AnotherHumanPerson

I believe the great basin/upper colorado

so this morning I went to this cool thermal pond somewhat near my house. I usually go there to catch these chunky sunfish. (exhibit A) however, I’ve always noticed what looked like hundreds of tiny fish up close to the shore, so today I brought my dipnetting gear to see what it was. every swoop of the net got me at least like 5 of these little guys. I know they are some species of gambusia, my money is on western mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis).

hm, it does look at least a little like it, my blue wag platies have something similar.

could you provide a photo? Black dots in those two locations makes me think of the “ear” marks on the tails mickey mouse platies… it could be the same trait, just finally manifesting itself in your line.

Hey nerms! I’ve recently been getting into dipnetting, and as to not bombard my friends with fish photos, I figured I’d instead subject a bunch of other fish nerds to my new hyperfixarion. Anyways here a few fish I caught on my last outing: longnose dace (Rhinichthys cataractae) speckled dace (Rhinichthys osculus) mottled sculpin (Cottus bairdii) feel free to add anything you’ve caught before.

I have both platies and pseudomugil rainbows in my 29 (albeit they are gertrudae, not luminatus or furcata), and I feel like both would be good options for what you want. However, the rainbows in my experience tend to be a lot more skittish than other fish. They will definitely make a good use of the 29’s footprint, especially if you get a good school going. And of course platies are livebearers, so overpopulation might be an eventual issue with them, but the gouramis may be able to help with that.

Unless you specified that you are looking for hazards for fish, I would understand this response. Most tap water is human safe, but contains enough chlorine to kill fish, hence why we need to dechorinate. My other thought would be if you have any sprinklers or plant watering systems by the pond that somehow get into the pond, contaminating it with chorinated water.

I've seen plenty of people this strategy, including myself, and it works well. Just run the sponge filter in your already cycled tank, preferably near an established sponge filter. If your situation allows, I would run it for an extra few weeks if you could. I also like to add a bit of fritzzyme 7 to help kickstart the cycle.

@Guppysnail Thanks for the response. I'll try your way out and see how it works.

I personally don’t have any experience in African cichlids, but I’ve always thought shell dwellers (ex. Neolamprologus multifasciatus) would be cool to keep. I am subscribed to prime time aquatics on youtube(link here), and they keep African cichlids. They have a few dedicated playlists of African cichlid stuff, so I’d suggest checking them out.

As we are approaching pond season, pond stores near me are getting pond plants in, and I’ve been thinking about getting some water lettuce for my tanks. However, I’m not sure how to go about reverse respiration on them, being floating plants with large leaves sticking out of the water. My initial thought is that you could submerge the leaves in the seltzer water with the roots, seeing that many plants in the hobby are grown emersed with leaves out of the water. However, a part of me thinks the waterproof leaves might throw a wrench into this. Does anyone here have experience with reverse respiration on floating plants?

That could work. If you do go through with this, I would love updates on the process.

you could try to separate the males you like and a few females, the females already most likely have sperm from any male in the tank (of which they can store for up to 6 months). If you wanted to start from a clean-ish slate, you could grab a few unsexed juveniles and separate them while they grow out. As soon as you can sex them, you should remove the males asap and put the males you like in with the young females. It will probably take quite a bit of time and work, but you may eventually have a new line of guppies. Of course, the inbreeding required to get the line will weaken the genetics, which may be a problem to look out for. (Disclaimer that I have never actually line bred any fish before and am just going off my knowledge of how strains are developed and how genetics work) (Now that I think about it, a project like this sounds pretty fun, but that's for another day)

Like said by many above, you will probably get some one day- whether you want to or not. It does help with water quality just as much as any floating plant in my experience. It quicky chokes out the surface of your tank and looks kinda ugly imo. I recently switched from duckweed to salvinia minima in one of my tanks, and I'd say I love it tons more than duckweed. Just go for any floating plant other than duckweed. You won't regret it.

If you want to check for a nest, look for a circular area with a diameter of about 6-8” with little to no plants, or plants with plenty of bite marks. The substrate around there will be clear of pretty much all debris, so even the slightest layer of detritus will make them easy to spot. If he is nesting, I suggest clearing out a designated nesting spot clear of any plants you would want harmed. My male will usually pick a spot at random to nest after a top-up or water change, so I will “re-roll” with another top-up or water change until I get my preferred spot. Sorry to hear about your bacopa. I love mine for all the same reasons. And as said in my post above, I don’t have any issues with it and my flagfish. Maybe you can try it again after this whole issue is over.