Chick-In-Of-TheSea
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Posts posted by Chick-In-Of-TheSea
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On 11/12/2023 at 10:44 PM, nabokovfan87 said:
Ah, I was just asking about the way the flake is when you drop it in. Frozen brine works for a lot of bottom feeders because it acts like flake food for me and they eat that. Apart from the taste and why they like it. Even the corydoras go for that over the other stuff slightly easier. When I feed it though, I have to turn off the filter for ~30 mins.
The behavior is cool. The traits I like is that he is watching you and doing the "this is where I am going to be, please don't come in my forest" thing. I also like to see the in-place, fanning the fins and being a bit excited. I'm not sure how to word it, but it's that classic ram behavior of being in place, flapping the fins around, and then going down for a bite or swimming around. In that vid at 2:36 or so, he jumps to the front of the tank trying to ward off the fish. So fun. Rams are fun.
Is there any chance there is vibration from noise or a door nearby this tank that opens/closes a bit?
Do you have any way of making a vertical wall on two sides (or 3)? Not as critical right now at all, but you might get different behavior if you have that rock as a wall for him to protect a corner or something. I don't think he'll use the cave decor because it has a roof part, but maybe you see him go in there sometimes too?I release flakes under the surface so they are not just sitting on top. They waft around and eventually settle on the sand.
Rams are fun indeed! Inquisitive for sure.
There is a sliding glass door not far. The tank gets light from that during the day, and we go in and out in the morning and at dinner time to feed birds. I don’t think the tank has vibrations. I think the ram is more afraid of my movements and the aquarium light.
The ram has been using the log swim through, but when he’s more scared he goes into the back corner behind the sponge filter. Last night I added a terra cotta pot with the opening facing toward the back of the tank. So he has an option for cover, away from the things happening at the front of the tank. I will keep an eye on him to see if he uses it. If not, I will try a rock.
I put construction paper on the wall he was having the most problems with reflection.
I need to fast this tank today. The tetras were soo fat yesterday from all the ram feeding attempts.
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On 11/12/2023 at 6:36 PM, nabokovfan87 said:
Interesting. Does it move around a lot in the filtration flow or drop / sit?
Sometimes sitting, sometimes obsessing over reflection - I did cover that wall now, and sometimes exploring. But the ram is startled very easily: wrong color light, or sees my movements.. goes and hides. Still trying to figure out what light he will tolerate.
On 11/12/2023 at 6:36 PM, nabokovfan87 said:In the video, he looks good! Active, not lethargic, and actively searching for food. His personality seems to be a little feisty, so that's fun.
Fair observation, based on what you’ve been shown. Full video
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On 11/12/2023 at 1:42 PM, nabokovfan87 said:
Can you make a video of the little dude after you drop food next time
Ok I think the ram did eat some of the frozen brine shrimp! I saw the pecks, but didn’t see any sand spitting after, so I believe it only ate the shrimp off the surface of the sand. I really tried to get different lighting but the ram went into the corner and wouldn’t move until I changed color. 😐 This guy is a tricky one. Also, good news, the tetras are now ok with white light. So that’s progress for at least some of the tank inhabitants.
This video is heavily edited. A lot of the time the ram was just hovering; taking no action.
Also the ram is having problems spending a lot of time with its own reflection, so I may need to apply something like construction paper to those side walls.
The tetras are way overfed at this point! What with all the catering attempts to the ram(!)
I saw some flashing from the ram too. Not much, but here and there.
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On 11/12/2023 at 1:42 PM, nabokovfan87 said:
you'd try something like frozen brine or frozen worms
Tried live brine. All 3 rams did not notice it. The 2 new rams did not touch frozen bloodworms. Snoopy eats them. Maybe frozen brine would be ok since it is bigger than bbs and easier to see.
On 11/12/2023 at 1:42 PM, nabokovfan87 said:Can you make a video of the little dude after you drop food next time?
Will try, but lighting won’t be great. All he does is hide if the white light is on.
Also guys, the ram that I bought for my friend- she was picked up last night. Friend took the most adorable photo of her today:
On 11/12/2023 at 1:42 PM, nabokovfan87 said:Xtreme krill flakes
Ram ignores
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The creature/thing seems to be cut/chewed/broken in half, if that helps. So what we are looking at is half of a thing..
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On 11/12/2023 at 2:41 PM, Rube_Goldfish said:
Thank you. I tried to explicitly highlight my ignorance but still wanted to add what might be a helpful suggestion, but it seems like we're back to: why change what's working?
The OP hasn’t stated the reason for the change to RO yet; let’s see if they indicate whether the change is to troubleshoot some sort of issue, or a different reason.
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On 11/12/2023 at 10:47 AM, Rube_Goldfish said:
I have the same reaction as @Chick-In-Of-TheSea; if it ain't broke, don't fix it. That said, and I've never kept Neocaridina before, so grain of salt here, but what if you caught them all out, do as close to a 100% change as you can, then re-drip acclimate them as if you were getting them home for the first time? Otherwise, I guess just make small changes slowly, testing every time?
I had to switch to drip water changes because doing bucket water changes, even small 10% ones, I would lose shrimp. Shrimp don’t do well with change. Consistency is best, in my experience.
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Why switch to RO? Why not keep things consistent by continuing to use tap water? I use tap water, and my colony is absolutely thriving.
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The quarantine tank with ember tetras and a Bolivian ram had this unusual thing. A fish was trying to eat it, but it was too large for the fish’s mouth.
I used Google lens on it, and this came up?
This was formerly a shrimp tank too, could it be a piece of shrimp molt? Idk..?
https://youtube.com/shorts/-2zLC3SjkVQ?si=eLOYeQ55DiHxcUm9
The fish are in Paracleanse, but this seems like it would be too big for a fish to pass.
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Repashy frenzy
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Folks I cannot get the new ram to eat any offered foods. However the ram will sand sift all day. Fortunately the tank is seeded. But the ram will literally swim right by foods, including bloodworms. Also I KNOW it sees when Repashy falls from the surface, but still it will not try it. Any suggestions? Should I do bacter ae or Repashy powder to coat the sand?
Ram seems to have good energy and spirit and is exploring around but is too skinny.
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It is always fun to feed live foods
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Cadet is curling up around the Kat’s Aquatics new food. He really likes it, apparently. This is the 3-in-1 and I’m trying to see which one they like. He ate all the red ones first.
New little blue guy from Aquashella joins in and goes for a green one.
Juniper shows up next
I think I like this food! It’s not all dusty, and the fish didn’t figure out how to steal it.
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The new ram is doing well and has spent the morning sand sifting and exploring. The community was overjoyed at the live bbs, but I forgot one important detail: Bolivian rams are completely oblivious to bbs! They just stare at you like, ok so... are we getting food or what? Meanwhile there is a massive fish frenzy going on above them. 🤣New rams (mine in qt tank and friend's in the heated/filtered bucket) did not understand vibra bites or Repashy community plus either. To be fair, the community plus matches the sand. I mixed up some Soilent Green and will try that later since it will stand out. I want to fill out their bellies; looks like fasting or wasting disease. Fortunately the Paracleanse is already in the water for the ember tetras' treatment, and that is the correct remedy for wasting disease. And I had run out of frozen food earlier in the week. Will have to go get some on the way home.
The new ram is being ultra cute. Doing the start/stop swimming. Curious: dorsal fin up. Content with observation: dorsal fin down. Swim backwards by closing the tail up. Etc 😍
The quarantine kids hate white light so pictures will be a challenge.
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Forgot to mention, the first 3 minutes in the tank, the ram sand sifted. 🙂 came out of a gravel tank so was probably excited to see sand. I usually do bare bottom qt but this was a tank that was recently vacated so that’s why the sand.
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Currently budgetary constraints. Also can’t find a stand I like. I’m not buying fiberboard 👎🏻
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Dechlorinator. 💙
On 11/9/2023 at 5:18 PM, nabokovfan87 said:I got one of the "telescoping shrimp nets" and it's not great in terms of handle quality or build quality. That sort of material being "stiff"
Yeah mine got bent at some point and now it doesn’t sit flat against the glass when I want to inspect a shrimp. Also the seams confuse shrimplets, the material holds a big air bubble, and the net wants to collapse.
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On 11/9/2023 at 9:07 PM, nabokovfan87 said:
The fins all say male to me, so definitely looks like it.
I said the same thing last time so.... Knock on wood.
Fingers crossed for you and it'll be exciting as always to follow along.
Sidenote.... Totally can relate to ridiculous amounts of time trying to ID the gender on some fish, especially rams in the store all washed out. Best I got from the employee was, "yep, I got no clue, take your time." 😂
On 11/9/2023 at 9:07 PM, nabokovfan87 said:Totally can relate to ridiculous amounts of time trying to ID the gender on some fish
I think the breeding tube is the key to everything with these rams. After staring at them and comparing them for so long, I’d bank on that as the method to differentiate.
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or ACO multi strips! I gave these to a friend last year who never used strips! She had always used liquid tests for everything.Also ACO little towel is a good gift
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Was in big box today to buy a small piece of mopani to get some extra tannins going on Geppetto’s tank vs doing the rooibos tea every water change. I looked up at a tank (I rarely look at tanks in big box store) and I stopped dead in my tracks. I saw like 5 Snoopys in a tank. Now mind you, I haven’t seen Bolivian rams in about a year, not even at Aquashella. They were labeled as Ruby Clown Cichlids. Hence they were priced at $7.99 instead of $14.99…. Just as a reminder, when I bought Snoopy she was labeled as a “red ram”, whatever that is.
So my friend who always swoons over Snoopy has been wanting one very much, so I did get one for her, and I spent, no lie, like 45 minutes in the store trying to decide what to do for myself and trying to sex the fish. Because I want Snoopy to stop glass surfing. I hate when fish do that, and I believe it’s out of boredom (although some of it is to get my attention too). The truth is, she’s been doing this a long time, and I always feel like she deserves better, socially.
I believe, (and I explained to the associate what I was looking for, and she helped look for those features) that I got a male. We made sure NO breeding tube, the bump on head, looked at pointy fins. This could be an epic failure but because I have seen one success story by @xXInkedPhoenixX who definitely has a male and a female, I would like to try this out, under careful observation. I am taking everyone’s experiences very seriously, however. If things go south, I have an extra tank as well as hobbyist friends who live closeby and could potentially adopt.
Now this is a terrible pic because the fish is confused/just was transported. Also I had to take it with the light out to ease stress of reflections.
Maybe I can get better pic later. (A little sunken belly, no?) Anyway, this fish is in with the new ember tetra which were recently started on preventative paracleanse. Also there are live brine shrimps hatched out and are ready for the morning feeding tomorrow for all the tanks. The paracleanse is a 7 day soak (ACO instructions) and then water change with 2 week rest, then we repeat 7 day soak.
Again, this could crash and burn.. or it couldn’t. For now 1 month (minimum) quarantine .
Oh also, friend’s ram has separate setup in a bucket and will be picked up in the next day or so.
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On 11/9/2023 at 11:22 AM, Guppysnail said:
Nerm glitter on a whole new level
I feel like Swamp Thing when I come out
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On 11/9/2023 at 10:54 AM, AllFishNoBrakes said:
It sure does!! The air collar replaces an air stone.
Great because the airstone always falls off.
Bolivian Ram Journal
in Photos, Videos & Journals
Posted
2 pics from last night. I’m just posting them because I think they’re cute.