish now. They're 1 cm long! Fusillade fucked around with this message at 23:26 on Aug 18, 2013 |
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Aug 18, 2013 12:09
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Eifert Posting posted:It was a 106, they are about 400$ cheaper than yours so no DVD included. D'oh! I know that they used to include them with the 105s!!! Edit: Looks like they aren't doing the DVD anymore with the 6 series. Ah well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOzrSfkO-LY Fusillade fucked around with this message at 01:20 on Aug 19, 2013 |
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Aug 19, 2013 01:15
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LingcodKilla posted:My baby angels are all grown up and have finally stopped eating their own eggs! I just noticed the latest egg batch has turned into a wiggly writhing pile of fry! This is going to be a really stressful day until I get back home. Feeding wise, the fry will be fine the first few days as they absorb their yolk sacs. or are you more worried about mom and dad eating them? Time to set up a brine shrimp hatchery or start buying frozen BBS! Looking forward to more pics.
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Aug 20, 2013 23:19
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Shakenbaker posted:We've got more than that! There's breeding populations of peacock bass roaming our waterways and, honestly, probably every common South American cichlid. I've known people who kept convicts in ponds here, because I guess we needed even more roaches... Re: pbass: If you are in Miami or Dade counties in Florida, they're there because F&W pretty much said 'eff it, the native fish populations are screwed already, might as well make some sport fishing tourism revenue off of it'. They are pretty sensitive to cooler waters and salinity, so I don't think they have strayed far from where they were introduced.
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Aug 24, 2013 02:06
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Actually, it might be a pumpkinseed, a type of sunfish. They are North American natives. A lot of the illustrations show the males in orange color breeding dress, but there are blue/purplish color variants. http://www.kidsbiology.com/animals-for-children.php?animal=Pumpkinseed%20Fish
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Aug 24, 2013 03:58
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CaladSigilon posted:I saw this algae eater at the Georgia Aquarium happily working away in one of the river tanks. Unfortunately, since it was a work-fish instead of a display-fish, there was no label to tell me what it is! Not just that fish, trust me. That place is so focused on spectacle and mills through livestock so fast that there is no signage for well over half their critters. If you are in the area (and not just visiting for DragonCon?), make some time for Chattanooga's aquarium.
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Sep 5, 2013 00:44
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Eh, quality of life is vastly better than most of his brethren. Baby jag update: A month old and about 3/4 inches long, with their spots coming in!!! 
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Sep 7, 2013 22:44
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demonR6 posted:Pics or I didn't happen. We'd be better able to diagnose, at least. And Jaeger has turned super protective of his spawn. Bit and drew blood on my husband's hand!
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Sep 9, 2013 00:40
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Desert Bus posted:Does anyone else get a little scared on water change day because you have to put your hands into a tank with a fish that has eaten fish the size of your fingers? I know my Polypterus endlicheri endlicheri sees my fingers and thinks "that looks like food!" I always have to pay attention to where it is when I'm doing stuff in it's tank. My endli is as dumb as a brick. I've never worried about him. Jaeger on the other hand has become really aggro, so I usually distract him by letting him bite on the bottom of the flake food canister that his children eat from. I do have to keep an eye on him at all times, and make motions that are the equivalent of "I am aware of you" when he lurks near. No bites yet. Whale Cancer, I am really sorry about your RD lady!  Large, long-lived fish with personality are really hard to lose. If I had to guess, I would say a combination of columnaris (which actually doesn't respond that well to temperature and salt) and bacterial septicemia as a secondary infection. Do you have nitrate tests to go with your other parameters?
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Sep 22, 2013 00:13
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Most colorimetric tests that I know of use 10, 20, 40, 80, 160, etc as their benchmarks. Water often comes out of the tap at 5-10 ppm, so I'm guessing that you mean it was between 5-10 ppm? I am not inclined to recommend going balls-out to sterilize. It's a good idea to REDUCE the load, certainly, but the bacteria that causes columnaris infection is ubiquitous in most water systems, and will be reintroduced to your tanks at some point. Was the RD full grown when you got her? I know they can live to be a bit over a decade in age, but it seems like these sort of infections only really take down large fish if there is an underlying issue (old age in this case is the only thing I can think of, since you've not had casualties in your time as a keeper).
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Sep 22, 2013 01:45
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Last thing you want to do right now is use antibiotics. If you really do want to clean, do so physically with a 1:1 mix of water/vinegar, and drying out in the sun. It sounds like you are patient, and therefore are willing to let the filter get scoured clean and let the tank cycle all over again - which as you know is a month long process! If you do a full tank teardown, may I recommend black or garnet blasting sand as a possible substrate? I've been yearning to do so with my own tanks but they're never taken down at any point since we've moved into our newish house.
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Sep 22, 2013 02:30
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Desert Bus posted:
Nessie (yes, named after The Loch Ness Monster) has very slowly put on some inches. (S)he's probably closer to 16 inches now. Definitely less interested in fingers, which I think has to do with energy conservation as it relates to both age and size (slower metabolism). I also generally have almost three feet of water between myself and him(her?) most of the time I'm in the tank. However, everyone once in a while (s)he comes near the surface, and I can stroke the thing with absolutely no fear of my fingers. I really really don't even know if the fish knows I'm there.  and then pettings (sorry for poor quality, wasn't looking while shooting). For scale, my fingers are in focus with the start of the bichir's first few flagfins in shadow from my fingers. Seriously, look those eyes. NOTHING is going on in there.   In other news, I have acquired some Ameca splendens! These little livebearers are sometimes called butterfly splitfins, because the males have a noticeable notch in their anal fins which contains a pseudophallus. These are remarkable in the hobby because, aside from a few stragglers in a concrete pool at an abandoned Mexican water park, they are extinct in the wild. The OTHER neat thing about them is that they take livebearing to the next level -- the fry actually develop a fan of membranes equivalent to an umbilical (called a trophotaneia for those interested)that absorb nutrients from mum while they are inside! They do not store sperm, and must be impregnated each time. I am actually surprised at how attractive they are, they have a blue sheen to their nacreous scales! Here's a male:  And a female, who is engaging in a neat little behavior of livebearers that involves scouting out predators. A group of three to four will come out of cover to investigate, each taking turns in the lead. What is even more remarkable about this is that they will REMEMBER individuals that do or do not 'cheat' by hanging back more often then others, and then recall that behavior when selecting partners for future scouting parties! I read this in an article titled "Machiavellian Intelligence in Fishes". Clever girl... 
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Oct 7, 2013 01:14
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Cowslips Warren posted:Wow, these guys are staples in my killifish club....they are so widespread that people can't give them away. Considering their status in the wild, I'm actually happy to hear this! Dagger, I purchased them through a group order from our local club, which means that I paid scandalous (read, retail) prices for them from Cowslip's pov. My local group, AAAA, will be having the big semi-annual auction next weekend! Anyone in the Georgia, western SC, or eastern AL might want to go check it out. not sure if wekre allowed to link directly, so just do a search for 'atlanta aquarium'
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Oct 7, 2013 20:40
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I'd put some sort of ground cover in the breeding box, that thing will be a deathtrap for the fry overnight!! Mom's hungry and wants those nutrients back!
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Oct 15, 2013 00:36
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The tank horror sounds like a pH crash. Sorry about being short, since I typing this from a phone, but do a search for the term "old tank syndrome". I actually had this happen to my planted tank. An elderly roseline barb kicked off one evening, and literally overnight my jewel-like tank had turned cloudy. The water is soft, so it has very little buffering capacity, and that fish was enough to tip off into a crash. I wound up losing all 5 of my lemon tetra and a second roseline before getting settled. That cloudy water is a bacterial bloom of not-so-friendly species. That white edge you're seeing was also on my fish, which is an opportunistic infection from those same bacteria! The red streaks and blotches you described is septicemia (internal organ or blood infection) from bacteria as well. Mine resolved with a large water change, addition of salt, and some baking soda to increase the pH and add calcium-based buffering capacity to stabilize the critters. In my case, I also ran an in-tank UV filter to clear the bacterial bloom without whacking out the water parameters and not hurting the beneficial bacteria (these tend to be attached to surfaces). Took about 3 days to notice improvements and halt fish deaths. :< We get too comfortable and our critters suffer for it!
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Oct 17, 2013 23:46
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Xun posted:I'm really digging lacrosse's tanks in the OP, anyone know what's in it? I can't comment on the specific inverts, fish, and plants in them, but that style of maintaining a planted aquarium in a (typically) small volume where the plants and critters balance each other is often called a Walstad aquarium. Also, envy on the cheap driftwood! Even used pieces will prompt bidding wars at aquarium auctions here, since so many people are into dwarf SA cichlids. I actually picked up a female green (wild-type) severum lady. She and Butterscotch are friendly, but she'll need a few more weeks of conditioning before we can expect any romance. Eye candy: Got an 8" plate or pie pan lying around? Butterscotch would just BARELY fit on it! The not-so-lil lady is camping out behind him.  Fusillade fucked around with this message at 00:54 on Oct 27, 2013 |
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Oct 26, 2013 17:54
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Tiny tragedy, my goodeids dropped a stillborn fry. Water needs hardening and increased pH. Water temps could stand to be a bit higher, too. The adults were and still are so perky that I made the mistake of thinking the water parameters were fine.
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Oct 30, 2013 01:49
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Whale Cancer posted:Anyone here have experience with dwarf pike? I just ordered two Crenicichla Regani from Jeff Rapps. I'm pretty excited. I have experience with larger pike like saxatalis and johanna. Be ready to separate them if one decides that it doesn't like the other. My dominant female saxatalis pike literally ate the scalp off the smaller one (a male). Also, they are predators, so things the size of lemon tetras will start disappearing as well. The johanna was a solo, and did fine with similarly sized cichlids. They have a TON of personality though, so I am excited to see how they turn out. I sold off the dominant female, and miss her, but her new owner actually successfully bred her with a male that she decided she didn't hate, so I can't be too sad.
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Nov 10, 2013 22:46
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Boo hoo, our green terror (well, more like a gold saum, Aequidens rivulatus) Nick Fury is dead. He was already old and gnarly when we first got him, blind in one eye (hence the name). A combination of even older age and a cooking aquarium after our female jag tossed the temperature probe out of the water (AGAIN). drat lady, stop redecorating. I will miss him being territorial over his favorite rock. I am happy that I was able to give him a rocking home and get him to grow to even more BEASTLY proportion, but still, boo hoo.  PS: The talk of freshwater bristleworms is neat.
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Nov 24, 2013 00:36
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JuffoWup posted:I picked up two to hold the giant temp probe that came with my apex. It feels like there is a higher chance of me pulling the cord out of the probe than moving it otherwise. I am bummed about it too! It's (partly) preventable and I generally have much better husbandry practices. I will look into these particular suction cups though since it seems they're a bit different from what I normally use -- how thick is the glass/acrylic that you're using them on? I'm going to need magnets that work through 3/4" of acrylic -- so I'll see if 'industrial strength' will cut it. I've tried a LOT of things -- multiple suction cups, lashing the control box for the temp probe to the top of the tank, etc. Everyone else is ticking along great in the tanks otherwise!
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Nov 24, 2013 15:03
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Not in this particular case, no. The aquarium is plumbed with two corner overflows. Which suddenly makes me  because I realize the overflows are sequestered from  jaguar cichlids. Oh god, AFK. Why haven't I thought of this beforrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrre?!
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Nov 26, 2013 00:34
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Eifert Posting posted:I hear Jaguar Cichlids are tasty. They are! I have not tried it myself, but I do know that guapotes are regularly fished and eaten in their native waters. Peacock bass are also very popular sport and food fish in the Amazon. I actually never got on the convict train, haha. If I wanted live feeders, I suppose they'd be useful, but I vastly prefer having at least two good quality staple prepared foods for my fish.
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Nov 29, 2013 04:11
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Bummer about the bichirs, Desert Bus! Fish clubs seem to have certain types of fish coming out of the members' ears. I think Cowslips mentioned that Ameca splendens show up pretty commonly in her neck of the woods. Here in the southeastern US, we have pretty soft water which is very friendly to South American and riverine African fish. One of those species are kribs (Pelvicachromis pulcher). Just figured I'd toss up a photo of one of the bonded pairs that I acquired to the tune of $1 per fish.  I also received some macro lenses for Christmas, so I too will be playing around with lighting and closeup photography. I'll post up any particularly nice shots that I come up with.
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Dec 29, 2013 19:29
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Slugworth posted:Big tank people - Tank placement. How big of a tank are you willing to put on a non-slab floor? My local LFS says they install up to 210s without worrying about reinforcement, but that seems outrageous to me. Internet wisdom suggests you start worrying at about 100 gallons. The more anecdotal evidence I can get, the better I will sleep at night. I'd also say that you're fine with up to 120, and yes the weight is going to vary depending on whether the tank is situated against a load-bearing wall or not. I am currently in the process of BABBY FORMING, so I have consolidated my smaller tanks into a 30 gallon and 55 gallon to minimize bucket slogging. The 300 gallon with its brutes still remains the easiest to maintain, since water changes are managed by hose. In the interest of space, that means my jaguar pair have been reunited , but the peacock bass have gotten large enough that they are willing to whip around and make the male think twice about pushing them around.
Fusillade fucked around with this message at 16:30 on Jan 4, 2014 |
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Jan 4, 2014 14:32
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Dantu posted:So yesterday I noticed my Firemouth was not looking his usual self and actually appeared to be partially paralyzed (from the "waist" down, if that makes sense). So I tested the water and my ammonia was .5 mg/L and Nitrate was 20 mg/L. I immediately did a 30% water change. Spread out over the rest of last night I did 2 more 10% water changes. This morning ammonia was down to .15 but nitrate was holding steady at 20 and may have actually gone up a little. So this morning I did another 10% changed my carbon out for Fluval Zero-Carb and picked up some Seachem Prime which I triple-dosed. Your water parameters are still pretty good. Curious about what may have made that tiny ammonia 'spike' but a lot of commercial kits will give false readings of up to 0.25, and depending on your water source, nitrates may already be 10-20 ppm out of the tap. The nitrates are not too outrageous for the type of fish you have. I personally am not convinced his condition is related to water quality. Does he have any other tank mates? Unrelated: I'm a fool for peacock bass, picked up a sickly baby for $8 for some TLC. Maybe one day I'll save up and actually get some NICE ones. :V
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Feb 17, 2014 22:15
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 Orson Welles, the striped raphael that's part of the cleanup crew for my 300 gallon pbass tank, tied for 3rd place today in an open-category bowl show hosted by our local aquarium society! I measured him while transferring him, and he is about 9.5 inches total length (TL). I'd say about 8 inches standard length (SL). These are, for reference, the little dark brown armored cats with cream lengthwise stripes that you normally see at 2-3 inches long in pet stores, which puts him pretty soundly in the 'I didn't realize they got that big' category for a lot of folks in my club. Some even mistook him for a baby redtail cat!  For that sick goldfish, you may also want to add some epsom salts (magnesium sulfate) to the tank at about 1 tablespoon for 5 gallons to draw off some of the fluid from bloating. It won't cure it, but it will help your other treatments work better. Fingers crossed for you!
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Apr 6, 2014 02:10
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Desert Bus posted:Please say you got pictures. I do have pics of the other show entrants too, but I suspect you're interested in Orson. This isn't the best pic, but the others do not have him in scale with anything. I showed him in a standard 5 gallon tank (I will do a 10 next time!!!), which is 8" wide by 16" long. You can see the other edge of the tank on the bottom of the photo. I didn't photograph him with a tape measure, so "noticeably longer than 8 inches" will have to do for his official size. 
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Apr 9, 2014 15:44
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Wolfgang Müller posted:Been looking on some sites trying to find out for sure what kind of pleco/algae eater we've had for several months. He's currently in a 55g with tetras, mollies, platies, etc. Even better, you actually have a Synodontis eupteris -- called the featherfin catfish or the featherfin squeaker. They are good cleanup crew, but really aren't algae eaters. The largest they'll get in a 55 will be like... 8 inches tops. He definitely will be fine with the severum, although I'd be a little concerned about any baby juvenile crayfish. What species of loach are you thinking of? I'm asking because severums themselves can get the size of a small dinner plate, I would worry about the space and livestock combo.
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Apr 15, 2014 03:45
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I have kept a severum and a jack dempsey together before with other Central and South American cichlids. Both do fine provided they are the same size. Out of the two, severums are more interesting, and have a pretty gentle personality. They will holdtheir own without usually starting anything, once again with fish their own size. I agree that the one would be a centerpiece of a 55, but they would wind up bullying anything they are much larger than - like dwarf cichlids. Re: ich and filtration, the main reason they ask you to remove carbon is because it will absorb the active ingredients formalin and malachite green, which also can affect your beneficial bacteria) If your fish can take the temperatures, i would suggest just treating the tank with heat (85*F) for two weeks to speed up the parasites' life cycle (it also will eventually kill them), while running an in-tank UV filter in combination with 1/2 daily water changes to remove the free-swimming ich parasites.
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Apr 16, 2014 10:14
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Bizarre recovery -- I admit that I would have said put him down, too. Wonder if it was a swim bladder injury, although that wouldn't explain the tail muscle paralysis. Bass update: I have had Princess Bloop for a year and a half now, and she's finally reached 11". She's killing me with how slowly she grows. I expect her to top out somewhere between 15"-18". Here she is swanning around the tank.  Her companion, Stripey, is a bizarre hybrid of what I think are three different species of Cichla. The side splotches are from C. monoculus, the extra stripes and pale body (compared to Bloop) are from C. piquiti, and the snakeskin border around those stripes are possibly from C. kelberi. He's growing faster than she is, and I expect him to finish out at about two feet, thanks to his azul (Cichla piquiti) parentage. 
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Apr 24, 2014 18:07
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A very lightly stocked, overfiltered 300 gallon. There's 8 adult fish in there. A breeding pair of jaguars (I really don't count their regularly appearing swarms of fry as biomass), the two juvie pbass, two adult severums. The cleanup crew consist of a saddleback bichir and a very prosperous striped raphael. I run an in-tank UV filter, and have two Fluval FX5s attached with just bioballs inside (ideally, one would be a wet/dry sump, but I really don't feel like fiddling with the plumbing while also wrangling a newborn. Ideally, I do a 50% water change every week, but I do skip on occasion. Different species of peacock bass get to different adult sizes. You could house a trio of one of the smaller species (orino, kelberi) for life in a 180 gallon. The largest species (temensis, pinima) get up to three feet long and really shouldn't be kept in anything less than 450 gallon.
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Apr 25, 2014 00:03
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I recommend Tricaine if you want to send your beasts off in style. It also doesn't have solubility problems like clove oil. It's essentially morphine for fish. The times I have had to use it, I mixed it up in a 1 to 2 gallon batch (I deal with pretty large fish). 1/32 teaspoon per gallon to sedate, then 1/4 teaspoon per gallon to euthanize. There's also mg/L tables in the material information sheet that is included. They're high as a kite, and about the best send-off I can think of. 5 grams will last a while. Sorry about your swordtail. They are fun lil' fish, always very active in the water column. I actually got a batch of them yesterday, females were dropping babies right in the bag!e: just read that page for oscars. An HOUR? Eeesh! I realize a lot of that time is spent watching for gill movement (15 minutes of nothing is generally considered dead). I used the goldfish/carp dosing tables when I had to bid Sloth (an oscar) adieu. Fusillade fucked around with this message at 03:44 on May 5, 2014 |
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May 5, 2014 03:41
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JuffoWup posted:So I picked up a new test kit just to make sure the old one wasn't making false info, and sure enough, it wasn't. For your nitrate test kit, make sure you are inverting the reagent bottles and shaking the everliving poo poo out of them before adding the drops - I'm talking borderline tennis elbow business here. They will give false negative readings with no or gentle shaking. Also, hello shrimp!
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May 8, 2014 18:46
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Powder coated metal stand at DrsFosterAndSmith.com?
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May 21, 2014 22:30
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| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 14:59 |
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Welcome to the thread! You may want to look at craigslist for used setups -- generally 3 to 5 dollars per gallon is a good bargain for heater, filter, light, tank, decor. Buying new won't come cheaply, and you can easily get up to 10 bux a gallon for the whole setup. how far away a drive is Atlanta for you, by the way?
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Jun 15, 2014 00:37
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