PluckyD
-
Posts
60 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Feedback
0%
Content Type
Forums
Downloads
Store
Events
Blogs
Gallery
Profiles
Posts posted by PluckyD
-
-
Hi @Ato_amare,
Curious, how old is the tank your shrimp is in? Without the labels, it is hard to tell what your parameters are.
Regardless, I just wanted to give you a tip that might help if you decide you want to move the last shrimp to the betta tank. I had had luck putting them into a jar with panty hose stretched over or other similar covering over the top to protect shrimp from predatory fish. This may be a stop gap until you figure out your situation. Good luck!
-
I just wanted to follow up on one of the symptoms mentioned above that I believe I have found the source of, namely slime coat shedding. I believe it was/is caused by rushed water changes, which I would often do when I found him feeling unwell, since the common wisdom seemed to be that discus + water change = happier discus.
However, I suspect the water coming out of the pipes was too something or other. Pod sometimes parks himself directly under the Python hook and when he gets hit directly from tap water, it sometimes causes him to shed his slime coat. I am now more careful when I do water changes, and also I do them only every 4-6 weeks, and he hasn’t had any slime coat shedding issues in a long time now.
-
So, I was just listening to a recent Steenfott Aquatics livestream during some tank maintenance and happened to glance at it and guess what I found? It’s the video of the fish (around the 9 minute mark).
Unfortunately, it sounds like the clip is from someone else, and they are only tentatively identified as gertrudae.
-
1
-
-
I have a bunch of screenshots of fish I come across from web searches (that’s normal right?) but I lost track of where this one came from and I was hoping someone could ID the fish for me. I’m assuming it’s some sort of Pseudomugil? But it’s blue and I’m not aware of any blue varieties. Any ideas?
-
1
-
-
I’m actually doing the brine shrimp experiment myself in a 2 gallon jar, but I started with a very small amount — literally whatever was stuck to the edge of the brine shrimp bag from previous use. I have a few dozen adults and they are breeding and making babies after about a month. However, it’s quite a small amount and not going to be more than an occasional treat for a fish at this volume. Still, it’s a fun project as the brine shrimp themselves are quite active and always fluttering about. They are, frankly, quite frisky 😳
I’ve attached a picture to show the adult mating pairs (sometimes threesomes). Most are actually down at the bottom, but overall, it’s very low density. This picture is after I removed a lot of the dead plants (it used to be a planted jar), so it’s very murky.
-
Found my bottle of strips and dipped it into one of my tanks that hasn’t had a water change in weeks (so no chlorine) then took it outside. I can confirm that sunlight (UV?) does result in a false positive for chlorine.
-
1
-
-
@JMC Sorry to hear about your fish 😞
So, I actually just tested 3 of my ponds to give you a response, one was from last summer and two from this summer, and all 3 looked the same to my eye. I put them all against the chlorine test to show that they were above 0 but less than 3. However, I am now seeing @Stef post above and realize I am also testing out in broad daylight. This is my first time hearing about the impact of sunlight on the strips, and I really wanted to test it for myself but seem to have misplaced my bottle of test strips somewhere between the walk from the pond to my desk.
FWIW, I keep mostly Miyuki Medaka ricefish in all of my ponds and they breed so prolifically, I wouldn't know if I lost some of them, but they all seem healthy as far as I can tell. I wonder if the rain water maybe washed some contaminants into your ponds somehow, or, just given the sudden sheer amount, caused some sudden change in parameters. Regardless, I hope it resolves even if you don't find the culprit.
-
On 7/23/2024 at 1:39 AM, FirstClassFish said:
It’s not theoretical, and in this case the conventional wisdom happens to be correct, sometimes it is, sometimes it isn’t.
To clarify, I don’t disagree with the fact that brine shrimp nutrition declines, and declines “rapidly” after hatching. However, I hesitate to come to perhaps the same "conventional conclusion" drawn from that wisdom, which often suggest it’s not worth feeding brine shrimp at all after a certain timeframe.
On 7/23/2024 at 1:39 AM, FirstClassFish said:Yes, I’m sure it’s correct, that’s why I wanted to specifically say 24 hours after the eggs hit the salt.
It makes perfect sense as it was a controlled study aimed at getting at empirical evidence, so of course they kept temperature the same.
Ah, I suppose if all other variables are controlled for a specific study, then you could make such a statement and for it to be true for that study that the nutritional value declined after a certain number of hours after the event of the eggs hitting the salt water. However, without the actual study to refer to, and with no further context, I wanted to point out that the statement can be very misleading. I read it as suggesting the nutritional value of brine shrimp was dependent on “when the eggs hit the water”, as if that event in itself began the clock, independent of when the eggs actually hatched. This would suggest a leaching of nutritional value on the eggs themselves, which I don’t believe is the case. I used my earlier point of “what about when eggs don’t hatch after 24 hours?” to attempt to convey that point.
On 7/23/2024 at 1:39 AM, FirstClassFish said:I want to try and watch inside of this device and see what happens as some are simply blocked off from getting to the collection point after it fills up, so they’re hatched, but “waiting”.
That would be interesting indeed to get some data on. I am not in a state of the hobby nor life to perform such a study myself, but look forward to seeing your results if you take this on 😉
On 7/23/2024 at 1:39 AM, FirstClassFish said:Whatever nutritional value people want to provide is their decision, I simply wanted to point it out for others to make a decision, that’s all.
I absolutely agree with laying out as much information/data as we can so people can make an informed decision that meets their needs and use cases, so thank you for providing that information! I want to be clear that I wasn't intending to advise people to *not* clean out their hatcheries and to keep feeding brine shrimp from the same batch of eggs for days on end, etc...only that, if you are going to be lazy like me, this little gadget can be more forgiving than other options 🙂
On 7/23/2024 at 1:39 AM, FirstClassFish said:I can’t seem to add it. It’s easy to find, done by the university of Rhode Island.
I Googled “rhode island brine shrimp nutrition study”, and the first result is “Time Post-Hatch Caloric Value of Artemia salina 2008”, a paper from a senior honors project available on Digital Commons, is this the correct study? (I wonder if this student could have imagined his undergrad paper would have such an audience!). I just did a cursory read, but for those who don't even want to Google, the primary finding is:
> The results from this experiment showed a decrease in caloric value of approximately 30-50% between 24 and 48 hours post hatch.
On 7/23/2024 at 4:36 AM, Jody P said:Thanks for posting this. I've been wanting to feed BBS, but I only have a few fish and setting up a hatchery seemed overkill. I think I'll try this.
I hope this works for you!
On 7/23/2024 at 5:30 AM, gardenman said:Selcon is a commonly used nutritional supplement/food for brine shrimp that increases their nutrient value. If you're trying to keep a culture going for a bit, it might be a good investment.
Thanks for the tip. I am in fact trying to culture some brine shrimp now, as I have been forbidden from hatching them for the sake of feeding my fish when my son found out what was happening. He was very excited when I first asked him if he wanted to hatch brine shrimp! I neglected to explain what the plan was until... 🫠
-
1
-
1
-
-
On 7/22/2024 at 4:36 PM, FirstClassFish said:
Check this study and others
I think you may have omitted the link? Regardless, I'm familiar with the conventional wisdom around brine shrimp losing their nutritional value shortly after hatching.
On 7/22/2024 at 4:36 PM, FirstClassFish said:they are saying within 24 hours of putting them in the salt water to hatch
Are you sure this statement is correct? If so, what happens if you are hatching in cooler temperatures and the vast majority do not hatch until well after 24 hours? I assume you actually mean within 24 hours of hatching?
Regardless, I have two reasons why I'm not particularly concerned with the theoretical loss of nutrition. First, as I am harvesting virtually all hatched brine shrimp within a few hours of the previous harvest, that would give me good reason to believe at least some if not the vast majority of them are "recently" hatched. Their consistent size supports this theory since, if I leave brine shrimp to grow (as I have in other situations), they grow in size quite quickly, but I am not seeing that difference in size between day 1 and day 4 of the brine shrimp harvests. Second, even if they *are* nutritionally deficient, well, my fish still love eating them ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
It's a treat for them, and I feed them plenty of other foods to meet their nutritional needs. If I were raising fry, I would be more diligent about harvesting and setting up fresh hatches. Also, like @Tlindsey, I do own two of them so I can alternate between them if I want to have more on hand. (There is evident irony in there if you are looking at the cost comparison of two Hobby dishes to one Ziss, but that's a different conversation.)
-
3
-
-
On 7/19/2024 at 10:42 AM, ange said:
I've used mosquito dunks to great success
I second mosquito dunks/bits, but also wouldn’t hesitate to add certain nano fish as recommended to a new shrimp colony, assuming you have plant coverage. I would avoid guppies because they do hunt shrimp more it seems, but I have had no issues with Medaka rice fish, emerald rasboras, CPDs, dwarf rainbows, even certain bettas and gouramis (personality specific), and many others of species already mentioned. Good luck.
-
On 7/22/2024 at 7:58 AM, Scaperoot said:
I don't know if this is normal, but the two males (veil tails) we 'rescued' from big box stores did very well.
I have also tried big box store, online, and local breeder bettas. My first was a half moon from Petsmart and he lived to about 2 years, but he could barely swim with his long fluffy tail, it was depressing and I decided not to get another fancy tail breed. I then went through a round of koi plakat types from both a local breeder and reputable online importer/breeder, and most developed tumors and all died within 3 to 12 months.
I had also read that veiltail are less prone to illness due to less inbreeding so my current betta is a veiltail that I’ve had for about 15 months now. Alas, he developed a tumor under his eye about 3 months ago and looks like this 🤪 but I realized that he might have some dragon scale genes because he has some fancy coloration. I’ve decided that if I ever get another betta splendens again, I am avoiding anything fancy and going with a classic red or blue veiltail.
FWIW, I am highly skeptical that a “local breeder” will have better health and longevity unless you have someone specifically breeding for that, and that would require them to have been breeding for years to have longevity as a thing they select for. Perhaps they are able to filter things out over time when they see certain lines have particularly bad health, but I believe most such breeders I would encounter are just other hobbiests who got their fish from the same places I currently have access to and invariably are selecting for looks first.-
1
-
1
-
-
On 7/22/2024 at 5:59 AM, Cjbear087 said:
I mean it’s a bit late now as I’ve been using it lol but I think I’m fine
Yes, you should be fine 🙂
I have been using the same buckets without issue and had a camallanus outbreak over a year ago.
-
As a devoted Aquarium Coop follower, I have heard the gospel about the benefits of feeding brine shrimp from Cory and Dean, et al. many times over the years. Naturally, I considered getting the Ziss brine shrimp hatchery, but it seemed a bit….more intense than what I needed or wanted. I had successfully hatched brine shrimp in jars for free, and it was only occasionally that I did it, either to raise a specific batch of fry or the occasional treat. I had trouble committing to a contraption that was akin to a pickup truck when I just needed a scooter.
At some point, I stumbled across the Hobby brine shrimp hatchery which looked like an unassuming piece of plastic, nothing like other hatching systems I’d come across before. At about half the cost and many positive reviews, I figured I’d give it a try, and I was pleasantly surprised to find it was exactly what I was looking for with the following benefits:
- Simple to set up — just add tap water to the line, throw in a tablespoon of salt that I have on hand, a smidge of baking soda to help with the pH since I’m not using marine salt, and a scoop of eggs.
- No additional equipment is needed (no airstone, no light, etc). It is shallow with lots of surface area so there is sufficient oxygen exchange. My room temp is generally around 80, so plenty warm in summer. In winter, it’s a bit more effort admittedly, but I’ve managed.
- Periodic harvesting on my schedule. I don’t have to rush back at a certain time to harvest in a specific window of time. Note that I work from home, so maybe it’s terrible if you don’t have that luxury, but I tend to walk by it several times a day and harvest just whenever it feels like I should.
- Harvesting is straightforward and simple, taking just seconds. Because the shrimp go toward the light, they make their way to the center where the light, and conveniently, the straining scoop basket thingy, are. Very few egg shells make their way in (once I realized I need to be careful about not making waves when I put the basket back in), so I pull it out and dip it straight into the tanks and back it goes to collect more for later. The hatch fizzles out after a few days, but there is enough for a snack for my favorite fish for the day for a while. I am lazy and often don’t clean it out for some time, and can continue to pull harvests until I don’t want to anymore. The smell is contained, though it definitely smells like an ocean pier when I finally wash it out
- When I do clean it, it is simple to do so.
Also, I honestly just appreciate simple clever design.
I decided to log a hatch session just to document what it looks like (and prove to myself it was indeed days and days that I did a single hatch and not just me losing track of time!).
Each picture is what the harvest looks like before I empty it completely, so the amount of shrimp accumulation is from since the previous picture. Some show the scoop submerged and some pulled up. I thought I’d do a photo for each, but…that’s a lot of photos. I did just one like that on Day 4 to give an idea. Days 5 through 7 are almost nothing, but it continues like that until I finally cleaned it out a couple days ago, about 2 weeks since I set it up.
It’s possible this only happens to work for the eggs I have. Maybe they are old and cruddy and take forever to hatch, and better quality eggs wouldn’t allow this. Unfortunately I haven’t had a chance to use the AC brand to compare. For context, I ordered this 25 gram pack off eBay in April of 2021, and there is still a LOT left, so I am not a heavy user.
I know Cory tried this contraption before but found it impractical for his use case because it hatches such small batches. However, so many of us have more modest setups, I believe this item makes a lot of sense. Anyway, hope this helps someone thinking about upgrading from a Tupperware container or mason jar DIY situation, but not in a place to need the Ziss brine shrimp hatcher — I think this thing is worth considering.
-
3
-
@Colu Thanks for the suggestion. In fact, I am fairly certain they will slim down on a diet. What’s weird to me is why they would be particularly bloated when none of the other fish are, including the golden white clouds. Does that mean they just need to be separated?
-
-
I can’t tell from your post if the tank has actually been empty for two years or that it had been set up for two years with a betta and is now fishless after a recent death. If the latter, I’m sorry for your loss! But also, the tank would be cycled and it would be a shame to start from scratch if you don’t have to.
Like others have said, you could use bleach, but an alternative is to simply not put any new fish in the tank for a few weeks and likely, any illness that could be transferred will likely die. Definitely do what allows you to sleep at night though, but just wanted to add that nuking everything isn’t the only option in case you weren’t aware.
-
1
-
-
I was wondering if any white cloud experts could tell me if these long-fin white clouds look normal? I got a batch of 6 and they seem quite healthy based on behavior and have grown to full size, but they seem terribly chesty. The chestiness was more pronounced when they were smaller, and looked a lot like a chesty guppy. They’re a bit more rounded now, but are still more full in the chest area than say the belly, which is what I would expect for eggy females.
My only other experience is with a few golden white clouds which I can easily tell the sex of based on body shape, but I cannot tell the sex of the group of long-fins at all. A couple of them are always sparring and displaying at any given time, so I assume that at least two are males, but they all seem to have this same shape. None are torpedo shaped like my golden males, and none have a rounded belly like my golden females. I do feed well, but these are the only fish that have this bloated quality to them.(Apologies for the terrible photo quality, they are fast but my camera is not.)
-
@beastie I love the beautiful yellow on yours.
I got some longfins from aquahuna a couple months ago and I love them, but the thing that intrigued me about the Linni is that their body actually seems more gold/yellow than silver/grey, which appeals to me.
I put the longfins in with some goldens and I notice they don’t seem to behave quite the same, as if they were different species. Also, I noticed they got very “chesty” very quickly with heavy feeding even though my goldens did not. I put them in an outside pond for now so can’t take pics easily unfortunately.
-
On 4/20/2024 at 11:24 AM, TJ _isme said:
How do I make snails into fish food?
For pond snails and the mini ramshorns, I just squish them against the glass with my finger. For my discus, I just do a quick squish and he gobbles up the whole thing. For little fish, I like to squish them thoroughly so their shell bits are very fine and can be consumed by fish or shrimp. Generally, I only have too many snails if I've been feeding too heavily, so I will squish a bunch in place of feeding for a few meals. This usually happens when I haven't yet established a strong shrimp colony in the tank, Frankly, the snails are helpful to have during that time to eat the excess food. At some point though, I start squishing the snails for the shrimp to shift the population from the former to the latter.
I think it's also a good way to know if your calcium levels in the tank are depleting. When they are too low, the snail shells with be very soft, but when they are high, the shells can be very hard, in which case, be extra careful so as not to cut yourself. Never squish a shell from the opening side because that can cut your finger.
If I were to try with the larger sized ramshorns, I would personally try a plastic spoon or something to protect my finger, but honestly, I like those little guys and have never tried to squish one.
-
2
-
-
I have this same problem and haven’t found an adapter solution. My workaround has been to fill up a tub by the sink and use a powerhead to pump the water into the tank. Unfortunately, the powerhead doesn’t work on a long hose due to too much back pressure so this only works if your tanks are relatively close by.
-
Does anyone own the “Linni” variety from Aquarium Glaser, or at least seen them? I am quite curious how their colors differ from the classic variety. I could only find the beautiful pictures of them from Aquarium Glaser themselves and a head-on picture from dansfish, but I can’t tell what the body *really* looks like.
-
On 4/18/2024 at 7:34 PM, TJ _isme said:
do you know of any fish that will gobble up the snails?
In my experience, *all* fish will eat snails. Some just might need a little assistance from you 👆(<—- snail meal preparation device)
-
1
-
-
Another update to show that Pod continues to thrive since his deworming treatment. He has gotten even plumper since last month and seems like a normal discus fish shape now? I’ve had him just over a year and he’s right around 5+ inches, which is on the smaller end of the spectrum, but I believe still healthy. It’s possible he is a she and could be smaller for that reason too.
He still has the faintest hint of a dimple in his center which I have read different accounts about for discus, but I hope it rounds out as he continues to put on more weight. He gets 2-4 frozen cubes of something or other (bloodworms, brine shrimp, spirulina, etc) every day along with a dry pellet on auto feeder 4 times a day. He used to be very picky but I’ve gotten him to eat most things with a staged introduction.
I am now closer to water changing every 3-4 weeks or even longer, but that’s already more frequent than all my other tanks. Nitrates stay around 20-40 with dosing fertilizer and heavy feeding. He has shown no ill effects, again, since his deworming, (I.e. no hiding, weird poop, pimples, slime coat shedding, etc). I dropped his tank down from 86 to 82 degrees for now and may have to cut down on some feeding if he shows a noticeable drop in hangryness. At this point, I think this is a case closed situation so will not bother updating anymore, but just wanted to share a success story around treating discus, and thank you to this forum and those who helped.
-
1
-
-
Thanks for additional ideas, but I am basically following the directions as I have done for the hundreds of Aquarium Coop strips I've used before my current bottle. The bottle is less than a month old. I am mostly curious if anyone else has had a problem with strips they've received in the past month or two.
My sweet pea (puffer) in a community tank
in Photos, Videos & Journals
Posted
Just wanted to share a couple of pictures of my pea puffer. I have always wanted a puffer but was afraid of their care requirements, so I decided to try just one and make sure I was comfortable with feeding, etc. It wasn’t specifically planned, but when I saw one that seemed special to me at the LFS, I figured it was time.
The first picture is of her in quarantine with the clown killifish I got at the same time (part of a small group of them), and they would just swim around with each other. I was waiting for the pea to get murderous but when she failed to, I thought maybe she was still too young.
After the first two weeks of not witnessing her eat a single bite of anything I offered (blood worms, pond snails, etc), she was still clearly gaining weight and growing. I figured she was just hunting on her own, but I was worried the 5 gallon tank I had her in wouldn’t sustain her. I ended up putting her in my 60 gallon community and she’s been thriving there for the past 6 months now. She lives with a pearl gourami, betta, cardinal tetras, harlequin rasboras, rainbow shiners, medaka rice fish, hillstream loaches, otos, shrimp, snails, etc. and they don’t bother her and she doesn’t bother them.
The second picture is of her hanging out in a little nest of buce. I was rearranging and didn’t realize I was moving her around with it at first! I moved it from one place to another and she would just hover within the clump as if she were one with it.
Her community-friendly temperament does seem to come at the cost of some, shall we say, personableness? She doesn’t interact with me at all either unfortunately, but honestly, I enjoy her presence in the community and have other wet pets to chat with.