drawnitsud

Hello everyone. So I am in the process of setting up a 40 gallon breeder tank and would love to keep Bolivian Rams. Everything I have read and seen about them suggests they would be fun and they look amazing when kept well. So I was talking with a guy from my LFS and was kind of outlining my plan of keep a couple pairs and some dither fish with them to make them more comfortable (recently watched a video that they hide a lot and are uncomfortable if no dithers are present). Anyway, he had an interesting suggestion because I said I would like to try and breed them if possible, although I have only really done live bearers. He suggested, for a 40 gallon breeder to get between 8-10 Bolivians, plant the tank heavily, get a fine substrate and add some tetras like ember or black skirt tetras. Does anyone have any experiences with keeping Bolivians in a group and breeding them? I ask because I, of course, like to check things with aqadvisor and it thought that more than 7 would mean the rams would be fighting over the territory AND that Bolivians were too aggressive with Embers. So, I figured I would find out what everyone thought about what he said. Thanks!

I just did the same thing @Jacob Hill-Legion Aquatics and am also vetting what to stock my 40g breeder with. I do have some Platy fry that might eventually go into the tank and I am going to also heavily plant it. I am leaning one of two ways: Rainbowfish tank: Neon Dwarf, Boesemani, Axelrod, Red Irian and Lake Kutubu are all some popular types that, I believe, you can put into a 40g breeder and if the internets are to be believed, you can mix and match and they will still school together (keep at least 6) Ram Plus tank: Bolivian Rams (I think the breeder can afford two pair with enough plants and breeding areas), the Platy fry, Guppies, maybe two small Plecos and Nerite snails/ Amano shrimp. Those last two help keep algae in check. Anyway, just a few thoughts. My concrete block stand is built, but it will be a while until I can set up the actual tank, so I am still doing a lot of research. Let us know what you go with.

An update to our surprise fry! They are doing well in the Ziss Breeder Box. I moved them out into a bucket last night and cleaned up the Box before moving them back in. But here is a picture of them (really hard to get a good shot). They seem to be growing pretty rapidly and my two oldest kiddos have completely taken care of them, feeding them four times a day and removing any waste at the bottom. Three of them are pretty good size while two are lagging behind a little. I wonder if the smaller two are male and the bigger are female, but I haven't tried telling their gender really yet. Does anyone know what size I can put them back in the main tank? In said tank, we have two full sized female Platy, six Neon Tetras and three Mystery snails. I'm nervous about the two smaller ones, but they are all two months old. I know people say 'when they can no longer fit into the Platys mouth' but I honestly don't know how big that is .

Thank you! Do you keep a baby brine shrimp setup? I am exploring the idea, but honestly, I have two tanks and this is the first fry we have had out of either, so idk if my wife would allow me to do so 😄 I may see if my LFS has any, but they aren't very big, so I am not sure. I did order some first bites so they will be here in a few days. I have dried bloodworms from hikari, so maybe I will add them to the flakes I have mashed up. I think my biggest problems now are how MUCH to feed them for each feeding (going to try to feed them 5 times a day) and what to do with them when they are big enough to remove from the breeder. I have heard two weeks is big enough for them to not get attacked by other fish (the other female platy is trying to eat them through the breeder 😕 ). I have a 10 gallon tank I am not using, so I am going to start the process of setting it up today. But I will be gone for 10 days this coming Thursday, so this will be an experiment for my daughters to get the tank ready!

Thank you! We ended up finding five fry. And it's fairly heavily planted so we are going to look for more today. 🙂 Does anyone know if some community repashy would work for the fry? Like a tiny amount they could just munch on? I've read that you can even add some of the powder to the water table but I'm not so sure about that and I already have some made...

Sooooo, this is kind of a crazy story. As some of you may know, my kids have a 10 gallon aquarium with 6 neon tetras, 2 female platys and 3 mystery snails. A few weeks ago or so, the male platy in the tank died rather suddenly to what we think was wasting disease. He was always smaller and thinner than we thought he should be even though he ate pretty voraciously. Anyway, we ended up dosing the whole tank after he died (very sad event for my kiddos as he was their "first" fish) in the three meds that coop suggests. Everyone seemed to be healthy when, yesterday, we went out of town for the night. We fed everyone a little extra and checked on things. I commented that one of the females looked rather plump but thought nothing of it because its been, at LEAST, two months since the male platy died and I never saw him copulate with either of the two. We got home about an hour ago and suddenly I heard my kids screaming for me and something about the fish. Depressed, I trudged up the stair fearing the worst. But when I looked, they had big eyes and were giggling uncontrollably. Of course, they didn't TELL ME what they saw, they just kept trying to point. I couldn't see anything and was a little exasperated but relieved because the fish seemed fine. The two platys were huddled together behind the hornwart when HOLY CRAP, I finally saw what they were pointing at... A PLATY FRY. WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAT? Anyway, I am unprepared (except I had a ez breeder from coop handy in case this happened) and didn't really look much up about Platy and the fry. I don't have any baby brine fish or any fry food, so for now, I crushed up the flake food into tiny bits and put some in to the breeder until I can go to my LFS tomorrow. Any recommendations on what to get? So could this be from the male platy a few weeks ago or am I wrong and one of the two platys I have left are female?I am PRETTY sure these two are female though. I'll post pictures later. Can she be STILL having more fry? I read they usually have anywhere from 8-20 or up to 80!!! So... any info is helpful. How often to feed them? How much? 🙂 I am pretty stoked to take this next adventure with my kids, but I really hope I get it right, too. Thanks everyone!

Yeah I just thought it'd weird it would show after a week of quarantine. Water parameters were all how they are usually. pH 7.2, NH3 0, NO2 0, NO3 15 ppm. Tank sits around 73 ~ 74 degrees. He is eating well and active and schooling with the other Tetras. 🤔🤔🤔

So as you can see from the photo, a neon tetra has developed a bit of a white stripe or lack of color stripe along its body. This is a new development and it comes a few days AFTER a week long quarantine dose. So, I followed the Co-op quarantine guide because a platy in this aquarium died from what I suspect was an internal parasite. These tetras (6), female platys (2) and mystery snails (3) had a week of Maracyn, ICH-X and Paracleanse. You can't really tell from the photo, but the stripe isn't raised or hairy or anything like that. It legit looks like those specific scales just lost color. Any help on what to do is appreciated!

lol just realized I had forgotten to add the pictures I was referencing 🤣

Oh man, that is wild. I am sure she was doing it innocently and maybe even in excitement. I am glad you figured out the "problem" and also glad you share your hobby with her. I have three kids that got me into the hobby and they fed with abandon at first. So I understand the feeling.

Sorry, not sure what you mean by "separate the top into 2 sections and just use 1 section"? As for the spray bar, it came with 4 sections and I could only fit 3 in my tank (so not as long as intended) but the flow was still so strong (even with a pre-filter sponge) that my shrimp seemed to struggle with getting to where the intended and stayed hidden a lot more (could also be because they were new to the tank). Also, my research on honey gouramis said their natural habitat has low flow. And, being new to the hobby, I probably overreacted and removed the canister filter in favor of the sponge filters 😆 I am definitely a tinkerer by nature

Hi everyone! I have been snooping around this thread (and a few others) for a while trying to understand the best way to light my 29gall tall tank with the Fluval 3.0 lights I got a few weeks ago. I just put them on a pro mode early on and that was SO much light. Needless to say, uh... algae happened. Here are a few pics (my new schedule with dual siestas, thank you @Streetwise for the cool idea and information) and an algae picture. The amazon sword in the back has a leaf or two with some serious algae on it and the rock in the forefront has developed some brown spots now. And the tank has some algae on the walls as well, but not a ton. Mind you, I just switched to this new light setting so that is a pretty big reduction to try and help the plants and balance the algae. Does this seem like the correct move? Are there other options? I have 5 nerite snails and 5 amano shrimp in this tank and they are busy, busy, busy. Should I straight up prune that leaf of the Amazon sword. I am really trying to balance because the tank is only around a month and a into being planted, so I see the "recycling" of some leaves from the Swords to begin new growth. And there is some new growth. So, of course, I am not really sure if I am going about all this the right way. Thanks for any advice! edit: also, any lid advice for use with the fluval 3.0? Or does having that kind of preclude having one? I was interested in the future of keeping killifish (way down the line) and know that you have to have a closely sealed lid. Do any work?

Hello again everyone! My 29gall tall tank received a light upgrade to the Fluval 3.0 a while ago, so I completely removed the stock lid. I was getting some heat fluctuations with the lid on (generally ~3 degrees) because the placement of the tank does not receive great air flow and we have had this ridiculous heat wave going on. I set my lights on the pre-programmed PRO mode which was a LOT of light and so now I am battling algae, but that is a whole other topic! Also of note, I removed my canister filter that was really for a 65 gallon and was generating way too much flow for my new fish (will start another topic to show them off 🙂 ) and now just have two medium-sized sponge filters running with respective air-stones. So I have a few questions about what my options are after observing a pretty healthy amount of evaporation (and subsequently bc of the cooling, my heater kicking on more): Is there a recommended way for topping off my tank (other than adding some Prime to the top-off water)? I know minerals will not evaporate and so the chances of OTS (old tank syndrome) could eventually come into play. I check my water for pH/NH/NO2/NO3 every couple of days still and because it is fairly heavily planted, I have no problems with increasing Nitrates. In fact, I add some easy green to add some back in to try and hover around 15-20 ppm. Are there lid options with the Fluval 3.0? Obviously the standard lids don't work and I am not sure if the heat fluctuations from ~73 - 76 degrees Fahrenheit vs topping off the water is better or worse. Was the fluctuations in temps stressing the fish? I realize as a new hobbyist, I am probably overreacting to that small amount because it probably happens often in the wild. But still, I was concerned.

Do you ever have trouble with them jumping while you're doing a water change or feeding them? Just curious! I'm interested in killis someday but I'm a little nervous about getting a perfect lid. Care to talk about your process? Thanks!

Corys are awesome. Highly recommend! I have five Peppered Corydoras in my 29g tall (75 degrees) and they are fun to watch. I do also have Amano Shrimp in it as well @jb1rd55 so either and/ or both is a good combo.