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Now I know why my Sam's Club never has any peroxide on the shelf.

So of course after reading this, I had to try the hydrogen peroxide method! That's what I really like about the co op's forum, I learn so much! A lot of times it's one of those, ' Now why didn't I think of that?'

When I vacuum tanks every fish comes running. I think they see the food going up the tube and get excited, some even peck at the siphon tube. I keep my finger in tube pinch position to stop the flow repeatedly to let them out. If I’m moving something or working in the tank they are non stop “under foot” and it feels like I have hundreds of fish in the tank. They become a nuisance However when I want to net them there is not a fish to be found in the tank because they hide. Maybe I should set the net in the tank during maintenance and buy a siphon shaped net 🤪

Not sure if this has been asked before. Simple question: What is the most annoying thing your fish do? Ok, I'll start. The most annoying thing my fish do is scramble to hide under the filter as I put it back into the tank after rinsing it out. I have to try to place it back into the tank multiple times so I don't crush any of the silly fishies. But, inevitably, every now than then, when I go to rinse the filter again, I find someone completely pancaked dead underneath! This happens the most in my grow out tanks. Sooooo annoying!

Hey guys, I wonder if anyone keeps any sort of cleanup crew like small pest snails in their breeder box/container for uneaten foods while raising fry? My ram fry are at bbs stage right now. My ph is 5.5 so its pretty low (which helps with potential ammonium instead of ammonia I believe) and I keep up with multiple water changes a day but no matter what there is always a bit of uneaten food left on the bottom. And of course, deaths happen. So maybe one or two pest snails would be nice to clean up all of these until I notice or better to say, assist me between water changes What do you think? It is way too easy to overfeed live bbs to such small fry. I considered shrimp but they might be a bit harsh on the fry as they are tiny and may kill them especially during night time. They love to get their hands on everything. Does it make any sense to use one or two pest snails in the container? What do you think? @Fish Folk @jwcarlson @tolstoy21 and anyone else who would like to share some experience

thanks for the mention @DaveO. @DanielBlub i like to use a floating ring like you have in a bigger tank to keep the water quality up between water changes, I use polyfilter cubes, that change color based off of what they absorb, to see how the water is doing daily. I dont think I can feed enough paramecium to grow large numbers of spotted congo fry past 5 days but i do think I can make enough infusoria and paramecium to feed them for the firat 14 days. I feed the baby puffers paranecium 2-3 times a day and feed infusoria at the same time. That seems to keep the food around the puffer fry longer especially if my light source is somewhat concentrated on the sides of the ring. I squeeze out a sponge filter from the adult puffer tank into a glass jar to start my infusoria culture. Grindal worms have also been helpful i culture those on scrubber pads and dog kibble. I feed the larger fry whiteworms i also grow on scrubber pads and kibble.

I add 2x Ramshorn Snails after fry are free-swimming. I use flow-through floating fry containers, so water changes are unnecessary…

Get all snooty about food - "Oh, these uber fresh flakes just aren't what I'm in the mood for this morning, bleh (spits out)"

Funny, it never crossed my mind to order it online. 🙂

Look like a bad case of hole in the head some debate as to what causes hole in the head supposedly link between active carbon it can cause fish to stop eating try using garlic guard or entice that @nabokovfan87 suggested to get him to eat and do a course of metroplex in food feeding a small amount twice a day for a minimum of three weeks if he's not eating I would dose the tank with metronidazole that's the active ingredient in metroplex if you don't have live plants I would add some aquarium salt 1 table spoon for 3 gallons that will aid Gill function and add essential electrolytes and add an extra air stone during treatment @Becky S.

Water temps apply to some documented species. It definitely applies to many apisto species. I'd also like to play with this and Odessa Barbs, as I'd like to get mostly males from a spawn. I was exchanging emails with Greg Sage a while back and he mentioned someone he knew who was breeding his line of barbs and was having very consistent male-heavy spawns. Greg didn't know what the contributing factor was, but it seems to me that something environmental must have been influencing things for that person (temp/ph/hardness?). For many apisto species temp has the largest influence on sex determination. Lower temps = more females. Higher temps = more males. Ph is also a factor, but not as influential as temp. Lower ph tips the scales towards males, higher ph towards females. Each species of apistogramma is affected to this in different degrees, but the trend appears the same across species. The influence happens in the first month or so of life, not at birth, and it diminishes as time goes by. Not sure how much a fan blowing on the top of a tank will lower the water temp, but I just liked the idea of being able to dial in temps (both highs and lows). And I also like making and tinkering with things as a way of learning new concepts, hence the project. Also, right now, my apisto spawns either come out almost all male or almost all female, and it's driving me nuts. So I'm looking to do some experiments and see if I can even out the ratio, or guarantee all males vs all females (mostly) in a given spawn.

Dont fix what aint broke. Dont let a color on a test strip mske you mess with a tank that has been doing well for so long.

Hello. Yesterday I adopted an older Oscar from a local store. He had been donated to the store 1 month ago. The mate had since died at the store shortly after they were dropped off there. He has been treated for significant head trauma or disease, and the staff said he actually looks better now 😞. There at the store (and here) he just sits at the bottom of the tank and won't eat. He currently has a 55 gallon tank to himself. I really want to get another large Oscar to encourage him to move abt but these damn fish are so unpredictable. I've sat near the tank and try to engage him and I even play fish videos for him and nothin. Thoughts?

Ok, so this is still in the experimental stage, so it's still a gangly bit of wires. But the below is what I have so far in terms of putting together a DIY aquarium chiller (many thanks to the internet/youtube for help!) I have been wanting to experiment with dropping temps a tad after some of my fish spawn in order to influence sex rations. I heat my fish room, so, while can drop a heater into a tank to boost temps, I cannot do the same to lower temps a few degrees. This is where the chiller comes in. The setup uses a water chiller (basically a small copper block water cycles through) stacked on top of a peltier module. Functionally, the peltier module gets very hot on its bottom side and, in affect, pulls heat from it's top side. This heat is dissipated via the module sitting atop a CPU heatsink with CPU fans running. The whole apparatus is wired to an AC to DC converting power supply, and this is wired into an inkbird. When the temperatures rise above the desired target temp, the inkbird powers on the peltiier module, the cooling fans kick in, and the water pump starts cycling water through the chiller. So far, I have just been testing with a 5 gallon bucket. I can drop and hold that fifteen degrees lower that room temp (going to try to go lower soon), but in reality all I need to do is drop a 20 gallon tank by 2 - 5 degrees Fahrenheit. There are a few walk throughs on how to build these on YouTube, if anyone is interested. For now, here is my monstrosity! My next task is to make a small enclosure for it (most likely from a small tote) and tidy up the wires and conceal them in a small gang box. Anyway, thanks for reading / looking!

They are unbelievably active…

Nevermind, figured it out. I had airlines running open, hanging outside tanks, hidden from view. However, this seems to suggest to me that I'm reaching the limit in terms of how many air drops I can do with my air pump.

Very cool fish! There is nothing so special in this hobby as catching the fish yourself and then raising them up to eventually rear fry from them. These fish look amazing and remind me of the Sawbwa rasbora; I had no idea until just now that such a fish like that existed in the United states! I wish you both the best of luck with them and a nice documentation of your journeys thus far.

Now let's talk about something that's not quite as pleasant which are some of the setbacks we encounter in this hobby. Here is my first update of the aquarium rack since construction. You can see in the photo below that the 20 gallon long aquarium once it is drained approximately halfway is very easily supported by the long arm cabinet drawer slides without any issue. I love this design even though it is fairly difficult to construct as it allows for excellent access to the aquarium when I need to manipulate things inside. This update pertains to the crypt pink panthers that I've always been so proud of. You can see from previous pictures earlier in this blog that I had excellent success growing them in little dixie cups that had a soil mixture capped with sand. I have tried to replicate that here in hopes of creating a lush crypt garden for the baby fry to grow up in. Unfortunately, for some unknown reason they all seem to be small and stunted. I am not sure if it is a nutrient deficiency or a light deficiency but the plants in my opinion have ample amounts of both. I think unfortunately time will just tell to see if this will correct itself or if these plants will eventually whittle away and I need to figure out something else. It is important though to talk about these not so good updates when things are not going well because it makes us reflect about what is occurring in our systems and what we could do better for next time. Given my previous success with this system I am suspicious that the plants themselves did not have sufficient nutrients in the sand layer in order to build robust root systems or the water column did not have enough nutrients for them to do similarly.

I don’t have my Clown Loaches anymore, but sometimes I’d swear they were dead! Being upside down in the tank not moving just to wake them up and they’d go swimming off. God, I miss my Clown Loaches! My 2nd most annoying thing is not directly fish related, but my cat likes to drink out of the top of my open lid 40 breeder. She will stick her arms deep in the tank and lick the water off her arms while propped up on the rim. She drips water everywhere and she will toss floating plants onto the floor!

Took it with this cheapo $5 thingy: I think it is like 4x but the part circled in blue is higher mag - either 6 or 8x - it isn't that great. I have a $200 20 year old high quality loop sitting in a box somewhere from my photography days; well $200 20 years ago - that thing is optically fantastic with extreme clarity. Probably should re-purpose it after all i dont' even have an analog camera any longer (it was mostly used to examine minor details in slides and negatives and to need very low distortion to enable detection of lens flaws.

Exactly as @Colu has recommended. If he’s not eating, dose the Metroplex in the water. If you can get him to eat, dose in the food. Also make sure he’s getting enough vitamin C since there is some evidence it may play a part. It’s not certain how much of a part that plays or even confirmed if that’s real or a bit of a myth. But the vitamin C won’t hurt as long as you don’t go crazy with it. Most fish foods will have enough if they have some vegetable content (not grain, but veggies or even algae like spirulina has it).

I have no fish yet thank goodness. I’m concerned about the BB if I do a substantial water change. I will add some aeration though.

I always have problems with breeder boxes getting to gross and gunky and then fry dying, so I try not to use them when I can. I do use the Ziss breeder boxes from time to time, but I make sure to clean them before I lose fry.

I wouldn't necessarily want them in there with eggs, but I think once they're fry it's probably fine. I wouldn't rely on snails keeping the fry raising container clean, though. I was doing daily water changes and bottom cleaning, but I still lost the battle (due to overfeeding, I think). I would be tempted to see how well nerites did, though. Those things seem to clean like crazy. But not sure if just that residual would be enough for them. I will say, though, that your water probably gives you more leeway compared to my high pH. Do you have pictures of your ram fry? I'm thinking of getting some Rams hoping they're easier than Apistos that I'm failing at.

Yes! I always do add a couple snails with Rams.

😬😬😬. Life has been wild as we opened a new restaurant to the public on Friday. I noticed dad was sitting on a clutch of eggs, but I figured he’d kick them like last time or I’d pull the clutch on maintenance day. Put my phone flashlight in the cave today to reveal a bunch of little fry. Uh oh 😬😬😬

I swear my guppies life purpose is to swim directly into my siphon whenever I do water changes. Ive had to save like 20 or more that have gotten sucked up and ended up in my sink.

Upgraded the GBR babies to a half full grow out today.

I’m am in no way an expert I’m still new to Apisto. When my girls roll to the side like that it means no go away. Whether it’s in guarding fry or I’m not interested in lovey dovey stuff. When my caucatoides and borellii girls are ready there is no side roll it’s all fluffy fins and body rubs. The trifasciatus are to young and I see the girls do that exact thing. If they were my fish I would interpret that scene as not tonight honey I have a headache. And him shrugging and going out to watch football instead. 🤷‍♀️ When mine interact like that I never seen spawning. Taking away her little cave he cannot get in may have taken away her ability to completely get away from him so he did not want to take no for an answer or tried driving her out for a girl who is ready like you suggested.

I'll be curious to know how long your peltier module lasts. They are the technology that heated/cooled the old Reptipro incubators (RIP to that company, as they were great incubators and I think went out of business in large part to wildly inexpensive knock offs that suck). My original Reptipro unit worked well for years for anything from chicken eggs to queen bee cells to liquifying honey and even as a dough proofing machine. Eventually the peltier went out and tore apart the unit to figure out what the problem was, ordered another unit and that one only lasted like two uses. Hopefully yours run more on the longer life end! Very good idea, though, they're very cool little modules and I was shocked (or... burned rather) by how quickly the heat up! Forgot to add that I use quite a few of those Inkbird modules as well, they're really great units!

I always use it straight. I figure it’s designed to clean wounds and such already diluted to the 3% solution it bought as so that is how I use it.

Pretend like they are starving to death and desperate for food during all waking hours (even when they were just fed).

@Fish Folk Doing some investigating last night and found out that the heat output/cooling potential of a peltier module is determined by the current (wattage) its rated for. So more wattage into the peltier = colder water. I'll be upgrading my current chip to one that draws more current this week and then will run some more tests. There seems to be a few ways for me to increase the potential of the chips without replacing any existing hardware (other than the chip itself). However, at some point I may hit a limit of what my current power supply can push as well as what my heat sink can effectively cool. My guess (very uneducated guess) is that, for our application, I should not hit that point. I did intentionally oversize my power supply to give myself some headroom. In the end, I'll get you that 10 degrees reduction even if I have to electrocute myself or burn down my house in the process! 🙂

Thank you all so much for your advice! Much appreciated!!

when they poop in the water!!🙈

When weighing options, I always try to account for hidden costs or assumptions. Here, the question is whether to clean and reuse, or discard and replace. For myself, when I have to clean out tubes, airstones, contaminated/filthy filters, and whatnot, I collect and gather a bunch of things that need it over time. Then I put it all in a bucket, add enough water to cover it, add 5% bleach by volume, and put in a small circulation pump. If part of what I'm cleaning is a hose or tube, I'll connect that to the pump so the bleach flows through it. A few hours is all it takes but I usually give it 24 hrs for convenience. When done, I 3x rinse, then refill the bucket with hot water, add a boat-load of dechlor, and let it run for another 24hrs. I wouldn't do this for a single tube or stone, but for a bunch of items it's worth it. What's the hidden cost? Where does that bleach go when I dump the bucket? Down the drain? What is the environmental cost of producing that bleach (or peroxide)? I mean realistically, I have to assume that our waste water system can handle a small amount of bleach without issues. And to be honest pouring a bit down the drain every now and then probably isn't a terrible maintenance practice (keep things clean and running smooth). So I'm not saying don't do it, I'm saying try to be aware of the costs and benefits. Using a new piece of tubing is somewhat wasteful. But what's the end-to-end cost of that waste, from producer to use to disposal? It's got to be pretty minimal. All this being said, I think that the ethics and preferences of the individual are more relevant than the financial accounting, on matters this small.

You might try your bendy wire with some pipe cleaners sold with the tobacco products at your local grocery.

Interesting debate, I didnt know we have expensive equipment, maybe it depends on what and where. I do buy a lot of things secondhand and at fish fairs, which are usually lower prices than the online stores (also no shipping, but entry fee and driving so...) I checked and my airline hose is around 0,56 USD per meter. It is not the point of price with me, but reusability, I try to not waste things if I can help it, I water plants on water change days of my fish tank so I could reuse the water, I let my water out to outside storage that collects rain water and I use it to water lawn and plants in the spring-autumn, and I suspect it leaks back under ground so I dont feel like I am wasting it, I like buying things from people who do not need them ( got a 2213 eheim for like 9 euro and I am not using it but I couldnt pass that up! :D), I almost do not buy aquarium plants anymore, cause we just swap with other keepers here and hey, no plant meltdown either, since it is used to the city water and is not farmed out. We do have incredibly cheap fish in my opinion, sometimes if I listen to Cory talk on his channel and compare. My most expensive fish was a sewellia, 8,5USD per fish, but bolivian rams (or other rams) will go for around 1 USD, one luminatus or pygmy corydoras would cost me 1,7 USD, neon tetras will be around 1USD too (but their genetic makeup lately is weak weak weak)

I use mild bleach solution, rinse 3x in tap water, then I run dechlorinated water through it. Dechlorinator ensures any remaining chlorine from the bleach is eliminated.

Small light is a little better. I can light one corner of the tank, and whoever is comfortable with it can swim under it. Some are ok with it. And someone is not sure. A few minutes later: ”Hmm.. maybe this is ok?”

I do this as well with airline tubes in egg hatch tanks. Hydrogen peroxide here is inexpensive so I set a cup of peroxide on the counter and siphon a bit through to get it in the tube and then drop the tube in the cup. I let it set 5 minutes or so then rinse. I hang the airline so any moisture can drip out, it keeps weirdness from growing in the tube.

My blanket recommendation is going to be George Farmer's Aquascaping: A Step-by-Step Guide to Planting, Styling, and Maintaining Beautiful Aquariums for the photos alone. It's also likely the most accessible out of my recommendations. The next book that's moderately accessible and I would recommend is The Ocean at Home: An Illustrated History of the Aquarium by Bernd Brunner. It took what I initially knew of the hobby's history in England to the hobby's history in the world. If you are interested in the history of fish in general, I highly suggest The Rise of Fishes: 500 Million Years of Evolution by John Long and Discovering Fossil Fishes by John Maisey. I'm hugely sentimental to books on prehistoric life from the 90s and these are my two favorites on fish. A book on modern fish that I found very interesting was Fish Locomotion: An Eco-ethological Perspective by Paolo Domenici. They aren't the most accessible of books but they're amazing for learning about how far the nature in our homes has come as well as what's going on on the inside. There's another book (I believe in German??) that was a phenomenal reference for fish disease but the name isn't coming to me at the moment and I unfortunately do not own it. Of the books that are more difficult to get, you may be able to find some on thrift book sites or from libraries. I know the university that is near me has Domenici's book as that is how I had access to it.

Thank you! Any thoughts on how to get him to eat??

- Containers (any and all that fit in a stocking) I am a container hoarder. - 5ml(ish) syringe. I get them at tractor supply. Great for water testing to get the correct amount every time. And for starting a vacuum to drip acclimate or do micro water changes on 3 gallon and under tanks (jars for me). - Plastic canvas. I use it like micro egg crate. Dividers, tops, intake covers etc.

The most annoying thing my fish do is managing my Flowerhorns aggression while doing water changes/maintenance. I’ve been bitten and he has drawn blood. This was when he was only 4” or so, now he’s creeping up on 7” and it’s becoming increasingly more difficult. Still my favorite fish and wouldn’t trade him for the world, but it’s irritating to say the least.

Its strange that my favorite fish are also the most annoying. The Red Tailed Tinfoil Barb shares the most annoying trait with the SDs: The will seek out and eat anything vegetable. This includes dragging a brand new Vallisneria through the fence and eating the whole plant. On the bright side, they will eat some BBA, and are also fond of bladder snails.

Try a spawning trap. @Lowells Fish Lab did a video about breeding ember where the method could be scaled (ha!) up.