AllFishNoBrakes

Yo yo, Got back to the normal routine today for what feels like the first time in forever. Also moved the Albino Cory’s to 2 different tanks, adding to the schools already established, and the few Julii’s to the tank already housing Julii’s, again adding to the already established school. Now, the 10 gallon tank has just a ton of Chocolate Bristlenose. I removed the giant mat of Java Moss in order to catch the fish, and the amount of the mulm underneath the (essentially) Java Moss substrate was unreal, lol. Siphoned out 95% of it, moved the fish, added the moss back in, and topped off the water. Feels good to have some things moved around and “new fish” in a couple tanks. Other than that, I did the usual water changes and reset of all air stones, and squeezed a couple sponges. Just simply felt good to get a normal water change on everything in the house. Pygmy Cory’s in the 2 gallon seem to be doing well. Every time I look in the tank I see a couple fry so I’m taking that as a good sign at this time. If the solo dude can make it in my girls shrimp tank I should be able to raise some when I’m actually trying lol. Heavily considering making the 29 gallon tank a second blackwater tank. -I’m going to remove all the Spiderwood from the 55 Angel tank above it. At this point, the Swords and Jungle Val are so grown in you can’t even see the wood anymore. -Take the wood out, hydrogen peroxide the BBA on it, and allow to dry for probably a week or longer. -Remove (most plants) from the 29. Sooooo much PSO in that bad boy. Leave the Anubius, and add all Spiderwood to that tank. -Move the Dwarf Rainbows to the 55 above -Propagate the Anubius from the empty Betta tank. That thing is getting huge, and I’ll take some Anubius I don’t have to buy. -Start adding in botanicals. Idk if I’ll go as dark as the current blackwater tank, really depends on how far the Aquaneat light can penetrate the water. At that point, I’ll have the “Amazon Sword tanks” on the top shelf of the rack, the Blackwater tanks on the middle shelf, and then my girlfriends shrimp tank and qt/grow out tanks on the bottom shelf. Sounds super fun to me; simply need to decide what fish I want to add to the 29 with the removal of the Dwarf Rainbows. Maybe a bigger Tetra species. Or maybe some Rasboras. Or maybe…. Time will tell. Also took this shot of the 6 gallon cube when I drained the water during the water change today. Thought it looked cool! Cheers, Nerms.

1. I would add at least an air stone until the sponge filter arrives. You want the oxygenation and surface agitation to gas exchange. 2. I quarantine (and med trio) all the fish that enter my house. The times I haven’t, I wish I did. If you don’t medicate, I still believe it’s a good idea to have a separate tank to monitor new fish for at least a few weeks. At this point, I’ve invested too much time into my tanks to let new, possibly sick, fish wipe out 3+ year healthy and seasoned ecosystems. 3. I don’t feed for 4 or so days while quarantining and medicating. Considering it sounds like your quarantine is brand new with a brand new (incoming) sponge filter I would suggest you don’t feed for a few days at least. And then, when you do start feeding, feed very lightly. You’re essentially going to have to do a fish-in cycle since the set up is brand new. The fish will create waste, which will create ammonia, and if you feed on top of that you will have even more ammonia and a harder time with cycling your quarantine set up. -It’s totally your choice, but you may have better odds putting the Chili’s in your now cycled tank because, well, it’s already cycled. My thought there is that 1. The tank is already cycled and actually ready for fish. 2. If they are the only fish, you’re essentially already “quarantining” them. 3. Cycle your actual quarantine tank, and wait until it’s fully cycled before buying any additional fish. Then, use the quarantine tank to actually quarantine fish before adding them in with the Chili’s. Just my $0.02.

My nano fish get community crave (I mix my own for more Krill) that I finely crush, Xtreme nano, and live/frozen baby brine shrimp.

Nice! I just need a “nano” gummy worm mold for my Pea Puffers to mimic bloodworms, lol.

Fortunately, no. At least not in the past 3 years when I’ve tested the tap and I’ve never had an ammonia spike immediately following a water change that would suggest the ammonia came from the tap.

Here’s my last test of fish bag water vs. home tank water from the LFS in question when I got my Green Neon Tetras from them: Bag test ^ Home tank test ^ The LFS has water that’s a little bit harder, has a little more buffer, and maybe a little higher pH.

I don’t immediately trim dying leaves. Like @Pepere mentioned about Cory, I have a lot of gallons and work more than anybody should, so I leave them be. At least for a bit. However, there definitely comes a point that I don’t want it in the tank anymore and pull it out. Essentially, I put up with it longer than some people do, but eventually I take it out of the tank.

Are they set on a 60 breeder/high flow tank? Could easily do a rad 55 gallon Angel tank with Apistos on the bottom.

All I can say is that I have tons of fish from About Fish and have been very pleased every time I’ve been to their store. I’ll also add that I quarantine literally every fish that comes into my house and my 14 tanks. Just wanted to chime in for everyone that is trying to help that the source of the fish is most likely not the problem, in my opinion.

Rainbows, rainbows, rainbows! That’s just what I’d do

@nabokovfan87 Appreciate the insight and in-depth response. I agree with you, completely, but also have to say… -You can make anything illegal or impose fines (if caught) or ban things outright, but that doesn’t really stop anything. Being the mischievous teenager, and young adult that I was, I can tell you firsthand that just because something “shouldn’t” be done certainly didn’t stop me. It just made me be more aware and be more careful so I didn’t get caught. After all, nothing is illegal, until you get caught, right? I know and understand that I’m completely playing devils advocate here, but the problem remains. We can create all the regulations and impose all the fines, but even then the delicacy just becomes that much more sought after and prices continue to rise. It is terrible, it is wrong, living things are harmed in the process, but how do you effectively impose change? This. This is what has to change. It takes a collective mindset-shift to “erase” centuries of habits and status. I agree completely, this change should absolutely happen, I just don’t know how to make it happen on a global scale. I’ll have to make some time and check some of these out! As always, I appreciate your insight and your general quest for sharing information and perspective. I hope I’m not coming off as “things are impossible to change” but I truly don’t know how to change literally centuries of thinking and practice in culture I don’t personally participate in. I can only hope that in the time I have in this planet I personally see a shift in culture and thinking.

@IsisP Welcome to the hobby! It’s a magical thing, albeit confusing at first. Here’s my thoughts: -If you look online, lots of websites will tell you that you need to dose your aquarium to 2ppm+ ammonia. I simply do not believe this to be true. You need to dose/cycle your tank to what you will feed it on a daily basis is more applicable -Considering it seems like you’re brand new, the next question would probably be “how do I know how much to feed my fish?” Valid question, for sure! -If I was you, I would “ghost feed” your tank. Meaning, you have no fish, but you still add fish food like you would if you have fish. Give it your best guess as to what you think you will feed your tank when you actually have fish. This will allow the tank to adjust/cycle to what you will be feeding your fish when it’s safe to add fish. -For now, ghost feed your tank. Add food for 3-5 days like you anticipate feeding your fish, and then stop. It takes time for the food added to decompose and produce ammonia. -Test your tank daily. Once you see ammonia start to show up, that’s a good thing! The ammonia will continue to rise, and eventually it will peak. At this point, the first type of bacteria you need should have begun to colonize, and will begin to bring the ammonia down. -Once ammonia starts to come down, you should start to see nitrites. Again, just like ammonia before it, nitrites should continue to rise as ammonia continues to come down. Eventually, nitrites will peak, and then they should start to come down as the second type of bacteria you need begins to colonize. -Eventually, nitrites will come down, and you should start to see nitrAtes. This is a good thing! This means that both bacteria colonies you need are working and are converting ammonia to nitrites, and then nitrites to nitrATes. -Towards the end, your tank will continue to read 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, and nitrAtes should continue to rise. This is exactly what you want! Eventually, your tank will be able to take fish food, covert it to waste (ammonia), convert that ammonia to nitrites, and then immediately covert those nitrites to nitrAtes. Over time, your tank does this conversion almost immediately meaning you should always read 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, and a healthy amount of nitrAtes. -At some point, after you read ammonia, you will need to continue to feed the tank. You will need to “build a cycle” that will eventually handle all the waste (from food) that is produced. It’s hard to give an exact time frame, but you should be cautious to not “overfeed” the tank on the initial ammonia production. - @Fish Folk has great suggestions on how to quickly cycle a tank, but you may not have established gravel/media/filters at your disposal to quickly speed through the process. -The API Quick Start should help you build bacteria colonies through this process, but honestly I’ve never used that product so I can’t speak to it with confidence. -Hopefully this all makes sense. Cycling your first tank can be confusing and weird, but know you have lots of people around you here that are willing to help you through every step of the way. Holler at us as you have questions and we can offer our insight and what has worked for us! -My final thought is to try to have patience, and enjoy the journey of cycling your tank. Cycling can feel like it takes forever (like 6-12 weeks), but overall, on the complete timeline of your tank, those few weeks become a blip on the timeline and you can really learn a lot! Cheers to you having success with your tank!

While I haven’t seen the movies/documentaries, nor read the books mentioned above, I have to assume that the documentary is about “a certain dish” in which a specific piece of the shark is harvested and then the rest of the animal is thrown back to sea to sink to the bottom… Sharks have been my favorite animal since I was a small child. I had posters of Tiger Sharks in my room and my nickname from my uncle was even “Shark Man” because I was absolutely obsessed with sharks! I hadn’t seen my uncle in 20+ years, but last summer my mom got remarried, and my uncle came into town for the festivities. I told my girlfriend, “Just watch; he’s gonna call me “Shark Man” and sure enough, even 2 decades later as a full grown adult, he called me by my childhood nickname. Some things just never change! Even though my 14+ tanks are all freshwater and planted, sharks continue to hold a special place in my heart. About once per year my girlfriend and I go to the Downtown Aquarium and even though I’ve seen it many times, I can’t wait to get to the last section, the “final hoorah” if you will, which is a giant saltwater tank that houses several species of sharks. I could sit there for hours and watch them pass by at eye level, above me, and below me, while also admiring the Saw Tooth Sharks that reside on the bottom and the giant Barracuda that was in the tank the last time we visited a couple of months ago. I will literally pay the entry fee, and enjoy the rest of the exhibits, but I always can’t wait to get to the crown jewel which is admiring all the sharks. Sharks are incredible. They’re older than most things on this planet and play a vital role in the ecosystem as a whole. My question is, how do we actually implement change and stop traditions for a dish that is a status symbol? I wish the answer was easy and the outcome would be grand, but obviously the answer isn’t THAT easy… Cheers, Nerms. Enjoy the things around you and revel in the beauty that is nature.

Yooooooooo, Check this out! I was checking out my girlfriends shrimp tank, and I found a lone Pygmy Cory fry! When she moved over the water lettuce in preparation for the shrimp, there was obviously at least 1 Pygmy Cory egg that hatched out and somehow managed to raise up in this tank. I’ve been dropping in 2 Xtreme Shrimpee Sticks every other day. No other foods, no other nothing. I have no clue how this fish survived other than nature found a way, and nature is amazing. Enjoy your tanks, friends. You never know what might happen!

I will say that I keep my air pretty low. Even using the nano usb pump I turn it down to just a nice steady stream that keeps everything moving throughout the tumbler.

Pygmy Cory fry (and any yet to hatch eggs) got transferred out of the Tumbler and into the 2 gallon tank on the counter. Per usual, there is a fully cycled and more-than-well seasoned sponge, a good chunk of Java Moss, and some mulm in the tank. Also used the water from the tank the eggs were raised in to fill the tank. I’ll probably start sprinkling in some First Bites and Sera Micron either tomorrow morning or the next morning. I definitely feel as though the eggs came from multiple spawns, day(s) apart, as when I first put the eggs in the Tumbler one hatched within like 30 minutes. Then the next day, a couple more, and then a couple more. Don’t want the “oldest” ones to starve and that sponge should be well equipped to handle any waste that is produced from any early feedings for the oldest ones. The one mistake I may have made, is I didn’t monitor the temp in the 2 gallon tank very well. It’s sitting ~74°, and they hatched in 77-78, so that couple degree difference shouldn’t be too much, but you just never know. Fingers crossed we’re on the path to raising up some Pygmy’s! Time will tell. Cheers.

@Kj299 While I didn’t start doing it because of BBS dying, I set up my hatchery the night before, and then add the eggs the following morning. I let them sit for 36 hours, harvest, and don’t have any issues. It simply works better with my schedule to set it up the night before and then add eggs in the morning, so I can harvest the next night when I get off work. I don’t think it hurts that the salinity and temp regulate overnight before adding the eggs

not a bad idea at all. Just really don’t wanna net them out of there when it’s time lol. Maybe next time I’ll try that! Green water issue is almost cleared up, though. Simply a great idea.

@nabokovfan87 The cube is my dirted tank, so unless I want to rip everything out and start all over it’s going to stay as is. Im already “breaking the rules” by having a stone in there, but fear not! There is no dirt/substrate under the stone to create gas pockets. I used a small deli container flipped upside down and secured it to the bottom of the tank before putting down a 1/4” of dirt with a 2” gravel cap. You’d never be able to tell by looking at it, but I definitely took steps to avoid problems with stone in a dirted tank when I was building the tank. The tank has been plants only (well, besides the snails and 2 Amano shrimp) for a few weeks and it’s just not the same. I totally feel you, but I need some action in there! I like having a range of tank sizes to play with and see what works and what doesn’t.

My advice would be (even though you didn’t ask me for it, specifically), that if you have the ability to quarantine in a separate tank absolutely do so. Even if it’s just with a light dose of salt, that can do wonders. If I were you, I would continue to work on getting the main tank cycled, and you can absolutely quarantine in a separate tank while you continue to cycle the main tank.

I’m actually pretty jealous that I didn’t come up with that myself!! Bring tha mutha, bring tha mutha-f***** Puffers @Reactor Axe Man Clams rule everything around me, C.R.E.A.M.

It’s been an interesting week as a fish keeper. Had another ~2 hour power outage due to some electrical work being done on the building. I wasn’t home this time, and knew it should be short again, so I did literally nothing. I told my girlfriend she might wanna put the battery back up pumps in battery saver mode, but I don’t even think she did that. Just waited it out, confirmed everything came back online, and had to manually reset all the analog timers, again. What a pain that is… The good news, is that we don’t really have power outages outside of this electrical work that had to be done, so hopefully I don’t have to touch those timers anytime soon. Lost a couple of fish this week… went to water change the 10 gallon holding all the Pleco juveniles and found one floating at the top. Also lost a Hatchetfish today. I was setting up the Ziss Tumbler (more on that below) and the dude must’ve flown right out of the open top tank. Didn’t realize he was on the floor until it was too late. Down to just 2 Marbled Hatchetfish, unfortunately. I’ve been pretty sick for coming up on a week now, so I took it pretty easy with maintenance today. I topped off the aquaponics tank, did a 1 gallon water change on the (empty) 3.7 gallon, small water change on the 10 gallon Krib tank, 4 gallon water change on the Pleco grow out, and then like 1 gallon water change on the 10 gallon (empty) quarantine/grow out tank. I then moved into the bedroom and pulled 12 Pygmy Cory eggs! I noticed eggs last night, and considering we’re through the restaurant openings and county fairs I thought it was time to try something new. Set up the Ziss Tumbler and 1 of the eggs has already hatched. 11 more to go, and the little 2 gallon grow out tank is back up on the kitchen counter. Fingers crossed I can raise these guys up and increase the number of Pygmy’s in the 10 gallon. I wanna see 20+ of those little guys zooming around. Also noticed 1 tiny little fry while I was pulling the eggs, so hopefully there’s a few more already growing up in that tank. Still dealing with a little green water in the (empty) 6 gallon cube. Maybe I’ll do an additional water change on it tomorrow. Right after water change the tank looks super clear, but by the next week it’s a little green again. I really feel like I’m 1 or 2 extra water changes away from clearing up that tank; just gotta get to those extra water changes. If you had an empty 6 gallon tank, what would you do with it? Water change on the Blackwater tank per usual. The Green Neons are getting more comfortable. Saw a group of 6 schooling around today. I’m sure as they continue to settle in I’ll see them more. Might need to add another 6. We’ll see. For all the big tanks I just siphoned off some duckweed/floating plants, topped off (small water changes compared to usual) and reset all the air stones (for all the tanks). Did what I could with not feeling the greatest, and kept thinking to myself, “this is like a 5-10% water change which is what a lot of people do all the time”, lol. I just like that 20-30% water change weekly. It’s what I’ve always done and had yielded me great results. Looking forward to adding some new fish soon! I need to decide what to do with the 6 gallon cube (Sparkling Gourami’s? Betta? Some tiny Rasboras?), the 3.7 gallon (probably a betta of some sorts), grow out these Pygmy Cory’s, and move some of the other grown out Cory’s to their next tank. Also need to hit up the LFS’s and move some of these Panda Angels and Chocolate Bristlenoses. I think I’m also going to move the Dwarf Neon Rainbows up with the Angels in the 55, and move all the wood from the 55 to the 29. The plants are so grown in at this point that you can’t really even see the wood. Perhaps the “clear Blackwater” tank in in the works after all. Decisions, decisions, my friends. Excited to play with some new things as we move forward!

Agreed that you don’t need to add salt. Salt is wonderful for fighting ich and infections. Outside of treating ailments, I do not use salt.

Yes, that is too high to add fish. Ammonia and nitrite need to read 0, with some nitrates showing up, to be considered cycled and safe for fish. I know it’s tough, but be patient. You’ll thank yourself, and your fish not dying will thank you as well. Aquarium salt should not alter nitrites or nitrates in any way.

I always add dechlorinator right as the fill water starts to hit the tank, and I dose for the whole volume of the tank. I’m sure there’s an argument for dosing after you’ve filled the tank, but my habit is to dose at the beginning of the fill. It’s simply the habit I’ve built over the past 3 years and haven’t had a single issue doing it this way. I’m not changing habits now, lol.